Guan Ya nodded and led the two maids who had followed her out of the carriage straight through the central gate, entering the Yang Manor.
Passing through the courtyard to the rear garden, which was landscaped in Jiangnan garden style, she left behind the two trusted palace maids she had brought from the palace and knocked on the door to her father Yang Zheng's study.
Behind the wide desk, a middle-aged man wearing casual black robes embroidered with gold-thread cloud patterns and sporting a dark beard reaching his chest held a book scroll, engrossed in reading.
A look of joy lingered between his brows and eyes; as he read, he stroked his beard from time to time, clearly in an excellent mood.
"Father, what makes you so happy?" Guan Ya asked, turning back to close the door.
Yang Zheng set down the scroll, beaming.
"This morning, Ce'er sent a victory dispatch. The garrison launched a surprise night raid on the enemy camp, annihilating over fifty thousand Northern troops. Such an achievement is sure to shake both court and country. As long as he can hold Linxia and repel the Northern Dynasty, our Yang family will be the foremost aristocratic clan in the Southern Dynasty."
At this point, he suddenly scrutinized his eldest daughter, Yang Yun, and frowned.
"Didn't you return to the palace? Why have you come back?"
Guan Ya showed a look of worry. "Father, the palace gates are tightly shut, and your daughter couldn't get in. The Imperial City Division claims His Majesty suffered an assassination attempt last night and that the assassin is still lurking inside the palace. They are searching everywhere to capture the assassin. Until then, no one may enter or leave the imperial palace—on His Majesty's orders."
Yang Zheng froze for a moment, then his face changed drastically. "Disaster!!"
Guan Ya knit her brows. "Why does Father say that?"
With a grave expression, Yang Zheng sat by the desk and pondered for a full three minutes. Suddenly, like an ant on a hot pan, he jumped up and paced the study.
"His Majesty was poisoned just days ago, and was attacked again last night. Given the capabilities of the Imperial City Division, a single lapse in vigilance could be excused, but allowing His Majesty to face assassination twice in a row indicates the regicide is within the Imperial City Division itself.
"And the Imperial City Division is controlled by the Zheng family..."
Yang Zheng took a deep breath, his voice heavy as he uttered each word: "The Zheng clan is going to rebel! How dare the Zheng clan rebel?!"
The Yang and Zheng families were old rivals. Yang Zheng knew Zheng Wenhan's ambitions well, and knew even better how wary the Zheng clan was of the Yang family. But he never imagined the Zheng clan would actually dare to assassinate the emperor!
Guan Ya put on a panicked expression in cooperation. "The Zheng clan wants to rebel? Wh-what should we do?"
As a Scout, with her intelligence analysis and insight into the situation, she had already deduced all of this before attempting to return to the palace. However, the Yang family's eldest daughter, Yang Yun, was gentle and meek by nature, so she needed to stay in character.
After waking up, Guan Ya had actively explored the Yang Manor, gathering intelligence. Leveraging her identity as both the eldest daughter of the Yang family and the Empress, she had largely pieced together the court's political landscape.
First of all, her main quest was to help the Yang family gain the emperor's trust.
And the Yang family, with Yang Ce leading the campaign as commander-in-chief, belonged firmly to the Southern Dynasty faction. In other words, her faction was the Southern Dynasty's Yang family, and her enemies were the Northern Dynasty and the Zheng family.
Analyzing her teammates' identities and factions from her own perspective, Guan Ya believed Yang Ce was very likely Fu Qingyang. Whether in terms of level or class, Fu Qingyang matched Yang Ce's role perfectly.
As for Yuanshi's identity, Guan Ya's primary suspect was the foolish monarch.
After all, in the Southern Dynasty camp, the only role matching Yuanshi's level was the critically important "Ruler of a Fallen Nation." It certainly couldn't be a Saint. The only one who could possibly contest the position of the foolish ruler with Yuanshi was Xiahou Aotian.
Xiahou Aotian was also a Dominator.
Yet Guan Ya felt that based on their hidden ratings, Xiahou Aotian wouldn't be dealt the foolish ruler card!
If Yuanshi was the foolish ruler, Guan Ya had initially felt quite at ease, thinking a mere assassin could never do anything to Yuanshi. But after trying to return to the palace today to rendezvous with him and being turned away, Guan Ya had grown anxious.
The palace remained under the Zheng clan's control, which meant Yuanshi was in danger.
