“And these bodies,” Shao Ning said with a frown as she looked at the ground, “Get rid of them. Otherwise, tomorrow the imperial city Office and the Nine Gates Command will make trouble again.”
The men took the order and began dragging away the corpses. Feng Zhiwei inwardly groaned—she certainly didn’t want to be dragged off.
By now, she had already figured out what was happening. It seemed Consort Qing was about to give birth tonight. For some reason, instead of returning to the palace or delivering at the imperial temple, she had chosen the underground tunnel beneath Lanxiang Courtyard. And Shao Ning had calculated the timing of her labor and came to get her.
Feng Zhi Wei calculated the days. By all rights, Consort Qing should still have had several days before her due date. Had the birth come early, or was she simply induced?
There was yet another question lingering in her mind. Consort Qing and Ning Yi had a cooperative relationship. Then what was the relationship between Consort Qing and Langxiang Courtyard?
By now, several men in black had approached and were about to drag her away. Feng Zhi Wei’s mind raced as she considered whether she should let herself be dragged away first, then come back later….
Suddenly, a muffled boom came!
The noise seemed to come not from above ground, but from beneath it. The entire earth trembled. Rainwater left in the broken vat splashed out, soaking the boots of one of the black-clad men coming toward her. Startled, the men stepped back and stared at the ground. Even Feng Zhi Wei, who had been pretending to be dead, was shocked enough to open her eyes— an earthquake?
Right away, she felt something was off. The ground had shaken only once before falling silent again. The surrounding buildings remained completely intact. With her ear pressed against the earth, she could faintly hear cries and screams coming from below.
Right then, Feng Zhi Wei felt as if thunder had struck her heart, and in an instant, she understood everything! The underground secret chamber had been blown up!
Countless thoughts flashed across her mind. Her first instinct was to ignore everything and flee immediately. This was obviously not a place to linger around any longer. But before she could move, Shao Ning suddenly shouted in surprise, “What’s going on? Who’s there!”
As she shouted, figures suddenly appeared from all sides. This too was yet another group of people dressed in black. All were wearing stiff wooden masks and carrying a variety of weapons. Without a sound, they surrounded the group Shao Ning had brought.
The two sides stared at one another. Feng Zhi Wei thought they would at least exchange a few superficial comments first, but instead, a sharp metallic clang sounded, and a sword flashed, resulting in one of Shao Ning’s men falling silently to the ground. This seemed to be the signal for the beginning. In the next moment, the two sides clashed fiercely. The men in black who had arrived later, not only did they offered no warnings, but their attacks were deadly and ruthless, seemingly even more heartless than Shao Ning’s men when they killed the beggars.
Placing Shao Ning in the middle of them, Shao Ning’s guards soon realized not only were they outnumbered, but their opponents obviously came prepared. Several of her guards desperately tugged at her reins, trying to escort her to safety first.
Shao Ning struggled on top of her horse, twisting around and hissing hoarsely, “….No! I have to take my…”
“You need to save your own life first!” One of her subordinates barked.
The person gave the horse’s rump a vicious stab. Maddened by pain, the horse let out a long neigh. With one leap, it shot out and burst through the encirclement. Shao Ning’s loyal guards shouted and in unison, rushed forward to prevent their opponents from chasing after her. The battle erupted into chaos once again. Meanwhile, the rider’s long dark hair streamed behind her in the wind like a banner as she disappeared toward the far end of the street.
In the dark alley, a chaotic battle raged, with thick, sticky blood splattering everywhere. Feng Zhi Wei was about to take advantage of the chaos and slip away when she suddenly felt a sharp tug at her waist.
Startled, she turned her head and discovered that a hole had at some point appeared behind the vat. The ground had sunk inward, leaving a hole about the size of a pot lid. Amid the drifting smoke and dust, half of a person’s body emerged from the smoke-filled hole. The person’s face was covered in blood and dust. With two blood-soaked hands, the person was clutching desperately at Feng Zhi Wei’s clothing while frantically pushing a bundle toward her.
Under the starlight, Feng Zhi Wei’s eye fell on the bundle, and her heart immediately skipped a beat. It was a newborn baby.
When she looked again at the blood-covered face of the woman gazing at her with desperate pleading, she belatedly came to the stunning recognition that it was Yin Er.
“Please…please…” Yin Er did not recognize who she was. Taking her for just another beggar from the alley, she clung to a glimmer of hope. Struggling, she pushed the child toward Feng Zhi Wei and, with trembling hands, held out a brocade pouch, “…Take him to the imperial temple…the imperial temple…there’s money…”
Feng Zhi Wei looked down at her. The woman’s eyes were beginning to lose focus. It was obvious that the explosion had occurred inside the tunnel. Whoever had acted had done so with ruthless precision. Striking Consort Qing’s most important hiding place at the very moment when everyone was most distracted and least prepared. A woman in labor, a newborn infant, a crowd packed together in a confined underground chamber. How could they survive such a blast?
As for who had done it…
There was no need to ask.
Unparalleled shrewdness and astonishing patience. Those had always been his greatest strengths.
It was laughable that she had been worried that he might not know the imperial temple was hiding a prince, but he had already planned everything out in advance. Consort Qing, pregnant for ten months, would naturally have been extremely cautious, so he was not in a hurry to make a move and alert her. He waited until she was at her weakest moment to eliminate her completely!
Underground chamber destroyed from within. Shao Ning driven away on the outside. Everything here was under his control!
Yin Er’s hand still hung in the air. Looking up at Feng Zhi Wei, her expression was full of sorrow and pleading. As Feng Zhi Wei met her gaze, she suddenly remembered the loneliest and most desperate period of her life years ago. She had knocked on the doors of Lanxiang Courtyard, begging to be taken in as a servant, only to be scolded by the matron and about to be driven away. It was Yin Er who suddenly appeared, gently placing her hand on the old woman’s shoulder, smiling at her, and saying softly, “Matron, aren’t we short a servant in the courtyard?”
Without Yin Er’s help, she could not have stayed at Lanxiang Courtyard. She might never have met Xin Zi Yan, never obtained the token made of Tianhuang stone, never been able to made the leap, and rise to the glory she enjoys today.
And during those months at Lanxiang Courtyard, Yin Er had genuinely cared for her. She had given Feng Zhi Wei something she had rarely received in nineteen years of life— the warmth and kindness of an ordinary person.
In an instant, four years had passed. Four years later, the fingertips now reaching toward her were losing the warmth of life. Those delicate fingers, once as beautiful as carved jade, were stained with beads of blood, no longer in possession of the warmth and beauty she remembered. She recalled those fingers resting upon the matron’s shoulder years ago, their crimson nail polish bright as blood.
Feng Zhi Wei closed her eyes.
Some things, no matter how one hesitates, struggles, or tries to avoid them, still circle back to the same ending…is this fate?
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