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It wasn’t that Bai Jing’an wanted to let the situation escalate, but the corpses obviously belonged to more than one person. Judging from the fragments of clothing, once they found out their identities, it would definitely make a list that would make his scalp numb, so he couldn’t simply order the bodies — likely belonging to high-ranking officials — to be burned.
Although rain could wash away bloodstains, it couldn’t erase the smell of death.
Human remains covered the ground, all of whom had died during the previous night and gone unnoticed due to heavy rain impacting the Guards’ ability to patrol. Nor had the Guards found any traces of assassins or when the bodies were cut up and placed into words. The assassins’ methods were cruel, with men and women of all ages present at the scene. It wasn’t long before one of Bai Jing’an’s subordinates approached with a report.
“Sir, so far we’ve confirmed that the deceased include two ministers from the Ministry of Revenue, two lieutenants from the army, and a tax officer working in Tianyan City surnamed Cai.”
“So many? Let Adjutant Chen Liang take a team to temporarily seal up the entire Yelu Street,” Bai Jing’an ordered.
“But there are so many nobles going through Yelu Street, if we block them I’m afraid there’ll be a lot of trouble.”
Bai Jing’an’s eyebrows twisted as he shouted back, “Isn’t there trouble now?”
This event really shocked the whole of Tianyan, soon the sentence made of corpses became the new gossip around town after ‘all freeze bar none’. Even the children running around on the streets who didn’t understand its meaning were talking about it.
There is no justice in this world, so you should live and die for your beliefs.
It wasn’t surprising that the emperor summoned Bai Jing’an in a fury.
“Who did this, who!”
Bai Jing’an prostrated as he replied, “Your Majesty, I do not know yet.”
A cup of tea flew towards him and smacked him straight in the chest, splashing him with hot tea.
“What am I feeding your Iron-Clad Guards for?” the emperor thundered.
“Your Majesty! There are many victims this time and they all appear unrelated, from the highest minster to the most ordinary tax officer. There is no connection between them at present, so I need more time to verify it.”
“Your Majesty!”
Another voice came out from behind a partition, but while the arrival of the Observatory Master Qu Lingxin made the emperor even angrier, the emperor didn’t target him. Instead, he pointed at Bai Jing’an. “Just watch, We know that this Guard commander will be replaced sooner or later!” he scolded.
“Your Majesty, you need not be angry, this is not the first day Tianyan had assassins running rampant. Although this time is indeed different from before…” Qu Lingxin said.
“You also see that it’s different. Lingxin, do you have any clues?”
“I stand by my initial judgement, Your Majesty.”
The emperor disagreed with a wave of his hand. “You’ve seen it too that Lan Jue isn’t ambitious. It was reasonable when you said he killed Zhang Fengyu — We heard that Zhang Fengyu rejected Lan Jue’s marriage proposal and humiliated him in public — but the victim this time has never even met Lan Jue.”
“‘Autumn brings winter’s frost, all freeze bar none.’ Has Your Majesty heard of this line?” Qu Lingxin asked in reply. “Regardless of if the person who wrote it had the intentions, he is now Lan Jue’s man, and today’s sentence ‘there is no justice in this world’ perfectly matches the poem. The stars have guided us to look towards Western Tang, Your Majesty, and when I deduced the secrets of heaven, this is the conclusion I reached — the one who will stir chaos in the world originates from the south, and Yinghuo’s light faintly points towards Western Tang. Although it still belongs to Tianyan now, if Your Majesty allows the Lord of Western Tang to return south, the predicted future may really come true!”
Seeing the emperor make no reply, Qu Lingxin continued, “We have now reached a turning point — the evil star has descended, or at least that’s what the people are saying. Your Majesty, do you intend to let this situation ferment?”
Astrology was a very mysterious thing to Bai Jing’an, who considered it little more than a pastime for noble ladies. However, the emperor believed in it. Qu Lingxin could rely on just a star chart to lead the emperor’s court as he wished, with a foundation even more solid than that of the Grand Princess’ which she built with years of strategising. Although he was disdainful, he didn’t dare to show any of it.
