It was almost the end of the Hai Hour (21:00-22:59), and the whole imperial palace compound was very quiet.
The time had come for the guards outside the palace wall to come off duty, and there would be nobody patrolling the perimeter of the compound for the next half the duration of a burning joss stick (roughly three minutes), which was the very opportunity for the Concubine Jin and the others to make their escape.
Cui was sitting on the soft couch in the chamber, not daring to move an inch. Her cheeks were tear-stained all over, but she still didn’t dare leave, clenching her hands with all her might in spite of herself. Maybe because she had been subservient to the Concubine Jin for too long, it didn’t occur to her to go outside to yell for help. She was afraid of what the Concubine Jin was capable of, scared that the Concubine Jin might have all her family members killed.
…
Meanwhile, in the Court Prison, Fang Quan had been released by that fake prison guard. In horror, Fang Quan followed the man out of the cell. After finding that the man was the only one that had come to rescue him, he couldn’t help but ask, “Why are you the only one here? Where are the others? How are we supposed to make it out of this prison if nobody’s helping us?!”
“Don’t worry, Your Lordship. As long as you stay close to me, we will make it out of here,” replied the fake prison guard.
Rather dubious, Fang Quan followed the fake prison guard out of the cell and discovered that all the prison guards out there were lying on the ground unconscious. They seemed to be under the influence of some kind of hypnotic drug.
“They’re drugged and will come around in an hour. The shift change is also in an hour and the relief guards will come here when the time comes. I’ll go and set the other two lords free. Please undress this prison guard and change into his uniform. It’ll buy us some time after we get out of here,” explained the fake prison guard.
Fang Quan looked at the comatose prison guard on the ground, clenched his teeth and then crouched down to start undoing the prison guard’s uniform. When he had removed the uniform from that guard and was about to change into it, the other two courtiers showed up with the fake prison guard.
“Lord Fang!”
“It’s really you!”
“You are…”
“I’m changing into a prison guard’s uniform to disguise myself,” said Fang Quan, pausing only briefly before continuing. His sense of dignity seemed to pale into insignificance compared to survival.
The other two courtiers, after realizing what was going on, also quickly found two unconscious prison guards and started undoing their uniform. They had agree to make an attempt to escape because they’d valued their lives. At this point in time, it was no good talking about anything, and the right thing to do was disguise themselves and then make their escape as soon as possible.
All the cells of the Court Prison were half-underground, and there were two rows of them: Row A and Row B, which were opposite each other with a long broad passageway in between. Locked in cells of Row A were convicted felons, and in cells of Row B unconvicted prisoners like Fang Quan. Both rows were heavily guarded.
Either of the two rows of cells had only one exit.
The fake prison guard had drugged all the real prison guards and the prisoners all of whom were geriatrics. After Fang Quan and the other two courtiers changed into prison guard’s uniform, the fake prison guard started leading them through the passageway. It was very quiet and unconscious prison guards could be occasionally seen lying on the ground.
“After we get to the gateway, Your Lordships will have to wait for a few moments. Some people will come to our help,” said the fake prison guard.
“Who?” asked Fang Quan.
The fake prison guard twisted his head around and answered with a grin, “Your rescuers, of course.”
What with his heavy, brutal-looking face, his grin was the last thing anybody would describe as pleasant. Though Fang Quan had seen it several times during the past couple of days, the sight of it still sent a chill down his spine. The other two courtiers were no exception, feeling the hair on the backs of their necks rising as they saw the fake prison guard grin.
Fang Quan, however, apart from finding the grin an eyesore, also felt a little disgruntled, because this fake prison guard’s evasive reply struck him as derisive, and his tone of voice also sounded faintly condescending, which made Fang Quan feel uncomfortable. As a result, after the fake prison guard pivoted around to lead the way, the expression in Fang Quan’s eyes became somewhat hostile when he looked at the back of the prison guard.
As though he had eyes in the back of his head, the fake prison guard sensed it and said, “It’s totally unnecessary for you to doubt me, Your Lordship. I’m here to bust you out, and that’s all you need to know.”
Caught unawares, Fang Quan was taken aback and no longer dared stare at the back of the fake prison guard with unfriendly eyes.
When they were about to reach the gateway, the fake prison guard came to a halt. “Please wait here for a moment, Your Lordships. I’ll go up there and check first, and I’ll give you a signal when you’re good to go.”
The three of them agreed.
The fake prison guard ascended the stairs step by step, took a turn at the upstairs landing and disappeared from view. They could only hear the sound of his footsteps.
Fang Quan became somewhat suspicious, because that man seemed to be deliberately making his footsteps heavier than usual. The previous couple of times he’d met this man, the latter had always shown up soundlessly as though he floated around instead of walking, and there had been no footsteps whatsoever.
Fang Quan suddenly came to realize one thing – this unidentified rescuer didn’t seem to be a military man. Though not a military officer, Fang Quan knew that all those serving in the army had a special air about them, or, to put it differently, there was something unique about their bearing, but this man who had come to rescue them didn’t have a shred of it. On the contrary, the air the man emanated struck him as sinister and unpleasant. When the man was walking in this dark prison, he seemed to be in such perfect harmony with his surroundings as though he were about to merge into them.
Fang Quan was torn between surprise and incredulity, wondering who this man was exactly, and what kind of men the Jiangzhou had sent here to rescue them.
