Chapter 265: Scandal
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
It was purely by chance that Gu Shenwei had managed to locate Tie Hanfeng’s granddaughter as well as being able to save her life.
Three years ago, Xu Xiaoyi and Chu Nanping were captured in the Stone Castle. At that time, Gu Shenwei already made the resolve to defect and he decided to make some preparations in advance. So after rescuing the two, he immediately sent them to the Shu-lik country overnight. This move was later proven to be correct. When Shen Liang regained power and wanted to capture the witnesses again, he could not find any clues that remained in Jade City.
No one could think that an ordinary killer would have so much money. Golden Roc Fort had never investigated into this matter.
The pair of good friends came to Shu-lik City with childish appearances. They were carrying large stacks of silver notes, which amounted to more than one million taels. No one would dare to cash in too many silver notes in an unfamiliar place, as they would inevitably feel fearful.
Xu Xiaoyi decided to start from the field he was most familiar with. He brought Chu Nanping along with him and they both went to the square of the Shu-lik City brothel, where he had spent half a year there, and enjoyed all the happiness that gold and silver could buy.
While Xu Xiaoyi was indulging himself, Chu Nanping was practicing his swordcraft in the yard. The strange thing was that he was not influenced at all, as his state of mind was pure. The Hope Alley where he used to live was not a paradise. The sensual pleasures did not appeal to the youth swordsman’s emotionless heart at all.
After disappearing for half a year, Yang Huan, the killer who flew out of the Stone Castle on a Giant Red-crowned Roc, had re-emerged in the jianghu and had challenged the Golden Roc killers at several locations. The horrifying legends that spawned from it had reached all the way to Shu-lik City and it became the main topic of gossips. Everyone was more interested in the Man-eating Demon Bird and felt that the killer had been relying on its power to survive up until now.
Only Xu Xiaoyi was afraid of the killer. He was so frightened that, on that same day, he moved out of the brothel and took out the remaining silver notes to count. He realized that he couldn’t explain his indulgent behavior to his Brother Huan, but it was a good thing that he became very familiar with the ins and outs of Shu-lik City. He was confident enough that, if he started a business, then he would earn back the initial investments and earn even more profits within one year. However, this was not enough. He reorganized all the information he had heard during his time in the brothel, mainly because he felt that Brother Huan would be very interested in his intelligence gathering; this explanation should be enough to temporarily deal with this issue.
Not long afterward, someone really came to find Xu and Chu to give them a designated location to go and see “an old acquaintance”.
Xu Xiaoyi felt uneasy as he went there, because he did not want to mention about the money. He threw out the collected intelligence, including the gossip of the King of Shu-lik’s love affair that was circulating within small areas of the brothel industry.
It was said that the King of Shu-lik was once privately served by a famous prostitute, who even gave birth to an illegitimate child. The mother of the famous prostitute was also very famous. In the early years, she had moved from Jade City to this local area. Her name was Zi Linglong.
This name flashed in Gu Shenwei’s mind until Xu Xiaoyi kept saying an assortment of random information. He suddenly remembered. “Didn’t Master Shifu Tie Hanfeng previously say something about having affectionate memories for a woman with that name?”
Gu Shenwei was very interested in this matter despite being unclear in his thoughts about it. He did not believe in the gossip about the King of Shu-lik. Prostitutes often made up some stories to raise their own prices. Actually, Xu Xiaoyi did not believe it either. The only reason he said it was in order to make his intelligence appear “important”.
Xu Xiaoyi received instructions to continue to snoop around for news of this Zi Linglong pair of mother and daughter.
Zi Linglong had already passed away. The daughter had been a prostitute for a while. Later she married a good man. There was indeed a daughter who had been hiding in the house all the year round. None of the neighbors had seen much of this little lady. They only knew that she was named Tie Linglong, which did not follow her father’s surname.
Xu Xiaoyi really couldn’t find out anything else. This family was ordinary. In his opinion, it was impossible to have a relationship with the royal family. Just when he was about to give up, this ordinary family encountered an unusual misfortune: At night, a group of bandits had broken in and they killed the husband and wife as well as many servants. They also captured the little girl.
