By now, Shen Qi had already entered the palace. At the sight of the token, no one dared delay him — it was the Crown Prince’s golden seal of authority, and bearing it was as good as the Crown Prince himself being present. Up to this point, the Crown Prince had granted it to only one person: the Grand Preceptor.
The way through the palace was completely clear of obstruction. When Shen Qi came before the Crown Prince, he bowed to the ground immediately. “The Grand Preceptor is being hunted. She has sent me to report that the Commandant King’s consort is suspect, and requests that Your Highness dispatch men at once to surround the Commandant King’s residence and apprehend everyone within. The Grand Preceptor has said that if her judgment ultimately proves to be in error, she submits entirely to whatever punishment is seen fit.”
The Crown Prince could no longer remain seated. “What is the Grand Preceptor’s condition?”
“When this official departed, the Grand Preceptor was surrounded and being hunted by several dozen men, with only two to protect her.” Recalling the scene he had witnessed before leaving, Shen Qi shuddered inwardly. He lowered himself in full prostration at once. “Please, Your Highness, dispatch men immediately to her rescue.”
The Crown Prince struck the table with a sharp crack. “Such brazen audacity at the foot of the Son of Heaven! Even if it should turn out that the wrong person has been seized, this palace will take responsibility. Send word to the Qisu Division — ride out at once to provide support, and bring the Grand Preceptor back unharmed without exception.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The Crown Prince bowed his head and wrote several lines in rapid strokes, then pressed his personal seal to it. “Take this to Fu Gang. Have him apprehend everyone in the Commandant King’s residence immediately. Not a single person is to escape — including the Commandant King himself.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The Crown Prince’s eyes, no longer able to conceal the sharpness within, gleamed with it fully. “Laifu, go personally and inform Grandmother of these events. There is no need to withhold anything.”
Laifu bowed and withdrew. The Crown Prince had truly been well taught by the Grand Preceptor. Was it not all those estrangements, misunderstandings, and distances that had been born from no one willing to speak plainly to another? If every matter were brought into the open, where would those troubles come from? The Crown Prince conducted himself with such transparency, and the Empress Dowager was only glad for it. In the imperial household, personal sentiment had always come after the greater good — when the moment of reckoning arrived, no one could be exempt, and the Empress Dowager understood this better than anyone.
The Crown Prince stepped out from behind the imperial desk and fixed his eyes on Shen Qi. “Did the Grand Preceptor say anything else?”
Shen Qi lay prostrate on the ground, not daring to conceal a single word. “The Grand Preceptor asked me to find a trustworthy person to send word to the Grand Tutor and request that he enter the palace immediately. She was worried that Your Highness would not be able to hold steady. At the time, the place was near a shop belonging to my family, and this official had the manager go in person.”
The Crown Prince’s hand tightened inside his sleeve. Even with her life under threat, she still thought of whether he was holding steady. There would never again be anyone who treated him with such care as the Grand Preceptor did.
And at this moment, Hua Zhi was already in extreme danger.
The enemy’s numbers were vast. No matter how formidable the three of them were, they could not hold out indefinitely. By now, Jia Yang and Hua Zhi had been encircled by the enemy, while on the rooftops above, four or five people had also moved in to press Yu Mu from all sides. Every single one of them was covered in blood — whether the enemy’s or their own was impossible to say.
After dealing with the enemy’s archers, Yu Mu had taken to moving across the rooftops, seizing every opportunity to loose arrows — but his supply was limited, and now only two arrows remained.
Jia Yang’s whip was growing sluggish. Hua Zhi’s strength was nearly spent. All three of them were reaching the end of what they could endure.
“Call Yu Mu down.”
Jia Yang let out a sharp whistle. Yu Mu dropped from the rooftop at once and rejoined the other two, and together they formed a triangular defensive stance once more.
“In a moment — Jia Yang, try using the whip to wrap around Yu Mu and swing him out. Yu Mu, you hold the sword and cut them down. Jia Yang, your speed on the recoil needs to be fast — or Yu Mu will get hurt. Is it possible?”
Jia Yang considered briefly. “We can try.”
“I will handle those close in. Ready — move.”
