Chapter 43 The Forty-Third Kill

The little fish was awakened by a noisy sound.

"Hush, keep your voice down. Dad said we can't wake her up."

"This is that little bastard. He doesn't look that good, but how did he catch the prince's eye?"

"Bastard? Humph, if it weren't for your aunt's treason, your mother would have shown mercy and allowed you and your son to live in the mansion. You would be a bastard now too."

"Okay, shut up. You've seen it all, now go out and wait for dad to come back... Hey, are you awake?"

Xiaoyu opened her eyes with great difficulty and saw four or five men and women standing in front of her. Just by listening to their conversation, she knew without a doubt that they were Li Mantang's children.

Her nominal 'brothers and sisters'.

The most stable young man said, "Fifth sister, I am your eldest brother, Li Ruowang, don't be afraid, now that you are in the Li family, no one can bully you. Come, this is your second brother, third brother, fourth sister, sixth sister, seventh brother. And eighth brother, he is not feeling well and cannot leave his room today."

Others stared at the little fish with curiosity, disdain, or caution.

The little fish got a headache just by watching this.

Noticing her frown, Li Ruowang said, "You just came back, you still need to rest. You can slowly get to know these brothers and sisters later. In that case, we will leave first."

Everyone still respected Li Ruowang, and walked out one by one after hearing what he said.

Looking at the unfamiliar surroundings, Xiaoyu shouted, "Hey, where is Li Mantang? Was he the one who captured me?"

Li Ruowang asked everyone to leave, and he stayed behind alone, saying gently, "Yes, father was afraid that you would not go home, so he used a little trick. But don't be afraid, it won't do any harm to your body."

Xiaoyu secretly checked his body and only breathed a sigh of relief after making sure that his skills and strength were still there.

"Where are the others? What on earth do you want to do by tying me back?"

Ignoring her cold question, Li Ruowang shook his head: "Father will naturally not explain his actions to us young people. Fifth sister, you should have a good rest first. Father will definitely tell you when he comes back."

No matter what happens, nothing good comes of it.

Especially now, Li Mantang is still Cao Shipeng's man.

Xiaoyu gave up and said, "Okay, I'm hungry, go get me something to eat."

Li Ruowang was the eldest son of the Li family. Normally, none of his brothers and sisters dared to be so rude to him. Facing Xiaoyu's words, Li Ruowang suppressed his dissatisfaction and smiled, "Okay, Fifth Sister, wait a moment."

She had delicious food and drinks, and maids to serve her. Although her brothers, sisters, and younger sisters often came to cause trouble, Xiao Yusi ignored them and lived a comfortable life.

Day turned into night, night turned into dawn, but Li Mantang still didn't come to see her.

In the early morning, when he was carried by the maids and old women to pay his respects to the lady of the main courtyard, he finally saw Li Mantang walking in angrily from outside.

Without caring about the people present, Li Mantang kicked over the armchair beside him. He was so angry that his whole body was shaking violently.

Madam Li waved her hand and asked the servants to go down, and helped him sit down: "Master, what's wrong? Why are you so angry so early in the morning?"

Xiaoyu stood in the middle of the crowd, sitting there with a happy look on his face.

Li Mantang exhaled twice, and his eyes shot at Xiaoyu like nails.

Xiaoyu swallowed the honey fruit in his mouth and said, "Why are you looking at me? I didn't provoke you."

No one else dared to speak out loud, so Xiaoyu's words were particularly obvious in the silent room.

Li Mantang clenched his fist, slammed the table in front of him, and said to Madam Li, "This Cao Shipeng is really a piece of shit. I have paid all kinds of tributes to her and was about to send her to the palace, but I didn't expect that she would be snatched away by a beauty that Cao Shipeng found from nowhere at the very moment."

Madam Li asked, "Is it a coincidence?"

"What kind of coincidence?" Li Mantang became more and more angry as he spoke. "I think he did it on purpose. He was afraid that my daughter would be favored in the palace and that my power would be greater than his, so he did this. These officials in the capital are more insidious than each other. How could I not know them?"

Xiaoyu stopped eating melon seeds and said, "Li Mantang, what do you mean? Are you going to send me to the palace to serve that brat Emperor Wen Jing?"

Li Mantang said unhappily, "Why, do you think this is unfair to you? It is your honor that the emperor likes you."

"you!"

"Shut up!" Li Mantang scolded, "Jean, send your sister back to her room and don't come out again without my order."

Then he looked at Madam Li and said, "You are not allowed to ask her to come and pay her respects."

Mrs. Li's face looked a little ugly, "John, go ahead."

Li Ruowang bowed to the two and retreated, "Fifth sister, let's go."

Xiaoyu stood up and said, "If you let me in, I'll go in? Oh, you wish."

Li Mantang couldn't help but retort at the beginning, "If you want to go in, you have to go in now."

"Stop provoking me." Xiaoyu glanced at him, looked at Li Ruowang who didn't leave her side, and stood up to go back to her room.

She thought Li Mantang really knew about her mother's situation, so she stayed and waited for him.

Now it seemed that those words were completely lied to her by Li Mantang. So there was no need for her to stay in the Li Mansion any longer.

She made up her mind that a small Li Mansion would not be able to trap her.

That night, Xiaoyu climbed over the wall of Li's mansion.

There was a night curfew in the capital. After midnight, no one was allowed to wander the streets except for patrolling soldiers. Seeing that it was already past midnight and the wide streets were empty, Xiaoyu clutched her bag tightly, preparing to find a small alley to turn into and wait until dawn before going out.

