148 Killing the Master (1/2)
Shangguan Hongye fell for the trap, but you couldn't blame Miss Luo Ningcha for not trying her best to remedy the situation.
She spared no effort to discourage Lady Meng. The moment Slave Huan left, she immediately sent her maid to Shangguan Hongye's house to lead Shangguan Hongye and his mother to her own residence. At the same time, she ordered men to prepare gold and silver jewelry. Once Shangguan Hongye arrived, she would give him some money to flee the fort and make way to Bighead Kingpin.
Shangguan Hongye knew nothing about Madam Yang's scheming plot. But as soon as he'd heard that his life was in danger, his legs turned into jelly. Elderly Zhang had to help him onto his horse and escort him out of Stone Castle.
Fortunately, Stone Castle's defenses failed that night, and Shangguan Hongye snuck out successfully. However, he was still far too afraid, and he vacillated between staying and leaving as he descended the mountain alone. When dawn came, he had not traveled very far at all.
It was only when the brown-belt assassins arrived, their expressions stone-cold, that Shangguan Hongye realised that something was wrong. But it was too late to escape.
Shangguan Hongye's defection made Gu Shenwei anxious. If Lady Meng discovered that it was Slave Huan who had leaked the information, she would not spare him.
But even before Lady Meng spoke a single word, Shangguan Hongye petitioned for mercy. He knew neither his real personal identity nor Slave Huan's role in the whole matter. At the crucial moment, Luo Ningcha was tight-lipped. All was well.
Lady Meng's way of dealing with Shangguan Hongye took everyone by surprise, especially Gu Shenwei. He had never looked down upon Lady Meng but it was now that he realised how he had underestimated this woman. The combined efforts of the Supreme King and his sons might not even be enough to defeat her.
Lady Meng did not kill Shangguan Hongye. Instead, she personally accompanied him, just as she would her own son, took him by the hand and announced to everyone in the hall: ”This is the Lord's biological son who has been drifting purposelessly in the world. He would have almost fallen in into the hands of traitors, but now he is safe with me and I say, as long as I live, I won't allow anyone to lay their hands on him. From now onwards, he'll be called Shangguan Hong.”
The people in the hall had heard about the disharmony between Lady Meng and Young Master, as well as their illegitimate child, so they were not perplexed by Lady Meng's strange attitude. But being shrewd people, they all swarmed around her, congratulating her on how the Lord had found his biological son, and praising the Lady's magnanimity.
Shangguan Hong was completely clueless about what had just happened to him. He felt like laughing, but couldn't muster a cough, only a dazed, dizzy sensation. All that came out of his mouth was a series of meaningless utterances- ”oh oh”.
Lady Meng proffered a scroll from one of her sleeves, written on it was a long-prepared order from the Lord. Taking a red-scabbard saber from Shangguan Hong's hands, and brought both items to Shen Liang, the blademaster of the Heart Cleansing Yard. ”Go, I want to start the two masters' saber awarding ceremony at noon, sharp.”
This was the last killing order issued by Lady Meng. She carefully selected a few trusted confidantes to guard the twins, and followed Shen Liang to execute the mission together, bringing along Slave Huan and Maid Lotus.
Until then, observers had only begun to understand Lady Meng's intentions in raising up Supreme King's illegitimate son. Shangguan Chui and Mister Guo wanted to use Shangguan Hong to create a force of ten sons to oust Shangguan Ru. Lady Meng had deployed the same strategy against them, but now it was Young Master who would be ousted instead.
Gu Shenwei had made an erroneous judgment at the start. Lady Meng had no intentions of killing Shangguan Hong at all. She wanted to wrest this unexpected ”Young Master” firmly within her control to strengthen her power. This was surely more advantageous than killing him.
Gu Shenwei was wholly in awe of her plan. He was relieved that Lady Meng had turned her animosity to Luo Ningcha, thus allowing him to escape.
Yet, Lady Meng did not care about Luo Ningcha at all. She had only been jealous of Bighead Kingpin's influence upon the Supreme King. She did not want to complicate the issue of Shangguan Hong but past wounds between the wife and the mother-in-law had begun to fester.
Before leaving, Lady Meng pulled Slave Huan aside and softly instructed: ”Let Ninth Young Master do the work.”
Gu Shenwei was sure that Lady Meng's trust in him was due to his part in killing the master. Lady Meng hoped that Slave Huan's cruelty could influence her comparatively weak-willed son.
Blademaster Shen Liang, with his contingent of forty assassins in black, ten yellow-belted torturers, ten young killers, surrounded the twins and left the Inner Residence, heading for the main courtyard of the Young Master to perform their final task.
Shangguan Chui had undergone harsh training to become a killer. However, in the midst of the crisis, he broke down, furiously brandishing his knife and dispatching his subordinates to secretly assassinate Lady Meng and her twins. Hence, when the execution squad arrived, Shangguan Chui had little more than ten over guards beside him and they too were distracted and confused.
”No one can kill me!” With a saber in his hand, Shangguan Chui pointed wildly at the sky and the earth, and his heavy eyebags growing deep red from the flush of blood. ”I'm the eldest son of the Supreme King and apart from Father. No one can kill me!”
Shen Yang sympathised with the Young Master's plight but despised how he had panicked in the face of danger. Raising his red-scabbard saber high in the air, he said: ”The Supreme King's Six-Kill Saber is right there, and by the order of the Lord, I will kill this unfilial child.”
The guards around Shangguan Chui put down their sabers hesitantly. They were not killers and did not have to die with their master.
Shangguan Chui raised his saber and lobbed off the head of the man nearest to him. The other guards to fled in fright. ”This is all fake! It's the plot of that wretched person, Blademaster Shen. Why don't you all catch her? Don't tell me you've fallen for the charms of that old woman?”
Shangguan Ru stepped out, saying: ”Big Brother, don't forget, my mother is also your mother.”
Shangguan Chui pointed at the twins laughing loudly, as if seeing the most entertaining characters. ”Looks like the Tenth Young Master truly carries the legacy of the Shangguan family. You certainly live up to your name. Come on then, kill me. Children of the Shangguan family are destined to murder each other. Didn't the Lord kill several of his brothers? Let me be the first in this generation. Come, when you kill me, my father will shower you with much more affection. Ha, but leave me my eyes. I want to see which of you will be killed after me.”
Shangguan Chui still brandished his saber, not intending to be killed without a fight. Shen Liang motioned to the assassins in black and two killers drew their blades and stepped forward.
Despite being in charge of the killers for over ten years, Shangguan Chui still hadn't a clue about their natures. Loosing a howl, he rushed forwards to attack, completely missing the two other killers had already moved to stand behind him. They unsheathed their blades and struck the Young Master's legs.