Chapter 101 Suicide, Uncovering the Case, Blood in the Cup
A moment later, footsteps sounded again outside the door. Yang Xiao's ears twitched, and she put down her brush. "Who is it! Come in!"
The door creaked open, and the next moment, Zhang Ping poked his head in, then squeezed through the doorway, cupping his fist in greeting, "General, it's me."
Yang Xiao frowned slightly and beckoned him in, "Why are you back again?"
Zhang Ping stopped in front of Yang Xiao, his joking expression vanishing, and sighed, "Actually, I didn't finish what I was saying. That spy probably has other plans."
Why didn't you say so earlier?
Zhang Ping frowned slightly. "General Bai was here just now. He is always prudent in his actions. I was afraid that he would mobilize too many troops and miss the opportunity to defeat the enemy."
Yang Xiao's mind also became a little more serious. "Tell me about it."
"There are three men in the army who do not understand the general's orders. This morning, when we went to investigate, we found one of them hiding in a hermitage. The other two... are under the lord's command."
"What?" Yang Xiao was startled upon hearing this. "Then wouldn't the lord be..." She forced herself to calm down, and an idea immediately came to her mind.
She calmly looked up, breathed a sigh of relief, and patted Zhang Ping's shoulder. "Well done."
Upon seeing this, Zhang Ping was taken aback. "What?"
"If Bai Ming knew about this, he would definitely miss a golden opportunity."
Zhang Ping seemed to immediately understand what Yang Xiao was thinking. "General, you must not put yourself in danger."
Yang Xiao smiled and sighed, "It's a last resort. Although it's a dangerous situation, I'm fully confident." She patted Zhang Ping's shoulder reassuringly, "Go ahead and rest assured. This matter must not be spread. I'm enough."
"Yes." Zhang Ping frowned slightly, asked no further questions, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and left the tent.
Yang Xiao's heart sank, yet it pounded like a drum. She picked up a dried-out brush, casually dipped it in ink, and began to write on the silk cloth with quick, light strokes.
If this matter succeeds, the Chang'an Formation can be broken through it; and she herself will also have the opportunity to put an end to her obsession and ask the question face to face.
-
As the sun gradually sank in the west, fiery clouds rose up and then disappeared on the horizon.
“Lu Qi…and Yang Song.” Yang Xiao slumped over her desk, scratching her head, and let out a long, weary sigh before writing the last word.
She looked up at the window and saw a few stars twinkling faintly in the dim night sky. She closed her eyes, stretched, put the stack of papers drying on the table into the brocade pouch beside her, tucked it into her clothes, picked up her cloak, and stepped into the night.
"Hey, General?" A soldier nearby came forward to greet him. "Where are you going so late?"
Yang Xiao smiled and tilted her head back at him, "Prepare my horse, I'm going to see my lord."
"Understood." The soldier turned and ran to the stable. A moment later, Chi Lian neighed and ran towards Yang Xiao.
Yang Xiao reached out to greet the jubilant Chi Lian and stroked its mane. "You seem quite excited."
As if it could understand, Chi Lian took two steps in place and stretched its neck to nuzzle Yang Xiao's shoulder.
"Alright, stop fooling around," Yang Xiao rubbed Chi Lian's face and stroked its neck. "We have important business to attend to."
After saying that, she took the reins, mounted the horse, and gently patted its neck. Chi Lian then trotted towards Zhong Li An's bedchamber.
Night had fallen, but Zhongli An's bedchamber was still brightly lit. The two guards at the door were yawning sleepily and huddled together talking.
"When did our lord ever need guards to stand watch outside his bedchamber?" Yang Xiao frowned slightly, muttering as he leaped down from his horse. After handing the reins to the approaching soldier, he sneered and strode towards the tent.
When the two men at the door saw Yang Xiao approaching, they hesitated for a moment before bracing themselves and coming forward. "Uh, General Yang, what brings you to visit our lord so late?"
"I've come to check on the lord's condition." Yang Xiao frowned slightly, glanced up and down at the two people who seemed uneasy, and looked into the room. "Well, has the lord had his meal?"
“Ah, our lord…” one of them clenched his wrist, “He’s been too busy today and hasn’t eaten yet.”
Yang Xiao was taken aback upon hearing this, "What..."
