In the dark night, Chengqian Palace is brightly lit.
The woman's screams and moans resounded through the palace. Under the swaying lanterns, the maids filed out with basins of blood and water, and another row of palace ladies filed in again with washed gold basins. The blood was terrifying and bright red. The color scorched people's eyes hot. The imperial physicians stood outside the door and whispered with their heads together. The wrinkles on their faces became deeper and deeper, like cracks on a tree trunk.
Women's childbirth is like going through a ghost gate. Obviously, Ma Guifei's life is not smooth.
Situ Jin stood motionless under the eaves, the fluttering raindrops fell on his face, and he blinked lightly.
He is twenty years old this year, his face is handsome and stern, his eyebrows are sharp and his nose is high. Get along, but in fact he just doesn't talk much. Because of this, he has very few friends, and the captains of Yulin Guard usually don't bring him when they meet for a drink and bet on dice, and they usually don't have anything to do with him when they talk about the gossip of the front and rear halls of the Sangong and Liuyuan. , although he had no interest at all, he just felt a little deserted inexplicably.
After staying in Yulinweili for almost three years, I could only talk to a fellow countryman, and I was somewhat unsuccessful.
He sometimes felt that being Yu Linwei not only had to guard the palace, but also had to drink, brag and chat with his colleagues. Although he responded on time and disciplined himself, he was still dereliction of duty.
"Oh, to say that this noble concubine is really troubled. She escaped the murder of Gao Concubine, but the assassination of assassins. It was a good birthday banquet, but I was smashed by assassins, and I was scared to give birth prematurely." The same is Yulin. Wei's companion whispered, with regret on his face.
Another person said: "Who do you think sent this assassin?"
"Could it be Eunuch Wei? Who doesn't know that the maiden never likes eunuchs, she often blows the pillow next to the Lord Long Live, and the last time there was a flood in the Yellow River, the maiden even said that it is useless for eunuchs to keep money, so it is better to confiscate Eunuch Wei's family wealth and use it for disaster relief. I heard that Eunuch Wei was very angry in private, and the next day he dedicated a group of female music to Long Live Master."
The rain was getting heavier, and the raindrops flowed into the clothes along the hood, and the light yellow splattered darker, and Situ Jin moved slightly.
He also knew about that, the female music was from Yangzhou, and she had the unique tenderness of Jiangnan children, and every look in her eyes seemed to be dripping with water. When they were dancing, he happened to be on duty in the hall.
The companion shook his head and sighed: "It's still the imperial concubine's powerful means, and Eunuch Wei racked his brains to divide the favor but failed. It's just that the imperial concubine gave birth, why didn't you see Long Live Master?"
"The Tartars committed a crime a few days ago, robbed a lot of women and gold and silver and returned to the desert. Long live the Lord is discussing with the adults in the past. I guess this time, it is necessary to dispatch troops and give the Tartars a little color. Look at it."
A little Huangmen rushed over in the rain, grabbed an imperial doctor and asked, "How is the maiden, long live the Lord has a purpose, if the maiden and the little prince have an emergency, they will be buried together!"
The few imperial physicians shivered in fright and looked at each other, not daring to tell the truth.
Xiao Huangmen shouted in the drake's voice: "You guys are talking, Long Live Lord is waiting for words!"
An old doctor pondered his words, and said bluntly: "The imperial concubine has always had a cold body, 'those with blood qi likes warmth but hates cold, when cold they cry and cannot flow.' When I asked for the Ping An pulse, I found that the empress pulse was soft and thin, so I prescribed a prescription for nourishing blood and qi. It was better, but who would have been frightened by this today, yin evil entered the body, and the fetal qi moved. ,All… "
It took a long time for Xiao Huangmen to understand. He stomped his feet in a hurry, and saw the blood of the court ladies pouring out. Xiao Huangmen said: "Long live is the year of no confusion, and this is the second prince. If the prince is in any trouble, can you afford it!"
The child has not yet been born, how can he be the prince so decisively? The imperial physicians shrank their shoulders and grimaced, not daring to answer. Long live heirs are difficult, and they are not confused until they have a son of the eldest prince. Everyone in the palace knows that he attaches great importance to the children in the belly of the imperial concubine.
