Chapter 355

Li Qingluo raised her finger to signal them to be quiet, and handed them a note she had just written.

The note read: "Tonight it's inconvenient for me to speak; follow my gestures."

Although the three found the young lady's behavior strange, they didn't suspect anything.

In the blink of an eye, the four slipped into the night and vanished without a trace.

Pei Lao Furen saw they had all left, then she and Zhang Mama slowly came out from behind a large tree.

Zhang Mama: "Old Lady, this... the young lady must have important matters to attend to and doesn't want you to worry, so she..."

Pei Lao Furen sighed deeply: "I am really getting old..."

"What can I do to help her?"

"Old Zhang, I know she doesn't want to burden me, her grandmother, nor make me worry, so she's acting secretly behind my back."

Zhang Mama: "Just try to let it go."

Pei Lao Furen: "If I don't let it go, could I even suffocate myself?"

"Isn't Prince Su's behavior today also telling this old woman that he's protecting Luo'er?"

"I think I've figured it out; Luo'er is already firmly in his grasp, and she probably won't escape his hands from now on."

Zhang Mama: "Ah? Then what about our young lady's family background nowadays..."

Deng Mama narrowed her eyes: "Come what may, this old woman will also strive to secure a princess consort position for Luo'er!"

"Bang—"

"Bang—"

"The weather is dry; beware of fire—"

After the night watchmen and patrol troops left the main street, four black shadows flickered past in the darkness.

Then they sneaked into the princess's residence.

Sha Yi had already scouted every corner of the princess's residence earlier, so he directly led Li Qingluo running toward their destination—the Qinyu Princess's bedchamber.

The twenty-seven members of the Night Slaying Gate are all assassins trained from childhood.

Wherever they think of in Jinling City, there is no place they cannot reach.

Moreover, they can silently and easily take a person's head.

However, the Qinyu Princess's residence is no ordinary place, so they must remain cautious everywhere.

In that brief moment, two patrolling palace guards had already passed not far ahead of them.

Furthermore, as Sha Yi pointed out, at least eight guards rotate shifts watching the surroundings of the bedchamber.

The Qinyu Princess's residence is guarded so tightly it's like an iron bucket—no exaggeration.

Sha Yi also pointed to several directions, indicating that there are watchers stationed at all those spots.

No wonder, even standing in the darkness, Li Qingluo could feel that eyes are everywhere inside the princess's residence.

It turns out, just like the Spring Banquet Tower, the Qinyu Princess has placed her mansion under even stricter surveillance.

Being stared at by so many eyes all the time, doesn't she herself find it creepy?

She really is a strange woman with an extraordinarily unique mindset.

She seems to always be out of place with this world.

However, no matter how keen the eyes, they always have moments of dozing and blinking.

Otherwise, the four of them couldn't have sneaked into the princess's residence tonight.

Li Qingluo made a gesture, and Sha Qi seized the moment to jump into the nearby bushes.

Soon, a thick smoke rose from the bushes.

Sha Si hung himself under the eaves.

Sha Yi led Li Qingluo turning away and disappearing into the shadowy darkness.

"How come there's smoke there? Go check it out!"

As the firelight appeared, someone shouted: "Fire!"

"Quick, it's thick smoke coming from behind the princess's bedchamber; everyone hurry to put out the fire!"

"How did it catch fire?"

"Perhaps the wind blew down a lantern from the tree."

No one imagined that uninvited guests had come to the princess's residence today.

Inside, Qinyu was choked by the smoke drifting in.

"What's going on?"

"Cough, cough cough..."

As soon as she coughed, the pain from her largest wound flared up, tearing apart.

Her face also turned pale.

"Go! Hurry up and investigate what's happening."

Although her princess's residence, under such tight defenses, couldn't possibly have intruders, tonight something has already happened in the palace, so nothing is absolute.

One must say, Qinyu Princess's caution is indeed above that of ordinary people.

But she still miscalculated one thing.

Li Qingluo's purpose in coming to the princess's residence tonight is not her at all.

Killing Qinyu wouldn't be hard, but for the four of them to kill her and then escape the residence would not be so easy.

Li Qingluo's goal today is to make Qinyu Princess also taste the same cutting pain she herself just suffered.

At this moment, Li Qingluo and Sha Yi have already left the vicinity of Qinyu Princess's bedchamber.

Strangely, piles of smoke and fire still occur from time to time around her bedchamber.

When the third fire pit flared up again, Princess Qin Yu had already struggled to her feet and realized something was wrong.

"A bunch of idiots! How could the wind have blown out the lantern? It's clearly someone setting the fire on purpose!"

"There must be something abnormal around my quarters. Not a single guard noticed!"

"All the lackeys I keep in this mansion are damn useless!"

Hardly had she finished speaking when someone outside shouted again: "Fire! Fire here again—"

"How, how is this so strange? We just put out the fire, didn't we?"

"Clearly no one went over there."

"Could it be... ghost fire?"

The people outside had already started to suspect ghosts and spirits, and half of the palace servants had gathered nearby.

Yet despite the moving shadows, they actually failed to catch a single person acting strangely.

Qin Yu trembled with rage: "Go, have everyone in the surveillance team perk up their spirits twelvefold; at the slightest sign of movement, seize anyone for me!"

"If they're just going to be ornaments for me again, tomorrow I'll gouge out all their eyes!"

"Yes!"