“We haven’t eaten yet, we haven’t eaten yet,” another guard quickly stepped forward, smiling as he tried to smooth things over. “That man…”
"I've been standing outside for so long," Yang Xiao glanced coldly at the two of them, "aren't you going in to announce my arrival?"
Before the words were finished, a clear voice came from inside the house, "Who is making a scene outside?"
Zhong Li'an's voice was not as gentle as usual, carrying a hint of coldness and weariness.
"Reporting to my lord, it is General Yang who has come to discuss strategies for dealing with the enemy with you."
"Lingyu?" The voice inside the room suddenly warmed up. "Please come in quickly."
Yang Xiao stepped towards the tent. Before entering, she turned her head slightly and happened to bump into the two people hiding behind her, secretly making some hand gestures.
She took a deep breath, pretended nothing had happened, and lifted the curtain to enter the tent.
"My lord." She entered the room and clasped her hands in greeting to Zhongli An. Looking up, she saw Zhongli An leaning against the couch, holding a diagram of battle formations in his hand, and reading it by the light of an oil lamp.
Upon seeing Yang Xiao enter, Zhong Li'an put down the array diagram and smiled at her, "It's so late, why aren't you resting? Why are you here?" He was about to get out of bed when Yang Xiao quickly waved her hand, "Oh, my lord, it was I who came to visit you at night and disturbed you. You don't need to get out of bed. Just listen to me. Be careful not to catch a cold."
"Since you care so much about national affairs, how could I not listen attentively?" Zhongli An sighed with a smile, got up to light the oil lamp by his pillow, but suddenly heard footsteps at the door.
Yang Xiao glanced warily at the soldier who had followed her in through the door. "Who gave you permission to come in?"
"This..." The soldier still clutched his sleeve, turned to look at Zhongli An, and stepped forward with a fawning smile, "My lord, let me help you up."
"I don't need your help at all..."
Before Zhong Li'an could finish speaking, Yang Xiao saw the outline of a hard object in the soldier's sleeve. Without thinking, her feet moved faster than her brain, and she instinctively rushed forward.
In an instant, a dagger flew out of the sleeve and was held high in the soldier's hand, its cold light flashing as it plunged straight into Zhong Li'an's abdomen.
Zhong Li'an closed his eyes and dodged backward, a loud "bang" exploding in his ear.
The expected excruciating pain did not come. He opened his eyes and saw Yang Xiao's hand gripping the soldier's wrist tightly, her fingertips trembling uncontrollably as she exerted so much force that they turned white. The next moment, Yang Xiao flicked her wrist, and the dagger circled around and landed back in her hand.
She flung him backward with a sudden movement, and the soldier screamed in pain as he was thrown straight against the wall. The next moment, the dagger in Yang Xiao's hand flew into the soldier's throat like an arrow, pinning him and his scream to the wall.
The man lying prone at the door heard the shouts from inside and instinctively assumed Zhong Li'an was dead. As if receiving a signal, he yelled at the top of his lungs, "Yang Xiao has murdered his master! Help! Yang Xiao has murdered his master!"
"My lord, are you alright?" Yang Xiao had just knelt beside Zhongli An's bed when she heard a hoarse, duck-like cry outside the door. She frowned in frustration, flicked her arm guard with her fingertips, and flung her hand sharply toward the door. The unpleasant scream stopped abruptly, followed by a dull thud as something heavy fell to the ground.
"Don't worry, Lingyu, I'm fine." Zhong Li'an's voice was unsteady due to fright. Yang Xiao looked down following his hand and saw that Zhong Li'an's robe had been torn, and blood was seeping from the slightly broken wound.
She frowned and gently touched the area around the wound. "My lord, I'm sorry, it was my dereliction of duty..."
“If it weren’t for you, I would be dead.” Zhong Li’an raised his hand and gently patted Yang Xiao’s arm. “Don’t worry, it’s just a minor scratch.”
Yang Xiao propped herself up on the bed, her eyes tightly closed, letting out a long sigh. The sound of horses' hooves and shouts outside the door gradually reached her ears. She clenched her fist, raised her eyes, and looked at Zhong Li'an calmly and solemnly, "The time has come, my lord."
"What?"
"It wasn't for nothing that they caused such a huge mess. I will definitely make a trip to Chang'an myself."
