Chapter 45

"Head, you're back?" At this moment, a guard's voice could be heard from outside.

Tang Kexin subconsciously froze. Ye Lanjue's brows slightly furrowed. His eyes instantly recovered their usual coldness. He raised his hand and stopped in front of her chest, but he didn't touch her.

"Tang Kexin, you'd better hide your fox tail well." In the next moment, his body also returned to its usual unique aura. His low and deep voice was full of threat, but it also seemed like he was suppressing something.

When he finished speaking, he did not wait for Tang Kexin to react and quickly left the room. The speed was so fast that Tang Kexin did not even have a chance to clearly see how he moved before his figure disappeared. How was that possible? He moved faster than a ghost? Was he even a human?

Funny how he had the nerve to accuse her of being a fox, when the only cunning and insidious fox here was him!

But why did the Third Prince appear in the rock mountain ground at the middle of the night? What was he trying to learn? What was he up to?

At this moment, the passionate lovey-doveying of the couple at the next room finally stopped. Tang Kexin could finally sleep peacefully.

The next day, Tang Kexin did not stay in bed and got up very early. Just as she had done washing up, Ye Lanchen arrived, his face full of anxiety. "Xin Xin, bad news! Xiao Cui is dead."

Tang Kexin's heart sank. Dead?

"I did as you told me, to keep her alive. That's why I chose someone to handle the beatings. And although she's injured, it shouldn't take her life. Then I ask my most capable guard to watch over her throughout the night in secret, but she still died. As per my guard, he really did not notice anything." This situation made Ye Lanchen realise that there was more into this case.

Tang Kexin was secretly shocked when he heard Ye Lanchen. She really could tell that Ye Lanchen paid heed into her words yesterday, so the person that he sent to protect Xiao Cui must be very capable. Otherwise, he wouldn't have this kind of reaction right now.

Under these circumstances, Xiao Cui was still killed that easily. Then the person who silenced the maid without anyone noticing was more than capable.

Who was it?

As they slowly walk towards the door, her thought couldn't helped but think of a certain imperial guard from last night. Her sudden appearance as they stepped out of the doorway, coupled with her current abnormal mood, had already attracted some people's attention.

A few guards were standing not far from the Kuan'an Palace ground, and along with them was Imperial Guard Zhan.

Tang Kexin's eyes narrowed as she saw him, but her face immediately returned to being indifferent, "So what if she's dead? She's just a palace maid, what's the point of making such a big fuss? Come, let's go out and take a look."

Ye Lanchen was stupefied. His eyes blinked a couple of times and for a moment, he hadn't able to react. However, Tang Kexin had already left him rooted still at the doorway.

When Tang Kexin walked out towards the ground, her hips swaying exaggeratedly. She then suddenly stopped, "Aiyo, I suddenly realised how good-looking Guard Captain Zhan is. He looks valiant, and his demeanour was simply elegant." Tang Kexin's voice was with a hint of excitement as she batted her eyelashes at imperial guard Zhan.

Ye Lanchen, upon hearing what was uttered by Tang Kexin, felt as if he had been struck by a lightning that he became petrified. What was going on?

"But Xin Xin... Xin Xin...!" When Ye Lanchen came back to his senses, he pulled her back and intending to drag her away.

"What? Shhh... You are disturbing my flirting. Go away!" Tang Kexin whispered with an indignant expression as she broke away from him and ran to the guard's side.

"Mhm, mhm, this appearance really looks good. The more I see it, the better it looks." Walking up to the guard, Tang Kexin's face broke into a smile. She looked at him with starry eyes.

In the past, when Tang Kexin was still a fool, she would do things that would shock the world in order to chase after Mu Shaoyi. With the old Tang Kexin as a cover, her actions now would made sense.

The corner of Ye Lanchen's mouth was twitching. His mind was in a state of disarray. But Xin Xin couldn't be sick again, right? Was she suffering again from that same illness as before? No, it was even more powerful, this right now was too much, no one could bare to watch.

It was just that even if Xin Xin was again inflicted by the same sickness, she wouldn't be so infatuated with a guard that she had only seen for a couple of times, with no direct interaction. Besides, although the guard had good eyes and nose, and didn't look shabby, but he felt that he was much more good-looking than him.

