The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 154- 156

Chapter 154: A Swoop

Face of the owner of the herbal garden instantly changed with horror as he heard that some assassins had shown up. “How–How come some assassins suddenly came to my place?”

He was unaware of the identity of Ling Zhang or Yuwen Tong and just believed that the two of them were childes from some rich family, who had come to his herbal garden for fun but encountered assassins.

“Childe, may I ask what those people wanted? Money or anything else?” The owner of the herbal garden hurriedly asked another question.

Seeing his face had paled visibly with fright, Ling Zhang, though having no idea who it was that had sent the two assassins, believed that the owner of this herbal garden had nothing to do with this incident.

“Those assassins’ target was me. I’m sorry for the horror I have put you through.”

On hearing these words, the owner of the herbal garden heaved a sigh of relief and replied, “Childe paid a visit to my manor, so you are my guest. I should have done better with the security. Fortunately, you are unharmed, Childe. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to absolve myself from the blame.”

The general storekeeper, who had been standing on the side, worried that there might be any other accidents if they stayed in this place, so he said, “How about you have some of your men escort these two honored guests back? I mean, there are too many people here and some of them might not be what they seem. If by any chance there are some other assassins among them, we might have trouble defending against them.”

The owner of the herbal garden was unaware of the general storekeeper’s consideration, but he was only too anxious to see these two men out of his manor, so he repeatedly inclined his head and responded, “Yeah, yeah… There are too many customers in the teahouse tonight, and we don’t know for sure if any of them are assassins in disguise. For the sake of your safety, I’ll have my security guards escort you back home.”

Yuwen Tong observed, “There’s no hurry. Let’s wait for my bodyguard to return first and then make a decision. I’d appreciate it if you sent someone to the County Yamen to get some yamen runners here.”

Upon saying this, he fished out an ID plate and informed the owner of the herbal garden, “In case there’s anything bothering you –take this ID plate with you.”

The owner of the herbal garden had a somewhat awkward expression on his face as he heard Yuwen Tong ask him to report this incident to the authorities, but when his eye fell on the ID plate in Yuwen Tong’s hand, all the color drained from his face due to fright; his legs buckled and he slumped to his knees. “I let my eyes fall prey to my ignorance and failed to recognize the Grand Marshal. I deserve the death penalty for not having received Marshal with due formality!”

‘Marshal?! This is Marshal Yuwen?’

All others were taken aback. Seeing the owner of the manor kneeling on the ground, they also slumped to their knees.

At this time, legs of the owner of the herbal garden were trembling violently with fear. The very thought that Marshal Yuwen had encountered assassins in his manor nearly sent him unconscious.

‘The–Then the man standing beside the Marshal is Childe Ling, Marshal Yuwen’s betrothed?

Though it was not the Marshal himself that those assassins tried to kill, there will still be dire consequences!’

While everybody was shuddering with fear, Yuwen Tong’s voice was heard. “There’s no need for such a high level of formality, and no blame attaches to the unconscious doer of wrong, but since there are assassins in this place, we shall show them no indulgence. Have this manor surrounded immediately. Make sure every inch is searched and nobody goes out of this place without being questioned first!”

“Yes, yes!” The owner of the manor didn’t dare to hesitate for a single moment. He immediately had his men seal all entrances and exits of the manor and then headed for the county seat to report this incident to the county yamen himself.

Such a commotion soon came to the notice of customers in the teahouse and the inn.

All of them were frightened in the knowledge of what had just happened.

‘Marshal Yuwen and Childe Ling came here to enjoy tea but nearly got hurt by some assassins?’

All entrances and exits of this manor had been sealed and an intensive search of this place was going to be carried out. Everybody had been ordered to stay where they were. Any acts of disobedience were punishable by death.

The entertainer playing qin (a seven-stringed plucked instrument in some ways similar to the zither) in the teahouse didn’t dare to perform any more. Customers were no longer in the mood for drinking tea, not to mention other things.

They all respected the Marshal, but they also feared him.

None of them had the sneaking suspicion that this whole thing was a lie. After all, news of Marshal Yuwen’s presence in Tanyang had spread through the whole country.

At this moment, most of them had had a shrewd idea that the two visitors of great presence they had seen earlier this night had been Marshal Yuwen and Childe Ling. They also recalled that the two of them were looking for available seats at that time…

“Had I known that that man is Marshal Yuwen, I would have volunteered to serve tea for him, let alone give up my seats on the second floor!”

“Who could have imagined that Marshal Yuwen would suddenly come to this place?”

“I wonder which goddamn bastards attempted to assassinate Marshal Yuwen. They must had a really strong death wish!”