The Observatory Master’s erratic gaze fell on Bai Jing’an, and after a long, silent stare, he said, “Commander Bai’s presence is no longer required, you can go.”
“Yes, please excuse this minister.”
Deputy Commander Chen Liang, who came with Bai Jing’an, silently glanced at Qu Lingxin, and as he retreated, the man’s misty gaze pierced through the void to land on him, causing him to almost trip.
Fortunately, Bai Jing’an blocked his line of sight.
* * *
Yelu Street reopened within half a day. This was Tianyan’s most prosperous district, the city’s economy would be seriously impacted if it was shut down for any longer, and moreover, those high-ranking court officials who liked to put on airs of elegance would never accept it. Now, the corpses that had been washed pale by rain were nowhere to be found.
Lan Jue could hardly conceal the disgust he felt towards the drunken noblemen present when he followed Chu Xiang into Chunjiang Pavilion.
The brothel madam thought he was dissatisfied with the maid who greeted them for being too ugly, so she hurriedly asked a Peony to receive them, completely skipping the step of pleading for an audience.
Chu Xiang couldn’t help but sigh. He had to spend half a month’s time to meet Bai Mo once, but Lan Jue only needed to poke his foot through the door. Evidently, no matter how unwelcome the Lord of Western Tang was, he wasn’t someone the brothel would dare to take lightly.
As soon as the door closed and a maid stepped up to guard it, Bai Mo, the Peony madam, transformed into Mo Shuning, the leader of an assassin organisation. She knelt before him and touched her head to the ground, which Lan Jue peaceably received before pulling her upright.
“I never thought that Sir Mo’s daughter would end up like this.”
Bai Mo smiled bitterly but quickly recovered. She waved her hand to summon a maid, whose body emitted clicking sounds as her limbs lengthened. She turned out to be a man who was using a bone shrinking technique.1An actual real life skill, though not as fantastical as in novels. It involves habitually dislocating joints to achieve hypermobility, then relying on the strength of your muscles to move in certain ways which gives the illusion of having no bones. Similar to contortionists. Soon, he returned to his original appearance and kowtowed to Lan Jue.
“This is my younger brother, Mo Shuchong. He was very young when our home was ransacked, so I was able to get him out by disguising him as a girl. My brother and I wandered for years until we joined the Liwei Court assassins and came under the command of their leader. Later, by chance, my brother killed the leader, which allowed us to escape his clutches and no longer be controlled and used. However… We have been living in hiding for so many years and don’t know how to do anything other than kill, so I could only take over as the new leader.”
“Liwei Court?” Lan Jue said slowly, as if savouring the words.
“Evil runs rampant when ghosts roam at night. If Lord Lan didn’t retain us, we would be no more than ghosts running around in this troubled world.”
Lan Jue glanced over at Chu Xiang. “You could actually find the infamous assassin syndicate Liwei Court just by hanging around the red light district.”
Chu Xiang didn’t explain, Bai Mo was the one to say with a smile, “It isn’t so strange, for those working in this field, you need to do everything in your power to hide somewhere many people pass through. Therefore, taverns, teahouses, and inns are all good choices, but as a woman, it isn’t appropriate to show up at taverns or inns, so the only choice left is a brothel.”
Liwei Court’s core members who followed Bai Mo numbered eighteen elite assassins. Except for Mo Shuchong, they were all women.
“This place wasn’t chosen casually — for most people, if they’re engaged in a career that shouldn’t see the light of day, such as killing people, then they want to be as unremarkable as possible, the kind that you don’t glance twice at. But we’re different. If you have no beauty and become one of the greeting girls outside, there’s nothing you can do if the target is someone of high birth; but you can’t be too beautiful either, because Peonies like me see too few guests. It’s best to be only slightly famous like the girls I have with me, who can both go to high-profile banquets and see wealthy benefactors.”
“You don’t have anyone planted among the public to deal with ordinary targets?”
“You must be joking, who would spend money to buy the lives of people from poor families? It’s not worth it at all,” she sneered.
A brief silence descended in the room until Bai Mo calmly changed the topic.
