The carriage attendant, who was just holding the wine pot to pour wine, released the handle. Sliding a thin blade from his sleeve, he lunged straight for Nan Rongchen’s neck.
Unfortunately for him, things did not go as planned. The force he exerted was deflected back onto his own body, his wrist bone cracking a few times before the short sword slipped away, landing squarely in a pair of hands as white and flawless as jade.
Nan Rongchen lowered his eyes to look at the short sword in his hand. It was as thin as a cicada’s wing, the blade shimmering with a chilling, fierce light. “Forged from cloud iron, no doubt how it was smuggled into Prince Su’s residence.”
His enemy was right before him, yet the man was actually toying with his short sword. Qi Yan gathered his strength, preparing to fight to the death. He had never intended to leave the palace estate alive in the first place, but Prince Su’s residence was heavily guarded, and he had no other weapons on him, leaving him with only his bare hands to lunge at the tyrant’s neck.
Nan Rongchen saved the luminous jade cup from the assassin and simply substituted it with the short sword, sparing himself the trouble of having to ruin that glazed wine pot again.
Qi Yan was momentarily startled, quickly realizing that this tyrant was merely using him for amusement. It was utterly arrogant to the extreme, and he lunged forward again with ten percent of his strength.
The blade pierced the air. He felt a sudden impact on his back and tumbled into the hot spring pool. Amidst the splashing water, his wrist was forcibly twisted in a different direction, and the thin blade pressed directly against the chest of the tyrant whose flesh he longed to bite and whose blood he longed to drink.
Nan Rongchen leaned against the white glazed wall of the pool, his garments half-open. The gauze covering his chest was slashed open by the sharp blade. “Next time, stab right here. It’s much easier to die, but now is not the time.”
Some blood had already seeped through the wound, yet the system remained completely silent. This person was most likely part of the protagonist’s group. If he wanted to fake his death and escape, he had to fake dying at least once. This fellow’s sword was fast, and he wasn’t particularly bright. Keeping him around would be useful.
With a flick of his wrist, still employing the clever leverage of using four ounces to move a thousand pounds, he sent the short sword falling back into the water with a splash of droplets. “You couldn’t kill Gu today. Do you still want to live or not?”
To think this tyrant possessed such exquisite leverage arts! Qi Yan gritted his teeth and spoke, “Even if I turn into a fierce ghost, I will definitely drag you down to hell!”
“Such ambition.” Nan Rongchen looked up and down at the assassin before him. At most early twenties, the fellow had an open and clear demeanor, but his face definitely shouldn’t look like this. He must have used some disguise technique. Come to think of it, he had only ever seen such things in storybooks. “You made yourself a eunuch just to kill Gu?”
Seeing the tyrant wearing a self-satisfied expression, Qi Yan made no further moves, figuring that as long as he endured this momentary humiliation, he would still have a chance to strike the tyrant down with a single fatal blow.
Yet how could anyone endure this?
“Your mother is the eunuch! You go too far!”
“Oh.” Nan Rongchen stepped forward, raised his hand to cup the side of the assassin’s face, and rubbed his three wet-stained fingers for a moment until he finally caught the trace of the edge of the disguise mask. The disguise technique was actually quite good. “Then stay by Gu’s side as a guard.”
The warmth of the fingertip, mixed with water vapor, traveled through that layer of disguise mask to his face, and his earlobes were brushed lightly by the fingertips before pulling away. It felt as though fireworks were bursting inside Qi Yan’s mind as he stared fixedly at that slender figure departing amidst the splashing sounds of water.
Until only he was left in the hot spring pool, he gritted his teeth and wiped the stickiness from his face. Exactly when had this tyrant seen through his disguise?
“Do you know who I am?”
“Just a name. Gu has no interest.” Nan Rongchen poured himself a cup of wine, and only after taking a sip did he remember he was still wounded. “Fetch some healing medicine, and make sure not to alarm others.”
To disregard people so completely, no wonder he treated human lives like grass. Qi Yan furrowed his brow, fished out from the water the short sword he had spent a full month having someone forge, flipped himself out of the pool in two strides, and stood beside Nan Rongchen, his gaze swaying along with that mellow liquid in the cup. “Don’t you want to know who sent me?”
In the entire capital, anyone capable of planting people right under Nangong Xian’s nose was limited to two factions: either Nangong Chengyu, or Zhou Yanzhi and the Empress Dowager.
And it made no real difference. It was probably just out of fear that he would collude with Prince Su and make things difficult to handle later, so they wanted to use some tricks to make the two of them fight even more fiercely.
