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Kou and Xu quietly sat down on the putuan. Liao Kong opened his eyes and said with a smile, “You are finally here! Is everything going well?”

Kou Zhong reported the situation briefly to let Liao Kong understand the whole situation, and then he said, “The most difficult thing to deal with now is Shi Zhixuan. Because of the complicated relationship between Xiao Ling and him, we cannot harden our heart to put him to death. This seems to be the only think we can do at the present time.”

Liao Kong’s pair of eyes flashing with intelligence brimming with Buddhism subtleties, he nodded and said, “That is definitely not a good way. With two Shizhu’s [benefactors] current skills and level of maturity, even fighting one on one, you can be a peer competition to him. However, if you want to put him to death, even if you add Lao Na [old cassock], I am afraid we still cannot have our wishes fulfilled.”

Xu Ziling said, “Before assassinating Zhao Deyan, it won’t be easy to hide from Shi Zhixuan. After the assassination, based on his ability and wisdom, he will be able to see through our secrets through spider’s threat and horse track, at that time, the consequences will be hard to guess.”

Liao Kong spoke indifferently, “Shi Zhixuan definitely will not allow Li Shimin to become the true lord who unites the world, because that would mean the demonic school will be thoroughly fall from the horse [fig. suffer a setback]. On the contrary, if Kou Shizhu obtains the world, he can temporarily put up with it and conspire to sweep up the earth to start over, because with Shaoshuai in place of the Tang, Shi Zhixuan will think that we have also fallen from our horse.”

Having a headache, Kou Zhong said, “What should we do then?”

Liao Kong called on one of the many names of Buddha in a low voice, and said, “There is only one person who can change Shi Zhixuan, you should know who I am referring to?”

Shaken, Xu Ziling said, “Qingxuan!”

Knitting his brows, Kou Zhong said, “Xiao Ling does not wish for Qingxuan to get involved in this matter, afraid that she will be put in difficult position.”

Liao Kong called on one of the many names of Buddha again, and spoke softly, “I am asking two gentlemen to temporarily set aside the matter of dealing with Shi Zhixuan. Feixuan is coming to Chang’an within these ten days, she might bring a solution.”

And then he closed his eyes and put his palms together in salute.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling could only put their palms together to return the salute to this virtuous holy monk, and then left extremely quietly.

When Kou Zhong pushed the door and entered in, Shen Luoyan was lying down on the couch leisurely, reading a scroll she held in her hand. She was scared by him and sat up straight, stroking her silky chest and speaking crossly, “Why didn’t you send a signal first? Do you want to scare me to death?”

Without the slightest care, Kou Zhong sat down in the chair on her other side, he smiled and said, “Wouldn’t that be doing more than is required? This general mansion of yours, the security is sloppy and useless, anybody who knows a little bit of qinggong would know whether there is someone or not, not even a single maid was seen.” And then he casually pulled off his mask.

Shen Luoyan spoke in displeasure, “I was just trying to make it easier for you, Kou Daye to meet your first love, hence I sent some people out to work, while the others are transferred to the front courtyard to await orders. I am showing you kindness, and you still ridicule my security as lacking.”

Kou Zhong nodded and said, “Without saber surpasses with saber, or perhaps it is called empty is actually real.”

Laughing in spite of herself, Shen Luoyan said, “Why is Shaoshuai beside yourself [orig. losing soul and falling spirit]? You are babbling a mouthful of nonsense. Although the number of family generals responsible to guard my humble abode is not many, but all are experts who have followed me since the Wagang Army era, in terms of loyalty, martial art skill, and experience, there won’t be any problem, you can set your heart at ease.”

Finished speaking, she stood up gracefully and said, “There is not much time! You quietly wait here obediently, don’t run around randomly. Remember, under any circumstances, you are not to touch Li Xiuning, or I will be guilty.”

Kou Zhong spoke dejectedly, “Am I such a person with no self-control? At least until today, I still had not committed any shady business with Meiren’er Junshi.”

Shen Luoyan’s pretty face blushed slightly, she cursed in low voice, “Shameless,” and then twisted her willow waist, she walked out.

