Chapter 53 Brother
When Wen Yao said that Zhao Xuanxu should not be allowed to investigate, he really meant that he should not be allowed to investigate.
"It takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone. If you don't take good care of your hand, you really might not be able to hold anything in the future." Wen Yao pulled the sleeve out of Zhao Xuanxu's left hand and said, "Don't be too stubborn. If it's inconvenient for you to eat or go to the toilet, let Bai Rang and Qian Ying help you."
When Qianying in the dark heard this, goose bumps appeared on her body. She shrank her neck and dared not look at the eyes of the surrounding secret guards.
Zhao Xuanxu's face was as black as iron. One of his long legs was bent and stepped on the footstool. His injured hand was placed on his knee. He sat on the couch with a stuffy look on his face.
Wen Yao put the Xingyi Sword on his back and looked back at him: "Did you hear that?"
Zhao Xuanxu: “…I heard it.”
Hao Chunhe, sitting by the window, burst into laughter. After laughing, he said to Wen Yao, "The Red Pavilion has been established for over fifty years and is not to be trifled with. If you continue investigating, and if you offend your friend, wouldn't there be people climbing over walls every day in Prince Yan's Mansion?"
The Tianshui Dynasty was established only five generations ago, and the Red Pavilion has coexisted with Tianshui for almost half that time, making it an untouchable giant in the Jianghu. Previously detached from the imperial court, it now dares to issue a bounty on the emperor, a rare feat.
Wen Yao didn't respond to his words. He swung the Xingyi Sword and said, "Let's go."
*
Wen Yao hurried all the way to the palace. When she arrived at Lone Star Terrace, Song Mingde was standing by the rockery, his hands behind his back, twirling a jade ring. A group of barbarians gathered in front of the rockery, frantically digging out the shattered rocks from the explosion.
He actually blew up the rockery in the palace.
Song Mingde turned around, raised his narrow eyelids like knife slits, and glanced at Wen Yao unfriendlyly: "Lou Chengyi just left like that, I wonder how Commander Wen feels?"
"What does the Northern Liao secret agent have to do with me?" Wen Yao pretended to be dumb and innocent: "What do you mean by this, Governor Song?"
Song Mingde turned around and faced Wen Yao, his tone inexplicable: "Commander Wen is a man of the Jianghu, do you know anything about the Red Pavilion?"
"I've heard of it, but I don't understand it." Wen Yao said sincerely, "Lord Song, you can ask around. They're in a shady business. I'm an honest man, a well-known figure in the underworld. I have nothing to do with them."
Song Mingde looked at her for a while, snorted, and turned to walk towards the rockery.
As expected, he not only suspected that Wen Yao was related to Lou Chengyi, he also suspected that Wen Yao was connected to Hongge.
The rockery crumbled in the saltpeter fire, turning it into rubble along with the heavy stone blocking the secret passage. The guards cleared away the surface debris, revealing a spacious and deep passage below.
Wen Yao walked up to Song Mingde, stomped on the steps, and after making sure that the ground below was solid, he immediately bent down and walked down.
Song Mingde looked at her and said two words to the people around him in a resounding voice: "Follow."
The length of the secret passage was unknown. The air inside was somewhat murky, but there was still a breeze. The tinderbox in Wen Yao's hand flickered in the darkness, illuminating only the area just below her arm. Song Mingde and his men followed behind Wen Yao. No one spoke, and the martial artists breathed slowly, their footsteps barely audible.
Based on Wen Yao's understanding of Jiang Qiaosheng, since this girl left this secret passage, she must have left other things in it as well.
The hard stone steps beneath her feet suddenly gave way, a sharp breeze passing by. Wen Yao's face tilted sideways as several poison-removing needles grazed her cheeks from left to right, sinking into the stone walls on both sides. Before anyone could react, a rumble like earthquake and thunder suddenly began to echo through the empty stone walls.
Sensing the exact direction of the roar, Wen Yao's expression changed slightly. She quickly turned and forcefully pulled Song Mingde over, leading him back several steps. A massive rock, made of the same material as the bluestone wall outside, fell, narrowly catching the edge of Song Mingde's clothes and blocking the aisle. The factory supervisor was on one side, and she and Song Mingde were on the other.
...There's actually this kind of mechanism. Very well, you little bitch, you're really dead today.
Wen Yao subconsciously pulled Song Mingde towards her. If she had been slower, Song Mingde would have been right under the stone slab and would have been turned into a pulp.
