Rebirth of a Star General 95
Thank you Somebody for the kofi! Here is the bonus chapter~
The Assassination
“Don’t drink!”
Her voice was like a sharp sword, with despondent sorrow, suddenly interrupting the joyfulness of the banquet.
It was at this time that something happened.
Yingyue, who stood beside Xiao Jue and held a wine jug in her hand, had just poured the wine and did not have the time to retreat her hand. As soon as He Yan’s words fell, as if her words were some signal, an object resembling a dagger appeared under the pot of wine in the blink of an eye, and Yingyue stabbed it directly at Xiao Jue without hesitation.
The young man had a calm expression, without any panic. The jade cup in his hand flew out straight, colliding with the dagger in the air. It smashed but also managed to stop the tip of the knife from rushing towards him.
Suddenly, the wind burst out from all sides. The beautiful women who just sang and danced did not retreat but instead spread in all directions, and they all rushed towards Xiao Jue. This was actually a carefully planned assassination.
“Uncle!” He Yan called out, but she only saw the young man slapping the table and the long sword fell into his hand. He was surrounded by a dozen people, as he coldly instructed her, “Hide away!”
Sun Xiangfu seemed to be startled by this sudden change. He was so scared that he escaped while covering his head and hid under the table with fear, but he still did not forget to shout, “Someone, someone quickly–“
He Yan was paying attention to the guard behind Yuan Baozhen. She originally thought that this person was working for He Rufei and was afraid that he had a motive for following Yuan Baozhen. When she was in a state of anger and shock, she only looked at the table but never thought that the women around her were assassins. Yuan Baozhen was guarded by the guard behind him and stepped back a few steps, looking flustered.
The guard didn’t even make a move.
Could today’s assassination be a coincidence? He Yan thought so in her heart, and when she looked at Xiao Jue who was surrounded in the middle, she almost blew in anger.
The assassins were all women, who were either dancing in the hall or playing zithers just now, all of them behaving light and gentle, yet their attacks were dangerous. They had arrows hidden in their sleeves, and when their sleeves fluttered, those hidden weapons flew towards Xiao Jue.
At such a great evening banquet, only Xiao Jue was fighting against ten by himself. Be it on the battlefield in He Yan’s previous life or the martial arts competition in this life, these were all upright and fair. He Yan had never seen such filthy and dirty methods and was filled with indignation for a while. Seeing the knife that was used to cut roasted meat on the table she grabbed it and rushed into the crowd.
“Uncle, I’ll help you!”
He Yan spoke halfway when she suddenly remembered that she was now “Cheng Lisu”. How can the useless son from Shuojing know martial arts? But as long as she doesn’t show off martial arts too openly, it might work. She yelled, “Why are these people’s sleeves so long? I can’t see you anymore!” As she talked, she pulled a woman’s sleeve with the knife. The long sleeve got slashed with the sound.
The long sleeves turned into short sleeves in a moment, and then the hidden weapons were all moved, and the action became obvious. He Yan just yelled while spinning around among the crowd. Her figure was as light and slippery as a loach. Everyone wanted to, but could not, catch her. The scene of the boy screaming and cursing was a little comical.
Xiao Jue swung away from the woman’s sword in front of him, then turned his head and glanced at her.
He Yan was still yelling, “Help! Murder!” As she yelled, her palm fended off the dart that rushed towards her, and conveniently also kicked the face of the woman beside her.
The corner of Xiao Jue’s mouth twitched.
The target of these showgirls was Xiao Jue, all the vicious methods and hidden weapons were directed at Xiao Jue, yet such a young man suddenly broke into the middle, disrupting them. Yingyue’s face was green, her fingers clenched, and in a hateful voice, “Damn it!” After that, she slashed straight at He Yan.
He Yan screamed “Ah! Ah!” and hid behind Xiao Jue, shouting “Uncle, save me!” while looking frightened.
These ten or so women had extraordinary skills that couldn’t have been trained overnight. These tactics, on the contrary, were like suicide soldiers trained specifically to kill people.