One of the imperial doctors said boldly: "There is still a way to protect the little prince. The child is already full-term, and it is also a feasible way to take the child..." Halfway through, the old doctor pinched him, He immediately swallowed the words.
Situ Jin and a few Yulin guards stood not far away, and they all shuddered when they heard their conversation through the pattering rain.
Several court ladies held the ginseng soup covered with oilcloth and walked up the steps with their heads lowered and broken steps.
Situ Jin frowned, stepped forward to stop the palace maid, and said, "Which palace are you from? Why have I never seen you before?"
The palace maid's voice was as thin as a mosquito murmur: "This servant is a newcomer."
Several Yulin guards came over and asked, "What's wrong?"
Situ Jin stared at the palace maid for a while, then lifted the tarpaulin, and a dagger lay down next to the soup bowl. Everyone was shocked. At this moment, the palace maid suddenly attacked and threw the tray at Situ Jin. The moment Situ Jin turned his head to the side, he kicked the palace maid on the waist and abdomen, the palace maid groaned, and the swallows generally swung backwards in the air and swept into the rain.
"Assassins! There are assassins!" Yu Linwei yelled.
The woman knelt on one knee in the rain, her head full of pearls falling to the ground, and her hair fell like a waterfall. She tore off the skirt to reveal her slender and straight legs. The light of the lantern flowed on it, like a good warm jade. . A short black knife was tied to the outside of her thigh. The woman slowly drew out the knife, and the cold light pierced into Situ Jin's eyes.
Yu Linwei pulled out the scabbards one after another and surrounded the assassin in a circular shape.
"Go ahead and capture it, you can't escape!" someone shouted.
"Escape?" She laughed grimly, her face covered with fat stains, and the smile was extremely strange, "Who said I was going to escape? Seven-leaf Garan Garuda, send the noble concubine on the road!"
As soon as the words fell, countless black figures climbed out of the flowers and trees, wielding white and miserable long knives, and collided with the Yulin guards, and the original circle was instantly defeated. Xiao Huangmen screamed in fright, and crawled into Chengqian Palace with both hands and feet.
In the center of the crowd, the blade-like woman shot out like an arrow, and the brilliance on the blade was as cold as the moon. Situ Jin drew his knife forward and helped his companions to hold off the assassin's fatal blow. Knife to knife, face to face, Situ Jin felt her cold eyes and her breathing like a poisonous snake.
The woman's knife was extremely fast, one knife after another, one slash after another, and a cross slash followed by two stabs. After the stab, it was a head-on crit, like a gust of wind and rain. Situ Jin could hardly keep up with her moves and was in danger repeatedly. He heard his own heartbeat beating like a drum.
too fast! too fast! Such a quick attack would definitely consume a lot of her strength. Situ Jin almost clenched his teeth and spent all his time with her. The moment she was exhausted, it was time for Situ Jin to fight back.
After a few breaths, her movements paused, Situ Jin's eyes lit up, it was time!
Raindrops the size of soybeans fell on the blade and on his hands, icy cold, irritating his nerves. He roared loudly, slashed through the rain curtain, and drew dazzling sparks on the woman's blade. Behind the silvery blade, her eyes revealed a sinister smile.
Situ Jin realized something and wanted to withdraw his sword, but it was too late. A short blade slipped out of the woman's sleeve and cut a deep incision in his arm, and blood gurgled out.
Situ Jin raised his head and saw that the woman was holding a knife in the back with her right hand and a short blade in front of her left hand, and the smile on the corner of her mouth was surly and arrogant.
Galan two-handed knife.
Situ Jin clenched the goose ling knife in his hand, and the blood flowed down his arm to his fingers, dropping drop by drop on the ground.
No one noticed that there was a hideous shadow sticking out of the flowers and trees, like a monster crawling out of a quagmire, he raised his head and blew a dart at the window paper. The blowing arrow penetrated the window paper, the candlelight in the palace leaked tiny holes, and the groaning of the imperial concubine stopped abruptly. Exclamations broke out in the palace, the maids ran out in panic, and some of them rolled down the stairs without standing.
"Niangniang is dead! Niangniang was assassinated!"
Yu Linwei was startled.
