Without further words, Yang Jingyuan and Sheng Fengze struck simultaneously.
Yang Jingyuan’s martial prowess surpassed Sheng Fengze’s, and his sword gave him a weapon advantage. In just a few moves, he nearly forced Sheng Fengze into the inferno. Both men, mindful of Ji Yingying, unconsciously chose to fight in the burning front room. Another support pillar crashed down, causing half the room to collapse and block that section. They kicked away falling timber and tiles, neither willing to move toward Ji Yingying.
“If you don’t stop, I’ll kill myself!”
Ji Yingying’s choking cry made both men pause and leap apart.
Yang Jingyuan turned back to see her pressing the small knife he had given her against her throat.
“The ambush tonight was meant for you, wasn’t it, Your Highness? If I die, Du Yan will use this to frame you. He’ll be the one laughing in the end.”
“Third Young Master, I want to live and return to the Great Tang. I don’t want to die in Nanzhao, die in Zhao Xiuyuan’s house. You’ll come back for me, won’t you?”
The space split in two as fire reached the back room’s roof. The smoke was thicker than before as Ji Yingying stood against the wall. When she spoke, she moved the skirt from her nose and mouth, coughing breathlessly. Her hand holding the knife showed no hesitation as she drew a thin line of blood across her delicate neck.
Yang Jingyuan gazed at Ji Yingying for a long time. He wasn’t a fool. If Sheng Fengze didn’t love her, he wouldn’t have rushed into the fire. She wouldn’t be using death to threaten Sheng Fengze. How could a man who didn’t love her care about her life?
She deserved Sheng Fengze’s love. But he thought he would never doubt her again. He had charged into Taihe City alone; willing or not, he couldn’t take her through thousands of troops to escape.
“When I ride south in the future, Sheng Fengze, let’s meet on the battlefield. Yingying, I will come back for you.”
Yang Jingyuan’s toes touched the ground before he floated up to the rafters. His sword slashed horizontally as his body surged upward. With a crash, he broke open a hole in the roof and burst through.
Hearing the shouts and clashing weapons outside, Ji Yingying instinctively clutched her heart. Could he escape by charging out like that?
When Yang Jingyuan had come, she had addressed him formally with “you.” Sheng Fengze’s eyes stung; he told himself it was from the smoke. For Yang Jingyuan’s sake, she had threatened death, merely wanting him to let Yang Jingyuan leave safely.
Dull hammering sounds came from the back wall.
Sheng Fengze strode over, bent to unlock her shackles, and said flatly: “Kill one man every ten steps, leave no trace for a thousand miles. You underestimate Yang Jingyuan’s martial arts. With night as cover, escaping alone is easy.” He listened to the sounds on the wall and pulled Ji Yingying to his side.
“Play dead!” Sheng Fengze whispered.
How could she pretend? Ji Yingying couldn’t stop coughing. Helpless, Sheng Fengze delivered a light chop to the back of her neck, then wrapped her in his cloak.
The wall crashed open with a huge hole.
Sheng Fengze carried Ji Yingying out through the opening.
Seeing him, Chihu joyfully threw down the iron hammer and began to cry: “Master, I knew this would work!”
Sheng Fengze said coldly: “Let’s go.”
“Yes,” Chihu responded, protecting him as they walked toward the front courtyard.
“Yingying! How is Yingying?” Seeing Sheng Fengze carrying someone out, Zhao Xiuyuan forgot about extinguishing the fire.
“She could have escaped. You chained her. So she died. Are you pleased, Vice Commissioner Zhao? She ultimately fell into your hands, ultimately died in your hands.” Sheng Fengze stared at Zhao Xiuyuan with a smile.
“Dead? She can’t be dead!” Zhao Xiuyuan shouted, reaching to pull away the cloak wrapped around Ji Yingying.
Sheng Fengze kicked him viciously in the chest. Watching Zhao Xiuyuan cough blood on the ground, Sheng Fengze surveyed his surroundings, his gaze sweeping across the faces of the soldiers pouring in as he said word by word: “Chihu, kill anyone who blocks my path!”
“Yes.” Chihu’s face had darkened upon hearing of Ji Yingying’s death. He brandished his blade at the soldiers.
Wherever they walked, soldiers retreated, clearing a path.
The first time he saved her, he had carried her just like this. She had nestled softly in his arms, time and again, gradually filling his heart.
