Who is Who? And the Whispered Secret Meeting
The atmosphere inside the small bamboo hut, which was usually quiet and lonely, suddenly felt incredibly cramped with five extraordinary individuals gathered within. Sunlight streamed through the window, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air. Following Grandfather Zhao's grand declaration, a heavy silence blanketed the room. Zhao Long, leaning against the wall on the creaking wooden bed, kept his brows tightly furrowed. His sharp, hunter-like eyes scrutinized the group before him with deep suspicion.
"I will go with you, as Grandfather wishes..." Zhao Long broke the silence, his voice dropping a fraction lower. "But before we leave... there is one thing I must know. Who exactly are you people? Ordinary travelers wouldn't have elite guards stationed at the door, nor would they carry enough gold to buy an entire village."
The young hunter's blunt question froze the entire room, as if time itself had stopped.
Crown Prince Liu Tian lost his composure for a fleeting second. He quickly turned to Zhuge Qing, leaning in until their shoulders touched, and whispered, "Strategist Zhuge... did you tell him who we are? If we reveal the truth now, will the shock cause his wounds to tear open?"
Zhuge Qing raised his feather fan to cover the lower half of his face, whispering back with an overly grave expression. "I have not said a word, Your Highness... I thought it best to conceal our identities for safety. But it seems this young man is far sharper than he appears."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the bed, Princess Lao Ying leaned in toward Lin Ying. The two women faced each other and immediately began whispering fervently.
"My Lady... do you think we should tell him the truth?" Lao Ying whispered, tugging at the collar of her rough hemp clothes. "I'm starting to feel suffocated in this outfit. It makes my skin itch, and when I sweat, it feels like I'm being pricked by grass!"
Lin Ying cast a worried glance at Zhao Long before whispering back. "I think... if we tell him now, he might think we are swindlers. Who would believe that the Crown Prince would be walking through the dirt, wearing patched clothes in the middle of a forest?"
The sight of four people pairing off to whisper frantically, leaving the injured man blinking in confusion on the bed, was so absurd that Grandfather Zhao let out a long, exhausted sigh. The old man shook his head, his beard trembling, before raising his voice to snap everyone back to reality.
"Sigh... How long do you plan to whisper? Even the ants walking by can hear you!" Grandfather Zhao shook his head, looking directly at Liu Tian. "Tell him the truth, Young Master... My grandson may be honest, but he is not a fool. The more you hide, the more suspicious he will become."
"I agree completely!" Wei Qing's booming voice suddenly echoed from the window, where the general had rudely poked his head in. "I second the Elder! Just tell him, Your Highness! Even I'm starting to forget whether I'm a general or a tour guide. The suspense is killing me!"
Zhuge Qing lowered his fan, shooting a lethal glare at Wei Qing, who had just single-handedly ruined their top-secret atmosphere.
Liu Tian coughed lightly to hide his embarrassment. He straightened his posture, trying his best to exude the majesty of a Crown Prince while wearing coarse hemp. "Alright... since the Elder has spoken, I will be honest with you. But Ah Long... you must swear to keep this an absolute secret."
Zhao Long nodded slowly. His gaze drifted past Liu Tian to the woman who had bandaged his wounds (Lin Ying), who was currently wearing a highly awkward expression. "I swear. So, who are you?"
Liu Tian took a deep breath. "My name is Liu Tian... I am the Crown Prince of the Han Dynasty. The woman beside me is Princess Lao Ying, my younger sister. And the man holding the fan is Zhuge Qing, my Grand Strategist."
The room plunged into dead silence once more. Zhao Long sat as still as a statue. His eyes widened slightly as he slowly scanned each of them... from head to toe. Then, unable to hold it in, he let out a soft chuckle.
"Are you... joking with me?" Zhao Long said, pointing a finger at Wei Qing by the window. "If the real Crown Prince saw you right now, he would order your executions for impersonating royalty. Especially that general over there—his clothes are so torn I can see his belly!"
Zhao Long's remark caused Wei Qing to look down at his exposed stomach and burst into roaring laughter. Liu Tian stood stunned for a moment before he, too, began to laugh, a genuine sense of relief washing over him.
