Green Dragon Totem Chapter 3 Part2

The fragments of the jade bowl covered the floor, and everyone was dumbstruck.

Xie Yun used one hand to inconspicuously support himself against the table, following which he turned and walked past Shan Chao, towards Liu Xujie whose entire countenance seemed as if he had seen a ghost.

For some reason when they brushed past each other, Shan Chao felt something different about his complexion, although that dissolute and coquettish att.i.tude, which made people involuntarily loathe him, had not changed at all, yet his lips were slightly blue ― Shan Chao could not help but ponder if that was his own misconception, because immediately after that he saw Xie Yun walk towards the middle of the hall, his movements and voice steady to the point of serenity:

"The same bowl of sweet soup, the monk drank it without problems yet the Crown Prince got poisoned, is simply because the sour fruit soup had no poison."

"The Crown Prince being poisoned is the truth, but the jade pillow and a.r.s.enic are faked. The one who poisoned the Crown Prince, is in fact some other person."

The gaze which Liu Xujie used to regard Xie Yun seemed as if a dead body was approaching him out of its own will, his face constantly changing between green and white, before he stuttered after a long moment: "You… don't you dare slander anyone, could it be that you want to say that I am the Crown Prince's poisoner?!"

Xie Yun sneered, leisurely clapping his hands.

Pa, pa, pa, the sounds had just fallen, when a black-robed young man strode in from outside of the wors.h.i.+p hall doors, bowing his head towards Xie Yun and cupping his hands in salute:

"Reporting to Commander, just now the Imperial Guards searched Pavilion Elder Liu's travelling bag, and found a pot of Palace-recipe Hedinghong1, diluted several times over with fresh water, after feeding a dog it twitched for half a kè2 before dying. Your subordinate and the others have already arrested the attendant eunuchs and retainers for questioning, may Commander please make a decision."

Liu Xujie abruptly flushed with annoyance: "Outrageous! Who gave you all the nerve to search this senior?!"

"The dog died after half a kè, no wonder the Crown Prince's poison only showed up after half a day…" Xie Yun paused, turning towards Liu Xujie with a smile that did not seem a smile: "Pavilion Elder has such malicious methods, now how do you plan on explaining it?"

With one wave yet to calm when another wave approaches, the rhythmical undulations of the development had already left everyone else staring tongue-tied, the entire room silent. Right in that taut stretch of silence, suddenly there came the Crown Prince's entreaties:

"Xie… Minister Xie, the Elder… is someone I trust in…"

― the Crown Prince is still young after all, and his sophistication had not deepened to that stage, presently having already lost his cool.

Yet Xie Yun did not even turn his head, only tilting his head: "Precisely because Pavilion Elder Liu has Your Highness' deep trust so it is more convenient for him to commit the crime. Your Highness is already poisoned, it is better to rest first, to leave things for this Xie to handle will suffice."

"You…!"

The Crown Prince immediately turned anxious, his qi and blood surging in an instant to bubble forth. Fortunately Shan Chao who was standing beside him had swift eyes and quick hands, turning around and tapping a few major acupoints on his solar plexus with a ppa sound: "How is Your Highness?"

The Crown Prince gasped for breath, grasping at Shan Chao's hand, unable to hide the panic in his eyes: "Xin… Master Xin Chao, quickly think of a way to save the Pavilion Elder… he did it for me…"

His voice was extremely soft, yet Shan Chao was extremely close to him, and still heard everything without missing a word.

― he did it for me.

Shan Chao's mind raced like lightning, and abruptly understood.

Why was the Crown Prince poisoned, yet the poison was found in the luggage of his trusted aide Liu Xujie; why after searching out the poisoned wine was the Crown Prince still s.h.i.+elding Liu Xujie in every possible way, not hesitating to entreat Xie Yun before everybody to stop the investigation…

This was a trick of injuring oneself to win the enemy's trust.3

The director of this whole performance Liu Xujie and company, had first planned to impute Ci'en Temple and then 'search out' the a.r.s.enic and the jade pillow, so the target as indicated by the objects, was the motherly model of the nation Empress Wu in Daming Palace!

- no wonder when the Crown Prince was poisoned, Liu Xujie had immediately announced that he had the Snow Lotus which could cure all poisons, because n.o.body had wanted to kill the Crown Prince in the first place!