Xu Xiaoyi smelled the scent of a conspiracy. He became extremely excited and investigated everywhere. Finally, he found out that it was not a simple burglary. The objective of the bandits was clear, that was, to kill. The little girl should have been killed, but this group was very unprofessional. They failed to live up to the trust of the employer by kidnapping the little girl with the aim of selling her to human traffickers for an even larger sum of money.
Subsequently, the second group of bandits was hired and were given the order to chase and kill the human trafficker and all the slaves, and to not leave anyone alive. There was no specific mention of the little girl. The bandits were very dedicated. When they had almost completed the task, they were interrupted by the killer who had arrived just in time.
Xu Xiaoyi had not figured out who the mastermind was behind the scenes. As for Tie Linglong, she believed that her own biological parents had been killed, but her knowledge of the reasons was not clear.
Gu Shenwei did not bother to find her enemies for her because it was Tie Linglong’s own business. She should have hatred in her heart so that she would grow into a real killer and then avenge herself.
It was not until when he saw that the King of Shu-lik also had green eyes, when he realized that the little girl who he had rescued on a whim might have helped save his life. The rumors of the King privately visiting the brothels may have been true after all. These three borrowed blade murders were the reasons for Gu Shenwei’s discovery.
Xu Xiaoyi had not been able to provide more information. Gu Shenwei seriously asked Tie Linglong for the first time, “Why do you follow your grandfather’s surname if you have a father?”
Tie Linglong couldn’t explain since she had only seen her parents and two or three servants until she was ten years old. She wouldn’t know how strange it was to not follow her father’s surname, so she never questioned it. She only knew from her mother’s words that her grandfather was a well-known killer who was living in Jade City.
Her childhood memories were a complete blur. Under Gu Shenwei’s guidance, Tie Linglong tried hard to remember, and then she finally remembered a small detail during that ordinary life. When she was five or six years old, there was a young man with the same green eyes who often visited her. This person claimed to be her “brother” and had given her many gifts for about a year, and this “brother” never came back again.
On the day before the second assembly, Gu Shenwei and Xu Xiaoyi purposefully mined for intelligence and quickly pieced together the following facts: The eyes of King of Shu-lik and the Prince were all green, but Prime Minister Shi’s eyes were not the same. He had the same parents as the king, but his appearance was quite different. The mother of the King of Shu-lik came from a distant western country; hence his appearance was very different from the locals of the Shu-lik country.
There were too many eyes and ears of the prime minister around the King of Shu-lik. Thus, Gu Shenwei decided to start with the Prince to break the balance of the three plots.
The Prince had always been wary of his uncle, Prime Minister Shi. The people around him had been chosen by thousands of people to ensure that they were not part of his uncle’s surveillance network. Xu Xiaoyi sent a letter to the Prince through personal contacts to set up a meeting with him that night. There was only one sentence in the letter: “Green-eyed sister wants to see her brother.”
Gu Shenwei came to the appointed place with Tie Linglong, and the little girl could not recognize the “brother” in a hood. After a while, she was ordered to conduct a safety patrol outside.
The prince confessed to the Dragon King that the King of Shu-lik had an affair with Tie Linglong’s mother. This caused a stir in the palace, although it didn’t take long to subside. The king didn’t even know that he had an illegitimate daughter outside the palace.
A few years later, the Queen had heard some rumors and ordered the Prince to investigate. The Prince found that he had a younger sister. He had not told his mother and he also had not disclosed it to his father. Instead, he had secretly taken care of the family and had warned them not to let the daughter appear in front of any outsiders.
After a few more years, the Queen had heard from other sources that there was a little girl with green eyes in the city. The mother was that shameless woman. Hence, she had been so angry that she hired two assassins to cut down the weeds and dig out its roots. By the time the Prince discovered this, it was too late to stop it.
This was Tie Linglong’s life story. Gu Shenwei also revealed some secrets, and after a discussion with the Prince, they reached an agreement: The Prince would help the Dragon King borrow a tool for the Great Snowmountain. After that, he would prepare the proper arrangements for his sister to protect her from all harms again. Lastly, the Dragon King must keep Tie Linglong’s existence a secret and not spread out this royal scandal.
