Rebirth of the Excellent Daughter of the Marquis Household (REDMH) - Chapter 180

As soon as the main gate of the courtyard opened, a volley of feathered arrows shot out. Wang Yan leapt into the air, and the arrows whistled past beneath his feet.
Over a dozen masked men sprang out from the house, surrounding Wang Yan. At the same time, four others hooked the net that was covering Gu Yu Qi and began dragging her away.
A few hidden weapons shot from the hands of those four men. Trapped within the net, Gu Yu Qi had nowhere to dodge. Her arms and legs were struck and at once, a strange numbness began to spread from the wounds throughout her limbs.
Gu Yu Qi felt as though her arms and legs were frozen solid, growing heavier and heavier, until all feeling was lost.
Her struggles weakened little by little. She lifted her gaze to glance at Wang Yan, and then lost consciousness.
Wang Yan was horrified. He forcefully broke through the four men around him, trying to charge forward and rescue Gu Yu Qi from the large trawling net. However, the others clung to him like maggots on rotting flesh, following his every move, relentlessly entangling him. These dozen or so attackers were no ordinary assassins. They possessed exceptional martial arts skills. The moment Wang Yan exchanged blows with them, he knew things were going badly.
Even with all his strength, Wang Yan could not move forward an inch. He could only watch helplessly as the four masked men dragged the large net over the wall. Then he heard the sounds of a carriage which grew fainter and fainter.
By now, Wang Yan’s eyes were bloodshot with fury. Gu Yu Qi had been lost under his protection. He could no longer find a way to return and report back to His Highness.
It seemed the prince’s words before he left had come true: If you are discovered by Her Ladyship, do not bother coming back. Wang Yan felt bitter. He likely would not be going back after today.
He lunged toward the wall, trying to scale over it to chase down the carriage that had taken Gu Yu Qi away, but the more his thoughts ran wild, the more mistakes he made.
A sharp pain struck his back. Amidst the chaotic clash of blades, he had been slashed.
Like a madman, Wang Yan swung back and struck the black-clad attacker who had injured him. Seeing the red gleam in Wang Yan’s eyes, the others knew they could not let this man live.
Blades and swords clashed in a dazzling storm, weaving into a deadly net before Wang Yan.
Though he fought with all his might, in the end, he was only one man and the dozen attackers were all skilled.
After several rounds of combat, his entire body was wounded and he was covered in bl00d.
Several of his enemies had also been injured by Wang Yan’s ferocious, desperate fighting.
At last, a sword pierced straight into Wang Yan’s back. He finally collapsed to the ground. With great effort, he tugged at a bamboo tube at his waist. He pulled hard and the tube aimed upward. In an instant, a firework burst forth from the bamboo tube, rising like a sharp blade into the night sky, as if trying to tear apart the black curtain blanketing the earth. When it reached its peak, it burst into an explosion of dazzling, brilliant red that lingered long in the star-speckled heavens.
“Retreat!” One of the masked men drove another sword into Wang Yan’s back. Glancing back at the others, he said, “That must’ve been a signal flare! If we wait for their reinforcements to arrive, we’ll be in trouble.”

With that, the dozen or so men each clutched at their wounds and abandoned Wang Yan, who lay in a pool of bl00d. One by one, they vaulted over the courtyard walls and swiftly vanished into the vast night.

At the Ministry of Justice, Yun Ke had been feeling uneasy for some time now like something was about to happen.

An inexplicable restlessness lingered deep in his heart.

On the day of his wedding, someone had presented the Eldest Princess’ jade token and brought formal accusations against the Xia family. The very next day, the Xia family’s daughter was found dead. His Majesty had not summoned the young man who brought the charges, an act that could be seen as sparing the Xia family some face for the time being.

While Yun Ke had been accompanying Gu Yu Qi back to the prince’s palace, His Majesty had received the young man in private. The young man’s accusations had shocked Emperor Jing.

In the imperial court, no official was willing to take on the case. They all passed the responsibility back and forth until in the end, it fell to Yun Ke, who was still technically on leave.

Emperor Jing had originally not wanted to involve Yun Ke, who already had entanglements with the Xia family, but in the end, he clenched his teeth and handed the matter to him.

He had long since harboured the intention to deal with the Xia family.

Back when he had needed money, the Xia family had shown no sympathy for their sovereign and had constantly made things difficult for him. He had been forced to make humiliating promises just to borrow the funds for emergency relief. That was when the seeds of disaster were sown.

Over the years, the power of the aristocratic families had only grown stronger, deeply entrenched, with roots spreading in all directions, leaving him no easy point of attack.

Now, the incident involving the Xia family presented a rare opportunity. However, the influence of the great aristocratic clans were considerable, and no matter whom the case was handed to, there would be concerns.

Yun Yi, of course, could not take the case. Yun Qing was about to marry a daughter of the Jiang family so he was also unsuitable. Only Yun Ke, who had married the daughter of the Ding Yuan Marquis and had no ties to any aristocratic families, was untouched. All considered, he was the best candidate.

Thus, after Yun Ke had sent Wang Yan away, Emperor Jing summoned him to the palace.

After leaving the prince’s palace, Yun Ke went straight to the Ministry of Justice, where he had remained until now.

