Wu Bo'an smiled. He believed that he had everything under control, and that everything was within his calculations. People always thought that he was swinging between the second prince and the crown prince, but they didn't know about his relationship with the prime minister. "It's too risky," he said reproachfully. "The prime minister doesn't know about our plan. If he were to find out, I'm afraid that even your father would have a hard time getting out."
Lin Gong smiled sinisterly. "You should go to Mount Lao to meditate for a while. When the capital makes a fuss, the crown prince will know that he has to rely on the Lin family in order to rule the world."
"That's right." Wu Bo'an looked worried. "Ever since the news of the young lady's marriage, the empress has become much colder. I don't know if it's because the eldest princess can no longer control the palace treasury."
From the incident of the prime minister's illegitimate daughter at the beginning of the year to the marriage appointment, Wu Bo'an felt that His Majesty had been trying to humiliate the prime minister, perhaps in preparation for the crown prince's future succession. As expected, the crown prince began to drift away from the prime minister's manor. So he secretly planned this plan. Not only could he kill Fan Xian and temporarily stabilize the situation in the palace treasury, but he could also make the crown prince fall into an unstable environment of rumors, forcing the Eastern Palace to reestablish a close relationship with the prime minister's manor.
But from the beginning, the prime minister had been strictly against this plan, but the second prince had been very enthusiastic. A young master and a strategist began to secretly manipulate these matters, using the name of the prime minister to move the Fang brothers, who had been hiding in the army for a long time. But Wu Bo'an had never expected that Fan Xian would be able to escape such a terrifying attack, and even kill the eighth-level ace, leaving behind an unerasable trace.
But the situation was still under control. General Fang had been silenced. Even if the Overwatch Council found out that he was the mastermind, they wouldn't be able to trace it back to the prime minister. So Wu Bo'an told the second prince, Lin Gong, to hurry back to the capital.
Lin Gong smiled proudly. "I've been managing this manor for a long time. Even if the palace guards or the Overwatch Council came, it would be extremely difficult for them to come in and capture anyone. Furthermore, we've been so secretive. Who would know that we were here?"
Wu Bo'an thought for a moment, and it was indeed so. After he relaxed, the inescapable air of a famous scholar appeared again. He waved his paper fan at the grape trellis above his head and said with a smile, "This grape trellis is very elegant, but it reminds me of a joke."
"What joke?"
"There was an official who was henpecked. One day, his face was scratched by his wife. The next day, the governor asked him what was going on. The official replied awkwardly, saying that he was enjoying the shade under the grape trellis last night, but the trellis unexpectedly fell and scratched his face. The governor was furious and shouted, 'This must have been done by your family's shrew. How dare you! Quickly summon the bailiffs to bring your wife here.' At this moment, no one expected that the governor's wife was eavesdropping from the back of the court. In a rage, she rushed into the court and berated the governor. The governor panicked and hurriedly said to the official, "You can leave first. My house's grape trellis has also collapsed …"
After telling the joke, the two of them burst into laughter. The second son, Lin Gong, had naturally heard this joke before. However, he understood the meaning behind it. Was Mister Wu implying that his father was henpecked? But his mother died early... Could it be that the Prime Minister was afraid of the Eldest Princess?
Lin Gong was a little angry. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black shadow appear in the garden.
It was a blind man with a piece of black cloth covering his eyes. In his hand was an iron drill with blood slowly dripping from its tip.
…
…
Lin Gong and Wu Zhu stood up abruptly. They knew that this person had snuck in without a sound, and that all the experts outside must have died to this iron drill. Thinking of how none of the experts in the manor had even cried out before they died, Lin Gong felt a chill in his heart. He shouted in fear, "Who are you? Let's talk! "
Wu Zhu didn't answer him. Like a ghost, he rushed over from the other end of the garden.
Lin Gong roared, unsheathed the flexible sword at his waist, and swung it down.
Wu Zhu leaned to the side, dodging the tip of the sword. His whole body was pressed against Lin Gong's face. The two of them were very close, and it looked somewhat strange.
There was a splat.
Fresh blood dripped from the iron drill sticking out of Lin Gong's back. He looked at the black cloth in front of him, his eyes full of fear and disbelief. He was the son of the Prime Minister, and this person didn't even give him a chance to speak before killing him. The iron drill had already pierced through Lin Gong's chest, and then Wu Zhu's whole body was pressed against it. Lin Gong's body slid back a few inches on the iron drill. It was a terrifying sight.
With a ripping sound, Wu Zhu calmly pulled the iron drill out of Lin Gong's body. He seemed to be moving very slowly, but in reality, he was quickly moving three steps to the side, avoiding the fountain of blood spurting from Lin Gong's chest.
