Tang Dynasty Hidden Guards

Inside the palace, Shangguan Wan'er was sitting at her desk reviewing official documents when her trusted maid, Xiao Jing, rushed in to report, "Master, Princess Taiping has arrived!"

Shangguan Wan'er put down her pen, and then hurried footsteps came from outside. Princess Taiping, Li Lingyue, rushed in like a gust of wind.

"Oh! Sister's here, please have a seat!"

Li Lingyue didn't sit down, but looked at her coldly, "Shangguan, do you think we orphans and widows are easy to bully?"

"Sister, what do you mean by that?"

"Do I need to remind you? We made an agreement that if Xue Wei were released from prison, you wouldn't be allowed to harm him again. But what did you do? He just got out, and you had Zhou Yinfeng kill him. Shangguan, do you really think I, Li Lingyue, am easy to bully?"

Li Lingyue stepped forward, her gaze fixed fiercely on Shangguan Wan'er's face.

Shangguan Wan'er's face flushed red and then paled. After a long while, she forced a smile and said, "Sister, you've misunderstood. I didn't arrange for Zhou Yinfeng to kill him. It was Zhou Yinfeng who acted on his own..."

"Bullshit!" Li Lingyue rudely interrupted her. "Zhou Yinfeng has always been your dog. You think I didn't know she was ordered by you to seduce Xue Wei? If she dared to kill Xue Wei without permission, you would have killed her long ago. Is she dead? She's staying in the Jade Guard Bureau perfectly fine!"

"Sister, please calm down. My intention was not to kill Xue Wei. I just wanted to test whether he would still be alive if I truly wanted to kill him."

"What are you trying to test?"

"Because he survived being forced to drink three cups of arsenic in prison, it seems he's immune to poison, so..."

"So you let Zhou Yinfeng sting him with a scorpion stinger? The scorpion stinger uses the most potent poison in the Jade Guard Bureau, the 'Traction Poison,' didn't you know that?"

Li Lingyue's voice trembled.

"Sister, please let me explain..."

"Enough!" Li Lingyue interrupted her explanation sharply, gritting her teeth, "He's been in Blackwater Prison for a year, living a life worse than death. He's already paid a heavy price. If you and Wu Sansi still intend to kill him, let me tell you, I, Li Lingyue, will make you pay an unbearable price. Just you wait and see!"

Li Lingyue turned and left resolutely, without looking back even once.

Shangguan Wan'er slumped down. This was the first time she had ever seen Princess Taiping unleash such fury. Everyone said she disliked her eldest son, Xue Wei, but in crucial moments, she would still protect him.

After pondering for a long time, Shangguan Wan'er wrote a letter and handed it to Xiao Jing, saying, "Go and deliver this letter to Wu Sansi, and make sure it is delivered to him personally."

..........

In Shangshanfang, inside Wu Sansi's study, Wu Sansi stood silently by the window with his hands behind his back. He was about forty years old, of medium build, with bright, intelligent eyes, and appeared quite shrewd and capable.

Wu Sansi was the nephew of Empress Wu Zetian. Four years ago, he was almost made the crown prince of the Wu Zhou dynasty, but Di Renjie ruined his dream.

Although he did not become the crown prince, it did not mean that he fell out of favor. On the contrary, he was greatly favored by his aunt, Wu Zetian, and his power increased day by day.

He was not willing to give up the opportunity to inherit the throne and had been patiently waiting for a new opportunity.

Just now, his ally Shangguan Wan'er delivered a letter to him. Princess Taiping had entered the palace to demand an explanation, and was furious about Zhou Yinfeng's assassination attempt on Xue Wei.

Shangguan Wan'er suggested that there was no need to offend Princess Taiping for the sake of a nobody like Xue Wei, and that they should temporarily abandon the plan to assassinate Xue Wei.

The emperor initially intended to starve Xue Shao, the son-in-law, to death in prison, and Wu Sansi was tasked with carrying it out. This was because Xue Shao's elder brother, Xue Yi, had participated in Li Chong's rebellion. However, the emperor also had another intention: to use the Xue family as a way to put pressure on the powerful families of Hedong who supported the Li family.

Wu Sansi originally did not intend to deal with Xue Wei. In order to appease the Xue family and resolve the hatred, the emperor decided to betroth Wu Sansi's second daughter to Xue Chongjian.

However, Xue Wei could not forget his father's death. Every year on the anniversary of his father's death, he would get drunk and vow to avenge his father.

Wu Sansi was deeply wary. He didn't want to offend Princess Taiping, but he was also afraid that Xue Wei would really not let him and his family go. He was hesitant and undecided.

