Fish Meat – Chapter 84
by Little PandaThe Ninth Year of Shenchu
Runing’s Winds and Clouds (Part 10)
Wanting to capture Li Yanyi is not an easy task.
Since Xie Fuchen hired assassins from the Northern Border to make a deadly attack, Li Yanyi always has guards on high alert no matter where she goes. Not to mention, attempting to kidnap her single-handedly is nearly impossible, even getting close to her is difficult. The only place one can approach her is at the Huaichen Mansion, but trying to take her out of the Huaichen Mansion is even harder than climbing to the sky.
The plan for now is to lure her out and act when she is alone.
How to make her willingly separate from her guards and attend an appointment alone? Zhen Wenjun has a method. However, this method still requires the cooperation of Xie Fuchen.
Zhen Wenjun wrote a secret letter, asking the “Beggar Gang” urchin to deliver it to the Xie residence, specifically requesting Xie Fuchen to receive it.
Xie Fuchen received the letter while drinking with Yan Ye. He opened the letter, gave a “humph,” and tossed it to Yan Ye to read.
After reading, Yan Ye laughed and said, “The dog you raised is starting to bite back at the master. Master Xie, what do you think…”
“If she wants it, then give it to her,” Xie Fuchen said, not concerned.
“But Master Xie, this servant has many tricky ideas, and I’m afraid she might be digging a trap for us to fall into.”
“She wouldn’t dare,” Xie Fuchen replied, wiping some sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief as the alcohol warmed him. “I don’t fear her having many ideas, only worry if she has none. Initially, Xie Taihang choosing her as a spy was quite farsighted. She wants Ah Xin’s handwriting to lure Li Yanyi out alone, but not to kill her. If she wanted to kill her, she could act directly inside the Huaichen Mansion, and I believe she has ways to escape. Bringing her out is merely to kidnap her, using her as a bargaining chip to threaten us.”Yan Ye pondered for a moment and said, “So she wants to use Li Yanyi to exchange for Xiaoshi.”
“Correct. This little lady is very courageous and full of ideas, perhaps someone who can achieve great things,” Xie Fuchen said, putting down the handkerchief. Yan Ye noticed that even after wiping his sweat, Xie Fuchen’s complexion remained fair, without applying powder; Master Xie was truly naturally beautiful. Since a hundred years ago, Da Yu’s trend has been to admire yin softness as beauty, with both men and women enjoying dressing up. Many men apply rouge and powder, which is one reason why Da Yu’s military generals have become gradually scarce. Yan Ye was adopted by Xie Fuchen when he was young, and after so many years, apart from a few more wrinkles on his face, Xie Fuchen’s handsome appearance has hardly changed. His skin remains as fair and bright as ever, making him a rare beautiful man.
Yan Ye was still immersed in Xie Fuchen’s beauty when Xie Fuchen said, “You should organize a few of Ah Xin’s family letters and give them to her. If she can manage to bring Li Yanyi tied up, that’s good too. Dead, it’s just a corpse, but alive, there are more uses.”
Yan Ye replied, “Yes!”
Very soon, they received the secret letter sent by the Xie family. Xie Fuchen agreed to use Li Yanyi to exchange for her Ah Mu and provided Ah Xin’s handwritten letter. Zhen Wenjun stayed up overnight to imitate Ah Xin’s handwriting and wrote a letter to arrange a meeting with Li Yanyi alone.
Zhen Wenjun put a lot of effort into this imitation letter. She knew there was some grudge between Ah Xin and Li Yanyi, as Ah Xin’s biological father, Xie Fuchen, and Li Yanyi were mortal political enemies. However, their unbreakable relationship was still much closer than that of ordinary people, so Li Yanyi could not possibly be unfamiliar with Ah Xin’s handwriting. To lure her out, Zhen Wenjun had to work hard.
