Chapter 224: with translation of chapter title

"Good! Good!" Xiao Wei walked step by step toward Princess Yalan, and with each step, blood dripped from his body onto the ground, winding into a blood line.

Princess Yalan gasped heavily, each breath vomiting blood, yet she still looked at Xiao Wei with delight.

This delight carried a hint of regret; she hadn't expected Xiao Wei to be so formidable that, even in her dazed infatuation, he could instantly stay clear-headed and slap her away.

Her blade also veered off, stabbing into his chest, but it did not pierce his heart.

Xiao Wei grabbed the slippery hilt and slowly pulled it out; instantly blood gushed from his chest, and he fiercely stabbed toward Princess Yalan's heart.

"Kill someone? Hah! I'll have to teach you myself!"

"Good! I'll also teach you how to be human!" Princess Yalan laughed out loud, not only failing to dodge Xiao Wei's incoming blade, but instead thrusting her chest forward to meet the dagger in his hand as she lunged at him.

At that moment Xiao Wei even felt a bit bewildered—why didn't she dodge, and yet dared to lunge at him.

His blade had already pierced her chest, but at that instant his hand trembled slightly, veering a few inches off, and then a sharper, unfamiliar pain surged, making his scalp go numb.

He looked in disbelief at his own groin, where the blood flow increased, and amidst the bloody stains something fell to the ground.

Immediately after, a sharper finger-length small knife fell to the ground; he hadn't expected Princess Yalan's assassination attempt to use a mother-and-son dagger, with the shorter blade hidden in another part of the hilt.

Normally fashioned into a bracelet, activating the mechanism causes the first thrust to release the mother blade, and the second thrust to drop the child blade from within the hilt.

No wonder Yalan didn't dodge; she charged forward, using her chest to block the second blade, then seized the ejected small knife and hacked fiercely at his genitals, instantly cutting that thing off Xiao Wei.

After Xiao Wei's brief disbelief came fury.

With one palm he slapped Princess Yalan onto the window lattice, and the blade sank further into her chest.

Xiao Wei struck with all his strength; the window lattice shattered from the palm wind, and she was propelled out the window by the force, falling into the icy Imperial River outside.

The door of the room was burst open from outside; those who saw the gruesome scene inside were instantly stunned.

Xiao Wei stared fixedly at the empty window, his eyes mad to the extreme, his demeanor gloomy, his whole body suffused with killing intent, yet he could no longer hold himself up and slowly collapsed.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!!"

"Quick, someone! Quick, someone! Summon the imperial physician! Summon the imperial physician!"

Bang bang bang! The gate of Rui Wangfu was knocked open; a sleepy servant, cursing as he woke, walked to the door and opened it.

The door was shoved open by someone outside, nearly causing the servant to stumble; he was about to swear when he froze in place.

Standing before him was Deputy Commander Zhou Zhan Gao of the Imperial Guard, his face etched with extreme urgency as he rushed into Rui Wangfu.

"Quickly go call the Prince! Something major has happened!"

"Commander, this way—watch your step!" The servant hurriedly lifted a lamp to help light the way; the Deputy Commander personally coming to find the Prince—could something major have occurred in Shang Jing?

In the middle of the night!

Commander Zhou shoved the obstructive servant aside and snapped, "Get out of the way and stop showing off!"

"The Third Prince was assassinated at Feng Lou, and his genitals were cut off!"

"Now the Emperor's wrath has been aroused; he ordered the Imperial Guard, the Metropolitan Prefecture, and the Ministry of Justice to jointly investigate, and the culprit must be caught!"

"What bad luck—the stretch of the Imperial River we patrol is our jurisdiction, and those from the Five City Military Command are even more bloody unlucky! This time several commanders have been thrown into jail!"

"Hurry and call the Prince to rise; the Emperor may soon summon him!"

The servant's scalp nearly exploded from hearing it.

You should know that Xiao Wei is the Emperor Longqing's most beloved son, especially since he commands hundreds of thousands of troops, yet he ended up being castrated…

Isn't that just becoming a eunuch?

This Third Prince usually likes women, but any woman who gains his favor is rewarded with contraceptive soup.

After all, he has not yet established a principal consort, not even a side consort; what would any children born count as? Meanwhile, Consort Duan of the palace has high hopes for his son.

Her son's first child must be born of an extraordinarily noble woman; it's just that Xiao Wei's reputation isn't great.

Even with his power and influence, no great clan would dare send their daughter to the Third Prince's mansion; after finally taking in a side consort, who would have thought she was a fraud?

Now that Xiao Wei has been severed from his lineage, he likely will never have his own children again.

A prince forever without heirs is probably already finished on the road to succession.

The Duan family side might already be in chaos; the servant felt waves of chill, not knowing what sort of storm this would stir up in Shang Jing.

Xiao Yin was shouted awake by Ling Feng, rose, and washed and changed clothes.

Commander Zhou bowed to the Prince and saluted with clasped fists, saying, "Prince, we brothers may be held responsible this time."

"What's there to fear?" the Prince slowly raised his hand, leisurely adjusted his cuffs, and lightly smiled: "Although Feng Lou lies within our Imperial Guard's patrol area."

"But who in Shang Jing doesn't know how Feng Lou came to be and what it's for?"

Commander Zhou was momentarily stunned, then his expression lessened its panic.

Yes, that area of Feng Lou was originally seized by Xiao Wei through force and plunder; who knows how many lives were lost to build that den of pleasure.

Yes, the Imperial Guard is responsible for defending that stretch of the upper Imperial River, but they have no duty to guard the private residence of the Third Prince's mansion.

What has this all come to?

At most it's just the Emperor urging them to assist the Ministry of Justice and other departments in handling the case—and that's merely assistance; certainly the Imperial Guard has no authority over the private affairs of the Prince's mansion.

Zhou Zhan Gao looked at the composed Prince Rui; earlier Xiao Wei had nearly harmed the Prince, and he hadn't expected that not long later he himself would end up in this situation.

The Third Prince's greatest flaw is his lust for women, and indeed he was ultimately ruined by a woman's hand.

Suddenly Zhou Zhan Gao lifted his eyes and glanced again at Xiao Yin; a chill ran up his spine—could it be… that he was the one who moved his hand?

Xiao Yin turned to look at Commander Zhou and lightly smiled: "Commander Zhou? What's wrong? Scared silly?"

"No, no, no..." Commander Zhou hurriedly laughed: "How could our esteemed Imperial Guard be easily frightened silly?"

"Prince, rest assured; I will certainly handle this matter well, assisting the Ministry of Justice and the Five City Military Command in capturing the culprit."

The Prince gave a light chuckle: "Good!"

"Prince!" Ling Feng strode in, bowed, and said: "Prince, someone has come from the palace; please go to the palace!"

Xiao Yin lifted his gaze to the window outside, where the sky was pitch black, the heavens heavy, without a single star.

Emperor Longqing finally panicked, summoning him to the palace in the dead of night—was he anxious?

Heh! He slowly stepped out of the East Garden's gate.

The good show has just begun!