Chapter 226: A Groom
First the horse race had been interrupted due to the sudden appearance of an a.s.sa.s.sin, and then horses of students of the Imperial College had run wild, leaving many injured. The succession of incidents had demoralized all partic.i.p.ants in the horse race, especially students of the Imperial College, some of whom lost their fight the moment they mounted their horses and naturally underperformed.
The princ.i.p.al sitting in the stands watched one round after another, a scowl on his face.
Ling Zhang swung himself onto his horse. He and Snowflake were still the focus of attention in the racecourse. Miao s.h.i.+ba and the other bodyguards, along with Ling Zhang himself, all found themselves tensing their backs after Ling Zhang mounted. They were all poised to rush to Ling Zhang’s help at the first sign of anything.
But curiously enough, nothing had happened from start to finish. Everything was so normal that it seemed as though this was going to be an utterly uneventful day.
Ling Zhang felt that something was not quite right. Had he made a wrong guess, by any chance?
Speculations exploded in his mind, but it didn’t change the fact that nothing unusual had happened. Ling Zhang couldn’t help but look around the whole racecourse. His eyes raked faces of all people in view and even the mound on the side but still didn’t spot anybody who might be an a.s.sa.s.sin.
He himself, however, had performed pretty well on the back of Snowflake despite his injured arm and broke into the top ten with ease.
So far, all today’s occurrences had struck Ling Zhang as unexpected, and the quieter the current situation, the more strongly he felt that something was wrong.
After returning from the track, Ling Zhang dismounted, his face somewhat pale. Though Snowflake had run very fast as usual, he was still recovering from his arm injury after all, and the jolt had given him a hard time.
“Childe Ling,” Xie s.h.i.+ walked up and supported him off his horse. “Your arm needs nursing, and it’s inadvisable for you to subject it to another b.u.mpy ride.”
“There’s one more round. I’ve already gone this far. It’ll be a shame if I give up at this point,” said Ling Zhang.
The main reason was that he kept feeling something was not quite right – he had finished so many rounds, but there had still been nothing unusual, which left him rather worried.
Right at the time when Ling Zhang was talking to Xie s.h.i.+, he noticed out of the corner of his eye someone walking over. After finding that it was a groom, Ling Zhang wasn’t really on the alert, for after each round, some grooms would help the students groom, feed and water their horses to make sure that the horses were in fit states.
Although Snowflake didn’t like it when strangers approached it, all grooms of this racecourse were very experienced. They knew where the limit was and never crossed it while tending Snowflake, which was why Snowflake had been fairly cooperative so far. Ling Zhang had gone several rounds in a row, and it had been the same groom who served him.
Ling Zhang had observed this groom some time ago. After a couple of rounds, he had found that this groom was dutifully doing his job, so he didn’t stop him from approaching Snowflake.
But this time around, at the moment the groom pa.s.sed him, Ling Zhang suddenly sensed a murderous air. This feeling was very subtle and even made his scalp p.r.i.c.kle somewhat. As if something dangerous was imminent, he instantly tensed his muscles and almost at the same instant heard a whizz coming from behind him and unhesitatingly dodge aside!
“Die!”
The a.s.sa.s.sin thought that his attack was soundless and Ling Zhang had let his guard down, so it was impossible for Ling Zhang to sidestep this blow of his, but unexpectedly, his saber missed the target. His nondescript face instantly went murderous and the dagger in his hand abruptly jerked shooting at Ling Zhang from a direction that made this dagger attack very difficult to defend against!
Ling Zhang, after dodging the first strike, had come to realize that the a.s.sailant was the groom. Though he had narrowly escaped death, it was evident that this groom was a kung fu pract.i.tioner. The dagger followed him in a second attack like his shadow and the tip of it was within an inch of reaching Ling Zhang’s clothes!
Bang!
When Ling Zhang had dodged the first blow, Xie s.h.i.+ standing opposite him had reacted. Though that broom was very quick, Xie s.h.i.+ still managed to parry the second blow in time by giving him a kick on the arm which deflected his dagger.
Ling Zhang, taking advantage of this opportunity, left the striking distance of the groom and finally turned around to face him.
The groom’s kung fu was not as good as that of Xie s.h.i.+. After his first and second blows were dodged and parried respectively, he had no more chance to make an attempt on Ling Zhang. Miao s.h.i.+ba and other bodyguards had quickly cl.u.s.tered around Ling Zhang, keeping a weather eye on possible accomplices of the groom.
But what was rather surprising on this occasion was that the groom was the only a.s.sa.s.sin and was soon restrained by Xie s.h.i.+.
Xie s.h.i.+ took the dagger away from the groom. All this had happened too quick; many students were watching the horse race with rapt attention, and Snowflake was blocking the view of people in the stands, so when some people finally noticed, the incident was already over.
A supervior of the Imperial College came over and asked, “What happened?”
Ling Zhang said, “This groom was trampled by my Snowflake and hurt his leg. It was my fault. I should’ve kept Snowflake under better control. I’ll take him to see a physician right away and cover the medical expenses as well.”
Seeing the groom was pale-faced and supported and indeed seemed to have trouble walking, the supervisor didn’t suspect anything after hearing that the groom had been wounded by a horse and that Ling Zhang was willing to take him to see a physician. Besides, he had heard much about Ling Zhang’s reputation and didn’t want to cross him, so he said, “All grooms in the racecourse are subordinates of the General Zhongwu (AKA the General of Loyalty and Valor). You need to inform the supervisor of this place first before taking him to see a physician.”
“I see. Thank you for reminding me, supervisor,” said Ling Zhang.
The supervisor, seeing Ling Zhang was fairly respectful to him, felt somewhat pleased, turned around and left.