As a result, as soon as she walked out, a knife was put on her neck: "Who is it?"

The other side had more people and more power. Xiaoyu didn't want to make a big deal, so she immediately raised her hand and said, "Brother, I'm from the Regent Palace, and I'm the prince's accompanying maid. I went out to collect herbs for the prince today, but I was delayed on the road and haven't returned yet."

"From the Regent's Palace?" the patrol guard asked.

Someone nearby explained in a low voice: "Captain, the prince has indeed been ill these past two days. I heard that he can't even get out of bed. My cousin's husband is in the stables at the prince's mansion, and I heard what he said."

The patrol captain asked, "Is it the old Li who raises horses?"

Xiaoyu felt something was wrong. "The horse breeder, Old Li? Is he Li Tong's father, Li Ju? Is he not dead?"

That's not right. She heard that day that Zhou Xunran asked Zhou Yi to take action personally to kill the entire Li family.

The young guard said, "No, my cousin's husband is alive and well. It's a pity that my little cousin, who was only ten years old, accidentally fell into the well. Alas, things are unpredictable."

"Alright," the patrol captain believed Xiaoyu 80% when he saw that Xiaoyu could say Li Ju's name, "Let's go, since you are from the palace, we will take you back."

Xiaoyu: ".....Ah? That's not necessary."

"No need to say anything. It's past midnight now and there are other patrol teams ahead. Do you want them to arrest you again?"

Xiaoyu held the bag and said, "Well, okay then."

Being closely watched by them, Xiaoyu carefully knocked on the door of the palace.

Xiaoyu knew that if the person who opened the door said that he didn't know her, then the next moment, the patrolmen would definitely take her away for interrogation.

Fortunately, the gatekeeper heaved a sigh of relief after seeing Xiaoyu, "Miss Xiaoyu, you are finally back. Guard Zhou has been looking for you all day."

Xiaoyu waved to the patrolling soldiers and walked sideways into the palace.

"I heard that the prince is seriously ill. What is the situation?"

"I don't know about this either. You should go to Qingwu Courtyard and ask Guard Zhou."

Xiaoyu reacted and thought, how could a doorman like him know Zhou Xunran's physical condition?

"Okay, thank you."

Xiaoyu took the light from him and walked straight to Qingwu Courtyard.

The Qingwu Courtyard was brightly lit.

Someone had already informed Xiaoyu of her return. As soon as Xiaoyu entered the gate of Qingwu Courtyard, she saw Zhou Qingxue walking towards her with anger in her eyes, raising her hand to slap her in the face.

"You still have the nerve to come back!"

Zhou Yi grabbed the raised hand and said, "What are you doing? Are you trying to kill yourself?"

Zhou Qingxue refused to accept it, her face twisted and slightly sly: "I want to beat her! She is just a maid, how dare she make my brother so angry and even run away from the house! What's wrong with me disciplining her on my brother's behalf!"

Zhou Yi threw her arm aside and said to Xiaoyu, "Let's go see the prince."

Xiaoyu walked around Zhou Qingxue and went inside. "It's only been two days. He was in good health when I left. How could he suddenly become so seriously ill?"

Zhou Yi lowered his head and said nothing.

After Xiaoyu met Zhou Xunran, he finally understood why Zhou Yi didn't explain.

Zhou Xunran was lying on the bed, his face slightly red due to fever. Perhaps because he was feeling uncomfortable, his eyelids kept moving and his brows were tightly wrinkled.

Especially now, although he was not conscious, he still called out clearly, "Little fish."

Zhou Yi said, "You left for two days, and the prince has been looking for you for two days. After knowing that you were at the Li family, and hearing that the emperor wanted to take you into the palace, the prince was so angry that he has been unconscious until now."

Xiaoyu saw that there were some irregular bloodstains on Zhou Xunran's collar, and it seemed that he had vomited blood again.

"Has Doctor Chu come? What did he say?"

"We prescribed the medicine, but the prince refused to drink it. When we tried to persuade him, he threw it away. Minglu has already boiled it again."

Xiaoyu saw the redness in his eyes and said, "You go and rest first. I'll take care of this."

Zhou Yi refused to leave, "Xiao Yu, why did you suddenly leave without saying goodbye?"

Xiaoyu heard resentment in his words.

She was also angry, "Why can't I? Is there any reason why I have to stay?"

Zhou Yi opened his mouth, but was stopped by Xiaoyu: "Don't talk about feelings. When you killed Li Tong and Sixteenth Sister, you killed them with your sword. Did you have any feelings?"

Zhou Yi wanted to explain, but he was speechless. He thought for a moment and said, "If I don't kill them, their existence will endanger the safety of the prince."

"That's because the prince is important to you. To me, he is just a stranger I've known for a few months. Do I have to stay in the palace for the rest of my life just for him?"

"He is your leader."

"So what? There are at least hundreds of assassins in Jieyou Sect, if not thousands. Can the leader remember me, a useless assassin abandoned by the Ten Women's Hall?"

Hearing her words, Zhou Yi was a little surprised: "You know everything?"

After speaking out her thoughts, Xiaoyu calmed down. "So you're telling me, is there any need for me to stay here? The Li family at least has my biological father, what does the Wang Mansion have?"

Zhou Yi fell silent.

Zhou Xunran's hoarse and weak voice came from behind the two of them, "You have me. Don't you want me too, Senior Sister?"

Xiaoyu turned around and looked at him, her voice calm and composed: "Don't call me that, you are not my junior brother at all."