Chapter 1: Someone’s Dead!
The wife of the General of Martial Virtue was frail and sickly, and recently caught a cold. The General’s Mansion summoned the newly hired household physician Hua Lin to treat her.
The General’s Mansion had great pomp; their household physician not only had to prescribe formulas but also handle boiling medicine.
Hua Lin was busy for several days and couldn’t manage, so he requested permission to let his female apprentice enter the mansion to assist.
Yue Tang was that apprentice.
In the evening, while boiling medicine in the courtyard of the main chamber, the Eldest Young Master He Xu, who had hurried home, spotted her at a glance.
He immediately forgot that he had been rushing to find his wife Zhang Shi to discuss something extremely important, stopped in his tracks, pushed aside the osmanthus branches blocking his view, and asked with shining eyes: “Who is that?”
“She’s the female physician Doctor Hua brought in today, surnamed Lin, called Lin Xiuying, a little widow.” The servant couldn’t help glancing at the woman in the courtyard.
He Xu involuntarily stepped down into the courtyard and used his folded fan to lift Yue Tang’s chin.
Yue Tang raised her gaze, pausing when it landed on the about a foot long hideous scar on his forearm: “Eldest Young Master.”
He Xu was quite surprised: “How do you know I’m the Eldest Young Master?”
Yue Tang’s lip corner curved slightly, her gaze shifting upward: “Madam said the Eldest Young Master is very majestic.”
He Xu was overjoyed, laughing heartily: “What a sensible little lady!” He examined this face carefully again, then said: “At such a flower-like age, how did you end up widowed?”
“Men have short lives, no choice.”
“Tsk tsk—” He Xu grew even bolder, moving the fan to the side of her face to turn her face straight: “What a fresh and lively little thing; now that your deceased husband is gone, don’t you find the lonely pillow hard to bear at night?”
Yue Tang pinched the fan with two slender fingers, then flipped it deftly between them and shook it open lightly: “What if it’s hard to bear? Your wife is right there in the room; aren’t you afraid?”
Her movements flowed smoothly like water; though a woman, she carried a touch of dashing flair, an indescribably unique elegance.
He Xu’s spirits surged: “Don’t mention that tigress! If I want someone, and she dares say a word against it, I’ll make her roll back to the Zhang Family right now!”
Yue Tang raised her lips and glanced obliquely behind him, saying nothing.
“He!” The Eldest Young Mistress Zhang Shi, under the corridor at the rear, was already trembling with rage, her fleshy face twisted by fury; she rushed over and grabbed He Xu’s collar: “Try making me roll!”
He Xu was caught off guard and yanked to the ground, instantly furious with shame: “Are you crazy?!”
Then a slap landed on Zhang Shi’s face, spinning her half around.
These past few years, Zhang Shi had been strutting around in her husband’s home; she never expected him to flare up like this, but she didn’t dare use force, so she turned to Yue Tang instead: “Shameless bitch! You dare seduce a man right in front of me; I’ll tear you to shreds!”
Yue Tang calmly closed her fan and stepped back half a pace.
He Xu, coming forward, caught Zhang Shi’s charge; as she lunged, he grabbed her and dragged her toward the main house: “You dare go mad here! See how I’ll deal with you!”
Along the way, Zhang Shi yelled and cursed, her cries of “bitch” still echoing one after another.
Yue Tang brushed her sleeves and bent down to add firewood to the firebox.
Hearing the commotion, a maidservant came out of the room: “Madam asks what’s wrong with the Eldest Young Mistress?”
Yue Tang entered the room, curtsied to Madam He who was reclining on the bed, then stepped forward to remove the silver needles from her head: “The Eldest Young Master just instructed me to serve Madam’s herbal medicine well, but I don’t know why the Eldest Young Mistress got angry. This is this servant’s fault; tomorrow, I’ll have Master send someone else.”
Madam He, upon hearing this, looked grim: “Ignore her! Always making such a fuss; she’s lost all a man’s face!”
She then looked at Yue Tang: “In just one day, my headache has improved a lot. It shows what Hua Lin said is true; you’ve learned some real skills.
“Just obey my orders well; don’t worry about anything else.”
Yue Tang nodded, arching her brow: “Yes.”
……
Zhang Shi, having gone all out, pointed at He Xu in the main house and berated him fiercely.
“Back then, if not for my father risking his life to save you, would you be alive today? If you dare have crooked thoughts, I’ll go beat that Lin bitch to death with clubs right now for you to see!”
“Enough!” He Xu slammed the table. “Always using that old matter to pressure me—do you know why the Heir Apparent sought me out just now?
“They have news of Wei Zhang; the Heir Apparent assigned this task to me!
“As long as I kill Wei Zhang, the Marquis will surely promote me greatly; then not only beating you, even if I divorce you, your old Zhang Family won’t dare do a thing!”
Zhang Shi was cowed by him, her angry expression turning into a strange look.
“Wei… Wei Zhang? You mean, from Yongjia Commandery, the Princess’s retainer, that fish who slipped through the net, has been found?”
