Crown Prince’s Mansion, Recuperation RoomSeveral armed guards stood straight by the door. There was a chubby and slightly overweight chef who led a thin servant towards the room as they delivered a box of food.
The kitchen chefs and guards would always know each other in this line of duty. The guard who was presently on shift thus knew this cook as well. The cook frowned as he asked, "Master Chen, the food has all been prepared. Can I trouble you to get someone from within the recuperation room to come out and retrieve it?"
As he spoke, he opened the box, where there were beans, chicken cubes, and several other dishes.
The guard was extremely alert and cautious looking. He had a scar on his forehead, which he probably got while he was at war. His face was stoic as he examined the contents of the box before he spoke, "Leave the box here. You can go now. I shall inform the servants within the room."
When the chef heard this, he laughed and whispered, "Brother Chen, what’s going on inside?"
The guard cast a wary glance at the chef, "Li Ba, do your job as a chef well. As a chef, what’s your main concern? Go, prepare your dishes, that’s how you can serve. Stop overthinking."
The guard berated him as the chef hurriedly responded, "Yes, yes. It’s just that there are many rumors going on around here, which causes me to feel fearful and worried. This is my way of showing concern."
The guard then gave a frown, "For things that you’re not required to know, don’t ask. If not, your life might be shortened."
When the chef heard this, he hurriedly turned around to leave. Right at this moment, the door opened.
The guards all bowed deeply, while the chef and his servant fell to their knees as the Imperial Concubine strode out. The chef cast a sneaky upwards glance at her, and noticed that she looked extremely worried. He then hurriedly lowered his glance in order not to get caught.
When the Imperial Concubine had left, the chef and the servant stood up and made their way back to their quarters. They followed the stone archways, where everything was silent. The servant then asked as he smiled, "Master Li, do you think the little prince is down with just a cold? But if it’s just a common cold, why was he being quarantined within the recuperation room and even asked us to deliver the food, not allowing anyone to come and go? Could it be that he’s has smallpox?"
"How should I know? Let’s go. I’ve just been scolded by the guard, didn’t you hear? If you continue to bagger me with such talk, I will send you on your way to prepare the firewood for the next few days, since you’re so free." The chef was heavy hearted, "Do what you’re supposed to do. Didn’t you hear just now?"
As he spoke, his footsteps quickened before he reached a cobblestoned alley, where he paused, "You should go back first. I have something I need to do."
"Sure!" The servant replied as he headed back to the kitchen.
Within the main hall, the Crown Prince read several doc.u.ments then he heard the shrill voice of a eunuch, "Arrival of the Imperial Concubine!’
The Imperial Concubine had rather anxious footsteps and didn’t even carry an umbrella despite the weather. When she arrived at the hall, she was covered in snow. When a serving maid saw this, she bowed deeply before waiting on her.
The hall was filled with scented smoke, the Crown Prince straightened up and exhaled. When he looked up, he saw the Concubine seated across from him. He then spoke to her warmly, "Didn’t the doctor already say it was just a common cold, what are you worried about? Don’t think too much about it."
When the Imperial Concubine heard this, she replied, "Your majesty, our son is fine. It’s just that my mother has been in shock. Additionally, the water and air here within the capital isn’t settling well with her. I wish to return home to visit her."
The Concubine was visibly moved as she spoke, her heart was filled with sorrows while tears streamed down her cheeks. She then gave a chocked sob as she handed a note to the eunuch, who received it and pa.s.sed it to the Crown Prince.
When the Crown Prince received the note, he looked at it before he felt his heart stir with emotions. His eyes started to turn red, "Concubine, if you wish to return to your mother for a day, I shall allow it."
"Thank you, Crown Prince." The Concubine spoke before she left.
After sometime, the Concubine was on her way as several oxcarts left the compound at the same time. Guards and servants accompanied her. Within a short amount of time, she arrived at Cheng Mansion. The Cheng Mansion was previously a part of the government office but was no longer in use and had been acquired by the Cheng family. It had also undergone renovations and was a majestic place. At this point, the Cheng couple were notified of their daughter’s return. Minister Cheng and Madam Cheng led several servants out to welcome the Imperial Concubine.
