After the Cold and Aloof Husband's Mask Falls - Chapter 33

Outside the relay station, the storm raged on. The flickering yellow lanterns made the building look like a lonely island adrift in a sea of darkness.

After seeing off the ashen-faced Doctor Chen, Zhu Hengyuan closed the door for Gu Wanlan.

“Doctor Chen was truly scared out of his wits,” Zhu Hengyuan remarked. “He likely thinks his life is hanging by a thread.”

Gu Wanlan chuckled. She sat on the edge of the bed and propped up the breathless Roulan Prince. Her fingers tapped rapidly against several points on his back. “Once this is over, we must reward him handsomely to settle his nerves.”

“By the way…” A strange face flashed through Gu Wanlan’s mind. “Who was the man who escorted Doctor Chen into the room? I don’t believe I’ve seen him before.”

“Oh, him? He’s the mute servant traveling with the Haoyang Merchant Guild.” Seeing the Prince’s complexion begin to regain a faint flush, Zhu Hengyuan stepped forward to take over supporting the man.

“The Haoyang Merchant Guild has entered the capital?” Gu Wanlan asked, surprised. She murmured to herself, “If not for the gravity of our current situation, I would very much like to pay them a visit.”

The Haoyang Merchant Guild was one of the premier merchant organizations in Great Xia. During the Battle of Changping Pass, when supplies were scarce and the war was at its peak, it was the Haoyang Guild that stepped forward to resolve their dire situation. Before Gu Wanlan returned to the capital, she had sent an invitation to their leader for her farewell banquet, but she had been forced to leave early and missed the chance to meet that patriotic merchant. It remained a lingering regret.

Zhu Hengyuan stripped the Prince’s damp outer robes and sighed. “We’ve done all we can for him. Whether he survives the night depends on his own luck. But, My Lord, since you suspect Xiao Sun, why not seize him now?”

Gu Wanlan lowered her eyes, idly wiping her unsheathed blade with a cloth. “Our entire route was guided by Xiao Sun. Even I was specifically requested by him. Cui Qiong bringing Doctor Chen was the first variable he didn’t account for.”

Zhu Hengyuan’s eyes widened. “So he was the one who secretly rummaged through the doctor’s medicine chest!”

“Precisely.”

With her confirmation, Zhu Hengyuan’s thoughts raced. “If there were no doctor—or if the doctor lacked the proper medicine—we would have been forced to take the Prince to the nearest town to save his life!”

Gu Wanlan looked at the gleaming edge of her blade and let out a soft laugh. “Correct. But the sudden storm was the second variable. Instead of going to the town he had pre-selected, we returned to this relay station.”

Zhu Hengyuan’s expression grew grim. “They must have an ambush waiting in that town. But I don’t understand—if they want him dead, they know where he is. Why go through the trouble of leading us there? And if they want him alive, why all these theatrics?”

Gu Wanlan planted her sword into the floor, her eyes cold. “That is what I haven’t figured out yet. We cannot alert the enemy; we must lure them into our own trap. Since the Prince is the catalyst for everything, the news of his ‘death’—whether they believe it or not—will force them to act tonight. That will be our chance.”

Zhu Hengyuan placed the Prince into a large redwood chest and slipped a slice of ginseng under his tongue.

Creak. The lid was sealed shut.

Zhu Hengyuan looked at Gu Wanlan with a solemn expression. “This room has no windows. I will guard the door with my life. I will not fail your trust tonight.”

Past Midnight

The mute servant lying in the guest room downstairs opened his eyes. He glanced at his master sleeping beside him, tossed back the covers, and got out of bed.

Without lighting a lamp, he dressed himself in thick clothing in the dark. He walked to the window and pushed it open. A sudden gust of cold air rushed in, making him sneeze. He rubbed his red nose and looked up at the night sky.

Outside, the rain had slowed to a light drizzle, but the moon remained hidden behind the clouds, leaving the world drenched in ink-black shadows. He closed his eyes against the mist. After a moment, his ears twitched. A sound was becoming clearer—coming from the second floor directly above. The wooden floorboards were thin and did little to mask the noise.

It was a faint, dragging sound… as if someone was pulling something heavy across the floor.

He opened his eyes and looked up at the ceiling. Directly above him was the room where the Prince was kept.

The Second Floor

Old Wei dragged the drugged and unconscious Gu Wanlan to the doorway. He glanced at the man in white beside him, who had been posing as his “Master.” The man understood the signal and blew more sleeping incense into the room through the cracks—the same method they had used to take down Gu Wanlan.

Old Wei loathed working with these people; they were little more than circus performers with no real martial arts to speak of. In the original plan, their main forces were stationed at the town clinic. This relay station was only a backup, so he had only been given these few helpers.

After a moment, the guard inside collapsed with a heavy thud. Old Wei pushed the door open.

“Wait.”

A familiar voice came from behind. Gu Wanlan, who was faking her unconsciousness on the floor, felt her heart skip a beat. She and Zhu Hengyuan had rehearsed their reactions to various traps. They knew the enemy would likely use drugs, and they had prepared accordingly. Now, the question that had been hovering in her mind was about to be answered.

“Master?” Old Wei turned in surprise as Xiao Sun walked down the corridor.

