Translator: Henyee Editor: Henyee
Fu Yuan had just been about to serve King Dari when the assassin broke in and killed him. Those five children and maidens whom he had used to practice kung fu, easily broke free and tore one of their master’s leg and arm each into pieces. In their state of incomprehensible insanity, they might even have eaten part of them.
This was all Gu Shenwei had heard of the whole process. The assassination had taken place a quarter of an hour before Shangguan Yun and Zhang Ji went to the feast, and the two reported the news with incredible speed. The Dragon King and his counselor, however, were unable to keep up with the latest news because they were preoccupied by their preparation for the guests.
Fang Wenshi felt ashamed because he had failed to defeat the school teacher in front of the Dragon King. And the intelligence system he had built himself also did not work in time.
The feast ended hastily, and Fang Wenshi left the camp that very night. After wandering around aimlessly, he found that the situation was much more serious than he had previously thought. But he could only get a general idea of the assassination process from street gossip, and those officials who had taken gold and silver from him had suddenly became honest and reserved. Not only did they refuse to accept any more bribes, but several of them also did not even show up.
“It must have been King Kuari who interfered,” Fang Wenshi said indignantly, the last bit of favorable impression he had of King Kuari gone. “We are isolated.”
“We’ve always been isolated.” Gu Shenwei did not feel any pain from the betrayal. In his eyes, the reactions of the Norland officials were rather normal because the assassination of King Dari’s favorite minion was like a declaration of war. Who would want to take a stand carelessly at such a time and possibly incur a fatal disaster? What confused him was why Fu Yuan had been abandoned so quickly when he was still useful to King Kuari in helping him set up a seemingly powerful opponent.
The death of Fu Yuan also caused a series of side effects. There was no need for the officials to report this because the rumors were already everywhere. Long Fanyun had just gone out one time but with just that he brought back more news than the counselor, most of which had questionable authenticity.
It was said that the death of King Dari’s favorite minion had scared him out of his wits. At first, he intended to lead his army to attack King Kuari and avenge his attendant, but then he wanted to run to the palace to complain to the Khan. At last, motivated by his fear of King Kuari, he actually escaped from the Royal Court. Some said that he was going to a tribe that was loyal to him, while others said that he wanted to mobilize the army to come back to fight with his opponent.
At first, Fang Wenshi was still able to leave the camp and ask around for information, but soon the streets became unsafe. Brigades of cavalry rampaged about, and no one could tell which king they belonged to. The residents of the Royal Court hid in their tents and put away all their necessities. People were all well dressed, ready to move. The horses were already tied up in the doorway so that they could flee at any time.
That night, the whole Royal Court was in turmoil. The internal war had seemed to break out in advance, even though the Khan was still alive. It was not until noon the next day that everyone finally realized that they had all overreacted, especially King Dari.
King Dari thought that it was his nephew who was going to attack him. But actually, in less than two hours after the assassination of Fu Yuan, an assassin also appeared in King Kuari’s palace, his target precisely the king. This time, however, the assassination failed, and the assassin was captured alive.
King Kuari’s reaction was calm and steady. Instead of making a fuss, he immediately took the assassin into custody and asked the officials of the Khan to interrogate him personally. And it was this man’s confession that convinced the Khan that the whole riot was a huge misunderstanding.
After receiving the assurance of the Khan, the runaway King Dari quickly returned to the Royal Court. He then sent his trusted men to participate in interrogating the assassin until he finally admitted that the assassination was not a conspiracy planned by his nephew.
The assassin was Shangguan Shaomin’s lover.
Lots of people couldn’t accept the statement when it first came out and thought it was just a cover to conceal the truth. But more and more people began to believe it as the details came out. As a result, a great turmoil which had nearly divided the Norland was now a murderous crime of passion.
The assassin was a killer disciple who had given up halfway. He was recommended to the East Castle by the big young master Shangguan Chui. After Shangguan Chui’s death, he voluntarily quit and returned to his lord’s house as a servant. It was in this process that he fell in love with the miss and decided to marry her for the rest of his life.
His servant name at the castle was Servant Ke. In order to marry the miss publicly, he gathered a large sum of money, bought his own freedom two years ago and then started wandering outside. He also went back to his original name, Feng Qin.
Not many people knew what Feng Qin had been doing exactly in the past two years, but it was more or less raiding and pillaging. Either way, he had amassed a great fortune and planned to wash his identity clean outside Jade City before returning to the castle to seek a marriage alliance from his former lord.
Their idea was very simple. Since Shangguan Chui had already died, the young lady was like a superfluous person to the Shangguan family. As long as they had enough money, their marriage shouldn’t have been a big problem.
But when Feng Qin hurried back to Jade City, the news he received was like a thunderbolt from the blue. Even so, he didn’t give up and instead ran all the way to the Royal Court.
Two years of making a living by wandering from place to place had washed away his killer’s mindset developed from the brutal training in East Castle, but his killing techniques had remained. The boy had grown into a ruthless robber. He could have snuck the young lady out, but he couldn’t bear that his woman had been insulted, even if the insult was only verbal.
Fu Yuan paid the price for his excessive performance. He shouted a lot of obscenities at the gate of Golden Roc Castle camp, each of which was enough to irritate Feng Qin into hacking him to pieces.
Feng Qin, who already easily indulged in killing, then rushed to King Kuari’s palace during the chaos and planned to kill the man who was coveting the young lady. But the protection of the King was not the same as that of a servant, and he was captured alive by a large group of bodyguards.
Golden Roc Castle was suddenly thrust into the eye of the storm. Shangguan Yun and Zhang Ji, along with the many killers they had brought along, were all called in for questioning to corroborate Feng Qin’s confession.
