Chapter 44 The night is getting cold, Ayu, let's go back. ...

Wen Tinglan bowed slightly to him, "Your Highness invited me, and I dared not refuse. However, I was a little late because of some matters at the manor."

The second prince was clearly pleased with his pragmatism. He gave a wink to the servant beside him, who immediately led Wen Tinglan to the seat closest to the head of the household.

He then casually pointed to the door and said, "You, come and get some hot dishes for Young Master Wen."

And this finger landed right on Hengbo, who was trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible.

Yokohama: ...Fortunately, she disguised herself a little, so that her childhood friend, whom she hadn't seen for more than ten years, wouldn't recognize her at a glance.

In their childhood, Wen Jie was always the one running after her, but now the tables have turned, and she's the one serving Wen Jie food.

Unfortunately, when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.

Hengbo bowed respectfully and then quickly went to the kitchen to steal a few dishes. However, whether intentionally or unintentionally, she chose fatty fish and meat, which seemed completely out of place with the gentle and refined gentleman.

When Wen Tinglan saw the dishes being served on his table, he raised an eyebrow slightly but still made an effort to taste a little of each one.

Although the Second Prince, who was sitting at the head of the table, wanted to win over Wen Jie, he knew that he couldn't rush things. Moreover, judging from Wen Jie's current attitude, it didn't seem like he was completely uninterested. He could observe him for a while longer.

The song and dance, which had been temporarily suspended due to the earlier incident, resumed. During this time, the guests admired the graceful and slender dancers while whispering among themselves.

The transverse wave, now merely decorative, didn't require her to concentrate; a constant stream of sounds flowed into her ears, and most people's whispers revolved around the name Wen Tinglan.

While racking her brains to figure out how to take the dog's head off the Second Prince's neck, Hengbo unconsciously diverted a sliver of her attention to eavesdrop on the conversation between the two people closest to her.

"Why is he here too?" someone asked in a low voice.

"It was His Highness who invited him," the other person said dismissively.

"If I had known he would come, I wouldn't have come." This was accompanied by a sigh.

"Brother Zhang, what makes you say that?"

The man who sighed said sadly, "Wen Tinglan is now a favorite of His Majesty. If he reveals the guest list for today's banquet, neither of us will be able to shake off the accusation of forming a faction."

The other person scoffed at his idea: "Why make such a fuss over a meal? Besides, we all know each other perfectly well. It's obvious that your Zhang family wants to marry your daughter to the Second Prince as a concubine."

"You, you... Doesn't your Li family have any underhanded tricks? Don't think I don't know..." Seeing that the two were about to start arguing, Hengbo suddenly shifted his attention from the Second Prince and waited with great interest for them to expose each other's secrets.

At that very moment, the two Hu women leading the dance in the front row suddenly launched an attack. It turned out that the gold rings wrapped around their forearms had unfolded into extremely resilient soft swords. The extremely thin and sharp tip of one of the soft swords was now like the fangs of a golden ringed snake, stabbing straight towards the second prince's throat.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. By the time everyone at the banquet reacted, two men in black had already jumped down from the roof and were locked in combat with the Hu assassin disguised as a dancer.

The hall was thrown into chaos. The guests, who had been engrossed in drinking and merrymaking, swarmed toward the door like headless flies, trying to open it and leave.

However, the door that had been opening and closing freely when Hengbo went to the kitchen to get dishes was now as if it had been welded shut, and no matter how much people pushed it, it wouldn't budge.

Looking at the center of the hall, the delicacies and wines were overturned on the ground, and the other seemingly unaware Hu women were all lying on the ground trembling.

Among them, only three people remained exceptionally calm: the Second Prince, who was being protected by two other men in black; Wen Tinglan, who seemed detached from the chaos, her eyes lowered as if lost in thought; and Hengbo, who walked expressionlessly against the surging crowd.

For Hengbo, this chaos at this moment is undoubtedly an opportunity that, once missed, will never come again.

Previously, there were some concerns about the four people hiding on the beam, but now that two of them have been tied up by the Hu Ji assassin, the remaining two are no longer a threat.

As she moved horizontally, the two men in black who were fighting with Hu Ji immediately noticed her movements and tried to distract her.

However, how could Yokobo possibly take the two of them seriously?

Once activated, Shadow Chasing Wind made her figure as fast as a blur. Before the two men could even reach Hengbo, she had already darted several steps away.

The two looked at each other, both seeing disbelief in each other's eyes.

Looking at Hengbo again, she was completely unmoved by the two men; their obstruction was nothing more than a passing breeze to her.

The two men guarding the Second Prince sensed something was wrong when they saw this. One of them gave the other a wink, and the person who was pointed at immediately groaned inwardly, but had no choice but to bite the bullet and go forward.

However, as soon as they exchanged blows, he immediately realized that he was no match for Hengbo in ten moves. Although the man in front of him looked young, he was extremely agile and forced him to retreat step by step with only a short knife no longer than a baby's forearm.

The man in black tried to deduce Hengbo's origin from her weapon in order to counter her attack, but the short knife looked so familiar, yet he couldn't quite recall which organization it belonged to.

If Hengbo knew that this person had analyzed the small knife he casually picked up from the kitchen in this way, he might have given him a break, considering how slow-witted he was.