How could a dignified Level 7 Day Wanderer fall into such a desperate predicament? Guan Ya's experience in high-difficulty dungeons was neither vast nor small, so for the moment, she couldn't deduce the truth.
But Yuanshi was definitely in trouble.
Thus, she had returned to the Yang family without stopping, seeking help from her father.
Seeing his daughter panicking and losing her composure, Yang Zheng waved a hand, displaying the steadiness of a high court official:
"His Majesty suffered two assassination attempts in short order, and the Zheng clan has locked down the palace gates, forbidding anyone from entering or leaving... This precisely shows the Zheng clan hasn't succeeded. His Majesty may be hiding inside the palace, or perhaps he is not in the palace at all."
Guan Ya nodded gently. "That's why they wouldn't let me back in. Oh, right, Father, when I returned just now, I saw several suspicious figures sneaking around outside our estate, so I had the steward seize them."
Hearing this, Yang Zheng's eyes lit up, and he said immediately, "Summon the steward here."
Guan Ya curtsied gracefully, opened the study door, called over her personal maid, and whispered a few words.
The maid trotted off. Seven or eight minutes later, a middle-aged steward dressed in brocade came in a hurry.
"Master, Your Imperial Majesty..." The steward bowed low.
Guan Ya asked at once, "Have the scoundrels outside the manor been apprehended?"
The steward bowed. "Your Majesty, forgive me. This old servant was negligent. I assumed those rogues outside were ordinary vermin and dispatched only six estate guards to apprehend them. Who knew those villains possessed formidable martial skill? They wounded the guards and made a leisurely escape."
Guan Ya frowned and looked toward Yang Zheng. "What does Father think?"
Yang Zheng did not answer right away. Instead, he waved his hand to dismiss the steward, and only then murmured thoughtfully,
"Multiple experts disguised as street peddlers and laborers, watching our Yang Manor..."
After mulling it over for a few seconds and ruling out several conjectures, he smiled.
"From the look of it, His Majesty has escaped the palace. When the Empress Dowager chose you as empress back then, I knew she wanted to use the Yang family to check the Zheng clan. It seems she must have left a contingency in the palace, or His Majesty never would have escaped."
Guan Ya showed sudden realization. "After escaping the imperial palace, His Majesty will definitely try to seek Father's aid, which means Zheng Wenhan is waiting by the tree for the hare."
"Precisely!" Yang Zheng stroked his beard and smiled. "Yun'er, stay at the manor for a while. Father will find His Majesty."
***
Meanwhile, on the way back along the capital's main thoroughfare after leaving the Yang Manor, Jiang Jingwei complained:
"Why didn't we just charge right in? I could throw a fireball and use Fire Traveling, and I'd be inside the Yang Manor! Then I'd shout at the top of my lungs: 'The emperor is right here!'
"Those spies wouldn't even be able to stop me, and wouldn't we make contact with the Yang family then?"
Zhang Yuanqing scoffed, "And then the spies lying in ambush nearby would rush up, finish us off with one slash each, and flee, leaving the Yang family to come out and collect our corpses?"
Queen patted him. Jingwei was still a child; why mock her?
She explained, "Jingwei, that might succeed, but the greater probability is that we'd be killed by the hidden agents outside the Yang Manor. Don't forget, our Sect Master is currently gravely ill, and his physical constitution is weaker than an ordinary person's."
Seeing Jiang Jingwei's unconvinced pout, Queen lectured further:
"The higher the dungeon's difficulty, the more cautious and prudent we must be. Learn to advance step by step, knowing yourself and the enemy, rather than relying on a gamble. If you gamble, there will always be times you lose, and once you lose, the only outcome is returning to the Spirit Realm.
"Sometimes, we would rather forgo an opportunity than abandon our cautious approach and principles."
Jiang Jingwei made two "oh, oh" noises, putting on an "I understand" expression.
Yet Zhang Yuanqing knew that for most Fire Masters, such advice and instruction went in one ear and out the other. When actually doing things, once their temper flared, they would still charge recklessly as always.
Patting Jingwei's head, Queen turned to Zhang Yuanqing. "Sect Master, we need to search for our scattered teammates."
Brother Red Chicken and the Palace Mistress were Saints; they could use Saint-grade props and items to cure the Sect Master's illness.
Because they were unfamiliar with the capital's geography, when they fled in different directions yesterday, they hadn't fixed a meeting spot. They had only agreed to leave a secret signal near wherever they hid:
"Odd changes, even changes not; look to the quadrant for the sign!"