“Is it possible that they were sent here by the Wan Kingdom?!”

“My goodness! Are you saying that there are probably some assassins from the Wan Kingdom standing right here among us?”

That remark threw all customers into panic and they instantly started searching around with their eyes appraising one another, trying to find anything suspicious on others.

At this time, Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang were standing in front of the teahouse. Circle upon circle, security guards of the manor, on full alert, gathered around protecting the two of them for fear that some other assassins might show up.

After subduing his urge for quite a while, Ling Zhang couldn’t help but inquired of Yuwen Tong under his breath, “Do you really think that there are some assassins hiding in this herbal garden?”

Yuwen Tong replied, “No matter what, we’ve got to have this place searched.”

“But–”

Before Ling Zhang could finish his sentence, Yuwen Tong raised his hand and gesticulated at him.

Seeing the gesture, Ling Zhang swallowed back the words that had sprung to the tip of his tongue. He conjectured that the assassins were among those who were close to them and well informed of their whereabouts. Since he had guessed this, he believed that Yuwen Tong definitely had guessed it as well. ‘Why did Yuwen Tong still decide to go to so much trouble to search this herbal garden?’

And Yao Yi still had not returned. He wondered if he had caught up with the two assassins.

Finally, after nearly two hours, staff members of the county yamen, seemingly the whole yamen, arrived. After such a long run, all of them were panting heavily, faces pale.

“We’re honored to kneel before you, Marshal Yuwen!” It was the registrar and the general head constable of the county yamen who had taken their men to the manor. On seeing Yuwen Tong, the two of them, bursting with anxiety, knelt down to the ground, admitted their error and asked his pardon. “Please forgive us for not having arrived sooner, Marshal.”

May I ask if any harm came to Marshal? We brought a physician with us.”

Yuwen Tong replied, “You may rise. There’s no need for such a high level of formality.

I’m unharmed and in no need of medical treatment. Have your men start searching this place and questioning everybody right now. Find out if there are any assassins or their accomplices hiding here as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Marshal!” The two men, without any delay, hurriedly took their men to search the manor and question the customers.

After a while, Yao Yi returned, empty-handed, looking somewhat weary and untidy.

Ling Zhang had an inkling that things had not gone very well.

As expected, Yao Yi informed them with a grave expression on his face, “Marshal, Childe, the two assassins split up the moment they got out of this manor. I pursued the injured one, but I had not expected that the man had a firearm on him. When I was within an inch of catching up with him, he fired on me forcing me into a halt and got away from me.”

Ling Zhang had a somewhat heavy heart. ‘A firearm?’

“What kind of firearm?” Yuwen Tong inquired of him.

Yao Yi hesitated, a rather awkward look on his face.

“Speak,” Yuwen Tong instructed flintily.

Yao Yi lowered his voice and replied, “Judging from the power of that shot, I think it’s a government-issued firearm. It looked very much like the batch of firearms that the Ministry of War delivered to our station last year.”

If that was a government-issued firearm, it was undoubtedly out of the reach of common people.

Ling Zhang’s heart sank as his previous conjecture occurred to him.

Yao Yi’s words sent everybody else into silence.

“Marshal, it’s very unlikely that any of them is still in this manor. Why bother conducting such a thorough search?” queried Yao Yi.

However, instead of giving an answer to the question, Yuwen Tong instructed, “I want you to quietly go back to the courier station immediately, have our men question all people in the courier station, especially those from the capital city. Go.”

After a slight change of his expression, Yao Yi inclined his head and left straight away.

Ling Zhang, who had had a vague idea what it was about, queried Yuwen Tong, “Did you send for these yamen runners in order to lull those assassins into believing you would be occupied searching the manor so that they would let their guard down and return?”

Yuwen Tong flicked an approving glance at him. “That’s only half of the reason. The other half is that it would be more favourable for your safety if this goes public.”

Ling Zhang generally came to understand what was going on. “Then is it necessary for us to send someone to the courier station to inform them?”

“It’ll be more convenient for Yao Yi and others to conduct the inquiry if we don’t.”

Ling Zhang gave a bob of his head.

…

Yuwen Tong quietly returned to the courier station and informed Xie Shi and others of what had happened in the herbal garden. Having been working under Yuwen Tong for years, they instantly came to understand what Yuwen Tong intended to do and took immediate action.

Wang Dashan and his men were alarmed. They were the first ones to be checked out. Of course, the inquiry concerning them was aimed at finding out whether any of them were impostors in disguise.