Hearing Old Wei call Xiao Sun “Master” filled Gu Wanlan with a complex mix of emotions. Xiao Sun was indeed the mastermind. But before she could process the betrayal, the hair on her neck stood up.

Someone was crouching down in front of her.

Xiao Sun knelt and stared at the figure of “Feiyan.” He reached out and touched the golden mask covering her face. After a moment of hesitation, he pulled the mask away.

He froze.

Old Wei leaned over curiously. Beneath the mask was the face of an ordinary, plain-looking woman. Old Wei smirked. “Nothing special after all.”

Looking at the unfamiliar face, Xiao Sun laughed inwardly at himself. Ever since returning to the Western Capital and reuniting with Gu Wanlan, he had become obsessed. He had come here, risking his position, all for a ridiculous hunch.

Xiao Sun stood up and handed the mask back to Old Wei, his expression turning cold. “Proceed.”

Only when the footsteps faded did Gu Wanlan breathe a sigh of relief. That was close. If it had been daylight, Xiao Sun would surely have noticed the subtle edges of the prosthetic skin she had applied under the mask. She had prepared it specifically to thwart him, and it had worked.

She was suddenly dragged roughly over the threshold, her spine hitting the floor with a jolt of pain. She kept her breathing shallow and still.

One step, two steps… she could tell they were approaching the bed.

“Go,” the gravelly voice of Old Wei whispered. “Whether the Prince is dead or not, run him through with a sword.”

Shing!

The sound of a blade being drawn from its scabbard was right next to her. Gu Wanlan’s heart hammered—they had drawn her sword! They intended to kill the Prince with her weapon to frame Great Xia!

Gu Wanlan snapped her eyes open. With a sudden burst of strength, she performed a kip-up and kicked the man in white square in the chest. He crashed into the door with a resounding bang.

At that signal, Zhu Hengyuan—who had been lying on the bed dressed in the Prince’s clothes—leaped up. He grabbed a heavy saber hidden beside the bed and swung it at Old Wei.

Old Wei’s face paled as he barely dodged the lethal strike. “You brat! You dared to trick me!”

Gu Wanlan quickly subdued the man in white. Just as she was about to speak, a massive explosion shook the entire relay station. The building shuddered as if hit by a siege engine.

Then, a shout pierced the night: “Enemy attack in the backyard! Protect the Commander and the Prince!”

It was Zhu Hengyuan’s voice!

Gu Wanlan instinctively looked back at the Zhu Hengyuan fighting in the room. He was just as stunned, his distraction allowing Old Wei to plunge a sword through his shoulder.

Zhu Hengyuan gritted his teeth as the steel pierced his flesh. Instead of retreating, he lunged forward, letting the blade pass through him to close the distance. He locked his arms around Old Wei in a death grip. “Commander, go! They have another plan!”

A diversion! They were using a voice mimic to lure the other guards away!

Gu Wanlan didn’t waste a second. She grabbed her sword and turned toward the door, but the man in white lunged at her with desperate ferocity. She struck him unconscious with the hilt of her blade, but when she turned back to the door, it had been locked from the outside.

The pungent smell of oil began to seep through the cracks.

Gu Wanlan’s expression shifted instantly. She tackled Zhu Hengyuan and Old Wei to the ground. “Get down!”

BOOM!

Tongues of fire roared to life, instantly engulfing the doorway.

Fire! He dared to use fire on a rainy night?! He intended to burn everyone in this room to death as his “backup plan.” He was a madman!

“Jiejiejie! You lost! In the end, your Great Xia lost!” Old Wei crawled up, laughing maniacally at Gu Wanlan. “The Prince is in this room, isn’t he?” His eyes scanned the area and landed on the redwood chest behind her. “In that chest.”

“There are no windows. The door is an inferno. We—including you—are all going to die. Your master never cared if you lived or died.”

There was no more point in hiding. Gu Wanlan pulled the Prince out of the chest and tied him to her back.

“So what?!” Old Wei laughed toward the ceiling. “As long as my Master succeeds, what does my life matter?”

“Now!” Gu Wanlan shouted.

Zhu Hengyuan, who had moved behind Old Wei unnoticed, surged upward. He pulled the sword out of his own shoulder and slashed with blurring speed. He severed the tendons in Old Wei’s limbs, leaving the old man collapsing to his knees, strengthless.

Old Wei stared at Gu Wanlan in disbelief. “Even… even now, you won’t surrender? There is no way out!”

Gu Wanlan choked on the rising smoke but stared back at him with defiant eyes. “Unfortunately for you, as long as I am breathing, I will never surrender.”

“Zhu Hengyuan, tear some cloth. Use some to cover our faces, and use the rest to bind the Prince firmly to me!”

“Yes!”

Just as Zhu Hengyuan moved, a massive crash echoed from above. A huge section of the ceiling collapsed. They dodged the falling timber just in time.

As the dust settled, Gu Wanlan kept her eyes fixed on the hole in the ceiling. She quickly finished securing the Prince to her back. Zhu Hengyuan raised his sword, shielding her, his body coiled like a spring.

A hand clad in a leather glove reached down through the hole, followed by a familiar face.

Gu Wanlan’s pupils shrank. It was the mute servant!