Who on earth did Xiao Jue offend that they even wanted to use such methods to kill him?
Among this group of women, Yingyue was the leader, but not the strongest. It is true that there were endless hidden weapons in her hands, such as jujube arrows, plum needles, Emei thorns, iron lotus… He Yan did not know how she concealed so many weapons in her sleeves. However, Xiao Jue did not seem to want to take away this person’s life since the tip of his sword avoided their vitals.
He Yan knew that he had outstanding swordsmanship and skills ever since he was young. Meeting him again after so long, this was the first time she saw him making a shot. The assassins were unable to get close, getting injured by his sword and falling to the ground. Then, he pulled Yingyue’s sleeve, turned his arm, pulling Yingyue forward. In the next moment, his sword pointed directly at Yingyue’s throat.
The young man’s voice was low and deep, as if it was more pleasing than the sound of the zither just now — with undisguised killing intent, cruel and compelling.
“Who sent you here?”
He Yan couldn’t help but look at the guard behind Yuan Baozhen.
As the guard was guarding Yuan Baozhen earlier, his face that was hiding in the dark appeared at this moment. His expression was also very flustered, as if he didn’t expect this to happen, and couldn’t comprehend. However, He Yan saw that his index finger slowly bent into a semicircle.
No one would pay attention to a guard at this time. The finger movements were extremely minor. If He Yan hadn’t been paying attention to him, it would definitely be ignored.
The intuition she had cultivated over the years made her look back subconsciously, but when she saw the doorkeeper, who had been holding his head and hiding a few steps behind, lunged towards Xiao Jue.
“Watch out!”
Xiao Jue was pointing at Yingyue. He Yan couldn’t care about anything else and pushed Xiao Jue away with her palm. The man who lunged in front of her was pierced through the throat by Xiao Jue’s sword.
Those assassins earlier were all women. Who would have noticed this little servant? Moreover, from the first moment the incident happened, this person was like everyone else who had no power to bind the chicken, hiding behind the tables. Who would have expected that he would be the last pawn?
“Is something wrong?” Xiao Jue asked her, twisting his eyebrows.
He Yan shook her head.
Yingyue on the ground suddenly laughed.
In the dead silence, her laugh was particularly harsh. He Yan turned her head to look. The beauty had blood on her lips and her expression was ruthless.
He Yan stepped forward and asked, “Who are you? Why do you want to harm my uncle?”
Yingyue looked at He Yan with a fierce expression, “If you hadn’t come out to stir up the trouble, we would not be here today! You will never know who my master is…”
She coughed up blood on her lips, and the blood that flowed out was also abnormally black. Looking at the women around, they were all the same. He Yan understood that they were really suicide soldiers — if the assassination fail, they die.
“Really?” Xiao Jue looked at Yingyue, suddenly curled his lips and smiled, his eyes mocking and said: “There are countless people in the world who want to kill me. But there is only one anxious one.”
“I will accept this great gift from your master. I hope that your master can afford my return gift.”
Yingyue’s face changed drastically. But she had already taken the poison, in just a few moments, her face was ashen and like the other women, she lost her breath and died.
Xiao Jue raised his foot over her corpse, stood still in the hall, looked at Sun Xiangfu, who was trembling in fear, and scolded, “Master Sun, you better well explain why you hosted such a banquet, where all the maids and servants in the house want to assassinate me. Are you deliberately plotting against this General?”
Sun Xiangfu had already tasted death. He almost shed tears when he heard that. Seeing that the assassins were already dead, he then dared to come out from beneath the table and explained in a hurry, “The General, I really don’t know. I really don’t! With my guts, I dare not murder you! These showgirls were only picked up by me half a month ago, I… I didn’t know they were assassins! Lord Yuan, Lord Yuan, please help me explain. I, I really don’t know what’s going on!”