Ling Zhang winked at Miao s.h.i.+ba and the others and with that Miao s.h.i.+ba took that groom away.
Watching the groom being supported away, Ling Zhang was secretly relieved, thinking, ‘No wonder it had been quiet all along. It turns out danger had been lurking right by my side. Also, this a.s.sa.s.sin is so cunning – he managed to attack me from close quarters instead of trying to a.s.sa.s.sinate me from a distance like the last one did in the hunting ground that day. And it was very smart of him to unnoticeably gain my trust first before making his move. Had I not sensed the murderous air, I would have wound up either dead or seriously injured.’
The a.s.sa.s.sin had been captured, and Ling Zhang who had been tense all along finally relaxed in the knowledge that he had turned the corner. Moreover, they had caught that groom. In order to prevent that groom from poisoning himself as the a.s.sa.s.sin in the hunting ground had done, Xie s.h.i.+ had dislocated the groom’s lower jaw and blocked some of his acupoints, so the situation should be perfectly under control now, and all they needed to do was interrogate the a.s.sa.s.sin and find out who had sent him.
But since the a.s.sa.s.sin had posed as a groom, Xie s.h.i.+ and the others were keeping a close watch on all other grooms of this racecourse and he had even personally talked with the one in charge of this racecourse sounding him out. They found that all these people were behaving in a very normal way and none of them seemed to have any knowledge that that groom was an a.s.sa.s.sin.
Xie s.h.i.+ secretly sent out a message to inform Yuwen Tong hiding in the dark of what had just happened in this place.
Yuwen Tong had been staking out the racecourse all along, and naturally he had seen the incident. The groom had been brought to him immediately after Miao s.h.i.+ba took him out of the racecourse, and all staff members of the racecourse were now under surveillance of Yuwen Tong’s men.
Students in the racecourse were not alarmed, and the horse race was still going on as planned.
Ling Zhang was in the last round. Though the a.s.sa.s.sin had been caught just now, he was still on the alert. Eventually, by dint of Snowflake, he finished in second place. It was because his arm was wounded and he had to spare some attention guarding against possible attack that he missed the champions.h.i.+p. But all people present were aware that he was still recovering from his arm injury. Seeing he had come second with an wounded arm, every one of them was green with envy.
Ling Zhang didn’t have the time to dwell on these people’s opinions, and there hadn’t been a second a.s.sa.s.sin attempting to kill him until he left the riding track. Yuwen Jin and the others all excitedly gathered around him.
A while ago, when the a.s.sa.s.sin had made his move, Yuwen Jin had happened to be riding in the track, and Ji Feng and the others had gone to the other side, so none of them was aware of what had happened earlier on this side.
Yuwen Jin said, “You’re so bada.s.s, Brother Zhang! You came in second with an injured arm!”
Ling Zhang, seeing they were rapturous and unaffected by the incident, also felt happy. He said, “Pity the t.i.tle was taken by someone of the Oriental Rite Academy.”
“That’s because you’re still recovering. Otherwise you’d have won the t.i.tle,” said Yuwen Jin.
The third winner was also a student of the Imperial College, which somewhat came as a surprise to Ling Zhang and the others. Though having more than once claimed that many of the students of the Imperial College were excellent riders, subconsciously they had believed that the Oriental Rite Academy would probably defeat the Imperial College in this horse race, for after all, the latter had indeed been performing rather badly in recent years.
But because of this, Ling Zhang also vaguely came to understand why the princ.i.p.al had been so anxious to hold this horse race – clearly he had started making preparations some time ago.
“Two of the top three are from our college. On top of that, anybody not blind knows that you would have been the champion were it not for your wounded arm, which I’m sure has brought the Oriental Rite Academy down a peg or two.”
“Do any of you know the second runner-up?”
“Oh, that guy. He’s the princ.i.p.al’s nephew.”
Light dawned on Ling Zhang.
“Brother Tao and his schoolmates are coming,” said Ji Feng excitedly.
This time, because of Ling Zhang, their overall performance was better than that of Tao Yi and five of his schoolmates, so the Imperial College was the winner of this private compet.i.tion between them.
“You guys win the bet. It happens to be about time for lunch. What do you say we go to the Taibai Tavern?” said Tao Yi crisply after walking over with his schoolmates, accepting their defeat with good grace.
Their gracefulness was just to the liking of Ji Feng and the others. Immediately, they threw their arms around their shoulders addressing them as brothers. “The Taibai Tavern it is. Let’s go, let’s go.”
Xie s.h.i.+ asked Ling Zhang, “You’re going with them as well, Childe Ling? I think you should go back and have your dressing changed first.”
On hearing this, all others twisted their heads around to look at him. “Your injury worsened during the horse race, Brother Zhang?”
“It was impossible for the wound to remain unaffected by a ride that b.u.mpy. How about you return and change your dressing for a fresh one, Brother Ling?” one of the couple of students of the Oriental Rite Academy also said. Since Ling Zhang had defeated them despite his injured arm, they had all been convinced.
Ling Zhang, who didn’t want to be a buzzkill, said, “That won’t be necessary. I’ll just have my dressing changed in the carriage.”
Ling Zhang had come to the racecourse in a horse-drawn carriage in the morning, just in case, and there were all kinds of vulneraries available in the carriage.
Ling Zhang looked at Xie s.h.i.+. “I’m afraid I’ll have to put you to the trouble of changing my dressing in the carriage in a while, Guard Xie.”
Xie s.h.i.+, after a brief moment’s thought, inclined his head. The main reason why he had asked that question was that he wanted to give Ling Zhang an excuse to take his leave. Now that Ling Zhang was in no hurry, naturally he’d let Ling Zhang make all the decisions.