Chapter 51 Burial

Ning'er's hands were clean and cold, not stained with blood. Wen Yao grabbed them and pulled them against his chest, but even with his grip, he couldn't warm them. She fell silent, leaning quietly against Wen Yao's shoulder, her eyelashes casting a small shadow.

Unlike the last time Xiaodao was shot with an arrow, King Yong's men wanted to keep Xiaodao for questioning and didn't kill him. However, Lou Chengyi didn't hold back at all; he really wanted Ning'er dead.

Wen Yao took two quick breaths, then suddenly closed his eyes. He put his arm around Ning'er's knees and placed his other hand behind her back, holding her up steadily.

Her eyes were dark and bright, and a look that had never appeared on her face before appeared, as if a cluster of hot fire was burning in her heart, illuminating the world that was once free but floating.

Zhao Xuanxu tilted his head slightly, his hand dripping with sticky blood hanging by his side, his eyes fixed on Wen Yao.

"She's dead." Wen Yao looked at the man who had spoken to Ning'er earlier. His voice faltered slightly and became hoarse as he said, "Can I take her away?"

After two consecutive assassination attempts, the royal family had completely lost face. The governor and the emperor might even want to hang the bodies of the rebels for public display.

Fanzi thought so.

But he didn't say anything, just watched Wen Yao holding the person and sitting steadily on the horse.

Wen Yao was wearing black clothes. She first wiped Ning'er's face with her sleeves, then took off her outer robe and covered Ning'er with it, and galloped towards the Bianhe Zhou Bridge.

The Qiongyu Building, sprawling, two red buildings, engulfed in flames, fueled by pine oil. Flames flickered from the charcoal-blackened wooden frames, while thick smoke billowed, carrying debris and collapsing into the river. A circle of imperial guards surrounded the building, but they remained motionless, and no one dared to intervene. From a distance, the people of Bianliang watched as the once-lit Qiongyu Building was destroyed.

Most of the people inside the building had fled, leaving the adjacent open space crowded with young women. Exposed to the sunlight, they cringed and frightened, like fledglings driven from their nests, bewildered and weeping. Most of them were lonely and destitute. Regardless of what the Qiong Yu Building might have seemed to outsiders, it at least provided them with food, clothing, and daily necessities. Life was not easy for women; unlike men, they could freely seek a living. They only possessed the meager skills of writing, playing the zither, and mixing perfumes. Without the shelter of the Qiong Yu Building, how would they survive from now on?

Wen Yao reined in his horse and stopped outside the Imperial Guards, exhaled, and rolled down, holding Ning'er. Ning'er had once been famous for her sword dance, and many people knew her. Wen Yao covered Ning'er's face tightly, holding her tightly in his arms as he strode forward.

Zhao Xuanxu was following behind her. When the surrounding imperial guards saw Prince Yan, they didn't bother to find out who was lying in Wen Yao's arms and quickly moved aside to make way.

Zhao Xuanxu walked two steps behind Wen Yao, his expression changed slightly, and he suddenly waved.

The commander of the Imperial Guards hurried forward, bowed, and asked cautiously, "Your Highness?"

"Clear out all the people outside, and don't leave any one from Qiong Yulou behind. Find a place to take them down first." The former refers to the people who were peeking around, and the latter refers to the girls from Qiong Yulou.

Zhao Xuanxu said this coldly, then stepped forward to catch up with Wen Yao.

Wen Yao walked around to a secluded spot behind the Qiongyu Tower, laid Ning'er down, drew her Xingyi Sword, and began digging. Unburned objects fell to the ground, sending up tiny wisps of dust. Her gaze remained focused, completely unafraid.

Zhao Xuanxu had nothing in his hands, so he bent down and casually picked up a piece of wood from the ground. His bloody, bony palm pressed against the wood, stained with dirt, and the sight of it made people grimace in pain, but Zhao Xuanxu's face showed no sign of change.

Wen Yao suddenly raised her eyes to look at him, twitched her lips, and said, "Are you not in pain?"

"Yeah." Zhao Xuanxu said softly, "It doesn't hurt."

"...Put it down. Go back and ask Bai Rang to take care of it first."

Hearing Wen Yao say this, Zhao Xuanxu immediately put down the wood, but did not leave. He stood by and watched.

Wen Yao dug a hole in silence. After a while, he said, "Why aren't you going yet?"

"I want to stand by your side now." Zhao Xuanxu's hair was slightly disheveled, and his eyes were strangely calm, like a deep, dormant pool. There was a visible abyss below, but when Wen Yao stood there, the ferocious current seemed only gentle, gently entwining her calves and swaying like a ball of waterweed, a tender feeling.