Tonight, Qin Yu had only one maidservant by her side, and this maidservant was also the only one from the Spring Banquet Pavilion who suffered only a minor injury this time.

Therefore, these past few days she has been personally attending to Qin Yu.

At this moment, even she felt a little nervous.

She even advised Princess Qin Yu: "Princess, perhaps we should hurry and leave the chambers?"

"I always feel that someone has set their sights on this place."

Qin Yu snatched up the teacup beside her and smashed it over, gritting her teeth: "You haven't grown a brain yet? No matter what demon or monster, tonight they just want to use this smoke to lure me out……cough, cough……"

"If you can't even see this, what use are you to me?"

This isn't smoke seeping in; it truly chokes her to an unbearable degree.

But the purpose of these ghostly tricks outside is very likely to lure her out of the chambers.

After all, her chambers are where she has installed the most mechanisms.

If any intruder comes, they won't even get through this door before being shot full of holes.

"Continue to triple the manpower for inspection and patrol; be sure to catch the troublemakers!"

Maid: "Yes, Your Highness."

Also, have Young Master Zongzheng and Miss Ku keep watch; they should not easily leave their rooms.

The area around the princess's chambers was in an uproar.

Almost all the guards in the mansion have been drawn over there.

At this very moment, the courtyard where the eight senior maidservants live.

Once a bustling courtyard, now it is desolate and lonely.

Except for one room where a faint light still glows, there is no one else in sight.

"Bang!"

A loud boom.

The two maidservants resting in the room heard the sound, looked up with startled faces.

Li Qingluo raised her hand and threw a pebble; the candlelight flickered and went out.

She drew her soft sword from her waist and thrust it forward.

Soon, the two maidservants in the room lay on the bed, blood pooling on the floor.

Li Qingluo made a few gestures, and Sha Yi understood instantly, using the bed curtains to hang the maidservants' corpses from the beams.

After cleaning up the courtyard, Li Qingluo and Sha Yi silently sneaked into the guards' quarters.

The batch of guards who had just finished their shift hadn't even lain down before being called up again.

"Hurry! There's an unidentified assassin in the mansion, intending to force the princess out of her palace!"

"But this thief is cunning; so far no trace of them has been found."

"Tonight, nobody sleeps; rally all your spirits and swear to defend the princess unto death!"

"Swear to defend the princess unto death!"

Just as the final batch of guards donned their armor and grabbed their swords, preparing to charge out, Li Qingluo and Sha Yi appeared like two shadows behind them in an instant.

Sha Yi slit a throat.

Li Qingluo also swiftly raised the wind-infused short blade in her hand.

By the time the guards reacted, the two had already gone berserk with killing intent.

Soon, the ground was littered with corpses.

However, Li Qingluo kept one alive, then tied a dog leash around their neck and hung them half-suspended from a tree in the courtyard.

As long as they dare to run, their only fate is to be strangled.

After doing this, the two quickly left that bloody courtyard.

Once people noticed the abnormality here, the entire princess's mansion fell into utter chaos.

Someone actually blood-washed the guards' quarters within the princess's mansion!

Not only did they kill over ten guards, they also left a live captive hanging like a dog from a tree—utterly outrageous!

In an instant, the entire princess's mansion rose up in anger.

Some panicked in fear, others raged madly.

Yet, not even a hint of a ghost could be found.

It was as if… it had truly been done by a ghost.

Princess Qinyu, upon hearing this news, still didn't understand: "What exactly does he intend to do?"

Maid: "Your Highness, could our princess's mansion really be haunted?"

Qinyu gave a cold smile: "What ghost?"

"In my view, there's someone deserving of death pulling a ghostly stunt!"

"Go, have Zongzheng Wuheng and Kulian Qiao come to me!"

She was unable to rise, her body smeared with a medicine meticulously prepared by Zuliya.

If she were to get up and move about carelessly, all her efforts would be wasted.

Thus Qinyu could only pin her hopes on these two, hoping they could tonight help her defend the princess's mansion and capture the person behind the ghostly ruse!

The maid had just stepped out when a servant girl came running in a panic.

"Princess, the maid… the maid and the others… they were also killed in the room."

"Moreover, their bodies were all hung from the beams!"

Princess Qinyu's mind rang with a loud 'Boom—'.

Hung from the beams.

Tied up like a dog in the courtyard.

Why do both of these scenes happen tonight?

A face flashed quickly through her mind—could it be… her?

Li Qingluo, her revenge?

No, how could that be possible?

She, a delicate young lady of ancient times, how could she possibly accomplish this?

Furthermore, if she truly wanted revenge, shouldn't she be coming after me?

How could anyone risk their life to avenge two lowly servants?

The arrogant and self-important Princess Qinyu quickly dismissed that thought.

"Wait!"

Just in case, Qinyu still had the servant girl hurry to call back the maid who had just left.

However, it was already too late.

The maid's corpse was found hanging from the eaves behind the princess's bedchamber.

Qinyu struggled to rise, then, without regard for anything else, lunged to the window and flung it open.

The maid's corpse swayed back and forth before the window, like a broken doll.

She had already lost her breath.

She—her eight personally cultivated maids over the years… just like that… all gone?

Qinyu's blood surged to her heart in an instant; she felt a sweet fishy taste in her throat, and with a 'Pfft—' she spat out a mouthful of blood from sheer anger.