The area outside the door grew quiet for a moment. The person lowered his voice and said, “He needs to stay close and protect the Second Young Master, so he cannot get away. The Second Young Master has sent me to deliver a message.”
Ming Huashang made a sound of acknowledgment, nodded, and said, “I see. Please wait a moment — I will pack my things right away.”
Zhao Cai stared at Ming Huashang in bewilderment, not understanding what she was doing. But Ming Huashang turned around and her expression immediately darkened. She said in a low voice, “Quickly move things over and brace the door. The person outside is not here to escort us at all — he is the killer!”
There was absolutely no attendant by Ming Huazhang’s side called Ji Shi. If the person outside had truly received Ming Huazhang’s orders, how could he have made up something so impossible?
So the answer was simple: he had not been sent by Ming Huazhang. He was the killer, trying to lure her outside to use as a hostage — or even to kill her outright.
Upon hearing this, Zhao Cai was so frightened that she let out a sharp cry, which Ming Huashang swiftly silenced with a hand over her mouth. The maidservants were completely stunned. It was actually Ren Yao who reacted first — without a word, she hoisted a table, carried it briskly to the doorway, and shoved it hard against the door to brace it.
With Ren Yao taking the lead, the other manservants came to their senses and rushed to drag over whatever they could find. Ren Yao planted one foot on the tabletop and pressed it hard into the floor. She rather wanted to know just what sort of person had been playing at ghosts and phantoms these past days. She quietly drew near the wooden door and peered out through the gap.
But the moment she leaned close, she saw an eye staring back. The person was also looking in through the crack!
Every hair on Ren Yao’s body stood on end. She immediately flattened herself to one side, using her back to brace the door. At almost the same instant, a blade slid through the gap — right where Ren Yao had been a moment before. Had she been even a fraction slower, she would have been struck.
The attacker did not hesitate after missing his mark. He immediately reversed the blade to flip up the door latch, then delivered a heavy kick to the door.
The person outside had terrifying strength. The impact of the kick was thunderous — the entire courtyard seemed to shake. Even with Ren Yao and several manservants bracing against it together, the door shuddered violently again and again.
The maidservants screamed in fright and scrambled over one another to retreat. Ming Huashang did not move. In an instant she had become the one standing at the front of the crowd.
Her expression was composed. She called Bao Bao over, pointed at the doorway, and said, “Bao Bao, the person outside is a bad person. If he comes in, bite him — hold nothing back!”
Her words had barely fallen when the door burst open with a tremendous crash. The manservants tumbled to the ground in a heap. A powerfully built man gripped a blade and slashed at anyone in his path. One of the manservants was crawling forward along the ground when he saw the white blade descending from above and went limp with terror, collapsing again, completely unable to react.
At that most critical instant, a flash of red suddenly cut across from the side — a silver spear tip caught the blade. Ren Yao let out a fierce battle cry, and with a sharp twist of the spear head, the red-tasseled spear shot toward the big man’s vital points like a darting dragon.
The big man met it with his sword. He was strong and powerfully built; his strikes had no particular technique — he relied entirely on brute force to hammer down, and the destructive power was formidable. But the Ren family spear style was precisely the kind that grew stronger against strength. The big man’s approach was savage and direct, but Ren Yao’s weapon was long, her speed was fast, and she more than compensated for her disadvantage in raw strength — she and the big man traded blow for blow.
Ever since coming to the Feihong Garden, Ren Yao had been frightened by dead people one day and ghosts the next, and she had not slept well in days. Today she had finally run into the one behind all these tricks. Rage had been pressing down inside her, and on top of that she had not practiced her spear in days and had long been itching to stretch her muscles. Her spear moved faster and faster, blurring into a phantom in the air — fierce and unstoppable as a gust of wind.
The brute strength the big man took such pride in was utterly useless in this moment — and his opponent was even a woman! Furious, desperate to reclaim his dignity, he grew hasty, and a gap opened in his defense. Just as the big man was about to strike with full viciousness, he felt a sudden sharp pain in his arm, as though a chunk of flesh had been torn clean away.
He turned his head and saw it was a furry beast.
Bao Bao had dropped low to the ground, all four limbs pressed flat, growling and baring its teeth in warning. Its claws were streaked with blood.
This only enraged the big man further. He raised his blade to hack the creature down — but Ren Yao seized the opening and pressed her advantage, thrusting squarely into his shoulder.
The big man’s arm had been clawed by the lynx, and now he had a fresh wound in his shoulder as well. The pain finally brought a sliver of reason back to him. He looked around the room and spotted the young Miss Ming standing in the hall, with a crowd of maidservants pressed together behind her. She watched him with a steady expression — her small face pale and composed, her eyes bright and clear — and there was almost no fear in them.
Even at a moment like this, the sight of her filled the big man with a surge of agitated feeling. From the very beginning, when he had been ordered to tail Chi Lan, he had noticed her.
Chi Lan was plain-looking and dull in conversation; everything she did had a clumsy, awkward quality. But this young lady was beautiful and quick-witted, and the more he observed her, the more he was astonished.
What a pity that she was the daughter of the Duke Zhenguo’s household — doted on by her father, cherished by her elder brother, surrounded by young gentlemen and ladies of equally noble birth and fine appearance. She was far beyond the reach of someone like him, a mere blade of grass.
