After reaching an agreement with Bao Zhu, Li Yuanying began preparations, spending several consecutive days in closed-door secret planning with his trusted advisors. Rebellion was inherently a life-or-death gamble—no one could guarantee complete success. They could only repeatedly scrutinize details and deploy as thoroughly as possible to handle various unexpected developments.
Huo Qi Lang quickly realized she was being excluded from the plans. Even when she stood guard during meetings, no one mentioned what she needed to do.
But she understood that Li Yuanying didn’t plan to launch a war that would leave hundreds of thousands bleeding rivers of corpses across battlefields. Instead, he chose to stake the lives of the siblings and their trusted followers, secretly infiltrating Chang’an to seize the throne at minimal cost. Even seasoned gambling veterans would be terrified by such an all-or-nothing wager.
Should she leave before they launched their uprising? Huo Qi Lang felt somewhat hesitant. She didn’t want to see his beautiful head displayed on city gates, but she also didn’t wish to be drawn again into the palace’s bloody storms.
Deep into the night, the trusted advisors departed one by one with their orders. Li Yuanying had given them the opportunity to relocate their families in advance.
Bao Zhu proposed drinking with her brother—whether they lived or died, they should use this final time to speak intimately as siblings.
Huo Qi Lang tactfully withdrew to spend the night in the guard quarters, leaving only the siblings in the sleeping chamber.
Since his poisoning, Li Yuanying hadn’t touched alcohol, and now could only dilute tusu wine with water, taking just a few light sips.
Having been tempered by hardships along the journey, Bao Zhu’s courage had greatly improved, yet she deeply understood the peril of this venture—one careless move would lose everything. She simply drank freely until thoroughly intoxicated.
They chatted about memories of their mother and various childhood anecdotes. With bleary drunken eyes, Bao Zhu said: “You recently mentioned my childhood oath, but I’ve racked my brains and can’t recall it. However, I do vaguely remember something strange.”
“What thing?”
“I don’t remember what age, and can’t recall the cause, effect, when, or where—just a dim impression. You were wrestling with that bastard—the deposed crown prince. You two were grappling together, and Li Chengyuan seemed to have the upper hand, pinning you down.”
Li Yuanying’s grip on his wine cup suddenly tightened. He lowered his eyes and said flatly: “I never competed with him in wrestling.”
Bao Zhu laughed: “That’s exactly what’s strange. You two had a ten-year age difference—like an adult fighting a child. It would be impossible to compete together. It was you and I who often played and wrestled in Penglai Hall, and you always let me win.”
Her tone was full of nostalgia for those precious times of loving harmony and innocent joy.
“You probably misremembered, or were dreaming,” Li Yuanying said quietly.
Bao Zhu yawned: “Then it was probably just a dream. Our relationship with him was never good enough for playing games together. If I had brother’s excellent memory, I could remember every single thing clearly.”
Li Yuanying tilted back his head and drained his cup in one gulp, saying: “Too good a memory isn’t necessarily a good thing either. Some nightmares you want to forget but can’t.” As he spoke, he poured another cup of tusu wine without diluting it and poured it straight down his throat.
“Let’s speak auspicious words instead,” Bao Zhu raised her cup. “Working together, we’ll definitely win, right?”
Li Yuanying gazed at his sister, undercurrents surging in his eyes: “Right, you’re my lucky star. Every time you arrive just in time, bringing good fortune. As long as you’re here, I’m confident I can defeat any powerful enemy.”
The siblings no longer restrained themselves, toasting and drinking heartily until even Li Yuanying, who easily suffered insomnia, was drunk as a toppling jade mountain.
Bao Zhu forgot when she fell asleep, collapsing fully clothed on the beauty couch without returning to her own courtyard.
That night, the two slept soundly in the same chamber, as if returning to their carefree childhood under their mother’s protection.
Until sunrise, when a serving girl’s piercing scream awakened them from their dreams.
Li Yuanying opened his eyes to see a scene of blood red. Blood pooled everywhere, with several headless corpses lying across the hall.
“Bao Zhu!” He sprang up from his bed and instinctively rushed toward his sister on the beauty couch. His shoes slipped on the half-congealed blood, nearly making him fall as he stumbled to his sister’s side.
Bao Zhu, still hung over, mumbled indistinctly with her head covered: “Let me sleep a bit more, no rush to depart…”
The guards outside heard the serving girl’s scream and rushed in together. Seeing the bloody scene in the sleeping chamber, they were all stunned. They had stood guard all night without hearing the slightest suspicious sound. Only when palace attendants entered at dawn for their usual service did they discover the abnormality.
Assassins’ corpses lay everywhere, but fortunately Prince Shao and the princess were safe and sound. Everyone felt retrospective fear, cold sweat pouring down.
Confirming his sister was unharmed, Li Yuanying’s whole body went limp as he slowly collapsed to the ground. The palace attendants, suppressing their fear, stepped over corpses and bloodstains to help their master.
Amid the chaotic noise, Bao Zhu helplessly sat up. Seeing the scene before her, her face immediately turned ashen and her intoxication completely cleared.