“What’s going on?” Wang Dashan and others were not fools. They immediately came to realized that something had happened and couldn’t help but go anxious.

After confirming that none of Wang Dashan’s men were impostors, Yao Yi replied, “Marshal and Childe Ling were attacked by some assassins in the herbal garden.”

“What?!” This news brought Qiu Bing to an instant jump. “Are young master and the Marshal okay? Why did you come back instead of staying there protecting them? Where are the assassins? Shouldn’t we be on our way there at this moment?”

Xie Shi flicked a cold glance at Qiu Bing, which gave Qiu Bing an intense feeling of constriction in the heart and immediately calmed Qiu Bing down, as if somebody had just poured a bucket of cold water right over his head.

“The Marshal and Childe Ling are okay. They are searching the manor. We have to check out people in this place.”

‘Check out people in this place? What is this supposed to mean?’

Before Wang Dashan and his men could raise any questions, Yao Yi gave a general explanation of why they were taking this course of action.

“Don’t you make any rash decisions. If anybody ruins the plan, I’ll report to Childe Ling and have that person return to Tanyang,” remarked Yao Yi in a serious tone of voice.

Since even Qiu Bing, who was the most impulsive of them, had calmed down, all others stayed composed and nodded solemnly.

“Go and question the supervisor and waiters of this courier station, all of them.” Yao Yi looked at Wang Dashan.

Wang Dashan inclined his head in the knowledge that this matter must be handled properly. “All right. Consider it done.”

“Remember, be quiet. Don’t alarm anybody,” Yao Yi exhorted.

“Okay!” replied Wang Dashan.

Yao Yi said to Xie Shi and others, “We’ll handle the rest of them.”

Xie Shi and others nodded.

The staff members of the courier station numbered around twenty, including grooms working in the stable, chefs working in the kitchen and menials. First Wang Dashan and his men went to the supervisor, forced him into handing over the register of names of all staff members of the courier station, questioned him about the backgrounds of all of them and then verified them one by one.

Yao Yi and other bodyguards directly swooped on the rooms of palace guards.

“What are you doing?!” On being raided, those palace guards were stunned at first and then went annoyed.

“Hunting for assassins under orders of the Marshal,” replied Yao Yi in a flinty tone of voice, his eyes sweeping through everybody in the room. All palace guards were staying in a separate building, which had already been surrounded.

Chapter 155: A Suicide Committed by Biting Through a Poison Capsule

“Assassins? What are you talking about? Why did we not hear anything about this?” Zhao Pingchuan, a commander of palace guards, asked after walking out, a cold look on his face.

“All people in this building are palace guards. There are no assassins here,” said another man aloud in an unfriendly tone of voice. “Why don’t you just go and hunt the assassins instead of messing around in our place?!”

“Even Yuwen Tong himself has no right to come here and search our rooms this way. We’re immediately affiliated to His Majesty! You are just Yuwen Tong’s bodyguards. This doing of yours is beyond the pale!” yelled Commander Zhao with an attempt to scare Yao Yi and others into leaving.

Were Yao Yi scared into leaving, he wouldn’t be Yao Yi any longer.

In his eyes, even Dai Cheng didn’t really carry much weight, not to mention palace guards.

“Search the room.”

Zhang Liu and some others immediately walked out from behind him.

“How dare you! Yao Yi, does it really not concern you that His Majesty will get angry and vent his anger on your Marshal after being informed of this?!” thundered Zhao Pingchuan.

“We are just searching this courier station in an effort to hunt for the assassins. Why are you getting so excited about it? Is it because you are really harboring any assassins here?” Yao Yi fixed him with a suspicious gaze and then seemed to start pondering over something.

Zhao Pingchuan was sent at a loss for words. “You…”

While they were talking, Zhang Liu and some others had already started searching the room. They also checked faces and backs of those palace guards to see if they were in disguise and whether they had any injuries in their backs.

“What are you doing? Just search the room if you want. Get your hands off me!” A man restrained was infuriated.

At this time, Zhao Pingchuan finally noticed what was happening. “Stop!”

He was just about to walk over to free his subordinate when Zhang Liu and some others turned around and blocked his path.

Seeing this, other palace guards stood behind Zhao Pingchuan, confronting Zhang Liu and some other bodyguards.

“Let go of him,” instructed Zhao Pingchuan through gritted teeth. “You are going too far. If I stand by and watch you do this today, how are we supposed to show our faces in the future?!”

“Humph! I think you are just trying to hide something from us. As far as I can tell, the assassins are standing right here among you. That’s why you are so nervous and scared,” observed Zhang Liu.