After sending the letter, Zhen Wenjun was still anxious, unsure if there were any flaws. If Li Yanyi didn’t fall for it, she would have to think of another plan, but she couldn’t think of any alternatives at the moment.
Whether Li Yanyi came or not, Zhen Wenjun had to prepare in advance. She couldn’t take action herself and absolutely could not show her face. If this plan succeeded, it might not be the best outcome, but being able to exchange for her Ah Mu was her earnest desire. Now, she no longer had any attachment to Wei Tingxu. After bringing back her Ah Mu, she planned to take her Ah Mu away from Runing, find a small town with few people, and help her Ah Mu recuperate. If anything went wrong with the kidnapping, Li Yanyi would certainly be angry and fully investigate the matter. Without prior preparation, she feared being easily caught by Li Yanyi.
As long as she didn’t show her face and stayed behind the scenes, with everything arranged thoroughly, she felt confident she could avoid Li Yanyi’s pursuit.
In the twelve hours before the scheduled meeting, under the guise of spreading rumors, Zhen Wenjun was busy outside, actually preparing for the kidnapping.
Since she wanted to hide her face, she couldn’t show her true appearance at any stage.
She inquired with Lin Yue about the location of the black market in Runing, as she needed an actual human skin.
Lin Yue knew she was always working for the Eldest Princess, and this little lady’s unusual ideas were extraordinary. So, it wasn’t strange that she wanted to inquire about the black market. If Lin Yue’s injury hadn’t been unhealed, he would have eagerly taken her there himself, but given the circumstances, he could only draw a map for her to go on her own.
Fortunately, Lin Yue’s body was weak, and after being kicked, he needed to lie down for half a month. Otherwise, Zhen Wenjun would have to think hard about how to shake off this persistent follower.
Upon arriving at the black market, Zhen Wenjun bought a bunch of detoxifying rare herbs, leaving behind her own appearance as proof. This way, when Li Yanyi investigated, there would be a witness to confirm she was buying household necessities for Li Yanyi. After purchasing the herbs, she proceeded with her actual plan.
She needed a human skin to disguise herself.
Yue family’s Ah Jiao is a master of disguise. She once used a human skin mask to infiltrate a theater troupe for many days, and Zhen Wenjun wasn’t able to discover her. Ah Jiao had also taught her disguise techniques to Zhen Wenjun, saying that to create a natural, unsuspicious mask, the best material is real human skin, preferably from someone who just recently died, using the whole facial skin. One could either dig it up from a graveyard or buy it at the black market, and in larger cities, the black market is bigger, with a higher chance of selling human skin.
Zhen Wenjun didn’t really want to do something as lacking in virtue and disgusting as digging up graves, and conveniently, she was in Runing, the capital of Da Yu, where the black market should be large enough.
When she arrived at the black market, she found it was even bigger than she had imagined. From the most prosperous East Market’s southeast corner, she went ten steps into a narrow alley, and after pushing a dark red brick on the wall, the hidden wall opened, revealing another large market comparable to the East Market’s prosperity.
She handed over the pass bamboo token given by Lin Yue. The two people guarding the entrance each took a glance at the bamboo token and then at Zhen Wenjun, with stern faces, they allowed her to enter.
The huge wooden door opened, and Zhen Wenjun stepped into the black market. Here, there was no difference from a normal market, except that the items sold were not circulated in the public market, and the prices were extremely expensive. All items for sale here were supplied for the entertainment of imperial relatives, and other commoners, even the wealthiest merchants, could not enter. This is why the two gate guards gave Zhen Wenjun an extra look.
After buying the medicine, Zhen Wenjun quietly picked a human skin, a blowpipe, and a Xianluo plum branch. Just these three items cost more than a thousand taels, with the human skin alone costing twelve hundred, which pained her heart as if it were dripping blood. Had she known today would come, she wouldn’t have given all the silver notes to Lingbi back then.