When Wen Yao and Zhao Xuanxu were sitting at a stone table to eat in Yanling, insects chirped outside the fence and the evening breeze was cool. Occasionally, when she looked up at Zhao Xuanxu, she could see this look.

It was too gentle, an emotion that hardly seemed possible for this person, yet it truly appeared in his eyes.

Wen Yao lowered his head, and the Xingyi sword in his hand cut through iron like mud. With a few mixed internal strength, he dug through the bluestone slabs and exposed the mud underneath.

There was no coffin. Most coffin shops in Bianliang were located on the outskirts of the city, and bringing one all that distance would be too conspicuous. Song Mingde and Zhao Xuanxu seemed like enemies, but they weren't. It was possible that they wouldn't pursue the whereabouts of the body of Lou Chengyi's maid. However, Zhao Xuanxu had many enemies, and if someone with ulterior motives saw them, even if Song Mingde didn't pursue the matter, it would likely be reported to the emperor.

Zhao Xuanxu could act recklessly and without a care in the world, but Wen Yao couldn't bring herself to cause him any trouble. If she was involved with the rebels, and she was present at both assassination attempts but the assassins weren't caught, there was no guarantee that the emperor wouldn't become suspicious.

After digging the pit, Wen Yao adjusted Ning'er's outer robe, picked her up and gently placed her on the smooth, slightly damp soil. Wen Yao stood up, and suddenly he was in a trance for a moment, his eyes blurred by the yellow sand.

She knelt on the rough, barren Gobi Desert, her hands stained with dirt. Before her was a dug pit, in which lay a person.

Wen Yao took a breath, supported his knees with his hands, and his expression suddenly looked a little painful.

Zhao Xuanxu's expression suddenly changed. He took two steps forward, supported her arm, and pulled her out. His still clean hand touched Wen Yao's face, his fingertips slightly warm. "Ayao?"

The illusion suddenly dissipated.

Wen Yao was lifted up by him and suddenly came back to her senses. After a moment, she shook her head and said, "...It's okay."

She stood up again, walked to the side, and sprinkled handfuls of the dirt piled nearby on Ning'er. Once the dirt was smoothed, Wen Yao wordlessly drew his sword, slicing the isolated supporting beam into several pieces, bringing the remaining eaves to the ground with it. Ashes and sparks flew, completely covering the people below.

Suddenly, the sound of galloping horses echoed from the street. Song Mingde, followed by a large group, was charging straight towards them. His red robe was striking, his brow sharp but composed. Lou Chengyi wasn't by his side, so it was clear he hadn't caught anyone.

The factory supervisor, the Lingyu Guards, and the Huben Army, with so many people, still allowed Lou Chengyi and his men to escape. Song Mingde looked extremely ugly.

Wen Yao held the Xingyi Sword and looked at him from afar through the smoke and heat waves raised by the wind from the Bian River.

After a brief silence, Song Mingde was the first to frown. He glanced at the collapsed Qiongyu Tower behind Wen Yao, then grabbed the reins and rode away. The commander of the imperial guards, who had been standing in the distance for a long time, was trembling with fear and did not dare to move forward.

After a while, Wen Yao looked at Zhao Xuanxu and said, "Let's go."

No matter how big the turmoil outside, it was all separated by a ten-foot-high wall within the Prince of Yan's mansion. When Wen Yao and Zhao Xuanxu returned to the Prince of Yan's mansion in a somewhat embarrassed manner, Bai Rang was still squatting in his courtyard, fiddling with the flowers and plants on the shelves.

He stayed in a remote courtyard in Prince Yan's mansion, opened a medicinal field in the courtyard, and raised a few rabbits for testing medicine.

Bai Rang was unaware of the chaos outside. Seeing Wen Yao and Zhao Xuanxu come in, he patted his feet. When he saw the wound on Zhao Xuanxu's hand, his eyes widened: "What happened?!"

With Commander Wen here, could Zhao Xuanxu still get sick and cut off his own flesh?

Bai Rang swallowed the words after they rolled around on his tongue. He turned and went into the house to get the medicine box to treat Zhao Xuanxu's wound.

The condition of Zhao Xuanxu's hand was disastrous. Flesh and blood had turned inside out, and the gaping wound still had a layer of gray and black left from the wood he had just touched. The wound ran across his palm, and the white bones were faintly visible.

"What hurt you?" Although Bai Rang was afraid of Zhao Xuanxu, his sense of responsibility as a doctor prevailed. He babbled, "It's a broken bone. If you had come any later, what would have happened to him in the future?"

He moved very gently, holding a piece of gauze in his hand and carefully picking away the dried blood scab. After a slight tear, the wound was pulled, and the sticky blood gushed out again, which was a shocking sight.

