Luo Huaimeng wept her thanks to the Marshal.

The Marshal turned to Liu Yin, his brow furrowed. “Were those who attacked Xingzhi caught?”

“They were.” Liu Yin said. “To ensure the Seventh Young Master’s safety, I had men stationed in concealment as a protective force and had traps set in the surrounding area. All eight men who came to carry out the assassination that night were taken alive.”

“Have they been questioned?”

“Questioning is complete.” Liu Yin opened his mouth, then seemed to hesitate, as if reluctant to speak.

Beside him, Shi Qian’s heart had been hammering without stop from the moment he entered the room. He had acted on impulse after hearing Liu Yin’s news, dispatching men to assassinate Shi Ting a second time, driven by a single determination to prevent him from ever returning to Shun Cheng alive.

But now it was becoming clear that this was precisely the trap that had been laid for him — a snare set to draw him in.

Shi Guang couldn’t help shooting a glance at Shi Qian, who stood studying the tip of his nose, his expression unreadable.

He laughed inwardly. Shi Qian still couldn’t hold himself together — the moment someone set a trap, he rushed headlong in.

“If you have something to say, say it plainly. Stop hemming and hawing.” The Marshal shot Liu Yin a sharp look.

Liu Yin shrank back nervously, but still gave his answer obediently. “Those men confessed. They were sent by… sent by the Second Young Master.”

Shi Guang, upon hearing this, snapped his eyes wide open and nearly on pure instinct barked back, “Liu Yin, what nonsense are you spouting?”

“That’s right, Liu Yin — are you sure you haven’t made a mistake?” Shi Qian gave a cold laugh, putting on a look of concern. “How could it be Second Brother?”

The Marshal’s gaze fell on Shi Guang, undisguised fury plain in his eyes. “What exactly is going on here?”

“Marshal.” Shi Guang immediately dropped to his knees, his expression earnest and aggrieved. “I urge the Marshal to investigate clearly. I have no idea who these men are. Why they would act under my name — that is beyond me. Marshal, someone is framing me.”

“Bring those men in.” The Marshal ordered coldly.

Liu Yin quickly had men bring in two of the captives — the ringleaders of the group, responsible for planning and carrying out the entire assassination.

“Tell me — who gave you the order to assassinate the Seventh Young Master?” The Marshal glared at the two of them, his raised brow trembling slightly.

The two men immediately bowed their heads and said nothing.

“Very well. Very well indeed.” The Marshal’s gaze turned cold. He pointed to one of them. “Attempting to assassinate the Director of the Military Police Bureau — punishable by death. Drag him out and shoot him.”

Men stepped forward and pulled one of the two out of the courtyard. Shortly after, a gunshot rang out from outside.

That gunshot seemed to land on every person present. All those in the room felt a chill run through them.

“I’ll talk. I’ll talk.” The remaining ringleader raised his head immediately, his words urgent. “Marshal — we were acting on orders from the Second Young Master. The Second Young Master said that at any cost, the Seventh Young Master could not be allowed to return to Shun Cheng alive.”

“You lie.” Shi Guang erupted in fury. Had he not still been kneeling on the ground, he surely would have launched himself at that man and smashed his skull in. “You say I ordered you — where is your evidence?”

“The Second Young Master gave the order verbally — what evidence is there to be had? Besides, we are all men found from the jianghu underworld. In the event of failure, there would be no evidence linking us to you. The Second Young Master wanted to keep himself above suspicion — of course he would leave no proof. Even the silver he paid us was standard currency — no matter which angle you investigated from, nothing could be traced back to the Second Young Master.” The man’s face was agitated, and the look he fixed on Shi Guang was full of bitter regret. “It was our own greed for money that led us to this end. In truth, one cannot blame the Second Young Master.”

“Marshal.” Shi Guang had no desire to waste words with this man, and turned instead toward the Marshal. “These men cannot produce a shred of evidence. They are speaking entirely off the tops of their heads. Marshal, I beg you to investigate this matter thoroughly.”

“Indeed, Marshal — if Second Brother truly were behind this, there would at least be some evidence, wouldn’t there? The absence of any evidence only goes to show that whoever is pulling the strings planned very carefully.” Shi Qian spoke as if he were defending Shi Guang, but in truth he was planting the suggestion in the Marshal’s mind: that even without evidence, meticulous planning made it entirely possible for a person to leave no trace — just as in the current situation.

Shi Guang shot Shi Qian a withering glare.

He had been sitting back watching with amusement, waiting for Shi Qian to face ruin — only to find that Shi Qian had already taken precautions. If the assassination had succeeded, all would have been well. If not, the blame would fall on him.

This time, he had underestimated his eldest brother.

The Marshal stared coldly at Shi Guang before him, uncertain how to decide the matter — when suddenly Luo Huaimeng let out a sharp cry. “Xingzhi is awake.”

The Marshal immediately turned and strode to the bedside, just in time to see Yan Qing helping Shi Ting to sit up. Shi Ting’s complexion was pallid, and from beneath the bandage wound around his head, faint traces of blood seeped. He appeared entirely spent and frail.

“Marshal.” The voice that came from Shi Ting carried a hint of hoarseness. “You must not wrongly accuse Second Brother.”

The Marshal had not expected that the first thing Shi Ting would do upon waking was to speak in defense of his own brother — and when he thought back to what Shi Guang had done, his anger burned all the hotter.

“Those men who came to assassinate you have already confessed. And you still defend him?”

Shi Ting gave a slow, gentle shake of his head. “Marshal — these are men from the jianghu underworld who take money to do work. If they are told to make false accusations, they are more than capable of it.”