“What did you just say?!” Someone whipped out his saber.

“You want a fight? Okay. Let’s do it. We can conveniently find out which one of you is injured during the process. It’ll save me checking you one by one,” Zhang Liu sneered.

“Commander Zhao, you were supposed to depart for the capital city immediately after Gonggong Zhang delivered all the imperial edicts. Why did you linger in Tanyang for such a long time and choose to leave on the same day we departed for the capital city? Even we won’t be able to believe you if you tell us that none of you have been entertaining ulterior motives.”

“Tell me about it. The reason why they waited so many days to depart for the capital city with the Marshal was that they were scheming an assassination.”

“They definitely harbor evil intentions, which is why they don’t even dare to let us search them.”

“I think we might as well just skip the search, directly inform the Marshal that the assassins are right among these people, and let the Marshal mete out penalties to them. Since they attempted to assassinate the Marshal, His Majesty won’t lay blame on the Marshal even if he directly executes them right here.”

As Zhang Liu and some others kept talking non-stop, all the palace guards were further infuriated. They whipped out their sabers and decided to fight to the death.

“Yao Yi, exactly why are you doing this? Why are you so insistent on crossing us and framing us?!” Zhao Pingchuan looked at Yao Yi.

Yao Yi replied, “Framing you? That’s not necessarily true.”

“Yao Yi! We are palace guards. You will not act with such unruliness in our place!”

“Palace guards? As palace guards, if you refuse to be cooperative when suspected of shielding assassins, will it not be synonymous with trying to bring disgrace on His Majesty? If news of this matter spreads out, what will our people think of him?”

“You think we are afraid of you? Why should we care what others will thin–”

“Enough! Shut your mouths! All of you!” Zhao Pingchuan flintily stared at Yao Yi for quite a while and then instructed, “Let them search.”

“Commander?!”

“Shut up. Any uncooperative behavior will be regarded as a sign of having a guilty conscience.” Zhao Pingchuan turned around, looked at those behind him and deterred them from making any further remarks.

Then he said to Yao Yi, “But if you fail to find anything, you must give us an explanation we deem acceptable!”

Yao Yi responded blandly, “Of course.”

After disarming the Palace Guards, Zhang Liu and some others started searching them.

After quite some time, all palace guards in the room were searched but nothing suspicious was found.

Seeing this, someone immediately sneered, “What did we tell you? Kneel down and kow–”

“What’s the hurry? I remember that you guys number thirty, but I’m counting only fifteen in this room. Where are the other fifteen men?” asked Zhang Liu in a cold tone of voice.

“You…”

Zhao Pingchuan raised his hand and instructed with subdued anger, “Let them finish the search!”

His face and back had also been checked, which was why he was consumed with anger.

Yao Yi winked at Zhang Liu, who inclined his head and brought some men upstairs.

This was a two-story building. The place they had just searched was a hall on the ground floor, where those palace guards were drinking. Upstairs, there were some rooms, and the rest of the palace guards were in there.

Since there had been quite some noises coming from downstairs, some men had walked out of their rooms to take a look, but some doors were tightly closed.

Unsurprisingly, some men refused to be searched. Yao Yi and Zhao Pingchuan went upstairs and the latter instructed those men to give up resistance.

Zhang Liu, along with other bodyguards, searched those rooms one by one. When there were only two rooms left, they still hadn’t found the assassins. Zhang Liu’s brow slightly corrugated in a frown.

‘Did we get this wrong?

No matter what, this search has to continue,’ he thought.

He kicked open the door of the second last room with a loud bang. As if having just been woken up by the noise, someone in the room asked, “Who is it?”

“Authorized search.” Zhang Liu’s eyes swept around the room. There was only one man inside, but the bedding suggested that there had been two people living here. “I see only one man. Where’s the other one?”

The man sat up from the bed, looking rather sleepy. After recognizing Zhang Liu, he asked aloud, “You are Marshal Yuwen’s bodyguard? What are you doing in my room?”

Instead of answering his question, Zhang Liu winked at Xie Shi who was behind him.

Xie Shi walked up to the doorway of the last room, kicked the door open and saw that there were four men inside, all of whom were asleep. On the table was an overturned porcelain liquor bottle. Air in the room was filled with a strong smell of alcohol.

The drunkenness of the men spared Xie Shi from confrontational talk. He carefully checked the faces and backs of the four men and confirmed that there was nothing suspicious on them.

He walked out of the room and informed Zhang Liu and Yao Yi, “There are four men in this room, all terribly drunk and having no traces of injury on them. I’ve just hit at some of their acupoints to stimulate them. They’re indeed drunk.”