Golden Roc Castle, however, shed all suspicion in less than a single day. Although the culprit was still among the people of the castle, Feng Qin had been under the jurisdiction of the castle since a long time ago.
The best evidence was from those several wandering bandits who had come to the Royal Court. They all claimed to know Feng Qin, and described him as, “He is ruthless and only cares about money. I never would have thought that he would touch a woman. So it’s still because of women.”
These people were arrested quickly and then interrogated by several of the kings’ men at the same time. Finally, they were able to draw a convincing conclusion that Feng Qin had severed his connection to Golden Roc Castle as early as two years ago.
Everyone believed it except for Fang Wenshi. He believed that it was all a conspiracy and that the most favorable evidence for his judgment was the fact that Shangguan Yun heard of the assassination so quickly without being surprised. But he could not speak of this to others, and no one would believe him even if he did.
“How old was the granddaughter of the Unique King two years ago? She was only thirteen or fourteen years old at that time, so how could she possibly privately decide to marry a lowly servant without her parents’ permission?” Fang Wenshi saw many flaws in this, but he could only say them to the Dragon King, “Ridiculous, this is really ridiculous. It’s understandable for King Kuari to believe this bullshit as he is on Golden Roc Castle’s side now, but why does King Dari also believe it? He’s such a fool.”
Coincidentally, Gu Shenwei actually knew this Feng Qin.
Along with memories of Lotus, he had many recollections of the boy who was called Servant Ke at that time.
Servant Ke had entered the Furnace Yard one year later than Gu Shenwei. During the slaughter amongst the two generations of disciples, he and several other servant-born disciples had joined the Tattooed Arm Gang at the same time. He was clever and good with kung fu. His biggest shortcoming, however, was that he was somewhat impatient and couldn’t stand the long boring wait before acting, which meant that he could never become an outstanding killer.
Gu Shenwei remembered that he had once pointed this out frankly and sincerely, and Servant Ke had taken it seriously and swore to correct his shortcoming. Soon afterward, Gu Shenwei and several others had started assisting the two young masters and spent less and less time in East Castle. His connection with Servant Ke was severed later after the Tattooed Arm Gang was disbanded.
Years later, Feng Qin, who had reverted back to his original name, was even impatient than ever.
Gu Shenwei also did not believe that the assassination was a coincidence, but it was a little bit too exaggerated to imagine that Golden Roc Castle had planned all of this two years ago. The most important thing was what was the purpose of killing a favorite minion of King Dari’s?
“It’s easy, actually.” Fang Wenshi was anxious for the officials in Norland, “The whole truth will come out if they interrogate the Unique King’s granddaughter. I don’t believe they had an affair that early on, let alone that Feng Qin killed for her two years later. Of course, the woman of the Shangguan family will speak for her own family, but as long as they torture her, I’m sure she’ll break.”
Fang Wenshi let out a long sigh. Since Shangguan Shaomin was now King Kuari’s woman, no one could torture her and force out the truth.
If Shangguan Ru were still here, Gu Shenwei would have wanted to meet Shangguan Shaomin again through her to find out the truth. But Shangguan Ru would probably beg him to save people again, and not just to save one, but two this time.
Matters like people who loved each other yet couldn’t be together always moved her heart. That was how it was years ago.
Gu Shenwei didn’t mean to save people, not even considering it. Dangers were everywhere, and he would never meddle in another’s business.
The real matter came soon, and Gu Shenwei finally figured out Golden Roc Castle’s scheme.
Just on the afternoon of the second day since the assassination, when Feng Qin and the people from Golden Roc Castle were still being interrogated, Luo Ningcha conveyed her intention to meet the Dragon King again through a female official of the Land of Fragrance.
This time, instead of deliberately mystifying things, she directly provided an address. The appointed time was on the second night watch period, at a tent full of screens.
Gu Shenwei thought that the Second Consort must be a remarkable woman, for she could make Luo Ningcha whole-heartedly run errands while feeling that she was gaining a lot of benefits from it.
Exuberant, Luo Ningcha seemed to have returned to the happy and carefree state she had been in back at Iron Mountain. “Something big is about to happen.” She deliberately said in a mysterious tone and hooked her fingers at Gu Shenwei to beckon him to come closer.
“Because of the death of a eunuch? “Gu Shenwei leaned slightly forward but did not move.
“He’s an insignificant minion, and it doesn’t matter if he’s dead or not. Someone just wanted to use him to achieve certain purposes. As a smart guy, can you guess anything about this situation?”
Gu Shenwei had no clue at all in the beginning but he actually figured out many things the moment he received Luo Ningcha’s invitation. But he still shook his head.
Luo Ningcha was happier, “Actually I should not have told you. After all, I am also a person of Golden Roc Castle.”
“Hmm, that’s right, you are still the eighth young mistress, and Shangguan Nu is in the Royal Court right now. ”
Luo Ningcha’s smile immediately disappeared at the mention of her husband. “Don’t mention him to me. I don’t want to see him even if he comes to me step by step kowtowing and begging. I feel disgusted just thinking of him.”
Luo Ningcha was much less enthusiastic about guessing games. “If you think about the Second Consort, you’ll know Golden Roc Castle’s purpose of playing these tricks.”
More than twenty years ago, the Second Consort had also become famous for her glamour following an incident, which was that she had failed to marry the grandson but got married to his grandfather instead.
Luo Ningcha sighed and leaned on the soft couch, staring at the Dragon King with the misty eyes Xu Yanwei had taught her and whispered, “Men are all lecherous. The more power they have, the more lecherous they become no matter how old they are. What about you? You’re the Dragon King and you have a lot of power.”
