Under the starry night sky, a cluster of vines climbed along the walls, blossoming into beautiful red flowers. Oh, that red, ever so vivid, so passionate. It was as though every stalk of flower contained so much hope and thoughts, waiting for that day where they would bloom into flaming vines that could lit up the sky.
With a gentle touch, the fervor in the air was uncontainable.
Zhan Beiye's dark eyes were filled with so much passion, like the flowers, waiting to bloom.
He slowly… leaned in.
Meng Fuyao suddenly flipped over.
She rolled over to the wall and with a flick, she pushed Zhan Beiye away.
She faced the wall with her back towards Zhan Beiye and continued to sleep.
Zhan Beiye stopped moving as the air around them froze. The nervousness in their breaths was evident.
After a moment of silence, Zhan Beiye opened his mouth.
"You were not that drunk, why pretend?"
Meng Fuyao stiffened.
Her eyes fluttered open as she stared at the wall.
She… was not pretending, nor did she want to hurt Zhan Beiye purposefully.
Meng Fuyao was indeed drunk in the shop, but after the tribulations she had been through, she broke through the fifth level. At this level of Cleaving Nine Heavens, it was almost impossible to get drunk.
She started to sober up when the waiter asked how many rooms they wanted but could not interrupt. After all, it would be weird for two men to ask for separate rooms. With traps laying everywhere for Zhan Beiye to walk into, she could not trouble him.
Afterward, she pretended to be unconscious as she knew that Zhan Beiye would definitely take action tonight and would not allow her to follow. She intended to follow him stealthily after he let his guard down.
Who could have expected the late night could have stirred up such troubles?
Who could have expected Zhan Beiye to be this gentle and attentive?
As his breath got closer, that familiar musky pine-like fragrance of a man enveloped her. She panicked and was at a loss as to how to react. All she could do was to backface him and reject him.
For someone like Zhan Beiye, such a posture was telling enough.
Meng Fuyao bit her lip, grabbed the corner of her blanket and held her breath — there were too many irresistible impulses in life. Hence, she would not get angry with him but hoped he would not overthink this and pretend nothing happened. At least he would not get hurt.
But Zhan Beiye refused to let this go like she hoped.
He was a man that refused to give up easily.
"Fuyao." He took a deep breath, sat at the corner of the bed unmoving and stared at the back that was so close… yet, so far.
"Tell me, am I really forever one step late?"
Meng Fuyao's breath stopped as he asked.
This bold, courageous and straightforward man would actually use such pained tone to ask such question?
A gentle sigh from Meng Fuyao broke the silence as she sat up and turned to look at Zhan Beiye.
She stared into his deep and calm eyes. Yet, that calmness was nothing but a facade; a result of the repression of his passion. She welcomed that straightforward gaze that allowed no escape.
"Zhan Beiye…"
"It's not that you are not good enough, nor is it that you came late. It's me, " She smiled with profound resignation. "It's me, coming at the wrong place at the wrong time… so I do not have the right to choose the right person."
Zhan Beiye's expression returned to normal. What Fuyao's reply got in return was his contemplation and subsequently a laugh, "There is no definite in this world. You said that your arrival here is a mistake? I want to let you know that coming to Five Region Continent is no mistake, coming into my life is no mistake!"
After he said his piece, he strutted out of the room and sat outside, waiting for Meng Fuyao to shower. Lord Yuan Bao sat beside him and the moonlight cast upon them two shadows; one big one small.
Zhan Beiye raised his head and gazed at the moon. The gentle moonlight of the spring slowly soothed his frustrated heart. Suddenly, he tilted his head to look at Lord Yuan Bao and muttered, "Your owner has such good luck."
Lord Yuan, slightly drunk, thought about his sentence. Personally, it felt that it was not the case. People who met Fuyao tended to not have good luck.
It hugged the fruit and bit into it while thinking about it's past in Qiongcang…
The door opened, and Meng Fuyao appeared in front of Zhen Beiye wearing full black. Heartily, she asked, "Where are we going next?"
Zhan Beiye turned around and replied with a twinkle in his eyes, "What do you think?"
"That guy that lost in the finger-guessing game and that Eunuch Hua, they are both your people right?" Meng Fuyao laughed, "But I don't understand the code words."
"They are the informers that my grandfather recruited when he was still alive. What he did for me would suppress your imagination," a bittersweet smile formed on Zhan Beiye's lips, "they told me that Mother is being locked in Xihua Palace with 300 guards watching over her every day. There are three shifts with 100 people each, and they will change shifts every eight hours. They arranged to meet me later to plan the operation for saving Mother."
"What about that Eunuch? What did he say?"
