Shen Yao lowered his voice and walked towards the door.
Su Yan hid behind the table.
The assassin stood outside the door, poked a hole in the window, and a thin bamboo tube was inserted through it.
They were obviously releasing sleeping gas.
Su Yan and Shen Yao covered their mouths and noses in perfect unison, holding their breath.
After a short while, a crack appeared in the door. The moment the door opened, Shen Yao swiftly grabbed the vase beside him and smashed it hard on the masked man's head.
The assassin fell to the ground with a thud, and Su Yan quickly crawled over to check on his injuries.
They were afraid that Shen Yao would go too far and kill the person.
Fortunately, the assassin was only briefly stunned.
"Help!"
Just then, a loud shout came from another room, seemingly from Jingning's room.
Su Yan sensed something was wrong. "Oh no... Shen Yao, go save the princess quickly, don't worry about me..."
Shen Yao glanced at Su Yan, but still chose to obey. He squatted down, took off the assassin's belt, and handed it to him, saying, "Use this to tie him up first."
Su Yan took the belt and urged, "I understand... Go and save Princess Jingning quickly."
After saying that, Shen Yao grabbed the knife and rushed out of the room.
Su Yan used her belt to tie the assassin's hands behind his back, picked up the cold tea on the table, and splashed it on his face.
The assassin's face was drenched in water, and he gradually regained consciousness, struggling incessantly.
Su Yan picked up the knife the assassin had dropped, held it to his neck, and demanded, "Tell me... who sent you to kill us?"
The assassin remained silent, glaring angrily at Su Yan.
Seeing this, Su Yan slapped him hard and pressed him again, "Hurry up and tell me, did Suizhou send people to kill me?"
There were other people staying at the inn besides the four of them, and the assassin went straight to her place, which meant he was acting under someone's orders.
Su Yan believed that he had decent connections in the court and had not made any major enemies. However, his trip to Suizhou to investigate a case attracted the assassins.
Clearly, someone didn't want her to go to Suizhou to investigate the murder case alive.
The assassin remained silent, then suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood and lay stiffly on the ground, lifeless.
By the time Su Yan realized what was happening, it was too late.
The assassin had hidden poison in his teeth, and by the time he was captured, he had already bitten through the teeth containing the poison.
Su Yan quickly went outside and shouted to Shen Yao, who was still fighting the assassins downstairs, "Shen Yao, they have poison hidden in their teeth. Make sure they don't swallow it."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Yao swiftly ended the battle.
Three died and one was injured. If Shen Yao hadn't dislocated one of their jaws during the fight, they would probably all be dead.
Su Yan then went to Jing Ning's room to check on her condition.
When I entered the room, Jingning was huddled in the corner of the bed, clutching a blanket and trembling, as if she were terrified.
Su Yan quickly stepped forward to comfort her, "Princess, don't be afraid, the matter has been resolved, everything is alright..."
Jing Ning shakily pulled down the blanket, peeking out half her head to check her surroundings. Only Su Yan was in the room. Seeing that she was completely safe, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
With a sense of relief at surviving the ordeal, she patted her pounding heart and exclaimed, "That was terrifying! In my twenty-odd years of life, this is the first time I've ever been assassinated..."
Seeing Jing Ning's mixture of fear and excitement, Su Yan smiled helplessly, "Now the princess knows that our official business trip isn't a joke!"
In fact, Su Yan prefers investigating cases in Chang'an to investigating cases in other places.
At least in Chang'an, there was no need to worry about losing one's life at any moment. After all, under the emperor's nose, who would dare to step forward rashly?
But it's different in other places, like Suizhou, where the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, and being ambushed on the way is a common occurrence.
No wonder the Crown Prince ordered Shen Yao to travel with him.
Jingning was still calming down when she suddenly remembered Xie Yu.
When Jingning didn't find him in the house, she couldn't help but worry, "Where's Xie Yu? Why haven't I seen him?"
She knew Shen Yao's skills; ordinary people couldn't hurt him at all. But Xie Yu was different. With his mediocre skills, he could only handle one or two street thugs. Against a professional assassin, he had almost no chance of winning.
Jing Ning's reminder brought Su Yan back to her senses.
"Only Shen Yao is downstairs; he should still be in his room..."
After saying that, the two hurriedly went to Xie Yu's room.
Xie Yu's door was wide open, and he was lying sprawled on the bed with his head drooping off the edge, seemingly lifeless.
When Jingning saw that Xie Yu had been killed by the assassin, she was overcome with grief, tears streaming down her face, her expression one of disbelief.
Jingning had always remembered Xie Yu's kindness to her over the years, but now that he was truly gone...
Jingning felt as if her heart was being crushed by a boulder, the pain making it hard for her to breathe. Her legs felt weak and uncontrollable, and she didn't even have the courage to walk towards Xie Yu.
Su Yan, on the other hand, was much calmer and quickly went forward to check on things.
They found no wounds on Xie Yu's body, and her pulse was steady and strong, in excellent condition.
Su Yan patted Xie Yu's cheek, trying to wake him up, "Academician Xie, wake up... wake up..."
But no matter how much Su Yan tormented Xie Yu, he seemed to be in a coma and unable to wake up.
Jing Ning asked Su Yan with a trembling voice, "Su Yan, how is Xie Yu?"
Su Yan also noticed that Jing Ning's emotions were not right. She seemed to think that Xie Yu was dead, so she quickly explained, "Princess, don't worry. Imperial Physician Xie is fine. He was probably drugged by the assassin's smoke and won't wake up for a while."
Hearing Su Yan say that, Jing Ning immediately breathed a sigh of relief, "I was so scared, I thought he was dead."
Su Yan smiled and shook her head. "Princess, good people don't live long, while bad people live for a thousand years. Someone like Imperial Physician Xie won't die easily."
Jing Ning was clearly amused by Su Yan's words, covering her mouth to stifle a laugh, and wholeheartedly agreed with her, "Su Yan, you're right, someone like Xie Yu isn't so easy to kill..."
At that moment, while the two were talking, Xie Yu started snoring, one snoring louder than the next.
Su Yan and Jing Ning looked at Xie Yu lying on the bed and smiled in unison.
The next morning, because of the assassination attempt that had occurred the previous night, the inn's guests packed their bags and fled.
Only Su Yan and her three companions, along with the innkeeper and waiter, were left to clean up the mess.
The innkeeper and waiter ran to report to the authorities at daybreak, while Su Yan had already completed the autopsies of the three assassins.
One person was poisoned to death, while the other two died by Shen Yao's blade.
Each of them had numerous old and new wounds, large and small, making them truly professional killers.
As to who sent them, that remains to be investigated.
Shen Yao tied the surviving assassin to a pillar, and no matter how he tortured him, he refused to answer a single word.
As soon as Su Yan finished examining the body and came downstairs, Shen Yao immediately came over to ask about the situation, "How is it?"
Su Yan shook her head. "They didn't have anything on them to prove their identities. It seems they came prepared."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com