Years of experience as an assassin had given Qunqing a strong instinct for danger.
Whenever something went wrong, her first reaction was always to run.
She ran straight toward safety, retreating with the crowd before finally daring to look back.
The leader of the guards shouted through the wind,
“The Prince of Yan’s residence is arresting people! Get rid of these criminals! Stop!”
The Prince of Yan’s residence?
Qunqing could not help looking back at them.
She remembered.
That familiar circular embroidery contained a silver dragon surrounded by water patterns.
The silver dragon was a symbol personally granted to the Prince of Yan by the Emperor. It was meant to remind Li Huan to control his temper.
The Prince of Yan’s clothes and even the decorations in his residence could bear the silver dragon symbol.
The silver dragons on these men’s belts meant that they were guards of the Prince of Yan’s residence.
Could the nobleman she had seen sitting in the black carriage when she first arrived have been Prince Yan, Li Huan?
No.
Li Huan and Lu Huating had always had a good relationship.
Why would Li Huan suddenly become so aggressive and send people to arrest Lu Huating in the middle of the street?
Could there be internal conflict within the Prince of Yan’s residence?
But wasn’t the Prince of Yan’s residence always united?
The fight had already begun.
Qunqing pulled the child back several steps.
The guards swung their clubs recklessly.
Even though Juan Su and Kuang Su had drawn their short blades, they were still forced backward step by step.
Juan Su jumped onto a sugarcane stall.
With a backhand movement, he grabbed two pieces of sugarcane and used them like long sticks, striking the attacking guards.
In an instant, the stall collapsed, and sugarcane juice splashed everywhere.
The West Market had not seen such a fierce fight in a long time.
All business came to a complete stop.
But in the end, two fists could not defeat four hands.
In the blink of an eye, Juan Su and Kuang Su had already been struck several times.
The guards all rushed toward Lu Huating.
Their leader pulled out a shining long knife and approached.
The clothes of all three men were quickly stained red.
Qunqing realized that these people were fighting with the intention of killing.
Her feelings became complicated.
“Sister, there’s another bag of pastries!”
The little boy pointed toward the pastries that had almost been stepped on by the man in black.
“Don’t pick them up.”
Qunqing pulled him closer, afraid that he would get caught in the fight.
Just then, the official road had become almost empty.
A chubby little boy hummed a song as he walked down the road.
A bone whistle hanging from a red thread rested around his neck.
His Taoist robe dragged slightly along the ground, and he carried several packets of medicine in his hands.
If it had been anyone else, they would have already moved aside.
But this boy was a little slow to react.
He stood right in the middle of the road, looking left and right.
Then he raised his arm and waved at the crowd.
The people around them were whispering among themselves. Qunqing took a closer look and realized that she knew the person.
It was Xiaosong, the young boy who helped serve medicine at Fangxie’s clinic. It seemed that Fangxie had sent him after her to deliver the medicine.
Xiaosong hurried over, but when he saw the people fighting nearby, he became frightened and did not dare to pass through. He stood frozen at the side of the road. Qunqing quickly gestured for him to go back and wait for her under the bridge.
To everyone’s surprise, Xiaosong looked at her, then at the people fighting. After hesitating for a moment, he closed his eyes, grabbed the two bags of medicine, and ran toward her.
The soldiers were already in a violent mood. One of them noticed him and kicked Xiaosong, sending him flying backward.
With a loud thud, the medicine packets fell apart and scattered across the ground.
At the same time, Qunqing threw the pebbles in her hand. They bounced off the roof and struck the soldier in the neck. He staggered back several steps, clutching his neck.
“I’m bleeding!”
The guards immediately gathered around him.
“Someone threw a hidden weapon! Be careful. He may have another trick!”
“Oh, what a poor child!”
The women nearby felt sorry for the innocent boy, but none of them dared to step forward and help him.
Qunqing had already pushed through the crowd and reached Xiaosong.
Although Xiaosong had been kicked, he was not seriously hurt. However, he was in so much pain that tears streamed down his face. His clothes were also torn.
Still stubborn, he angrily shoved the medicine packets into Qunqing’s arms and ran back home.
“Stop!”
The black-clad guard who had been hit in the neck immediately chased after him, but someone grabbed his arm.
Qunqing said, “He’s only a child, sir. Please don’t make things difficult for him.”
The next moment, she was shoved to the ground. She landed hard on her bottom, and the sand cut into her palms.
The old man with the cane nearby finally shouted angrily, “Who are you people? How dare you bully a weak woman!”