This would be the last time. He had devised this plan for her to feign death. Once he sent her away, he could never hold her like this again. His heart would be empty from then on.
Chihu protected Sheng Fengze as he mounted. Under the watch of soldiers filling the street, Sheng Fengze held Ji Yingying without letting go as he rode out of the city.
Du Yan and Chi Kuang, having received the news, had stationed heavy forces at the city gate.
Sheng Fengze and Chihu’s two lone riders found themselves surrounded.
“Your Highness. The sovereign ordered your confinement. Yet you appear in Taihe City at night. Moreover, besides Your Highness, another attempted to break into the Zhao residence tonight to rescue Lady Yang. His martial arts were superior, and his figure resembled Yang Jingyuan’s. Even the city walls couldn’t stop him. Now Your Highness also wants to leave the city—this seems too coincidental.”
Du Yan thought this was his last chance. If Sheng Fengze forced his way through the gate, he would have no choice but to order archers to shoot. After his revenge was complete, he would accept whatever punishment the sovereign decreed.
“Du Yan. The soldiers who die on battlefields all have parents and families, not just Du Jing. Your resentment toward me is groundless.” Sheng Fengze gazed at the weapons and arrowheads gleaming in the moonlight atop the gate tower, thinking of his royal brother who had elevated Du Yan to oppose him and said wearily, “I intend to leave the city. If you want to have me killed, then do it.”
Sheng Fengze spurred his horse forward. Du Yan’s pupils contracted with tension, his palms sweating.
Hoofbeats rang clearly on the stone road, drawing closer to the city gate. The gate was closed; Sheng Fengze couldn’t possibly break through to leave. What was he planning? To force Lord Qingping to order his death? Had he gone mad? Chi Kuang glanced secretly at Du Yan. Though he followed Lord Qingping wholeheartedly, he hadn’t imagined openly ordering Sheng Fengze’s death.
“Your Highness!” Du Yan shouted harshly.
The steady hoofbeats didn’t stop.
So be it—then die! Du Yan clenched his teeth, his eyes full of ruthlessness. He slowly raised his hand. Chi Kuang inhaled sharply with tension.
“The Sovereign arrives!”
The distant cry came, and Chi Kuang’s sharp intake of breath made him cough: “My Lord, the sovereign is here.”
His heart beat faster. Du Yan’s raised hand trembled slightly.
“If Royal Brother wishes me dead, there’s no need for Lord Qingping to give the order.” Sheng Fengze’s words completely deflated Du Yan. He waved weakly, “Go down to welcome the sovereign.”
Chi Kuang also sighed in relief, following him down from the gate.
Sovereign Sheng Fengyou rode from the palace with his guards.
As he drew near, people all around knelt and hailed the sovereign. Sheng Fengze remained mounted.
The sovereign struck him with a horsewhip, angry: “Aze, what are you doing?”
Sheng Fengze didn’t dodge, his manner desolate: “Royal Brother, forgive Aze for being unable to bow.”
The sovereign glanced at Ji Yingying’s half-visible face in his arms. Her face was blackened with soot, her lips bloodlessly white, motionless. He remembered how her beauty had illuminated his hall earlier that day, and his heart softened: “Aze, you no longer heed your royal brother’s words? You openly defy my confinement order and break into the Zhao family workshop at night. Tell your royal brother, what do you want?”
“Before, Royal Brother wanted to attack Tang. Unable to bear more battlefield casualties, I volunteered to lead men to Fu Prefecture to learn their craft. Three years was too short; I couldn’t make Nanzhao’s silk industry as prosperous as Fu Prefecture’s. Then I thought, better to listen to Royal Brother. So when you ordered me to lead the army against Tang, I went.”
“Royal Brother wanted to weave Huajin brocade. I gave you the people. I captured tens of thousands of craftsmen and took the young and strong from Fu Prefecture’s silk households. Which workshop or dye house could she not go to? Yet she was sent to the Zhao family.”
At this point, Sheng Fengze fixed his gaze on Du Yan’s face, “That was Vice Commissioner Zhao’s house—the one who wished her dead. Vice Commissioner Zhao kept her in chains. When fire broke out, she couldn’t escape. When sending her to the Zhao workshop, did Lord Qingping consider that she was Aze’s beloved? Royal Brother, I didn’t return to Taihe City today; I only wanted to see how she fared at the Zhao residence.”