As the Court falls into internal struggle, people's hearts were hard to fathom, from this matter one could see how frightful it was.

Shan Chao's incisive gaze glanced, towards the broken shards of the jade bowl and the last few dried vestiges of the sweet soup, his heart abruptly raising another cloud of suspicions:

Since it was an act by itself, the Hedinghong that Liu Xujie fed the Crown Prince had been drunk ahead of time, so why did the silver needle turn black on contact with the sour fruit soup? The sweet soup had been prepared by himself personally, by normal reason there should not have been any chance to put poison at all.

Most importantly, if it was purely a trick of injuring oneself to win trust, why did the Crown Prince's poison have such fierce symptoms, that if he had not intervened, right now he would really have had no chance at survival?

Shan Chao's mind was in a tremendous muddle, yet on the surface he was extremely calm, so much so that he could pat the Crown Prince's shoulder in a placating manner, indicating that he got it.

At this point he heard in the hall that Liu Xujie had also thought of these two points, sneering at Xie Yun: "Wherever Commander Xie said it was found, so there it was found."

― These words had been used by Xie Yun to contradict him, and now seeing him copy the words to refute back Xie Yun in the same manner, actually had a manner of a hooligan.

"Yet there is one point where this senior wishes to consult Commander Xie: even if this senior had Hedinghong in his luggage, it is not necessarily the chief offender in the Crown Prince's poisoning. On the contrary, with the sour fruit soup presented by Ci'en Temple, Commander Xie personally tested out a.r.s.enic, how would you explain this?!"

Shan Chao also wanted to know this point.

He suddenly turned towards Xie Yun, only to see that Xie Yun seemed to have grown tried of standing, having taken half a step back with arms crossed, and gently leaning his lower back against the edge of the long table.

"This is precisely where Pavilion Elder Liu is intelligent, the Pavilion Elder has read many medical books and ancient records, and probably believes that this Xie has not a word in one's breast4, only a thick fellow all around5…"

Leaving aside the comment about 'not having a word in one's breast', the word 'thick' when used on Commander Xie's elegant and dissolute tall and straight stature, left people wondering where to cry or to laugh at his sense of humour.

"Yet this is not the case." Xie Yun paused, ridiculing: "Fresh peaches, honey-melons, and kiwis, the material used in making the sour fruit soup was the crux of Pavilion Elder Liu's plan. No matter if the sweet soup was poisoned or not, the silver needle would still turn black on contact."

Liu Xujie's expression finally truly changed.

Xie Yun turned towards his own subordinate Imperial Guard: "Get a few silver needles, and go check if the small kitchen still has any leftover kiwis, being them all here."

The Imperial Guard left with a response, and a moment later returned carrying a large tray back to the wors.h.i.+p hall: the left side of the tray bore a few plump and round kiwis, and in the middle were a few silver needles stuck in layered white silk.

Xie Yun's slender hand twirled one needle, commenting: "'In the low wet grounds is the kiwi tree; soft and pliant are its branches'6; the kiwi fruit is innocuous and slightly sour, prevalent along the Yongxing military roads and the Nanshan area, eating it can relieve one of heat… there is only one disadvantage."

"This disadvantage is: despite the kiwi being innocuous, yet it would still turn silver black upon contact, this is only rarely known amongst the common people."

Under Liu Xujie's gaze filled with hate Xie Yun stuck the silver needle into one kiwi fruit, the hall being completely silent, and a moment later under everyone's gaze, the silver needle was shockingly completely black!

Instant uproar everywhere!

Liu Xujie gasped: "Xie Yun, you―! You―!"

Xie Yun stabbed needle after needle into the kiwi, and the movement could be described as elegant and graceful. "Of the harmless substances able to turn silver black, they are not limited to kiwis, cooked chicken eggs can also do it, only that it is hard to find any in a Buddhist temple. If Pavilion Elder Liu does not believe it, some other day when you have descended to the imperial prison, this Xie would personally bring along a few cooked eggs to visit you in prison, and in pa.s.sing give you a display."

If not because Xie Yun's reputation as the number one fighter in the Imperial city was too resounding, at this moment Liu Xujie would have thrown himself forward to eat his flesh ― compared to his exaggerated anger and indignance when the Crown Prince was poisoned just then, right now his hatred was much more real.

