Villain Lady

The shout from outside the gate startled them. The prison was nearest to the north gate and this time, there was fire emerging there. At the same time, they could hear the sound of metal clashing with each other.

"What happened?"

"Let me check!"

There were only two guards there. With one of them rushing over to look at the commotion, there was only one person left to guard the prison.

'It's time.'

Wei Liuying rushed to the gate and sneaked behind the second guard. Her small figure was completely covered behind him. By following the same steps as him, she made sure that he could not detect her. His figure was bigger than her and by concealing her presence near him, she could conveniently hide.

"It's really a cold night." The guard shivered a bit. He rubbed his hands and looked at the direction where the first guard left in confusion.

Behind him, Wei Liuying used her hand to push the gate. She knew that despite concealing her presence, the guard slightly detected her presence and thought that it was the cold night wind.

Her low martial art skill was showing its disadvantage right now.

However, Wei Liuying kept her calm. She watched the second guard's movement carefully. He turned his head to the opposite direction and Wei Liuying stepped back slowly and entered the gate. 

When she heard commotion from the north, she closed the gate once more.

Turning her body around, Wei Liuying silently stayed within the shadow near the wall. She didn't want to attract the guards' attention.

There were some other guards there, but they were all distracted by the ruckus that was resounding at the north. Their eyes turned to the north from time to time as they were curious what had happened over there yet they were not allowed to move from their position. After all, it was rare to have so much commotion late at night.

"Focus!" a yell startled the soldiers and Wei Liuying.

Staying within the shadow, Wei Liuying glanced up. She could see a commander gave the soldiers instruction. His angry tone could be heard.

"Don't relax at all and do your job properly. When the others return, you'll naturally know what had happened."

"Yes, Commander!"

With that order, the soldiers were mover focused. However, it was clear their head still itched to look at the north.

'The commander is not bad.'

Right now, Wei Liuying silently sneaked within the shadows. She didn't have the time to care for the soldiers as she rushed into the main building. Manager Xin had showed her the map of the prison's layout, but Wei Liuying had to search one by one to find where Wei Lu was.

Based on his punishment, he should be at the underground prison.

The underground prison was usually used for those who were placed in death sentence. The condition of the prison was terrible was smell of blood and some other foul smell mixed to the air.

'It should be here.'

Pushing the door open, Wei Liuying kept her expression straight. The underground prison only had minimum light, which made it hard to travel at night. They had to rely on their senses and with the strong foul smell here, it was truly hard to move around according to their wishes.

Wei Liuying made no noise and traveled swiftly. She checked on the room one by one as she entered the underground prison. Several familiar officials' faces could be seen from the prison chambers. It seemed that the Emperor was adamant to kill anyone who showed even the slightest trace of suspicion.

Probably, he wanted to cleanse the court from the officials.

In the past, this notion was already made several times, but it was never done because there were not many able officials. As time passed, there were already a lot of more capable officials, so those whom the Emperor doubted would be put on the back swiftly.

But if Wei Liuying had to say, she didn't know what kind of criteria the Emperor used to eliminate these officials. She was not familiar with what they were doing and their work, so she had no other choice but to ignore them right now.

Though, she had one question inside her mind.

'Why can't he just capture Father?'

Wei Hong clearly leaned to support Prince Ji Shu, yet he was let off the hook this time. Well, this might be a scheme from Prince Ji Shu too, so those who were on his side were obviously spared.

Wei Liuying was not too clear of the real situation on the court.

Glancing into the prison room continuously, Wei Liuying patiently searched for the right one. Even though she knew that her time was limited, she didn't want to leave without her uncle. 

Fortunately, it didn't take long for her to find the right place. Looking at the dark room, Wei Liuying took out her knife and hairpin before she began to pick the lock on the chain. This was a skill that she learned thanks to her uncle since he was quite naughty. A hairpin was clearly a very useful tool for women.

It can be used for many things.

Clang!

"Who is it?" Wei Lu was startled when he heard the sound of metal bumped with another metal. In the underground prison, he couldn't hear what had happened outside as the sound insulation was made to make sure no sound could come in. This would reduce the risk of them collaborating with people from outside to come out.

Wei Liuying put the chain away and pushed the door open. Her dark eyes were looking straight to her uncle. In the dark night, it felt as if there was a pair of dark light shining to him.

Wei Lu looked back at the figure before him. His eyes were filled with disbelief.

There was only one person who have black eyes whom he knew in his entire life. And that small figure could only belong to one person.

A person who should have never been here in the first place.

Someone who have a completely different life.

"Wei Liuying."

"Uncle," Wei Liuying called out. Even with a cloth covering her mouth, the tone of her voice was still high pitched.

Wei Lu's pupil shrunk when he heard that familiar voice. Tears streamed out from the corner of his eyes as he resisted the urge to cry aloud.

"Why…? Why did you come?"

She shouldn't have come.

He no longer had any future in Han Shi Kingdom.

When he received the edict, he had been thinking for ways to clear his name. However, everyone whom he thought to be on his side abandoned him without any second thoughts. No one was willing to help him out.

But now…

His niece come.

Wei Liuying looked at her uncle and stretched her hand. "I can't possibly abandon my family, Uncle."

Wei Lu closed his eyes when he heard what Wei Liuying said. He stood up and looked at Wei Liuying. "Do you understand the repercussion from your action tonight?"

"I believe you're wronged, Uncle. Even if I have to be the enemy of the entire kingdom, I won't abandon my family," Wei Liuying replied calmly. It was only her uncle who ever believed her and helped her during the time when she was in Wei Family Household. He would side with her and listened to what happened on her side and not blindly believed on what others told him.

She didn't have much power and ability, but she would not abandon him when she heard that he got into trouble.

Besides, she didn't have anything to lose.

"I have never done anything to deserve this from you."

"Do you need payment for helping your family?" Wei Liuying asked back.

Wei Lu frowned. In his opinion, he should find a way to repay Wei Liuying for what she had done. However, from the way Wei Liuying told him, he knew that she never wanted to have any payment. 

She only wished for him to be safe just like he simply wished that she could be happy and have a better future. They just wanted the best for each other as family.

"Little Lass, I'm not a match to you."

"Tell me what happened before, Uncle." Wei Liuying crouched down and began to work on the chain on her uncle's leg.

Wei Lu's eyes were tinged with sadness. "You see, I'm on the Second Prince's faction. However, it's actually the weakest one because His Highness the Second Prince never showed his real skill to anyone. But we all believed that he's the best person to ascend the throne. Yesterday, His Highness the Fourth Prince began to nitpick us and even fabricate evidence that we have corruption.

The people have all been pulled to his side and ended up testifying for what his people said. We have no room to come back and even His Highness the Second Prince ended up getting punished."