Besides these three pieces of equipment, she also needed the most important medicine. Without this small bottle of Sai Mafeng, her plan could not be implemented.
Sai Mafeng was a unique paralyzing sacred object developed by Bu Jie. Previously, at Nanya, he used Sai Mafeng to cause countless people to suffer secretly. Bu Jie always maintained correspondence with her, besides explaining to her the situation of Sudu’s fifty thousand qing of thin fields’ cooperative farming, he also sent her the last small bottle of Sai Mafeng. Bu Jie once served as a strategist in Da Yu and had heard of what Huaichen Mansion was. This person was quite clever and considerate, knowing Zhen Wenjun was in Huaichen Mansion, he thought she was certainly involved in political struggles and sent Sai Mafeng precisely for her life-saving use.
Zhen Wenjun sighed, wondering if Bu Jie knew that Sai Mafeng was not used for life-saving but for harming, what his feelings would be.
After buying everything and preparing all she needed, Zhen Wenjun found a quiet inn, carefully crafted and applied the human skin mask onto her face.
In the bronze mirror appeared a stranger’s face. Although it still had a bit of the aura of the dead and was not as skillful and natural as Ah Jiao’s disguise technique, it was sufficient. She then applied Sai Mafeng to each arrow of the blowpipe. To verify the effect of Sai Mafeng, she even caught a chicken to test it. By the time she left the inn, that chicken hadn’t moved a single feather.
Wearing this human skin mask, she took on another face and could act without any scruples.
Zhen Wenjun emptied her savings in the black market to hire two people who had roamed the Jianghu for many years, reputedly never failing in kidnappings, known as the “Teng Brothers.” One brother was cross-eyed, and the other had glaucoma; they seemed unable to even recognize the road, yet confidently said, isn’t it just kidnapping a little lady? No problem. When Zhen Wenjun spoke to them, they were still guzzling alcohol, their entire bodies reeking of it, making people frown.
She certainly wanted to find someone more reliable, as a failed kidnapping would cause a series of huge troubles, but she had no silver left. A penny can stump a hero, and Zhen Wenjun was poor…
Fortunately, she still had the Xianluo plum branch in hand.
This Xianluo plum branch is one of the main ingredients of Mongolian sweat medicine. Once it is lit and hidden in a dark place, anyone who inhales it will become unconscious. Zhen Wenjun imitated Ah Xin’s handwriting to lure Li Yanyi to meet alone. As long as there were no guards around, Li Yanyi did not possess any martial skills, and with the inhalation of the Xianluo plum branch, the Teng Brothers were enough to handle her.
Everything was ready, just waiting for the prey to enter the trap.
When Li Yanyi received Ah Xin’s letter, she did not suspect anything and was even quite happy about the invitation.
The two had been apart for many years, and because of their differing stances, being able to meet twice a year was already very good, possibly because Li Yanyi, with nothing else to do, purposely went to find Ah Xin. It had been at least ten years since she received a handwritten letter from Ah Xin, and she was already quite unfamiliar with her handwriting, but she could still see traces of familiarity in the pen strokes. More importantly, she used the crabapple as a token, which made Li Yanyi remember many past events. Amidst the bloody battles, it suddenly brought a trace of warmth and sweetness to her heart.
Originally, Ah Xin did not go to her master’s place but came to Runing. She didn’t know why Ah Xin wanted to meet—was it because of the troubles with Furong Powder or concern whether that sword had left a hidden ailment? Ah Xin always had a tough mouth but a soft heart; last time, didn’t she enter the tent at night to ensure her safety, disregarding her own?
Tomorrow was originally to go to the Forbidden Garden to see the Empress Dowager, but Li Yanyi sent someone to tell the Empress Dowager she would pay respects on another day. She found her favorite multi-pleated skirt and cat-eye gem hairpin to wear. She knew Ah Xin didn’t like overly gaudy attire, so she only applied a thin layer of rouge and chose a pink peach lip color. Looking in the mirror, she still resembled her former self.
