Chapter 52: Assassination In The Mountain

The streets and alleys of the capital were filled with laughter and cheer, while the court was shrouded in heavy clouds and gloom.

The ministers were all trembling with fear. Recently the court felt like it was undergoing a great purge, everyone afraid they might be next. Even the Empress Dowager and Minister Wang could not guarantee their safety. After all, the matter of Lu Shangqing from the Ministry of War was still fresh in their minds, and they feared they might become the next Lu Shangqing.

Their worries were precisely why Fang Rui had instructed Chen Chi to only confess about Lu Shangqing. The purpose was to drive a wedge between these ministers and the Empress Dowager’s faction.

When it came to self-preservation, any talk about cooperation were merely empty words.

After the Double Ninth Festival in September came the autumn hunt. On this day, Fang Rui specially granted the ministers a day’s leave, so there was no morning court. Those whose ancestral tombs were nearby could go and pay respects. Those whose families were farther away could ask for leave to return home for ancestral rites.

Shen Yu’s routine hadn’t changed for years. Because Old Master Shen had difficulty with his legs and the old madam had long ceased leaving the mansion, every year on the Double Ninth it was Shen Yu and her mother who left the capital to go to the countryside and pay respects at the Shen family’s ancestral tombs. This year was no exception.

The offerings had been prepared the day before, so the next morning before dawn, Shen Yu and her mother left the residence and set out of the city toward Bozi Mountain.

The Shen family was large, so beyond the south gate and into the suburbs, which was about an hour’s journey, stood Bozi Mountain, which belonged entirely to the Shen family. Aside from the caretakers the Shens appointed, only a few woodcutters and hunters normally went up the mountain to cut wood or hunt. On festivals like the Double Ninth, everyone had business to attend to. Who would go up the mountain to cut wood or hunt?

The September weather had turned cool, so they wore somewhat thicker clothes than in late August. After paying respects to their ancestors and spending the morning there, having eaten some rations, Shen Yu and her mother walked down the mountain.

The two women walked ahead while servants carried the items and followed behind.

Shen Yu’s mother sighed, knitting her brows with a heavy tone, “Having offered prayers to the Shen ancestors today makes me realize another year has passed. The first time we worshipped the Shen ancestors feels like yesterday. Back then, Yu’er, you were only three.”

“Mother, watch your step.” The mountain path was treacherous. Shen Yu helped her mother and reminded her to watch the dry branches underfoot, and smiled at her mother’s words.

“Every year at this time we take advantage of the ancestor rites to go out and clear our minds. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Shen Yu’s mother smiled helplessly and echoed, “True. It’s better than staying in the Grand Guardian’s residence all day, it’s stifling.”

Shen Yu’s mother moved and spoke cautiously in the Grand Guardian’s residence for fear that a misstep or a wrong word would implicate Shen Yu. No wonder she felt unsettled.

They reached halfway up the mountain when Shen Yu suddenly stopped.

“Mother, wait.” Shen Yu halted her mother, and the servants behind also stopped.

Her mother asked in puzzlement, “Why did you stop all of a sudden?”

Shen Yu shook her head and stepped forward a few paces, frowning as she scanned the surroundings. Yellow, withered leaves drifted down. She reached up and caught one, a puzzled look in her eyes. There were far more fallen leaves in the grove than there had been that morning, though the wind hadn’t increased much. How could so many more leaves have fallen?

Shen Yu calmed her mind and pondered a moment, sensing something amiss. Her eyes widened with alarm. She quickly turned back and said to her mother, “Mother, this place isn’t safe for us to linger. We must leave at once!”

No sooner had she spoken than more than a dozen men in black leapt down from nearby trees.

The servants were terrified, dropping their burdens and abandoning their masters as they scrambled and scattered in flight. Shen Yu’s mother was also in panic. Shen Yu seized her mother’s hand and ran.

“Mother, hurry!”

But neither of them knew martial arts, and in a moment the men in black could close in quickly. But even in that crisis Shen Yu did not lose her head completely: these men did not act like common bandits but like men lying in wait. Her mother seldom left the Grand Guardian’s residence and had offended no one. Shen Yu, being an official at court, inevitably stood in some people’s way. In short, the assailants’ target had to be her!

“Mother, you go to the right, I’ll go to the left, we’ll split their attention!” Shen Yu didn’t wait for her mother’s reply and was the first to run into the trees on the left.

If she was the target, then by separating herself from her mother would make the men in black pay less attention to her mother.

As soon as they split up, the men in black all pursued Shen Yu. Just as they were about to close on her, four more men in black suddenly appeared and began fighting the dozen assailants. Shen Yu glanced back and realized these were the covert guards Jia Ming had mentioned before. After one look she did not linger. Saving her life came first.

The covert guards were men Rong Tai had carefully trained over the years and were highly skilled, but the ten or so attackers were also no simple fighters. Even with the guards fighting three against one, some attackers slipped through and continued to chase Shen Yu.

Autumn leaves were abundant and hid traps set by hunters on the ground. Shen Yu ran in haste and could hardly watch her footing. Unwary, she stepped into a trap, a forgotten animal snare, and fell in pain. Looking back, three men in black stood within arm’s reach holding swords.

Shen Yu thought to herself that this time she was truly done for.

Just when Shen Yu felt herself trapped in a hopeless situation with no chance of survival, a long sword suddenly appeared before her. Its side intercepted the sword point that was only half a body’s distance from her.

