Chapter 10 The Tenth Kill

Xiaoyu couldn't wait to confirm his guess with Sister Sixteen.

But Madam Yao was still chattering on about her past with Madam Zhang, as well as the details of their interactions with the Sixteenth Sister since they entered the mansion. Implicit in her words was the fact that Madam Zhang had once been cold to the Sixteenth Sister.

Xiaoyu understood her sadness about Mrs. Zhang's passing, but some things still needed to be said.

"The matter has not been concluded yet, Madam Yao, we can't talk nonsense. Otherwise, if the prince hears it, we will be punished."

Mrs. Yao seemed to have just come to her senses. She nodded fearfully, too frightened to speak again. "The yard in front is where I live. Miss Xiaoyu, thank you for sending me back."

"You are too polite, madam. The chief steward may send someone to inquire about this later. Don't worry, madam."

Mrs. Yao could also guess, "Don't worry, Miss Xiaoyu, I will tell you everything I know."

Xiaoyu watched her enter the yard, then turned around and walked quickly to Mrs. Cheng's yard. After knocking on the door twice, the gate opened and Mrs. Cheng motioned for her to go in.

Seeing that she had closed the door and there was no one else in the yard, Xiaoyu couldn't wait to call her: "Sixteenth Sister! It's really you!"

The Sixteenth Sister was not as excited as she was. Her pretty eyebrows were slightly wrinkled: "Xiao Yu, why are you here!"

There was a hint of disdain in her expression, as if she didn't believe she could get the mission. Xiaoyu often saw this kind of look when she was solving problems, and she had long been accustomed to it. But in this strange palace, facing the only "old acquaintance" of the Sixteenth Sister, Xiaoyu still held her head high and said, "Of course I came here for a mission, what about you?"

"Me too."

"You're not..." kicked out of the worry-solving door?

Seeing what she wanted to say, Sister Sixteen sneered, "There are more killer organizations in the world than just this one."

The thought in his mind was confirmed. Shocked, Xiaoyu still did not give up and stuttered, "So you...you are here to kill the prince too?"

The voice of the Sixteenth Sister suddenly became stern: "Have you forgotten the rules taught to you in the hall? You must keep secrets when doing the mission. No matter who you are assassinating or being tortured, you must not reveal a single word about the target of the assassination or the organization behind it. And Xiaoyu, remember, we didn't know each other before, and we must be strangers when we meet in the future. The title of Sixteenth Sister must never appear again, understand?"

"Oh." Xiaoyu hung his head and left Yirenyuan sadly.

The fact that Sixteenth Sister also wanted to kill Zhou Xunran came as a great shock to Xiaoyu.

She believed in Sixteenth Sister's strength. Even though her tendons in her hands and feet had been cut, killing Zhou Xunran would only take her a little longer.

Now he was not only in a dilemma, but a four-dilemma. In addition to the choice of whether to assassinate or not, he had to not only stop the assassination of the Sixteenth Sister, but also protect the Sixteenth Sister's identity from being discovered.

Otherwise, your identity will definitely be ruined.

Xiaoyu looked up at the sky in silence. It must be because she had lived too smoothly in the first half of her life that God gave her such a hellishly difficult t mission.

When I get back, I must ask the customer who placed the order for extra money!

Wang Dazong and Zhu Dazong interrogated the servants of Jinliyuan together, and were about to ask for the confessions of Madam Yao and Madam Cheng. Seeing Xiaoyu sitting in the courtyard "doing nothing", Dazong said: "Come with us. I have to report this matter to Master Wang later, so it would be better if you were there."

Xiaoyu didn't want to see Sixteenth Sister for the time being. She shook her head like a wave drum when she heard this: "The prince should wake up soon. I have to go back to Qingwu Court to serve him. Chief Steward, I'm going to trouble you with this matter."

She was now Zhou Xunran's close friend, so Wang Dazong did not force her: "Well, you go back first."

Xiaoyu walked out immediately, fearing that he would stop her if she was a step too late.

After hurriedly returning to Qingwu Courtyard, Lin Kun was standing guard at the door of Zhou Xunran's room. When he saw Xiaoyu, he gave a rare stiff smile: "Xiaoyu, the prince wants you to come in."

Xiaoyu stared at him suspiciously: "Guard Lin, when you smile... uh, it doesn't look good."

Lin Kun's face instantly turned cold, and his tone was somewhat indifferent: "You don't know how to be kind, go in quickly, the prince is waiting for you." He had thought of smiling and welcoming her because he saw that she was pitiful. Sure enough, annoying people are annoying wherever they go. Jieyoumen abandoned her like a worn-out shoe, which was what she deserved.

Xiaoyu didn't know what he was thinking. After entering the room, she saw Zhou Xunran had already gotten up from the bed and was sitting at the desk by the window, looking down at a piece of paper covered with words.

Xiaoyu walked over and closed the open window, and taught earnestly: "Junior brother, you are not in good health now, so you must not be exposed to the wind. If you cough up blood again, how will I explain to Master?"

Zhou Xunran got a headache when he heard her call him that, but he couldn't find any suitable reason to ask her to correct it.

Not only the greeting, but also the content of the letter in his hand made him even more irritated.

The letter came from the Ten Women Hall of Jieyoumen, and it contained a handwritten letter from the hall master, confirming that Xiaoyu had indeed left from Jieyoumen. However, this assassination mission caused a big mess.