Kou Zhong rose up to his full height; through the window, he followed Shen Luoyan’s beautiful back walking through the garden and crossing over the corridor. The touching scene of when he first met Li Xiuning and she pressed a dagger against his throat floated in his heart. In those days, how could he have imagined situation like today would happen?

Xu Ziling returned to Situ Mansion, Lei Jiuzhi intercepted him and took him to the inner hall via the side road.

While walking, Lei Jiuzhi, radiant with delight, said, “This morning was really wonderful. Not long after you left, Chi Shengchun took You Bai San, whose face was still blue, his lips white, and his spirit depressed; he mistakenly thought that because he did not properly cover up last night, he caught cold and fell ill – to come here to see our Furong Ye. Xiao Ba’s technique is really formidable. You Baisan really did not know that someone had extorted confession out of him, his brains did not register any memory. Looking at it, most likely his memory will take some time to cultivate and consolidate, like a lot of people when they woke up after experiencing an accident, they are completely unaware of what happened to them, so much so that they even lose their memories of the past. This thing called memory is really amazing.”

Xu Ziling laughed and said, “Lei Dage seems to be very excited!”

Lei Jiuzhi spoke cheerfully, “Not excited, but shocked. Things that originally were simply impossible to resolve unexpectedly are easily settled. You don’t know how much our Furong Ye cares about Xiao Baizi’s [little Bai (white) kid] physical condition. Ha! Xiao Baizi! Just by calling his nickname, how could Chi Shengchun dare to doubt?”

Inside the inner hall, Wang Xuanshu was alone, sitting with blank expression on his face; seeing Xu Ziling’s return, he hurriedly stood up.

After the three men sat down, Xu Ziling asked about Ba Fenghan.

Lei Jiuzhi replied, “Xiao Ba is in his room, I don’t know whether he is meditating or sleeping. Xiao Jie went out to see his sweetheart, our Furong Ye is not lonely though, Hu Xiaoxian is in the main hall, pandering to him.”

Frowning, Xu Ziling said, “Hu Xiaoxian?”

Lei Jiuzhi sighed and said, “There are a couple of things I really want to remind Xiao Jun, he is such an honest and sincere person, women like Hu Xiaoxian are really not suitable for him; being captivated by Hu Xiaoxian can’t possibly have good outcome.”

Xu Ziling said, “Hu Xiaoxian’s natural character really is not that bad, she is just being influenced by her environment and family background, and Hu Fo is just using her, this adopted daughter to beguile the rich and powerful. Let’s see how the situation develops first!”

Turning to Wang Xuanshu, he asked, “What kind of person Shuni actually is?”

Wang Xuanshu was a bit startled, he muttered to himself irresolutely for a moment, and then said with a sigh, “Since she was little, she loved to do her own way. After getting tangled with Yang Xuyan, she did not listen to Die even more. But she was rather close to me, when she was in distress, she would talk to me about the load on her mind, other than that no one can do anything about her.”

Lei Jiuzhi spoke heavily, “If Shimin, Jiancheng, and Yuanji, are all died in battle, wouldn’t the title of Emperor fall on the son born to her and Li Yuan?”

Xu Ziling nodded and said, “This is perhaps Yang Xuyan’s grand plan to usurp the Li Tang.”

Wang Xuanshu revealed a worried look.

Xu Ziling said, “Waiting is uncomfortable. But at the moment we must patiently wait for the coming of the final victory.”

Wang Xuanshu nodded and said, “Xuanshu understands!”

Xu Ziling stood up and said, “I’m going to talk to Fenghan. If Xibai comes back, would Lei Dage please tell him to see me?”

Through the window, Kou Zhong looked at Li Xiuning, whom he had not seen for a long time, accompanied by Shen Luoyan, walking along the winding corridor in the middle of the garden toward the study room. It was obvious that Li Xiuning was in a heavy mood, she hung her head down in silence, her lotus steps moved lightly, without realizing that Kou Zhong was fixing his eyes on her, not missing her every move.

