Immediately afterward, Gu Hui fixed Xia Hou with a sharp gaze. With a cold snort, he flashed and vanished from where he stood.
Bang—
Mouthfuls of blood spilled from Xia Hou as he collapsed into a pool of it, a nearly imperceptible sound escaping his lips.
"Mas... Master of the Mansion?" It turned out that Gu Hui had gone off and become the Master of the Imperial Academy again a few years ago.
In these troubled times, he could not keep loafing around forever.
At last, Xia Hou remembered that figure. He recalled seeing him at the Imperial Academy.
Just as the Xuanwei General's Residence was reduced to ruins, the residence of Grand Master Zeng Jing to its east was bustling with activity.
Maids and servants hurried constantly through the estate, creating an air of urgency.
Zeng Jing had originally had only one lawful wife, a daughter of the Da Clan of Qinghe Commandery. Yet the couple had remained childless, so Zeng Jing later took a concubine.
That concubine had once been a dancer at Red Sleeve House, though she happened to have connections with the current queen.
Tonight was precisely the night the concubine went into labor. It should have been a tremendous joy, but cries of slaughter rose from the neighboring Xuanwei General's Residence, where flames blazed into the sky. They said the Xuanwei General had colluded with the enemy and betrayed the nation, and Xia Hou had been ordered by a prince to execute his entire household!
As their close neighbors, the people of the Grand Master's Residence were naturally terrified, afraid that the trouble would spread to them.
The main gates were shut tight. Though the servants remained busy, they did not dare make the slightest sound.
Only when an infant's cry rang out was