Still brothers
Then she thought, if she were still Gu Yi's disciple, Gu Yi would definitely have taught her a lesson just now.
But she is no longer one.
Therefore, even if Gu Yi felt it was inappropriate, he couldn't tell her what she should or shouldn't do.
Thinking about this, she suddenly felt that Gu Yi had been too easy to talk to lately.
She said she wouldn't be his apprentice anymore, so he stopped treating her as one. She said she wanted to come see Xie Tiao late at night, and although he was displeased, he didn't explicitly object. She said she wasn't allowed to come along, and he indeed stopped coming.
Whether it was Gu Yi as the Junior Tutor of the Great Yan Dynasty or Gu Yi as her master, she had never seen him so easygoing.
If she had known earlier that she could make Gu Yi obey her every word, she wouldn't have had to lead him on such a winding, erratic journey, exhausting herself in the process.
Thinking about it again, that didn't seem right either. There was one sentence he had heard but didn't seem to hear at all.
It's that opening line, "Farewell, let's go our separate ways."
If he had listened to her initial statement earlier, none of this would have happened.
But as the Junior Tutor of the Great Yan Dynasty, and with A Qiu no longer holding an official position, Gu Yi's open and above-ground nighttime walk above the palace was met with no obstruction or questioning; he simply followed her. He must... still trust her.
A Qiu suddenly realized that he was having thoughts he shouldn't have: at this point, whether he trusted her or not, what did it have to do with her anymore?
Seeing that they had reached the main gate of the East Palace, A Qiu hid behind a rockery and pondered how to get in and find Xie Tiao.
She suddenly heard the sound of metal clashing coming from somewhere.
It was just a tiny "ding," an extremely subtle sound, yet it reached her ears clearly.
She could even picture in her mind the scene of Mo Yimingyue's famous weapon, the "Crescent Blade," clashing with a thin-bladed longsword and then immediately spinning back.
Without a moment's hesitation, A Qiu immediately followed the direction from which the sound came, activated the "Earth Concealment" technique to its fullest extent, and flew away with all his might.
Although she had been to the East Palace, she had only visited the study and the main hall used for meetings, and had not been to Xie Tiao's sleeping quarters. She could only judge whether her route was correct based on the architectural specifications and orientation.
But according to her judgment, the faint sound just now should have come from Xie Tiao's bedroom.
She turned through another palace corridor and saw a plaque inscribed with "Huihe Hall" hanging above a crescent-shaped doorway. Inside, a landscape screen blocked the view from the front, and a five-clawed golden dragon was painted on it.
Huihe Hall was the East Palace's sleeping quarters, and A Qiu knew this perfectly well; behind the screen was most likely Xie Tiao's bed.
Just as she was about to step inside, she suddenly heard another "ding" sound, which came from the garden next to the bedroom.
Without further hesitation, A Qiu silently slipped into the hall and moved behind the landscape screen.
But a candle was still burning on the desk, with several scrolls of documents left unfinished before bedtime, the ink not yet completely dry, and the purple brush lying to one side.
The bed curtains were drawn low. After a slight hesitation, she reached out and lifted them.
The sight before her immediately put her mind at ease.
Perhaps because he had been dealing with official business late into the night these past few days and was indeed exhausted, Xie Tiao lay on his side facing her, breathing evenly, in a peaceful sleeping posture.
A few strands of his hair were scattered on the brocade pillow, and even in his sleep, his originally handsome and lively face still showed signs of fatigue.
A Qiu immediately realized that Xie Tiao hadn't been asleep for long.
She secretly congratulated herself on arriving just in time. Because Xie Tiao had not slept, the assassins had no opportunity to strike. The palace maids and eunuchs had also stayed with Xie Tiao until just now, and could only leave after Xie Tiao fell asleep. They were also exhausted and fast asleep, so when she walked in, there was no sound from Huihe Palace.
Knowing for certain that Xie Tiao was unharmed, and eager to see what was happening outside, she lowered the curtain and turned to leave.
But as soon as she reached the screen, she was stunned and froze.
She saw a man with a purple bamboo flute tucked into his waistband, leaning against the door with his arms crossed over his chest. His amorous peach blossom eyes were looking at her with a half-smile.
It was none other than the long-absent "Green Hawk" Xiao Chang'an.
His voice was sharpened and carried directly to her ears: "Sister, you're so kind, thinking of coming to see the Crown Prince in the middle of the night, why don't you come to see me?"
He raised his chin again, pointed to the side hall on the left, and said with his lips, "I sleep next to the Crown Prince."
A-Qiu was slightly embarrassed at first, but then she felt relieved.
Xiao Chang'an's words seemed like a joke, but he was actually telling her that he was sleeping near Xie Tiao and that he would be aware of anyone who approached.
Seeing that Xie Tiao was unharmed, and seeing Xiao Chang'an so cautiously guarding the East Palace, A Qiu's previously furrowed brows finally relaxed, and she said in a straight line, "You must be careful about the safety of the East Palace recently. I'm afraid..." She glanced outside again and said vaguely, "Someone wants to take this opportunity to assassinate me."
Xiao Chang'an glanced outside and said lazily, "Are you talking about that person? He threw in some sleeping incense earlier, but I extinguished it. Now that Consort Chen is personally handling things outside, I didn't go to join in the fun. I just focused on guarding here and preventing any unauthorized people from getting close."
He smiled and said, "Of course, you are not, so I let you in."
Upon hearing that it was Consort Chen who had made the move outside, A Qiu could no longer sit still. Then, hearing Xiao Chang'an say, "Of course, sister, you're not," she suddenly felt a lump in her throat.
Her identity as an assassin of Lanling Hall has been largely exposed, and she is already a dangerous person whom Xie Lang has ordered to be expelled from Jianzhang Palace.