He had just instructed someone to finish recording the young man’s testimony when, before even stepping out of the ministry gates, he saw a massive red firework blossom in the night sky, lingering for a long time before fading. His heart immediately leapt into his throat. It was the emergency signal from his palace’s secret guards, used only in the direst of situations. And among those currently in the capital, there were very few who might be in danger…

His instinct turned straight to Gu Yu Qi. He had sent Wang Yan to follow Gu Yu Qi!

He suddenly rushed out through the gates of the Ministry of Justice. A minor official standing nearby obsequiously brought his horse over, but before the words “Your Highness” could even leave his mouth, he felt a blur before his eyes, and both man and horse had already shot out like an arrow and vanished swiftly into the night.

Yun Ke practically galloped across the capital, heading in the direction of the rising fireworks. Fortunately, night had already fallen so the streets were empty. Yun Ke spurred his horse onwards, eyes fixed on the direction indicated by the fireworks overhead. Unfortunately, before he could find the courtyard, the fireworks had already dissipated.

Staring at the maze of intersecting alleys, Yun Ke stopped his horse, anxiety gnawing at him.

“Your Highness.” Two figures emerged swiftly from the darkness, dropping to their knees with fists cupped in salute before his horse.

“Have you found the location?” Yun Ke saw that it was Du Xia and Li Sheng, and asked in a frosty tone.

“Not yet. This subordinate followed the signal here, but it disappeared,” Du Xia replied.

“Where is the princess?” Yun Ke asked anxiously.

“This subordinate does not know,” Du Xia immediately answered.

“Li Sheng, return to the prince’s palace at once and check if the princess is safe,” Yun Ke ordered. “Du Xia, search the area with this prince!”

“Yes.” Li Sheng immediately turned and raced towards the residence.

Yun Ke summoned two hidden guards who had been following him and began to search the area together.

There had only been one signal, so most likely, the person who sent it had been killed!

Otherwise, if the signal had simply disappeared, another flare should have been released to help the people from the prince’s residence locate their position.

Trying to find one person among all these narrow alleys was no easy task.

Du Xia and several other secret guards leapt onto the rooftops, searching the courtyards one by one.

Yun Ke remained on horseback, waiting in place.

Not long after, Li Sheng returned. “Reporting to Your Highness, Her Highness the Princess is not in the prince’s palace! The guards at the back gate said that Her Highness the Princess went out, and her whereabouts are currently unknown.”

This time, Yun Ke’s heart truly sank. He felt a loud buzzing in his head, as if someone had struck him hard with a hammer, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. In that instant, his mind went completely blank.

A tightness seized his throat. Gu Yu Qi was truly in trouble.

No wonder he had felt uneasy the entire time he was in the Ministry of Justice…

“Search!” If his guess was correct, the one who had sent out the distress signal must have been Wang Yan.

Gu Yu Qi was quite skilled, and Wang Yan was one of the top martial artists among the secret guards. If the two of them were together, perhaps the situation was not yet completely hopeless.

Yun Ke kept comforting himself in his heart, trying to convince himself, even though he clearly knew that if Wang Yan had released the first signal but had not managed to send out a second one, then that already indicated he was likely in grave danger.

He was trying hard to think positively, not daring to consider any negative outcomes.

If he could have, Yun Ke would have rushed straight to the city’s Five Military Departments to borrow men for the search.

Just as Yun Ke was about to head to the Eldest Princess’ residence to borrow her command token and manpower, he saw a blue signal rise into the sky.

His heart leapt with excitement as he spurred his horse toward the direction of the blue signal.

That signal meant someone had been found.

As he approached the courtyard, Yun Ke faintly caught the scent of bl00d in the air. His heart immediately tightened.

He did not even know how he had managed to scale the high wall or land in the centre of the courtyard. When his eyes focused and he saw Wang Yan lying in a pool of bl00d, covered in wounds, his vision went slightly dark.

“Where is Gu Yu Qi?!” He forced himself to keep his voice steady, but the trembling in his final syllables betrayed the fear and grief deep in his heart.

“We have not found the Princess yet,” Du Xia cupped his fists and replied in a low voice.

His voice was equally cold.

Before Yun Ke’s wedding, he had been entrusted with a mission. He had only just returned yesterday, and before he even had a chance to meet Gu Yu Qi, who was now the secondary consort of Imperial Prince An, he had received such dreadful news.

He understood that the prince had deliberately sent him away.

The prince had not wanted him to witness Gu Yu Qi entering the prince’s residence and becoming the Princess Consort.

“Reporting to Your Highness, he is not dead yet,” Du Xia said to Yun Ke. He had already sealed several of Wang Yan’s acupuncture points to stop the bleeding. “Although his body is covered in wounds, only a few are fatal. The most serious are two injuries on his back. We do not know if he can be saved.”

“Save him! He must be saved!” Yun Ke almost bit his lip to force the words out.

“Search the area for any clues,” Yun Ke steadied himself and forced himself to calm down.

“Yes.” Li Sheng went forward to lift up the unconscious Wang Yan. As he did, even Li Sheng felt a chill in his heart. Just how many times had he been slashed? His body was covered in wounds, large and small. Although the bleeding had been stopped from pressing the acupuncture points, the bl00d that had flowed earlier had already stained the ground crimson.

Du Xia climbed over the courtyard wall and began carefully investigating the surroundings.