Yuan Baozhen, who has not said a word, also recovered. He patted his chest and said with lingering fears, “Master Sun, it’s not a question whether you knew or not. These singers were all from your house. Today, if General Xiao really got injured, you wouldn’t have been able to get away with it. I don’t think this matter is as simple as it seems on the surface. It is better to clean up this place first, then do a search on these people to find out where they came from and what their identities were.”
He looked at Xiao Jue again, “General Xiao should have also been frightened, so it’s better to freshen up first, then change the location and listen to Master Sun’s explanation. I’m afraid these singers came prepared”
Xiao Jue looked at him with a faint smile, and said, “Okay.”
This evening banquet was abruptly interrupted, but at this moment, everyone was obviously not in the mood to continue. There was a mess in the hall and the servants came quickly and took away the body of the singers. Yuan Baozhen asked, “Would you like to search them for any tokens?”
“After half a month in the Sun’s mansion, their tokens must have long been hidden. How would they leave the tokens around to wait for someone to search for them? If they do, I am afraid they are just to frame others,” Xiao Jue stared at Yuan Baozhen and said calmly, “Lord Yuan mustn’t be fooled.”
Yuan Baozhen’s scalp tightened.
Xiao Jue ignored him, turned his head, and saw He Yan standing in the same place blankly. Suddenly he remembered that this guy hadn’t spoken much since just now.
Was he frightened?
“Why are you stunned? Let’s go.” He said to He Yan, and as soon as he finished speaking, he felt his sleeves being pulled out.
“Uncle,” the young man raised his head, his always grinning face was without a smile, with a trace of nervousness and his eyes blankly falling on his face as if he was looking at nothing. He said, “When that little boy rushed over and I pushed you away, he sprinkled a handful of things on my face. My eyes hurt a little.” Her voice was small, no longer soaring, with some panic, “I seem to have been blinded.”
…
The doctors went in one by one, and quickly came out again, with a panicked expression, everyone shook their heads without speaking, and sighed.
Xiao Jue’s face grew darker and darker.
While watching, Sun Xiangfu was frightened. Who would have thought that Xiao Jue’s nephew, the young man who was with Xiao Jue, would have his eyes injured by the assassin? The doctors could only open his eyelids and look at him. The young man only said that he couldn’t see him. There was no genius doctor in Liangzhou city. All the doctors who could be found were found, yet there were no results.
The powder on the ground had already been blown away by the wind, and there were no traces left. They didn’t even know what the poison was and how it could be cured. Fortunately, this young man only had his eyes hurt, and the rest of his body was okay. Otherwise, if he hurt his life, they don’t know how the General would be furious.
“General,” Sun Xiangfu said, “I’ll ask a famous doctor to come. The young master is lucky, he will definitely be fine.”
Xiao Jue, “Go away.”
Everyone could hear the anger in the words. Sun Xiangfu didn’t dare to offend Xiao Jue at this juncture, so he said a few words in a hurry, and backed away as if he was fleeing for his life.
Xiao Jue stood outside the house, paused for a moment, then walked inside. He happened to pass by the last doctor. He saw the young man sitting on the couch with a calm expression. He didn’t know what he was thinking. After a while, he gestured in front of him with his hands, as if he refused to believe that he couldn’t see.
Because she screamed in pain, the doctor didn’t dare to use any medicine. He only found some soothing and cool herbs, put them on a clean strip of cloth and wrapped He Yan’s eyes with the cloth strip.
He Yan always appeared to be smiling widely, sometimes smart, sometimes stupid, as for whether he was really stupid or pretending to be stupid, no one knows now. His eyes were naturally very ingenious, clear and transparent, a little silly when staring, full of vigor and cunning when they curved up. Now with the strip of cloth covering his eyes, the boy’s face instantly became unfamiliar, and even the vivid expressions he wore before became blurred.
Xiao Jue suddenly remembered that at the banquet, when Yingyue and her group were assassinating, He Yan rushed over and did not waver. Even if He Yan didn’t mention the wine that Yingyue poured, he wouldn’t have drank it. But at that time, the fear and anger in the boy’s cry were not fake.
