Several tall, robust black horses trampled frantically and heavily across the mud-slicked ground, their thick, ragged breathing echoing back and forth through the pitch-black night.
Even so, their riders remained unsatisfied; they needed to go faster, ever faster!
Lu Bingqiu rode at the very front, his expression fiercely chilling. His eyes swept across every passing street and alleyway with the razor-sharp precision of a hawk.
The young marquis of the Xie family was missing, and missing along with him were the ledgers he had spent the entire night hunting for!
Dead or alive, he needed to see the man or his corpse. He refused to believe anyone in Yecheng dared to shield the Xie family at a time like this. Not even the Grand Princess possessed such audacity.
The Xie family were the Empress Dowager’s abandoned pawns; she should understand that unless.
Suddenly, a half-man-sized eagle spiraled down from the sky, its wings unfurled wide. Unlike the sparrows hiding beneath the eaves, it showed no fear of the howling wind and torrential rain. On the contrary, it appeared fiercely excited. Even though its feathers were soaked and weighed down by the water, it lost not an ounce of speed or power.
Spotting the dark-feathered bird circling overhead, Lu Bingqiu knew it had brought news. He instantly blew a sharp, secret whistle, and the entire troop reined in their horses in unison.
The galloping steeds reared onto their hind legs simultaneously, water droplets splashing everywhere as piercing whinnies echoed through the deserted street.
The rest of the Jinyiwei silently prayed that Qingyi had brought good news. Otherwise, given Lu Bingqiu’s temperament, failing to find the ledgers and letting Xie Zi’an escape meant they would either die or be skinned alive.
Circling and shrieking above Lu Bingqiu, Qingyi flapped its gigantic wings, whipping up cold gusts of wind. No one else could decipher its cries; among the Jinyiwei, besides Lu Bingqiu, not a single person understood avian language.
Upon hearing Qingyi’s intelligence, Lu Bingqiu’s gaze turned even more glacial. Slowly lifting his head to look at the unflagging bird, he pulled a piece of dried meat from his tunic and tossed it into the air.
Rewarded by its master, Qingyi let out a long cry, abruptly pulled in its wings, and plunged upward into the high heavens before spreading its wings once more and soaring away.
Without a word, Lu Bingqiu whirled his horse around and galloped off in the opposite direction, the others scrambling to follow.
The sound of approaching hoofbeats suddenly faded into the distance.
Zhu Yue looked anxiously toward Chunxue, the maid holding her umbrella. This maid differed slightly from the others. While the rest wore their hair coiled up into high buns, Chunxue’s hair on the left side hung loose, completely shielding her left face and leaving only her right eye visible.
She was tall, lean, and dark-skinned. Her single visible eye socket was deeply sunken, and when she spoke, her eyeball remained completely fixed, seemingly incapable of movement.
“I only heard Qingyi’s cry.”
Judging by the facial features visible on that half of her face, Chunxue could not be considered ugly; with a slightly fuller figure, she might even have possessed a rugged, healthy beauty. Yet the voice she spoke with was thoroughly dry and raspy, like a rusty saw grating against wood.
Mulling over Chunxue’s words, Zhu Yue unconsciously knitted her brows. Chunxue’s hearing surpassed that of ordinary people, a fact Lu Bingqiu knew well. Why else would he refuse to utter a single syllable, wondering precisely what they might overhear?
He must have been lured away by a matter of far greater importance. What could possibly be more important than Xie Zi’an?
“I beg the Princess and the Empress Dowager to save me! I am willing to disclose the whereabouts of the ledgers!” The youth stranded in the puddles suddenly reached out and clutched tightly at Zhu Yue’s hem, his voice sounding terribly weak against the roaring storm.
Unable to conceal her pleasant surprise, Zhu Yue lowered herself and grasped Xie Zi’an’s freezing hand. “If you are willing to tell the truth, I will certainly do my utmost to save you.”
As if recalling something, the light in her eyes dimmed slightly. “The Empress Dowager…”
Having witnessed countless partings of life and death, as well as the shattering of families, Zhu Yue’s long-numb heart inexplicably began to beat anew. She hoped this child, who had nothing to do with her, would live. Even if he had to be trampled underfoot, he needed to survive. To live meant to have hope, did it not?
“Thank you, Princess and Empress Dowager,” Xie Zi’an murmured.
He had held zero interest in the genre of the novel Liliya sent; he had merely skimmed it because he worried she might later quiz him on its plot and characters. Consequently, he had read through it so rapidly that he never caught where Zhao Chengxiao had taken the ledgers, he only knew that Zhao Chengxiao eventually handed them over to the Emperor.
Even though Zhao Chengxiao was the protagonist Shou, he was currently nothing more than a fourteen-year-old youth. Seized of something as momentous as the military fund corruption ledgers, he must have been utterly panicked.
With the night so dark and the rain pouring this heavily, where could he possibly go? He was bound to have headed home.
“I gave the ledgers to Zhao Chengxiao for safekeeping. I beg the Princess to go to the Zhao residence and retrieve them.”
Upon hearing the name Zhao Chengxiao, Zhu Yue failed to immediately recall who he was within the Zhao household.
Chunxue, standing to one side, knew Zhu Yue would not recognize the name and prompted, “He is the youngest son born to a concubine of the Zhao family, just turning fourteen. He had his coming-of-age ceremony only last month. He is hardly favored, so it is only natural that Your Highness is unaware of him.”