Some distance away, there were two men who followed behind the oxcarts.
Seeing the Concubine enter her parent’s mansion, they walked another 50 meters and entered a tall building, which was a restaurant. The pair were warmly received by the waiters. There were several dozen people seated downstairs, in groups of three or five, making for a very lively scene.
The pair decided to go upstairs, and noticed that the floors were extremely clean. One of them took five taels of silver and handed it to the waiter, "Serve us some food, we have no preferences. And get us some high-quality wine."
After the waiters had served them the food, a middle-aged man pushed open the door and walked in. He wasn’t dressed in very expensive robes, but they weren’t cheap either. He had a moustache on his face and was wearing layered sandals.
The pair of men by the table stood up as the middle-aged man asked, "What’s the current situation?"
"The Crown Prince’s Palace is being watched extremely closely. n.o.body is allowed to enter the recuperation room. Even the food had to be packed for the little prince. The entire compound is also being sealed off to guests and outsiders. However, it seems like the little prince has just caught a common cold."
"Even the doctor thinks it’s just a common cold."
When the middle-aged man heard this, he laughed, "So these are the new precautions taken when one of them catches a cold?"
"We’ve seen Madam Cheng as well. She visited them yesterday, and has fallen sick today. This caused the Imperial Concubine to personally make a visit. This is probably just a cover up. All of you should watch closely. If there’s any movement, follow it."
As he finished speaking, the middle-aged man walked down stairs, leaving the pair to their meal.
Minister Chen’s Mansion, Backdoor.
An hour later, an oxcart departed.
Several guards were standing around. Seeing that the pair of men were about to chase after the oxcart, the middle-aged man held his hands to stop them, "Hold on, don’t rush. Something isn’t right."
Immediately the urge to chase after the cart died down, as they continued to wait. One hour later, another oxcart departed from the Palace. From afar, they could tell that a woman wearing a veil across her face was seated within the cart.
Seeing such a situation, the middle-aged man laughed coldly, "Finally. The cicada sheds its carapace. We were almost fooled by their deceptions."
"But look at this oxcart. Look at the driver, can a normal civilian have a bodyguard travel with him?"
"Your Excellency, what should we do?" One of them asked.
"Follow them." The middle-aged man instructed before he whispered to the other man. This man then left in a hurry.
At this point, the weather was extremely cold. As soon as it snowed, it froze into ice, and piled up by the side of the roads. When the sun came out, some of it melted, causing the roads to be very b.u.mpy, making it hard to travel.
The middle-aged man was having difficulty walking. As he watched the oxcart heading in a direction, he realized that it was going towards the Flower Monastery nearby, where the Sickness G.o.ddess is said to reside.
The middle-aged man scanned his surroundings and saw a bridge that he could hide behind. He observed and noticed that n.o.body had entered the monastery yet, as it stood tall and alone. The monastery was sealed shut, only with several armed guards standing outside.
Monastery
People only prayed to the Sickness G.o.ddess whenever they were sick, or a family member was ill. Most people would avoid the place at all costs since they were superst.i.tious that being there would bring sickness upon them. Pei Zi Yun walked into the main hall and lit incense before placing it within the burner. When he looked outside, he saw the guards stood rigidly. He then spoke to the woman in the veil, "At this stage, we’ve succeeded."
The lady then smiled as she dropped the veil and wiped the sweat off her forehead, "I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to lure anyone, and ruin things for the Crown Prince and the Concubine. Even my back is wet from nervous sweat."
"Even if you didn’t manage to lure them, you wouldn’t ruin things for them." Pei Zi Yun a.s.sured her. "This is only the first stage of luring the snake from a cave."
