Volume One, Chapter 14: The Empress Has Been Found
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The Bloodfeather Guard was the most powerful force at Empress Xiao Ruoqing’s side.
The late emperor had begun preparing it when Xiao Ruoqing was still a child, secretly building an elite force that could be commanded only by her.
It was precisely because this force existed that Xiao Ruoqing had been able to ascend the imperial throne despite being a woman.
By following the traces left along the road, Shadow had inferred that Xiao Ruoqing might have gone to Zhiyuan County.
Thus, early that morning, she had brought the remaining members of the Bloodfeather Guard to Zhiyuan County and swiftly begun investigating.
She dared not make a public display of her search, nor did she even dare alert the local authorities.
Until they found the empress, she did not dare trust anyone!
What if the assassins had bought off the officials as well? If they learned that the empress was in Zhiyuan County and found and killed her first, everything would truly be over!
Shadow raised her wine cup, took a small sip, and said, “I have already sent people out to search. This brothel is where all sorts of information converge. If we wait here, we may hear something useful.”
“All right.” Xiao Wan nodded. “Then let’s keep waiting… Wait!”
A look of sudden alarm crossed Xiao Wan’s face. “Lady Shadow, look at that piece of gold. Doesn’t it look like one the empress carries with her?”
Shadow immediately turned her head.
At the entrance of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, Madam Ma saw the gold coin Zhang Scarface had thrown over. Her face instantly lit up, and she eagerly caught it with both hands.
“That’s more than enough, Master Zhang! Naturally it’s enough! Cui’er, take Master Zhang to see Miss Red Sleeve. Boys, bring out the finest wine and dishes for our guest!”
A flamboyantly dressed woman approached with graceful steps, slipped her arm through Zhang Scarface’s, and cooed, “Master Scarface, you’re so mean. You used to come looking for me every time. Have you forgotten all about me?”
“Both of you! Hahaha, both of you!”
Zhang Scarface wrapped an arm around Cui’er’s slender waist and groped her shamelessly as he walked upstairs with her.
Meanwhile, Madam Ma happily clutched the gold coin, preparing to put it away.
Shadow and Xiao Wan exchanged a glance, then rose from their seats.
In a side room, Madam Ma took out the gold coin and was about to hide it when she suddenly noticed the two words “Inner Intelligence” engraved beside it. Her expression changed dramatically.
Zhang Scarface was illiterate and had no idea what it was, but she knew.
“Where did that bastard Zhang Scarface get a gold coin from the Imperial Intelligence Office?”
Madam Ma knew Zhang Scarface far too well.
Zhiyuan County was not large, and there were few people who did not know Zhang Scarface, a desperate thug who made his living collecting debts.
A debt collector who could produce a gold coin from the Imperial Intelligence Office?
Before she could figure it out, she suddenly felt a chill at her throat. Terrified, she dropped the gold coin from her hand.
“Spare me, hero! Please don’t kill me! I’ll give you money!” Madam Ma cried without hesitation.
She had dealt with all kinds of people in the pleasure quarter, and precisely because of that, she knew better than most how vicious certain men could be. She cherished her life all the more for it.
Xiao Wan stood behind Madam Ma and picked up the gold coin from the floor.
When she saw the words “Inner Intelligence” engraved upon it, along with the tiny indentation gouged into its base by a sharp instrument, she became even more certain that it belonged to Xiao Ruoqing.
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The indentation had been deliberately made by Shadow out of professional habit.
“This gold coin is not something you should possess,” Xiao Wan said, forcing down her excitement.
“Yes, yes!” Madam Ma replied in a trembling voice, cursing Zhang Scarface’s ancestors to the eighth generation in her heart.
That damned bastard—where had he gotten such a lethal object?
Xiao Wan pulled out a pouch of silver and tossed it before Madam Ma.
“I’m taking the gold. There are one hundred ounces of silver in this pouch. Do not reveal what happened today, or you will bear the consequences.”
“All right! I swear I’ll keep my mouth shut!” Madam Ma raised her hand and swore.
As soon as she finished speaking, the chill at her throat suddenly vanished. She turned around and found that the other woman had already left.
