Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

78. An Elaborate Assassination

Translator: Antonia

To collect money prior to others was something unexpected to the Zhao family, but with the Emperor’s verbal edict, Old Master Zhao didn’t care about it. Upon returning home, he saw his precious granddaughter looking at him expectantly and immediately began to comfort her.

Zhao Zheng of course wasn’t a fool and knew that through this action, the Zhao family would offend many colleagues, so she smiled brightly and promised Old Master Zhao, “Don’t worry, grandpa. As long as I marry the Prince, I’ll surely win his heart. I believe with our family’s support, His Highness won’t treat me bad.”

“The moment I fly up to become a phoenix, our family will also prosper forever.” His words pleased Old Master Zhao very much, and he patted on her back to show his satisfaction towards her.

The granddaughter and grandfather talked in a roundabout way, but no one could prevent it from spreading out. Though it didn’t reach far, the whole Zhao family knew it. Luckily, Old Master Zhao was strict in this respect, so nobody dared to reveal it to outsiders. Yet, the second lady Zhao held such hatred towards Zhao Zheng that she only wished to tear her apart.

Du Chuxuan finally finished the last copy of women’s virtues under the gaze of Yuxing Tianrui. After that, he felt his whole hand went bad. He wondered how Dongxiang could write both beautifully and fast. Though Du Chuxuan could write, he only sought to make it discernable.

Yet, Yuxing Tianrui was obviously an old pedant and demand that he should make every character decent. Therefore, during the whole process, he put as much effort in each stroke as drawing.

But for the belief of eating meat soon that supported him, he would have long given up. However, Du Chuxuan, finally having the first bite of meat in two days, didn’t notice the silently approaching peril.

In another palace, Concubine Xiao was about to rest, when an arrow crossed the air and headed for her. She, on the other hand, like an experienced fighter, instantly sprang up. Her body turned several somersaults in the air and immediately escaped the arrow which appeared to desire her death.

When she settled down, the noise already alarmed the maidservants out of the room, “Ma’am, anything happened? Do you need us to come in?”

Concubine Xiao saw by the moonlight the arrow that was flicked away on her bed and discovered that the sharp arrowhead had been removed and what left was a best mean of sending message. At once, she was relieved, “Nothing. I just hit my head by accident. No big deal. You may leave.”

Hearing the weaker and weaker steps of the maidservants, she breathed a sigh of relief and carefully unfolded the paper. It wrote in small characters, “Shan Zhongli says the biggest threat against the third prince’s ascending the throne is the Crown Prince. Tonight we’ll test him out. Be careful in tomorrow’s action.”

A touch of shock flashed in Concubine Xiao’s eyes. She knew all the time that Yuxing Tianrui, despite his young age, was no small threat, but she hadn’t understood that in his eyes her well-cultivated son Wei was still no better than a child raised in the palace. With shock in her heart, she carefully burned the paper slip.

The whole thing took place without no one noticing it, let alone to know it.

Yuxing Tianrui had the habit of reading before going to bed, while Du Chuxuan’s pre-sleep habit was eating. The two, one static, the other dynamic, formed an interesting picture. In view that the moon rose higher and higher, it wasn’t good to keep eating. Yuxing Tianrui also put down his book.

“It’s time to go to bed. Don’t you fear that you will become to fat to get through the door after eating like this?” He slightly frowned and seeing Du Chuxuan approaching the bed with a pair of oily hands, instantly kicked him off, “Do not try to get on bed before you clean your hands!”

His voice wasn’t low, and Ada and Dongxiang standing outside both heard it and burst out laughing. Du Chuxuan flushed a little. Hadn’t he been so smug earlier today and kissed the tsundere boy, at this moment, he should have gotten a good-night kiss. Now, great, there was nothing for him.

After obediently cleaning his hands, he showed them to Yuxing Tianrui to make sure that there wasn’t oil or water. Then, he was about to go to bed, when there was a faint noise from the roof. He was a good material for martial arts, not because he had a good physical condition, but because, in the words of his cheap shifu, he had a powerful instinct.

In other words, he was born to know how to fight. Even before he learned martial arts, he had known how to make a most hurtful punch.

On that faint noise, he became alerted and on defense instantly. He leaped to Yuxing Tianrui and covered his mouth with his palm, the other hand cautiously pointing to the roof.

“There are people on it.” He told Yuxing Tianrui with his lips and indicated him not to speak. Then, he turned around and put off the candlelight.

Obviously, those who came at this hour couldn’t be nice visitors. If they didn’t pretend sleeping, how could the people take actions? Yet, Du Chuxuan was surprised how these people broke in when the East Palace was in the inner position of the imperial palaces with squads of guards patrolling all the time and when the East Palace was also tightly protected by hidden guards?

Ada also noticed the noise. He knew Dongxiang had just returned from the battlefield but seldom took part in real fights, so immediately, he directly knocked him out and threw into a wing room.

At a light flick of fingers, ten figures showed up in the room and hid themselves in the dark, ready to act.

Yuxing Tianrui did undergo something throughout his life. Although he reacted not as quick as Du Chuxuan, but when Du Chuxuan pointed for him, he already knew what was going on.

He nodded quietly and fished out a sword from under the bed for Du Chuxuan. If it hadn’t been a bad time, Du Chuxuan would definitely press him on the bed and ask why he had prepared a sword at where he slept? Was he ready to kill him?

Du Chuxuan held it and could tell it was a good one, very likely to be extremely sharp. He couldn’t help feeling sorry. The prince must be really insecure all the time so that he hid a sword under the bed. As for these uninvited visitors, Du Chuxuan would let them know what a trip of no return meant.

The hitment weren’t stupid either. After waiting outside for a while and confirming that there wasn’t much noise in the room, they even opened a few tiles to take a peek before they began to blow in smoke trying to knock them out.

After another quarter, sure that the couple didn’t make any sound, they finally set out.

It took another half an hour to make sure that the two did not move, and then quickly shot.