"You have a point... I suppose I don't look much like a Crown Prince right now," Liu Tian said, his demeanor becoming far more natural. "But the fact that you must go to the capital is no joke. Ah Long... you are severely injured, and this young lady—" he nodded toward Lin Ying "—has not fully recovered either. You both must rest here until your wounds heal. I will leave some of my men to care for you and teach you some foundational martial arts before we depart."
Zhuge Qing offered a faint smile. "Consider this a temporary truce... before the real storm begins the moment we step foot into Chang'an."
Zhao Long leaned back against the wall. The wariness in his eyes was replaced by a mix of curiosity and amusement. He looked at this chaotic group of people who, despite their oddities, shared a strange, genuine camaraderie. And so, the healing in Cloud-Mist Village began amidst the faint sound of laughter, washing away the tears and ashes of the previous night.
The Decoy Pawn and the Hidden Dragon
At the Manor of Grand Secretary Lin Guang – Dead of Night
The atmosphere in the secret hall of the Grand Secretary's manor was suffocatingly oppressive. Flickering candlelight cast menacing shadows across the faces of the six corrupt officials seated around the rosewood table. Lin Guang sat at the head of the table. His eyes, as sharp and cunning as a fox's, were fixed on the opening doors. Han Feng entered, accompanied by a bruised and battered shadow spy.
"Report..." Lin Guang's voice was freezing cold. "How did my operation in Cloud-Mist Valley fare? Why have you returned in such a pathetic state alone?"
The spy groveled on the floor, trembling violently. "Reporting to the Grand Secretary... Eldest Miss Lin Ying's infiltration proceeded exactly as you commanded. She successfully made contact with the hunter suspected to be the Zhao Clan heir. However... just as our 'Hellfire Fang' elite forces raided the village to execute your backup plan—intending to fake a bandit raid and cleanly extract the target—everything fell apart!"
Lin Guang's brows knitted tightly. "My backup plan failed?"
"Yes, Sir! We encountered fierce resistance from an unknown, highly skilled faction lying in ambush. Our elites were almost entirely wiped out! As for Eldest Miss Lin Ying... she vanished during the chaos! I searched everywhere but found no trace of her. I only know that the hunter broke through the encirclement and escaped, heading south... His target is this very capital, Chang'an!"
Tao Jin, the Minister of War, slammed his hand on the table. "Lin Ying failed her mission?! Or did she intentionally let him go?!"
Lin Guang raised a hand, demanding silence. His eyes grew highly complex. "I sent her alone to ensure the operation looked flawless, and I sent you all as backup because I know my daughter's heart is too soft for assassinations... But for her to vanish alongside the target who is now heading straight here... what a profound coincidence."
He stood up, his posture elegant yet radiating malice. "Han Feng! Increase the guards at the city gates tenfold. Inspect everyone arriving from the North with a fine-tooth comb. If you spot any young man with the bearing of a warrior or carrying long weapons, arrest him immediately! I will use the treasonous stigma of the Zhao Clan to bury him right at the city gates!"
In the dark corner behind a carved wooden screen, Su Fei, the Second Madam, cast a sidelong glance at her daughter, Lin Jiao, who was smiling deviously. "Do you see, Jiao'er? Your elder sister has vanished during a critical crisis. Her position as the favored daughter is surely trembling now."
Lin Jiao offered a beautiful yet venomous smile. Her eyes glinted with sharp intellect. "Can you truly not see it, Mother? Would Elder Sister Ying really just 'vanish' during a chaotic battle? She is far too clever and agile for that. If she hadn't intentionally used her 'Nightbird' persona to help that traitor escape, Father, in all his paranoia, wouldn't have needed to deploy a backup plan to follow her in the first place."
She leaned in and whispered into her mother's ear. "Elder Sister Ying volunteered for this solo reconnaissance mission specifically to find a way to protect the Zhao heir, fulfilling that dying vow of Mother Su Qing... I truly cannot wait to see Father's face when he realizes that the 'bird' he hired assassins to hunt down is his own eldest daughter. What a grand opera this is shaping up to be. I will gladly pull the curtains closed with my own two hands."
