Liu Ma Ma surveyed the surrounding and saw a blue cloth protruding from Shao Ning’s arms. Frowning when she saw the slight blood stain on it, she glanced over at Feng Zhi Wei, then suddenly stepped forward and snatched the cloth out of Shao Ning’s hand, “Princess, what is this?”

Shao Ning stuttered and let out an “Ah…” No matter how bold and brazen she is, or how much she wanted to take charge of her own happiness, ready to throw all propriety aside, at the end of the day, she is still an imperial princess so how could she actually say this was the mark of her virginity. Finally snapping back to attention, Shao Ning’s face flashed bright red, and reach out a hand to grab the cloth but Chen Ma Ma pulled her hand back and said coldly, “This sort of thing should be kept by this old servant anyway. Please don’t worry about it, Princess.” 

Feng Zhi Wei let out a silent sigh of relief— the heaven hasn’t shut all the doors on her yet, at least a Liu Ma Ma fell from the sky. 

But in the next instant, doubts arose in her heart— everything this Liu Ma Ma has done today is helping her but she doesn’t remember Wei Zhi has formed any sort of friendship with this Liu Ma Ma. However, as Feng Zhi Wei she was also helped by her on Concubine Chang’s feast. But today, is Liu Ma Ma forced to help her because she is afraid she would be blamed as Shao Ning’s nanny or is there some other reason?

She didn’t even glance her way when she stepped into the room, so she seemed to really not know Wei Zhi, but could it be this simple? 

“Princess!” Liu Ma Ma couldn’t hide the panic on her face, “Please get up and leave quickly. Don’t cause this servant’s death, the death of everyone in your palace, and cause the death…of other innocent people!” She glanced over at Feng Zhi Wei as she finished her last sentence. 

Shao Ning hesitated then muttered, “… it’s already like this, Father wouldn’t kill him, at most just his official post will be taken away….”

Feng Zhi Wei smiled through gritted teeth— at most just his official post will be taken away. What a thing to say with such indifference. So my two years of risking my life on the battlefields just disappeared into nothingness thanks to your one little jaunt on the bed? 

For a moment, the desire to kill almost burst from her but she forcefully suppressed it. 

Knowing Princess Shao Ning quite well, Liu Ma Ma doesn’t try to reason with her anymore but simply urged her to leave and tried to pull her out of the room. Taking the opportunity of the two women’s war of tug and pull, Feng Zhi Wei silently stepped forward and gave Shao Ning a swift chop to the neck.

 Shao Ning was promptly rendered unconscious. Liu Ma Ma caught her and picked her up. Feng Zhi Wei quickly said in a low voice, “Thank you Ma Ma, I will send you out.” 

“Don’t.” Liu Ma Ma said, “It’s not suitable for you to go out right now. You have no explanation if you ended up bumping into others. Prince Chu is here so I should be fine.” 

The tight knot in the pit of Feng Zhi Wei’s stomach relaxed. It seemed that Liu Ma Ma must have come out searching after discovering the princess is missing and ran into Ning Yi. With how sharp Ning Yi is, he must have guessed Shao Ning is at her place and let Liu Ma Ma come right in without any obstacles. Since he knew already, then that saves her from trying to figure out a way to send a message to him. 

Liu Ma Ma was about to leave with Shao Ning when they suddenly heard a ruckus outside with bright lights filling the dark night, instantly surrounding the palace building they are in. 

 Feng Zhi Wei’s heart sank. 

They are here so fast! 

They came fast and furious, a string of lights like a fire dragon instantly illuminated what had just been a dark night moments ago. They hear faint noises, shouting “Over here, over here…”

“Go forward, go forward…” 

“Concubine Xiu and Concubine Yu fainted from fright, saying there was a black shadow that had dashed across on the west side…” 

As they were yelling, they tried to barge in. 

