The large fire spread all the way from outside the courtyard to the shadowy trees in the distance.
The leaves of the trees were swaying in the night wind.
The burning scene was quite beautiful, like a fire butterfly flapping its wings, floating in the sky.
The closer she got to the prince’s main courtyard, Chu Shao’s steps slowed down.
As she walked towards the main courtyard, she smiled at the purple wisteria tree in the yard, and then pulled up a black cloth to cover her face.
Most of the servants in the prince’s mansion were attracted by the sudden fire.
In fact, Old Wang was just a bait released by Chu Shao, and her real target was the fourth prince.
But–
There was a sense of killing intent in the courtyard.
Chu Shao looked down at the moonlight on the ground, faintly thinking that it was frost.
From the moment she took the first step into the main courtyard, she knew that there were several experts hiding in the courtyard.
And she could be sure that one of them was lurking in the dark, staring at her with extremely dangerous eyes.
Chu Shao knew that she might not be able to kill the fourth prince tonight.
But she still smiled and walked in.
Because she felt that the most dangerous expert lurking in the dark was not the fourth prince’s man.
So she was very curious about who the courtyard experts were guarding against.
Chu Shao smiled again.
Under the watchful eyes of several experts in the prince’s mansion, she strolled into the courtyard.
The hidden experts in the courtyard watched the black-clothed person who broke into the main courtyard, but did not move recklessly.
They could vaguely feel that Chu Shao might also know of their presence.
So they turned their gaze to the woman sitting on the high eaves, seeking her guidance on the next move.
The woman sat expressionless on the eaves, with a faint glimmer in her eyes.
She held a sword and raised her hand, making only a gesture.
They instantly understood and decided to stand still.
As if stepping into a deserted place, Chu Shao walked easily to the window sill.
She looked into the room through the paper window.
The paper was pasted thickly, and she could only vaguely see two blurred figures. Although she couldn’t see their faces clearly, their identities were very clear from their voices.
The woman’s voice was indifferent: “What you did today was foolish.”
Immediately, another voice sounded: “Aunt, since you want your nephew to act foolish, your nephew will naturally listen to you and act foolish to the end.”
The crimson shadow inside slowly walked, as if staring at the other person, and then sneered: “This palace sees that you are not acting foolish at the command of this palace, but rather taking advantage of the opportunity to retaliate against the Prince Yan. You dare not move her, so you turn to Chu Shao… You tell this palace, isn’t this a foolish thing to do?”
The fourth prince remained noncommittal and smiled: “Although your nephew knows that the third brother is useless to you now that she is crippled, your nephew has never acted against her, even if the third brother has provoked your nephew in many ways.”
“But on the day of the wedding abduction, the third brother caused such great embarrassment to your nephew. Your nephew could not vent his anger on her, so he could only turn to Chu Shao.”
“Chu Shao is only a dead princess of a ruined country, and the emperor gave her in marriage just to appease the people. Now that she has married the third brother, she has done her duty to appease the people. Whether Chu Shao exists or not in the future is not important.”
Xiao Shuang said indifferently: “Chu Shao’s existence is not important in the first place. The point is that as a prince of a country, you should not use such despicable means. This palace wants to help you, but you always create obstacles behind this palace’s back… This palace is very disappointed.”
“Aunt, your nephew really knows his mistake.”
The fourth prince’s face still had the red marks of the slap, and the smile he brought up at this time was not very pleasant, but his tone carried a hint of pretense respect: “Your nephew will not cause you trouble again in the future, and will listen to everything you say, aunt.”
At this point, Xiao Shuang’s expression improved slightly.
She looked at the two red marks on the fourth prince’s face and frowned.
Xiao Shuang called the palace maid Zisu to come over and wanted her to find some ice cubes to apply to the fourth prince’s face.
But she didn’t expect Zisu to whisper a few words in her ear: “Your Highness, Vice Commander Tang said… someone has broken in and is now standing in the courtyard, so he came to ask for your orders.”
Xiao Shuang listened quietly, without any expression on her face, not even glancing at the window.