"Master Governor?"
The stones were not thick, and after a brief silence, banging and shouting came from the other side of the slab: "Are you okay?"
Wen Yao released his grip on Song Mingde's forearm. Song Mingde twisted his wrist and took a step away, raising his voice slightly and saying, "It's okay."
The guard on the other side quickly said, "Then... I'll go get the Sky-shaking Bomb now!"
Wen Yao remained silent.
Genius, use explosives to blow it up. If the corridor collapses, even I can't save your governor.
"Zhentianlei, do you want me and Commander Wen to die here?" Song Mingde sneered, "You don't need to follow me. Take your men to inspect Bianliang City. I want to see where this secret passage leads to."
There was a hasty response from behind the stone slab, followed by subtle footsteps, and the guards returned to the palace along the stairs.
Wen Yao blew on the fire stick, and tiny lights flickered in her eyes, sometimes brighter and sometimes darker. "Then let's go, Governor Song."
Song Mingde unsheathed the golden sword slung across his waist with a clang, continuing to follow Wen Yao in silence. Fortunately, aside from poison needle traps and broken stone ramps, there weren't any other strange sights along the way. The stone path, originally narrow enough for a person to pass through, widened as they went further. Finally, after passing through a gap formed by several piles of rubble, a gray, chaotic cellar appeared before them.
There were wooden shelves next to the cellar, and piles of hay, vegetables, and fruits were piled on the ground. The secret door above the cellar was open, and that was how the air in the passage came in. Wen Yao squatted down, picked up a stick, and threw it upwards. There was a crisp "crack," and then there was no movement.
"Why don't they block this place off?" Song Mingde said coldly, his arms wrapped around the golden knife. "Are they just waiting for someone to catch up?"
He is as mean as Zhao Xuanxu, and his words are always sharp, no matter what.
Wen Yao sighed, dusted off his hands, turned to look at Song Mingde, and said bluntly: "Master Song, thank you for Ning'er's matter."
Song Mingde's handsome face was pale and he looked at her indifferently.
"If you don't pursue the matter and allow her to be buried, I owe you a favor." Wen Yao said, "Now you and I are working together. If Governor Song trusts me, I will do my best to ensure his safety. But if Governor Song doesn't trust me and is suspicious of me, if something unexpected happens, I'm afraid I won't be able to react in time."
"Oh." After a while, Song Mingde suddenly smiled: "Commander Wen is threatening our family."
"Don't dare, don't dare, Governor Song." Wen Yao pointed upwards: "Shall I go out first?"
She took a step back, then leaped up and climbed out through the hidden entrance. Wen Yao dusted off her clothes and pushed the door open, only to find a dilapidated courtyard overgrown with weeds. The paint-chipped door was locked from the outside, and Wen Yao couldn't budge.
There was a noise behind him; Song Mingde had also climbed up. Wen Yao didn't look back. He quickly clambered over the wall, lowering himself to peer outside. Outside was a quiet lane. At the entrance of the alley across from him stood a woman in a thorny hairpin and a cloth skirt, playing with a child. It was calm, nothing like the Red Pavilion assassin's hideout.
Judging from the distance, this place is not far from the Forbidden City.
"Song, Governor, this looks like Caomen Street." Wen Yao turned and looked at Song Mingde standing on the ground. "Outside is Tuwazi, a mixed crowd of people. How about giving me some silver so I can go to the tailor shop and buy you some clothes? Otherwise, if you go out wearing this futou hat and red dragon robe, the whole of Bianliang will know you're here to track down the assassin."
Song Mingde didn't say anything, but took out a bulging purse from his sleeve and threw it to Wen Yao.
Wen Yao took the purse, climbed over the wall, and came back soon with a long bamboo gown.
There were no ugly people who could serve the emperor. Song Mingde had a handsome face. After changing into this elegant outfit, although his face still looked gloomy and gave people the feeling of not being able to provoke him, his extremely aggressive aura had softened, making him look like a handsome scholar.
To avoid alerting the enemy, Song Mingde did not summon the factory supervisor. The two of them climbed over the wall again and landed safely in a secluded alley.
Wen Yao strode towards the woman at the entrance of the alley and asked with a smile, "Madam, do you know of any vacant houses for rent nearby?"
The woman cautiously pulled the child behind her: "Renting a house? Where are you from?"