“That’s right! The people from the Prince of Yan’s residence are so arrogant. Do they not even care about the laws established by the Emperor?”
“What does it have to do with you?” The man who seemed to be their leader threatened them with a knife. “If you want to stay alive, keep your mouths shut!”
Everyone was frightened and stepped back.
Qunqing remained sitting on the ground. She did not move until she saw Xiaosong disappear from the corner of her eye. Only then did she slowly straighten up.
I almost exposed myself because I acted too quickly.
These people clearly have bad intentions. Who knows what they are planning?
But as long as they are working under powerful people, they cannot simply kill ordinary citizens in Chang’an. If the matter reaches the Dali Temple, none of them will be able to escape punishment.
All I need to do is act like an ordinary bystander. At most, I can endure a few insults to let them vent their anger. Then I can find a chance to leave.
Just as she expected, someone grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up like a sack. Her feet were completely off the ground.
Qunqing had already used up most of her strength, making her look even weaker.
“Why are you still covering your face?” The guard looked her up and down with a wicked smile. “Let me see your face. If you’re pretty, I’ll give you a kiss. If you’re ugly, I’ll slap you twice. How does that sound?”
As he spoke, he reached toward the green bamboo curtain.
Before his hand could touch the white veil, a hurried voice came from behind.
“Kuang Su, go and protect your wife. Get her out of here!”
Lu Huating’s voice was not loud, but Qunqing heard every word clearly.
All the blood rushed to her head.
What did he just say?
Protect your wife and get her out of here?
The concern and protectiveness in his words were so obvious that Qunqing was stunned for a moment, as though she were someone very important to him.
Then Kuang Su, with blood covering his head, suddenly somersaulted through the air and kicked the guard holding Qunqing directly in the face.
Qunqing could no longer pretend to be helpless. She kicked away the nearest guard and ran.
“This woman is working with that man surnamed Lu! Don’t let her fool us! Chase her!”
“She was the one who threw the hidden weapon just now! Don’t let her escape and report to anyone!”
Qunqing closed her eyes.
As she ran desperately, she cursed Lu Huating in her mind a hundred times.
He did it on purpose.
The fight had nothing to do with her, but he deliberately dragged her into it. He wanted to force her to reveal her skills and draw some of the pursuers away.
Now that she had been pushed to the limit, Qunqing could no longer hide her true abilities.
She had already used the last three pebbles hidden in her sleeve. Now, anything she could grab became a weapon.
However, when she faced several tall and powerful warriors, she was at a disadvantage.
She could only kick them back a short distance. She could not knock them down, and she could not hold out against so many people alone.
Her pursuers moved like ghosts. They grabbed her skirt and sash and pulled her backward.
Then someone suddenly jumped over her and shielded her from the attack.
Qunqing fell to the ground, surrounded by the smell of blood.
Kuang Su protected her with his body while the guards repeatedly struck his head with their sticks.
His eyes were bloodshot, but he continued holding Qunqing tightly.
When Qunqing looked up, she saw his innocent, childlike eyes.
He gently comforted her.
“The Chief Secretary said that I will die first. You will be fine.”
Qunqing silently counted.
One strike.
Two.
Three…
When the tenth strike landed, she suddenly pulled the sword from Kuang Su’s waist.
With all her strength, she drove the sword through the man’s chest.
The soldier collapsed to the ground.
Blood ran down Kuang Su’s temples, and he was barely conscious.
Qunqing pushed him aside and looked toward Lu Huating.
After Kuang Su had been driven away, Lu Huating had been thrown onto an overturned stall.
A cold flash appeared in the other man’s hand.
A silver dagger was pointed downward.
Lu Huating had no choice but to grab the blade with his bare hand and struggle against him.
In a fight, you must never fall.
Once you fall, death is not far away.
Everything in front of Qunqing became a white blur. She could hear countless voices around her.
She tried to stay calm and judge the situation, but things in the distance had already completely fallen into chaos.
These black-clad guards were even more vicious than street thugs.
They smashed and overturned several stalls, completely ignoring the stall owners who had fallen to the ground and were desperately begging them to stop.
The veins on Qunqing’s neck stood out. She pressed her lips together and suddenly shouted,
“Blow the bone whistles!”
Her voice was sharp and carried far.
A sharper whistle answered her.
Then another.
And another.
The children who had bought snacks, along with some of the women nearby, took out the bone whistles hanging around their necks and blew them.
The whistles sounded like mournful cries, sharp as arrows piercing the clouds.
The soldiers had no idea what was happening. They stopped in panic and looked around.
Then they realized that the people who had seemed so obedient before had suddenly changed.
