Tragic changes occur suddenly
A Qiu's current record consists of one whole and one broken Han Dynasty brick, plus a body covered in superficial injuries. An Daoling had no idea that her martial arts had only recovered by half, and that she would definitely frighten him if she went to reply in this state.
A Qiu shook the hand that was gripping his sleeve again and said, "Master, could you send someone to talk to Lord An for me? After all, there is still a third piece of 'Serving Heaven' that we haven't found yet. Once I find all three pieces, we will have an explanation to Marquis Guannei, and this rumor will be dispelled."
Gu Yi countered, "Passing on messages is easy. But do you know where to start looking for this third piece?"
A Qiu said with a troubled expression, "'Long Live the Emperor' and 'Serve the Emperor with Heaven' must have been stolen from the palace at the same time. We should deduce who was behind it from the objects, but although we have obtained the complete 'Long Live the Emperor,' we have no clue who orchestrated this scheme. Senior Brother Mo Yi is the most well-informed, and he has only hinted that this matter is related to the Hu people, but I have no specific direction."
Gu Yi said, "But for me, there is something else that is most important right now."
A-Qiu raised her bright eyes, puzzled, and asked, "What is it?"
Gu Yi patted her head with amusement, then composed himself and said in a deep voice, "Li Chongyu's background."
Li Mingyuan's family had been Han Chinese border generals for generations, and his loyalty to the Southern Dynasty was beyond question. However, if Li Chongyu had non-Han ancestry, the entire nature of the matter would be completely different.
A Qiuli understood his meaning and said, "If the Marquis of Guannei is actually a barbarian, then even if these three bricks are well preserved, it is meaningless." Because if you want to find fault, you can always find a pretext. If Li Chongyu harbors evil intentions from the bottom of his heart, then whether the bricks are bricks or not is irrelevant.
Gu Yi nodded slightly, and A Qiu immediately said, "I thought of someone. I can go and ask her about the background of the Marquis of Guannei."
That was Hu Miaorong, the wife of Zhu Mao, the military advisor of the vanguard battalion of the Shuofang Army. In her previous life, she was a famous white silk dancer, on par with Sun Neiren and Xue Hongbi, and now she lived in seclusion at the Beining Pavilion in the capital.
Sun Neiren is now A Qiu's teacher in the Music Bureau, teaching her dance, music, and arts. Hu Miaorong can also be considered her senior sister.
Gu Yi immediately said, "I'll go with you." Having learned from his previous mistakes, he dared not let her leave him for even a moment again.
A Qiu looked at Gu Yi with difficulty: "Master is of high position and great power. If he comes with me like this, I'm afraid Madam Chu will not dare to say anything."
Gu Yi paused for a moment before saying, "I have my own way."
It didn't take A Qiu and Gu Yi much effort to enter the Beining Pavilion, where the Shuofang Army was stationed.
A Qiu, dressed in the attire of a female official from the Music Bureau, claimed to be on orders from her superiors to find Madam Chu, Hu Miaorong. Hu Miaorong's background in the Music Bureau was no secret within the Shuofang Army, so the guards were not surprised, and someone guided them in.
Gu Yi followed behind her, dressed simply in black and concealing his face with a veil. Even so, his tall and handsome figure and outstanding demeanor drew the attention of everyone in the hall as they walked.
When A-Qiu entered, she only said that this was her personal bodyguard.
Recalling the last time he visited the Princess at the post station, her "guard" was Shangguan Yuqi, the chief of the Royal Flying Phoenix Guard and the most beautiful swordswoman in the Southern Dynasty. And now, her "guard" is Gu Yi, the most powerful person in the Great Yan Dynasty. As the former King of Assassins, A Qiu felt secretly ashamed.
Whether a court musician would be accompanied by such mysterious and aloof guards was probably no longer a concern for the Shuofang soldiers. Having come to the capital, everyone here had already disregarded life and death, so they didn't care about any tricks or schemes the court officials might employ.
It was already October, the golden autumn month, and the ground of the courtyard of Beining Pavilion was covered with fallen maple leaves, which were especially beautiful and eye-catching after the frost.
As A Qiu walked through the long corridor leading directly to Madam Chu's residence, she heard light footsteps coming from the end of the corridor.
Knowing that the other person must be wearing shoes, the footsteps, with their rhythmic cadence, evoked the image of a dancer walking barefoot on the wooden planks of a long corridor.
A Qiu couldn't help but focus his attention and concentrate.
At the end of the corridor emerged the figure of a woman draped in white gauze. She was tall, and her face was hidden behind a heavy veil. However, her dignified demeanor as she walked suggested that she was a person of high status.
On her occasionally exposed, slender neck hung a string of golden beads, their flowing light like stars.
She also had strings of golden bells tied to her feet, which jingled as she walked, their sound clear and melodious.
Judging solely by her temperament, this woman surpassed all the foreign women that A Qiu had ever seen, including Princess Wansui.
She brushed past A-Qiu in a hurry, like a gust of wind.
In the blink of an eye, the graceful figure draped in white gauze had already turned the corner of the corridor and disappeared without a trace.
But Gu Yi and A Qiu both sensed that the other party's attention lingered on them for a moment.
It's normal for them to attract the other party's attention. The Beining Pavilion is where envoys from the north stay, and only envoys and people from the Court of State Ceremonial occasionally come and go; it's not a government office or camp frequented by random officials.
A Qiu and Gu Yi both have outstanding figures and appearances, and it is clear at a glance that they are not ordinary people.
But the other party's background was even stranger than theirs. Since this was the garrison of the Shuofang Army, and the Shuofang Army had no dealings with the people of Jianzhang City, how could such a beautiful woman have come here?
Although doubts had unconsciously arisen in my mind, it was only for a moment.
