Wu Bo'an smiled slightly, believing he held the world in his grasp, with everything calculated. People always thought he was wavering between the Second Prince and the Crown Prince, but they didn't know his relationship with the Prime Minister. He rebuked, "Too risky. The Prime Minister doesn't know about this plan we devised. If anyone finds out, I'm afraid even your father will have a hard time escaping unscathed."

Lin Gong smiled sinisterly and said, "Sir, you should go to Laoshan to cultivate for a while. Once Kyoto is in an uproar, the Crown Prince will know that he must rely on our Lin family to secure his rule over the empire."

"Indeed," Wu Bo'an said with a worried look, "Ever since the news of the young lady's marriage came out, I don't know if it's because the Empress feels the Eldest Princess can no longer control the Internal Treasury, but she has become much colder."

From the Prime Minister's illegitimate daughter incident at the beginning of the year to the eventual betrothal, Wu Bo'an felt that His Majesty had been consistently undermining the Prime Minister's authority, probably as preparation for the Crown Prince's succession. As expected, the Crown Prince began to distance himself from the Prime Minister's residence. Therefore, he secretly plotted this scheme, not only to kill Fan Xian in one fell swoop and temporarily stabilize the situation of the Internal Treasury, but also to plunge the Crown Prince into a state of unease, forcing the Eastern Palace to re-establish a close relationship with the Prime Minister's residence.

However, from the very beginning, the Prime Minister had strongly opposed this plan, but the Second Young Master seemed very enthusiastic. A young master and a strategist began to secretly manipulate these matters, using the Prime Minister's name to mobilize the Fang brothers, who had been hidden in the military for a long time. However, Wu Bo'an never expected that Fan Xian could escape such a terrifying attack, and even kill that eighth-rank expert, leaving an indelible mark.

But the situation was still under control. Deputy Commander Fang had already been silenced. Even if the Overwatch Council traced it back to him, they couldn't possibly trace it to the Prime Minister's residence. Therefore, Wu Bo'an urged the Second Young Master Lin Gong to return to Kyoto as soon as possible.

Lin Gong laughed proudly, "I have been managing this manor for a long time. Even if guards from the Imperial Palace or the Overwatch Council come, it will be extremely difficult for them to enter and capture anyone. Moreover, we are acting so secretly, who would know that we would be here?"

Wu Bo'an thought about it and agreed. After putting his mind at ease, the demeanor of a renowned scholar, which he couldn't shake off, resurfaced. He waved a paper fan at the grape trellis overhead and said with a smile, "This grape trellis is exquisitely built, but it reminds me of a joke."

"What joke?"

"There was an official who was henpecked. One day, his face was scratched by his wife. The next day in court, the prefect asked what had happened. The official awkwardly replied that he was enjoying the cool air under the grape trellis last night, but the trellis collapsed and scratched his face. The prefect was furious and scolded, 'This must have been done by your shrewish wife, outrageous! Quickly summon the yamen runners to bring your wife here.' Just then, no one expected that the prefect's wife was eavesdropping behind the hall. In a fit of rage, she rushed into the courtroom and scolded the prefect. The prefect panicked and quickly said to the official, 'You may withdraw first. My grape trellis has also collapsed...'"

After they finished the joke, they both laughed heartily. The Second Young Master Lin Gong had naturally heard the joke before, but he heard some other meaning from it. Was Mr. Wu subtly mocking his father for being henpecked? But his mother had died early... Could he be saying that the Prime Minister was afraid of the Eldest Princess?

Lin Gong felt a slight irritation. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark figure appear in the garden.

It was a blind man, his eyes covered with a black cloth, holding an iron skewer in his hand. Fresh blood was slowly dripping from the tip of the skewer.

...

...

Lin and Wu suddenly stood up, knowing that the other party had infiltrated here silently. The experts outside must have all died under this iron skewer. When they thought of the experts in this manor, who hadn't even let out a scream before dying, Lin Gong felt a chill in his heart and fearfully shouted, "Who are you? Let's talk this over!"

Wu Zhu didn't answer him. Like a ghost, he rushed over from the other end of the garden.

Lin Gong roared and drew the soft sword from his waist, slashing down at his head.

Wu Zhu dodged to the side, avoiding the tip of the sword. His entire body was already close to Lin Gong's face. The two of them were so close that it looked a little strange.

With a *噗* sound.

Fresh blood dripped from the iron skewer protruding from Lin Gong's back. He looked at the black cloth in front of him, his eyes full of fear and disbelief. He was the son of the Prime Minister, yet this person didn't even give him a chance to speak before killing him. The iron skewer had pierced through Lin Gong's chest, and then Wu Zhu's entire body leaned against him. With a shock from the remaining force, Lin Gong's body slid weakly backward on the iron skewer, looking terrifying.

With a *哧* sound, Wu Zhu calmly pulled the iron skewer out of Lin Gong's body, seemingly slow, but actually quickly moved three steps to the side, avoiding the fountain of blood spurting from his chest.