The people on the second floors stared down at them with cold eyes.
The owner of Lingxinji Restaurant had gone pale with anger. She stood on the second floor and poured an entire bucket of water down on them.
The water came crashing down.
At the same time, the sound of drums came from every direction.
Originally, a cowhide drum had been placed at each corner of the second floor of the West Market.
The drums sounded one after another, carrying the message from one place to another.
The black-clad guards had clearly not expected this.
They looked at one another nervously and gathered into a small group.
Then countless men came rushing down from the upper floors on all four sides and from the official roads at both ends.
Some were waiters.
Some were customers.
Some carried clothes poles.
Others carried mops.
Every one of them had anger in their eyes.
An old man with a white beard stepped forward as their leader. He glared at the guards and shouted,
“Last year, the Emperor issued a new law stating that officials were not allowed to disturb the people of Chang’an City.
“Only one year has passed, and now what does the Prince of Yan want to do?
“Back then, he told us to open the city gates and surrender. We obeyed him, but his soldiers still trampled the people of two wards.
“The Prince of Yan was the first to break his promise to the people. So don’t blame us for resisting!”
From that time on, the people of the inner city had reached an understanding.
Women and children would wear bone whistles around their necks as signals. If anything similar happened again, everyone would unite and resist together.
“Old man, we… we were only cleaning up the area. We didn’t mean to hurt anyone…”
The leader of the black-clad guards clearly had no idea what was happening. Surrounded by angry faces, he began to panic.
“You think we’re blind?”
“If you dare to ‘accidentally’ hurt our wives and children while doing your business, we’ll fight you to the death!”
The old man’s words immediately received support from everyone around him.
The leading guard quickly blew his whistle.
Seeing that the situation had turned against them, he ordered the drums to signal their retreat.
The black-clad guards scattered and fled like frightened insects.
Vegetable leaves, eggs, and pieces of straw flew after them from every direction.
The people of the West Market stood there cursing and discussing the incident for a while before slowly dispersing.
“Chief Secretary.”
Juan Su was shocked.
Lu Huating had caught the blade with his bare hand just moments ago. Blood dripped from his hand like red beads, making Juan Su immediately bow his head.
“This subordinate failed in his duty!”
Lu Huating’s expression remained calm, as if the injured hand did not even belong to him.
He casually threw the torn piece of clothing to Juan Su.
“The belt has been pulled off.”
Juan Su’s eyes lit up with excitement. He quickly tucked the belt away and looked at Lu Huating.
“Fortunately, the Chief Secretary left evidence behind. How is your hand? If you’re injured, His Highness will never forgive me!”
Instead of answering, Lu Huating used his other hand to lift Juan Su’s bruised and swollen face.
After examining him and confirming that his injuries were only superficial, he pushed him away.
“Go and record which shops were damaged.”
Lu Huating tore open his sleeve with one hand and wrapped the cloth around his injured hand several times.
He had fought in wars and dealt with bandits for many years. This kind of injury was nothing new to him.
Red blood slowly seeped through the cloth.
He stared at it silently for a while.
Was Meng Guanlou really this crazy in his previous life?
Just then, another wolf-like man came running back.
He was holding a jade hairpin flower in his hand.
He gestured excitedly at Lu Huating.
“I was protecting that woman by the river when she picked this flower. Then she disappeared!”
Lu Huating stared at the flower for a long time.
Then he said in disbelief,
“What’s wrong with you? You used to steal snacks, and now you’re stealing flowers from people too?”
“I didn’t steal it!”
Kuang Su stomped his foot so hard that it almost seemed capable of cracking the ground.
Only then did Lu Huating understand.
Kuang Su had simply followed Qunqing to the riverbank and picked a flower just like she had.
“Come here.”
Lu Huating waved him over.
He took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped the blood from Kuang Su’s head.
After checking the wound and confirming that it had not reached the bone, he placed the handkerchief over it.
Then he forced a smile.
“That’s not called disappearing. You simply lost her.”
“She deliberately shook you off. Since she has already stopped to pick flowers, you don’t need to follow her anymore. If you keep following her, it would be rude.”
Kuang Su seemed to understand, but also seemed confused.
After hesitating for a while, he finally said,
“But my fish-shaped tally is with her.”
Lu Huating took a deep breath.
Lingfu Temple was a popular place of worship, with people constantly coming and going.
It was said that Qunqing eventually entered through this door, turned around, and disappeared among the worshippers in the main hall.
Upon entering the temple and seeing the jade statue of Guanyin Bodhisattva, Lu Huating first bowed respectfully.
