Chapter 79: A Terrifying Identity
Zhang Sheng You, falling from under the eaves, bit his lip to stop the startled cry that was about to escape.
He was not frightened by the murder.
But he was also frightened by the murder.
This was the long street, and patrolling soldiers were surging forward from ahead.
Torches blazed fiercely, illuminating half the street with bright gazes. The foremost soldier happened to witness this scene.
His eyes immediately widened.
“How bold—”
But as his voice continued to tear through the night’s tranquility, Mo Zheng threw down the long sword, raised her bloodstained hand, and shouted shrilly at the soldiers.
“Hold on, call the Embroidered Uniform Guard, call Wei Jiao—”
“He knows my identity—”
Embroidered Uniform Guard? Wei Jiao?
This villain was an Embroidered Uniform Guard member?
Such a terrifying act of murder on the street was inconceivable, but the Embroidered Uniform Guard acted under the emperor’s special decree. If they killed…
Was it an identity that could not be touched?
Then…
The soldiers who were about to pounce instinctively stopped.
At the same time, Zhang Sheng You, who had raised the axe and was about to rush over, turned midway and silently climbed onto the eaves.
……
…..
“So, Miss Yang, now you have a new identity again, as one of my Embroidered Uniform Guard?”
Wei Jiao looked ahead. Under the torchlight, four or five corpses were scattered on the street, some intact, some decapitated, with patches of bloodstains blooming on the road.
He said, withdrawing his gaze to look at the person lying on the ground.
Dressed in men’s clothing, with long hair disheveled, covered in blood on her body and face, at first glance she was no different from the corpses nearby.
Mo Zheng looked upward, slowly exhaling, propped herself up to sit, and said softly: “Captain Wei, please forgive me. I lied, but this matter can only be explained clearly to you to avoid causing more trouble.”
Wei Jiao sneered: “Why?”
Mo Zheng looked at him: “Because only you know my identity clearly, and you saw me long ago in White Horse Town, being pursued and killed, fleeing for my life.”
Wei Jiao made a sound of acknowledgment and said: “Did I see you?”
Yes, he had seen her.
He had personally witnessed the calamity that White Horse Town suffered, seen the corpses of the mother and daughter packed in a coffin, and knew of the perfunctory substitution of a death row prisoner as a mountain bandit for decapitation.
He had also personally seen her masquerading with a false identity on the road.
Mo Zheng stood up and looked at Wei Jiao.
“Actually, I do have another identity.”
“Captain, my true identity is not the daughter of Duke Ding’an’s cousin.”
“I am actually the daughter of Duke Ding’an’s younger sister.”
“That’s why you encountered me in Zhao County, because I had just escaped from being pursued and killed at that time.”
This, Marquis Yichun had already told him. Wei Jiao made a sound of acknowledgment, with curiosity: “Anything else? Think again, maybe you can come up with yet another new identity.”
Mo Zheng was silent for a moment, not responding to his teasing, her expression sorrowful.
“Whether you believe it or not, the so-called mountain bandit raid on White Horse Town was aimed at me and my mother. My mother hugged the little maidservant who died in the calamity and jumped into the fire, pretending that we mother and daughter were both dead, so I could escape the pursuit.”
“But I knew the culprit was still around, so my maidservant and I kept faking identities, hiding and fleeing eastward to the capital city. Even with relatives here, I didn’t dare to acknowledge them and continued faking identities, all to avoid being discovered by the culprit.”
Mo Zheng said, then gave a self-mocking smile here.
“But when I entered Duke Ding’an’s Mansion, even though my uncle and aunt assigned me other identities, those who knew me still spotted me immediately.”
“Tonight, Miss Liu and I went to visit Father Liu. We were targeted right after stepping out.”
Wei Jiao’s gaze swept over the corpses scattered on the long street again, clicking his tongue twice: “Miss Yang took down so many people by herself? Quite the expert.”
Mo Zheng said: “I’ve practiced martial arts since childhood. I wouldn’t dare claim to be an expert as you say, Captain, but I could protect myself and escape White Horse Town, though I couldn’t save my family.”
Her expression dimmed as she lowered her gaze.