In secret, Zisu was sweating for Tang Yu.
Although Vice Commander Tang was the most trusted confidant of His Highness, the person outside had probably been standing there for quite some time and had likely already heard everything that His Highness had said.
Just when Zisu thought that Vice Commander Tang would be in trouble, Xiao Shuang suddenly laughed: “Since Tang Yu let that person in, why is she still asking for our order?”
“She knows what to do.”
…
In fact, from the moment Chu Shao stepped into the main courtyard, Tang Yu never thought about letting the other person live.
After all, she was Tang Yu.
She was a third-rank vice commander and also the head of the Fengling Guard. In Da Qi, there were only a handful of people who could defeat her.
Now Tang Yu looked at the figure standing in the courtyard, her eyes cold as if looking at a dead person.
Then she silently gestured to the Fengling Guard.
The meaning was to capture alive.
The Fengling Guard understood and drew their swords, approaching the place where the black-clad person was standing silently.
The black-clad person heard Xiao shuang’s words but remained motionless, as if stunned.
In the eyes of the Fengling Guard, the other person was just a small thief, and perhaps they had already been frightened and could not move because they had stumbled upon the secrets of the nobles.
“Swoosh–“
One of the Fengling Guard drew his sword, easily placing the blade on the black-clad person’s neck, feeling particularly contemptuous towards the other person.
He thought to himself, this is just an ordinary thief. The vice commander Tang is being too timid to set up such strict defenses.
The black-clothed person didn’t move, and the Fengling Guards could only vaguely see a slender white neck in the darkness.
It was elegant and long, probably belonging to a woman.
“Who are you? What are your intentions for sneaking into the Prince’s residence? Speak the truth!” The Fengling Guards scolded in a stern voice.
As he squinted at the white neck, he felt it was extremely soft and pure, reminding him of the spring snow in the south. Unconsciously, he reduced the strength in his hand.
But after the Fengling Guard finished speaking, he suddenly felt a pain in his chest.
Lowering his head to his chest, he saw a dagger piercing through his heart. And that dagger was being held by that slender and beautiful hand.
Immediately, the dagger was pulled out of his chest, and blood spurted out.
He fell to the ground.
The other Fengling Guards were shocked and without hesitation, they drew their swords and attacked.
Since the other side could kill one of them, if they didn’t work together to subdue the enemy, they would be seeking their own death!
Indeed, their actions were fast.
But Chu Shao picked up the long sword even faster.
Almost in an instant, Chu Shao picked up the long sword from the blood pool.
“Ding!”
The sound of the collision of the weapons was very piercing.
Although Chu Shao was wearing a mask, her smile remained elegant and calm under the black cloth.
She blocked the swords of the Fengling Guards, and at the same time, she was interested in the vibrations caused by the collision of the weapons.
It sounded good, like the sound of something breaking.
From the moment she stepped into the courtyard, Chu Shao understood that it shouldn’t be difficult for her to deal with those experts.
But if the person sitting on the eaves joined in, she would be outnumbered and most likely lose.
However, this didn’t stop Chu Shao from entering the inner courtyard.
Because she knew she didn’t have to defeat everyone here.
She just needed to see who the person being protected by these many experts was and then retreat.
Thinking of this, blood happened to spatter on Chu Shao’s backhand.
Although she felt a bit pleased with this warmth, this wasn’t the right time to indulge in battle.
Chu Shao looked regretfully at the good sword in her hand.
This sword was indeed a good sword, but unfortunately, she wouldn’t have such a good sword in a short time.
While receiving the attack, Chu Shao had a feeling that the person on the roof was moving.
So she took hold of the sword she didn’t want to let go of, intentionally lowered her voice, and smiled at the Fengling Guards, “I’m sorry, but you have seen my eyes.”
The Fengling Guards didn’t understand the meaning of this sentence when the black-clothed person who had been retreating suddenly flew up and sent their swords flying.
They had never known that there could be sword techniques this fast.