"He used to live near the East Front Gate." Wen Yao smiled at her, raised his chin and nodded at Song Mingde, saying, "My younger brother is studying at a nearby school. The teacher said he's smart and will bring honor to the family. My parents died early, and I'm the only one left. I wanted to move closer to the school for convenience. This house next door is nice, and it seems no one lives there... Madam, do you know where the owner of this house is now?"
When he heard the word "brother", Song Mingde's face turned puzzled and he stared at Wen Yao fiercely.
There was indeed a private school near Caomen Street, and the teacher was quite famous. The wealthy families in the surrounding area did everything they could to send their children there. Tianshui valued literature over military education, and if a scholar passed the imperial examination, his family would also prosper. Hearing Yao's words, and seeing the frail and fair-skinned young man behind her, the woman did not doubt it much.
Her wary look faded, and she said, "You're late. This house was previously empty, but I'm afraid someone's moving in these past few days. They've been constantly moving things around, and even brought in several carts of vegetables."
Bianliang was cold in the winter, so many people would stock up on rice and vegetables. It was common for wealthy families, especially, to have cartloads of rice and vegetables brought home.
The woman sighed, "Those vegetables are really fresh, with green leaves. I wonder where they get all these new vegetables in the middle of winter."
She wanted to ask, but the man looked so fierce and had his face covered with a handkerchief, so she didn't dare ask.
In winter, even in the imperial palace, tender leafy vegetables are important for the master.
Wen Yao smiled, thanked the woman, and took his "brother" to look for houses elsewhere. As they passed an alley, Wen Yao and Song Mingde stopped in their tracks.
Song Mingde lowered his eyes to look at Wen Yao, and said in a sarcastic tone, "Brother?"
"Governor Song is young." Wen Yao smiled and changed the subject: "Governor, you also heard what the woman said just now. What's hidden under the vegetable basket might not be vegetables, but a person."
The secret passage inside the house had clearly been cleaned out; such a massive undertaking couldn't be accomplished by one person. Caomen Street was bustling before the city was sealed off, and the sudden presence of people entering and exiting a deserted house, coupled with the timing of the assassination attempt within the palace, would easily arouse suspicion. Disguising themselves as a food delivery servant and carrying people in and out would seem much more natural.
Fresh vegetables are hard to find in winter. Wen Yao only knows that there is a place in Bianliang City that also has fresh green leafy vegetables in winter.
Song Mingde also knew it.
He looked at Wen Yao, his tone sinking as he said, "The Red Pavilion's lair is actually in Tangshan?"
Tangshan, a mountain range within the city of Bianliang, was renowned for its numerous hot springs, resulting from the concentrated heat of the mountains. This precious land had long been divided among the royal family and various dignitaries. Zhao Xuanxu also had a farm in Tangshan, where he cultivated vegetables and fruits for the Prince of Yan's palace.
Song Mingde sneered: "A cunning rabbit has three burrows. Hong Ge is really bold to play these tricks under the nose of the government office."
Wen Yao looked at Song Mingde and said, "So, Governor Song, are you going to go with me, or gather your troops to besiege Tangshan?"
"It's impossible to gather people and charge over there." Song Mingde said calmly, "It's too conspicuous."
The Red Pavilion would not be unaware of the imperial court. It was estimated that before the foreign troops' fast horses arrived, everyone in the Red Pavilion would have fled.
Wen Yao: "Then Governor Song, please follow me on horseback."
Spending Song Mingde's money, Wen Yao brought two horses from the horse market and headed straight for Tangshan. The valley was thick with mist, and the trees were so dense that light could barely penetrate. Tangquan was to the south, and the Tangquan manors of the nobles were also clustered in the south of the mountain. Other places were sparsely populated.
Wen Yao was very familiar with Ye Shan. She used to spend the night in the mountains every day when she was escorting goods.
Unsure if there were any scouts near Red Pavilion, the two men dismounted early, led their horses to a hidden ravine below the road, and tied them up. Then, stepping on the wet branches and leaves, they entered the dense forest. No human voices could be heard in the forest, except for the occasional chirping of insects. Rugged rocks lay amidst the undulating grass, and fallen trees lay on the ground, their bark wrinkled and thick with a greasy green. There was the sound of water, a clear stream meandering through the cracks in the rocks.
Wen Yao took a few steps and suddenly stopped moving. He stood there, holding his breath and speaking silently. After two breaths, he suddenly pulled out a dagger and threw it.
The dagger flashed like thunder, so fast that the sound of it penetrating the dry grass and sinking into the flesh could be clearly heard.