Even listening to it makes the heart feel chills.
He went in and walked to He Yan’s bed.
He Yan seemed to have noticed it, but it seemed uncertain. He looked sideways and asked carefully, “Is someone here?”
Xiao Jue did not speak.
“No one?” She whispered again, then turned her head to calm down.
He Yan really talked a lot during this journey to Liangzhou City. Xiao Jue didn’t talk to her, so she went to find Fei Nu. Fei Nu didn’t talk much, but Song Taotao, who appeared later, filled the vacancy. It was unsettling to see a person who was always chirping to suddenly quieten down.
This boy was only sixteen years old now but was different from ordinary people. He was a little flustered when he learned that his eyes went blind, but he didn’t howl or cry. He seemed to have accepted this fact quickly, but when he sat quietly, it made people feel a little bit intolerable.
Probably it was because he was too thin, so looking at him was very pitiful.
Xiao Jue asked, “How do you feel?”
“Ah… Uncle?” He Yan was taken aback for a moment, and then said, “I’m just not used to it.” She stretched out her hand as if she wanted to touch her eyes, but ended up touching the strip of cloth strip, and then she retracted her hand again and said, “Have my eyes really turned blind?”
She even asked in a calm tone.
Xiao Jue would have said “yes”, but right now, he actually couldn’t say it.
Such an extraordinary young man was at the best age. With his qualifications, he would have been promoted in Liangzhou Wei within a few years. The pearl in a pool of muddy water will not be buried anyway. But after losing the pair of eyes, the situation was different. Not to mention the impact on his future, he himself needs the courage to get used to such dark days.
After all, he wasn’t blind since he was born. Having vision and then losing it is more unbearable than not having it in the first place.
“Uncle, you aren’t sorry for me, are you?” He Yan suddenly said. Although her eyes were covered with cloth strips, the tone of her words was imaginable. If it was normal, she should have widened her eyes at this moment, her eyes full of urge and ridicule.
“Perhaps you are still blaming yourself?” She smiled, “Actually, you don’t have to blame yourself for me. You should praise me, maybe if you praise me, I will think that it was worth it for me to do all this.”
“Praise you for what?” Xiao Jue said indifferently.
“Of course praise me for being great.” The boy’s voice was a little surprised and a little smug. “If it wasn’t for me to remind you not to drink, it wouldn’t have lead to this failed assassination. I am your savior. Isn’t it great!”
Even at this time, he still has the heart to think about this? Xiao Jue was speechless, wondering if he should say that this young man had a big heart, or if he really didn’t care.
“You don’t seem to be sad.” Xiao Jue said, “You can’t see with your eyes and maybe you will never be able to see.”
As soon as he said this, the young man’s fingers curled up. Although it was extremely subtle, it was still caught by Xiao Jue.
She was scared and not as calm as she appeared on the surface.
“God wouldn’t be so cruel to me, right?” He Yan said, “I have never done a bad thing in my life, so why would He treat me like this? If… if he really wants to do this to me, then I can’t help it, I’ll just be a blind man. There are many kinds. I’m so good, so I’ll just be the best among the blind. “
Xiao Jue was slightly startled, this sentence sounded inexplicably familiar as if he had heard it somewhere a long time ago.
“But, uncle, are you going to give up so early? I think you’d better find a few more doctors to treat me and maybe I can be cured. Why are you saying that there is no cure?” the boy asked.
Xiao Jue glanced at him. Although the young man tried his best to behave as usual, he was still a bit listless. He said: “Get a good rest.” He turned and left.
Xiao Jue left the room and the room calmed down. Because there might be an assassin in the mansion, all the subordinates in the house were evacuated, and only his own personnel, Fei Nu, whom Xiao Jue had re-summoned, remained outside the courtyard.
He Yan stretched out her hand, seeming to want to untie the knot in the back of her head, but after a while, she put down her hand and did not continue to move.