Madam Ma collapsed onto the floor, cold sweat streaming down her face as her whole body trembled uncontrollably.
“Good heavens! You nearly scared me to death!” she said, still trembling.
Just now, she had truly felt that death could come for her at any moment.
At the same time, in a private room on the second floor, Zhang Scarface was wantonly caressing Cui’er when a black-clad figure slowly drew near.
At dusk, at the Zhao residence in the western part of the city, Steward Wang hurried to the quarters of Zhao Yuanwai.
“Master, are you asleep? I have urgent business to report,” he called from outside the door.
Inside, the concubine who had finally climbed onto Zhao Defu’s belly immediately called out, “Master Zhao is asleep. Come back tomorrow if you have something to say.”
“No, I’m not!” Zhao Defu shouted from within, as though rescued from great peril. “Wait for me. I’ll be right out.”
Then he smiled apologetically at his beautiful concubine.
“Let’s call it a night. We’ll continue another day.”
He hurriedly threw on his clothes and slipped outside, leaving the concubine sitting alone on the bed, her face full of resentment.
“That damned Steward Wang! What business could possibly be more urgent than me?”
Zhao Defu shut the door behind him, heaved a long sigh of relief, and asked Steward Wang, “Come on. Tell me while we walk. What happened?”
With that, he hurried outside.
Steward Wang followed behind him and replied, “Master, word has just come in that Zhang Scarface died inside a brothel.”
“To be precise, Master, Zhang Scarface was killed at the Drunken Immortal Pavilion this afternoon. The authorities have already gone there, but they found nothing. Someone slit Zhang Scarface’s throat with a single sword stroke, and the courtesan who served him was knocked unconscious. She knows nothing at all.”
Steward Wang delivered the entire report in a single breath.
Zhao Defu’s expression instantly grew grave.
“So this really happened? I thought Fan Xiu was merely a poor candidate who had passed the provincial examination—someone easy to manipulate. It seems that anyone who can become a provincial graduate is no ordinary man. Zhang Scarface has kicked an iron wall this time.”
Steward Wang suddenly remembered what Fan Xiu had told him earlier and hurriedly said, “Master, before I returned, Fan Xiu asked me to convey a message. He wishes to meet you and discuss a business arrangement.”
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“Hmm?” Zhao Defu said darkly. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“Master, I didn’t take the matter seriously before. I thought that as a poor provincial graduate, he had no right to trouble you,” Steward Wang said quickly, bowing.
“Let it go.” Zhao Defu waved a hand. “From now on, no matter what happens, you must report it to me. Also, go to the Fan residence again tomorrow and tell Fan Xiu that I will waive the interest on the eighty-ounce debt. I’ll be waiting for him at the Zhao residence; he may come whenever he wishes. I would like to have a talk with him as well.”
“Yes, Master.”
…
Beneath the night sky, outside Zhiyuan City, two slender figures raced toward Greenwood Village like a pair of ghosts gliding through the darkness.
They were Xiao Wan and Shadow of the Bloodfeather Guard.
“Lady Shadow,” Xiao Wan asked, “the empress hasn’t met with harm, has she?”
“No! Greenwillow Village is just ahead. We’ll see the empress very soon. If that damned farmer has dared to hurt her, I will make certain he dies without a burial place!”
Shadow spoke through clenched teeth, her voice murderous.
Before long, the two reached the outskirts of Greenwillow Village. Following Zhang Scarface’s description, they stealthily made their way toward the Fan residence.
Greenwillow Village was small, with only about twenty households.
Soon, Shadow and Xiao Wan arrived outside the dilapidated Fan residence. They exchanged a glance, then vaulted directly over the wall into the courtyard.
The moment they entered—
“Ah! No! Don’t! Don’t touch me!”
A woman’s scream, filled with shame and fury, suddenly rang out from the room on the west side of the main hall.
“Something’s wrong!”
Shadow’s expression changed.
“That’s the empress!”
A thick murderous intent immediately rose in her eyes. She and Xiao Wan charged straight into the room.
As soon as they entered, they saw their empress, Xiao Ruoqing, lying on the bed, her face flushed with anger and humiliation.
Beside her, a man was reaching toward her with a vulgar, cackling laugh.
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