After I got to know Feng Zhao Wen, I was always under the impression that he was invincible.
He was so powerful and was practically unrivaled in the battlefield. He never lost in politics and was blessed with such a good look. He didn’t seem to have suffered any lost when it came to love matters as well; all in all, he was the gods’ favorite child.
Tonight, in the restaurant, as I stood behind him as the assassination unfold, I realized that that may really be the case.
Perhaps, even the heavens knew that the emperor was so idle in the palace. That’s why they sent these assassins to help him work out.
Although people like assassins usually came with ill-intention, since they kept appearing over and over again since the emperor was the Crown Prince, they had unwittingly helped improve his reaction time. He had became the imperturbable Mount Tai who was calm in the face of such danger.
From the way he calmly unsheathe his sword and tackle a person or two, I could tell that he was used to this. As for Yan Ping, although he was a cavalry General, he lived in peace for far too long in the Great Chen. He could hardly mask his shock when he saw those black-clothed people ambushing us. Lucky he was raised in a martial environment and he came prepared since he was appointed as our escort for this trip; he unsheathed his 3-foot long sabre as he fought alongside Feng Zhao Wen. In the blink of an eye, plates and blood flew as swords clashed into each other. It was an ominous and scary sight.
… Had there been no assassins coming after the first wave, the two of them would have been able to keep the situation under control.
There was the sound of military officers rushing downstairs and amidst the madness here, they rushed through the door of our compartment.
The officers that entered were wearing the capital’s infantry uniform. Each and every one of them were tall. The apparent leader of the lot pointed at us before yelling, “These three are the people who tried to assassinate Zheng Wang! Catch them! If they resist, kill them!”
Did they have problems with their eye-sights? Did they not see those men in black?
What was even more outrageous was the emperor was now mistaken as the assassin!
Had I not been completely awake, I would have thought this was a ridiculous dream. The Great Qi was prosperous and mighty, how could the officials be so unreliable like this? Not only were they rough in doing their jobs, they also could not differentiate between the good and the bad.
Blindly accusing someone was bad, but they were actually blindly accusing their own emperor!
The emperor barely bat his lashes at them, too concentrated on his fight with those black-clothed men. It was Yan Ping who reacted first. He swung his sword over to them, “Preposterous! The emperor is right here, how dare you act so boldly towards the emperor? Which one of you is the leader? What are you waiting for? Hurry and kneel in front of the emperor!”
The leader of the lot holds his sword while haughtily replying, “The empress is pregnant, the emperor is with her in the palace. You lot actually dares to make ridiculous excuses? Everyone, what are you waiting for? Go and kill the three bandits on the spot!”
I could not stop myself from scoffing as I stood behind the two men, “This officer, I think your eyesight is really poor; they need to be checked by the palace’s physicians. Perhaps they will need to poke a few needles into your eyes; maybe then, you will be able to see who this person is!”
That officer laughed twice, “What a sharp-tongued madam! Don’t tell me you are the pregnant empress?”
But I was really the pregnant empress ah!
The most regrettable fact right now was, in the Great Qi, criminals were more recognizable than the emperor himself. The emperor was holed up in the palace for too long. We should have spread his portrait like we would to a wanted criminal; that way, he would be more recognizable.
All in all, the assassination began and ended in absurdity. The emperor was mistaken as an assassin. The officers banded with the men in black and started attacking His Majesty and Yan Ping fervently.
Although the both of them had been in many battles, they could not sustain the all-out attack from the two opposite parties. Once they beat a couple of men, more men would rush in. A moment of negligent from Yan Ping cost him a slash. He stumbled backwards and crashed onto me. Lucky I was protecting my stomach with my two hands, so that part of my body was relatively unharmed.
His Majesty seemed distracted for a moment as he glanced at him, seemingly angry, “General Yan, it seems like your head is not in the right place, today.” At that moment, four swords were swung towards him, so he had no time to dawdle and went back to fighting those people.
‘
I looked down and could see bloods flowing from Yan Ping’s abdomen. The wound was so deep that I could see his flesh. He leaned powerlessly on my shoulder, looking attached and loving.