Someone's lying in ambush?!
Song Mingde's expression suddenly changed and he gripped the golden knife tightly.
Wen Yao strode towards the half-man-high grass, bent down and picked up a fat hare from it. The dagger pierced the hare's abdomen and nailed it to the ground.
Song Mingde loosened his grip and stood at a distance watching Wen Yao skillfully cut a slit in the rabbit's belly, then carried it to the gurgling stream and began to wash it.
He looked strange, and said quietly, "What is Commander Wen doing?"
"Song, Governor." Wen Yao squatted on the ground, her hair tied high with a red rope falling on her shoulders. She looked up at Song Mingde, her hands peeling rabbit skins skillfully, the dagger between her teeth. She raised her eyebrows and gestured to Song Mingde to look at the sun in the sky: "Do you want to see what time it is?"
Noon, meal time.
It took quite a while to walk from the Imperial Palace tunnel to Caomen Street, and then he had to ride to Tangshan - Wen Yao was hungry.
"Sir, aren't you hungry? You can't get anything done on an empty stomach. Tangshan is so big, and I don't know where the Red Pavilion is. There are only two of us, and we don't know how to find it. We might as well fill our stomachs first." Wen Yao was quite comfortable, sitting on a rock by the stream and calling out to Song Mingde: "Sir, don't stand there, come and sit."
Strange, very strange.
Song Mingde stared at Wen Yao, and began to slowly turn the priceless jade ring with his thumb and index finger behind his back.
For so many years, no one had spoken to him in such a relaxed tone. At this moment, he realized very clearly that Wen Yao was not afraid of him.
Of course, there were those who weren't afraid of him, but Wen Yao was different. The royal family wasn't afraid of him, nor did they dare to offend him. They pretended to be kind and friendly, but secretly they looked down on him for being a eunuch. The emperor valued him because he was a eunuch. Eunuchs weren't human beings; people like him were just handy knives.
Song Mingde didn't see that feeling in Wen Yao. She might have thought him troublesome, but when she looked at him, her eyes were clear and peaceful. The treacherous Governor Song in the eyes of outsiders seemed no different from any other troublesome person in her eyes.
He had also seen how Wen Yao treated Zhao Xuanxu. That was the first time he saw someone looking at that madman with such indulgence, even a hint of protectiveness. Every time he saw it, he found it unbelievable - Zhao Xuanxu was not an innocent child, how could someone look at him with such disgusting eyes?
Wen Yao handled the rabbit with ease, cleaning it, skewering it, and placing it on the fire. She always carried a small leather bag filled with salt and seasonings. Wen Yao took out the salt and sprinkled it on the rabbit meat, which soon sizzled with oil. She generously tore off a leg and handed it to Song Mingde, "Our environment is simple, so please bear with me and try it, Governor Song."
After a while, Song Mingde reached out and took the rabbit leg.
The rabbit leg was plump, and his clean, white fingers pinched it, letting the fat from the roasting flow down through his fingers. This made him reach forward, roll up his sleeves in an awkward position, and sit by the stream like Wen Yao, and start biting into the rabbit leg.
After taking two bites, Song Mingde suddenly reacted and cursed under his breath, not understanding what he was doing.
Wen Yao's mouth was full of meat. He said, "Is it tasteless? Do you want some salt?"
This time, Governor Song paused for a long time before handing over the rabbit leg and asked Wen Yao to sprinkle a layer of fine salt on it.
Even though Song Mingde now commands the wind and rain and is surrounded by people, he also had nothing and climbed out of hardship. Song Mingde's eating style was very different from Zhao Xuanxu's. Zhao Xuanxu didn't care about food, chewing his food slowly and carefully. Song Mingde ate quickly, but his manners were still elegant, not giving people the impression of being rude.
A whole rabbit leg was quickly eaten up by Governor Song.
Wen Yao ate quickly. She chewed the meat in her mouth, her eyes narrowed as she gazed at the lush green forest before her. Suddenly, Wen Yao stopped chewing, spat out the bone in her mouth, dipped her hands in the stream, and said, "Here it comes."
Circle after circle, the sound of fine footsteps could be heard all around.
Song Mingde threw the bones into the fire and washed his hands in the stream. When he stood up, Wen Yao kicked the fire out, and the ashes flew and fell, and a small cloud of dust suddenly danced in the air.