The winding corridor was covered with snow, icicles were hanging on the trees. The snow-white, pure and beautiful courtyard, set Li Xiuning’s – her black hair was combed into a topknot, she was wearing narrow-sleeved pink blouse, plain green short cotton robe, white long tunic, her feet covered in multicolored national flower embroidered pretty shoes – elegant grandeur and grace off even more. Although her flowery jade countenance carried a bit of haggard look that could not be concealed, but she appeared all the more lovely and moving, some kind of I-pity-you beautiful bearing.

Kou Zhong suddenly wondered, if Li Xiuning was willing to go far away with him, henceforth did not pay attention to the affairs of life, would he put everything aside and spend the rest of his life with her?

He could not stop the pain from growing in his heart; forget about Li Xiuning would not be willing to do this, he himself would not be able to do it either. When he first met Li Xiuning, he had long felt that he was destined not to be together with her, and until today, everything had become a foregone conclusion.

Shen Luoyan appeared before his eyes again, but immediately left in the opposite direction. Kou Zhong felt that he had lost the courage to turn around to face Li Xiuning.

With a soft sound of footsteps, Li Xiuning’s voice rang out behind him, speaking with a sigh, “Xiuning really cannot understand Shaoshuai, the situation has developed into the current plight, how come you still forget about military affairs and take the risk to come to Chang’an, and even asked to see Xiuning? Aren’t you afraid that Xiuning will lodge an accusation against you?”

Kou Zhong felt miserable in his heart, he swallowed with difficulty and said, “In that case, is there magnificent army with thousands of men and horses laid out outside to heavily surround this place?

Li Xiuning spoke in displeasure, “Kou Zhong!”

Kou Zhong slowly turned his tiger-body around to meet Li Xiuning’s brimming with contradictions and bitter resentment – eyes; he could not help but speaking softly, “At this very moment Xiuning sees me Kou Zhong standing here, it precisely means that I, Kou Zhong want to fight for the last opportunity, so that the common people under the heavens can avoid a devastating big catastrophe. I will not hide anything from you, and Xiuning must make a rational choice. Presently, there are only two ways that Xiuning can go, and either choice you make, there won’t be any way back. In everything, you cannot have three hearts and two intentions, otherwise, the one suffering damage will not only be the Great Tang Dynasty, but also the innocent people in the world.”

Li Xiuning revealed a look of horror, she shook her head and said, “I don’t understand what are you talking about? You are not asking me to go with you, are you?”

Kou Zhong forgot Shen Luoyan’s warning not to touch her, he reached out to her two like-being-carved-by-a-knife fragrant shoulders, and looked deeply into her eyes. He spoke in low voice, “I decided to give up contending for hegemony over the world, and to help your Er Wangxiong [second older brother king] with all my strength to ascend the emperor throne instead.”

“Ah!” Li Xiuning let out a soft cry, her tender body shook violently, her pretty eyes emitted hard-to-believe expressions.

Kou Zhong nearly leaned over to kiss her fragrant lips, fortunately, he was able to maintain his reason, and quickly composed himself. He spoke with serious expression, “When did I, Kou Zhong, ever tell you a lie? This matter is absolutely true. I am sneaking into Chang’an this time, it is with the hope that we could use a limited, small-scale coup d’état, instead of dragging-for-months-and-years successive bloody battles of siege and defense, which will throw the people into a terrible situation, to accomplish the magnificent feat of bringing the world back into reunification. The day Qin Wang ascending to the throne will be the day my work is done and I will withdraw. Xiuning, do you understand?”

Li Xiuning still shook her head, revealing a shocked expression, obviously she was incapable to comprehend and did not dare to believe Kou Zhong’s words.

Kou Zhong felt her flesh and blood shook and shivered in the palm of his hands, he felt the closeness between the two sides that never happened before, and yet the distance seemed so far away.

He spoke heavily, “Xiuning’s family has split into two the-two-cannot-exist-together opposing forces. If I, Kou Zhong do not support your Erxiong, when he returns to Chang’an, the only remaining allotted share for him is to be slaughtered, the only way to protect himself is to seize Luoyang, raise his troops and proclaim independence. That is actually the worst-case scenario, because the coalition forces from outside the Great Wall’s invasion is imminent. Only when the world is unified we can have the hope to concentrate our strength and beat back the foreign enemies.”