“My assassins work three people to a team: one assassin and two scouts. The scouts are responsible for supporting the assassin by preparing supplies, making a plan, hiding the evidence afterwards, and so on. So right now we actually have fifty-four people, as well as myself and seven informants who do not participate in the killing. I can absolutely guarantee their loyalty.”
“You people were the ones who did it last night?” Lan Jue asked.
“Yes, I was the one who ordered them to do it. Regarding the victims, I used Your Excellency’s information network to select people who were involved with the slavery bill that was enacted last year,” Chu Xiang answered in Bai Mo’s place.
Lan Jue scoffed. “You dare to make your own decisions?” He only asked Chu Xiang to deal with the consul, yet he staged a drama that shocked the entire capital.
Although, it was indeed wonderful.
Faced with this question, Chu Xiang couldn’t say that he forgot because he was used to being a commanding officer. He could only say, “Your Excellency is merciful, it’s better to leave this kind of dirty work to this minister.”
Within his sleeves, Lan Jue’s fingers twitched slightly at the way the man lowered his eyes as he spoke in a very normal tone… if it weren’t for the unsuitable circumstances, Lan Jue even wanted to throw him against the wall by his collar and ask, why should you bear this for me? There were rumours of the evil star swirling throughout the world, so this person wanted to take on the label for himself and leave his emperor with a sparkling clean reputation? Chu Hexing hadn’t gone to school and didn’t know of human nature, could he not know? If the words ‘evil’ or ‘demon’ fell on his head, what would history books in future generations say about him?
Lan Jue had always hated the power the government held to play tricks, but now that someone plotted against him yet it was for his own sake, he felt like the blaze in his chest would burn down the building.
But, enduring it, he turned to Bai Mo and praised, “The Iron-Clad Guards are helpless, Miss Mo is indeed skilled.”
Silver Empress III had been hung majestically on Lan Jue’s waist. Although Longque had a grand name, no one had seen what it looked like; except for someone like Chu Xiang who knew all the ins and outs, no one would think of violently prying away the sword’s scabbard, so neither would they know that Longque’s original wooden shell contained a weapon of the future.
Xie Zhiwei rapidly scanned Lan Jue’s physiological status and reported to Chu Xiang, “Captain. Your lord is currently very angry, I recommend not irritating him.”
“I forgot, I really just forgot to tell him, why didn’t you remind me?” Chu Xiang replied through the nanobot communication channel.
“…I didn’t remember either!” Xie Zhiwei retorted bluntly. “You’re the one who’s the captain, I’m just a poor AI who can only follow orders.”
Although the AI said that Lan Jue was inexplicably angry, he showed none of it on the surface, causing Chu Xiang to break out into a cold sweat. The man was the lord of a principality after all, one that may become a monarch with great achievements, so he was extraordinarily careful to be gentle and respectful as he knelt behind him, acting like the perfect attendant.
“Captain, for some reason, your lord is even angrier now,” Xie Zhiwei said.
Chu Xiang: “…”
The undoubtedly angry Lan Jue was calmly discussing with Bai Mo how to deal with the consul.
“The consul has many people around him. We understand your goals, but even if he is killed, the chain of interests regarding the road to the southern border will not be broken. We’ll need to consider the plan carefully,” Bai Mo said, “and this can be considered our Liwei Court’s sincere gift to you. Besides, Western Tang will be our families’ home in the future.”
Author:
Lan Jue: Oh no, my heart thumped!
Chu Xiang is acting, Lan Jue’s favorability goes ↓↓↓; Chu Xiang accidentally forgets to act and shows his true colours, Lan Jue’s favorability explodes.
Lord Lan will perform ‘arrogance’ for everyone to see.
……
There’s an amazing person in the comments section, she accurately pointed out that with Xie Zhiwei there, there’s no chance for Lord Lan to cheat. He’ll be monitored 24/7 and anything he does will be reported to the captain in real time…
……
Some students with face-con will be disappointed — although Qu Lingxin looks good, he is indeed a villain at the moment…
Translator:
Advance notice that this novel will be dropped after chapter 22.
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- 1An actual real life skill, though not as fantastical as in novels. It involves habitually dislocating joints to achieve hypermobility, then relying on the strength of your muscles to move in certain ways which gives the illusion of having no bones. Similar to contortionists.
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