Hearing “Princess Yongjia,” He Xu, who had been full of bravado, suddenly paused, then gritted his teeth and looked at the long scar on his arm—
The scar was about a foot long; back then the wound was an inch deep, flesh flipped outward, nearly costing him his arm. Even after three years, though healed, the raised purple tumor still looked shocking.
“You know and still ask!”
He swallowed hard, irritably pulling down his sleeve to cover the lingering fear in his heart.
Zhang Shi fell silent too.
The couple sank into silence, both seized by the creeping dread rising like a venomous snake in their hearts.
Three years ago, the Former Emperor, long bedridden, had a sudden turn for the worse; at that time, the He Family suddenly received a secret order, instructing them along with the Zhang Family to lead a hundred assassins, disguised as robbers, to ambush in the dense forest outside the city at midnight.
Their assassination target was Princess Yongjia, who was hurrying back to the Capital City upon hearing of the Former Emperor’s critical illness.
That night, blood flowed like rivers in the woods, corpses strewn haphazardly around the horse carriage, eerily terrifying like hell.
The first to die were the Prince’s Mansion nanny and maidservants, then the guards.
Next was Princess Yongjia’s child, just over three months old.
The child was first held by the fighting Princess Yongjia with Precious Sword in hand; midway in escape, the Princess was stabbed in the abdomen and back, the infant fell, swaddling clothes caught on the saddle, and then pierced by their sword.
The barely breathing child was carried out of the woods by the panicked, madly galloping horse.
It was a dense forest in the wilderness; midway through the fight, distant wolf howls could be heard.
The fresh, bloody infant was precisely a delicacy for the wolf pack to contend over.
Even after three years, Princess Yongjia’s earth-shattering wail of grief when the child fell still echoed clearly in He Xu’s ears!
The child’s death made her, wielding the imperial Precious Sword, even more frenzied in counterattacking; He Xu retreated step by step, his face mask sliced off, then struck by her sword!
The first sword hit his shoulder.
The second his arm.
She carried boundless hatred, every move chillingly sharp, ruthlessly venomous! Every inch advanced with the determination to tear them to shreds!
He Xu had only heard that Princess Yongjia was well-read in poetry and books from childhood, with Prince Duan hiring masters for her, but never imagined this sheltered noblewoman, who never appeared in public, could kill so ruthlessly and bravely!
If not for Zhang Shi’s father bursting in to support in time, he would surely have become a wandering soul under her sword!
……And Zhang father’s intervention was precisely why Zhang Shi had been lording over the He Family these past three years.
“Eldest Young Master, Young Mistress, dinner is served.”
The door was knocked on at that moment.
The couple both jolted in shock.
With the meal on the table, Zhang Shi closed the door again, tremblingly poured He Xu a cup of wine, arranged the various dishes for him, and only then regained some composure.
“Tracked that Wei for three years; now that the Heir Apparent has specified the route, it must be reliable! Go quickly; kill him early, and we’ll all rest easy sooner!”
After the deed that year, both Zhang and He Families received hefty reward money; when Zhang Shi married, Zhang father gave her part from his share, plus quietly a large box of jewelry from the Princess’s horse carriage.
The blood in the box’s crevices wasn’t even dry, but the jewelry inside was too beautiful, too precious, all crafted by the Capital City’s finest artisans, inlaid with countless gems, pigeon-egg pearls; many Zhang Shi didn’t even recognize, and she couldn’t bear to part with them.
Wei Zhang was the Princess’s diehard loyalist; if he was really still alive, he would absolutely seek revenge for Princess Yongjia!
Only by killing Wei Zhang soon, letting all of Princess Yongjia’s people die out, could they continue such good days and enjoy peace!
After a few cups of wine, He Xu relaxed too.
That night, the gravely wounded Princess Yongjia refused to surrender, turning to jump off the cliff.
At the cliff bottom, this woman who had enjoyed the world’s favors had half her face smashed to pulp, all bones broken, reduced to a pile of muck.
To avenge that sword, He Xu stabbed out her eyeball—he swore to heaven, even as a ghost, she couldn’t find her way back for revenge!
This time, as long as he killed that Wei, removing the long-standing worry for the higher-ups, he could hold his head high before the Zhang Family members!
Thinking of this, He Xu grew even happier, tossing back another cup.
But tonight’s wine seemed exceptionally strong; the first few cups were fine, but this one was hard to swallow.
His stomach churned; he beckoned Zhang Shi, wanting her to hold a spittoon.
But a fishy sweetness surged up first, turning into a blood column spraying from his open mouth!
The bright red blood splattered all over the floor!
Zhang Shi screamed “Ah!” and jumped up from the kang!
He Xu dazedly wiped his mouth, then pitched forward stiffly, the second gush of blood sending him tumbling off the kang, rolling under the footrest!
Zhang Shi let out a pig-slaughtering shriek: “Help!”
The servants rushed in at the cry, then everyone froze at the doorway!
All rough laborers, who had ever seen such a perilous scene?
Piercing screams rose one after another in the room!
Two older servants steadied themselves, heart in throat, stepped forward to check He Xu’s breath, but he sat down hard on the ground, scrambling about:
“Murder! —The Eldest Young Master is dead!”
