Chapter 4

Chapter 4

What I didn’t know was that Chu Ziye had never once let his guard down around me.

The day I showed up in black robes and a black conical hat, radiating murderous intent, he had already prepared himself to take a blade from me. After all, he could tell my martial arts were exceptional. I didn’t need to disguise myself like an ordinary assassin-I could simply bypass the prince’s manor guards and go straight for the kill.

But then I suddenly gave up and declared I had come to seek refuge with him. At the time, I had even been secretly pleased with my on-the-spot excuse. In reality, Chu Ziye hadn’t believed a single word.

He kept me in the manor and observed me in secret. He believed that since I had chosen not to strike that day and had instead infiltrated the prince’s manor, I must have had some purpose. Perhaps it was secret documents, perhaps it was border defense maps. In any case, I was definitely going to snoop around for information and then steal something when the opportunity arose.

Who could have known that after entering the prince’s manor, I would genuinely and earnestly work as a security guard? Not only did I steal nothing, I even caught two petty thieves who didn’t know what was good for them and tried to sneak in.

Even the meticulous Chu Ziye was baffled. He couldn’t figure out what game I was playing.

Could it be that he was being too suspicious? Was this woman… actually a good person?

Fortunately, I did not disappoint him. At last, I gave myself away. That night, when I went to the Empress’s palace, Chu Ziye’s informants had actually discovered it in secret and reported the news to him.

And just like that, my identity was thoroughly confirmed-I was indeed an assassin sent by the Empress.

Chu Ziye was not surprised that the Empress wanted to kill him. Chu Ziye was the eldest son born of a concubine. His mother had died very early, leaving him with little support, but he had always had a reputation for virtue and was a highly favored candidate for crown prince in court. Naturally, that made him an enemy of the Empress, who had given birth to a young son and was determined to put her own child on the throne.

After confirming my identity, Chu Ziye believed I would inevitably make a move afterward. Sure enough, I invited him to attend my birthday banquet.

Chu Ziye predicted that the assassination would definitely happen at the birthday banquet.

Chu Ziye already had it all figured out, while the assassin herself-me-was still blissfully clueless.

I had already made my preparations. Once I successfully paired up the male and female leads, I would take the money and happily leave it all behind. Twelve thousand taels of fine silver! I could eat every delicacy in this world, wear every silk and satin under the sun, and maybe even flirt with a few handsome ancient-style men on the side…

Ahem. Getting off track. First, I had to complete the mission.

That evening, I specifically asked Liu Xiaoman to prepare the dishes for my birthday banquet. The first dish was clear-braised lion’s head meatballs. She would carry the dish into the rear courtyard, and the clay pot holding the meatballs had already been tampered with by me beforehand. Once heated, it would shatter when it touched the table.

In other words, when Liu Xiaoman placed the clay pot in front of Chu Ziye, it would make a clear cracking sound. That sound would be the signal. Ah Qing, hidden in the shadows, would hear it and immediately move out, drawing his blade and stabbing toward Chu Ziye.

Then our kind and brave Liu Xiaoman, standing right beside Chu Ziye at that very moment, would immediately take the blade for the male lead and then be loved by Chu Ziye.

On top of that, she had soft golden-thread armor hidden beneath her little padded jacket, protecting her from serious injury.

Everything was so perfect that I couldn’t help revealing a smug smile.

“What is Miss Xiaoshuang smiling about?”

Chu Ziye asked me.

At this moment, we were already seated in the rear courtyard. A gentle breeze drifted past. Chu Ziye had even prepared a birthday gift for me: a jar of peach blossom wine he had been saving for a long time.

“Oh, I was just thinking about how I’ll soon get to eat Xiaoman’s lion’s head meatballs. It fills my heart with joy.” I laughed it off and poured wine for Chu Ziye and myself.

The two of us drank together, each with our own thoughts. I quietly glanced toward the back kitchen, estimating that the food should be nearly ready.

Sure enough, a moment later, a figure carrying a clay pot appeared in my line of sight. For some reason, Xiaoman was dressed especially thickly today. Her figure looked much bulkier than usual, and she had even gotten shorter…

Wait.

That wasn’t Liu Xiaoman.

That was Auntie Song from the back kitchen.

“Auntie, why is it you?!” I cried out in shock. “Where’s Xiaoman?”

“Oh, Xiaoman felt that the padded jacket you gave her didn’t quite fit, so she took it to a tailor shop in Shilipu to have it altered. She won’t be back tonight.” Auntie Song smiled warmly. “But she made the dishes in advance and asked me to heat them up tonight and bring them over.”

Liu! Xiao! Man!

Do you have any idea what you just missed?!

“It smells wonderful.” Chu Ziye sniffed lightly.

“Of course. No one has ever failed to praise our Xiaoman’s cooking.” Auntie Song walked toward Chu Ziye and set the clear-braised lion’s head meatballs in front of him. I suddenly remembered something and shouted-

“Wait!”

Too late. The instant the clay pot touched the low table, it made a clear cracking sound.

And Ah Qing, hidden in the shadows, was like a leopard that had been lying in wait for ages. He suddenly burst out and flew toward Chu Ziye with his blade.

That instant passed like a white colt flashing past a crack, like lightning striking flint, like the 0.01-second gap between first and second place in a sprint-

And yet, within that 0.01 second, ten thousand thoughts howled through my mind.

It’s over.

Will Chu Ziye die?

What the hell have I done?

Chu Ziye has actually been pretty good to me.

And now I’m getting him killed.

I’ve wronged him.

Forget it, he’s just a novel character. If I’ve wronged him, then I’ve wronged him.

But even if he’s just a novel character, he’s still a novel character who’s been very good to me…

My heart was still hesitating, but my body had already begun to move. In that split second, I threw myself forward and blocked Chu Ziye.

The dagger sank into my body.

Ah Qing was stunned. He couldn’t understand what I was doing.

Chu Ziye was stunned too. He couldn’t understand what I was doing either.

I myself couldn’t understand what I was doing. As a patient with blood phobia, in the instant before I fainted at the sight of blood, the last thought that flashed through my mind was-

Why did you take the blade?! Did you forget you’re a naturally super-strong assassin?! You could have just thrown Ah Qing away!

Filled with regret, I fell backward…

And Chu Ziye caught me.

“Xiaoshuang! Xiaoshuang!”

He pulled me into his arms, calling my name.

That face so close to mine was truly beautiful, with sharp brows and star-bright eyes. Those two brows, slanting up toward his temples, were now furrowed with anxiety and worry. For some reason, as if bewitched, I reached out, wanting to touch the crease between them.

“You’re not dead. That’s good.”

After saying that, before I could even touch Chu Ziye’s hand, I plunged into darkness.

“Xiaoshuang!!!”