Of course, the capital was vast. Even if they left the secret code, they might not necessarily find each other. Thus, the team had a second rendezvous plan: meet outside Tianji Tower before the seventy-two hours elapsed.
Tianji Tower was where the Imperial Preceptor observed the stars and offered sacrifices to Heaven.
Zhang Yuanqing sighed. "The capital is too big and hard to search. The curfew is strict right now, and we definitely can't comb through the whole capital during the day. If we're still wandering outside before dusk, we'll have to stay at an inn."
Staying at an inn was far too risky; inns and restaurants were the primary targets of the Zheng clan's searches.
"The safest course is to reach Tianji Tower before the seventy-two hours are up," Zhang Yuanqing said.
"What if arriving at Tianji Tower happens to trigger the seventy-two-hour crisis?" Queen asked worriedly.
*Are you playing around with world line convergence here?* Zhang Yuanqing grumbled internally. "If that really happens, there's nothing we can do."
After walking for fifteen minutes, Zhang Yuanqing's stamina ran out. The three found a restaurant to eat. Once full and refreshed, they continued toward the outer city. Passing through the inner city gate, they saw a surging crowd jamming the area in front of the notice board beside the gate.
Commoners dressed in plain cloth packed the notice board tightly. A torrent of clamorous discussion rose from the crowd, faintly laced with furious curses:
"Foolish tyrant!"
"Absurd!"
"Is he trying to drag the Imperial Preceptor into infamy for ten thousand years as well?"
The saber-bearing soldiers beside the notice board turned a deaf ear, letting the populace curse freely.
Zhang Yuanqing drew closer, patted Jingwei's shoulder, and said, "Clear a path!"
"Out of the way, out of the way, move!" Jiang Jingwei plunged into the crowd like a loach darting into a school of fish, stirring up a flurry of commotion.
People stumbled left and right. Relying on the brute strength of a Fire Master, Jiang Jingwei forcibly forged a path through.
Zhang Yuanqing and Queen took the opportunity to slip in, finally arriving before the notice board. A proclamation issued by the imperial court was pasted on the wall, written in small regular script.
Listening to a clerk read it aloud while scanning the text, Zhang Yuanqing instantly understood why the populace was seething with rage.
It turned out Emperor Zhao Shun was demanding three hundred boys and three hundred girls from the populace to hold a sacrificial ceremony to Heaven, where the three hundred boys and three hundred girls would be burned by holy fire as an offering to Heaven, seeking blessings for the Southern Dynasty and the soldiers on the front lines.
Zhao Shun had also decreed that the ceremony must be presided over by the Imperial Preceptor.
"Outrageous..." Zhang Yuanqing muttered to himself. Was the Zheng clan cornered like a dog jumping over a wall? Drawing aggro for Zhao Shun in such an underhanded manner, only to openly stage a coup afterward and forcefully usurp the throne with the Imperial Preceptor taking their side?
Given the foolish monarch's typical conduct, he would never walk into a trap for the sake of three hundred boys and girls. So the proclamation wasn't aimed at smoking Zhao Shun out; it could only be an aggressive bid to stoke hatred and pave the way for usurpation.
Amid cries of "tyrant" and "foolish monarch," Zhang Yuanqing led Jiang Jingwei and Queen out of the crowd. With knitted brows, they passed through the inner city gate into the outer city.
After walking a good distance, Queen finally spoke:
"Sect Master, do you know Han dynasty history?"
"Speak plainly."
"In the Han dynasty, there was an emperor named Liu He. In the twenty-seven days following his ascension, he committed over a thousand absurd acts. Seeing how utterly foolish and incompetent he was, the powerful minister Huo Guang assembled the court officials, deposed the emperor, and enthroned a new monarch." Queen glanced back toward the city gate.
"What Zheng Wenhan wants to do is roughly the same. He only needs to find a puppet disguised as you, control the Imperial City Division, bar any ministers from entering the palace, and then burn the three hundred boys and girls in short order. Afterward, he can proceed to depose the emperor."
Zhang Yuanqing thought for a moment and said, "The Zheng clan's enemies won't allow him to do that."
Such an act was akin to killing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of one's own. The civil and military officials throughout the court would certainly oppose it. Even if Zheng Wenhan held supreme sway over the court, he couldn't suppress every dissenting voice.