As if they had received an order, all the assassins withdrew their knives and retreated, fleeing over the walls in all directions, like a flood. At the same time, rescue soldiers arrived and fired crossbow arrows at the assassins. The woman's offensive was twice as fast, and every blow was like a thunderbolt.
It turned out that the reluctance to be evenly matched was just an illusion, he was not her opponent at all, she was just attracting his attention.
He was hit several times in a row, and the woman didn't want to fight. After cutting down a few people blocking the road, she climbed up the eaves of the palace along the locust tree. The soldiers' crossbow arrows were chasing behind her, and she seemed to have eyes behind her as she kept changing routes, and all the crossbow arrows were shot in the air. In the blink of an eye, the woman disappeared.
"Cut-section to get the child! Ca-section to get the child! The little prince can still be saved!" He opened the curtain and saw that between the red bed curtains, on the icy corpse of the imperial concubine, a very thin blowing arrow was nailed to her belly, with the blowing arrow as the center, the black veins were like reptiles covered with half of it. skin.
Amidst the pattering rain, Shen Jue woke up from his sleep, Xia Houlin slept restlessly and was always moving. Shen Jue slept lightly and was woken up many times this night.
Shen Jue touched Xia Houlin's arm and shrank his hands from the heat. He quickly stood up and reached over to his forehead, feeling the sweat on his hands.
"Xiahou Lin!" Shen Jue shook him gently.
Xia Houlin opened his eyes in a daze, and said angrily, "It's so uncomfortable."
Shen Jue dampened a cloth with water, put it on Xia Houlin's forehead, and said, "I'll go to the Imperial Physician's Office to get you some medicine, just wait and don't move."
Xia Houlin nodded slightly and closed his eyes.
Shen Jue put on his clothes and ran out. The night was like ink, and the palace stood in the darkness like a phantom in the sky. The long street stretched into the dark night, and Shen Jue heard the sound of his own footsteps. For some reason, there seemed to be no one anywhere, and not a single guard could be seen. Shen Jue didn't feel relaxed, but felt depressed.
When I arrived at the Imperial Physician's Office, the door was open, and there were a lot of medicinal herbs scattered on the ground. Shen Jue didn't know what was going on, suppressed the anxiety and doubts in her heart, and hurriedly rummaged through the cabinet to find the medicine for golden sore and the herbal bag for reducing fever, and put it in her arms. Just as he was about to go out, there was a rush of footsteps outside the door.
A few black-clothed assassins rushed over, and Shen Jue was startled, and hurriedly turned to hide behind the door. Their hoarse voices could be heard faintly.
"Boss, aren't we going to find that kid Xia Houlin?"
"What are you looking for? That stinky boy didn't find the map of the Xianchao Palace. It is difficult for us to retreat safely. We are too busy to take care of ourselves, so how can we ignore him? The imperial concubine is dead, and our duty has been exhausted. Let him die on his own."
It's Garan's assassin. Of course, Xiahou Lin couldn't find the map of Xianchao's palace. Shen Jue memorized the map and burned it. Now, he is the only one who knows the secrets of the palace. This group of assassins probably knew that there was a secret passage in the palace, but they didn't know the exact location, so they needed a map to guide the direction.
It turns out that Xia Houlin's role is not to assassinate, but to find a map.
When the assassin left, Shen Jue turned out from behind the door, lowered his head and quickly left the Imperial Physician's Office. He had just turned a corner, and the iron boots behind him passed by with the cries of "catch the assassin".
After finally entering the back garden, the trees and trees are intertwined with shadows, as if there is an unknown danger hidden in every shadow. Shen Jue ran wildly on the path, just wanting to get back to Xia Houlin's side quickly.
Suddenly, there was a series of hurried footsteps, Shen Jue was startled, turned and hid behind the tree.
"Who!" Situ Jin shouted sharply.
Shen Jue's body was tensed, and his hands were clenched tightly.
"Come out!" Situ Jin held a torch in his hand and approached the depths of the path step by step.
The leaf with the big mouth of the bowl was scraped on his face, and the surroundings were silent, only the sound of the ring armor hitting his body during Yu Linwei's action.
"Situ, did you read it wrong?" Someone asked in a low voice. The flowers at night were too dark, the moss on the ground was wet and slippery, and Yu Linwei's heart was beating uncontrollably.