But the next moment, Chu Shao picked up her sword and cut off Fengling guard’s trachea. In the instant of blood splattering, they finally understood the meaning of that sentence: ‘I’m sorry, because you saw my eyes, you can only die.’ Only dead people can keep secrets.
Tang Yu’s face was extremely ugly, as if covered in frost. Indeed, she had thought that the black-clothed man was strong, but she had not expected her to be this powerful.
When she realized that something was wrong and was about to go down to fight the black-clothed man, the man had already taken Fengling guard’s life in an instant.
Looking at Fengling guard falling to the ground, Tang Yu drew her sword and stabbed at the black-clothed man.
However, before she even touched the hem of her clothes, she saw her leap up and completely ignore her sword technique, instead jumping over the wall and leaving under the moonlight.
Tang Yu looked at the empty courtyard, almost stunned for a moment, before cursing under her breath and chasing after hee.
But Chu Shao was just too fast.
Tang Yu felt like she was questioning her life as she chased her, because every time she was about to catch the hem of her clothes, she always missed by a little bit.
She could only watch as the distance between them grew further and further, the man slipping away under her nose.
When Tang Yu was panting and could no longer catch up, she realized that she had not even seen the man’s face, let alone capture her alive to report to Princess Zhao Yang.
So she stopped and coldly shouted at Chu Shao’s back, ‘You better be able to run this fast for the rest of your life and never let me catch you!’
The dark figure in the distance paused for a moment. Then she suddenly laughed, but the laughter was hoarse, like a voice that had been disguised.
Then she flew over the rooftops, leaving only a graceful figure in the capital, disappearing like a cloud.
…
It wasn’t until she had completely lost Tang Yu that Chu Shao finally stopped.
If she had fought Tang Yu alone, she had a 70% chance of winning. But she didn’t need to fight for the sake of a boring 70% chance, especially if it meant attracting more skilled opponents.
Of course, the most important thing was that although Chu Shao had not killed the Fourth Prince, she had obtained some interesting news.
Her lips curved into a gentle smile, and she was already eager to share this news with Xiao Jin.
But now–
Chu Shao wrinkled her brow slightly as she sniffed the thick smell of blood on her clothes.
She didn’t want Xiao Jin to know what she had done.
So Chu Shao smiled and walked into a tailor shop that had long gone out of business, picked out a plain white shirt, and casually walked out with it.
Holding the new clothes, she collected the dagger from the shopkeeper’s neck, joyfully put down a few taels of silver, and then left.
The shopkeeper was left scared and paralyzed, looking at the few taels of silver on the table, wondering whether or not to report to the authorities.
As she walked out of the shop, Chu Shao took off her night clothes in the moonlight.
Her snow-white shoulders were as clear as the moon, but only exposed for a moment. The next moment, she changed into the plain shirt.
Chu Shao straightened the wrinkles on her cuffs and suddenly remembered that Xiao Jin seemed to like cleanliness.
Every time she coughed up blood, Xiao Jin always carried a silk handkerchief with her.
The embroidered pattern on the handkerchief was exquisite and beautiful, like something only a young girl would carry.
Thinking of this, Chu Shao smiled slightly.
For some reason, her mood became a little more joyful.
Just as she was about to head back home, she looked up and saw a row of crimson plum blossoms.
They bloomed beautifully in the moonlight, and the color was very pretty.
She suddenly thought of a good way to cover up the smell of blood.
…
Chu Shao originally thought that Xiao Jin was still asleep, so she chose to return to the Yan Mansion.
Unexpectedly, when she knocked on the mansion’s door with the bouquet of plum blossoms, the person who opened the door was Old Zhang.
Old Zhang looked at the red plum blossoms in Chu Shao’s hands, and was first stunned, then smiled and said, “The Princess has finally returned. The Prince has been waiting for you in the courtyard for a long time.”
Chu Shao was surprised, “The Prince is waiting for me?”
“Yes, Princess. The Prince has been waiting for you,” replied Old Zhang.
Chu Shao didn’t know why Xiao Jin was waiting for her, but she was curious, so she didn’t ask and just walked into the courtyard with a smile.
She wanted to see for herself what Xiao Jin wanted to do.