His collar was torn and his black hair at the back of his neck was messy, but his face was still handsome, with red lips and white teeth. If it were not for the blood covering his body, he would have looked like an elegant young man from the Wei and Jin era. The women who had come to burn incense could not help turning their heads to look at him.
It was said that Lu Huating had once spent some time as a Buddhist disciple. Juan Su and Kuang Su did not dare to be careless, so they immediately bowed respectfully as well.
Below the Guanyin statue was a donation box. Around it were many items left behind by worshippers, such as bracelets and hair ornaments that women had dropped. From time to time, someone would come back to look for their belongings.
Lu Huating glanced over and suddenly noticed a slightly wilted flower quietly placed among the lost items.
It was almost exactly the same as the flower Kuang Su had brought back.
It lay on a plain white silk handkerchief, like a beautiful little mystery.
“They all left behind jewelry. Who would come back looking for a flower?” Juan Su muttered as he wiped his wound. “And it isn’t even a silk flower.”
Lu Huating paused.
Then he suddenly bent down and picked up the silk handkerchief.
Underneath it were Kuang Su’s fish-shaped tally and two gold beads.
Juan Su was stunned. He could not help feeling a little annoyed.
“No, how could she just leave things in the temple like this? And why didn’t she take the gold beads?”
Lu Huating tossed the fish-shaped tally into Kuang Su’s arms.
“Your skills are already inferior, yet you still talk so much nonsense.”
Wasn’t returning it the normal thing to do?
She had taken two boxes of snacks.
That woman was extremely careful. She did not want to owe him anything.
As a Southern Chu spy, she was probably afraid that he would actually go to the palace to look for her.
With this thought, Lu Huating took the two gold beads, along with all the other gold beads in his sleeve, and threw them into the donation box.
Clink.
The gold beads fell inside with a soft sound.
“If it weren’t for that lady, we probably wouldn’t have been able to escape today,” Juan Su said. “I just don’t know who she is. What if she’s a high-ranking palace maid?”
He bowed toward the Buddha statue.
“Chief Secretary, aren’t you afraid of offending people? Haven’t we already offended enough people because of the Prince of Yan’s residence?”
Lu Huating sat on the temple threshold, his long legs having nowhere else to go.
“How badly were the shops damaged? You should worry about the reputation of the Prince of Yan’s residence first.”
“Those people weren’t even from the Prince of Yan’s residence! How dare they behave like that? Is there no law anymore?” Juan Su said angrily.
“Who can prove it?” Lu Huating asked.
“Kuang Su and I were both there. We shouted at them, but they had more people and clearly had the advantage.”
Kuang Su angrily threw his belt onto the ground.
They were both from the Prince of Yan’s residence. What value would their testimony have?
“The people have eyes and ears of their own,” Lu Huating said. “Do you think they will believe what you say, or what they saw with their own eyes?”
Lu Huating picked up the belt embroidered with the palace insignia and brushed the dust off it.
“So, isn’t it a good thing that the lady is a palace maid? If I don’t drag her into this, who will testify for us later?”
Juan Su’s mouth fell open.
After a long while, he asked, “But Chief Secretary, how do you know she has a backup plan? What if she doesn’t have one, just like us?”
“I don’t know.”
Lu Huating looked at the sunset outside the temple door.
“If she doesn’t have one…”
He paused.
“Then that would be a pity.”
He had originally thought that someone as important as her would surely have spies hidden in Chang’an protecting her.
They would not simply watch her fall into danger.
Spies always had their own ways. If they came to rescue her, they might accidentally reveal the other spies hiding in Chang’an. That would save them the trouble of investigating them one by one.
What a pity.
He had not expected her to escape using this method.
She was living inside the palace, yet she knew so much about the bone whistles. This showed that she understood the common people of Chang’an very well and cared deeply about them.
Lu Huating thought to himself:
Princess Bao’an’s maid must have grown up in Chang’an.
Chang’an was truly a beautiful and dazzling city.
Unlike him.
He had been born in a poor and remote mountain village, and over the years, his heart had become cold and hard.
Juan Su noticed that Lu Huating was holding the silk handkerchief left behind by Madam Muli and seemed lost in thought.
He wanted to take it from him and put it away.
But just as Juan Su reached out, Lu Huating suddenly tightened his grip on the handkerchief, leaving Juan Su’s hand grasping at empty air.
The soft, cool feeling disappeared from his fingers, like trying to hold onto a cloud.
Lu Huating quietly tucked the silk handkerchief into his sleeve.
“Let’s go.”