The iron skewer pierced Lin Gong's heart without fail. Blood flowers spurted out from the small hole, looking very beautiful.

Watching this bloody scene, Wu Bo'an's face was pale, but he tightly covered his mouth, not letting himself make a sound. He saw the black cloth covering the other party's eyes, knowing that the other party was blind, and tried to bluff his way through.

Wu Zhu tilted his head slightly and turned to "look" at him.

A strong sense of despair welled up in Wu Bo'an's heart, but he showed a wry smile on his face, trying to make his voice as steady as possible, "I am not the Prime Minister's man! Brave warrior, selling your life to others is not necessarily a promising thing. I am Wu Bo'an, with extensive connections in Kyoto. If you still have ambitions, why not..."

His voice stopped abruptly, and then he looked down with great difficulty, looking at the iron skewer that had already passed through his throat bone.

He didn't understand why this assassin wouldn't listen to him finish his sentence... He was a weak scholar and posed no threat. Moreover, he prided himself not only on being a strategist with infallible plans but also on being an unparalleled debater. As long as this blind assassin was willing to listen to these words, he would definitely not kill him - he still had many important things to do in his life, how could he die like this?

However, the strategist Wu Bo'an died so simply.

...

...

In fact, Wu Zhu had been living in this world for more than thirty years and had never understood why, whether in Dongyi City, in Northern Wei, in Kyoto, or here, whenever he was about to kill the other party, these people always liked to talk endlessly. The young lady once said, "Swords are always more powerful than words." Wu Zhu had always thought he understood the meaning of this sentence, but he didn't understand why the world didn't understand this principle.

Wu Zhu retracted the iron skewer and walked out of the garden somewhat lonely.

After he left, the grape trellis finally couldn't withstand the murderous aura that Wu Zhu's rapid movements had carried earlier. With a *喀喇* sound, it collapsed, covering the two corpses. Green leaves and old vines were intertwined.

———————————————————————————

For several days, the Overwatch Council had no other news. Mu Tie had come to the Fan residence once to flatter him, but Wu Bo'an, this not-so-famous but actually very powerful strategist, had suddenly disappeared from the world, so Fan Xian's mood didn't seem to be very good. Therefore, Mu Tie's palm landed lightly, but heavily on his own leg, not leaving a good impression.

The hidden forces in Earl Sinan's hands had also quietly joined the search team, but they still found nothing. After Wang Qinian reported the failure of the operation with a gray face, Fan Xian had no choice but to temporarily suppress this matter, forcibly shifting his attention to more sunny words such as sister, bookstore, and chicken legs, and patiently waiting for Uncle Black Cloth's methods.

This afternoon, he cheered himself up and took his younger sister and Siche to Prince Jing's residence as guests.

Unexpectedly, Prince Jing was not at home today. The Heir, Li Hongcheng, said helplessly, "Father entered the palace today, saying that the Empress Dowager wanted him to come."

Fan Xian chuckled and didn't think too much about it. He went with Li Hongcheng to the arbor in the back garden, where they ate some melons and fruits while avoiding the heat of early summer. They weren't outsiders, so the young daughter of the Princess, the Princess Roujia who had once interested Fan Xian very much, was also present, without any avoidance. Fan Xian looked at this little girl and couldn't help but feel a pang of fear. At that time, when Ruoruo told him the story about *The Story of the Stone*, he had once fantasized that after this princess learned that he was the author of *The Story of the Stone*, would she fall in love with him for some reason and develop some feelings for him.

But after seeing Roujia, Fan Xian immediately dismissed this idea.

The princess was very beautiful, with a rosy little face, and she was also the kind of extremely gentle and polite person, even the most gentle woman Fan Xian had ever seen in this world. But Fan Xian still decisively and resolutely turned his nose to the sky, not giving her any attention.

Because this princess was just twelve years old this year, a pure and innocent green fruit, not even a young girl. Fan Xian was a bit sentimental in his bones, but he wasn't a promiscuous person. As soon as he thought about how to deal with a twelve-year-old girl, he felt a panic in his heart and avoided it in a hurry.

As luck would have it, Princess Roujia had been sitting obediently beside Ruoruo today, but her eyes were intentionally or unintentionally glancing at Fan Xian, her big eyes flashing with shyness, making Fan Xian feel uneasy, flustered, confused, and scared.

Fan Siche was led by the servants of the Prince's residence to shoot arrows. Fan Xian was chatting with the Heir, and the two girls were also talking softly about something. Just as Fan Xian was feeling embarrassed, he suddenly saw an official of the Prince's residence walking in hurriedly, whispering something into Li Hongcheng's ear. Li Hongcheng's face changed, and he looked at Fan Xian with two pairs of puzzled eyes.

"What's wrong?" Fan Xian looked at the arbor and said with a smile, "The grape trellis in the Prince's residence is well built, but it reminds me of a joke."

The Heir didn't give him a chance to show off his little talent in front of the girls, and pulled him aside with a heavy face, and said softly, "Something happened."