Wen Yao stood by with his head down, holding the Xingyi Sword, feeling suffocated.

Zhao Xuanxu, on the other hand, acted calm, his long, cool hair cascading down his back. He held onto Bai Rang's hand, letting him do whatever he wanted. His other hand, unwilling to remain empty, held onto Wen Yao tightly. This time, it wasn't the sleeve he was holding, but the wrist.

Wen Yao didn't say anything and didn't pull his hand away.

Bai Rang didn't know what happened between the two outside. After helping Zhao Xuanxu stop the bleeding, he stood up and couldn't help but look at Wen Yao's face.

Compared to the always sickly, gloomy, and ghostly Zhao Xuanxu, Wen Yao always looked healthy and in good health, a physique that even doctors would praise. She was always full of energy and vigor. She was full of life and could easily strike up a conversation with anyone in the Prince of Yan's residence. But today was different. Bai Rang felt that Wen Yao seemed a little quiet today, and her face looked a little pale.

He pulled a small jar from his medicine chest and sprinkled the powder onto Zhao Xuanxu's hands. This medicine had been left behind by Wang Fu, and it was worth a fortune, capable of turning bones into flesh and blood. In Bai Rang's hands, it was like sprinkling flour onto a chopping board. It poured down without a trace of preciousness.

After bandaging Zhao Xuanxu, he lifted the kitchen curtain without looking back and brought out two bowls of hot porridge.

"Drink it," Bai Rang said, "It's freshly cooked medicinal porridge."

The bowl of porridge in his hand was burning hot. Wen Yao thanked him, placed the Xingyi Sword on the table, and brought the bowl to his lips to drink. Zhao Xuanxu glanced at Bai Rang, loosened his grip on Wen Yao's wrist, picked up the bowl, and swallowed a mouthful of the hot porridge.

Wen Yao hadn't had much rice soup since daytime. The hot porridge going down her throat almost made her stiff and cold abdomen feel like it was burned.

The silence didn't last long. A servant came over with a message, saying that someone from the palace had arrived and was waiting in the outer hall. The Empress and a group of princes and ministers were waiting in the Yonghe Palace. They asked His Royal Highness Prince Yan and Commander Wen to come over.

Wen Yao had anticipated this trip. After finishing her last mouthful of porridge, she put the bowl down, reached out and took Zhao Xuanxu's good hand, leading him out.

Zhao Xuanxu raised his thick eyebrows, his eyes lit up instantly, and he followed Wen Yao closely.

Because of Zhao Xuanxu's hand injury, Wen Yao and he rode into the palace this time. Arriving at the palace gate, they dismounted in a carriage and switched to a sedan chair. Outside, the sky darkened, and the towering palace walls lingered with the dread of the day's sudden change. The number of imperial guards, both inside and outside the palace, was doubled, and the Twelve Guards, originally stationed on the outskirts of the city, were also deployed to guard the palace grounds. The entire palace was surrounded like an iron wall, heavily guarded.

The sedan swayed, and Wen Yao rested her forehead against the wall. The situation was complicated, and Song Mingde should be in the Lama Temple by now. Suddenly remembering something, she nudged Zhao Xuanxu with her knee and said, "Hey, what's your relationship with Song Mingde? He must be suspicious of me today."

Judging from Song Mingde's reaction today, he had at least suspected that she was connected to Lou Chengyi. But he hadn't said anything yet, nor had he stopped her from burying Ning'er.

To outsiders, it was natural that Prince Yan and Governor Song were at odds.

The emperor established the Three Departments and appointed the Factory Supervisor to counterbalance them, deliberately forcing the two to clash, thus ensuring a balance between the emperor's sword and his henchmen. Zhao Xuanxu and Song Mingde, one ruthless and merciless, the other cunning and treacherous, were truly at odds. "Today you come to assassinate me, tomorrow I'll hang my body on your doorstep." The end result was a tacit consensus among the public that the Prince of Yan and the Governor of Song were at loggerheads, and the emperor, high on the throne, breathed a sigh of relief, quite satisfied.

The sedan chair was unstable and swayed. Dim light filtered through the gap in the curtains, and Zhao Xuanxu's handsome and affectionate face flickered, becoming obscure and unclear. His heavily bandaged hand rested on his leg, while his other hand was entangled in Wen Yao's hair.

Zhao Xuanxu tilted his head and said, "Ayao, the palace is not a good place. It's hard to make a name for yourself here."

Without connections, it would be difficult to even survive in such a complex and intricate place. From this perspective, the rapid promotion and great power of Song Mingde, a small eunuch, to his current position is legendary.