For me, the era of ‘loving and attaching’ with him was over long ago. I did not have any burden at all as I helped him lean against the wall before grabbing his sword and rushing forward.
Within a second, I could hear His Majesty screaming furiously at me, “An Xiaolang, you idiot! Back off!”
Four or five swords were waved in front of me; I was pretty sure the assassins and officers did not have tender feeling for the fairer sex. As I swung my sword, I could not help but laugh, “Your Majesty, I was General Guang Wu once!”
—— At least I had been on the battlefield before.
“Did zhen ever ordered you to fight?”
The veins on his forehead were popping up; he completely disregarded all the swords coming his way. He only cared about making his way towards me, trying to shield me from our enemies. Blood started to seep out of his shoulders and legs.
I used the sword to protect my tummy as I replied him, “You and I are a pair of husband and wife; we naturally should shoulder difficulties together.” He would be stupid if he didn’t know that.
He did not reply me for the longest time; he concentrated in fighting all those people in front of him. The officers today were all tall and robust, more skilled than the regular officers. Before long, my arms were full of blood and slashing marks.
Yan Ping bandaged his wound with a cloth before rushing forward. He picked up a sword from the ground and joined the fight once again. The emperor was livid when he saw the injuries on me; he disregarded his own injury and swung his sword and cut off the arm of a black-clothed man in front. When I saw him acting like that, my heart became warm. There was finally someone who loved me more than he loved himself.
My eyes unwittingly moistened. I gave him a simple smile, “Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I know how to protect my tummy.”
The moment I said that, I knew I said the wrong thing. When the enemies heard that, they immediately started targeting my stomach. In the blink of an eye, Feng Zhao Wen and Yan Ping gathered in front of me. I was squished around, I couldn’t tell where I was standing. Both of them fought with all their might while saying, “Xiao Yi, stand behind me!”
Amidst the chaos, both of them said the same thing at the same time. They looked at each other, their expressions ugly. A second later, they regained composure.
His Majesty was unexpectedly open-minded at this time, “Official Yan, zhen knows that you have been yearning after zhen’s wife….. Zhen is not angry over this matter because zhen knows, even if you forfeit your life for her today, she will still be buried next to zhen.”
——- Your Majesty, you think wayyy too far ahead.
It would not be late if we ponder about burial arrangement after we passed through today’s battle.
His Majesty was wearing an informal robe right now. His body was full of blood; I could not tell if it was his or other people’s. Despite everything, his swings remained agile. He remained calm, like a breeze.
Yan Ping’s eyes were watery, as though all his previous grief had just been swept away. He was back to being the handsome and refined youth that I knew. He laughed lightly, “Your Majesty, dying together with Her Ladyship and you could be considered as fulfilling this official’s wish.”
Me: “………………….” Turns out, Yan Ping had been having the desire to die with us.
I used my sword to push away two incoming swords. The wounds on my arms were bleeding profusely, yet I still had the time to scream at the two of them, “This old thing hasn’t live enough, you bastards!”
Both of them laughed.
Feng Zhao Wen and Yan Ping had basically went through hundreds of battles, but today, we didn’t bring any guards with us. We didn’t even have anyone to order to spread the news off.
“Xiao Yi, you silly thing. For military officers, being demoted to commoners are worse than death. From the look of it, they are not as simple as military officers.”
The capital’s infantry guards actually dared to try and assassinate Feng Zhao Wen in broad daylight? This was either pre-meditated or a desperate move from someone who had no way out.
They actually used such an extreme way, and the assassins even cosplayed as the infantry guards…. From the look of it, it was probably the latter.
As those people pointed their swords towards my stomach, Yan Ping and Feng Zhao Wen tried to block them. I could see the shadow of someone moving in front of me, blocking the blow. When I lowered my head, I could see the tip of a sword penetrating through his back.
On the other side of the room, a group of people rushed through the door. The leader was drenched in blood, but his face was familiar beyond words. It was Wu Ke.
I wanted to laugh, but why did my voice sounded like I was weeping? “Wu Ke…..”
It seemed like you were too late.
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Serene: This chapter was brought to you by Meropi!