The man in black, who was clearly the highest-ranking member of the group and their master, had no choice but to join the battle when he saw his worthless disciple about to step down before the Second Prince.

Within three moves, he realized that he had misunderstood his foolish disciples. This young man, whose face was still immature, had already reached the peak of the Earth Rank and would probably be able to touch the threshold of the Heaven Rank soon.

So, with his strength only at the middle level of the Earth Rank, can he really protect the Second Prince from him this time?

While he hesitated, Hengbo had already knocked out the previous man in black with a chop to the neck, and then focused on dealing with the last man in black.

The man in black was finding it increasingly difficult to deal with Hengbo, and before long he had several wounds on his body. He couldn't help but curse those brats in his heart for being so useless, not even lasting a few more moments.

Seeing that Hengbo had tried several times to bypass him and attack the Second Prince directly, and almost succeeded, the man in black had no choice but to risk injury and shake his head at the Second Prince during a gap in Hengbo's attack, his voice tinged with anxiety: "Your Highness!"

The second prince's face instantly turned ugly, and he overturned the table in front of him: "Useless! All of you are useless!"

After saying that, he turned his gaze to the two Hu women who had initially attempted the assassination, and said in a gloomy tone, "What? Do you want to see me die at the hands of these vile women?"

The Hu woman and the man in black, who were locked in combat, both paused for a moment, then surged toward Hengbo in a surrounding formation.

It turns out that the previous assassination attempt was a staged event orchestrated by the Second Prince himself, but now it is impossible to reveal who he intended to frame.

The situation has taken a dramatic turn, but Hengbo is not surprised at all.

What a joke! Those two Hu women showed no murderous intent whatsoever when they were assassinating her, and did they think she was stupid for her weak and feeble exchanges with the first two men in black?

Her original intention was simply to break through the blockade and reach a position closer to the Second Prince. Therefore, when she saw through the Second Prince's intention, she immediately turned the tables on him, and the current situation was exactly what she wanted.

Thus, the third move of the Startling Spring Sword Technique, Four-Part Vertical and Horizontal.

The black-clad men guarding the Second Prince were on high alert for every move Hengbo made, but they paid no attention to the two gentle breezes that passed by.

Therefore, when the Second Prince's miserable howls rang out, no one was more horrified than the man in black.

He turned his head in disbelief and saw the Second Prince kneeling on the ground, covering his face, with blood gushing from his fingertips, staining his entire hand bright red.

"My face!" He suddenly raised his head, his expression almost manic, one finger pointing at Hengbo, trembling uncontrollably: "Kill her! I will tear her to pieces!"

Apart from one person who had already fainted, the remaining five dared not disobey and swarmed towards Hengbo. Hengbo, however, remained unmoved, only frowning as he looked at the Second Prince.

No, to be more precise, she was looking at Wen Jie behind the Second Prince.

Hengbo wouldn't be so bored as to deliberately slash the Second Prince's face. In fact, if Wen Jie hadn't suddenly pulled the Second Prince away, Hengbo would have already taken his life.

Until recently, when that person was only a step away from her, Hengbo finally moved. She turned her head away and refused to look at Wen Jie again. With light steps, she stepped onto the windowsill and leaped away. Under the cover of night, she disappeared without a trace.

Wen Tinglan loosened her clenched fist hidden in her sleeve and instructed the leader of the men in black, "This matter should not be made public. Go find a doctor first, I'll go after them." Then, ignoring the reactions of the others, she jumped off the third floor.

Those who remained in the hall were either still gathered at the door, barely daring to breathe, or kneeling before the Second Prince, completely at a loss.

Ji Xiao finally stood up, leaning on a nearby table. His sinister gaze swept over everyone in the hall, and the open wounds on his face made him look like a vengeful ghost.

"If word gets out of here today, I'm sure everyone here knows the consequences." He then turned his gaze to the people kneeling before him: "Why aren't you going to fetch Doctor Shao from Huichuntang? Get out!"

In the backyard of Mingcui Tower, apart from the occasional squabble between the chickens and ducks, there was no other sound.

At this moment, the tall, elegant young man, untouched by the dust of the world, suddenly broke the tranquility of the place.

"Princess, there are your former subordinates waiting at the third alleyway to the east. They will escort you away."

However, after he finished speaking, there was no sound except for a rooster that seemed to have been provoked clucking.

Wen Tinglan remained silent for a moment, then said, “The Second Prince certainly deserves to die, but there’s no need to dirty the Princess’s hands. I will take care of it myself.”

What he didn't say was that Ji Heng had already anticipated Shenxiao's return to the capital. If news of the Second Prince's assassination attempt were to arrive at this time, he would inevitably think of Hengbo and investigate further. Moreover, the Second Prince's injury was on his face; if it couldn't heal and he was forever barred from the throne, it would surely make him wish he were dead.

This time, even the rooster refused to crow, and the cool night breeze brushed past his ear, lifting a strand of hair. Wen Tinglan's expression darkened slightly.

"It's getting chilly, Ayu, let's go back."

Having said that, he didn't linger any longer and turned to walk into the building. Only after his figure completely disappeared did a figure appear in the stable—it was Hengbo.

She held her hand in the air, and a gentle breeze, still carrying the familiar scent of orchids, caressed her but refused to leave, lingering intimately around her fingertips.

Hengbo suddenly lowered his hand, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth. Did he not want to dirty her hands?