At the same time, dozens of figures with black scarves on their faces jumped out from the rolling grass, long swords flashing in their hands, and rushed towards the two of them quickly.
There's a saying Wen Yao has always agreed with: If you can't find something, don't look for it. It will appear on its own after a while. The same goes for people.
Look, it’s coming out now.
Wen Yao licked his lips, narrowed his eyes, and wondered how to keep him alive and force him to reveal the hiding place of the Red Pavilion.
It is not difficult to kill a professional killer. Is it because professional killers have poison sacs hidden in their mouths, making it difficult to keep them alive?
There was no confrontation.
The wind blew, and the leaves in the forest fell. Suddenly, both sides started fighting.
This time, Wen Yao's men were more ruthless than ever before, each swing of her sword carrying a thick layer of murderous intent. Or rather, though she couldn't show it on her face, ever since the God's Day, she had been harboring a resentment towards Jiang Qiaosheng.
She considered Lou Chengyi and Jiang Qiaosheng as her friends. But one of them was not called Lou Chengyi at all, but Yelu Duhan, and the other was hiding something from her and secretly went to assassinate the emperor.
What kind of person does this person think of her, Wen Yao? If Song Mingde wasn't with her now, Wen Yao would have run to the cliff in front and yelled for Jiang Qiaosheng to get out.
The weather was cold, and the dazzling sword light split open, cutting the assassin's neck like the weeds nearby that were blown by the sword energy.
Killing people is like cutting grass.
Song Mingde's golden knife sliced through a circle of flesh and blood, then turned back in surprise to see the murderous aura emanating from Wen Yao. At this moment, she was completely different from the person squatting by the stream roasting a rabbit. Instead, she was approaching the unattainable and supreme master described in countless legends.
The air was thick with blood and fumes, and the ground was littered with corpses. The last assassin, realizing the situation was dire, moved his mouth to bite through the poison sac and confine himself. Wen Yao approached him like a ghost, her face directly against the assassin's, their eyes locked. She quickly reached out and grasped the assassin's jaw, twisting and pulling, with a crisp sound.
"You still want to die."
Wen Yao spoke in a deep voice, his hands full of strength, gritting his teeth as he said, "I don't know if your Pavilion Master knows, but I've wanted to die these past few days."
Song Mingde approached, his golden knife gleaming with blood, which dripped down the blade onto the grass. He pulled off the assassin's veil, revealing his ordinary face. He then placed the tip of his knife against it and said, "Take us to the Red Pavilion. If not, we will skin you alive!"
Governor Song still loves to skin people.
"Miss Wen."
A voice suddenly rang out, and the three people in the forest turned their gaze to the side, landing on the man who was slowly walking out of the dense forest. The man's face was also covered with a black scarf. Wen Yao looked at him and felt that this man's eyes and voice were a little familiar for some reason.
The man took out a green token from his waist.
Wen Yao suddenly remembered.
On the first day she arrived in Bianliang, three groups of people knocked on her window. The first one was Ning'er, and the second one was the person in front of her, who came to deliver her a chicken from a kiln.
He should be Jiang Qiaosheng's confidant.
Looking at Wen Yao's eyes, the young man in black knew that she recognized him. He continued, "My master asked me to take you there."
"Okay." Wen Yao released the hand that was pinching the assassin's chin: "You lead the way."
The man glanced at Song Mingde and said, "The master also said that only you can go through."
Song Mingde's face darkened, his lips curled in a sarcastic tone. He pointed the tip of his golden knife at the man and said coldly, "How dare you, a scoundrel, speak so brazenly before me? If your master doesn't come out, I'll burn this Tangshan Mountain. I want to see where you rats can hide!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Song Mingde suddenly felt a strong wind blowing towards his neck.
Realizing what this meant, Song Mingde opened his eyes slightly, disbelief surged in his heart for the first time, and his face showed astonishment.
Wen Yao was moving too fast and he had no time to react. He felt a pain in the back of his head, and the world was spinning. He closed his eyes, lost consciousness and fell to the ground.
Wen Yao stretched out his arm and caught the person steadily.
Song Mingde was tall and big-boned, his head drooping as he rested on Wen Yao's shoulder, his cheek rubbing against her ear, his tall nose touching the side of her face. It was a brutal blow, and the back of his neck soon swelled up and became a bruise.
Wen Yao lifted his collar and took a look, feeling a little guilty.
Although Governor Song was a very hot-tempered person, he did look fair and weak, and she had the illusion that she was bullying an honest man.
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