The torches were blazing brightly, creating a square inch of light in the darkness. Everyone was back to back, facing the flowers on both sides, holding their knives in both hands and slowly moving forward. Assassins are good at stealth assassination, they hold the empty door behind each other so that the assassin will not take advantage of it.
Those assassins are too powerful. They lost twelve people in Chengqian Palace to kill three people, capture one person alive, and the rest escaped into the night. The assassin who was captured alive also cut his throat with a knife, and the blood gurgled over Situ Jin's boots. Situ Jin picked up the assassin's long knife, which was engraved with the seal script "World Bai".
It's funny, the blade of an assassin walking in the shadows is actually called "the world is white".
The bright fire was getting closer and closer, Shen Jue frowned deeply, and was about to take the initiative to appear, when suddenly, he heard the sound of crossbow arrows whistling, and a Yu Linwei fell to the ground with a scream. A shadow jumped down from a tree three steps away from Shen Jue, and fell on the side of the two Yulin guards. Before they turned around, they cut their throats with knives with both hands.
In an instant, the three of them lost their lives.
Garuda lost the short blades of both hands, picked up the Yanling knife on the ground, clamped the knife under his armpit, and then slowly drew the knife out. The blood on the knife was wiped dry, revealing the sharp blade. She was still wearing that tattered palace uniform, and her body was covered in blood. In the darkness, she raised her head, revealing beautiful but murderous brows.
The remaining two Yulinwei were stunned and backed away in panic.
"Hey, have you ever seen a person who is so tall, wearing black clothes, the same as those people before." Garuda asked with his head tilted as he compared his chest.
Yu Linwei shook his head dazedly.
"Oh, that's a pity." Garuda raised a smile and slashed with a knife.
Situ Jin pushed the crowd away, and the horizontal sword faced Garuda, but in an instant, Garuda knelt down, and the long sword slashed Situ Jin's blade, and his body passed by his side. At the same time, his left hand The arrow from the sleeve shot out and pierced into the throat of Yu Linwei behind him. Situ Jin wanted to turn around to save the two companions, but she was nowhere near her pace. She approached Yu Linwei like a ghost, raised the long knife from the bottom up, and drew a straight red line on his neck and cheek. .
The smell of blood spread among the flowers, she stabbed Yu Linwei with a knife upright, blood splashed on her cheeks, and the people on the ground were completely silent.
Situ Jin was desperate, the gap between him and her was too great, and he had no power to fight back. Situ Jin clenched the knife in his hand and let out a slow breath. He stared at the woman in front of him. She was standing under the flower vine, her whole body was hidden in the shadows. bright red blood.
"Hey, I'm in a hurry, can't you just call?" she said lazily.
Situ Jin didn't know what medicine she was selling in the gourd, so he said coldly, "The duty is, it's either you die today or I die."
"Boring." She muttered.
Before she could finish mumbling, Situ Jin suddenly started.
If the strength is not good, you can only win by surprise!
It was almost an instant, Situ Jin bent his legs slightly, like a full bow, and then the bowstring left his hand. He was like a sharp arrow with no return, wrapped in wind and thunder, and rushed towards Garuda face door. He held his breath, only the wind whistled frantically in his ears, and he saw the gorgeous, almost sharp woman raised her head, her eyebrows and eyes under the broken hair thickly outlined like ink.
Zheng—
She swung a full moon-like knife, and the arc sealed Situ Jin's blow with all his strength. Garuda didn't take Situjin's knife forcibly, but moved forward at the moment when the knife and the knife met. Her long knife slid over Situjin's blade, making a sound of gold and iron rubbing against each other. When Situ Jin exhaled his breath, he felt the cold blade cut through the soft armor and the muscles between his ribs, warm blood spurted out, and his armor was soaked.
"You haven't mastered your Snowstorm Knife yet. You don't have the skills. What kind of responsibilities are you talking about? Young people, you should cherish your life. Alas, it's a pity that there's one more Wind Snow Knife descendant missing." She put the knife on her shoulders and left Give Situ Jin a condescending back view.
Situ Jin knelt on the ground holding the knife, and tentatively touched his ribs with his hands.