"The one surnamed Xie, you dare to implicate this senior, you… if this senior wanted to poison His Highness the Crown Prince, why would I offer up my family heirloom the Snow Lotus which can cure all poisons? You're just slandering, you-!"

"The Snow Lotus?" Xie Yun indifferently said: "Where the flower?"

Liu Xujie violently turned his head, only to see outside the wors.h.i.+p hall that one Imperial Guard had dashed up, kneeling audibly to loudly say: "Commander! The Liu manor has dispatched a messenger, the Snow Lotus that Pavilion Elder Liu requested has disappeared without a trace, and they haven't found it even after having turned over the entire manor for half a s.h.i.+chen! Now what should we do?!"

Liu Xujie froze on the spot, his only reaction being: "…how is this possible?"

Shan Chao abruptly yelled: "Your Highness!"

Only to see the Crown Prince struggling at death's door at the main seat of the room, on hearing the grievous news that the Snow Lotus was gone, his last hope snapped, and he instantly suffered his qi and blood reversing direction and the remaining poison acting up, falling down head-first!

Everyone was instantly overwhelmed with shock, Shan Chao supporting the Crown Prince with one hand, while his hand unfurled like lightning to tap twelve major acupoints around his entire body; yet that poison was truly fierce, the Crown Prince only able to gasp and cry: "Why…. why…" And then his nostrils, ears, and the corner of his mouth leaked black blood at the same time, and he fell unconscious.

For some reason, Shan Chao supported the Crown Prince's young and weak body, and a prominent pain abruptly arose in his heart, as if he was staring helplessly at his own flesh-and-blood kin dying beside him. He also did not know from where this trembling sorrow from the depth of his soul came from, and when he glimpsed Xie Yun, it was as if he had seized a last straw to clutch at: "Commander Xie, His Highness is dying! Please lend a hand―"

Yet Xie Yun only stood there, and on his face half-covered with the silver mask, a strange expression arose.

"Liu Xujie poisoned the Crown Prince, imputing the Empress, inciting disharmony within the Palace kin to vie against each other, indeed disallowed by the laws of the heavens and the reason of man…" He slowly paused, facing Shan Chao's gaze directly, his young and graceful voice devoid of emotion: "Guards, carry the Crown Prince into the inner hall to rest, and also drag Liu Xujie down and keep a stringent watch. Wait until I have entered the Palace and reported to the Empress, we shall ascertain the motive and instigators behind the Crown Prince poisoning case one after another, and announce it to the world!"

In an instant Shan Chao's heart seemed to fall into an ice cave.

He knew to whom the motive of the crime and the instigators behind the scene would point to, and Xie Yun also knew this. During the affair's development till now, at present the life of this child of ten-plus years was no longer important, what these people conspired for, struggled for, chaining stratagems and advancing gradually to entrench themselves at every step for, was far away in the Imperial City's Daming Palace, prestigious and mighty - power.7

On the scene only one person wanted the Crown Prince dead.

―Xie Yun.

Yet the most terrifying thing was that he was the only one who did not do anything. Only he seemed completely uninvolved and innocent, watching everyone with not a word or movement from start to finish, like dancing clowns, send themselves step by step down the path of no return.

"Commander Xie…" Shan Chao gasped, saying in a hoa.r.s.e voice: "The Crown Prince, he… he cannot make it, could you… you…"

Xie Yun abruptly said: "Quickly go―!"

That shout could shake people's hearts and kidneys, and the guards standing by the door no longer hesitated immediately, rus.h.i.+ng into the wors.h.i.+p hall with blades drawn, and as Liu Xujie cursed in rage they surrounded him and held him down!

"The one surnamed Xie! May you be struck by lightning!" Liu Xujie howled frantically in anger: "You definitely knew in advance but did not reveal it, beating us at our own game by giving the Crown Prince strong poison, the ones who infiltrated my manor last night to steal the Snow Lotus are certainly your subordinates!― You could obviously save the Crown Prince by pouring your true internal force into him, yet you look on unfeelingly as he approaches death and do nothing to save him―"

Xie Yun coldly said: "Drag him away."

Liu Xujie struggled with his utmost, even his hat falling off of his head, yet the ruthless Imperial Guards had no hesitation, dragging him straight outside.