Not to mention that Song Mingde was not a man who was loyal to the emperor, even if he was, he would never have been able to climb to his current position at such a young age just based on his loyalty to the emperor.

"The emperor doesn't like monks. He likes Taoists because they can make elixirs for him. And now all the Taoists in the palace are Song Mingde's followers." Zhao Xuanxu smiled and asked Wen Yao, "Ayao, do you remember that my name was chosen by a Taoist?"

The selection of a name for an imperial prince was a solemn and important matter. Even if the prince was not favored by the emperor and had not been personally bestowed with a name, the Ministry of Rites would select one and send it to the emperor for selection.

"I came to Bianliang from Shu. Song Mingde introduced the Taoist priest to the emperor, and he is in great favor with the emperor."

Upon seeing Zhao Xuanxu, returning to the capital with his former Feathered Guards, at the city gate, the immortal, with flowing robes and a celestial bearing, suddenly received a divine message. It stated that the Third Prince, long absent from the capital, bore too much sin in his blood, and feared his separation from the Huo clan would bring disaster upon his closest relatives. The divine message bestowed upon him the motto "Suppress Delusion," requiring this as a single character to suppress it.

And just because of a word from the alchemist he had recently favored, his son's name was included in the royal register. What a great insult this was to the prince who had returned victorious and should have been enjoying glory.

Zhao Xuanxu didn't care what the two characters were or who chose them. Unfortunately, the gossips arose, and the young Zhao Xuanxu was as furious as he is today. He immediately decided to kill the Taoist priest and cut off his tongue to silence him.

The Taoist priest was granted a Taoist temple and lived in Bianliang City. Qianying led his men in in the dark and happened to see the alchemy room full of cabinets full of messy things, including some banned magic medicines from past dynasties.

The elixir made from these things cannot prolong life or strengthen the body. It only replenishes qi and blood temporarily, but makes the body more deficient internally.

It was these magical things that made the emperor so fascinated. The emperor valued the alchemists and, in turn, promoted Song Mingde, who understood his intentions. This is how Governor Song rose to prominence.

"Song Mingde bribed the Imperial Hospital Judge." Zhao Xuanxu smiled slightly and said, "No one in the palace has informed the emperor that he is terminally ill. Time is running out."

In fact, considering the frequency with which Song Mingde presented treasures every few days during his time, it would not have been easy for the emperor to survive to this day.

Wen Yao suddenly realized: "No wonder you said that day that Song Mingde fed the emperor medicine."

So that's what it means.

Song Mingde had fallen into Zhao Xuanxu's hands, so he naturally wouldn't let it go. Even before he was the governor, Governor Song had been capable of sending someone to assassinate the prince.

However, as the number of clashes increased, despite the initial flashes of swords and sabers, both sides eventually came to a tacit understanding, refraining from fatal attacks. They were mostly acting out their own performances for the emperor's benefit, occasionally using the other side as an excuse to eliminate their own opponents, achieving multiple goals at once. This relationship, neither enemy nor friend, has barely survived to this day.

At this point, the sedan chair wobbled to a stop. The Lama Temple before us was resplendent with gold and jade, ablaze with lights.

Wen Yao followed Zhao Xuanxu into the hall and saw a screen placed horizontally at the top, and a woman's figure could be vaguely seen on it.

The emperor remained comatose after taking the medicine, so the empress used this as an excuse to sit in and observe the affairs of state with Princes Yong and Qin. Behind the screen sat the empress, followed by the three princes, a group of trusted ministers, and Song Mingde, standing alone to the side.

As soon as he entered the hall, Zhao Xuanxu's hands, which were wrapped in three layers of wraps, attracted everyone's attention.

"Is my brother injured?" The King of Qin said in a sinister tone, "Those assassins were truly formidable. My brother brought so many people with him, and not only did they escape beneath the city walls, but he himself was injured."

He harbored resentment towards Zhao Xuanxu, after all, Zhao Xuanxu had just removed him from the Ministry of Revenue. The Ministry of Revenue was wealthy, and the lucrative profits it plundered from various levels of government were enough to support the entire Qin Wang faction. Since the Ministry of Revenue was replaced by Zhang Yun's men, the Qin Wang faction was inevitably dealt a heavy blow.

However, Zhao Xuanxu was not the only one who led the troops to chase the assassin.

As soon as the King of Qin uttered these words, Governor Song's face darkened. He spoke coldly, "The assassins are naturally cunning. They had long been deployed outside the city, dispersing in several directions to confuse the enemy. However, only a few of the assassins and rebels escaped from the city today; many more remain hidden in Bianliang. We have failed in our duties. When Your Majesty awakens, I will apologize. We will also capture the remaining assassins and punish them according to the law. Your Majesty, don't worry."