It was not an easy task to accuse two of the most important ministers of being treacherous as well as convincing the King of Shu-lik to believe any of that. The Prince secretly entered the palace to persuade the king to act out a play. This scene did not meet the requirements of royal etiquette, but it was the quickest way to obtain evidence.
In this way, everything went according to plan. Gu Shenwei killed Shangguan Tian in the chaos, and then left the palace at the moment when the guards left their posts, so as to prevent the king and the prince from wanting to kill.
He didn’t go back to his place of residence, and he didn’t see anyone. He left Shu-lik City and left the finishing touches to Fang Wenshi. He wanted to return to the Great Snowmountain as soon as possible in order to lead the swordsmen to make a surprise attack before Golden Roc Fort was fully prepared.
He had to meet someone in a small inn, which was a dozen miles away from Shu-lik City.
The killers in the Golden Roc security agency suddenly disappeared. Shangguan Hong knew that what he had expected would happen. Thus, he took all the money, took a horse, and lied about going out on a stroll. In fact, he quickly made his escape from Shu-lik City.
Shangguan Tian and the people in the security agency did not take this Master Hong seriously, but Gu Shenwei wanted to talk with him.
Shangguan Hong had not yet left the city very far before he was stopped by five Great Snowmountain swordsmen. He had never received training in high-level kung fu, thus his skills were not as good as an ordinary macheteman. After two or three moves, he was dragged down from his horse and was kidnapped away to the small inn, where they waited for the Dragon King to come and interrogate him.
Pressed for time, Gu Shenwei pulled out a saber as soon as he entered the house. He understood the nature of Master Hong and did not intend to beat around the bush. “Shangguan Tian is already dead.”
“Yes.” Shangguan Hong’s brain did not turn on for a moment, and he thought that he was an accomplice to Slave Huan and did not understand the threat in this sentence.
“Your surname is Shangguan, I have to kill you.”
Shangguan Hong smiled. This was not a calm smile, but a tacit smile. “Mister Zhang reminded me to tell you. “Why do you want to kill Master Hong? He is your most useful ally within Golden Roc Fort.’ Really, Slave Huan, I am willing to help you. You want revenge, and I… have little ambition. The people of Shangguan family are really just obstacles to me.”
Shangguan Hong was an obedient person. Sometimes he was too obedient. Gu Shenwei thought about it, he felt that Zhang Ji was also playing the trick of killing a person with a borrowed blade and simply did not want Master Hong to return to Golden Roc Fort alive.
The old-fashioned Zhang Ji hid his true purpose deeply. Gu Shenwei was unable to think for a while, but he did not want to become a scapegoat for anyone, so he placed the saber on Shangguan Hong’s shoulder. “You may be useful, but you have to give me some leverage so that I can believe you.”
Shangguan Hong remembered many horrifying legends about the killings made by Slave Huan and finally realized that the cold-headed youth was not a slave who he was familiar with. He immediately said what Zhang Ji taught him. “I, Zhang Ji and I arranged the plan that killed the Fifth Young Master, Shangguan Yi. This is a secret that no one else knows.”
Gu Shenwei had been paying attention to the movements of Golden Roc Fort. He knew that Shangguan Yi had committed suicide a year ago. It was not necessary to know whether or not it was related to Shangguan Hong. “This secret is useless. Even if I said it out loud, it would cause the Supreme King to like you even more.”
The saber slightly tilted. The sharp edge of the blade cut through the fabric of his clothes and on to his skin, which caused a small stream of fresh blood to flow along the blade.
In Shangguan Hong’s mind, Zhang Ji’s predictions had always been accurate. Why did it fail this time? Slave Huan should believe him, and even hug him, “Wait, wait.”
“OK.”
“I have another secret.”
Gu Shenwei just scared Master Hong a little, and he has already decided to open his mouth to stay alive. He did not expect for him to squeeze out another secret at all and said, “Speak.”
“It’s Lady Meng, she has a secret.”Shangguan Hong looked straight at the killer and completely forgot the differences between their past identities.