With one sweep the incoming sword was knocked to the ground. A man in black, back to Shen Yu, opposed the three masked attackers.

It was Jia Ming!

At the sight of that silhouette Shen Yu at once confirmed this man was Jia Ming.

But then she saw his face.

It wasn’t Jia Ming, it was…His Majesty?

Shen Yu instantly forgot the pain in her foot and that she was still being pursued. She stood there stunned.

Disbelieving, she rubbed her eyes vigorously. If her eyesight wasn’t failing, who could explain why His Majesty’s figure overlapped with Jia Ming’s in her perception?

And moreover!

Why were their martial moves so similar?!

Shen Yu had seen Jia Ming fight the Poison Scorpion Lady. Watching Fang Rui now fight the three men in black, the two of them seemed like the same person. Shen Yu couldn’t understand it and she only felt the likeness growing stronger the more she watched.

Fang Rui moved deftly, his hearing and positioning sharp, as if he could see through every next step the three men would take. In just 15 minutes, he had dealt with the three attackers.

He silenced them outright. Having long suspected who would have planned to take Shen Yu’s life, he did not seek to interrogate who had sent them.

Sheathing his sword, he ran anxiously to Shen Yu’s side, crouched down and asked with a tense expression, “My beloved aide Shen, are you alright?”

Shen Yu stared at Fang Rui, disbelief written in her eyes at such a bewildering coincidence.

To Fang Rui, Shen Yu’s expression looked like someone still in shock. He scanned her body and his gaze landed on her left foot caught in the snare. He immediately set his long sword on the ground and went to pry open the trap, saying, “My beloved aide Shen, bear with it a little.”

Pain surged through her foot and Shen Yu snapped back to herself, suppressing her doubts. Pale with pain, she looked at Fang Rui and asked, “Your Majesty, what are you doing on Bozi Mountain?”

“Early this morning an anonymous letter was delivered to the palace gate addressed to Rong Tai. Rong Tai opened it and it said: Bozi Mountain, Shen Yu is in danger. So I hurriedly came with Rong Tai and we split up to search for you on the mountain,” Fang Rui said, distracting Shen Yu as he pried open the snare.

When he received the anonymous letter that morning, Fang Rui had not bothered to verify its authenticity. He left the palace with Rong Tai and a few others, rode toward Bozi Mountain, and had been anxious and uneasy for Shen Yu ever since.

As he was about to remove Shen Yu’s shoe, she flinched and pulled her foot back, wincing in pain.

“Your Majesty, it’s just a minor wound. We don’t know how many men in black there are. Let’s go down the mountain first and treat it later.” Her shoes were two sizes too big and stuffed with cotton. If she took them off now, how was she going to explain this situation?

With that she braced herself against a nearby tree to rise, but Fang Rui pressed her shoulder to stop her. Without a word he rolled up Shen Yu’s trouser leg and carefully removed her shoe and sock.

“The wound is somewhat deep, treat it first.” Saying so, Fang Rui tore off a corner of his robe with a rustle and, with gentle hands, began to inspect the wound.

Seeing this, Shen Yu did not insist on resisting.

When he rolled it up, he saw that on her fair ankle there were several small punctures as if a wild animal had bitten it. Though it wasn’t gushing blood, seven or eight small wounds were oozing drops of blood.

Fang Rui used the torn strip of cloth to slowly wrap the wound, as if afraid of causing Shen Yu pain, treating her as one would a treasured object.

Seeing Fang Rui’s anxiety, Shen Yu again lost herself, staring at the contours of his face toward his ear, and before she knew it she thought of Jia Ming once more.

After bandaging her, Fang Rui lifted his eyes and saw Shen Yu dazed like someone who had lost her soul. Thinking she was worried about her mother, he comforted her, “I brought some people along and they have already found Madam Shen, so you needn’t worry too much.”

At the mention of her mother, Shen Yu could think of nothing else. She tried to push herself up against the tree and said, “I’m still not at ease.”

Fang Rui simply supported Shen Yu and said, “You can’t walk like this. I’ll carry you on my back.”

Hearing this, Shen Yu was startled and shook her head repeatedly. “It’s not proper for His Majesty to carry his subject. I can walk myself.”

Shen Yu was being stubborn, and Fang Rui was mindful that now he was appearing as the Emperor and could not be overbearing, so he relented. He instead placed her hand on his shoulder. “I will support you.”

Fang Rui supported Shen Yu as she limped back to where they had first encountered the men in black. The fighting had ceased. Aside from the scattered offerings from the rites lying on the ground, there were the corpses of the men in black.

Those who had saved Shen Yu were likewise masked and clad in black. Shen Yu couldn’t tell them apart. Among the bodies on the ground, were any of them the covert guards? How could she explain this to Jia Ming?

While Shen Yu stared at the men in black on the ground, trying to discern the differences, Fang Rui’s ear suddenly twitched. He heard sounds in the bushes. He moved deftly, pulling Shen Yu in close by the shoulder. As he turned, a short sword flew past his sleeve and embedded itself in a nearby tree, followed by two short arrows. Fang Rui adjusted his hold from her shoulder to her waist and drew his sword single-handed. With a twist of his body and two sharp snaps, he deflected the arrows. Fixing a cold gaze on the men in the grass, he released Shen Yu. In the blink of an eye, so fast no one could clearly see what flew from his sleeve, a man in the grass collapsed with a silver needle lodged in his throat.

All of it happened in that instant. Shen Yu was genuinely shaken now.