Suddenly a figure appeared in the forest. It was a frail little eunuch in Tsing Yi. Situ Jin raised his head laboriously and saw the little eunuch's pale face.
"Don't be afraid, she probably won't come back." Situ Jin said softly, "You are Eunuch Shen from the Fourth Institute of Ganxi. I recognize you. I used to be on duty at the Fourth Institute."
Shen Jue's face was shrouded in the shadow of the flowers and leaves, and he said, "Your Excellency knows that the slaves are hiding here?"
"I found out a long time ago, but I didn't expose you." Situ Jin saw the medicine bag in Shen Jue's arms and said, "You went to steal the medicine? No wonder you came out so late."
"The servant's roommate is ill, we have a humble status, we can't ask for a doctor, and the medicine has run out, so we have to resort to this."
"He must be your very good brother." Situ Jin's eyelids got heavier and heavier, and his voice was fluttering, "It's good, my brothers are all dead." He looked at the corpses all over the floor, bloody Infiltrated with soil, the brown-black soil was dyed dark red. Although they may not think of him as a brother, he feels wishful thinking that a partner who has fought side by side and has lived and died together is a brother.
The dewdrops on the flower vines dripped on his cheeks, which were cold and cold, as if they could penetrate into his heart. The spring in the capital is really cold, he thought vaguely, and he couldn't hold the knife in his hand.
Shen Jue's eyes were silent, and he said in a low voice, "Well, now, he is the best person in the world for me."
"Let's go back, Ganxi Four is not far away. Avoid the shadows and go where there is light. If there are shadows, there will be assassins, and there will be... Garuda." fell to the ground. Half of his face was buried in the dirt, and his body was covered in blood and dirt.
Shen Jue was startled when she heard the words, and stepped forward and asked, "What did you say, Garuda? Was that woman just now Garuda?"
When Shen Jue went back, Xia Houlin was still in a drowsiness. He tried the temperature of Xia Houlin's forehead, and it didn't seem to be hotter. He took off Xia Houlin's clothes and gave him the golden sore medicine from the Imperial Physician's Office again. This medicine was much better than the herbs he had randomly put on before. The fine powder was sprinkled on the red and swollen wound. Xia Houlin felt a coolness on the scalding wound, and his breathing became a little easier.
After decocting the medicine, he fed it to Xia Houlin to drink. After an hour, he tried again and his forehead was no longer burning. Shen Jue breathed a sigh of relief, pushed open the window lattice to look outside, the heaven and earth were freshly washed by last night's rain, the sky was blue with the alternation of day and night, towering and broad, palaces were connected one by one, and seemed to be connected to the morning light on the horizon.
Xia Houlin woke up, and sat up with his eyes wide open, his hair tangled like a pile of thatch.
Shen Jue brought his face wash and handed him the wet handkerchief, which Xia Houlin wiped with his eyes closed. When the charcoal was gone, Shen Jue brought in the charcoal and clamped it into the smoker cage piece by piece.
"Xiahou Rin," Shen Jue said suddenly, "Well, I saw Jia..."
"What did you see?" Xia Houlin was still confused and shook his head vigorously.
"..." The action of changing the charcoal stopped, Shen Jue lowered his eyes.
The poorer the rich, the more afraid of being poor. He remembered that in the first year he entered the palace, he was alone in the cold days sweeping the snow that could never be swept away. Later, he finally got an errand in the Duanning Palace, but he was severely punished by the concubine because the meal was delivered a quarter of an hour late. Di Zhangzui, and Si Xi who was killed by his own hands, the disgusting feeling that greasy hand touched him...
The palace gate is as deep as the sea, and the front and back are endless. Although the Fourth Ganxi Institute is peaceful, it is a place where he can’t make it through his whole life. He has several palace maids and eunuchs under his command. Most of the day, he has to lie on the bed to rest, just waiting for one day to swallow his breath. Guy, this life is over.
He can't be wasted here, he must go out. It's just that he couldn't get out of the Forbidden City in his entire life. He finally got someone who could float in the sea together. It's like a person who is used to suffering and tastes a little bit of sugar. How can he give it up
His eyes darkened a bit, and finally, he shook his head and said, "It's nothing."