In this world, besides Xie Tao and himself, no one else knew his birthday.
Not even Wei Bo or Wei Jing knew.
It was because he never celebrated his birthday.
Since the first year after his mother’s death, no one remembered his birthday.
Even his father, Wei Changning, would always forget.
So, this day had become insignificant to him, especially after returning to the capital, he had never remembered it again.
But at this moment, through the faintly floating light curtain on the copper pendant, he saw the radiant smile of the girl and heard her soft voice, inevitably stirring something in his heart.
Like the gentle touch of a feather, slightly ticklish.
“I’m coming over today!”
At that moment, he heard Xie Tao’s voice coming from the light curtain.
She began to chatter, “I specially bought a cake for you and learned several new dishes. I won’t go to work after school in the afternoon. I’ve already asked for leave from the boss lady. I’ll come over after school to celebrate your birthday!”
Wei Yun listened to her voice, her disheveled black hair leaning against the head of the bed, her expression always gentle.
“I’m going to school now, wait for me to come back, okay?”
Xie Tao packed up her schoolbag, zipping it up neatly, and didn’t forget to say to Wei Yun on the screen of her phone.
In the end, he gently replied, “Okay.”
Perhaps this is the feeling of being cared for, making a warm temperature always linger in his heart, spreading through his limbs and bones.
The icy cold that had soaked and condensed in his chest over the years in darkness and blood seemed to be slowly melting into trickles of water, flowing into the clearest river in the spring, reflecting the stars in the sky.
As the light screen disappeared, Wei Yun’s gaze stopped on the intricate patterns carved on the copper pendant. After a while, he lifted the brocade quilt and got out of bed.
Walking to the flower and bird screen beside him, there were yesterday’s crimson brocade robe sent by Uncle Wei and a new black robe placed on the desk.
Undoing the belt, his fair chest was exposed unmistakably. Below that were well-defined abdominal muscles, smooth muscle lines disappearing into the black trousers. As he took off the robe, his thick black hair covered a large area of his fair back.
As if suddenly remembering the girl’s repeated instructions, recalling her expression, her appearance, when he took the black robe with dark patterns and was about to put it on, he paused with the belt in his hand, lowered his eyelids, and couldn’t help but lift the corners of his lips slightly.
He unexpectedly looked forward to tonight.
After tying the belt, Wei Yun took the crimson brocade robe and unfolded it to change into it.
At that moment, there was suddenly the voice of Wei Jing outside the door, “My lord.”
At this moment, Wei Yun still had his hair disheveled. When he heard Wei Jing’s voice, he lifted his eyelids to glance at the outer room blocked by the curtain, and coldly said, “Come in.”
Wei Jing heard the voice and quickly pushed the door open.
When he lifted the curtain of the inner room and walked in, he happened to see Wei Yun holding a sandalwood comb, combing his hair.
“Subordinate has found out that Gou Yingguang will be trading with someone at the Yunfeng River pier tonight.”
Wei Jing lowered his head respectfully and said.
Gou Yingguang was a follower of the crown prince, deeply trusted by the crown prince. Although he didn’t hold any specific official position in the court, he was an indispensable figure to Crown Prince Zhao Zhengrong.
Many of the crown prince’s secrets were held by this person.
No one would have expected that the owner behind the largest brothel in the capital, the Nongyue Building, was actually the crown prince.
The Nongyue Tower is different from the typical brothels. Apart from wealthy merchants, it is also a favorite destination for many officials in the court.
As a result, it naturally became a place where the Crown Prince formed factions, engaged in private dealings, and traded information.
Wei Yun had been investigating for a long time before uncovering the clues within the Nongyue Tower.
Recently, there had been reports of women and even children missing from various places. Some cases were concealed by local officials, and even when reported, they never reached the imperial court. And even if they did, it was of little use.
Emperor Qi He, busy seeking the Dao of immortality, had less and less energy to spare for court matters.
But when Wei Yun discovered the matter of the Nongyue Tower and received news of hundreds of women and children missing in Yingdu and surrounding areas, he began to speculate and connect the two incidents.
Following this lead, he indeed found the culprit, Gou Yingguang.
It seemed that tonight was the time to close the net.
“Prepare yourself, tonight we go to Yunfeng River.”
Wei Yun said, adjusting the golden crown on his hair bun and tidying the jade hairpin of the same color as his robe.
“Yes.”
Wei Jing acknowledged the command and left.
Tonight, of all nights…
Wei Yun rubbed his temples, the slight pleasure he felt earlier completely dissipating because of this matter.
He let out a small sigh.
He went to the desk, ground some ink, and wrote a sentence on the paper, then pressed it under the copper pendant.
When Xie Tao received Wei Yun’s WeChat message, she had just arrived at school not long ago, and the bell for class had just rung.
Her phone vibrated in the pocket of her school uniform, and Xie Tao glanced at the classroom door.
The teacher had not arrived yet.
So she sneakily took out her phone from her pocket, lit up the screen under the desk, and opened WeChat.
“There are some things to do tonight, maybe I’ll come back late.”
This was the message Wei Yun sent.
Why does he have to work overtime even on his birthday…
Xie Tao sighed and tapped on the screen to type a reply:
“Okay, I’ll wait for you!”
She thought for a moment and also sent him an emoji stolen from Shi Cheng.