The sovereign’s heart skipped. He hadn’t known these details. Du Yan’s actions were a slap in the face to his brother. His violation of the confinement order was understandable.
“Your Majesty’s wisdom is clear. Among the silk households taken from Fu Prefecture, only the Zhao family best understood the Yang family’s brocade. Your subject thought only of weaving Huajin brocade, never imagining Vice Commissioner Zhao would pursue a private vendetta. Your subject failed to judge character.” Du Yan quickly begged forgiveness.
The sovereign still needed Du Yan, and hearing someone take the blame, he commanded: “Summon Vice Commissioner Zhao!”
“Royal Brother, Vice Commissioner Zhao won’t even give me her body. I kicked him once; he probably can’t get out of bed now.”
Seeing his wooden expression, and his attitude of indifference to life or death, the sovereign remembered his brother’s good qualities. When attacking Tang, Sheng Fengze first didn’t want more battlefield casualties. He worried more about Tang’s retaliation. But when he couldn’t wait, focused only on attacking Tang, Sheng Fengze led troops without a word. He had only loved one woman in his life. Even after she stabbed him in the chest, he still loved her.
“Your Highness. The beauty has passed; allow this official to have the Ministry of Rites choose an appropriate burial site for Lady Yang.” No one had closely examined whether she was truly dead. Du Yan wouldn’t believe it without confirming himself.
“Aze, listen to the Minister of Personnel.” Sovereign Sheng Fengyou hadn’t thought as deeply as Du Yan. He only wanted to keep Sheng Fengze close, to comfort him in his deepest grief and recover some brotherly affection.
Sheng Fengze shook his head: “I will take her back to Baiya Palace.”
The more he insisted, the more Du Yan’s suspicions grew. He whispered to Sheng Fengyou: “Your Majesty, tonight another broke into the Zhao workshop. Soldiers saw it was likely the Tang general Yang Jingyuan. He escaped in the night. Perhaps we should keep Lady Yang…”
Could Aze be conspiring with Yang Jingyuan for this woman? The sovereign frowned, looking at Sheng Fengze.
The brothers said nothing more, staring at each other. A gust of wind blew, and wrapped in the wet cloak, Ji Yingying shivered hazily.
Sheng Fengze heard his heartbeat, his gaze toward the sovereign as deep as an abyss.
The sovereign’s eyelid twitched, his expression growing dark.
So it’s been discovered—what decision would his royal brother, who had always been wary of him, make? Sheng Fengze no longer looked at the sovereign, smiling faintly at Du Yan: “Does Lord Du wish to use a woman to lure Yang Jingyuan into a trap?”
“Open the city gate.” After giving the order, Sovereign Sheng Fengyou patted his brother’s shoulder and said something else, “Aze, don’t be too heartbroken. When you’re feeling better, come to the palace to teach your nephews martial arts.”
Du Yan’s face changed drastically.
Watching the slowly opening city gate, Sheng Fengze knew he had finally gambled correctly. His eyes reddened: “Royal Brother…”
The sovereign didn’t look at Du Yan, saying gently: “Go back to the palace.”
Sheng Fengze struck his horse’s flank hard, galloping out of the city with Chihu.
“Your Majesty! Your subject feels Lady Yang’s death is suspicious.” Du Yan grew more suspicious the more he watched, staring regretfully as the two riders disappeared into the night.
“The White Prince says she’s dead, then she’s dead.” The sovereign cut off Du Yan’s words. He thought, how could such a sentimental brother be cruel to his nephews? Du Yan showed no respect to Sheng Fengze; as head of all officials, if he were to hold his young sons hostage in the future, who besides Sheng Fengze could control him?
Respectfully seeing the sovereign back to the palace, Du Yan seemed to have aged years.
“Lord Qingping, that Sheng Fengze…” Chi Kuang inquired softly.
Du Yan said flatly: “The sovereign has permitted His Highness the White Prince to return to Baiya Palace. What more is there to investigate?” He should have understood earlier—blood was thicker than water. He was merely elevated by the sovereign to check Sheng Fengze’s growing power, to prevent the uncle from overwhelming his nephews. Now that the sovereign felt his brother was trustworthy, he would elevate Sheng Fengze to pressure him instead.
He left with his household staff. As the cold wind blew, Du Yan shivered. When Sheng Fengze’s words spread tonight, how would the army’s soldiers view him? Hating the supreme commander because his son was killed by a Tang general? With such a narrow mind, could he still command the same respect as before?