Xie Yun turned around, randomly pointing to two eunuchs to lend an arm to the Crown Prince. Right at this clamorous time, his trusted aids Ma Xin suddenly strode into the wors.h.i.+p hall, pa.s.sing through the crowd to make a beeline for Xie Yun's side, and with not even enough time for a salute, hurriedly whispered: "Commander, the Imperial Physicians are here―"

Shan Chao's eyes immediately widened, only to see Xie Yun pause: "Why so quickly?"

"The Great Cavalry General Yuwen Hu," Ma Xin's voice was slightly unsteady as he said: "General Yuwen happened to be in Court, and upon hearing that Crown Prince was poisoned, on the spot he personally brought the Imperial Physicians towards Ci'en Temple on the gallop… the Imperial Guards couldn't stop him, at present he is already before the temple."

Xie Yun's expression slowly twisted.

Right at this time, the sound of horse-hoofs clopping sounded outside the doors, along with the hubbub of guards, and then the noise hurriedly approached. As it was about to arrive before the wors.h.i.+p hall, an arrow suddenly flew through the crowd, brus.h.i.+ng past the edge of Xie Yun's ear!

Whoosh―

Shan Chao who was not far behind turned around, and raised his hand, pa! A sound echoed, as he tenaciously held the burning hot body of the golden arrow!

The hair by Xie Yun's ears were raised by the wind, and then slowly descended.

A middle-aged man of about thirty years wearing fine armour, with a tall and st.u.r.dy build, average looks, and with a grizzled-beard Imperial Physician clasped under his arm, stepped in from over the tall threshold―

"Everyone remain where they are standing, do not move."

His intonation was also average, yet the sound echoed around the entire wors.h.i.+p hall, as if exploding in everyone's ears:

"― His Majesty's verbal orders are here, everyone would be tried separately after returning to the Palace. The Imperial Physician has brought lingzhi8 along, to treat the Crown Prince immediately, no error allowed, that is all!"

Many people's legs softened to slam to the ground in kowtow, messing up the entire hall, only Xie Yun still leant on the table with arms crossed.

The Cavalry General Yuwen Hu turned his lightning gaze to sweep around, the two people's eyes met, and Xie Yun narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Commander Xie," Yuwen Hu coldly said.

The white-robed silver-masked Imperial Guard Commander suddenly smiled.

His face which had been as cold as frost the previous second seemed to have changed entirely, thin pink lips curved in an arc which could be said to be splendid, like a peach of a plum ― yet anyone familiar with him knew, that under that false smile, was antipathy to the point of extremity.

Yuwen Hu had thought that he would only make a symbolic greeting, yet Xie Yun only turned around after giving this smile, going as far as not making a sound at all.

Yuwen Hu's thick brows could not help but wrinkle unconsciously, but he said nothing, his line of sight turning towards the Crown Prince seated at the head of the hall. Only with this glance did he notice Shan Chao standing guard beside the Crown Prince and holding his golden arrow with bare hands, and a touch of incredulity entered his eyes; after rus.h.i.+ng headlong into battle for several years, the experts who could catch his arrows were few and far between, and this monk was still so young!

Admiration immediately floated up to his face, and he took the initiative to advance and cup his hands in salute: "I am the Great Cavalry General Yuwen Hu, dare I ask this master's name or Dharma name…"

Yuwen Hu had marched to war for a long time, and his every movement possessed a righteous atmosphere, the complete extreme opposite of Commander Xie who constantly had an iniquitous aura around him. Added that he had just brought the Imperial Physician and lingzhi at the gallop to provide critical care for the Crown Prince, Shan Chao could not help but especially respect him, and also cupped his hands in salute to lowly speak: "General has praised too much. I am a monk of Ci'en Temple Xin Chao, because of the Crown Prince's poisoning just now…"

"The Crown Prince drank the sour fruit soup offered up as tribute when his poison acted up, this monk was the one to present it." Xie Yun coolly said, "―Ma Xin, we do not have any more business here. You shall immediately move people to seal off Ci'en Temple, I need to bring Xin Chao and the monks to enter the palace and report to the Empress, let's go."

Yuwen Hu suddenly turned around: "Commander Xie, I have His Majesty's verbal orders to take over here, you…"

"I have the royal family's Imperial Guard tablet, and can enter the palace to seek imperial audience at any time, and act at discretion within the capital."

Xie Yun has certainly used this imperial excuse to tyrannise for a long time, since Yuwen Hu's first reaction was to feel oppressed.