So when he realized he had been found out, his first thought was to kill her. He had been exposed. Even if Princess Taiping might spare him, the Prince of Stability would have him killed. Since he was going to die either way, he might as well fulfill one last desire before the end — drag this high-and-mighty young noblewoman down to accompany him in death.
The moment he broke free, he came straight here. In his mind, the guards at a noble family’s residence were all trained in showy, useless moves — they would not withstand a single punch from him. He imagined walking in as if entering an empty place. But to his surprise, Ming Huashang had seen through his scheme, and another woman’s red-tasseled spear had pinned him where he stood.
In his eyes, women were either stupid and useless or beautiful and frivolous. He coveted their delicacy and beauty, yet hated them for what he called their impropriety. So the best solution, in his mind, was to kill them at the height of their beauty — that way, they could never betray him again.
He exercised what he believed was his rightful authority over them — subduing and civilizing them — and had never considered women worth taking seriously. But now he had been defeated by the very women he looked down on most?
Ren Yao’s spear was growing denser and denser with each exchange. In the blink of an eye, the big man had accumulated several more spear wounds and more gashes from the lynx’s claws. Seething with resentment, he shot a glance at Ming Huashang, then abruptly seized a manservant and hurled him at Ren Yao. Ren Yao quickly drew back her spear, and by the time she had steadied herself again, the big man had already charged out through the door.
Ren Yao let out a cold laugh, hefted her spear, and said, “Let’s see where you think you can run!”
Ren Yao charged out with fierce momentum, and Bao Bao darted outside after her in a blur. Ming Huashang was startled and quickly chased after them: “Ren Jiejie, Bao Bao — don’t go, wait for me.”
Chasing a killer was dangerous, but staying behind alone was even more dangerous. Ming Huashang understood her own capabilities perfectly well: without Ren Yao and Bao Bao, she was useless.
Ming Huashang ran out. She had expected the pursuit to require some effort, but after only a few steps she could already see the big man. She looked up at the figure ahead and her eyes lit up. “Second Elder Brother!”
Ming Huazhang stood beneath the covered walkway, gripping a long, slender, lacquered black sword. The big man swung his blade down at him, and Ming Huazhang deflected it with the scabbard. The big man pressed his weight down hard; Ming Huazhang held firm like a mountain. Then, abruptly, Ming Huazhang turned to one side to redirect the force — the big man inevitably lurched forward — and Ming Huazhang raised his leg and drove a solid kick into the big man’s flank.
The big man stumbled back several steps before catching himself. He ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek, rolled his shoulder, and the expression on his face took on a numb, dangerous ferocity.
Ming Huashang’s heart clenched tight when she saw it. “Second Elder Brother, be careful!”
This criminal had spent years in the military and was well versed in close combat and tracking techniques. Now that he was cornered and fighting desperately, the thought of what he might do was almost unbearable.
Her words had not yet faded before they clashed again. The big man put everything into every move — the blade carved through the air with a rushing sound — while Ming Huazhang, from beginning to end, did not draw his sword. He used the scabbard alone to deflect, redirect, block, and strike. Steel blade and long scabbard rang against each other in an unbroken clash of metal.
Ming Huashang watched without daring to blink. The exchange between Ming Huazhang and the big man was so fast that even Ren Yao could find no opening to intervene. Then, suddenly, Ming Huazhang pressed close. He seized the big man’s wrist and wrenched it sharply downward.
The big man cried out in pain and his fingers involuntarily opened. The blade slipped from his grip and clanged to the ground. Ming Huazhang followed through and locked the big man’s joints, forcing him entirely to the ground.
The guards who had come running from behind saw their chance and surged forward, pinning the big man down firmly. Jiang Ling, who had escorted Princess Taiping over, caught sight of the figure on the ground and let out a cry of triumph: “Your Highness, look — they’ve caught him!”
The torchlight around Princess Taiping blazed bright as day. She looked down from above at the face pressed to the ground, then let out an extremely cold, contemptuous laugh. “Wretched vermin like you — daring to plot against this Princess?”
Ming Huazhang did not like being jostled, and once Princess Taiping’s guards swarmed in, he stepped aside and cleanly withdrew. This was not the moment for questioning the prisoner. Ming Huazhang advised, “Your Highness, first search his quarters. Securing the evidence is the priority.”
“Quite right,” said Ming Huashang, who had drifted to Ming Huazhang’s side without quite realizing it. “Unless I’m mistaken, the eyes of Chi Lan, Wei Zi, and Lian Xin — all three — are still hidden in his room.”
Jiang Ling made a face of undisguised revulsion. “Ugh, what nonsense are you talking? What would he want with dead people’s eyes? Evidence that obvious would have been destroyed long ago.”
“No.” Ming Huashang tucked herself behind Ming Huazhang, appearing gentle and soft and perfectly compliant, yet the words she spoke were completely assured. “He will have kept them as keepsakes — to revisit later. In all likelihood, those three pairs of eyes will have been stored together with women’s garments. When searching the room, I would ask that you pay particular attention to boxes and drawers. Whatever you find will look entirely out of place with the rest of the room’s furnishings.”
Jiang Ling thought Ming Huashang was spouting nonsense. “You have never been to his room. What, do you have divine sight? How could you possibly know where he would put them?”
Ming Huazhang suddenly spoke. His voice was clear and cool as a stream — crisp and clean, refined yet carrying force. “Do as she says.”
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