All three moved at once, abandoning defense for offense and striking at the enemy. Yu Mu was flung out like a cannonball. The first attempt was not yet in sync — Jia Yang pulled the whip back too early; the sword had barely entered flesh before being yanked back. Hua Zhi, taking advantage of the enemy’s momentary distraction, scored her own hit — the dagger drove deep into the chest of the man nearest her. As she withdrew it, her whole hand was trembling, not from fear, but from the weakness in her arms.
Yet she had no way to retreat.
“Again.”
The second attempt was better coordinated. Yu Mu claimed a life, and Hua Zhi scored another hit.
But once the enemy grew wary of the tactic, Yu Mu still had several directions he could move in, whereas Hua Zhi found it far harder to land her strikes. She took a blade to the body before she could deal with another opponent.
“Elder Miss.” Jia Yang, setting aside all matters of rank, immediately pulled her in behind the protective reach of his whip. “Just handle those who come in close — leave the rest to us.”
But even so, the three of them did not hold out much longer. Once Yu Mu took a heavy sword blow to the chest, the entire defensive formation broke apart.
Looking at Yu Mu — the blood spreading scarlet across his chest, his face gone deathly pale — and seeing the enemy tightening the encirclement, Hua Zhi suddenly smiled. “We survived last time by our luck. Whether that luck holds this time around, I do not know.”
“You will be alright.” Jia Yang and Yu Mu exchanged a glance. Yu Mu understood. The hand gripping his sword steadied. Jia Yang tightened his grip on the whip — and then burst into sudden action, swinging the whip out in a wide sweep that drove the enemy back. Then, in a move no one had anticipated, he turned and coiled the whip around Hua Zhi, using a careful controlled force to send her up onto the rooftop. “Run!”
The enemy moved to pursue. Yu Mu, using everything he had left, cut them off. The whip came snapping back in time, hard intercepting all of those in pursuit.
Hua Zhi did not want to go. She knew that if she left, neither of them would survive. But she had no choice.
Those two had paid with their lives to send her away — not so she could turn around and throw herself back into death’s arms. She bit down hard and slid across the rooftop toward the far edge. When she reached the lowest point, she gripped the corner of the eave with one hand and lowered herself as far down as she could before letting go, borrowing the momentum of her fall to roll as she hit the ground and break the impact. By some blessing, her feet did not break — she ran for the end of the alley as fast as she could.
Her chest burned as if something were on fire within it. Her breath rasped like a cracked old bellows. The agony of it made her want to charge into the enemy’s midst and take as many of them down with her as she could — but no. That was not enough. It would not be enough!
She would drive them all the way back to where they had come from — and they would never again enter the pass, never again threaten the people at her side. Every life lost near her, she would have them repay — a hundred times over, a thousand times over.
Something slid from the corners of her eyes, carried away by the wind and she knew not where it fell. She would not betray the trust those two had placed in her. She would live — no matter what.
The sound of chaos seemed to roar right behind her ears. And ahead of her: a dead end.
Even a dead end would not stop her. Hua Zhi clenched her teeth and moved to climb over the wall at the side. She did not think for a moment about whether she still had the strength — she only knew she could not die here.
How much had she lived through? How many hardships had she overcome? This second life she had been given — she could not let it end here, so meaninglessly.
Just then, the door nearby was pulled open a crack. A person in a long scholar’s robe — visibly terrified yet doing their utmost — beckoned to her frantically. A young scholar.
Hua Zhi looked at him, then looked back at the path she had come from. She had injuries; there was blood on the ground. If she went inside…
She made a small gesture, walked to the end of the alley, and pressed her finger to one of her wounds. Then she smeared the blood along the wall bit by bit, creating the scene of someone having climbed over from this spot. Then she removed the shoe on her bloodied foot, pressed each bleeding spot against the ground one by one to blot away any trace of blood, and only then stepped inside.
Before she closed the door, she looked out once more. Only when she confirmed she had left not the slightest trace did she let out a quiet breath — and sank straight down to the ground, pulling her shoes back on as best she could through the pain.
In the room, there were two middle-aged people and two younger ones, all watching her with varying degrees of fear in their eyes. She could well imagine that before the young scholar had moved to open the door, those inside must have disagreed.