Chu Ding Jiang’s bathing routine was much more elaborate than An Jiu’s. Whenever he had the chance, he would bathe every day, but An Jiu found it too much of a hassle.
She was wandering around the room, bored out of her mind, when she suddenly thought of something important – could any doctor truly use their own heart’s blood to cure illnesses? If only the most skilled physicians could do it, then Mo Sigui might be in grave danger!
Pondering this, she put on her cloak and went to find Chu Ding Jiang.
On the other side, Chu Ding Jiang had already sat down.
The room was lit, and Lingxi said, “I’ve thought it over, and I’m willing to take the gamble.”
She had been cautious her entire life, but what had she gained in the end? It might be better to take a bold gamble – even if she lost, it would only mean death, but if she won, she would have freedom and prosperity from then on.
“You can trust in me, Chu,” Chu Ding Jiang said.
Lingxi took a deep breath and looked at him. “There’s one thing we can tell you for certain – the person looking for you is not Yelu Quan Cang, but Xiao Ce.”
“Xiao Ce?” This was strange to Chu Ding Jiang, for he had never met this person. Countless possibilities raced through his mind. “Is he looking for me, or for An Jiu?”
Lingxi’s eyes flickered as she lowered her head and gently ran her fingers.
Chu Ding Jiang took out a stack of taels and placed them on the table.
Lingxi looked up and smiled, reaching out to touch the money before tucking it into her sleeve. “Our task from above was simply to keep an eye on you two and report your movements separately. But I suspect Xiao Ce is mostly after the Fourteenth Miss, as we once received a request to investigate her strength in particular. I can’t give you a definite answer on this, but since I’ve taken your money, I shouldn’t withhold everything. Yelu Quan Cang is shrewd – Hung You and I initially served the Great Song, then defected to him. He left us unused for a long time, almost discarding us, and now suddenly arranged for us to do this. Isn’t that strange? He must have sent other spies as well, but I don’t know who they are.”
“A clever tactic of feinting east and attacking west,” Chu Ding Jiang remarked.
Recently, An Jiu had been recruiting people, making it easy for infiltrators to blend in. Yelu Quan Cang had sent these two obvious spies to distract, while the true agents could more easily gather genuine information.
“Do you know how they communicate?” Chu Ding Jiang placed the deed to the manor in front of her.
Lingxi looked at the deed but did not take it. “I do not know.”
“You may leave,” Chu Ding Jiang said.
Lingxi cautiously stood up, and seeing that Chu Ding Jiang had no intention of attacking, she slowly left.
An Jiu, who had been waiting outside, was stunned and did not stop her.
Hearing An Jiu’s footsteps, Chu Ding Jiang turned around. “Why did you come?”
“I have a bad feeling.” An Jiu’s pale face was without color, and her eyes held a fear Chu Ding Jiang had never seen in her before. “He’s here.”
“He?”
An Jiu had spent most of these years with Chu Ding Jiang, so he was confident she had not provoked Xiao Ce. He had a bold guess that Xiao Ce was like them.
An Jiu suddenly felt very cold. No matter how tightly she wrapped her cloak, it was of no use.
Chu Ding Jiang embraced her.
“Chu Ding Jiang, I’m truly afraid,” An Jiu buried her face in his chest, her voice muffled. “I’m so content with my life now. I’m afraid of going back to how things used to be.”
With a goal, hope, and Chu Ding Jiang… An Jiu felt her life couldn’t be any better.
“He should have been here long ago. Why did he only show up now?” An Jiu clung tightly to Chu Ding Jiang as she spoke of this man. “He was our commander. He was also a top-tier assassin, a natural-born criminal with exceptional intelligence, capable of anything. Later, when his leg was injured, he no longer took on missions, but instead founded an organization, training many younger assassins. Seven of the world’s top ten assassins were personally trained by him. I was one of them.”
In An Jiu’s memories, he had never lost his temper, always speaking gently. He taught her to hold a crossbow, to use murder as a way to vent the wildness in her blood. In those dreary, lonely days, she had even been attached to him, but now, looking back, his gentleness seemed so terrifying.
“He’s already been here, hasn’t he?”
The Exploding Crossbow was an extraordinary existence, out of place in this world. This was something Xiao Ce had brought, and An Jiu had long had doubts, but she hadn’t thought much of it, and hadn’t tried to confirm it.
“Fortunately, he came late, giving me enough time to be with you,” Chu Ding Jiang said.
If Xiao Ce had shown up two years earlier, there was no guarantee that An Jiu wouldn’t have returned to her old ways.
“I’m not afraid.” Chu Ding Jiang grasped her hand. “No matter if it’s a bottomless abyss or being crushed to dust, I’ll be by your side.”
Seeing their hands tightly clasped and hearing his bold words, An Jiu gradually calmed down.
“Blood Slaughter,” Chu Ding Jiang said.
“My lord!”
“Kill Madam Mei.”
“Yes, sir!”
Blood Slaughter went to carry out the order, but soon returned, reporting, “My lord, Madam Mei has poisoned herself.”
An Jiu was a bit surprised to hear this. “How could she have poisoned herself?”
Madam Mei did not seem like a simple person, with her resolute temperament. Unless necessary, she would never resort to suicide.
Chu Ding Jiang went to the room where Madam Mei was being detained. The room was lit, and the teacup was shattered on the floor. Her neat, well-maintained appearance now had a deathly pallor.
She slowly opened her eyes, her gaze unusually bright. “That little maid thought you’d let her go, and she’d be free forever… Ha, ha, ha!”
Blood spilled from her mouth, staining her clothes. Madam Mei’s entire face was a ghastly gray-white, but she laughed through her tears. “She didn’t realize why I didn’t choose that path! Today, the truly free one is me!”
Not drifting like duckweed, not being anyone’s dog – only death could bring liberation. Lingxi, you’ll understand sooner or later.
Watching Madam Mei draw her last breath, Chu Ding Jiang said, “Bury her.”
As a concubine and a traitor, the Mei family would not accept her into their ancestral tomb.
Blood Slaughter ordered someone to fetch a burial mat, and they wrapped up the body and carried it out to be buried.
“Every elite has their way of controlling this kind of person. Madam Mei and Lingxi are two sides of the same coin. Since Lingxi has betrayed us, Madam Mei won’t have a good end either.” Chu Ding Jiang was explaining to An Jiu the reason for Madam Mei’s suicide.