"To stop it, they would have to rely on a mutiny," Queen said. "In the court, only the Yang family has that kind of capability. If the Yang family launches a mutiny, won't they fall right into the Zheng clan's trap? The Zheng clan could eliminate the Yang family with ease—that's the leverage of coercing the emperor to command the lords. If the Yang family chooses endurance and restraint, the Zheng clan can proceed as planned."
Zhang Yuanqing gave the tall, voluptuous Queen a surprised look. Being able to deduce all this meant she was no mere ornament.
Sure enough, everyone in Return of the Dead was a talent.
"Then what do you think we should do?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
Queen shook her head. "I don't know, but from this, I understand the importance of your side quest. Only by winning the hearts of the people can you truly control the court and the capital."
Zhang Yuanqing pondered a moment. "We'll take it one step at a time."
He needed some time to think up a countermeasure.
Around three in the afternoon, they returned to their "uncle and aunt's" home in the southern part of the city. Uncle hadn't returned from doing labor outside yet; Auntie sat beneath the courtyard skylight doing needlework.
Beside her was a seven-year-old girl sitting on a small wooden stool before a pile of dirty clothes. A pair of rough, tiny hands was scrubbing laboriously against a washboard.
With every scrub, she put in all her strength, her little bottom lifting off the stool.
Seeing the three return, Auntie smiled warmly.
"You're back? Did you find any work?"
She turned her head to instruct her daughter, "Go on, fetch some water for your cousins."
The little girl let out an obedient "oh," wiped her small hands on her chest, and jogged into the house. Moments later, she came out carrying a clay kettle.
She tilted her head up and strained to hand the kettle to her "older cousin," wearing a timid, ingratiating expression.
Zhang Yuanqing looked at the girl's dark, shiny eyes and patted her head. "Thank you, Xiu'er."
The little girl was named Wang Xiu, the youngest daughter of Uncle and Aunt, seven years old this year. They hadn't seen her when they arrived last night, only meeting her this morning.
Wang Xiu gave a shy smile.
Zhang Yuanqing gulped down a mouthful of water and said dejectedly, "Auntie, we didn't find any work."
The reason Zhang Yuanqing and the other two had given for going out was job hunting. After all, their hometown had been reduced to ashes in the flames of war, and they had come to the capital to seek shelter with Uncle. But Uncle's family wasn't well off either, unable to support three more mouths.
Auntie also sighed in disappointment. "If your body were sturdy, you could earn a living down at the docks. Later, I'll have your uncle keep an eye out to find you something that doesn't take too much physical strength."
Just then, Xiu'er spoke in a crisp voice, "Mother, Eldest Brother's clothes are washed."
She pointed to the bamboo drying rack under the courtyard skylight; being too short, hanging the clothes to dry had to be left to an adult.
Queen volunteered to help hang the clothes.
Auntie took the cue to say, "These are all your eldest cousin's clothes. I had Xiu'er wash them clean; you can wear his for now. I'm not sure if they'll fit, though."
Eldest Brother? Zhang Yuanqing asked, "Is Eldest Brother home?"
Auntie suddenly grew stammering and evasive.
Beside them, Wang Xiu said, "Eldest Brother isn't home. He rarely comes back."
"Why?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
Wang Xiu instinctively replied, "Eldest Brother is in the Azure Dragon Gang. He fights outside every day and doesn't dare come home."
"Xiu'er!" Auntie scolded loudly.
Before the bamboo rack, Queen's hand trembled, and the garment fell to the ground.
*The Azure Dragon Gang?!* Zhang Yuanqing's expression instantly froze.
Queen's expression froze in sync as she turned her head, meeting Zhang Yuanqing's gaze.
The Azure Dragon Gang was the organization Songstress Wang belonged to—a Jianghu gang dedicated to slaying the tyrant and saving the common people.
Seeing their exaggerated reaction, Auntie assumed they had heard of the Azure Dragon Gang's notorious reputation. Knowing she could no longer conceal it, she sighed repeatedly:
"That wretched son of mine fights and brawls all day long, with countless enemies out there. Terrified of dragging us down with him, he rarely even comes home. Every time he does, he comes and goes in a rush, just tossing down some silver and leaving.
"Instead of living a decent life, he insists on fighting and killing. Your uncle and I treat it as though we never had that son."
Zhang Yuanqing forced out a smile. "Auntie, from now on, I'll be your son."
*Fuck! We're changing places tomorrow.*
Right at that moment, a shout came from outside the door:
"Mother, I'm back!"
Chapter 857