From the Palace?
Hearing that, Sima Ray felt his heart trembled. Qin Yunuan’s words echoed in his mind. Was it true that Imperial Concubine Rong had been dead? The messages sent to him were all fake?
Sima Ray snatched the letter from Du Sheng’s hand. He glanced over it and raised his eyebrows to look at Qin Yunuan. She showed a sudden smile, holding her head up slightly. She said smoothly, “The emperor is terminally ill. Prince Ray, if you attack tomorrow, you will realize the great cause.”
When Qin Yunuan finished, she turned to give Sima Ray a casual glance. Sima Ray’s hands quivered imperceptibly. Words on the secret letter were exactly the same as what Qin Yunuan had said just now.
“Prince Ray, do you trust me now?” raising her eyebrows, Qin Yunuan looked extremely confident.
“Just trivial tricks,” Sima Ray threw the secret letter away contemptuously, “Are you expecting that I will believe that?”
“Prince Ray, if you don’t believe me, attack tomorrow then,” Qin Yunuan said in an ironic tone, “However, I’m afraid that you don’t dare to.”
Sima Ray turned and ordered to close the door. An evil smile appeared on his face, “Provocation is useless to me.”
Leaving the courtyard, Du Sheng had been following Sima Ray discreetly. Sima Ray looked rather unhappy. After all, Imperial Concubine Rong was now paramount and powerful. What’s more, she was in the palace. He, however, was no more than a prince who attempted to rebel. If Imperial Concubine Rong had betrayed him…
Thinking of this, Sima Ray would rather Imperial Concubine Rong had been dead.
“Take my order,” Sima Ray frowned, “Stop providing Imperial Concubine Yang with the antidote.”
Later the servant girl, Ning’er, came again and added some soothing fragrance for Qin Yunuan. Seeing that Qin Yunuan slept soundly on her bed, she didn’t dare to bother her, so she left with stealthy footsteps.
The moonlight poured in through the gap of the windows which was as wide as a pin. The house was pitch-dark. The sound of Ning’er closing the door was extremely distinct in the night. The moment the door was closed, a pair of clear, sharp pupils shone suddenly in the darkness. Qin Yunuan opened her eyes, calculated the time, and then closed her eyes slowly.
In the midnight, Sima Ray didn’t go to bed. He stared at the layout of the Royal Palace on the table. He drew a big, red circle on the sign of Rosefinch Gate. Thinking that Leng Changxi hacked off one’s head through only one move today, Sima Ray felt bad.
All of a sudden, there was a great noise outside. Since Sima Ray had ruled his army strictly, it shouldn’t be so noisy in the midnight unless something unusual happened. Putting on a robe, as soon as Sima Ray went out, he met Du Sheng coming to report, frustrated and exhausted, “Prince Ray, the house imprisoning Infanta Ping was on fire.”
At first, Sima Ray frowned, feeling worried. Then he focused on the issue, “Put out the fire, of course. But keep watching closely. I’m afraid that this evil woman has come up with an idea to run away.”
Qin Yunuan, a woman hard for him to predict and prevent.
“It’s hard, Prince Ray,” Du Sheng said while gasping, “It blows southeast wind tonight. When Infanta Ping’s house was on fire, it immediately got the barn burned. Now we are saving crops as well as Infanta Ping. It’s hard to distribute people here and there.”
A cunning hare has three holes to hide, not to mention a cunning fox like Sima Ray. This hiding place was only one of the barns Sima Ray had constructed secretly. It was very close to the palace, but it was really quiet. What’s more, it was the main barn which provided crops to the 30,000 armies of Jinling.
“Slut!” angrily, Sima Ray threw the wolf-hair writing brush with cinnabar on the tip to the ground. The cinnabar splattered on his face in dots, as dark red as the blood.
There were raging flames in the courtyard imprisoning Qin Yunuan. The fire had climbed up to the eave, keeping people from approaching it.
When Sima Ray arrived, the door was burned out of shape. Not far away, the barn was burning with crackles. Inside there was the top-class refined grain bought by Sima Ray from the regions south of the River, waiting for the day.
“What are you looking at? Save the person inside,” Sima Ray angrily rebuked those servant girls and soldiers who dared not to come forward because of the fire.
“Prince Ray. The fire is too big. The person inside must have been dead already,” a short one answered cautiously.
“Shut up,” Sima Ray snapped, “Qin Yunuan’s life belongs to me now. Even if she is going to die, she should be killed by me. Letting her be burned to death is too kind. You,” Sima Ray pointed at Du Sheng, “Go and save the person inside. I’ll see either the alive person or the body. Qin Yunuan, if you want to play tricks, I’ll play with you.”
Inside there were raging flames lighting up the sky. The beams were burned to slant. The crackles of the burning wood were terrifying. No matter how brave Du Sheng was, he didn’t dare to rush into the fire scene. Seeing that the way Sima Ray was staring at Du Sheng was getting more and more murderous, Du Sheng went limp and became incontinent. He peed in his pants.
Sima Ray kicked Du Sheng to his heart with great strength and scolded, “Junk.” Then he pointed at another person casually and ordered, “You go.”
“Prince Ray…” the people begged for mercy at once.