“After I perceived I was being followed, I deliberately left the alley to avoid implicating everyone.” She continued, then lifted her head to look at Wei Jiao. “However, the Liu family father and daughter don’t know about the pursuit. Naturally, I wouldn’t tell them, or Miss Liu would never agree to let us fake her identity.”
Wei Jiao looked at her. Under the blazing torchlight, his face was pale, smiling, but his eyes were utterly dead.
“Everything you said sounds quite reasonable.” He said.
Mo Zheng said: “Captain, everything I said is true. I swear!” She raised her blood-covered hand. “If there’s a single false word, may heaven strike me with five bolts of lightning!”
Wei Jiao raised an eyebrow, looking at her face: “Whether it’s true or false, what does it have to do with me? Why did you call me here? If you want to report to officials or seek justice to capture the villain, aren’t there patrolling soldiers for that? You called me here—surely not just to add the crime of impersonating the Embroidered Uniform Guard?”
Mo Zheng’s eyes lit up: “Yes, exactly. I impersonated the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Arrest me.”
Under the torchlight, the woman’s pale face was splattered with bloodstains, which not only didn’t make her features ferocious but added an unusual magnificence to her originally unremarkable brows and eyes.
She looked very pleased, as if about to pounce over.
Given the corpses scattered on this long street, the Embroidered Uniform Guard members instinctively raised their weapons at her.
Wei Jiao waved his hand, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard members stepped back.
“Not willing to sit in the patrolling soldiers’ prison, but want my Embroidered Uniform Guard’s prison? Miss Yang, you’re confused.” He said. “If you enter the patrolling soldiers’ prison, Duke Ding’an can easily get you out, but if you enter my prison…”
He shook his head, clicking his tongue twice.
“Duke Ding’an doesn’t have that ability.”
Hearing this, the woman stepped forward again and grabbed the reins dangling from his horse.
She looked up at him, her eyes fervent.
“No, I don’t trust him. I don’t trust anyone. I only trust you.”
“I’d rather go to your prison. There, no one can get in to kill me, and I won’t die inexplicably inside!”
“Wei Jiao, please, arrest me.”
She gripped the reins, stood on tiptoe, raised her hands, and looked at him expectantly.
A flash of annoyance crossed Wei Jiao’s usually cold and desolate eyes. This crazy thing seemed even madder than him?
…..
…..
What happened?
What’s going on?
Duke Ding’an stood on the street, his face pale.
Because of recent troubles weighing on his mind, he had been restless, but they were more or less resolved. After drinking and reveling happily under the service of his newly selected concubine, he fell asleep.
He had just fallen asleep when the steward woke him with a pale face, then saw the eerie red-uniformed Embroidered Uniform Guard standing at the door, telling him to come along. Before he could struggle, he was dragged away by the Embroidered Uniform Guard members. Fortunately, they didn’t take him to the Embroidered Uniform Guard prison but to a street, but…
In view were several corpses, and looking down, patches of bloodstains underfoot.
Was he having a nightmare?
Or had the King of Hell come for his soul, and this was the hall of the King of Hell?
“Duke Ding’an.” Wei Jiao cheerfully watched Duke Ding’an’s daze, then called out, “Your niece committed murder!”
Although this Miss Yang was eagerly asking him to arrest her, how could he grant her wish? Such a good deed as murder and arson had to be known to the family elders, or it would be so unfilial.
Murder? Duke Ding’an stared blankly. Who? He couldn’t quite understand.
“Your niece also said”
Wei Jiao leaned close to Duke Ding’an, staring at his face, and said darkly.
“That you are also the murderer.”
What? Duke Ding’an shivered, looking at Wei Jiao’s face, which didn’t seem of the mortal world…
“I’m not!” He shouted instinctively. “It wasn’t me!”
“Then who was it?”
A female voice rang out immediately after.
Two faces appeared before Duke Ding’an’s eyes.
One face was deathly pale, the other splattered with blood.
Duke Ding’an cried out in fright and fell sitting on the ground.
“Miss Yang, scaring him to death is doing duty for His Majesty, dutiful and responsible.” Wei Jiao looked at the young girl squeezing over beside him. “But if you scare him to death, it’s an unpardonable great crime, punishable by dismemberment at the waist.”
As he spoke, he rubbed his hand on his saber, his gaze turning over the young girl’s slender waist.