The iron drill pierced right through Lin Gong's heart. Blood sprayed out from the small hole. It was a very beautiful sight.
Seeing this bloody scene, Wu Bo 'an's face was deathly pale, but he tightly covered his mouth, not allowing himself to make the slightest sound. He saw the black cloth covering his opponent's eyes, and knew that he was blind. He was trying to bluff his way through.
Wu Zhu tilted his head slightly, turning around to "look" at him.
Wu Bo 'an's heart surged with intense despair, but a trace of a bitter smile appeared on his face. He tried to make his voice as steady as possible. "I am not one of the Prime Minister's men! This warrior knew that selling his life to others was not necessarily a promising thing. I am Wu Bo 'an, and I have a wide circle of friends in the capital. If you still have your ambitions, why not... "
His voice stopped abruptly, and he looked down with difficulty at the iron drill that had already pierced through his throat.
He did not understand why this assassin would not want to hear him out... he was a weak scholar, not a threat. Besides, he considered himself not only a strategist, but also a peerless orator. If this blind assassin was willing to hear him out, he would not kill him — he still had many important things to do in his life, how could he die like this?
But the strategist Wu Bo 'an had died so easily.
...
...
Wu Zhu had lived in this world for more than thirty years, but he had never understood why, whether it was in Dongyi, Northern Wei, the capital, or here, every time he was about to kill someone, these people always liked to talk incessantly. The young lady had once said, "Swords are always more powerful than words." Wu Zhu had always thought he understood the meaning of these words, but he did not understand why the people of the world did not understand this principle.
Wu Zhu put away the iron drill and walked out of the garden, a little lonely.
After he left, the grape rack finally could no longer withstand the murderous aura of Wu Zhu's quick movements. With a crack, it fell over the two corpses. The green leaves covered them, and the old vines were entwined together.
— — — —
For the next few days, there was no other news from the Overwatch Council. Mu Tie had come to Fan Manor once to flatter him, but Wu Bo 'an, who was not famous, but was actually a very powerful strategist, had suddenly disappeared. Fan Xian did not seem to be in a good mood, so when Mu Tie's hand landed lightly on his leg, he did not leave a good impression.
Count Sinan's secret agents also quietly joined the search party, but they still came up empty-handed. When Wang Qinian reported the failure of the operation, Fan Xian had no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being. He forced his thoughts to focus on his sister, the bookstore, and the chicken leg. He patiently waited for Uncle Black Cloth's next move.
That afternoon, he forced himself to take his sister and Sizhe to King Jing's manor.
Unexpectedly, King Jing was not there. Crown Prince Li Hongcheng said helplessly, "Father, my son went to the palace today. He said the Empress Dowager missed him."
Fan Xian laughed and did not think too much about the matter. He and Li Hongcheng went to the back garden under the pergola, eating some fruits and chatting to avoid the heat of early summer. None of them were outsiders, so the prince's youngest daughter, Princess Rou Jia, who Fan Xian had once been very interested in, was also there, and did not avoid anything. Fan Xian looked at the girl and could not help but feel a lingering fear. When he had heard Ruoruo talk about the Story of the Stone, he had wondered if the princess would develop some sort of affection for him after finding out that he was the author of the Story of the Stone.
But after seeing Rou Jia, Fan Xian immediately dismissed that thought.
The princess was very beautiful. Her little face was rosy, and she was also very gentle and polite. In fact, she was the most gentle woman Fan Xian had ever seen since he came to this world. But Fan Xian still resolutely turned his nose to the sky, and did not look at her in the slightest.
This was because this princess had just turned 12 this year, and was an incomparably pure and unripe fruit. She could not even be considered a young girl. Fan Xian was a man of many emotions, but he was not a promiscuous person. Whenever he thought of doing something with a twelve-year-old girl, he felt a pang of fear, and tried to avoid it.
Who would have thought that his worst fears would come true? Princess Rou Jia had been sitting obediently by Ruoruo's side the entire time. Her eyes, intentionally or unintentionally, had been glancing at Fan Xian. Her large eyes flashed shyly, and Fan Xian's heart raced, flustered, confused, and afraid.
Fan Sizhe was led away by the servants of the manor to shoot arrows. Fan Xian and the Crown Prince were chatting casually, and the two girls were also quietly talking about something. Just as Fan Xian was feeling awkward, he suddenly saw one of the manor's subordinates rush in and whisper something into Li Hongcheng's ear. Li Hongcheng's expression changed, and he looked at Fan Xian with a puzzled expression.
"What's happened?" Fan Xian looked at the awning and smiled. "The prince's grape trellises are very well built, but it reminds me of a joke."
The crown prince did not give him a chance to show off his little talent in front of the girls. With a serious expression, he pulled him aside and quietly said, "Something has happened."
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