Feng Zhi Wei sneered coldly– to search the palace on a large scale with this many people, they would have to use assassins as an excuse. But this whole pretense is a bit too obvious. There are so many buildings on the west side of the palace but they are ignoring them all and heading straight for this one. 

The guards in the palace are divided into three groups. The Imperial Army guards the gate, the Changying Guards patrol the palace, and the Imperial Palace Guards are responsible for the inner palace. Every night, a prince, a senior scholar, and a mid-level scholar are on duty every night, each in charge of a group, with the prince being the main overseer. So this means, in tonight’s “assassin” search, there won’t be a lot of guards or soldiers but will mostly be comprised of Imperial Palace Guards and the eunuchs who “personally saw the assassin.” 

It is no longer possible to take Princess Shao Ning out under the circumstance. Their opponents came too quickly and they will surely be blocked the moment they tried to leave. Feng Zhi Wei was in the middle of thinking through all the possible countermeasures, when she happened to turn around and was greeted by a sight that rendered her speechless. 

At some point in time, Liu Ma Ma had already placed Princess Shao Ning back on the bed and is quickly changing her into an eunuch uniform she had brought.  Pulling out a box with numerous secret compartments containing various color inks, fake eyelashes, and fake moles, Liu Ma Ma then proceeded to go to work furiously on the princess’ face without hesitation. Gluing fake moles, trimming eyebrows and eyelashes, Liu Ma Ma’s hand was so fast that it was hard for one’s eyes to keep up with her movement. 

This series of disguise techniques are not only impressive but extremely skillful, causing one to wonder if this Ma Ma is practicing the art of disguise on her face every day. Even Feng Zhi Wei was dumbfounded, never imagining that there would be a disguise expert that could rival Zong Chen right by Shao Ning’s side. 

Although Liu Ma Ma was fast but their opponents were even faster. The disguise was only half done when some people showed up in the courtyard and a man said coldly, “Search!” 

Feng Zhi Wei’s heart jumped, ran to Liu Ma Ma, and dragged the room screen divider over to cover her. 

The man had ordered a search but the men didn’t scatter as they should’ve. They didn’t even bother to go over to Gu Nan Yi’s place but headed straight for Feng Zhi Wei’s room. A knock came at the door, “Official Wei, there is an assassin in the palace who has escaped here, please get up!”

No response came from within the room. 

The person outside of the door was Senior Scholar Wu Wenming. Not hearing any movement from inside the room, a cold sneer appeared on the corner of Scholar Wu’s mouth as he raised his voice even louder, “Official Wei, we are on order to come to apprehend the assassin, please open the door. If not, we will be breaking in.” 

In the courtyard, the fire torches crackled and popped. In the silence, a lazy laughing voice suddenly came. 

“Is it Official Wu? Searching the palace for an assassin in the middle of the night? How exactly did Official Wu see the assassin coming my way? What figure did the assassin have? What kind of clothing? What kind of weapon? You should tell me so I can make some comparisons.” 

Wu Wenming was taken aback, and opened his mouth a few times, searching for words in futile before finally saying angrily “There are many people in the middle of the night with the assassin running high on the top, who can see clearly? Official Wei, please don’t delay, and open the door quickly!”

There was a moment of silence then immediately followed by Wei Zhi’s still cool and lazy voice, “Am I not injured here? Don’t I need to get up and get dressed? Why is Official Wu in such a rush? Sigh, it looks like Wei Zhi is sure not liked by many people. An assassin had supposedly come rushing into here, to an injured person’s place and no one even bothered to ask if I am safe?”

Scholar Wu was taken aback again, belatedly realizing that he was too impatient. During any palace search, the logical thing for them to do would have been to first ascertain Wei Zhi’s safety. Even if they knew the whole assassin thing was fake, they still needed to act within reason or else once the emperor hears of it, then it would cause His Majesty to come away with the impression that they are not careful in executing their duties. 

But then his next thought is that Wei Zhi would be done for after today so what does he care what Wei Zhi thinks? 


All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com

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