But when she entered the courtyard and saw Xiao Jin sitting in the pavilion, she looked puzzled.
Because besides Xiao Jin, there was nothing in the pavilion.
However, Chu Shao still walked a few steps closer to the wheelchair-bound Xiao Jin, smiling and asking, “Your highness, I heard from Old Zhang that you’ve been waiting for me?”
Xiao Jin didn’t answer, she just nodded.
Chu Shao smiled and asked, “Since Your highness is waiting for me here, is there anything you need from me?”
Xiao Jin sat in the wheelchair, not answering for a long time.
Because at this moment, she was extremely speechless.
She was absolutely looking for trouble, to come to Chu Shao after she had killed someone.
Right now, she was completely kidnapped by the system in the pavilion.
A few hours ago, Xiao Jin was still silently lighting candles for the Fourth Prince, bidding him farewell.
However, before the candles were finished, the system sent a congratulatory message: “Congratulations to the host for completing Task Three! Based on the host’s ‘excellent’ performance in this task, the system has decided to award you 15 days of life span.”
Xiao Jin frowned, “Wasn’t it supposed to be a month before?”
The system happily replied, “Yes, host. You have cut the reward in half with your own efforts, which the system did not anticipate.”
“But unfortunately, the big task for this month ends with Task Three, and there are no other tasks this month. In the system’s expectations, you were supposed to receive the full reward -“
“In other words, anyone could have received the full reward, but unfortunately, you did not.”
“Tsk.” Xiao Jin paid no attention to the system’s sarcasm and continued to ask, “So what now?”
“So the system can only add some small tasks for you to make up for the 15 days of life span you missed. Otherwise, you will die prematurely without the new tasks to make up for the missing life span.”
At first, Xiao Jin didn’t think much of it.
After all, she had completed three tasks, and even survived through difficult situations, so what couldn’t she overcome?
After all, she had already completed three tasks and even managed to overcome the tricky consonant sounds, so what else couldn’t she conquer?
However, when the system released task four, Xiao Jin fell silent.
This silence lasted until now.
Chu Shao asked her what was wrong.
Actually, there was nothing wrong.
But Xiao Jin still had to do the task, so she had to find something to do.
Xiao Jin thought of the extra task she had to do and finally lifted her head to look at Chu Shao.
At this point, the distance between the two was not too close, but not too far either.
Xiao Jin could see the brand new white clothes on the other person, as if they were filled with moonlight, and the beauty mark under the corner of their eye was shining brightly in a hazy and faint way.
Chu Shao was holding a bunch of red plums, which were complemented by the white snow on his body.
Xiao Jin couldn’t help but feel a little stunned, feeling a bit uneasy.
This uneasiness was further heightened when she smelled a faint hint of blood.
It was indeed beautiful.
So beautiful that it made her scalp tingle, but when she thought of the warm embrace in her dreams, Xiao Jin’s tone involuntarily softened a bit: “It’s true that I’m waiting for the princess to come back, but there’s actually nothing major going on.”
Chu Shao furrowed her brow slightly, seeming to not quite understand what Xiao Jin was saying.
Xiao Jin continued: “When we returned to the mansion, I thought that the princess hadn’t eaten, so I had Old Zhang prepare a table of food for her. It was originally placed here—”
At this point, she raised her hand and pointed to the empty stone table. “But the food got cold later, so I had it removed.”
It was truly a waste of words.
She had said so much, but it was as if she hadn’t said anything at all.
However, as Chu Shao listened to this nonsense, she froze for a moment before a gentle smile appeared on her lips: “It’s not your fault.”
Xiao Jin thought to herself that it wasn’t her fault, it was all the system’s fault.
But her expression remained cold, and she continued to blabber on: “I didn’t mean to blame the princess, so later I had someone bring a silver bone charcoal stove that my mother sent from the palace.”
“But Old Zhang told me later that the princess doesn’t usually like using charcoal, so I had to give up on that idea.”
As she spoke, Xiao Jin’s voice gradually lowered.
Because what she was about to say next was truly embarrassing for her.