Zhong Li'an stared in disbelief at Yang Xiao, who had already made up her mind, but instinctively gripped Yang Xiao's hand tightly. "Lingyu! You're crazy, Lingyu!"
Yang Xiao held Zhong Li'an's cold, trembling hands in her own, and nodded slightly to him as if to comfort him. "From now on, I'm afraid I won't be able to stay by your side." She sighed, pushed Zhong Li'an's hands away, straightened up, and took out the brocade pouch from her clothes and placed it beside Zhong Li'an's pillow. "The strategy I have in mind to defeat the enemy is in this brocade pouch."
"Lingyu, no!"
"This is the path that was meant for me, and I must walk it to the end."
Where is our lord now?!
"Hurry! Don't let the assassin get away!"
The commotion outside the door grew louder, and Yang Xiao frowned and let out a long sigh. She glanced outside the door, then turned back to Zhong Li'an with a relieved look, "From today onwards, although I will not be by your side, I will risk my life for you. You will always be my only lord."
Footsteps and sounds of chaos approached the door. Yang Xiao's face suddenly turned cold. She stepped towards the corpse on the wall. "My lord, believe me. I will bring the Chang'an Formation back to see you."
Torches were held high outside the door. Bai Ming and Xue Chang rushed into the courtyard side by side. Suddenly, the unharmed but paralyzed corpse appeared in front of them. They couldn't help but look at each other, and then rushed into the house together.
With a loud bang, the curtain was forcefully flung open, and a strong stench of blood assaulted their nostrils. The two looked up and were immediately stunned into silence.
But Yang Xiao, with her back to them, suddenly pulled out the dagger nailed to the wall. The corpse immediately collapsed to the ground like a puddle of mud, with hot blood gushing from its bright red neck.
Meanwhile, Zhong Li'an was frowning as he looked at Yang Xiao, his fingers pressed tightly against his abdomen, which were already stained red with blood.
"Ah Xiao, you..." Bai Ming looked up at the chaotic scene before him, took a step forward in disbelief, and a thousand questions choked in his throat, but he could not utter a word.
Xue Chang frowned and clenched his fist. He looked up and met Yang Xiao's cold yet relieved eyes. When she nodded slightly, he immediately understood what she meant.
A moment later, Qi Kun and Cen Xun also rushed over. The two burst into the room and were stunned for a few seconds in disbelief before rushing to Zhong Li's bedside and looking at his injuries with great concern.
Seeing that Zhong Li'an only had one scratch, everyone understood Yang Xiao's intention.
Emotions, like tangled threads, were twisting in everyone's hearts. Following her path was tantamount to using scissors to disrupt everyone's thoughts.
And this is the only path before everyone, the most effective path.
Yang Xiao risked her life, and they had no other choice.
"Yang Xiao!" Xue Chang frowned, pointed at Yang Xiao, and, suppressing the bitterness in his chest, gritted his teeth and shouted, "You have served our lord for so many years, when has he ever mistreated you! How could you do such a disloyal thing!"
Yang Xiao glanced at Xue Chang, then sneered. The blood-stained dagger twirled lightly in her hand. "So many years of trust between us," she chuckled, pointing the tip of the blade at the slumped corpse behind her, "is still not as valuable as a dead man."
“Lingyu, you…” Cen Xun looked at her dear friend, who seemed so unfamiliar to her, and a pang of sorrow welled up in her heart. She closed her eyes, forcing back tears, and looked up at Yang Xiao, shouting, “With such a mess, the evidence is irrefutable, what kind of trust do you still have to talk about!”
Xue Chang clenched his fists and pressed forward step by step, "Just how high is your salary that you could hurt our lord like this! How come we never noticed your venomous heart before, and even allowed our lord to keep you by his side!"
“Salary…” Yang Xiao murmured Xue Chang’s words, then scoffed, “Are you done?” She raised her eyes and glanced disdainfully at Bai Ming and Qi Kun, “And you two? Do you have anything to say?”
Bai Ming's eyes were frighteningly red. He trembled and gasped for breath for a long time, enduring the waves of pain in his chest, and looked up at Yang Xiao with pity and reluctance.
There was only one answer, and it was right on his lips.
But saying it out loud is more painful than killing him.
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