Zhao Pingchuan remarked, “Now I think it’s safe to say that we’ve been rid of suspicions, haven’t we?”

“There’s yet another room remaining unchecked,” Zhang Liu replied and twisted his head around to look at the man in the room, who had got out of bed and was eyeing him watchfully. That man was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight and of a lean build.

Yao Yi walked into the room and flicked a glance at him. His eyes rested on the man briefly and then he searched the whole room thoroughly. Eventually, he tossed a glimpse at the man’s shoes and queried him, “Where’s the other one living here?”

The man answered, “I don’t know. He must have left after I fell asleep. I think he upset his stomach tonight, because he’s been having loose bowels all along. He’s gone to the outhouse several times tonight and is probably in there right at this moment.”

‘Having loose bowels? In the outhouse?’

Yao Yi gave a sneer. “This is such an excellent excuse, but it’s too coincidental to be true. Does he think that it’s inconvenient for us to enter the outhouse to search him?”

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” the man responded in a vigilant tone but was trying to affect a confused expression on his face.

Yao Yi winked at Xie Shi, who took the hint and led others away.

The man, following them with his eyes, hurriedly said, “What are you doing? I said he went to the outhouse!”

“Your lightness skills are pretty good, but skills in lying less so,” commented Yao Yi.

“What are you talking about? I don’t understand,” the man responded.

Zhao Pingchuan said with a frown on his face, “Yao Yi, stop talking in riddles. Don’t you dare arbitrarily make my subordinate a scapegoat to cover up your inability to find the real culprits.”

“See? He even prepared some excuses in advance to stop us. Commander Zhao, surely you are not in collusion with these two people, are you?” Zhang Liu looked at him flintily.

Zhao Pingchuan was sent speechless with anger once again, glaring at Zhang Liu in vain. There had already been several occasions when he nearly vomit blood from rage caused by Zhang Liu’s words on this night.

However, no matter whether this was true or not, he must protect his subordinate! But if by any chance it was true, there would be unimaginably dire consequences!

“Like I said, all my men have been staying in this courier station all along tonight. Given that you didn’t find anything, I suggest you leave here right away. I’m willing to let this go and I won’t report it to His Majesty, but if you keep unreasonably pestering us, I will make you pay!”

“That’s a big word.” Zhang Liu coldly satirized him.

Right at this moment, Yao Yi abruptly launched an attack on that palace guard!

“Yao Yi, what are you doing?!” Zhao Pingchuan thundered immediately after a brief moment of shock.

However, Yao Yi had been aiming to kill from the first move, and his attack was extremely quick and powerful, leaving no room for maneuver.

With his life under threat, the palace guard fought back almost instinctively.

But the moment he counter-attacked, his face immediately paled visibly.

Yao Yi fell back, sneering, “I knew it was you.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” The palace guard cautiously backed off and didn’t dare to confront Yao Yi any longer.

“There is dirt on your shoes, which you failed to find the time to wipe off –this is the first doubtful point. When I got close to you, I found that there was a very faint and unique smell of flower –or smell of medicinal herb, to be precise –on you. This smell is specific to the medicinal herbs in that herbal garden, which means that you must have been to that herbal garden not long ago –this is the second doubtful point. In fact, these two doubtful points alone are more than enough to prove that you are one of the suspects. Just now, when I attacked you to test you out, I found that you had an injury in your right wrist, which was why you showed a manifest lack of strength when trying to parry my last blow. Before I came back, Liu Yi had told me all the details of the previous fight between you and him, so I knew your hand had been wounded by his sword.”

After saying this, Yao Yi suddenly launched another attack on the man with a move the route of which was very unconventional. Aimed at the man’s wrist, the move was also swift and fierce. Taken aback, the man subconsciously tried to protect his wrist.

Naturally, this defensive movement came to the notice of Zhang Liu and Zhao Pingchuan.

Zhao Pingchuan’s face changed drastically in the inkling that what he had been worrying about was about to be confirmed. He couldn’t afford to let Yao Yi reveal that wound in the man’s wrist. Thinking about this, he attempted to stop him.

Zhang Liu, who was quicker than him, immediately blocked his path. “Commander Zhao, what’s the hurry?”

“Step aside.”

Zhang Liu coldly snorted, “No way.”

Meanwhile, Yao Yi successfully tore the sleeve of that palace guard, revealing his wrist around which there was a very obtrusive white bandage.

“Do you still have any sophistries at your disposal?” Yao Yi asked coldly.