Chunxue served as Zhu Yue’s blade. People and matters Zhu Yue failed to remember, Chunxue remembered. People Zhu Yue could not bring herself to kill, Chunxue killed. And Zhu Yue served precisely as the scabbard for this sharp weapon.
Nodding, Zhu Yue released Xie Zi’an’s hand and stood up. “Chunxue, take your people to the Zhao residence. Claim it is by order of the Empress Dowager, and make sure you recover the ledgers ahead of Lu Bingqiu.”
“Understood.”
Handing her umbrella to Zhu Yue, Chunxue turned and let out a piercing, shrill whistle. Dozens of dark shadows emerged from atop the rooftops and behind high walls.
Strictly speaking, the Grand Princess possessed no authority to privately harbor assassins. However, the Empress Dowager’s dominance granted Zhu Yue this power not out of affection for Zhu Yue, but to serve her own ends. Noble though Zhu Yue’s status was, she remained a woman. Without a blade in hand, how could she carry out the Dowager’s bidding?
Once Chunxue departed with the assassins, Zhu Yue exhaled slightly. Turning to the nearby estate guard, she instructed, “Carry the Second Young Master inside. Settle him in the side courtyard first, and send someone to fetch a physician. Remember, let no one make a commotion over this.”
Resting his elbows on the ground, Xie Zi’an managed to prop up half his body. “I am grateful for Your Highness’s saving grace.”
Zhu Yue nodded silently without another word.
The guard hoisted Xie Zi’an onto his back. With thick, sturdy limbs, he firmly anchored the dying youth against his warm back. His steps remained remarkably steady, sparing Xie Zi’an from any jarring jolts.
Raindrops battered incessantly against Xie Zi’an’s back. His eyelids grew increasingly heavy, but just as he was about to surrender to sleep, his eyes snapped wide open, round and alert.
A chilling realization instantly crawled up his spine.
He had just remembered something crucial.
A moment ago, the Grand Princess’s maid had mentioned “Qingyi.” He had wondered what it was, but thinking back now, that was the beloved falcon of Lu Bingqiu, commander of the Northern Administrative Office. And tonight was precisely the night this falcon would be shot dead with an arrow by Li Hanchi the youth who had yet to grow into the ultimate villain in the original text.
It was precisely these foreshadowed events that had propelled the subsequent plot forward. Li Hanchi and Lu Bingqiu forged an irreconcilable feud, and a few years later, Lu Bingqiu instigated the annihilation of the Li family, directly driving Li Hanchi further down the path toward becoming the ultimate villain.
Xie Zi’an’s most pressing objective right now was to figure out why Li Hanchi had shot Lu Bingqiu’s falcon. Everyone in Yecheng knew from high to low that this bird was the apple of Lu Bingqiu’s eye. Li Hanchi lacked neither brains nor recklessness; he would never needlessly provoke the Northern Administrative Office unless he was driven by absolute necessity.
What on earth was he trying to achieve by shooting that bird?
Zhao Chengxiao!
The falcon’s target was tracking him and the ledgers. Tonight, apart from those doing the killing and those being killed, not a single soul in Yecheng dared venture outside. With the night pitch-black and the rain blinding, the falcon had mistaken someone else for him it had confused Zhao Chengxiao, whose build was similar to his own, with Xie Zi’an himself.
That was why Li Hanchi had shot it dead: to protect Zhao Chengxiao.
Why had Zhao Chengxiao failed to return to the Zhao residence, choosing instead to become entangled with Li Hanchi?
The original text had mentioned that Zhao Chengxiao was Li Hanchi’s white moonlight. At that time, Li Hanchi was deeply and passionately devoted to Zhao Chengxiao. However, Zhao Chengxiao was concurrently head-over-heels in love with the third prince the similarly unfavored protagonist Gong.
Consequently, Zhao Chengxiao had not gone back to the Zhao estate; instead, he had clutched the ledgers and run straight to share the joyous news with the Third Prince! Armed with those ledgers, two similarly neglected individuals could stage a comeback!
Xie Zi’an retained a vivid memory of the location for their clandestine meeting, because the name of the alley happened to be identical to the name of Liliya’s pet guinea pig.
The original novel explained that the protagonist Shou’s elder sister was an imperial concubine, and the Emperor notoriously loathed princes meddling with members of the inner court’s households. Therefore, the two dared not meet openly, routinely arranging secret rendezvous in Huazhi Alley on the east side of the city.
“Turn back! I have an urgent matter to report to the Grand Princess!” Xie Zi’an rasped out sharply, veins bulging beneath his neck as he nearly tumbled off the guard’s back.
Just then, Zhu Yue hurried over. Looking exceedingly anxious, she carried no umbrella, nor did she allow anyone to hold one for her.
Xie Zi’an had claimed the ledgers were with Zhao Chengxiao, and that Zhao Chengxiao had returned to the Zhao residence. She had not doubted it because the Princess’s estate lay in the north while the Zhao estate sat in the south, and Lu Bingqiu’s hoofbeats had indeed headed south.
However, if Lu Bingqiu had deliberately concealed their sounds from Chunxue, then the hoofbeats they heard must have been a deliberate fake-out. The ledgers naturally could not be at the Zhao estate!
She had been tricked by Lu Bingqiu!
Awakening to the truth, Zhu Yue realized she had blundered catastrophically.