The man in black stepped forward cautiously, retrieving the box filled with gold and opening it. He plucked out a gold ingot and bit into it, confirming its authenticity with a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes.
A smug grin spread across his face.
"If Your Highness doubts me, feel free to investigate. I, Wen Tianba, never change my name nor my seat. In the jianghu, I am known as the elusive Treading-Snow-without-a-Trace, also called Young Master Wuhen."
Yun Shu stared at him in silence.
The timing was truly inappropriate, yet she could not stop herself from asking, "Did you get that name from the Tian Sheng Weekly?"
"How did you know?"
The man in black instinctively asked back, then paused as realization struck.
"Ah, right. The Tian Sheng Weekly is your creation, and many of the stories in it were written by you."
"So you are truly a man of the jianghu?"
The self-proclaimed "Young Master Wuhen" looked utterly unreliable, his theatrics a little too much for someone supposedly seasoned in the martial underworld.
Yun Shu slowly furrowed her brows.
"Who ordered you to kidnap Miss Tang to threaten This Princess?"
"Your Highness asks an amusing question."
The man gave a low chuckle.
"I assumed that someone capable of crafting such dazzling tales of the jianghu would at least understand its ways. We do not question our clients. Once we accept a commission, there is no turning back or selling them out."
"How much silver did they offer you?"
Yun Shu casually pulled out a thick stack of silver notes.
"This Princess will pay double."
"Ahem."
Still holding the chest of gold, the man could not help but follow the enticing sway of the silver notes in her hand. His eyes tracked them involuntarily, unable to tear away.
"People like us in the jianghu value honor. If word gets out that we betrayed a client, it would be nearly impossible to find future work of this sort.
If Your Highness truly wishes to know more, a little more compensation might help."
"Triple."
With a flick of her wrist, Yun Shu released the entire stack of silver notes, letting them flutter through the air.
"Do not be greedy."
"I understand. One must only earn what their skills can handle. Excessive greed leads only to ruin."
He had listened to every single story published in Tian Sheng Weekly without missing a one.
Crouching down, the man gathered every last silver note and stuffed them into his robes. Then, he produced an envelope and used a deft flick of his wrist to send it flying steadily toward Yun Shu.
"Everything I know is in there. As for Miss Tang..."
He turned and shouted toward the ruined temple.
A window facing Yun Shu creaked open from the inside, and a second man clad in black yanked Tang Xinhua forward by the arm, dragging her to the window.
"Mm! Mmm!"
Her hands were bound, and her mouth gagged. The moment Tang Xinhua saw Yun Shu, panic flared in her eyes. She tried to speak, desperate to say something, but could only manage a series of muffled cries before the window was slammed shut again.
"You see? I spoke the truth."
The man lifted his chin.
"As long as Your Highness allows me to walk away now, in two sticks of incense's time, my men will release Miss Tang on their own."
"You are leaving with gold, yet your subordinates remain behind. Clearly, you do not care for their lives. What assurance does This Princess have that they will not harm my people after you depart?"
"That is simple."
He patted the chest in his arms.
"They stayed behind despite certain death because they had no other way to live. I promised them that their families would receive a share of this gold.
In other words, they are sacrificing themselves for the sake of their families.
You are the Crown Princess. The woman they have bound is your cousin. If she remains unharmed, Your Highness is righteous and will have no need to retaliate against their kin.
But should anything befall her, who can say what your wrath might unleash? Corpses floating down rivers for miles is not unthinkable. Their families will not escape either."
He nodded toward the envelope in her hand.
"Surely Your Highness understands that even if it wasn't us today, someone else would have come. But others might not have been as thoughtful as I, who went ahead and prepared exactly what you wanted."
What she wanted?
Yun Shu's gaze sharpened slightly. She lowered her eyes and opened the envelope.
Meanwhile, the man in black, seeing that Yun Shu offered no further objections, cautiously backed away. When she did not even glance in his direction, he swiftly activated his qinggong and vanished into the night, the chest of gold in his arms.
Though he might have exaggerated his moniker, "Treading-Snow-without-a-Trace" wasn't entirely without merit.
—
Admittedly, the Eldest Prince's hired help this time was unreliable in many ways.
But unexpectedly, they kept their word.
Exactly two sticks of incense later, the men in the ruined temple didn't wait for any orders. They laid down the blade pressed to Tang Xinhua's neck, walked out of the temple, and stood still without resistance, awaiting capture.
The reserve Dragon Shadow Guard, who had been lying in ambush, were just about to seize them when Yun Shu's sharp voice cut through the air.
"Do not approach. They have been in contact with smallpox patients."
Smallpox?
The two guards turned pale.
If that was true, then Miss Tang…
They immediately knelt to plead for punishment, but Yun Shu paid them no mind. She dismounted in a fluid motion and strode toward the temple.
"Your Highness!"
Even Ah Ku, always the most composed among the guards, now spoke with rare urgency.
"You must not place yourself in danger."
"This Princess is wearing a specially-made veil and gloves. It will be fine."
Although smallpox no longer existed in the modern world, Yun Shu had seen highly contagious diseases before. She understood how they spread, and with the proper precautions, she no longer feared them.
Still, the Dragon Shadow Guard's foremost duty was to ensure her absolute safety.
Seeing that she intended to enter the temple herself, Ah Ku silently produced a heavy bronze mask and fitted it onto his face.
"Allow this subordinate to retrieve Miss Tang."
Yun Shu stared at him for a moment.
That mask was thick, seamless, and covered far more than her own gear. Honestly, he was better equipped.
She twitched her lips slightly and handed him her gloves.
"Very well. Go, then."
"Yes, Your Highness."
As long as the Crown Princess remained safe, everything else could be managed.
Ah Ku donned the gloves and entered the temple. Sure enough, beneath one of the pillars, he found two figures tied together.
One was Tang Xinhua.
The other… bore the fading marks of smallpox across their face.