With a sullen look on his face, the man stared at Yao Yi and replied through gritted teeth, “I still don’t understand what you are talking about. This injury in my wrist was merely the result of a moment of carelessness of mine. I’ve never been to any herbal gardens, and I have no idea why I have this smell of medical herb on me. I… Uh!”

All of a sudden, his face paled visibly, blood flowing from the corners of his mouth.

“Damn it!” Yao Yi hurriedly stepped forward and rapidly hit at several of the man’s acupoints, but it was still too late. The man went limp and fell to the ground.

“He bit through a poison capsule hidden in his mouth and killed himself,” remarked Zhang Liu in a cold tone of voice, his face sepulchral.

Surprisingly, Zhao Pingchuan exhaled deeply in relief.

“There’s another one alive. I hope Xie Shi will be quicker than me,” said Yao Yi with an icy expression.

Chapter 156: A Breach of the Rules

“Wanna leave?! You wish!”

The sound of fighting emanated from the backyard of the courier station.

On hearing it, Yao Yi quickly rushed out of the room towards the scene, while Zhang Liu stayed inside guarding the body.

When Yao Yi got to the backyard, the one trying to escape had just been overpowered by Xie Shi. Secretly rejoicing that he had arrived in time by a fluke, Yao Yi immediately hit at a couple of acupoints of the assassin’s to neuter him of his mobility, then decisively dislocated the assassin’s lower jaw and fished out a ball of wax hidden in his mouth.

Xie Shi’s brow corrugated in a frown. “What’s going on? He’s hiding poison in his mouth?”

Yao Yi nodded. “Due to a momentary lapse of concentration of mine, the one upstairs bit through the wax ball in his mouth and committed suicide. Fortunately we stopped this guy from doing the same thing.”

The man lying on the ground was the very assassin who had previously been hit by Yuwen Tong on the back. He had sustained an internal injury after receiving that palm strike of Yuwen Tong, and now his face was frighteningly pale. With a resentful look in his eyes, he stared at Xie Shi and Yao Yi, but since his acupoints had been hit, eyeing his enemies belligerently was the only thing he could do.

“Lock him up first. Keep him alive. Marshal will decide how he shall be dealt with,” instructed Yao Yi.

Xie Shi gave a bob of his head and escorted the assassin away with some others.

When Zhao Pingchuan arrived at the yard, he found that his subordinate was nowhere to be seen. “Where is he? He escaped?”

Yao Yi flicked a bland glance at him. “Why am I feeling that Commander Zhao seems very happy to know that he managed an escape?”

Zhao Pingchuan immediately replied, “I just worry that he might try to hurt someone else.”

“Is that so? Didn’t Commander Zhao claim with absolute certainty that there was no assassin whatsoever hiding among palace guards? How are you going to explain this?” asked Yao Yi.

Zhao Pingchuan’s face darkened as he heard this.

…

All visitors in the herbal garden had been carefully questioned, every corner of the manor searched, but no accomplices of the assassins had been found.

The owner of the herbal garden heaved a deep sigh of relief and, as if having been drained of energy, was within an inch of going limp and slumping to the ground.

Yuwen Tong was sitting in a seat with a highly commanding presence, striking fear into the heart of anyone that laid eyes on him.

“Marshal, we searched everybody and every inch of this place. No accomplices of the assassins were found,” the head constable of the county yamen reported after wiping the sweat off his forehead and walking over.

“Your trouble is appreciated. I’ll keep your meritorious services in mind and see them properly rewarded later. It’s been a long tough night. You may go back and get some rest now,” observed Yuwen Tong.

“You are too kind, Marshal. We but performed our sworn duty,” replied the head constable, secretly relieved. “Marshal, would you and Childe Ling care to go back to the inn? If you would, may I take the liberty of offering to escort you and Childe Ling there?”

Yuwen Tong inclined his head. “It may not be a bad idea. Thanks in advance for the trouble.”

“You are too courteous, Marshal,” the head constable responded and hurriedly walked away to make arrangements for Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang to be escorted back to the courier station.

“I’m sorry to have disturbed you and your guests today,” Yuwen Tong said to the owner of the herbal garden. “I’ll compensate for all the losses. Please calculate them and deliver the total number to the courier station tomorrow. I’ll pay double the amount.”

The owner of the herbal garden was shocked. It had never crossed his mind that Yuwen Tong would offer to compensate him. Though having been busy and on tenterhooks for the whole night, the owner of the herbal garden was very gratified to hear Yuwen Tong say this. “Marshal, I’m already deeply indebted to you for absolving me from my failure to provide up-to-standard security. How dare I accept a compensation from Marshal?”

