Three Steps: From Assassin to Empress - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: An Assassin Goes Out to Get People

The commandant and the court official walked briskly forward, recalling what had just happened.

Just moments ago, the governor of Jiangzhou, who had claimed to be ill and secluded himself, suddenly arrived at the yamen in person. He gave them a dressing down and repeatedly ordered them to release the scholar named Ying Xiu.

He also said that if any harm came to Ying Xiu, even he wouldn’t get away with it.

Who was the governor of Jiangzhou? He held power internally and governed a famous region externally. He was the highest-ranking person in the entire Jiangzhou Prefecture. Since even he said so, it was clear that Ying Xiu’s background was not simple.

The commandant and the court official were filled with regret. They only hoped that Ying Xiu had just arrived and that nothing had happened to him yet.

Ying Xiu was walking back along the dark corridor. The jail official had said that all the old records of the court official’s prison were in the duty room. With time being of the essence, he had quickly searched the room and found the records related to the Wei Sheng clan.

The Wei Sheng clan were the gentry who had invited Xue Hao and others to a boat discussion.

That night, the river bank had burst. If not for Xie Zhou, Xue Hao and the others would have drowned in Baopingkou.

Ying Xiu walked silently, trying to get back to the narrow cell before the shift change. However, the closer he got to the cell, the louder the sounds from all directions became. Several sets of hurried footsteps overlapped, as if they were looking for someone.

—Could it be that someone had discovered he was not in his cell?

Ying Xiu cautiously stopped, concealed himself in the shadows, and listened as the footsteps grew closer. A jailer led the way with a lamp, followed by the commandant and the court official.

The commotion was astonishing. Inmates on both sides of the narrow cells peeked out from behind the iron bars.

Without time to think, Ying Xiu quickly took a shortcut and, using his light-foot skill, returned to his original cell just before the commandant and his party arrived.

The jail official and the two guards were still lying on the ground, knocked out by him. They were still unconscious.

He raised his hand to unblock their pressure points. Ying Xiu then crouched in the narrow cell, pulling up his robes and lowering his head, looking sullen and harmless.

The jail official and the guards slowly woke up. As soon as they opened their eyes, they saw the young man who had just sent them flying crouching on the cell floor, looking completely innocent. For a moment, they wondered if they had been dreaming.

The jail official stretched his body; the back of his neck still throbbed with a dull ache. He glared at Ying Xiu with apprehension, cautiously stepped out of the narrow cell, quickly locked it, and was about to call for help.

Footsteps echoed from far away, approaching in the narrow, cramped corridor. The jail official was about to step forward when he was met with an angry shout from the commandant: “Quickly, release him!”

Release him? Release whom? Ying Xiu?

The jail official hurriedly unlocked the lock he had just fastened. In the dim candlelight, the young man’s thin figure appeared particularly lonely.

The commandant quickly soothed him: “Young master, are you alright? Are you hurt?” He glared fiercely at the jail official next to him, which left the jail official speechless.

Jail official: …He just punched two of us. Did you not see that?

Ying Xiu raised his head, revealing his clear eyes. “Are you going to release me, sir?”

The commandant quickly replied, “Please leave quickly, lest your family be worried waiting for you.”

He thought about it repeatedly. The Wang family of Langya, far away in Xuzhou, would not be enough to make the governor of Jiangzhou so apprehensive. In addition, Ying Xiu’s face looked like he came from a noble family of the Central Plains. He might have a whole reclusive family behind him, or he might even have dirt on the governor of Jiangzhou.

The commandant, the court official, and the jail official all hoped that Ying Xiu would leave quickly and go as far away as possible.

However, Ying Xiu said, “But what about those common people? Are they to remain in the prison?”

Common people? What did those common people have to do with him?

The group looked at Ying Xiu with curious eyes, as if they had never seen anyone like him before. The court official said, “They are suspects. This matter concerns the riverbank burst, and they cannot be released so easily.”

Considering Ying Xiu’s background, the court official added, “Alright, I’ll grant them an act of grace. They are allowed to be moved to the outer cells, and they will be released when the case is cleared.”

The dark cells inside and the cells outside were very different. Those in the outer cells could still see daylight and walk under the sun.

Ying Xiu still couldn’t understand why the officials were so eager to release him until he walked out of the yamen gate. They even mentioned his family.

He didn’t have any family in Jiangzhou, other than the Wang family, he only knew Xie Zhou.

Outside the gate, a low-key dark carriage was parked. The coachman, who was sitting on the carriage’s footboard, got off and walked towards Ying Xiu, calling out softly:

“Young Master Ying, my lord asks when you will return for dinner?”

—This was the carriage Xie Zhou sent to pick him up.

This thought suddenly appeared, as if something had lightly tapped Ying Xiu’s heart. The force was very light, almost negligible, but it made him stand still for a long time.

In a flash, he suddenly understood why the officials were so anxious to let him go. It must have been Xie Zhou who intervened to rescue him from the court official’s prison.

Ying Xiu held the bamboo slip hidden in his robe and said to the coachman, “I still have something to do. I may return a little later, but it won’t be too late.”

The coachman did not ask any more questions or try to persuade Ying Xiu to stay. He just nodded slightly and said, “Please be careful on your way, young master.”

The coachman sent by the retainer was just like him, gentle, calm, and like still water. He never questioned or interfered with what he wanted to do.

