usatvline Chapter 90 090 Caught Red-Handed
Chapter 90 090 Caught Red-Handed
Chapter 90 090 Caught Red-Handed
Late at night, after finishing her chanting, Old Madam Song had her maid help her to bed at Ciyuan Hall. Because of the constant Buddhist offerings, Ciyuan Hall was always filled with the fragrance of sandalwood, a scent known for its calming effect. Old Madam Song usually fell asleep to that fragrance and slept soundly through the night without dreams. However, tonight, for some reason, after falling asleep, she began to have a series of dreams.
The dreams were chaotic and fragmented, with constantly changing scenes that made her dizzy. When she tried to take a closer look, she was deeply haunted by a whole expanse of blood red.
“…Song Ling…give me back my son…you killed my son…you killed him!”
"Ah—you vicious woman—you'll die a horrible death! You'll definitely die a horrible death!"
A piercing scream echoed incessantly in Old Madam Song's mind. Countless ghostly hands reached out from the pool of blood, grabbing at her legs. Terrified, Old Madam Song screamed and tried to back away, but instead found a ghostly figure standing behind her, blowing a gust of cold wind near her ear.
"...Song Ling...are you doing alright in your current position? Hehehehe...do you think...that with Qi De and me dead...you can finally relax and be a carefree lady of the Marquis's mansion?"
"No! Qide's death has nothing to do with me! He didn't notice the bandits' arrows! He was careless, who can he blame?" Old Madam Song cried out in panic.
"Shut up! Bandits? The battlefield is supposed to be a battle between soldiers of two countries, how could bandits suddenly appear! You must have bribed an assassin to disguise himself as a bandit and kill him so that your Ye Xingguan could inherit the position of heir, right!"
"So what if it is?" Old Madam Song's face turned sinister. "I am the one who has survived, and I am the one who has won! You are long gone, what can you do to me?"
The dark figure let out a sharp, high-pitched laugh, and then Old Madam Song felt her throat being suddenly gripped, making it hard for her to breathe.
"What can you do to me? You murdered Qide with vicious means and plotted to seize the position of heir apparent. The ancestors of the Ye family have seen it all. Why don't you come with me today to apologize to the ancestors?"
Even though it was just a dream, Old Madam Song felt the suffocating sensation of impending death very clearly. She opened her eyes wide in agony, screaming and struggling desperately.
“No—no—!”
Startled awake from her nightmare, Old Madam Song clutched her wildly beating heart and sat up shakily, panting. The oil lamp on the table had gone out by itself, and the curtains hanging in the room were swaying without wind. It was the most familiar room, yet it always made her feel uneasy.
"Hehehehe..." Suddenly, a strange bird call came from outside the window. Startled by the eerie sound, Old Madam Song broke out in a cold sweat and cried out, "Granny Wen! Granny Wen! Qiu Jin! Dong'er!"
No matter how she called, there was no response from inside the room. Moreover, the eerie bird calls outside the window seemed to be getting closer and closer, accompanied by the faint sound of a woman crying. Recalling her dream, Old Madam Song's heart began to pound uncontrollably again. She hurriedly got out of bed, rushed to the Buddhist hall, put on her prayer beads, knelt on the prayer mat, and struck the wooden fish with a "tap, tap, tap" sound, while frantically chanting the Rebirth Mantra.
"Namo Amitabha Buddha Tathagata..."
A sudden gust of cold wind blew from behind, and the candlelight on the Buddhist shrine flickered a few times before going out. Just as the candlelight went out, a shrill cry of a baby rang in Madam Song's ears. Madam Song screamed uncontrollably, the wooden fish in her hand clattered to the ground, and she fainted from fright.
At this very moment, in Lanxin Courtyard, Chunyu Yang, who was in a light sleep, sensed something amiss and opened his eyes to wake up. Also awakened with him was Ye Pianran, whose physique had been improved by the spatial spiritual spring, giving her extraordinary hearing and sense of smell.
In the darkness, a wisp of smoke drifted slowly down from the ceiling, carrying with it a mesmerizing fragrance that gradually filled the room. Although Chunyu Yang felt no discomfort from the scent, he keenly sensed that someone intended to harm Ye Pianran.
His gaze sharpened, and he sat up straight, immediately intending to grab the person. Unexpectedly, Ye Pianran walked over and held him down, putting a finger to her lips in a shushing gesture.
“Wait a minute,” she wrote in Chunyu Yang’s palm.
Chunyu Yang paused, then replied in her palm, "Aren't you afraid?"
Her eyes shone brightly, gleaming with a captivating cold light, as she wrote: "Let's see what they're really up to."
Chunyu Yang hesitated for a moment, then grabbed Ye Pianran's waist with his large hand and, with a leap, silently brought her to the roof beam. Once on the roof beam, Ye Pianran could see more clearly the wisp of smoke being sent into the house, and a chill ran through her.
After a long while, perhaps confirming that there were no other sounds from inside, the roof tiles shifted slightly, and the person turned and headed elsewhere. Ye Pianran's expression changed, and she exclaimed, "Oh no! That's Mother's room!"