She lowered her head and murmured, “Ding Yi.”
The guard of Yuan Baozhen, He Rufei’s former servant, who personally gave her a bowl of poison in her previous life. She had heard Yuan Baozhen call him by his name, which was Ding Yi.
…
In the study, Sun Xiangfu wrinkled his face and was almost on the verge of tears.
Sitting in front of him was Yuan Baozhen. Yuan Baozhen said, “Master Sun, I can’t help you on this matter.”
“Master Yuan, I can only see death if you don’t save me! Only you can help me now!” Sun Xiangfu said with a mournful face, “I really don’t know anything about the assassins today. And now, the General is angry. Young Master Cheng can’t see anymore, General Xiao will definitely take his anger out on this subordinate. I’m just a Prefect. Where can I take over the anger of General Feng Yun!”
Sun Xiangfu had personally witnessed how good the relationship between Xiao Jue and Cheng Lisu, the pair of uncle and nephew, was. Cheng Lisu and Sun Ling had a dispute, and the appearance of Xiao Jue rushing over to protect the other’s shortcomings was really frightening. At that time, it was just a verbal argument. Now Cheng Lisu is really blind, isn’t Xiao Jue going to ask him to pay with his life? Sun Xiangfu shivered when he thought of this.
“I don’t think General Xiao is such an unreasonable person.” Yuan Baozhen comforted him.
When the two were talking, Xiao Jue arrived.
Sun Xiangfu didn’t care about asking Yuan Baozhen, and he knelt down directly to Xiao Jue with his robe up.
“What do you mean?” Xiao Jue asked with a cold eye.
“The General, this subordinate really doesn’t know what’s going on at this moment. This subordinate was also deceived by them! Even if I was really courageous, this official dare not murder you!” Sun Xiangfu began to cry out injustice.
“Get up,” Xiao Jue glanced at him, as if he couldn’t look at him like this, walked inside, sat down on the uppermost chair, looked at him and said, “Tell me how you met them. “After a pause, he added, “Those assassins.”
This is… Does he believe he was not behind the scenes? Sun Xiangfu realized this and was overjoyed. On the other hand, Yuan Baozhen’s eyes flickered and there was no sound.
Sun Xiangfu stood up quickly, did not brush the dust off his robe, and retreated to a slightly shorter chair to sit down. In this way, the position where he and Yuan Baozhen were seated was like giving priority to Xiao Jue. Sun Xiangfu wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said, “In fact, they have only been in the mansion for half a month. At first, a new theater troupe came to the city…”
The leader of this troupe was an old woman and brought a group of beautiful girls to the city. They said that the place where they lived was in a severe drought and there was really no way to survive, so they moved to Liangzhou City. They set up a stage in the east of Liangzhou City and sang three times a day.
At first, it was just civilians who came to watch. This group of girls was not only beautiful, but also sang wonderfully. They were eye-catching. Gradually, they gained fame and attracted many nobles and the news also fell to Sun Ling’s ears.
In Liangzhou City, there were no women that Sun Ling hadn’t touched. On the night when Sun Ling watched the play, he asked people to buy the group of women to sing in the house. The old woman of the troupe refused. When she was wounded by Sun Ling’s subordinates and was about to be killed, Yingyue stood up and said that she was willing to persuade the sisters to enter the mansion voluntarily, only hoping that Sun Ling would release their owner.
Sun Ling did as agreed and Yingyue indeed convinced the group of sisters to be gentle after entering the house. After entering the Sun Mansion, Sun Ling discovered that these girls not only could sing, but are also proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Amongst them, Yingyue was particularly outstanding.
Sun Xiangfu also knew about Yingyue.
Sun Xiangfu was different from Sun Ling. Sun Ling only knows how to eat, drink and play, but Sun Xiangfu was ambitious. It is good to be the prefect of Liangzhou, but what if he can go further? Even if you don’t go further, the seat of prefect could be secured firmly, he might have to do things here and there and have a good relationship with some familiar and unfamiliar people. For example, the new Liangzhou guardhouse’s General, with whom he was not familiar.