After about the duration of a burning joss stick (roughly five minutes), footsteps issued from the stairs once again. Fang Quan and the other two immediately tensed their backs, staring nervously at the landing of the stairs, fearing that it would be somebody else that showed up, because in that case, their attempt to escape would be exposed.
“Come up here, Your Lordship. It’s time to go,” said a familiar voice. Fortunately, it was that fake prison guard who came into view.
At the sight of him, Fang Quan heaved a sigh of relief and hastened up the stairs with the other two. When he had walked up to the man, Fang Quan couldn’t help but ask, “You’re not a military man. Who are you exactly? Are you really from Jiangzhou?”
The man gave a smile. Although his fierce-looking face made his smile very frightening, his tone of voice was free of annoyance. “You’re a very smart man, Your Lordship. I’m indeed not a military man. I’m just a killer hired by the commander of the Jiangzhou garrison. We have a deal with him and our job is to bust you out of this place.”
Fang Quan’s eyes widened. A killer?
As if something had loosened his tongue, the man added, “The first task of mine is to rescue the Eighth Prince and the Concubine Jin. The price for their lives are very, very high. The second task is to rescue you, Your Lordship. Of course, your life is slightly cheaper than the Eighth Prince’s and the Concubine Jin’s, but the price is still fairly decent, otherwise I wouldn’t have come here. As for these two lords, they’re kind of a bonus. I’ll charge extra for getting them out, or not – if I’m in a good mood.”
These words chilled Fang Quan and the other two courtiers to the marrow of their bones. On one hand, they felt terribly humiliated, but on the other hand they also felt that in this man’s eyes, money was the only yardstick for measuring people’s lives, which struck them as blood-curdling. For this man, their lives were like commodities, and he had no loyalty to anybody or any sense of complete obedience. Once things went south, he might abandon them like useless pawns at any moment, and his only loss would merely be some money…
After the fake prison guard said that, his amused eyes raked the three courtiers’ faces, taking in all their facial expressions. Then he added, “Although we’re killers and do things for money, there’s no need for you worry, Your Lordships. Apart from money, we also value our credibility, and for the sake of that alone, we won’t give up on you easily. We’ll get you out more safely than those who strictly follow orders could, because after all, it’ll undermine our reputation if the goods are damaged.”
However, none of the three courtiers found these words comforting.
Cold sweat was breaking out on the three of them profusely all along as they ascended the short flight of stairs. When they finally reached the entrance, they were greeted by a strong smell of blood.
The guards responsible for guarding the entrance and the passageway had died soundlessly in this place. The spooky part was that they were still standing bolt upright, either propped against spikes behind them or leaning against walls. They seemed to be still dutifully guarding the prison, but actually they were dead already, because dark red blood was spurting quickly from the wounds in their necks down into their armor. What with the perfect cover of night, nobody would be able to find out unless they smelled the blood and looked at the guards carefully enough.
This scene chilled Fang Quan and the other two courtiers to the bone.
“Let’s go. Soon someone will come here to check. You’ll never get a second chance if you don’t leave right away,” said the fake prison guard. He didn’t at all feel there was anything wrong with this scene in front of them. As though the eerie horrifying sight and the rank scent of blood was some kind of enjoyable scenery to him, a smile curled the corners of his mouth.
Fang Quan and the other two, not daring linger for a single extra moment or utter another word, followed in the wake of the fake prison guard and walked out of the long passageway.
Outside the entrance of the passageway was a vast square, and on the other side of the square was the outer wall of the imperial city, which was heavily guarded.
“Apart from those guards, there are also some men hidden on the ramparts. Every inch of this place is watched. How do we get through?” said Fang Quan.
So far he still hadn’t seen any of the rescuers that the fake prison guard had mentioned.
“Well, given the current circumstances, our only option is to fight our way out. Let’s go, Your Lordships. Whatever you do, don’t lag behind,” the fake prison guard said, raised his hand and whistled, and with that six men in black suddenly emerged from each of the two sides.
Those men grabbed Fang Quan’s and the other two courtiers’ arms and abruptly started dragging them towards the city gates.
The whistle had already attracted the guards’ attention and soon they were charging in this direction from all sides. “ASSASSIN!” someone yelled.
“Restrain the assassins!”
How they made it through the city gates was a mystery to Fang Quan and the other two courtiers. When he tripped and almost fell, a man in black clicked his tongue in annoyance and the next moment Fang Quan found himself on someone’s back. When his head stopped spinning and the nauseous sensation ebbed away, they had already rushed through the city gates. Guards were flooding towards them to the deafening drumbeats of alarm emanating from behind them.
Fang Quan flicked a backward glance and what he saw made he feel as though his insides were turning into ice. This was how these people got them out? By fighting? How were they supposed to make it out of the capital city if this was the plan?
“SHUT THE GATES!”
On hearing these words, Fang Quan blacked out.
There was no telling how long the man carrying him had run when he came around and heard someone call, “Father!”
It was the Concubine Jin’s voice. Fang Quan hurriedly opened his eyes to look around him and found that they had reached the city gates. Both the Concubine Jin and the Eighth Prince were present. To his surprise, apart from the two of them, the Concubine Liu and the Ninth Prince were also present. They were not dead. Instead, they had also been brought out of the city. At this moment, the two of them were looking at them in terror. Unlike Fang Quan and the others who were desperate to escape from the city, the Concubine Liu, holding the Ninth Prince in her arms, only felt fear.