"Stay here and don't move around. I'll go check on you," Chunyu Yang said in a deep voice. He placed her on the roof beam, opened the window, and jumped up. Ye Pianran was no longer in the mood to care about why he moved so freely; her heart was clenching with anxiety.
After Chunyu Yang rolled out, he saw a shadowy figure flash by on Gongsun Yuan's roof. He used his lightness skill to silently walk in the direction where the shadow disappeared, and under the cover of night, he completely hid himself in the dead corner of the eaves where the candlelight could not reach.
Behind Gongsun Yuan's house, a burly man dressed in black was seen digging a pit in the ground with a shovel. After finishing the pit, the man in black opened a burlap sack that was placed on the ground, dragged out the corpse of a dead body, and threw it into the pit.
Smelling the strong stench of blood emanating from the dead creature, Chunyu Yang frowned deeply.
The man in black moved swiftly and efficiently, from digging the pit to filling it with soil and then completing the camouflage, all in less than half an incense stick's time. Having finished, he leaped back to Gongsun Yuan's house, pushed open the door, and carefully slipped inside.
Thinking the man in black truly intended to harm Gongsun Yuan, Chunyu Yang immediately tumbled from the rooftop to the ground, flicking a pebble into the closing door. The pebble struck several vital points on the man's body with pinpoint accuracy. Taking advantage of the man's momentary lapse in movement, Chunyu Yang wrapped his soft sword around the man's neck and said coldly:
"Take one more step and your head will roll!"
Gongsun Yuan was a light sleeper, and when she heard a man's voice suddenly coming from the room, she was startled awake: "Who is it!"
She hurriedly got out of bed and lit the oil lamp. The moment the flame lit up, she saw Chunyu Yang and the man in black facing each other by the door. She screamed in fright, "Help! There's an assassin!"
However, when she called out several times, the night watch maid who was supposed to be sleeping in the side room did not make a sound. Instead, Ye Pianran rushed over.
"Mother, are you alright? Are you injured? Do you feel unwell anywhere?" Ye Pianran rushed to Gongsun Yuan's side and anxiously looked her up and down.
Accompanying Ye Pianran were Ling Shu and Ling Yi. The two women went into the inner room to check on things, then came out carrying the suddenly awakened Ye Yankang, saying:
"Miss, the young master is alright, but Granny Xu and the others have all been drugged with sleeping potion and are unconscious!"
What! There's sleeping potion too? Gongsun Yuan was still in shock. She rushed forward and hugged Ye Yankang tightly, asking in a trembling voice, "What exactly happened?!"
"Mother, it's a long story. I'll explain it to you later, okay?" Ye Pianran gently patted Gongsun Yuan's hand and soothed her softly.
The man in black had thought his plan for tonight was foolproof, but not only had he failed to drug Ye Pianran and Gongsun Yuan, he had also been caught red-handed. He immediately gritted his teeth and asked:
"Everyone else was drugged and passed out, so why are you the only ones who are unharmed?"
"Why?" Ye Pianran turned around and looked at him coldly, "Because Heaven has eyes and spared our lives!"
"Speak, who are you, and who sent you? What is your purpose in sneaking into the Marquis's residence in the dead of night?" Chunyu Yang moved his wrist, and the soft sword drew a bloody line on the black-clad assassin's neck.
This man in black was only of average skill level in the martial arts world, not even as good as the assassin at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet. He was no match for Chunyu Yang at all. Threatened like this, his legs went weak, and he quickly revealed his mission:
"I...I...I'll tell you! I'll tell you! I'm just a wandering swordsman without any sect or affiliation. I just arrived in the capital a couple of days ago. While having tea at a teahouse, I heard that someone was offering a large sum of money to hire martial arts masters. I happened to be short of money, so I went to the person who posted the message to accept the mission. The person was very satisfied with me when he saw me, gave me some sleeping incense, and asked me to sneak into the Marquis's mansion late tonight..."
Ye Pianran and Gongsun Yuan became increasingly alarmed as they listened, their expressions growing colder and colder. When they heard the man in black say that he had buried the corpse of a raccoon behind the house, and Chunyu Yang found several small wooden figures stained with blood on his body, the two realized that someone was very likely setting a trap for them, and it was an extremely insidious one at that.
"Mother, this matter is very strange. I want to go to the back of the house to take a look." Ye Pianran said, holding Gongsun Yuan's hand tightly. "If you are afraid, you can rest inside. The Third Prince is here, so there shouldn't be any more accidents."
Gongsun Yuan looked at Chunyu Yang, who nodded slightly to her with a cold and stern face. Her panicked heart miraculously calmed down, and she said to Ye Pianran, "Okay, then be careful."
"Ling Shu, Ling Yi, you two stay here and take good care of Madam and Young Master," Ye Pianran instructed.
"Yes!"
They escorted the assassin in black back to the spot where the dead cat had been buried. Chunyu Yang kicked the man in the knee, and as he fell to his knees, he pressed the sharp blade against his neck and said coldly:
"Dig out the dead cat."