As Zhen Wenjun thought, attending Ah Xin’s meeting did not mean bringing a large number of Huben soldiers, but several close bodyguards who often stayed with Li Yanyi did not leave her side, and hidden guards were essential. When Li Yanyi left, Zhen Wenjun disguised herself and followed behind her carriage, all the way to the appointed restaurant.
Compared to a place like a restaurant, full of mixed eyes, the wild woods outside the city or a ruined temple naturally had fewer people and were more suitable for kidnapping Li Yanyi. But the problem is, old lovers meeting wouldn’t choose such a desolate and scary place where a ghost could pop out anytime, right? It’s a fact that Zhen Wenjun had not been in love, but she learned not only the art of disguise from Ah Jiao but also the so-called “charm technique.” She had used the charm technique on Wei Tingxu and failed quite humiliatingly, so she always felt that either she didn’t learn it right or it’s useless on women, and she never took it seriously. Although it was useless, it somewhat allowed her to learn a bit about love beforehand, even if it was just pretentious superficiality that unknowingly affected her judgment.
To prevent Li Yanyi from becoming suspicious, she gave up the more easily successful wild setting and chose a restaurant closer to the black market in the East Market. A restaurant is the best choice for a secret meeting. She booked a private room and lit the Xianluo plum branch in the room beforehand, letting the Teng Brothers hide under the window’s awning. The restaurant’s awning was big enough to cover them, and the Teng Brothers’ light skills were very good, allowing them to stick to the inside of the awning like spiders for an hour, waiting for Li Yanyi.
Li Yanyi’s bodyguards either stayed outside the restaurant or guarded the private room door. Whether they were outside or inside, Zhen Wenjun could use the blowpipe to make them unconscious when the action started. The Teng Brothers would enter the room, tie Li Yanyi, and leave. Once they had her, they would take her out through the roof. At that time, the shadow guards would definitely chase after them, and Zhen Wenjun would again use the blowpipe to block the shadow guards. For this, she stayed up late practicing her blowpipe technique, hanging a straw man on the roof and practicing her aim while making it move. She found herself quite talented in archery, quickly becoming able to accurately hit moving targets. Even if she couldn’t hit the shadow guards’ necks one hundred percent of the time, as long as she could hit their bodies, Sai Mafeng would very effectively slow down the shadow guards’ actions. As long as the Teng Brothers could escape to their familiar black market, the shadow guards would be unable to do anything to them.
She had already thought of various situations and ran back and forth at the actual location to calculate the time, finding no problems.
In this way, nothing will go wrong… right?
Zhen Wenjun was very nervous, with a vague ominous feeling in her heart.
She tried to comfort herself, telling herself not to think too much. Since she had already decided, she should not hesitate and should cleanly and neatly solve everything.
The appointed time had already arrived, and Zhen Wenjun, hiding in a dark place and watching everything, saw with wide eyes as Li Yanyi, wearing a cover-up veil hat, entered the restaurant. The bodyguards also went in together, leaving only a groom at the door. There were definitely still shadow guards around, though they couldn’t be seen now; once something happened, they would appear—Zhen Wenjun’s heart was pounding; it was about to start.
Li Yanyi brought four bodyguards, and even changed the carriage for the journey. In Runing City, she circled around twice and took many winding small roads to avoid being followed.
When she walked alone into the appointed private room, Ah Xin still hadn’t arrived, and there was only a faint fragrance.
Her dear was still like this, always loving to be late.
For some reason, she felt a bit sleepy.
Li Yanyi poured herself a cup of tea, wanting to refresh her spirits, when the private room’s door opened. She turned her head and looked, surprised, saying: “Why are you here?”
Calculating the time, Li Yanyi should already have fainted.
