The autumn night was extremely cool. The underfloor heating in the mansion had not yet been turned on, and Yan Ning felt a chill on her arm. She slightly opened her eyes. The brocade quilt beside her was perfectly undisturbed. For several days now, Fukang'an had not slept on the warm bed.
She followed the candlelight and found Fukang'an sitting in the study of the main room. A figure in deep crimson robes was hidden in the dim candlelight, and the heroic spirit that seemed to transcend heaven and earth was concealed by his deeply furrowed brows.
He looked up and saw Yan Ning. He reached out with one hand and pulled her into his arms, wrapping her in his cloak. "The autumn night is chilly; you mustn't catch a cold!"
His tone was gentle, yet it warmed Yan Ning's ears. He was meticulous in everything he did, his strategies deeply ingrained, yet he always kept her in his heart.
Yan Ning felt a lump in her throat and leaned her head against his chest. "You had ulterior motives for letting Mei Xiang leave the manor, didn't you?"
A faint smile played on Fukang'an's lips as his fingers traced Yan Ning's stunningly beautiful face before he fell silent.
In the middle of the night, Zhao Xing's voice rang out outside the mansion, filled with urgent joy. "General, everything is as you predicted!"
Zhu Xiang and Ming Xin were also awakened by the noise from Jian Gong Zhai. The two hurriedly went to light the stove and gave Yan Ning a cotton-padded cloak.
Zhao Xing threw in a man who was tied up in a ball. The man was thin and wore a tattered black night clothes. His long braid was coiled on his head, and his eyes, which gleamed with a thieving light, looked around.
Zhao Xing reported that, following Fukang'an's instructions, he had been sending people to monitor Meixiang's maternal family. The moonlight was thin tonight, truly a night for murder.
After a few questions, the man confessed everything. He had been bribed, but he couldn't say who the buyer was. He only said it was a man who paid him one hundred taels of silver upfront, saying the remaining one hundred taels would be paid after news of the death spread.
Fukang'an kept his head down, clutching the jade pendant on his body with one hand. At this moment, he looked up at Zhao Xing, who immediately gestured for him to take the man away.
The next day, news of Meixiang's death reached the Fucha family. Xiying, believing that the Fucha family was a kind and righteous family, sent someone to deliver silver to settle Meixiang's funeral arrangements.
The assassin and his employer arranged to meet in a secluded alley outside the city.
Hai Sheng didn't want to give the remaining silver, but the man had seen his face and was afraid of causing trouble later. Mei Xiang was, after all, Fukang'an's concubine, and he dared not use one hundred taels of silver to buy his own life.
As night falls, apart from the night watchman's gong and the occasional drunkard emerging from the Eight Great Hutongs, the few pedestrians on the streets are all hurrying along.
The long, narrow alley was chilled by the autumn wind. Zhao Xing hid in the shadows, staring intently at the assassins walking back and forth in the alley.
Hai Sheng wrapped his cloak tighter around himself, hurried over, tossed the silver in his hand to the assassin, and turned to leave, but Zhao Xing blocked his way.
Xiang'er has gone mad.
Xia'er, sent to deliver the mooncakes to Furong Garden, handed Xiang'er a blood-stained swaddled baby hidden among layers of cloth. The moon-white swaddled baby, covered in bloodstains, was smooth as jade and soft as cotton. Yet it was a sharp sword, stained with her and her son's blood. Before she could even ask whose blood it was, Xiang'er's last shred of reason was consumed by the crimson flames before her; with a long scream, she fainted.
When Xiang'er woke up, she was no longer able to distinguish between people and things. She picked up the baby clothes she had sewed earlier and put them on the soft pillow next to her.
She held Yan Ning's hand, her watery eyes full of laughter. "Yan Ning, who does De Jia look like? Does he look more like me, or more like the General?"
Yan Ning froze, two lines of clear tears falling. She raised her stiff hand and brushed the end of the pillow embroidered with peonies. "Your eyebrows and eyes are like Fukang'an's, your nose and mouth are like yours," she said, forcing a smile.
Upon hearing this, Xiang'er's smile deepened. Her sickly face gained a rosy glow from the joy, making her even more charming.
Yan Ning gripped the embroidered handkerchief tightly, stepped out of the main door of Furong Garden, and slapped Xia'er's left cheek with one hand, then slapped her right cheek with the other. Yan Ning wore a newly acquired gold ring adorned with floral brocade on her finger; the intricately carved flowers grazed Xia'er's face, leaving messy, bloody marks on her clean, jade-like skin.
Furious and heartbroken for Xiang'er, Yan Ning's delicate face trembled. She had gone to great lengths to guard against Xi Ying, yet they had still managed to harm Xiang'er so cruelly. One scheme after another, endless and unpredictable, Yan Ning had never imagined Xi Ying could be so audacious and utterly reckless. Her younger brother, Hai Sheng, had already been captured; instead of thinking about how to save him, she was making things difficult for Xiang'er at every turn.
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