The Arrangement

The instant Qiao Shuyi fell off the cliff, a long whip wrapped around her waist.

With a flick of A Qi's wrist, the whip reeled her back into A Qi's arms, and they slipped into a cave behind the vines in an instant.

The cave was small, but neatly furnished.

Small niches had been carved into the stone walls for oil lamps, several bundles were piled in a corner, and a thick mattress covered a low bed.

Qiao Shuyi sat down on a rock, raised a hand and pulled the arrow from her right shoulder without expression, then casually tossed it aside.

The arrowhead was perfectly clean, without a trace of blood.

She did not like being in pain.

Still less did she like leaving even the slightest scar on her perfect body.

Long before plotting this feigned death, she had prepared a suit of soft golden-silk armor.

A thick layer of cotton had been wrapped around the outside of the armor. The arrow had looked dangerous when it struck, but in truth, it had not even touched her skin.

She laid a hand over her lower belly, and her gaze softened a little.

This child was real.

Half a month ago, on the night before Zongzheng Heng left, she and he had carried on from well after sunrise until dusk closed in.

She had not drunk the contraceptive soup.

If she had not conceived, she would have faked it, made Zongzheng Heng believe she was pregnant, then had this "child" miscarry when she fell off the cliff.

If she had conceived, she would give birth to the child.

When Zongzheng Heng was a prince, he had not had a single concubine, and after becoming emperor, he had not selected any consorts either.

The child in her belly would be his first.

If it was a boy, he would be the eldest son.

In this era, the greatest importance was placed on the legitimate eldest son. With this child, her future path to seizing power would be half as difficult.

If it was a girl, she would still be Great Zhang's eldest princess. Having suffered hardships from childhood and narrowly escaped death, would she not stir some pity for her in him?

This child was the sharpest blade in her hand.

As for the bottom of the cliff, she had made arrangements there too.

The jackals Qiao Nanyu kept had been starved for several days, and a woman's corpse had already been placed at the bottom of the cliff.

Zongzheng Heng's men would find a pile of broken bones and rotting flesh.

She wanted him to believe she was dead.

Emperors were suspicious by nature. If she vanished into thin air at the bottom of the cliff, he would surely dig three feet into the ground to find her, which would hinder her later plans.

Before long, An Yi came in as well. "Miss, are you all right?"

Qiao Shuyi pressed her right shoulder. The thick padding of cotton beneath her clothes felt stifling.

"I'm fine. Was that Zhigui who came just now?"

An Yi knelt to one side, his expression as complicated as if he had swallowed an entire bitter melon.

He opened his mouth, but it was a long while before he squeezed out a few words. "Yes, he came. But, Miss, he... is actually the reigning emperor."

Qiao Shuyi laughed without a care in the world.

"That's right, the reigning emperor was this young lady's male pet for a month. Tell me, isn't that amusing?"

An Yi's and A Qi's pupils both trembled slightly, but they quickly lowered their gazes again.

An Yi had followed his young lady for ten years and should have been used to her shocking words and deeds by now.

Yet even at this moment, he could not help being shaken.

Had the young lady known all along that the Qiao Family would be wiped out?

But he did not ask.

The rules for a shadow guard were to do whatever the master ordered; say nothing unless the master asked; and ask nothing unless the master spoke.

Qiao Shuyi took two documents from inside her robes and handed them over.

"An Yi, this is your household registration document. From today on, your name is Yan Po, head of the Yishun Escort Agency in Jinzhou."

She took out the other and handed it to A Qi beside him.

"A Qi, your name is Ling Han, owner of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion in Jinzhou."

Qiao Shuyi had twenty shadow guards. Apart from these two, she had made arrangements for all the others as well.

"New identities, new lives. From today on, you can live in the sunlight."

Yan Po accepted the document with both hands, his fingers trembling slightly.

He had lived for more than twenty years, licking blood from the edge of a blade and walking through the dark of night. He had never imagined that one day he too could live under the sun like an ordinary person.

"Yes. Yan Po thanks you, Master."

Ling Han also accepted the document and kowtowed to the ground. "Ling Han thanks you, Master."

A trace of worry showed in Yan Po's eyes. "Master, what about you?"