Xiao Chang'an knew it was her, but he let her in without hesitation, allowing her to lift the curtain and look at Xie Tiao to make sure he was alright. He had no worries or suspicions that she would poison Xie Tiao.
Despite her reputation as the assassin Jing Ke, Xiao Chang'an trusted her so much.
If Xie Tiao were to be stabbed at this moment, as the closest guard of the Eastern Palace, he would be the first one to be implicated.
A Qiu suddenly did something that Xiao Chang'an had never dared to think of, something completely unexpected.
She suddenly stretched out her arms and hugged him.
It was only a moment, and she immediately let go.
Xiao Chang'an's eyes widened in shock, but he still pretended to be nonchalant and smiled, "Sister, is this what you call paying the toll? That's quite a sacrifice."
A Qiu couldn't hold back any longer and delivered a light punch to his body, shouting, "Stop courting death and guard the Crown Prince properly!"
She was gone, but the breath and warmth of that moment seemed to linger on the young man in blue.
Xiao Chang'an was still savoring the memory of her punch, and couldn't help but smile.
The moment she hugged him, she whispered something in his ear.
She said, "You will always be my best brother."
In fact, from the very faint "clang" sound of the sword blades clashing, A Qiu had already guessed that the one fighting Mo Yimingyue was most likely Consort Chen.
Because apart from Consort Chen's sword strike, A Qiu couldn't think of anyone else in the palace who could control the sword's energy so precisely and delicately.
But when she saw Consort Chen standing in the garden, pointing her Xiuyi sword at Mo Yimingyue, who was covered by a veil, she still couldn't suppress her shock.
Because she heard Mo Yimingyue say the two words: "Uncle-Master".
He calmly stood up from the ground, crescent blade in one hand, clearly having been defeated and knocked to the ground.
His voice still carried a hint of amusement as he spoke:
"Has Uncle-Master considered the consequences of doing this?"
These were the words that Mo Yimingyue spoke personally when she arrived, every word of which was certain.
Consort Chen stood with her back to A Qiu, so A Qiu couldn't see her expression. A Qiu only felt that the moonlight enveloped her like a light veil, and the phoenix hairpin with bright pearls trembled in her black hair, making her as beautiful as a fairy from the moon palace.
She had always thought Consort Chen was beautiful, but now, in addition to that beauty, there was an added distance—a distance that made her seem unapproachable and difficult to grasp.
She heard Consort Chen say in a deep voice, "If I kill you right here, Mingyue, then all will be over."
The voice carried a coldness and harshness that she was unfamiliar with.
Her previous impression of Consort Chen was that she was gentle, beautiful and fragile, just like her Xiuyi sword, which was peerless in its elegance, with a light blade like snow, and also like a light ray of moonlight.
Mo Yimingyue seemed to have lost her smile.
After a long pause, he said in a deep voice, "I am the current head of the Xingfeng Hall of Lanling Hall. One of my duties is to hunt down and eliminate traitors within our hall. It's one thing for you, Uncle, to have been hiding in the palace for so many years and disobeying our master's orders, but I can ignore that as an elder. However, my assassination attempt on the Crown Prince today is on our master's orders. Your obstruction is tantamount to open rebellion. Even if you manage to capture and kill me here, you will still face retaliation and elimination from the Xingfeng Hall. Why bother, Uncle?"
He sighed and continued, "If you are grateful for the kindness of the Xie family and the affection of the Fei Feng sisters, then you can stay in the palace and pretend nothing happened. Your master will remember our past brother-sister relationship. As long as you don't interfere with our affairs, we won't bring up your past grievances. We can live in peace, and you can remain Consort Chen. Isn't that good?"
A Qiu's mind went blank, as if struck by lightning.
She even felt like the world had turned upside down.
Consort Chen, Li Lanxiu, fought alongside Xie Lang through countless battles. The person who emerged from the midst of thousands of troops as her bedmate turned out to be a member of the Lanling Hall.
As she turned pale and couldn't believe it, another thought reminded her that she had no choice but to believe.
Because she herself was just like that. She was an undercover agent for the Lanling Hall in the central power structure of Dayan.
Many things she had missed before suddenly came together in her mind, forming a complete picture.
When she first entered the palace as a musician and dancer, she accidentally stumbled into the ruined Qiwu Palace, which was forgivable. However, she actually got into a fight with Chu Yuanyi, one of the Four Constellations of Tianji, there, and the fight ended in a draw.
Consort Chen witnessed and stopped them, but she was not surprised at all that a musician and dancer could have such amazing martial arts skills. She simply said that she would pretend that she had not seen anything.
At that time, she only thought that Consort Chen was doing it out of respect for Gu Yi. But no matter how much respect Gu Yi had, given the bond between Consort Chen and Emperor Xie Lang, she would never allow such a highly skilled assassin to lurk in the Music Palace.
From then on, whenever Consort Chen saw her, no matter how absurd and unbelievable what she did was to a musician or dancer, Consort Chen would ignore it and let it go.
For example, on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival palace banquet, she barged into the Jixian Palace and was confronted by Consort Chen, who had a sword pointed at her chest. She reacted swiftly and skillfully, and Consort Chen showed no surprise, instead ordering her to stop and leave quickly. After she expressed her willingness to cooperate, Consort Chen had no doubts whatsoever and ordered her to take Xie Lang back to her palace.
She was also surprised by Consort Chen's... lack of restraint towards her.
Consort Chen was a high-ranking imperial concubine. Although gentle and modest, she didn't deliberately try to get close to or curry favor with anyone. But she always had a strange feeling: that if anything happened, Consort Chen would always help her. It was a feeling that she was considered "one of her own."
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