"Indeed, the little prince had just caught a common cold. The doctor is right about this, and that it isn’t anything to worry about. In fact, it seems like he’s much better today. However, as long as the Concubine keeps on looking worried, and we prohibit anyone from entering the recuperation room, we will cause people to overthink and spread false tales."
"At every situation, there will be a record of who was present, and we can observe those records."
"If we find a suspicious person present once, it might be coincidence, or maybe he was curious and happened to overhear the conversation. But if at every piece of information, we find the same person present, he was curious every time, and happened to overhear the conversation every time, then we’ve found ourselves the mole."
"If he really happened to always be around coincidentally, then he only has his ill luck to blame for being suspected."
"Once we have the list of all suspicious people, the Crown Prince can cast a wide net and catch all of them!" Pei Zi Yun spoke out confidently as he continued, "He will clean his entire palace of all the spies. Only then will he be secure and trust everyone working for him. If more rumors spread about him or if another drug was planted on him, the Crown Prince might not be able to recover from the setback."
"Now, all we have to do is to wait, before pulling our nets in. King Lu’s men aren’t like sesame seeds, which are present everywhere." Pei Zi Yun sighed once before speaking coldly, "He probably has several hundred or a thousand men at most."
"Out of these, only a handful were regular spies for him. You put on a disguise and pretended to be the Concubine. Although we have very little time, the people who would launch an attack must definitely be very proficient in such deeds. I shall help the Crown Prince to get rid of them, and weaken King Lu.
Pei Zi Yun spoke against King Lu without fear. Even the lady didn’t dare to reply him, as she licked her lips. At this point, a shout could be heard coming from outside. Someone from the outside the monastery ran in frantically, "Your Excellency, there are bandits outside."
"A dozen bandits dressed in black robes!"
As he spoke, he attempted to get closer. Pei Zi Yun shouted, "Stand still!"
As he shouted, the Daoist flicked his hand rapidly as the shadows of three needles emerged and shot towards Pei Zi Yun. The Daoist then drew his dagger immediately. Pei Zi Yun laughed coldly, as he held his candlestick out, and blocked the needles.
The Daoist then charged forward with the dagger in his hands towards Pei Zi Yun. He dodged the blow before twisting his body and catching the Daoists shoulder in his hands. With a twist, the sound of bones shattering could be heard.
"Spare… Me…." The Daoists was so alarmed that he panicked. His other free hand still tried to stab Pei Zi Yun, who slapped the top of his head.
"Pu". His head looked unscratched, and yet in several seconds, blood flowed freely from every orifice as he fell to the ground dead.
To many martial artists, such a skill required many years of practice to master. It was something like a secret art. However, to a Daoist, this was just a basic level eight skill, turning gentleness into toughness.
Having killed this Daoist, Pei Zi Yun laughed coldly, "Flower Monastery was the designated place for me to lure the snakes into. I know everything about everyone who’s supposed to be here. This Daoist just reached here half an hour ago, and you tried to come close to us?"
Right at this point, someone shouted from outside, "Kill, kill your way in."
"Whoever kills the lady inside will be promoted by three ranks!"
The sounds of shouts from outside could be heard as the bandits charged in.
When the lady heard this, she decided to put the veil on her face as she lifted her skirt and walked away hurriedly. As soon as the bandits outside saw this, a dozen black robed men entered. They wielded blades viciously and threateningly, while they maintained a certain formation in unity. Seeing this, the armed guards started fighting back in defense of the lady, and yet were unable to contain them. Before long, the fight spilled into the main hall.
The lady was astonished as well, as she ran further inside.
Although they only caught a glimpse of a shadow running further into the monastery it was as good as seeing a mountain filled with gold. The leader of the bandits, the middle-aged man laughed out happily. He was certain of the bright future he held.
As he finished laughing, he shouted, "Imperial Concubine, you have nowhere to run. If you behave, and come out now, how would I dare to hurt you?"
"For the sake of the dragon child in your belly, give the command for your men to lay down their arms and cease resisting!"
Of course, this was a lie. He then continued, "If these guards continue resisting, there will be many casualties on your end."