Zhen Wenjun went upstairs, hid behind a wine jar in the corridor, placed the needle coated with Sai Mafeng into the blowpipe, and forcefully blew it. The needle accurately and without error stuck into one bodyguard’s neck. That bodyguard shuddered and, before he had time to speak, his whole body became paralyzed, and he fell to the ground unable to move. The other three were about to check his situation when Zhen Wenjun quickly blew three more needles. One needle hit a neck accurately, while the other two needles stuck into the bodyguards’ shoulders. Fortunately, the potency of this Sai Mafeng was extremely good, and these bodyguards, wanting to avoid attracting attention, did not wear armor, so the needles solidly stuck into their flesh, making all four bodyguards unconscious.
The restaurant’s business was very good, with people coming and going. Although the private room was chosen on the top floor, considered the place with the fewest people, anything unusual would still be discovered quickly.
Zhen Wenjun must race against time!
She crouched at the door and heard vague cries for help inside, her heart startled—could it be that Li Yanyi hadn’t fainted yet? She immediately placed the prepared wooden bar on the door handle, preventing Li Yanyi inside from opening the door. Very soon, the sound of breaking glass was followed by purposeful footsteps; the Teng Brothers had entered the room!
Zhen Wenjun quickly turned around and ran outside the restaurant, reaching the viewing corridor outside the restaurant in less than half an incense stick’s time. There were eight red lacquer pillars here, allowing her to conceal herself well behind them, and Li Yanyi’s private room window was still within the blowpipe’s range.
The older Teng Brother, carrying a big burlap sack, was the first to climb out. The sack was tied to his shoulders and waist, not hindering his movements at all. Like a gecko, he grasped the eaves and in a few steps reached the roof, with his younger brother closely following. Three black-clothed men floated over from the opposite roof—these were Li Yanyi’s shadow guards!
Zhen Wenjun “puff puff puff” continuously shot three arrows towards the shadow guards. Li Yanyi’s shadow guards were not like straw men hanging on the roof; their movements were very agile, and only one arrow hit one person’s ankle. The hit shadow guard initially didn’t mind this minor wound, but after forcefully running five steps on the roof, his whole body suddenly collapsed limply, and after falling, he couldn’t move again, his entire form sliding to the ground.
Zhen Wenjun swiftly ran along the corridor, trying to catch up with the shadow guards on the opposite roof, while madly blowing all the arrows in the tube out. Another six shadow guards, a total of eight people, were chasing the Teng Brothers. When they found that only four remained in the chase, they realized someone was launching hidden weapons!
Very soon, Zhen Wenjun was discovered. However, since she was covered with a human skin mask, she didn’t care at all whether the shadow guards saw her, and she continued fiercely blowing arrows.
One shadow guard quickly spun the knife in his hand, knocking down all the arrows she blew, and with a stomp, he flew towards Zhen Wenjun.
Seeing him so bold, Zhen Wenjun thought that even with superior agility, it would be difficult to change movements in the air, so she aimed an arrow at his calf, making it awkward for him to block with his knife.
However, this shot was empty, and Zhen Wenjun didn’t realize that in her urgency, she had already blown out all of her arrows. The shadow guard’s body hadn’t arrived yet, but his knife had already descended, slicing towards her head. Zhen Wenjun hurriedly ducked to dodge, and the first thing that came to her mind was a set of boxing techniques Xiaohua had taught her, which she immediately used. After exchanging a few moves, the opponent seemed to have figured out her boxing moves, so she quickly switched to the flying acupoint hand that Ah Mu had once taught her, “pa pa pa,” hitting the shadow guard’s acupoints several times.
Zhen Wenjun’s martial arts moves were messy, and due to her relatively limited practical experience, she used whatever came to mind, which caught the shadow guard off guard, and his acupoints were hit with precision. If these three hits had been from a finger strength expert, the shadow guard might have already been lying on the ground. However, although Zhen Wenjun hit the acupoints accurately, her finger strength was still somewhat lacking, and the shadow guard only felt his arm go numb but could still endure, continuing to chase and slash at Zhen Wenjun.