The Marshal, of course, understood this logic — it was simply that his anger had clouded his judgment in the moment. Now, his composure returning, he asked, “Then tell me — who did this?”

That Shi Ting had gone to Dagu Mountain had been for a secret mission on the Marshal’s behalf, and yet someone had seized the opportunity to attempt to assassinate him. This was, in short, a slap to the Marshal’s face.

“Marshal — only you alone knew of my mission this time. Elder Brother and Second Brother were unaware. If they didn’t know about it, then how could they have so conveniently learned my whereabouts and arranged an assassination? It follows, then, that it should not have been Elder Brother or Second Brother.”

The Marshal looked into Shi Ting’s deep, still eyes — first going blank for a moment, then, as if something had occurred to him, his expression gradually settled and chilled, like a pool freezing over.

Shi Guang and Shi Qian had been watching the Marshal’s face all along. Seeing him go so cold all of a sudden, both of their hearts lurched uneasily.

The Marshal said nothing, and no one else dared to speak. This eerie silence stretched on for an unknowable time before the Marshal finally said, “You two — go to your quarters and reflect. Everyone else, leave.”

Those present exchanged glances. Zuo Liang hurried forward to help Shi Guang to his feet, and the group filed out of Shaolanvilla one after another.

“You two may go as well.” The Marshal looked at Luo Huaimeng and Yan Qing.

Once the two women had departed, the Marshal sat down in the chair by the bedside. An expression of concern came over his face. “Xingzhi — this errand has been hard on you.”

“I have never found any hardship in doing work for the Marshal.” As he spoke, he made to sit up — then suddenly clutched at his forehead as if the movement had tugged at his wound, and a muffled groan escaped him.

The Marshal said quickly, “Rest well — don’t move carelessly.”

“Thank you for your concern, Marshal.” Shi Ting eased himself back against the pillow behind him.

The Marshal looked at the weakened young man before him, and a flicker of tenderness crossed his face unbidden. He had been assassinated and fallen into the Red River, clinging to life by sheer chance, and before his wounds were even healed, he had been targeted again. Had Liu Yin not already been prepared, all the Marshal would be looking at now might be a corpse.

“Xingzhi — what did you mean by what you said just now?” The Marshal’s eyes were deep and heavy as they settled on him.

“Has the Marshal not already guessed?” Shi Ting quietly pressed his lips together and lowered his gaze.

The Marshal was nothing if not sharp. The moment Shi Ting had spoken those few words, he had already understood.

At the time of Shi Ting’s journey to Dagu Mountain, beyond the two of them, there had been one more person who knew — a person the Marshal could not bring himself to believe would betray him.

Secretary Li had joined his ranks as nothing more than a common soldier. Clever, quick-witted, and articulate, he had risen over time to become his adjutant, and was now his chief secretary — one of the most trusted and capable men at his side.

The Marshal had never concealed anything from Secretary Li — including the matter of Shi Ting’s mission to Dagu Mountain.

“Marshal — do you believe Secretary Li would want to kill me?”

“He has no grievance with you and no hatred. He would not kill you.” The Marshal finally confronted this truth clearly. “But if he were loyal to someone else, he would only need to pass on the information.”

“I believe Secretary Li did not reveal the entirety of our plan. Otherwise Meng Xiangyang’s side would have taken precautions — and Meng Xiangyang has shown no movement even now, which plainly shows he has no idea what I was doing in the background.”

The results of the Dagu Mountain operation had been relayed to the Marshal by Liu Yin several days prior, and it was precisely because of this that the Marshal’s regard for Shi Ting had grown all the deeper.

With nothing but his own efforts, without deploying a single soldier, he had subdued Meng Xiangyang, pacified the bandits of Dagu Mountain, and established a grain depot for the Marshal’s use.

The mines the people of the Di nation held — it seemed that in future they would all pass into the Marshal’s hands.

With such a capable son, how could the Marshal not be pleased? And seeing that someone had dared to harm him — how could the Marshal not be furious?

“You mean to say Secretary Li only leaked your whereabouts?”

“There are two reasons Secretary Li would have leaked only my whereabouts, and nothing more. The first: he does not yet truly wish to betray the Marshal — he still wants to continue working for you. The second: he is securing his own future. Once the Marshal has designated his successor, or should anything happen to the Marshal, he wants to have found a new backer in advance. By giving the person who wished to eliminate me access to my whereabouts, he avoids disturbing the Marshal’s larger plans while also earning himself a favor with that person — from his perspective, this serves two purposes at once.”

Even if Secretary Li had not revealed the full plan, from the Marshal’s standpoint he had already committed treason — and the one thing the Marshal could never tolerate was betrayal.

“This Secretary Li — what audacity.”

“Secretary Li knows many of the Marshal’s secrets. For now, we cannot afford to alert him.” Shi Ting’s gaze deepened. “But it is possible to use Secretary Li to draw out the person standing behind him.”

The Marshal also wanted very much to know who this person was — who could have bought over the most trusted confidant at his side, who was now serving him while secretly feeding information to another, and who would, if that other person so wished, one day quietly arrange to have the Marshal himself killed — would he dutifully carry out that order too?

The thought made the Marshal’s blood run cold. This was tantamount to having a time bomb planted at his side — one that the other side could detonate at any moment of their choosing.

Shi Guang and Shi Qian had the Meng family behind them. The Meng family was growing ever more brazen in disregarding him, even planting operatives within his own estate and among his attendants. Then he turned his gaze to the young man lying in the sickbed — exhausting himself, risking his life, all for the Marshal’s affairs. Who was the truly loyal one? The answer could not have been plainer.