“That’s another issue. Besides, you are just victims of an undeserved catastrophe,” observed Yuwen Tong.

The owner of the herbal garden was deeply moved, thinking, ‘Marshal Yuwen’s reputation as the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Great Yue as well as the God of War is well-earned. Marshal Yuwen is indeed different from those generals or other officers.’

“Marshal, though you wish to make up for me, there’s no need to pay me any money. Just take it as a petty donation of mine to the North-western Army. I have no fighting skills and therefore am not capable of going to the battlefield to defend our country against enemies, which has always been a great regret of mine. And I’ve always had great admiration for soldiers of the North-western Army, so I’d like to make a contribution in my own way,” said the owner of the herbal garden tactfully.

Yuwen Tong gave a smile, “Such sense of patriotism stands something of a rarity these days. Then so be it. I guess you’ve had enough of us disturbing you, so we’ll take our leave.”

“I’ll see you and Childe Ling to the gateway, Marshal,” said the owner of the herbal garden.

Before leaving, Yuwen Tong went to the teahouse and had a brief talk with those customers, expressing his gratitude for their being cooperative this night.

Though feeling it regrettable that no accomplices of the assassins had been found, on hearing that Yuwen Tong was leaving, all customers went out of the teahouse with the intention to see him back to the courier station.

At the gateway of the manor, Yuwen Tong stopped them and declined their kind offer, letting only the yamen runners of the county yamen be the escorts.

After seeing Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang to the doorway of the courier station, those yamen runners took their leave and returned.

It was not until there was no outsider present that Ling Zhang relaxed his back muscles which had been tense all along. “You have a very high personal prestige among the people.”

‘No wonder the emperor fears him.

Yuwen Tong not only has powerful armies at his command but also possesses great renown which considerably overshadows even that of the emperor. How could the emperor not be on pins and needles?’ he thought.

However, Yuwen Tong’s reaction to this was rather bland. “Some matters are not as simple as they seem. ‘While water can carry a boat, it can also overturn it.’ People have already grown accustomed to the rule from the imperial family.”

After some thinking, Ling Zhang felt that he had got a point. Apart from everything else, in his last life, his family had done nothing wrong but those people, whose judgement had been clouded, vented their anger on and hurled curses at his family.

“Let’s go and find out if Yao Yi and others caught the assassins,” said Yuwen Tong, breaking into Ling Zhang’s thoughts.

Ling Zhang pulled his mind back to the current moment and went into the courier station with him.

Yao Yi had already walked out of the back yard. “Marshal, we caught both of the two assassins. One of them ingested poison. We tried to save him but he didn’t make it. The other one is in custody. Both of them are palace guards.”

“I see,” Yuwen Tong answered without even glancing at Zhao Pingchuan who had just hurried up to him with the intention to talk.

Ling Zhang softly gave a bob of his head and then left with Yuwen Tong.

Zhao Pingchuan briefly clenched his teeth and followed in their wake.

A young eunuch, who had been standing in the corridor occasionally popping his head around the corner to sneak a glance at them, saw they leave and quickly ran back to the room of Zhang Xi.

“Gonggong, the Marshal returned. Zhao Pingchuan is bound to suffer this time.”

Zhang Xi had a grave expression on his face. “Go get the supervisor of this courier station. Tell him that I need a courier pigeon to deliver a letter to the capital city.”

The young eunuch answered “Yes” and hurriedly trotted out of the room.

Zhang Xi muttered in a surprised tone of voice, “Exactly who was it that planted assassins in the Palace Guards? Those two men look rather familiar… Are they by any chance under anybody’s instigation?”

The frown on Zhang Xi’s face deepened as he thought about this. Eventually, he still wrote a letter and had the supervisor of the courier station use a courier pigeon to deliver it to the capital city.

No sooner had he taken this course of action than it came to the knowledge of bodyguards of Yuwen Tong, who immediately reported this matter to Yuwen Tong and Ling Zhang.

“Let him be,” said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang thought for a while but made no remarks about it. Such was the severity of this incident that people in the capital city would inevitably get wind of it sooner or later. And it was almost impossible to stop Zhang Xi from reporting it.

The assassin restrained was still lying on the ground. A pained expression appeared on his face when someone fixed his dislocated bottom jaw.

“Who sent you here to assassinate Childe Ling?” Yao Yi inquired.

The assassin closed his eyes and kept silent.

Yuwen Tong, who could tell at a single glance what kind of person this man was, couldn’t be bothered to waste any time on him. “Drag him away. Do whatever necessary to get him talking.”

“Yes, Marshal!” Xie Shi curved the corners of his mouth in a sneer and dragged the man away.