“Prince Ray, the way you behave is really heartless and uncaring,” all of a sudden, a familiar and strange voice of a woman came from behind Sima Ray’s back. Sima Ray frowned. When he turned around, he saw Qin Yunuan come in from outside the courtyard, spotless with a smile on her lips. However, she spoke with sarcasm, “You ask your heeler rush into the fire instead of you and die for you. Have you ever done something for them?”
“Catch her!” Sima Ray squinted.
The soldiers near Qin Yunuan stepped forward immediately. Thinking that Qin Yunuan was easy to catch because she was thin, they even threw away their personal weapons. To their surprise, they only took three steps before several secret darts shot from the darkness. After several rustling sounds, they directly pierced soldiers’ arms and wrists. The strength was so big that those darts seemed to have stuck into the bone, leaving a short blade outside only.
Without any injury, Qin Yunuan strode ahead, “What? Is there anybody who wants to try?”
Sima Ray frowned. It only took several hours for those master-hands to come to protect Qin Yunuan. Obviously, she had got in touch with outside. However, Sima Ray still got a fluke mind. He had nothing to afraid as long as Leng Changxi was not here. As for master-hands, he also had some with him.
Sima Ray stepped back and raised his hands suddenly. He waved his hands forwards. Several men wearing black Chinese-style jackets and trousers jumped from the top of a wall at once. They had excellent agility and marvelous light skills, selected by Sima Ray from millions of people to protect him.
“Catch her alive.” With Sima Ray’s command, these men in black moved forward in order, forming a battle formation that would let nothing escape. Laying siege to Qin Yunuan, they approached her step by step. The fire was still spreading. Qin Yunuan’s face appeared red in the light of the fire, but her eyes were still cool and calm like a pool in the autumn.
As the men in black were going to draw out the sword, a flash of cold light appeared, and there was the subtle sound of a sword striking the scabbard. The next moment, all the men in black stopped, staring at their companion walking in front of them. Roughly, there was no injury. However, on his neck, there was a hairline scar, bleeding little by little. His whole body went stiff, making no move.
Another man in black who had the closest relationship with him couldn’t help stepping ahead and touched him softly, “Big brother.”
Bang! Just by a soft touch the head of the man in black called “Big brother” fell off directly to the ground. The cut was neat.
Sima Ray’s pupils immediately enlarged. The skill like that, except…
“Prince Ray, what good mood you’re in! You have so many talented people working for you even if you are fleeing,” a pine-like figure strode out from the shadow when speaking leisurely. If not for the long sword holding in his hands, others would think that he was only a scholar instead of Leng Changxi, the mighty god of war in Qi.
“At last, you find here.” Although Sima Ray was worried about the appearance of Leng Changxi, he felt neither surprised nor afraid. The fact that Leng Changxi could find here in such a short time implied that Leng Changxi was qualified to be his opponent.
While Leng Changxi was speaking, he walked to Qin Yunuan and held her hands intimately. They looked into each other’s eyes with deep feelings, which with no doubt stimulated Sima Ray greatly.
“Prince Ray, my wife has been in your care for such a long time. Now she should come back with me,” Leng Changxi said calmly. He turned back and left without hesitation.
“Stop!” Sima Ray shouted, “You come and go according to your own will. Leng Changxi, you’re too casual.”
“Oh?” Leng Changxi turned back slowly and pointed at the man in black who died distressingly, “This man wouldn’t let me go just now. Anyone who had the same idea with him will end up dying like him.”
“Well,” Sima Ray approached him slowly, looked into his eyes, and said, “Leng Changxi, you’re clever. However, do you know a saying ‘A wise man can be ruined by his own wisdom’? I admit that you are good at taking advantage of people’s psychology. You know that I’m of a suspicious nature. You only need to catch the secret letter Imperial Concubine Yang gives to me halfway without any modification. You tell Qin Yunuan what the letter is about because you know that after Qin Yunuan tells me the content of the secret letter, I will absolutely doubt it. This is a method killing two birds with one stone. Firstly, it can provoke the master-servant relationship between Imperial Concubine Yang and me. Secondly, it will misguide my judgment on the situation. At first, I dare not to make a guess like that. After all, Qin Yunuan is your lifeblood. Aren’t you afraid of the possibility of me killing Qin Yunuan in anger or torturing her in a crueler way? I don’t know it until your appearance that instead of being afraid, you are sure that you can protect her well.”
Leng Changxi felt a little surprised about Sima Ray’s words just now. Sima Ray was definitely not a person who would accept the failure easily.
As expected, Sima Ray sneered suddenly when looking at Leng Changxi. His lips raised a little, filled with duplicity and complacency, “While you are sure that you can protect her well, you seem not to be sure that your heelers won’t betray you.”
Leng Changxi squinted slightly. He had found that there was something wrong with his heelers, but he never expected that they were used by Sima Ray.
Sima Ray snorted and pulled out a dark yellow secret letter. He threw it to the feet of Leng Changxi, raised his heads, and read its content aloud, “At a quarter to twelve, the general will certainly leave to save Infanta Ping.” Then Sima Ray chuckled, “Leng Changxi, you are sold out by the heeler you trust the most.”