After listening to Xiao Jin’s previous words, Chu Shao did not know what Xiao Jin was going to do, so she smiled and asked happily, “So, what did you leave for me in the end?”
Xiao Jin fell silent.
It had to be said that Chu Shao’s logic was really strong.
She could guess this?
Even she couldn’t guess it herself.
After being guessed by Chu Shao, Xiao Jin’s mentality became calm, and she said lightly, “Yes, I left something for the princess.”
Chu Shao asked, “Oh? What did you leave?”
Xiao Jin was silent for a moment, then slowly said, “After thinking about it, I didn’t think there was anything I could leave for the princess. After all, it seems that the princess doesn’t need many things and doesn’t care about many things. So I left a lamp for you.”
She pointed to the palace lamp on the top of the pavilion.
At first, the palace lamp was very bright, but it had burned for a long time and was now somewhat dim.
However, the silver fringe hanging down from the edge was very beautiful, like moonlight on the snow.
Xiao Jin said to Chu Shao, “There is a saying that when a soldier sees the stars on the grassland, he will feel sad because he will think of the lamp his wife left for him and think that someone is still waiting for him to come home.”
“Since the princess picked so many plum blossoms, she must be tired when she comes back, so I left a lamp for the princess. Of course, leaving this lamp is to…”
Xiao Jin paused for a moment and continued, “To tell the princess that the Prince Yan’s Mansion is still waiting for you to come back.”
Chu Shao didn’t say anything.
Xiao Jin felt rare embarrassment, and finally coughed lightly and said, “It’s late, and the lamp is about to go out. The princess should rest early. Good night.”
As soon as the words “good night” were uttered, the system immediately sent a congratulatory message: “Congratulations, host! The extra task of ‘saying good night to the female lead’ has been completed, and the system will give you 48 hours of life span.”
Xiao Jin looked indifferent.
Hehe, it took so long just to say this sentence.
As a result, only 48 hours were rewarded.
At this time, Chu Shao asked softly, “Your highness, what does ‘good night’ mean?”
Xiao Jin originally wanted to say that it means wishing you a peaceful night every night.
But looking at Chu Shao’s side face reflected in the moonlight, Xiao Jin thought for a moment and changed to a more euphemistic wording.
“I hope the princess has many good dreams every night.”
Chu Shao suddenly laughed.
Before Xiao Jin could react to why the other party was laughing, she saw Chu Shao pull out a branch of red plum from her hand, walked a few steps closer, and handed it to Xiao Jin: “It is said that the fragrance of plum can soothe the mind. So, I also wish you many good dreams every night.”
Xiao Jin remembered the dream she had a few days ago and her scalp began to tingle.
However, she still took the branch of plum and nodded.
After Chu Shao gave her the plum blossom, she turned around and left.
However, after taking a few steps, she suddenly turned back and smiled at Xiao Jin from three feet away.
“Both Yao country and Qi country have always had the custom of mutual respect, so I must bid you goodnight as well,” she said. “Goodnight, Your Highness.”
Xiao Jin: “…”
She felt that something was off, like they were competing in some way.
Chu Shao chuckled and continued, “Since I bid you goodnight tonight, does that mean you’ll have to bid me goodnight tomorrow night as well? After all, mutual respect is important.”
Xiao Jin fell silent.
This didn’t seem like a good idea. It might turn into an endless loop.
But Chu Shao was only teasing her.
After all, Xiao Jin was quite amusing.
Seeing that she had fallen for it, Chu Shao laughed lightly, then turned and walked away, stepping on the frost on the ground.
But even she didn’t realize it.
Under the moonlight, her smile was almost blinding, like the first snow of early spring.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author’s note: This book will be longer than the previous one.
The plot twist will happen at a suitable and impactful point in the story, within the next few chapters (probably less than ten).
Thank you to all the angels who voted for me or gave me nutrient solution between February 28, 2022, at 23:57:25, and March 3, 2022, at 23:55:24.
Translator’s note: Hehe~~~ too much dog food!.
TO BE CONTINUE…
Comment