Ling Zhang looked at the assassin, who was literally being dragged forward, and then withdrew his gaze impassively.

He was eager to know exactly who it was that was so determined to see him dead!

The reason why Zhao Pingchuan had followed Yuwen Tong was that he wanted to see if Yuwen Tong would be able to get any information from the assassin, but unexpectedly, he only ended up helplessly watching the man being dragged away, which sent him into vexation.

“Commander Zhao, are these two assassins members of the Palace Guards?” Yuwen Tong queried.

Ling Zhang also looked at Zhao Pingchuan.

Being coldly stared by the two pairs of eyes, Zhao Pingchuan briefly froze and then replied, “They are indeed members of the Palace Guards.”

“Was their plan to assassinate me in your knowledge?” Yuwen Tong asked another question.

Ling Zhang secretly tossed a glance at Yuwen Tong, saying nothing. ‘It was unmistakably me that the assassins attempted to kill. Why did Yuwen Tong say that he himself was the target?’

But Zhao Pingchuan failed to notice this minor inconsistency between Yuwen Tong’s statements and the facts. Face tense, he replied, “They did it without my knowledge. I would have killed them before they could take action had I known about it. Marshal Yuwen, neither I nor any of my other brethren was aware of why they did that. They’d been working under me for several years and they had always been honest and loyal. As regards this incident, I believe there must be some kind of mistake, some kind of misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding? If it weren’t for the fact that I’d brought some bodyguards with me, my head wouldn’t have remained on my shoulders,” observed Yuwen Tong in a cold tone of voice after putting down the teacup.

Zhao Pingchuan was stressed out by Yuwen Tong’s aggressiveness and beads of cold sweat immediately oozed out of the forehead of him. “With all due respect, I still believe that my judgement of their character stands correct. They are by no means evildoers.”

“We’ll find out whether they are evildoers or not when the interrogation is over,” remarked Yuwen Tong.

“But I’m afraid this kind of covert interrogation is against the rules, Marshal,” said Zhao Pingchuan, steeling himself against the pressure from Yuwen Tong.

“Then what do you think the rules suggest I should do?”

“I should be present, so that I’ll be able to report to His Majesty according to the truth provided he asks about it someday.”

Yuwen Tong gave a sneer. “As you wish. Yao Yi, take him to the room.”

Yao Yi flicked a glance of sympathy at Zhao Pingchuan. “This way, please, Commander Zhao.”

Zhao Pingchuan had an inkling that something was not right, but he still braced himself and walked forward.

After both of them left, Wang Dashan and a couple of others entered the room and looked at Ling Zhang, anxiety on their faces. “Young Master, are you okay?”

Ling Zhang shook his head. “I’m fine. Elder Brother Liu was there protecting me.”

This reply sent Wang Dashan and others relieved. “I’m glad to hear that. I should have brought more men and gone there with you. Those assassins wouldn’t have dared to show their faces had I done that.”

“Don’t blame yourself for that. It was me who decided to take only Elder Brother Liu with me. Elder Brother Wang, did you find anything after checking out staff members of this courier station?” asked Ling Zhang.

Wang Dashan responded, “Nothing. None of them has ever made any contact with the assassins.”

Ling Zhang inclined his head.

“But the two assassins are palace guards. Why did they try to assassinate young master?” Qiu Bing queried in a confused and worried tone of voice.

After a few moments’ silence, Ling Zhang replied, “We’ll find that out when the interrogation is finished.”

Feeling that something was not quite right, Qiu Bing intended to persist his questioning, but Wang Dashan gently knocked him with his shoulder.

Qiu Bing took the hint and shut up.

After they left the room, Qiu Bing, bursting with astonishment, queried, “Elder Brother Wang, why did you hush me just now?”

Wang Dashan looked at Liu Yi, who flicked a glance at them and said, “I think it has something to do with the engagement between young master and the Marshal.”

“The engagement between young master and the Marshal?” Qiu Bing was perplexed at first and then the light dawned on him. “Are you saying that someone is trying to stop young master and the Marshal from getting married?”

“Theoretically, this is the only plausible explanation.”

“What kind of son of a bitch would be so keen on being a busybody? I mean, to whom could the marriage between young master and the Marshal possibly cause any harm?!” remarked Qiu Bing angrily.

Both Wang Dashan and Liu Yi kept silent, but there were somewhat worried expressions in their eyes.

‘In order to stop them from getting married, these people actually resorted to assassination. It seems that this journey of young master’s to the capital city will be long and dangerous,’ Wang Dashan thought.