After the New Year, Xiao Yun was twenty-three, only two years away from twenty-five.
If the murderer were to strike, it would be within these two years.
Although the curse stated that males of the Xiao family would not live past twenty-five, both Xiao Yun's father and grandfather had died at twenty-three or twenty-four. No one had died precisely on their twenty-fifth birthday.
If it truly came down to the wire, dying exactly on one's birthday would be like a horror movie from their small island nation.
The murderer did not possess such precise abilities.
They could only give a rather vague timeframe.
Xiao Mo had privately suggested to Xiao Yun that they should restore their original identities.
Since there was no curse and it was merely murder, once the killer knew that Xiao Mo was the true descendant of the Xiao family, they would naturally give up on Xiao Yun.
Xiao Yun, of course, disagreed.
Setting aside his sensitive identity, even with an ordinary one, he could not put Xiao Mo in danger.
"Don't worry," he reassured Xiao Mo. "I'll be fine. I have Yaoyao. Did you forget the Grand Tutor Feng Fu's prophecy? This time, I will definitely find out who this culprit is and free the Xiao family from this so-called curse. From now on, the task of continuing the Xiao family line will be yours!"
Xiao Mo: "..."
How did the conversation turn to this topic?
Xiao Mo felt immense pressure.
There were many banquets in the palace during the first lunar month.
Due to the Emperor's previous oral decree, neither Wang Qingyao nor Xiao Yun were allowed to enter the palace.
However, on the third day of the first lunar month, the Emperor summoned them to the palace.
This was the day the Emperor was hosting a banquet for the envoys from Goryeo.
The Emperor had not intended to summon the Prince of Ding'an and his consort to the palace. However, upon hearing that the Goryeo prince had specifically mentioned the Prince of Ding'an, coupled with pressure from the Empress Dowager, the Emperor had no choice but to summon Xiao Yun and Wang Qingyao.
Wang Qingyao's head was spinning: "The Goryeo prince knows you? It's not possible that some princess from Goryeo has taken a liking to you, right?"
Xiao Yun laughed heartily, "How could I be so popular? It's just that the Xiao family has some business dealings with the Goryeo prince, and he wants to meet the person in charge. Actually, the person he really wants to meet should be Xiao Mo."
"Oh, your business has even reached abroad!" Wang Qingyao raised an eyebrow in surprise, international trade!
"Indeed," Xiao Yun said proudly. "Xiao Mo is very good at business, truly a blood descendant of the Xiao family. I used to find it strange why I, the biological son, was not as good at business as Xiao Mo, the adopted one. To avoid suspicion, Grandmother always credited Xiao Mo's achievements to me."
"No wonder Grandmother told Xiao Mo the truth, otherwise he would have turned dark sooner or later."
"Turned dark?"
Wang Qingyao patiently explained, "It means a good person, due to unfair treatment, changes their nature and goes after those who wronged them."
"Oh!" Xiao Yun raised his eyebrows, "That sounds quite scary. Fortunately, Mo is not that kind of person."
He spoke with concern, yet his face showed no worry.
Having never experienced a falling out between brothers, he couldn't imagine what Xiao Mo would be like if he turned dark.
Therefore, he wasn't worried at all.
Xiao Mo was now the Marquis of Fuping, and he naturally had to attend the court banquet.
Goryeo had only sent a prince; the rest were officials. Apart from the servants, there were no women of high status.
Wang Qingyao breathed a sigh of relief, fearing a repeat of what happened with the two princesses from Xia Guo last year.
During the banquet, Eunuch Shunfeng stood behind the Emperor, his demeanor respectful, his honest expression tinged with excitement and joy, fitting for his age.
The Goryeo prince raised his goblet to toast Xiao Yun, and Xiao Yun introduced Xiao Mo to him.
They hit it off immediately.
Wang Qingyao, suspicious of Shunfeng, kept glancing at him.
She scrutinized him from head to toe, wishing she could see right through him to figure out what was wrong.
As she stared, her clairvoyant eyes automatically activated.
By the time Wang Qingyao realized it, she had already seen through Shunfeng.
Her face flushed, and she quickly lowered her head, taking a sip of fruit wine.
She certainly didn't have a fetish for looking at eunuchs.
Wait, eunuch?
Wang Qingyao suddenly looked up and peered at Shunfeng again.
Her gaze moved downwards, stopping at a crucial spot.
Holy cow, Shunfeng wasn't a real eunuch!
Wang Qingyao's face was filled with shock.
Hadn't they said that Shunfeng was adopted by Eunuch Changshou from a young age, and due to an accident that damaged his reproductive organs, he was sent into the palace as a eunuch?
She knew there was something suspicious about Shunfeng's origins!
Since she had already seen the most critical part, Wang Qingyao decided to thoroughly examine Shunfeng's body.
The more she looked, the more astonished she became.
Shunfeng looked quite slender in his clothes, but who knew he was a prime example of looking thin in clothes but muscular underneath!
That physique, those perfectly sculpted six-pack abs, that powerful back, those long, lean legs...
If not for his inappropriate identity, Wang Qingyao would have been drooling!
Besides a body comparable to a fitness coach, Shunfeng was also covered in scars, large and small, shocking and horrific to behold!
Shunfeng had a secret identity!
Wang Qingyao realized Shunfeng was not simple and desperately wanted to share the news with Xiao Yun.
But how should she say it?
How would she know Shunfeng was a fake eunuch?
Xiao Yun didn't know she had clairvoyant eyes and could see everything clearly!
To say it was an intuition would sound too far-fetched.
Back when Fang Yuan's first boyfriend, Huang Xuanming, was involved, Wang Qingyao had used his walking posture to fool Xiao Yun.
But this wasn't the first time she had seen Shunfeng. If she could have detected something from his walking posture, she would have noticed it long ago.
Alas, what a dilemma!
Wang Qingyao was distracted. Xiao Yun nudged her arm twice, and she snapped back to attention.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Yun asked softly.
Wang Qingyao shook her head, "I'm a little homesick for the children."
"How long have you been gone?" Xiao Yun smiled. "At this hour, they'll be going to sleep after playing for a while. Don't worry about them too much. Look—"
Xiao Yun gestured for her to look towards the center of the grand hall.
As Wang Qingyao looked up, she saw that the Fifth Princess had arrived at some point.
On such a festive occasion, she was dressed in plain clothes, without any makeup, even more understated than the favored palace maids of Consort Wei.
The Emperor frowned, his imperial face looking extremely displeased.
The Goryeo prince looked the Fifth Princess up and down with interest, admiration in his eyes.
"I have heard a poem from your Middle Kingdom: 'Pure water emerges from a lotus, naturally unadorned.' Princess Wu possesses innate beauty, truly extraordinary."
Frankly speaking, although the Fifth Princess was decent-looking, she was far from comparable to Wei Qing and Wei Yu.
Not to mention that she had been lacking love and subjected to cold glances since childhood, lacking any of the assertive and noble bearing of a princess.
Although she had deliberately worn plain clothes today, making her stand out among the many richly adorned noble ladies, she was not quite at the level the Goryeo prince described.
Could Goryeo be lacking in beautiful women?
Wang Qingyao wondered suspiciously.
The Fifth Princess was terrified of being married off for a political alliance. Therefore, when the Emperor sent someone to summon her, she disregarded the Emperor's oral decree to "dress grandly" and instead made herself look like a plain bowl of clear soup.
She was afraid the Goryeo prince would take a liking to her.
As a result, her cleverness backfired. The Goryeo prince had a particular taste for this style, and his constant praise made the Fifth Princess's complexion as pale as her clothes.