Chapter 148: The Prime Suspect (I)

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

Although Long went to bed pretty early, it took him a long time to fall asleep.

He didn’t know when Shi came back and went to lie with him after taking a bath.

However, Long instinctively sensed the familiar and reassuring aura beside him, so he held Shi in his arms not long after Shi went to bed.

Shi slightly turned his head and then smilingly went to sleep in Long’s arms.

The next day, when Long woke up, the first thing he saw was Shi’s face in his arms. Shi was still sleeping. His face was so pretty that Long didn’t have the heart to get up, because he was afraid that he would wake Shi up if he moved.

Besides, Long knew that Shi must have come back very late the previous night…

Long felt very guilty that he didn’t even know when Shi came back and went to bed!

Long looked at Shi for a long time. When it was almost time for the morning meeting, he got up quietly.

Shi opened his eyes.

Long immediately said, “Don’t get up. Sleep a little longer. It’s still early.”

Shi blinked and yawned. “Something happened last night.”

Long frowned. “Someone was killed again?”

“Yes, another night watchman.” Shi looked a little gloomy. “There were guards protecting him, but he was still dead. There’s also something usual at Tianji Sect.”

Shi told Long what happened at Tianji Sect without hiding anything.

Long’s brows furrowed.

After saying that, Shi lay down. “I also found something in South Mountain, but I’m not sure. I’ll go there again in the daytime today.”

“What did you find in the mountain?” Long asked at once.

After a short silence, Shi said, “Twelve years ago, something happened at the border… Let’s talk about this after the morning meeting. I’ll sleep a little longer and get up when you come back.”

“All right.” Long cared about Shi and asked him to go to sleep.

Shi smiled slightly and then obediently closed his eyes.

Long went to attend the meeting. As the blood-sucking demon committed another crime, some ministers expressed their concern.

Although it was not so serious that everybody felt panicky, it would surely be like that if it continued.

Hu Qingyuan was also criticized by someone, for the reason that his men failed to protect the night watchman.

Long said only one sentence to the person who criticized Hu. “Minister Zhang, how about I assign the work to you?”

Minister Zhang immediately changed his attitude and apologized in fear.

Long didn’t want to waste his time on that guy. After the meeting, Hu was called to the imperial study.

Long inquired about what happened the previous night in detail, and then asked Hu if he had some solutions.

After hearing Hu’s preliminary plan, Long was a little worried.

“The murderer is extremely powerful. I’m afraid he won’t be defeated by the ordinary guards, even the skilled ones in the Ministry of Punishment.”

“If there is only one criminal, no matter how powerful he is, I’m sure I can get him caught.”

Long fell silent. He knew that Hu wanted to send lots of guards to trap the murderer.

However, no matter how many guards there were, if the murderer was determined to escape, it would be difficult for them to arrest him.

Frowning, Long said nothing more.

After talking for a while, Long let Hu go.

After Hu left, Long did not immediately go to Qiankun Palace, because he wanted his empress to sleep a little longer.

By the time Long finished dealing with some memorials in the imperial study and returned to Qiankun Palace, it was already past the breakfast time.

Long asked the servants and knew that Shi hadn’t got up, so he went to their bedroom.

However, when Long got to the door, the man in the bed opened his eyes vigilantly.

Long felt a little sorry. “I woke you up?”

After another two hours’ sleep, Shi felt more energetic. So, he sat up and smiled. “No, it’s time to get up. I’m hungry.”

Long laughed. “I never know you’d feel hungry.”

Shi rolled his eyes. “I’m also a human being. Of course, I feel hungry sometimes. What do you mean by that?”

“Well…” Long walked over with a smile and put his arm around Shi’s waist. “Because it’s really rare for you to say you’re hungry, I’m very surprised.”

Shi blinked. He pushed away Long and began to wear clothes.

Long hurriedly went to help Shi. Naturally, Shi would not refuse and he had been used to it.

Long helped Shi put on his clothes. At last, Shi fastened his belt.

Long looked at the silver belt and blinked. “Qingzhou, this belt…”

“What?” Shi turned to look at Long.

Long blinked again. “Well… It’s a little different from mine.”

“It’s a whip,” Shi said directly.

Long was stunned and also felt a little curious. “Is it? Can I have a look?”

Shi smiled. “Sure. But there’s something in my whip. You must be careful.”

“Oh? What do you mean?” Long asked immediately.

Long was not in good health when he was younger. What he could do was to watch TV and read novels. He didn’t like watching TV very much, so he spent much time reading.

It was often mentioned in the novels that the swordsmen drew weapons from their waists and even their belts could kill…

At that time, Long yearned for such a kind of life. Now that he had come to this era and the person beside him was just like that, naturally he got very interested with the whip, which he didn’t notice earlier.

Seeing that Long was so curious, Shi directly unfastened the belt and told Long about its secrets, including where to hide the poison and the antidote, where there was thorny, how to attack…

“Tut tut, this is really a treasure,” Long said in amazement.

Shi smiled. “Yes, it is. Do you want it?”

“Me?” Long shook his head. “I don’t need it.”

Long was really afraid that he would be exposed to the poison in the belt accidentally. If he failed to kill others, but got himself killed, he would be the stupidest person in the world.

So, he’d better not have such a dangerous thing. He didn’t have confidence in himself.

Since Long said no, Shi didn’t force him.

After Shi fastened the belt again, the two of them went out for breakfast.

When breakfast was delivered, Shi told Long about what happened at the border in the past.

Twelve years ago, Shi joined the army for the first time without going through the regular procedure.

At that time, he was very young, just fourteen years old.

There was a war at the border and his father had gone there. Shi had practiced martial arts for a long time and he also yearned for the life as a soldier. Therefore, he went secretly without telling his family.

By the time his father found out, Shi had already arrived at the border. Since that was the case, it was impossible for his father to drive him back.

So, Shi stayed in the army.

The 14-year-old boy worked very hard. Although he was very young, he was more skillful and smarter than many other people. Soon, he stood out in the crowd and was appreciated by his superior.

Shi’s father was not a person who couldn’t separate state affairs from private interests. So, no one else knew his son’s identity except himself.

After Shi came to the fore, he was included in a group.

That group’s job was to do some cooperative work.

The group members would be secretly sent to some place on the eve of the war, to block the enemy’s way or to investigate, which was very dangerous.