So Wei Yun received a row of upright characters, plus a somewhat strange drawing.
It looked like two dumplings, one pouncing on the other, opening its mouth wide and biting into the other dumpling, causing some sesame filling to leak out from the one that was bitten.
There was a caption beside it: “Bo Ji~”
“…”
Wei Yun held the letter paper, his expression becoming somewhat strange.
On this day, both of them were looking forward to the arrival of the night, as if time had never passed so slowly.
As the sky gradually darkened, the orange lights were lit up in various places in the city.
Wei Yun did not ride in a carriage, but instead rode a horse, accompanied by Wei Jing and dozens of guards, heading towards the Yunfeng River outside the city.
When they reached the hills not far from the Yunfeng River pier, Wei Yun saw the large boat slowly approaching on the misty Yunfeng River.
The lights on the boat were like beans, faintly visible. From afar, they looked more like scattered stars, reflecting on the slightly rippling river surface.
“Master, Guo Yingguang has boarded the ship with his men.” Wei Jing hurried over and whispered.
Wei Yun nodded lightly, his voice clear and slightly cold, “Take a few good swimmers, approach the ship cautiously, and do not disturb the grass.”
“Yes.”
Wei Jing responded and quickly went to arrange it.
The night wind blew Wei Yun’s clothes fluttering, and the faint chill seeped into his wide sleeves, making the sleeves rustle.
His gaze remained fixed in the distance, where under the gradually deepening night sky, the dim lights of the Yunfeng Dock flickered.
Before long, Wei Jing returned.
“Master, there are about a hundred people guarding the ship, and the draft of the ship is also very heavy,” Wei Jing briefly informed Wei Yun of what the dispatched men had said.
Then he described the approximate positions of the people on the ship to Wei Yun.
“So many people are needed for the escort,” Wei Yun sneered, then turned to Wei Jing and said, “Go.”
Wei Jing immediately obeyed.
The surrounding twenty guards, along with Wei Shiyi, quickly bowed to Wei Yun and followed him to the dock.
Twenty against a hundred was enough.
In no time, various chaotic noises emanated from the ship.
Sounds of people screaming, shouting, swords clashing, and even the sound of heavy objects falling into the water, all incessant.
After a cup of tea, the surroundings of the dock finally returned to the previous calm.
As Wei Yun stepped onto the deck stained with fresh blood, Wei Jing escorted Gou Yingguang out of the cabin.
“Master, besides Gou Yingguang, there is also this person.”
Wei Jing turned to look at the middle-aged man with sideburns who was being escorted out with a long sword against his throat by Wei Shiyi.
“Master Imperial Advisor?”
Upon seeing Wei Yun, Gou Yingguang’s pupils contracted slightly, even the short black beard on his chin trembled a bit, but he still pretended to be calm, “Master Imperial Advisor, what brings you here at this late hour?”
“I should be asking Mr. Gou what he intends to do here in the dead of night.”
Wei Yun stood there, his lips slightly curved, but there was a coldness akin to frost and snow between his eyebrows.
At that moment, guards streamed out of the cabin.
Among them, someone reported, “Master, there are over a hundred women and children locked in the cabin. Some are just teenagers, and many are young children.”
Apart from teenage girls, there were also many young children, both boys and girls.
These people were locked in a small dark room like livestock, each wearing heavy shackles, and some even had iron chains around their necks, with the end of the chains hooked onto iron hooks on the cabin wall.
They were all to be sent to the Nongyue Tower.
They would become insignificant pawns in the hands of the Crown Prince, tools to attract influential figures from all walks of life.
“Take them back.”
In the end, Wei Yun said coldly.
“Yes.” Wei Jing acknowledged the order.
Seeing this, Gou Yingguang hastily interjected, “Your Excellency Imperial Advisor, I advise you not to interfere in this matter. Otherwise, the consequences are not something you can bear!”
Wei Yun coldly chuckled at his words.
His cold, pale face showed indifference, with a hint of hostility in his eyebrows.
Seeing Gou Yingguang struggling to stand up, he ruthlessly stepped on his leg.
With immense force, almost breaking his leg bone, forcing Gou Yingguang to suddenly kneel on the ground, his knees slamming onto the deck, causing him to groan in pain.
“Take him away.”
Wei Yun relaxed his foot and instructed Wei Jing.
Wei Jing immediately stuffed a piece of dirty rag he picked up into Gou Yingguang’s mouth and began to lead him downstairs.
Just at that moment,
Wei Yun seemed to hear a faint sound coming through the air, but before he could turn around, something pierced through his shoulder blades, blood instantly bursting out, staining his clothes a deeper color.
It wasn’t a long arrow, more like some smaller object.
In the flicker of a small flame, it swiftly shot out from the dark and cold barrel of a gun, hitting him rapidly.
The speed was so fast that Wei Yun couldn’t dodge it at all.
“My Lord!”
Wei Jing exclaimed in horror.
As Wei Yun fell from the deck into the turbulent flow, in that moment of daze, he seemed to see a dark figure flash past the lights at the end of the pier.
Then, he completely fell into the river, stirring up a huge splash of water.
The surface of the water shimmered with firelight,
Wei Yun sank into the waves, almost losing consciousness.
In his mind, he still saw the fair and clear face he glimpsed in the light screen this morning.
As he closed his eyes, his lips moved silently.
“Tao Tao…”