Li Xiuning asked in trembling voice, “How about Er Wangxiong?”

Recovering his calm, Kou Zhong replied, “Qin Wang and I have formed a together-in-life-and-death alliance, we even went to Lingnan together to visit Song Que, and we have received Song Que’s full support.”

Her breathing became ragged, Li Xiuning said, “This sounds like impossible; you are really not joking?”

Smiling bitterly, Kou Zhong said, “How could I be willing to deceive you? The current situation is that the more we can win over more people to stand on your Er Wangxiong’s side, the more we can reduce the bloodshed and the injuries and deaths, the quicker Chang’an can be stabilized, so that the new dynasty can quickly stabilize the situation and make a strong counterattack against foreign enemies. Does Xiuning trust me?”

Li Xiuning’s hot tears gushing out, she hung her head low and sobbed, “You are still asking me? You should know the answer.”

His heart ached, Kou Zhong raised one hand to wiped your tears [sic] with his sleeves, he said, “I want to hear Xiuning say it.”

Crying, Li Xiuning said, “Kou Zhong, you know that by coming here to see you, Xiuning has committed big crime and high treason. Luoyan refused to say anything, she only said that you wanted to see me, hence I came.”

Seeing the more she cried the more bitter she became, once it started there was no stopping it, as if she wanted to release all the sorrows in her heart, Kou Zhong spoke in panic, “Don’t cry! If someone finds that your beautiful eyes are red and swollen, it would be strange indeed if they don’t get suspicious.”

Under his persuasion, Li Xiuning gradually stopped crying. After somewhat calming down, she spoke softly, “What are you guys going to do?”

Kou Zhong dejectedly said, “I don’t want to lie to you, we can’t wait anymore, the battle for the throne in Chang’an has reached the you-die-or-I-perish terrible situation. We obtained reliable intelligence that Jiancheng is colluding in secret with Liang Shidu to reach out to the Tujue, they bought a large quantity of ruthless Jiangnan firearms from Haisha Bang, only waiting for Qin Wang to be forced to move to Hong Yi Palace; surprise attack might happen any moment.”

Severely shaken, Li Xiuning immediately came to her senses, glistening teardrops were still flickering on her pretty eyes, she stared at him and said, “Turns out you are really in alliance with Er Wangxiong, otherwise you should not know about the Hong Yi Palace. If Da Wangxiong [first brother king] really has such a batch of firearms, it should be extremely confidential. How did you know about it?”

Kou Zhong happily said, “We can finally get to the point! How about we sit down and talk further? Because I’m afraid that I can’t help but violating you, at least I might steal an opportunity to kiss you.”

Li Xiuning rolled her eyes at him; hanging her head down, her pink face turned deep red, she said, “You still have that revolting behavior; why haven’t you let me go?”

Still in bed, Ba Fenghan stretched out; he watched Xu Ziling sitting down on the side, and said, “I have never had a fragrant and sweet sleep like this perhaps for several years. As soon as I went to bed this morning, I was gone until this moment.”

Xu Ziling spoke cheerfully, “But you are still highly alert, I pushed the door open and you immediately woke up.”

Ba Fenghan moved to the edge of the bed and sat up straight, he smiled and said, “In troubled times, this is a good habit. But in a peaceful and prosperous time, the opposite is true, it will make you cannot sleep in peace. Did things go well this morning?”

Xu Ziling nodded and said, “We even saw Li Yuan, it would have been better if it weren’t for Pei Ji being meddlesome.” And then he told him what happened this morning, including their meeting with Liao Kong.

Ba Fenghan reminded him, “Don’t forget, you are to see Feng Deyi tonight to find out who the person who betrayed Shi Zhixuan was. The days with no wind, no waves, are really not easy to pass, I really wish I could find someone to exercise my muscles and bones.”

Xu Ziling spoke indifferently, “Yet I hope that the breeze is still, the waves are quiet [idiom: tranquil environment] until the moment of the decisive battle; however, things turn out contrary to the way one wishes [idiom], assassinating Zhao Deyan is by no means easy.”

After a short pause, he muttered to himself irresolutely, “Your technique to make people forget about being tortured for confession was effective on both Guan Ping and You Baisan, I wonder if it will also effective against people with high martial arts skills?”

