"Probably. Which noble doesn't have multiple wives and concubines? Let alone a prince? Though the Third Prince is still young, so he likely has fewer women attending to him." Sui Yunzhu paused in his work and glanced at An Jiu. "Why the sudden interest in these things?"
"Just curious," An Jiu replied, not mentioning that she had been watching live performances daily.
"Who's responsible for guarding the inner chambers at Lou Mingyue's place?" she asked.
Hearing this, Sui Yunzhu could roughly guess what had happened and chuckled. "Not sure, but I’d wager it’s Sun Dixian."
Seeing An Jiu’s questioning look, he explained, "The situation between Qiu Yunxiao and Sun Dixian is obvious at a glance. Qiu Yunxiao would naturally look out for Sun Dixian a bit, assigning her to the inner chambers. That way, he can also spend time with Miss Lou, whom he desires but can’t have. Why wouldn’t he take the opportunity?"
An Jiu gave him a deep look. "Didn’t expect you to be such a gossip."
"Gossip?" Sui Yunzhu asked.
After thinking for a moment, An Jiu told him, "It roughly means being well-informed."
Sui Yunzhu smiled modestly. "Not at all. Actually, the biggest gossip among us is Lord Gao. Don’t let his quiet demeanor fool you—he’s got a head full of secrets!"
The two were speaking seriously when Li Qingzhi returned. Unable to bear his guilt, he had gone to deliver some food he’d managed to get to Gao Dazhuang today.
Li Qingzhi’s face was half-covered, with streaks of blood on his forehead, as if he’d been caught in a rain of needles.
"Got swatted by the master’s broom, didn’t you?" Sui Yunzhu clicked his tongue and pulled out a bottle of medicine from his sleeve, tossing it over. "Put some on quickly."
Li Qingzhi caught the bottle and examined it carefully. "How rare. You’re actually willing to give me medicine from Miraculous Doctor Mo?"
Sui Yunzhu had gone through great lengths to obtain two bottles of medicine from Mo Sigui and usually hesitated to use them.
"Well, it’s only because you took the beating for the two of us," Sui Yunzhu said.
An Jiu also pulled out a few bottles from her person and tossed them to him. "Here, take these too!"
Li Qingzhi knew An Jiu was close to Mo Sigui and that all the medicine she used came from him. Overjoyed, he accepted them and waved them at Sui Yunzhu in a show of triumph.
Sui Yunzhu sighed. "I should’ve gone to take the beating instead!"
Though he said this, there was no jealousy in his tone—just a casual joke before he returned to tending his vegetables.
As noon approached, Sui Yunzhu washed his hands and went to prepare lunch.
Their existence in the palace was concealed, so no one prepared meals for them daily. The Crane Control Army sent provisions once a month, and they had to solve the problem of meals themselves. Thus, the task rotated among them. But after tasting the food made by An Jiu and Li Qingzhi, Sui Yunzhu had taken over the cooking duties—not out of altruism, but purely for self-preservation.
The other two were more than happy to eat ready-made meals.
Li Qingzhi sat down beside An Jiu to bask in the sun. After a long silence, he sighed. "Living these peaceful days here, looking back at the border, it all feels like a dream. If His Majesty could see it with his own eyes, he probably wouldn’t be able to rest easy cultivating the Tao!"
Listening to Li Qingzhi’s lament about the state of the nation, An Jiu thought to herself that if he were the one guarding the Crown Prince’s chambers, he’d probably come out feeling like the sky was falling. After all, if this generation failed, there was still hope in the next—except the next generation might turn out even worse.As Li Qingzhi had feared. While the palace enjoyed clear skies and bright sunshine, the border regions were already engulfed in the flames of war.
The Liao army, as if gone mad, rampaged across the frontier, burning, killing, and looting, having "visited" sixty percent of the cities.
The imperial court had explicitly forbidden border residents from migrating inward. Unable to enter, and with the borders difficult to defend tightly, the regions of Hedong Road, Western Hebei, and Eastern Hebei bordering the Liao became scenes of hell on earth. Mountains of corpses and rivers of blood were everywhere, with nine out of ten homes emptied. The border garrisons remained on constant alert, without even time to bathe. After half a month, every soldier looked as if they had crawled out of a pool of blood and filth.
Ling Ziyue stood atop the city wall, hands clasped behind his back, gazing into the distance where corpses littered the ground.
A few days prior, a fierce battle had taken place here. At the time, two women who had stayed by his side had joined forces to assassinate the Liao army’s leader but fell short and were captured alive by the enemy.
Ling Ziyue didn’t know who they were, but he could tell their attempt to kill the Liao leader was a ruse—their true goal was to be taken prisoner. Recalling the resolute determination in the women’s eyes, he couldn’t help but sigh heavily. Even women had such courage, yet the Song court lacked it entirely.
In the Liao’s Central Capital military camp, the commander’s seat was draped with a snow-white tiger pelt. Xiao Zhenning, dressed in Khitan casual attire, reclined in his chair, sipping tea as his tiger-like eyes studied the two women bound tightly below the dais, lost in thought.
"General, aren’t these Ling Ziyue’s women?" one of the officers asked.
The other feasting generals slowed their movements and turned their attention to the head seat.
"What do you say?" Xiao Zhenning asked the women below.
Soldiers stepped forward to remove the cloth gags from their mouths.
One of the women glared coldly at him and spat, "One day, my husband will lead his army straight into Shangjing!"
This was an outright admission of their connection to Ling Ziyue.
Xiao Zhenning burst into laughter. "The Northern Court will be delighted to see Ling Ziyue’s women! Guards! Tie these two up and deliver them to the Northern Court’s king."
"Xiao Zhenning, you beast! We’ll haunt you even as ghosts!"
Seeing them attempt to bite their tongues, nearby soldiers immediately seized their jaws. But one soldier was a step too late—one woman’s mouth filled with blood, and she soon breathed her last.
The other had her jaw dislocated, her eyes bloodshot as she glared at Xiao Zhenning with venomous hatred.
Only then did Xiao Zhenning truly believe they were Ling Ziyue’s women. He had heard Song women valued chastity highly. If they were mere assassins, they wouldn’t have killed themselves so easily—after all, had they been a moment slower, both would have been corpses!
The woman dragged away was not Ling Ziyue’s woman, but the hatred in her eyes was no less real.
She was the last surviving member of Wei Yue sent into Liao territory. They had infiltrated half a year ago, killing two high-ranking Liao officials with only two losses at the time. But when attempting to assassinate the Northern Court’s king, Yelü Jinglie, only two remained. Their reason for seeking Ling Ziyue wasn’t to escape but to return in another form—to kill again.
They had studied the temperaments of several Liao officials and predicted that claiming to be Ling Ziyue’s women would ensure they were sent before Yelü Jinglie once more.
Among their group, she wasn’t the strongest in martial arts, but she was the only one whose appearance remained unknown. Even if Yelü Jinglie doubted her, it didn’t matter—so long as Ling Ziyue acknowledged her.
They had left a letter on Ling Ziyue’s desk. He would surely cooperate.As long as she survived by Yelü Jinglie's side, she would surely get the chance to strike! (To be continued...)
OpenNovel