Their purpose in coming here was to find Hu Miaorong, and whoever this distinguished guest from the Shuofang Army was, they had no time to cause any trouble.
Following the instructions given by the guards upon entering, A Qiu found a house behind the three red maple trees. The house appeared spacious and bright, serving as the rear room of the main hall of the Beining Pavilion.
As the wife of the highest-ranking official, and having recently been granted the title of fifth-rank imperial consort by the court, Hu Miaorong's residence here was befitting her status.
A Qiu announced loudly, "I am Shi, a junior member of the Music Bureau, and I have come to pay my respects to the wife of Military Advisor Chu."
Her voice was neither loud nor soft, but clear and bright, filling the entire courtyard, and could be heard by the servants and soldiers passing by.
Although they were far apart, Ah-Chiu's hearing was sharp enough to hear the whispers of people in the next house and courtyard.
"The imperial court has sent people!"
"Have you come to see the madam?"
"Yes! There have been quite a few people coming to see Madam lately."
"After all, the lady is a titled lady."
There was a gasp: "I've heard that southerners are cunning, but this man and woman who came here look like immortals."
Then came similar expressions of envy.
"If all the guards here were like this elder brother, I would be more than happy to stay in Jianzhang." This was clearly a woman's voice, most likely that of a maid.
These words naturally did not escape A-Qiu's notice. As she listened, she was unaware that her expression had darkened slightly.
Gu Yi heard it too. The veil could not block his view. Seeing A Qiu's expression, he took a step forward without making a sound, and took her hand in his palm by lowering his sleeve.
He wasn't being affectionate on purpose, but rather to prevent A-Qiu from acting impulsively again, so he held onto one of her hands as a precaution.
A Qiu was completely taken aback when Gu Yi suddenly grabbed her hand in front of everyone, her ears burning instantly. If she shook him off, Gu Yi was, after all, her elder and the most powerful person in the court. He had condescended to take her hand, and although she didn't know why, she couldn't show him any disrespect.
So she had no choice but to let him hold her hand.
But her reddened ears were still busy, and she still devoted half of her attention to listening to the sounds coming from Hu Miaorong's room.
She and Gu Yi must have already been informed by someone along the way, and given that her greeting just now was not quiet, why was there no sound at all in the house?
A Qiu raised her voice again, "Madam Chu, the Shi family of the Music Bureau has come to pay their respects."
Outside the courtyard, people were still talking and laughing in hushed tones, but inside the courtyard, all was silent.
Gu Yi suddenly pulled her a step closer to him.
A Qiu was no longer the helpless person she once was, but she had also unconsciously grown accustomed to Gu Yi's instinctive reaction of pulling her into his arms when he was in danger.
Leaning against Gu Yi's warm chest, listening to the strong heartbeat behind her, she felt an immense sense of security. She was no ordinary woman; she instantly calmed down, her eyes wide as she surveyed the house and courtyard, not missing a single clue.
All the soft, noisy voices around me had faded away.
She could hear not only Gu Yi's heartbeat, but also her own. Half of the heartbeat was mixed with the panic of a heart pounding like a deer, while the other half was clear and lucid, born of alertness.
She could even feel the flow of energy within and outside her body, the meridians, and the surging and rising of vital energy, making her ears feel clear and bright.
"Tick-tock".
The sound of a single drop of water falling, through the screen and the tightly closed door, clearly reached her ears.
At the same time, she caught a faint, almost imperceptible whiff of blood.
With just a mental image, A-Qiu instantly sketched in his mind a scene of a corpse lying in the house, splattered with blood.
As an assassin, he possesses an instinctive sensitivity to bloodshed, but for Ah Qiu, this isn't cruelty or bloodlust, but rather a result of years of training—a keen awareness of danger and a desire to survive. Assassins are skilled at killing, and can also anticipate the worst in anyone's life.
She stood up and was about to leap into the room to check the situation.
She had barely moved when she realized she was encircled in Gu Yi's long arms, and his serious voice sounded above her head: "Don't move."
A Qiu had known Gu Yi for a long time and knew that he had his reasons for telling her not to move.
In fact, she was a patient and thoughtful person, not rash, but simply stayed quietly in Gu Yi's arms, waiting for his instructions.
He overheard Gu Yi whisper, "Has your power fully recovered?"
A Qiu paused slightly, wondering why Gu Yi was so sensitive to her condition. In that moment of alertness, she had vaguely sensed a trace of clarity, which was why her life force had returned.
She replied, "Yes."
At the same time, a sudden sense of alertness arose. Although she was being held by Gu Yi, she instinctively twitched the "Crescent Moon" at her waist to meet the fierce blade intent that came crashing down from the opposite house.
The swordsman's skill was not particularly profound, but it was extremely violent and bloody, filled with a tragic and indignant fervor.
Gu Yi had already released A Qiu's waist, allowing her to exert her full strength.
After just one move, A Qiu's "Crescent Moon" slash traced a perfect and light arc, already striking the tip of the opponent's blade. With just a light strike like a crane's beak, it forced the raging blade, which carried the force of a thousand pounds of wind, to retreat back into the doorway.
The other party was also awestruck by the unparalleled sharpness and magnificence of the "Carved Moon" sword.
That single sword strike was a masterpiece honed by a master swordsman, its power not imposing, its rules unconventional, yet filled with an unfathomable, natural charm.
If that sword had struck his heart, he would be dead by now.
The young general Chu Huaiming reappeared at the door, holding a long saber. His eyes still held grief and indignation, but he was much more clear-headed.
He said, word by word, "If you are the successor of the Junior Master, why did you force my mother to her death?"
Ah Qiu, who had always faced life and death, suddenly felt everything go black before his eyes.
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