Ying Xiu breathed a sigh of relief. Holding his umbrella, he was about to turn and walk into the deep, long street.

“Young master, please wait,” the coachman suddenly stopped him, took something out of the carriage, and handed it to Ying Xiu. “My lord ordered this to be sent to you.”

The object was smooth, shiny, sharp, and cold. It was his sword.

Ying Xiu paused and reached out to take the Wenxin sword.

…

At the time of戌 (around 7-9 PM), the drizzle gradually stopped.

The ground after the rain was wet, and the bluestone road was shimmering with the reflection of moonlight.

A carriage was moving quickly down the street. A middle-aged man sat inside the carriage, surrounded by a pile of generous gifts. These were all prepared for the governor of Jiangzhou.

He was a relative of the governor of Jiangzhou and had been helped by him a lot over the years. The fifty-li area near Baopingkou was also under his jurisdiction. If he couldn’t successfully frame the Wang family of Langya, and the higher-ups really came to investigate, he was afraid he would follow the fate of the Xiangli clan.

“Whoa—”

The coachman shouted and pulled the reins, and the horse restlessly stomped its hooves back and forth.

The carriage suddenly stopped. Wei Shengmin tilted forward violently, his head almost hitting the partition. He pressed his forehead and asked in a cold voice, “Why did we stop?!”

“There’s… there’s…” The coachman and a few accompanying servants stuttered, their voices full of fear. “Master! There’s someone ahead!”

“Someone?” Wei Shengmin frowned, not understanding why they had an issue at such a critical moment. “Quickly, tell them to leave!”

The carriage remained still for a long time. The coachman, servants, and maids outside were all silent, seemingly too frightened to move.

“I’m only here for your master. You should all leave now.”

In the dead of night, the young man’s voice was clear and bright, yet it made the gentry sitting in the carriage subconsciously shiver.

He had never heard this person’s voice before. Who was it? Was it an enemy seeking revenge?

The gentry flipped through his memory. He had too many enemies and couldn’t guess who it could be for a while. Without time to think, he shouted, “Don’t you all leave! Stay here! I will reward you handsomely! Each of you will be rewarded with 40铢!”

Forty 铢 coins. It would take these servants half a month to earn that much.

They would definitely stay, the gentry was absolutely sure.

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a moment of silence all around. No one paid him any attention. Footsteps suddenly sounded, and it was clear that the accompanying servants had all left.

The gentry did not dare to get out of the carriage. He could only tremblingly lift the curtain and look outside.

In the darkness, a tall, imposing figure stood. The person wore a black bamboo hat and a black narrow-sleeved outfit. A silver mask covered their face, and a long sword was held horizontally in their hand.

The long sword was slowly unsheathed. The brilliant, moon-white cold light was enough to make people’s hearts pound.

The gentry suddenly dropped the curtain and shrank into the carriage, not daring to move. He asked in a trembling voice, “Who are you, sir? Why have you come? Whatever you want, I can give you!”

In the next moment, the carriage curtain was suddenly pierced by the long sword—

The moonlight-like sword light stopped between the gentry’s eyes.

Inside the carriage, the rich gentry trembled and could not retreat. His pupils widened as he watched the sword light stop in front of him. One more inch, and it would pierce his brow.

The assassin asked him through the carriage curtain, “Exactly fifteen people, you invited them onto the boat. What was your intention?”

With the sword light in front of him, the gentry did not dare to lie and had no intention of doing so. He subconsciously confessed everything: “They said things they shouldn’t have said. All the powerful families and gentry in Jiangzhou wanted to kill them to silence them.”

“Besides you, who else?” The assassin pressed on with each question.

“I already told you, all the powerful families and gentry in Jiangzhou want to—” Faced with the chilling sword light, the gentry dared not speak.

“Who was it that destroyed the Baopingkou dam?” the assassin asked again.

These questions were one after another, each more pointed than the last. The gentry raised his hands, clenched his teeth, and closed his eyes, not wanting to look at the terrifying sword light.

If he answered this question, he would definitely die. If he didn’t, there might still be a glimmer of hope.

Although it was he who ordered his family’s servants to destroy the Baopingkou dam at night, it was everyone’s idea. The majority of the gentry and powerful families in Jiangzhou were willing to do so.

If the Wang family of Langya hadn’t been so aggressive and investigated their dirty laundry in private, they wouldn’t have resorted to such a desperate measure!

“I know it was you. Tell me, how did you do it?”

The assassin’s tone was very light, but it made Wei Shengmin’s heart suddenly sink to the bottom. The sword tip was even closer, pressing directly against his brow, ready to pierce his flesh at any moment.

“…I’ll talk, I’ll tell you everything!” The gentry almost burst into tears, stumbling as he recounted the whole story.

After he finished telling everything, the sword tip was still pressed against his brow. The gentry was so terrified he lost his voice. After a long while, he finally heard the assassin’s voice: “I won’t kill you tonight.”

“—The laws of the Southern Dynasty will.”

The assassin’s voice was clear, calm, and seemed to contain a shallow hint of murderous intent.

After speaking, the sword light suddenly retracted, leaving only the hole in the carriage curtain to sway in the air.

The gentry collapsed in the carriage. The pile of gifts next to him rolled down, burying him all over.