"Eunuch Hua is here to relay other news from the place. When I helped him up, he gave me a slip of paper and inside the silver I gave him was a keepsake."
"That silver, didn't he give it to the waiter?"
"It was merely a deceptive trick. He is a eunuch from the palace, there will definitely be someone watching him," Zhan Beiye chuckled, "So that silver was "given out," but when he did so, he switched the silver. He used to wander around, making a living when he was young, such tricks are a piece of cake for him."
His smile suddenly disappeared, and with a hint of sadness, he said, "Pity he still has to drink at his age because of an order from grandfather… even though he never liked drinking…"
"It was not recently that he went there to wait for you?" asked Meng Fuyao in surprise.
"No, from 20 years ago, Eunuch Hua has been getting drunk at 'Drunkard's return', a fact widely known in the palace. He once served under the previous Emperor, and people in the palace looked after him to a certain extent," Zhan Beiye laughed coldly, "So only in this critical period can he leave the palace as usual. After all, everyone is used to it."
"To spend 20 years to cultivate a habit, to prepare for a rainy day 20 years later…" Meng Fuyao took a deep breath and muttered, "Your grandfather is certainly amazing!"
During their conversation, the two had already walked past many houses into a courtyard. Zhan Beiye climbed onto the roof and lightly knocked on the tile.
After a while, the same rhythm of knocking could be heard coming from below.
Zhan Beiye nodded his head and was about to bring Meng Fuyao down with her when he suddenly stopped.
With a sniff, Meng Fuyao could smell a familiar smell that wafted past her.
Blood stench!
The extreme light blood stench drifted over. If not for the bloody journey they had experienced, it would be impossible for them to detect this blood stench.
Meng Fuyao instinctively reached for Lord Yuan Bao to see his reaction but realized that this danger detector was still back in the room, drunk and hiccuping. If it were to follow, it would not be a danger detector but a point of detection.
On the other hand, Zhan Beiye dragged Meng Fuyao away without hesitation to retreat.
Suddenly, the door opened, and a man in grey walked out. It was the man who said the code words in the restaurant today. Holding up his bleeding finger, he muttered angrily, "For heaven's sake, why knock at the hot water tank out of all places? Look, the tank broke and cut my finger!"
He held up his finger and wriggled it in the air. Blood dripped down from his finger. Meng Fuyao removed a piece of tile, and indeed, there were broken pieces of clay with a puddle of water on the floor.
Zhan Beiye realized what happened and entered the house with Meng Fuyao. The man in grey gestured the two to enter the house. In the house, there was another man, barely visible in the dim light. As he watched Zhan Beiye head over, he got up to bow, but Zhan Beiye stopped him. With a deep voice, Zhan Beiye asked, "How is my mother?"
"News from the place says that she is well. Please do not worry, as long as you do not appear, the Emperor will not harm her."
"I want to fetch her, " Zhan Beiye said straightforwardly, "Would it be difficult?"
"Yes," that person answered without hesitation. "Aside from the 300 guards, the Emperor and Prince Heng placed many traps outside of Xihua Palace waiting for you to fall into them." He did a rough sketch of the layout of Xihua palace and explained, "I suspect this tower is equipped with gunfire since the opposite Chonglian Palace has higher walls compared to Xihua palace. It would be the perfect height for equipping gunfire that aims at Xihua palace. Furthermore, she has been prohibited from entering the front courtyard, implying that there are traps in the front courtyard too."
"The guards are watching her so closely that it would be hard for even an ant to enter. Even when they are changing shifts, there are no loopholes to exploit as the people from the two shifts would overlap, meaning that there would be 600 people. No one dares to neglect as Prince Heng has ordered that if Lady disappears, without reason, all of them would be beheaded."
"We tried to dig a tunnel, but Xihua Palace is situated right in the center with Zhenyi Palace Hall on its right and Fengzhu Palace on its left. The Empress is watching too closely, and it is the most heavily guarded palace. To dig a tunnel would be too dangerous and too long. Furthermore, we would be blocked by the stone wall in the inner city, and we would not be able to move forward."
The person described, in great detail, all the traps that could possibly be along the route to Xihua Palace. He also illustrated all the methods they had tried to save her. With her head propped up by her hand, Fuyao listened closely. The more she listened, the more she felt that saving his mother was mission impossible. Rather, their mission to take Zhan Beiye's life was more likely to succeed.
Under the dim light, one was unable to see Zhan Beiye's expression clearly.
After listening, Zhan Beiye said nothing but replied with a "mhm". He nodded his head after the two adviced him to be careful.
"Indeed, it would not be wise to beat the grass and scare the snake now. A detailed plan is required. At least I know that Mother is doing fine."