"Miss Tang..." When imperial guard Zhan saw Tang Kexin rushing over and looking at him with an expression of infatuation, he was obviously stunned for a moment, and his face turned complicated. It was obvious that he was shocked by Tang Kexin's words that he was dumbfounded. After pausing for a moment, a few lines began to appear on his previously expressionless face.

Seeing his reaction, Tang Kexin laughed inwardly. 'Not bad, the results from the very beginning are pretty good. It's very beneficial for my following probing!'

Imperial Guard Zhan had been personally selected by the Emperor. Thus, she had to be extremely careful and prudent in this matter.

This was because she knew that a single mistake could lead to eternal damnation.

Tang Kexin looked at him with a smile on her face. With the infatuation and fawning of a young girl, she continued to prance towards him. Then, as if she had discovered a new continent, she suddenly cried out and exclaimed, "Had the Royal Guard heard of Xiao Cui's death? Somebody must have killed her!" At this moment, although Tang Kexin was crying out in alarm, her expression was the most exaggerated. Her voice wasn't loud, and when she said those last words, she had even suppressed the volume of her voice.

Therefore, the confused Ye Lanchen who had yet to turn around and chase after her did not hear her last sentence clearly.

When Tang Kexin said those words, her eyes stared directly at the face of guard Zhan. There wasn't the slightest trace of change in her expression.

Psychologically speaking, there was what professionals called as micro facial expression. When a person was experiencing an emotion, a very brief, involuntary facial expression will leak out, which usually would last up to 0.5–4.0 seconds and it couldn't be faked.

Tang Kexin was aware that people with powerful martial arts like Imperial Guard Zhan were with strong mental strength, far stronger than ordinary people. This fact allowed them to better control their emotions and not reveal their thoughts. Especially when one was calm and steady, it would be very hard to tell what was on his mind.

Thus, the reason why she did those atrocious acts earlier and said that last two impulsive questions, was so that she could first disrupt his emotions, confuse his thoughts, and break his icy-cold calmness.

Then his face would be more beneficial for observation and reading.

Her eyes stared at him, unblinking.

She knew that if there was really something going on between Xiao Cui and Guard Zhan, and if he really killed Xiao Cui, hearing her questions, he would definitely feel something.

When a person was afraid, their mouth and eyes would subconsciously open slightly, and their eyebrows would raised slightly. However, the expression in most military personnels, when activated, wasn't very obvious. It usually were very subtle and quick that it wasn't easy to catch them.

To Imperial Guard Zhan's case, it could be seen that he covered his emotion really well.

However, there was one thing he wasn't able to conceal, and that was his nostrils flared slightly when he heard her words. It was a subconscious expression of uneasiness.

Other expressions, such as eyes, mouth, and eyebrows, could be controlled by a person with strong willpower, but it was difficult to control the dilation of the nostrils.

Moreover, most people rarely knew about this, so it was impossible for the imperial bodyguards to think about controlling it.

"Oh right, another question I'd like to ask you. This should be your specialty..." Tang Kexin took a deep breath, still with a smile on her face. And without giving imperial guard Zhan a chance to recover his wits, she continued to ask, "How many times does it take to smash someone to death with a stone?" As she asked this question, Tang Kexin grew closer to him, her voice became even lower. Thus, at this moment, only he could hear what she was saying.

Tang Kexin was certain that if this matter really had something to do with Imperial Guard Zhan, her probing, may it appeared like she was just fooling around, would bring her great danger.

But she couldn't just ignore the empress' safety just for the sake of protecting herself. The empress doted on her so much that her conscience couldn't take it if she would fall into tricks set by conniving people.

This time, Tang Kexin clearly saw that not only did imperial guard Zhan nostrils dilate, his mouth also subconsciously opened.

Tang Kexin was now confident of this fact—he was very much related to this case, and was even likely that he's the killer, because only then could everything make sense.

The realisation had frightened her, sending chills down her spine, that she subconsciously clenched her fists. There was no way imperial guard Zhan would arbitrary harm the empress, he had no reason to. Therefore, someone was behind him, giving out orders. But who?