Xiaoyu was adopted by the old master when she was about ten years old. It was said that her mother was dead and her father was unknown. The old master wanted to train her to be a killer of the Ten Women's Hall. Unfortunately, Xiaoyu was stupid by nature. Other girls could learn the basic moves of martial arts in three days, but she didn't know the tricks in three months.

If armed killing doesn’t work, then turn to literary killing.

But she was also at the bottom of the list in terms of literary talent. She only had a superficial knowledge of poetry, calligraphy and painting. No matter how much she was punished, she could not make any progress.

Yes, this is her only advantage, she can withstand beatings. Whether it is the siege and ridicule of her peers or the punishment from other teachers, she can endure it by gritting her teeth, and her physical injuries recover very quickly. After being beaten, she can continue training in good health the next day.

But such people are useless to a killer organization.

Fortunately, she can cook a little bit and helps out in the kitchen occasionally, which is quite useful.

Recently, the head of the Ten Women Hall found that everyone was heavy and had a tendency to gain weight during training, and knew that the source of the trouble was Xiaoyu. Adhering to the principle of cutting the weeds at the root, the head of the hall came up with a bad idea. He put on a human skin mask and pretended to be a customer. He gave Xiaoyu an order to assassinate the most noble person in the capital.

The hall master thought that the most noble person in the capital should be the current emperor in the palace. It just so happened that the emperor and Zhou Xunran were not on good terms, so killing him would be considered a favor to Zhou Xunran. If he was not killed, the mission would fail, and whether Xiaoyu lived or died, it would not be a big loss for the Jieyou Sect.

As for chefs, you can find them anywhere.

Unexpectedly, Xiaoyu mistakenly took this "most noble person" as Zhou Xunran, and thus came to the palace.

"Junior brother, you..." Xiaoyu closed the window and just turned around, she saw Zhou Xunran lighting the letter in his hand, "What are you burning?"

Zhou Xunran said calmly: "It's a military secret."

"Oh." Xiaoyu lost his curiosity immediately. "Junior brother, what is the matter that you asked me to come over?"

[Hehe, it seems that Junior Brother doesn't object to me calling him that anymore. I guess he has already acknowledged that I am his Senior Sister. I am happy!]

Xiaoyu sat on the stool, twisted her waist excitedly twice, and then lay on the table and looked at him intently.

Zhou Xunran pretended not to hear her words, "Didn't you go to the West Courtyard to investigate Zhang Xin's hanging? How is the situation?"

"General Manager Wang is still investigating. I don't know the details."

"Just tell me what you know."

Xiaoyu thought for a moment, "I have two ideas. The first is that her body was found in the afternoon, and it was said that the servants of the West Courtyard brought her breakfast. But it was already afternoon, and Mrs. Zhang's breakfast was delivered in the afternoon? This doesn't make sense. The second is that when I was sending Mrs. Yao back to her place, she kept saying that Mrs. Zhang had a straightforward temper and had had an unpleasant quarrel with Mrs. Cheng. I think it's too late, and she keeps emphasizing it, which is strange. Maybe she is hiding something."

[Praise me for being careful and smart! ]

Zhou Xunran nodded as he listened: "Not bad, very careful, and thoughtful."

Xiaoyu chuckled twice, "Junior brother, I will definitely help you in the future and won't let you be so tired."

Zhou Xunran's heart was like a calm lake being gently touched by a willow branch, leaving ripples. Looking at Xiaoyu's trusting and innocent eyes, he was a little hesitant about whether his decision was correct.

This hesitation only appeared for a moment, and then he suppressed it.

"But when I heard what you said, it seemed like you were defending Mrs. Cheng?" Zhou Xunran said.

Xiaoyu lowered her eyes guiltily, "How could that be possible? I have never met them, so how could I possibly defend someone? I am purely an outsider."

As soon as she lowered her head and avoided his gaze, Zhou Xunran could not hear what she was thinking.

"Little fish."

"Hmm?" Xiaoyu still lowered her head and scratched the table with her nails.

"The paint on my table was specially supplied from Chenzhou. The small piece you scratched off would cost over a hundred taels of silver."

Xiaoyu immediately retracted her hand and looked up to accuse Zhou Xunran, "Don't frame me. I didn't scratch your paint."

Zhou Xunran's eyes flashed with a smile, and his face calmed down. "So you really haven't met these three people?"

He had just asked casually, and then changed the subject and returned to his original intention, which was to persuade her to leave the palace.

But the next moment, I heard her sad voice:

[How could I not have seen her? When I was little, Sixteenth Sister even left me a meal. But now she has left Jieyoumen, and she won’t let me tell you the purpose of her coming to the palace. I tell you, it’s just a disguised way of killing Sixteenth Sister. Oh, it’s really annoying. Why does Sixteenth Sister want to be a killer when she can live a good life? She can kill anyone, but now she wants to kill my dear junior brother. How can I allow this! ]

She supported her drooping head with her hands, thinking quickly about how to answer Zhou Xunran's question.

Little did he know that Zhou Xunran had already heard all these words.

The killer from Jieyoumen was called Sixteenth Sister by Xiaoyu, and later left Jieyoumen and lived a "good life". With these three conditions added together, it was only a matter of time before the identity of this "Sixteenth Sister" was found out.

And considering Xiaoyu's changes before and after, this Sixteenth Sister should be Madam Cheng bestowed upon him by the Emperor.

Zhou Xunran sneered, truly feeling that the world is unpredictable.

Otherwise, the assassin sent by the emperor who really wanted to assassinate him entered the palace and he could not see him for half a month. But Xiaoyu, this confused assassin, accidentally spent the whole day with him.