Huo Qi Lang rushed in holding a broom, and seeing the siblings alive, her heart finally settled.
She crouched down to examine the corpses. All five bodies were cold, with clean, decisive cuts at the neck—each killed with a single blow. The heads bore confused expressions, as if they’d stumbled into the underworld in bewilderment.
The wet nurses hurried over upon hearing the news. Madam Li knew that the siblings had private talks last night while Huo Qi Lang hadn’t stayed in the hall to guard as usual. She angrily scolded the night guards: “Are you all deaf? A ground full of dead people and you heard nothing? The moment Qi Lang wasn’t here for one night, such disaster occurred. Having you stand guard is worse than pasting door gods on the walls!”
The guards shamefully hung their heads accepting the scolding while feeling puzzled. If the assassins were highly skilled, they might have entered quietly. But how could killing five people make no sound? Moreover, with Huo Qi Lang absent, who killed the assassins? It was completely baffling.
Everyone soon determined the assassins’ infiltration route—they climbed the large scholar tree outside the rear wall of the sleeping chamber, using extending branches to reach the roof and enter by removing tiles. The siblings slept deeply after drinking, and the ravens that usually resided in the palace had already departed, leaving no high-level guards or warnings.
Madam Li knew Prince Shao fainted at the sight of blood and quickly directed guards to remove the corpses while commanding palace attendants to clean the blood from the floor.
Li Yuanying was helped behind a screen where he drank a couple sips of sobering soup and forced himself to calm down. Seeing Huo Qi Lang’s suspicious, thoughtful expression, he asked: “You planned to fight enemies with that broom?”
Huo Qi Lang shook her head: “Not exactly.”
Bao Zhu sat dazed on the couch and asked: “Who killed the assassins? Can we deduce from the methods?”
Huo Qi Lang replied: “One blade decapitation, silently killing five people. In the martial world, there are perhaps three to five people with such skill. However…” She shook the broom in her hand. “I found this beside me when I woke up. Whoever did this must be from Canyang Academy.”
“How can you tell?”
Huo Qi Lang sighed helplessly: “Where we trained had no servants—we did everything ourselves. Whoever lost sparring matches was responsible for sweeping the courtyard. I was at the bottom, so before graduating, this task mostly fell to me. Leaving a broom is clearly mocking my carelessness and poor skills. After killing the assassins, this person still had leisure to come tease me, yet like those guards, I was completely unaware.”
After hearing Huo Qi’s explanation, Bao Zhu was stunned for a while, then suddenly her heart raced wildly, her neck tingled, and all her body hair stood on end.
She instinctively gripped the rhinoceros horn pendant at her waist, rose and paced back and forth in the sleeping chamber, concentrating fully on searching for clues.
That mysterious killer had eliminated all enemies in one swift action—the opponents didn’t even have a chance to resist or cry out before losing their heads. Such ghostly, unfathomable methods naturally left no traces to follow.
Until she glimpsed an inconspicuous vermillion spot on the beauty couch. At first glance, it looked like blood droplets that had splattered onto the pillow. Upon closer inspection, it was a tiny red plum bud that hadn’t yet bloomed.
Bao Zhu’s fingers trembled as she picked up the red plum. Like being struck by lightning, she suddenly understood. Her heart immediately bloomed like all flowers of the four seasons, then instantly transformed into raging wildfire. She ran into the courtyard and began cursing at the sky and earth:
“Rotten-hearted, rotten-lunged, dog-shit-eating cunning fox! Sore-headed, pus-footed mischievous ghost! Starving wretch the underworld won’t accept! You’re tired of living, daring to fake death and deceive this old lady! Lying-tongued dead monk, I used to cherish you like a little brother, yet you dare conspire with dead ghosts to deceive me. Why haven’t the Buddhas sent thunder to strike you dead! ‘Even rats have skin, but humans lack decorum’—you two shameless bastard grandsons…”
Hundreds of people throughout the palace fell silent as cicadas. Guards, serving girls, and servants stood in place, quietly listening to the precious princess curse like a fishwife.
Huo Qi Lang clicked her tongue in amazement: “Incredible, golden phrases flowing freely—sounds like she truly learned from Master Zhou Qingyang.” She couldn’t help muttering: “Xu Er really was experienced and careful. Seven days of lying in state wasn’t enough—still needed a finishing blow to be safe.”
Li Yuanying’s eyebrows twitched, his temples throbbing. He endured until hearing Bao Zhu curse about “kidney deficiency and yang weakness,” finally unable to bear it anymore and shouting: “Drag her back inside!”
The guards looked at each other—none dared offend the princess’s precious body, while the serving girls lacked the strength. Finally Huo Qi stepped forward, half-coaxing, half-carrying the furiously raging and clawing Bao Zhu back inside.
Li Yuanying buried his sister under blankets and held her down, preventing her from continuing her colorful language. Turning to see Huo Qi Lang’s face red from suppressing laughter, he became even more furious and scolded: “She was originally a graceful, dignified lady—you ‘righteous sect’ people from Canyang Academy corrupted her along the way!”
Author’s Note: Xu Er: I said you need a finishing blow! A finishing blow!