Ba Fenghan said, “Based on my experience, the key of success of this unique technique of ‘wang xing’ [lit. punishment to forget] lies in its suddenness. As soon as I make the move, the vital acupoint on the other side’s forehead must be controlled immediately, so that the opponent’s head is like being treated by acupuncture, and thus unable to think in an orderly manner. Dealing with powerful martial artists, I have to spend some all-out effort before I have a chance to subdue him, hence the effectiveness of this method is questionable. Ziling have a good suggestion?”

Xu Ziling said, “I am thinking about that batch of firearms. Qiao Gongshan and Er Wenhuan should be the men in the know. If this method works, we could find out where the firearms are hidden without fear of being removed by the enemy one step ahead. At least being able to monitor the firearm situation at any time will be greatly beneficial to us.”

Ba Fenghan said with a sneer, “What kind of thing are Qiao Gongshan and Er Wenhuan anyway? As long as we set the plan, combined with an appropriate environment. The most important thing is that after he wakes up, he will not be suspicious, I dare to guarantee that everything will be in order.”

But then he frowned and said, “If we destroy the firearms, even more problems will come one after another: Li Jiancheng will definitely be on guard, which will have a great impact on our plans; an even bigger problem is Shi Zhixuan. Others might not know that it is our doing, but he might think in this direction. Perhaps he might even see through our partnership with Li Shimin.”

Xu Ziling said, “Let’s not worry about this for now. First of all, we must figure out where the firearms are hidden.”

Ba Fenghan spoke cheerfully, “As long as I have the correct information, I can hide in one of their warm blankets tonight, and when he comes back, I will wait upon him nicely.”

Xu Ziling said, “It would be best to give me two or three days to investigate clearly. Er Wenhuan seems to be a bit easier to eat, let’s choose him as the target.”

Ba Feng said, “Or, you practically don’t have to take this risk. Most likely the firearms are hidden in the West Market’s He Chang Long. Yang WenGan has always had close relation with Jiancheng, as long as a city gate catches fire, it is equivalent to bringing disaster to the fish in the moat. By then, the sky will be full of fireworks and fire arrows, we must admire it attentively from the side.”

Laughing involuntarily, Xu Ziling said, “Your move of fighting fire with fire is indeed amazing. In that case, we must investigate it even more clearly to guarantee that it will be surefire.”

Ba Fenghan said, “There is still half a month’s time before Li Shimin is withdrawing the troops from the front and returning to Chang’an. At that time, Jiancheng, Yuanji’s vigilance will be greatly increased, we’d better take advantage of this period to make all preparations.”

Xu Ziling said, “That’s for sure, what are Fenghan’s plans tonight?”

Ba Fenghan said, “Last night following Old Chi saved us from a catastrophe. Tonight, I still want to follow him in secret to see who he is going to meet, what he is going to say? Know yourself, know your enemy, and you will emerge victorious in every battle, right?”

This moment Lei Jiuzhi came in to report, “Pei Ji and Wen Yanbo are here! They are studying the details of the Flying Money Business with our Furong Ye and Shen Ye. Ignoring any changes in the political situation in the future, the more it is stirred up, this business will definitely become bigger and bigger, and it must be a joint venture between the government and the business world.”

“Where is Hu Xiaoxian?” Xu Ziling asked.

“She has just left,” Lei Jiuzhi replied, I heard Furong Ye say that Hu Fo could only raise fifty thousand taels of gold in a short time, hence he sent Hu Xiaoxian to sweet talk our Furong Ye to advance the remaining half of the capital, fifty thousand taels of gold, for her Die, and then disregarding interest, he will pay back in installments. Our Furong Ye patted his chest and agreed. His granny’s, this kid is infatuated with beauty, unexpectedly he forgets that we don’t have much gold and silver on hand.”

Ba Fenghan laughed and said, “He did not forget at all, rather, he must flaunt his wealth in front of beauties.”

Having a headache, Xu Ziling said, “How are we going to handle this?”

Lei Jiuzhi laughed and said, “Only one way: we must win back these fifty thousand taels of gold from the Six-Happiness. Ha!”