"Let's go, monk Xin Chao." Xie Yun did not acknowledge Yuwen Hu further, his cold gaze turning towards Shan Chao, that elegant, gorgeous, and soul-stealing smile completely gone: "Are you waiting for me to personally invite you?"

After the time needed to drink a cup of tea, Xie Yun left under the escort of his subordinates from the heavily encircled Ci'en Temple, and at the entrance a vermilion gorgeously decorated horse-carriage had been long awaiting on the expansive Zhongzheng Street. Shan Chao was restrained by two guards, following behind with a wooden expression. If one paid careful attention, they could see that this handsome monk's face was set in a cold expression, and his jaw set so tight that the silhouette of his face stood out in rigid lines.

Xie Yun seemed to have something urgent to rush, ignoring all the salutes from the officers and men, directly and hurriedly walking to before the carriage.

"Commander, what do we do about this monk?" Ma Xin hurried behind to whisper: "Do we put him in the Inner Palace to secretly supervise in preparation for interrogation, or detain him at your manor, or we may as well simply…"

Xie Yun stopped walking.

His grave and stern expression had no change, as if pondering on something, yet as if his mind was completely relaxed, and thinking of nothing.

For some reason this sight left Ma Xin somewhat apprehensive, even Shan Chao glanced over. His vision only caught Xie Yun's chest slightly undulating, and then suddenly one hand shot up―

From this point of view he faced Shan Chao directly, and all of a sudden Shan Chao did not look away, subconsciously putting a hand to support his ice-cold slender wrist.

After that, Xie Yun could not bear the pain, a mouthful of poisonous scarlet blood flecked with black abruptly coughing out from his throat!

Shan Chao froze, unable to move, and Ma Xin whispered: "Commander-"

Xie Yun's entire body softened and fell without warning, Shan Chao's hand reaching to wrap around his hand, only to feel that his hand was damp and cold, only then did he notice that Xie Yun's entire back, was already entirely saturated in cold sweat.

1 ZH: 鹤顶红 - 'crane crown red', old Chinese name for an impure form of a.r.s.enic trioxide, poisonous.

2 ZH: 刻 - old Chinese time measurement unit, about 15 minutes. Half a kè = 7.5 minutes thereabouts.

3 ZH: 苦肉计 - number 34 of the Thirty-Six Stratagems.

4 ZH: 胸无点墨 - a saying which implies that the person it describes has no learning/education.

5 ZH: 五大三粗 - literally 'five big three thick', the five referring to: ears, shoulders, hands, b.u.t.tocks and legs. The three refers to the legs, waist, neck. By itself it only serves as an adjective referring to a person's statue as big and tall, but in this case I think Huaishang was using it in the English sense where thick equals to low intelligence.

6 ZH: 隰有苌楚，猗傩其枝 - from the Book of Songs, Odes of Gui.

7 This entire sentence was written run-on, so I tweaked the punctuation to make it more readable in English.

8 ZH: 灵芝 - mushroom, used in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Translator's Notes Chapter 3: Silver's applications in detecting poison?

Fun fact: silver turns black upon reaction with sulphur-containing compounds.

The reason why silver needles were used to detect poisons such as a.r.s.enic, though, is because in the 600s n.o.body had yet found a way to purify a.r.s.enical compounds containing sulphur to the point of being colourless, odourless, and tasteless. Most of the world's a.r.s.enic comes from realgar (a.s.s), orpiment (As2S3), and a.r.s.enopyrite (Fea.s.s), all of which contain sulphur. Even Hedinghong is an impure As2O3 derivative gotten from realgar.

Silver therefore reacts with the sulphur in the compounds and turn black, so the only reason why this test with a.r.s.enic was due to the methods of manufacturing a.r.s.enic.

As for kiwis, they contain sulphur too, hence why silver turned black. Cooked eggs has certain levels of hydrogen sulphide produced while boiling due to hydrolysis of some sulphur proteins in the alb.u.min.

However when I was translating Sis Yun talking (Sis Yun [云妹] being the common nickname for Xie Yun in the Chinese fandom) my heart was like, sure, OK, but how did I end up looking at ancient poetry when talking about kiwis and how they fool your dynasty's lousy medico-legal practices? And, what do you read in your spare time I'd like to know.

- LLS

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