Lin Guang continued to stare at the map of the capital, his eyes burning with twenty years of simmering hatred... completely unaware that the grim reaper he feared most was not the Nine-Heavens Spear outside his walls, but the daughter he commanded with his own hands!
At the Hunter's Village, Cloud-Mist Valley
The cold morning breeze swept through the ruins of the hunter's village. The stench of war was fading, replaced by the scent of boiling herbal medicine and the sounds of rebuilding. Faint sunlight pierced the mist, bathing the recovering land.
Zhao Long sat leaning against the front of his hut, his large hands tightly gripping the hem of his shirt. His dark, intense eyes flashed with pain every time he took a deep breath. The wound on his left flank—battered from fighting bandits and aggravated by Wei Qing's heavy blade—remained severely inflamed, making even the slightest movement agonizing.
Lin Ying (in her Ye Nian persona) knelt dutifully by his side. Her slender hands meticulously pressed a warm, damp cloth against his wound. However, she too had to subtly grit her teeth to endure the pain from the arrow wound on her own left shoulder. Her eyes were calm but hid a profound, deep-seated concern.
"Brother Long..." Ah Chui, the Village Chief's daughter, approached carrying a bowl of hot porridge. She stopped and looked at him with longing eyes. "I brought you some food. You look so pale today... How are you feeling?"
Zhao Long managed a small nod for the young girl. "Thank you, Ah Chui. I am feeling a bit better."
Seeing Ye Nian tending to his wounds so intimately, Ah Chui could only set the bowl down on a nearby stool. "In that case... Lady Ye Nian, please take good care of Brother Long." She quickly turned and walked away, heading back to help at the village pavilion as her father had instructed.
Not far away, Wei Qing leaned against a tree, hugging the hilt of his massive broadsword tightly with a highly apologetic expression. Princess Lao Ying marched up to him, scolding the young general without holding back.
"Look at what you've done, Wei Qing!" Lao Ying, acting as the elder sister, addressed him with familiar authority. "Ah Long is half-dead because you let your battle-lust take over and challenged him! He used nothing but firewood to block your giant blade until his wounds tore open! If Sister Ye Nian hadn't tended to him, his flesh would be rotting by now!"
Wei Qing bowed his head in defeat. "I was wrong, Princess... I just never expected a simple hunter to be that terrifyingly skilled."
Over by a large shade tree, Crown Prince Liu Tian and Zhuge Qing were deep in discussion, preparing for their imminent departure.
"Your Highness..." Zhuge Qing waved his feather fan gently, his eyes gleaming with sharp strategy. "I have already sent a spy to feed Han Feng false information that the Zhao heir is heading toward the capital. Lin Guang will fortify the city gates to ambush this supposed 'master' he is expecting... Therefore, my plan is for Your Highness and myself to ride ahead and openly return to the imperial palace today."
Liu Tian raised an eyebrow. "You want me to go ahead to serve as a decoy?"
"Exactly, Your Highness," Zhuge Qing nodded. "The open, highly publicized return of the Crown Prince will draw every eye in Chang'an to your procession. Lin Guang will be so preoccupied scheming against you in the royal court that he will completely forget to worry about the injured stragglers left behind... Meanwhile, Zhao Long, who is currently unfit to travel, will rest here a while longer. He will later slip into the capital alongside Wei Qing and Sister Ye Nian, disguised within a caravan of refugees."
The young strategist looked over at Zhao Long, who remained completely unaware of his own true identity. "When Lin Guang believes he has absolute control of the situation and finds no trace of the Zhao heir in your entourage, he will lower his guard... And that is precisely when the true 'Dragon' will quietly slip into the very heart of the capital."
Zhao Long watched the backs of the Crown Prince and the strategist as they prepared to ride out. The lingering confusion remained, but the warmth from Ye Nian's fingertips as she carefully wrapped his bandages grounded him. He allowed himself to remain still, quietly waiting f
or the moment destiny would call his name once more.