Sun Xiangfu asked Yingyue to come and entertain the guests on the day he would be hosting a banquet in the mansion. Anyway, there were only two guests, Supervisor Imperial official Yuan Baozhen and Right army General Xiao Jue. As long as one of them was pleased, he could rest assured.
Although Sun Ling was a little dissatisfied, he was helpless. On the days after that, Yingyue really took her sisters to practice dancing and singing. Every time Sun Xiangfu went to watch, he was very satisfied. This maid was still very smart. When she first entered the mansion for the old woman, she was a little unwilling. After learning about the extravagance of the Sun Mansion, she became more clever. Sometimes when Sun Xiangfu talked to her, he could even feel the woman’s desire for power.
Also, for people who go to high places, water flows to low places. This is the case for everyone in the world, men and women are the same.
Sun Xiangfu thought so until the chaos that happened at the banquet tonight.
When he talked about these things, probably because of embarrassment, he polished up a little, but it was nothing more than to remove those insignificant modifications. Sun Ling was upset. Who knew he had picked up a poisonous snake home.
“I really didn’t expect them to actually be assassins. Women… How could women be assassins?” Sun Xiangfu said. He didn’t know if this was for Xiao Jue or for himself. According to their norms, women have always been a plaything for the Sun family’s father and son, or an item sent to win over the superiors. Now, they had been put in such an ordeal by women. It was difficult to tell his mood at the moment.
“These assassins entered the mansion half a month ago?” Xiao Jue asked.
Sun Xiangfu nodded, “Yes, this subordinate is to blame for this matter. This subordinate did not carefully check their identities. I only thought that they were women wandering in the city without relatives, pitiful and weak, so…”
He tried his best to make it sound like he brought them into the house out of pity, but Xiao Jue ignored him. He just played with the teacup in his hand, and said calmly, “Half a month ago, Master Sun hadn’t sent me a post to invite me to come to the house for a banquet.”
Sun Xiangfu was taken aback.
“But half a month ago, Master Yuan should have known the day he arrived in Liangzhou.” He turned his head and looked at Yuan Baozhen with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Yuan Baozhen smiled and replied, “What does the governor mean by this? You don’t suspect me, do you? The General didn’t want to think about it. If I arrange these women, how can I be sure that they will be picked up by Sun Zhixian? I can’t predict things like god?”
“Of course you can’t predict things like gods,” Xiao Jue’s lips twitched slightly, and said calmly, “But all you have to do is write a letter to Master Sun.”
This was to say that Yuan Baozhen and Sun Xiangfu have played the game together.
Sun Xiangfu easily thought that he was cleared of suspicion. But Xiao Jue’s words immediately made him sweat again, and he immediately waved his hand, “No, no! The General, I really didn’t! I don’t know how this happened. I haven’t received any letter from Lord Yuan either!”
Yuan Baozhen didn’t smile anymore, looked at Xiao Jue, and said solemnly, “The General convicted me and Sun Zhixian in a word, but there is no evidence, which is really distressing. I have no deep hatred for the General. It’s the first time I had dinner with you, why would I harm the General?”
He was born with a good face and was very sincere when he uttered his words, with a touch of sadness at being misunderstood.
Xiao Jue stared at him for a while. After a while, he smiled and said indifferently, “Just kidding, Lord Yuan doesn’t need to be serious.”
He closed his smile and became cold again, like a knife about to be unsheathed, hiding the fierceness of a storm.
“However, there are many doubts about this matter. I am afraid that I will have to stay here for a few days before I can figure it out.” He said.
“The General… is going to stay here?”
As the assassination had happened, ordinary people would only think that this place was not safe and want to leave as soon as possible to prevent from being calculated again. Why does he still want to stay here?
“Yes,” the young General put down the teacup, stood up with his long body and his eyes were slightly cold, “I’m staying here to catch the thief.”