“It must be Prince Su,” Nan Rongchen said calmly, adding just as the assassin’s eyes brightened slightly, “Now go get the medicine since you’re satisfied.”
Everyone in this lifetime seemed to be thinking of ways to hoodwink him.
*The next day, dark clouds filled the sky, and the drizzling spring rain was not particularly bothersome. Nan Rongchen cut off the carriage officer’s sycophantic flattery and casually gave an order: “From now on, he will serve as a guard by Gu’s side.”
The carriage officer arched his hands and stammered: “Your Majesty, this is probably…”
It wasn’t that he was feeling jealous. Since when in history was there any logic to having a mutilated eunuch serve as an imperial bodyguard?
Qi Yan spoke with a cold face, completely wearing the demeanor of someone who had climbed onto a high branch: “His Majesty has given an order. Do you have an objection?”
He had stood guard outside Nan Rongchen’s hall for an entire night without sleep. Since this muddle-headed ruler took pleasure in toying with him, he would endure it for the time being and slowly plot his revenge.
The carriage officer naturally dared not raise any objections. The current king could be considered to have a good temper the vast majority of the time, but none of that good temper had anything to do with Prince Su. As a clear-cut minion of Prince Su, how could he have enough lives to keep offering useless advice?
Since ancient times, a penchant for men was not a rare thing, and it was entirely understandable for the dignified Son of Heaven to take a eunuch as a favorite concubine.
The palace maids who had stood watch outside the Hot Spring Hall yesterday could all hear some commotion, showing that the ruckus had not been small. Now, appointing him as an imperial guard out of fondness was also completely reasonable.
Yet this little eunuch looked rather ordinary in appearance and lacked any sense of delicacy, making him truly mismatched with the king.
After dismissing the extra attendants, only Qi Yan followed directly behind Nan Rongchen. Raindrops fell upon their umbrella, rendering the surroundings completely quiet.
Nan Rongchen was quite satisfied with this arrangement. It seemed that this assassin did possess one trait that wasn’t an act back when he was a carriage attendant: he talked very little.
Qi Yan held the purple bamboo umbrella handle in one hand and kept his other hand resting lightly on the hilt of the sword at his waist, following closely behind Nan Rongchen step by step in an attempt to figure out the insidious and cunning intentions of the tyrant before him.
Yet his vision was limited. Aside from that dark robe, all that met his eyes was a patch of blindingly white back of the neck. He felt inexplicably irritated, tightened his grip on the sword scabbard, and for a moment hatred welled up within him. He wished he could literally bite right through this tyrant’s neck, yet at the same time, he inappropriately recalled the bloodstain on Nan Rongchen’s chest from several hours ago.
Nan Rongchen brushed a sleeve that had been dampened by the rain: “Even if you hate Gu, you must still perform your duties well.”
Hearing this, Qi Yan tilted the umbrella toward him. This tyrant’s disposition truly bordered on the demonic. He probably had eyes growing on the back of his head, capable of bewitching people’s minds anytime and anywhere. He truly deserved to be killed.
With no more rain falling on him the rest of the way, Nan Rongchen couldn’t be bothered to care what Qi Yan was thinking.
Passing through three or five covered corridors, a completely different scene came into view: a few dilapidated side halls that could genuinely be considered humble dwellings compared to the main hall and the eastern and western halls.
Three years ago, Helian Yi was defeated and captured, and Sulei smoothly seized the opportunity to offer Helian Yi as a hostage to demonstrate their loyalty to Lin Yue.
The crown prince, who had been the most likely successor to the Sulei throne, became a hostage in another country, so the throne naturally fell to someone else, and the new king even shared a deep grievance with Helian Yi.
From afar, the guards saw two figures in black robes walking over, assuming they were just coming to vent their frustrations on Helian Yi once again. That barbarian had slaughtered plenty of Lin Yue soldiers, and even after being captured, he remained unyielding and unruly. He simply needed a good thrashing.
Upon seeing clearly who it was, the guards hurriedly dropped to their knees: “Greetings, Your Majesty!”
Nan Rongchen swept his gaze over the several dilapidated wooden doors and the ruined courtyard. The humiliating life Helian Yi had endured over the past three years was something he had brought about with his own hands.
“Where is Helian Yi? Gu wishes to see him.”
Qi Yan stood coldly to one side, hugging his sword. Lin Yue conquering his city was certainly hateful, but Sulei’s repeated provocations on the border back then were equally abominable. It would be best if these two could just tear each other apart.
The guard spoke without changing his expression: “Your Majesty, Helian Yi is currently changing his clothes in the side room to avoid offending the celestial countenance.”