"You'll escort me to Jiangnan. The gold, silver and valuables in this cave, myself included, are your cargo. The person who hired you for the job was An Yi. He was gravely injured and died after entrusting you with this delivery."

Yan Po froze for a moment, then understood.

There was no longer an An Yi in this world.

There was only Yan Po, head of the Yishun Escort Agency in Jinzhou, who had accepted a commission to escort a lady to Jiangnan.

Yan Po said, "Yes."

Ling Han knelt to one side, gazing at her expectantly. "Master, what about me?"

"You'll stay in Jinzhou. Study the business methods I gave you carefully. Make the Drunken Immortal Pavilion flourish and expand it to Jiangnan. I'll be waiting for you."

Ling Han straightened his back and said in a deep voice, "I obey."

Qiao Shuyi glanced at the sky, which was growing dark beyond the cave entrance.

"Once the emperor's men have left, Yan Po and I will set out first. Ling Han, you'll fill in this little cave. Stone by stone, clod by clod-not the slightest trace must remain."

Ling Han said, "Yes, Master."

The corners of Qiao Shuyi's lips slowly curved upward as she gently stroked her belly.

Zongzheng Heng, just wait. We'll meet again in two years.

At the bottom of the cliff.

Zongzheng Heng personally led the Black Armor Guard in the search.

They searched from day into night, and from night until the hour grew late and the dew heavy.

The Black Armor Guards held torches aloft as they followed the rushing river downstream. The flames flickered in the darkness, making everyone's shadows stretch and shrink.

One guard stole a glance at the commander's expression, then quietly moved closer and lowered his voice.

"Commander, that criminal woman Qiao Shuyi was pregnant and had been shot with an arrow. After falling from such a height... how could she still be alive?"

The commander glared at him and kept his voice very low.

"Alive, we must find her; dead, we must find her corpse. What if someone was waiting below to help her, and she escaped?"

The guard curled his lip, still unconvinced.

"The river here in Jinzhou runs so fast. Even if she wanted to escape, how could she use a method like this? Once she fell, even if she didn't die, she'd have been knocked unconscious and swept away by the water. She was injured and pregnant-how could she survive?"

"We've followed the riverbank for dozens of li without seeing so much as a shadow. She was a condemned prisoner anyway. If she's dead, she's dead. Why put the brothers through all this-"

"Shut up. Those are His Majesty's orders. Say another word and go take thirty strokes of the military rod yourself."

The guard shrank back and dared not say another word.

Just then, a shout suddenly rang out ahead. "Found her-found her!"

Zongzheng Heng's heart leaped into his throat. The string that had been pulled taut in his chest all day nearly snapped in that instant.

He rode toward the voice.

"Your Majesty!"

The guard knelt on the ground and presented a bundle of waterlogged cloth with both hands.

"These are the clothes the criminal woman Qiao Shuyi wore today. A pack of jackals is kept here at the bottom of the cliff. I'm afraid she has long since been torn apart by them... Beside these clothes, we found quite a few... pieces of a corpse."

Zongzheng Heng stared motionlessly at the bundle of moon-white robes, swollen from soaking in the river.

Torn apart by jackals?

He tightened his grip on the reins, his nails digging into his palms, but the pain was nothing compared with the hollow ache in his chest.

Did he hate her? He did.

He had hated her from the first day he entered her residence.

She had made him kneel and recite rules, locked him in a water dungeon, whipped him, stepped on his shoulder to force him to bow his head, and carved words into his body.

Every single thing she had done made him hate her to the bone, hate her until he gnashed his teeth.

But what he hated even more was that he did not want her to die.

On the cliff, when he saw the arrow sink into her shoulder, saw her clutch her belly, saw her fall-

All his hatred, all the dignity of an emperor, all the humiliation of being branded-everything shattered, shattered completely.

He wanted her to live.

To live so he could hate her, gnash his teeth at her, and not know what to do with her.

But she was dead.

Devoured by jackals, without even an intact corpse left behind.

He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. His deep-set eyes gleamed with a chilling light in the darkness.

"Hack every jackal to pieces, and continue searching another hundred li along the riverbank."

What if? What if this wasn't Qiao Shuyi? But looking at the familiar robes, Zongzheng Heng knew he was deceiving himself.