Zhen Wenjun ran desperately along the corridor, overturning three dancing girls and four young masters, toppling countless wine trays along the way. She also grabbed one tray and flung it back horizontally. The wine tray, rapidly spinning, slashed towards the shadow guard’s face, but with one chop of his long sword, the shadow guard split the wine tray into two halves, which flew off to the sides of his body.
While he chopped the wine tray, Zhen Wenjun had already slid quickly downstairs by riding the stair handrail, squeezing into the crowd. The shadow guard jumped directly down to the floor, then stood up glaring around, but could no longer see the face from just now.
The freshly removed, still warm human skin mask and the discarded outer garment were quietly tucked into her sleeve. With her face full of sweat, Zhen Wenjun tried to maintain a calm expression, not turning back to confirm whether the shadow guard had discovered her. As she walked farther and farther in the crowd, the shadow guard still didn’t stop her or cut her down, indicating she had already escaped a disaster.
And the Teng Brothers should have already infiltrated the black market by now. The shadow guards chasing them likely didn’t have a pass token and should be blocked outside the gate.
Zhen Wenjun turned right and disappeared at the end of the alley.
When she put on the human skin mask again and reached the topmost level of the Qinfeng Pavilion, the Teng Brothers and Yan Ye were already there.
The Qinfeng Pavilion is a secret trading place in the black market, where rare and precious items are traded. Transactions in the black market often choose the Qinfeng Pavilion because, as long as enough gold and silver are paid, the pavilion ensures that both parties in the trade are not disturbed. Throughout the entire Da Yu, only the Son of Heaven and the Ministry of Justice people have the qualification to enter here to investigate cases; all other idle people are not allowed to enter.
Naturally, the money here was paid by the Xie family, and after paying, the buyers and sellers receive a set of tokens, which they use to enter. Zhen Wenjun and the Teng Brothers each took a token, with the Teng Brothers in the open and Zhen Wenjun hiding in the dark. She did not know what situation might arise during this trade, so she dared not appear rashly. She let the Teng Brothers and Yan Ye negotiate, planning to appear after seeing her Ah Mu and directly take Ah Mu away.
However, knowing how cunning and sinister the Xie family is, she also guessed that Yan Ye would not directly bring her Ah Mu to the Qinfeng Pavilion. As expected, Yan Ye brought only two attendants, without her Ah Mu.
“The person for exchange I haven’t brought,” Yan Ye said very calmly. “As soon as I have the person I want, I will naturally tell you her whereabouts.”
The Teng Brothers, also hired by others, were too lazy to waste words with Yan Ye. They opened the burlap sack and took out the person inside, saying, “The person you want, we have brought. Quickly tell us the location where the person is hidden!” Without seeing the exchange person, the remaining silver would not be settled, and the Teng Brothers were anxiously eager to collect their payment.
Yan Ye glanced at the woman lying on the ground, walked over, and used his cane to push aside her hair. When he clearly saw the face of the bound person, he suddenly burst into laughter.
Zhen Wenjun, hiding on the wooden beam above the pavilion, could only see the top of Li Yanyi’s head. She already felt something was not quite right, and Yan Ye’s laughter made her feel even stranger.
What Yan Ye said next made Zhen Wenjun completely panic:
“Wei Zizhuo, I did not expect you to be bound and brought here. For us to meet again in this place is truly an unexpected fate.”
Wei Zizhuo? Wei Tingxu?
Zhen Wenjun thought she heard wrong; how could Wei Tingxu possibly be here? Wasn’t she still in the north?
When the cane lifted the face of the bound person on the ground, Zhen Wenjun clearly saw it.
It really was Wei Tingxu…
Not only had she captured the wrong person, but she had also unexpectedly delivered Wei Tingxu into the hands of her mortal enemy, the Xie family, which she never imagined.
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