Just then, Shangguan Wan'er approached him and said that the emperor was very dissatisfied with Xue Wei's misdeeds and hinted to her that Xue Wei and Li Chongrun had a close relationship.

The emperor clearly intended to implicate Xue Wei in the Li Chongrun case, so Wu Sansi seized the opportunity and conspired with Shangguan Wan'er to use Zhou Yinfeng to frame Xue Wei and drag him into the Li Chongrun case.

Shangguan Wan'er's suggestion to let Xue Wei go put Wu Sansi in a difficult position.

After pondering for a long time, Wu Sansi picked up the bell and shook it twice. A moment later, someone at the door asked for instructions, "Please give your orders, sir!"

"Go and fetch the eldest son for me!"

Before long, Wu Sansi's eldest son, Wu Chongxun, rushed over. Although Wu Chongxun was actually the second son, he became the eldest son because his elder brother had died young.

Wu Chongxun was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old. He was handsome and dashing, but he was rather sinister at heart. He called himself the Poisonous Scholar. Wu Sansi valued his son very much and consulted him on many important matters.

Wu Chongxun bowed deeply and said, "Your son greets Father!"

"Take a look at this letter. Shangguan Wan'er just sent it to us."

Wu Sansi handed the letter to Wu Chongxun, who glanced at it and sneered, "Letting Xue Wei go? She's just talking without understanding the situation."

"What do you mean?"

Wu Chongxun said coldly, "Father, have you forgotten so quickly? Why did you and Shangguan have Zhou Yinfeng kill Xue Wei? Wasn't it because of the Zhang brothers' intentions?"

Wu Sansi nodded, and said calmly, "Continue!"

Wu Chongxun continued, "The Zhang brothers turned against their father over the matter of establishing a prime minister. Their real purpose in releasing Xue Wei was to win over Princess Taiping to deal with the Wu family."

Wu Sansi and Princess Taiping had arranged for Zhou Yinfeng to kill Xue Wei, but this had absolutely nothing to do with the Zhang brothers. His son had clearly misunderstood, but Wu Sansi didn't want to expose it.

Wu Sansi said calmly, "Didn't Princess Taiping send Xue Wei to raise horses? That can be considered giving the Wu family an explanation."

"That was just for show. She would never let her son actually raise horses. Father, Princess Taiping is an important member of the Li imperial family. She has signed a blood pact. Don't be fooled by her marriage to Second Uncle. Once the time is right, she will definitely not hesitate to take action against the Wu family. She and the Wu family have a fundamental conflict of interest. The Zhang brothers saw through this, which is why they released Xue Wei."

Wu Sansi squinted and asked, "You mean, we still want to kill Xue Wei?"

Wu Chongxun nodded slowly. "We must eliminate him to prevent future troubles. However, a direct assassination would indeed provoke a strong retaliation from Princess Taiping, which would be counterproductive. It would be better to use some tricks and patiently wait for an opportunity to get him involved in a major case and use the Emperor's laws to kill him. Princess Taiping would then have nothing to say."

After a pause, Wu Chongxun laughed again, "Or we could use Wu Liankun. He was seriously injured by Xue Wei, so how could he let it go? Once he recovers, he will definitely take revenge on Xue Wei. Why don't we add fuel to the fire? It's a personal grudge, and Princess Taiping has no choice but to suffer in silence."

Wu Sansi did not want to kill Xue Wei. If he wanted to kill him, he would have done it in prison. He would not have waited until now. Moreover, he was somewhat disappointed in his son. His son verbally denounced the Zhang brothers, but secretly he was colluding with them. He thought he did not know.

Although Wu Sansi himself was also currying favor with the two powerful figures, he was very angry about his son's scheming to hide his true intentions.

Wu Sansi shook his head, rejecting his eldest son's suggestion, which was driven by ulterior motives.

"Princess Taiping is very important to the Wu family. She is still neutral at the moment, while Xue Wei is just a nobody and does not pose much of a threat to us. On the contrary, if we kill Xue Wei, it will directly force Princess Taiping to side with the Li Tang royal family, which would be a huge loss."

Wu Chongxun, however, was unconvinced. He feigned concern and said, "Father, rest assured, I understand. I will not kill him, but give him a minor warning. I will simply make it clear to Xue Wei that the Wu family is not to be trifled with."

"That's for the best; a slight punishment as a warning!"

At this moment, Wu Sansi remembered something else and said to his son, "Your fiancée has been a bit too flamboyant lately, and her reputation isn't very good. You two are getting married this year, so you need to keep her in check."

Wu Chongxun curled his lip. He had no interest in this political marriage whatsoever. How many of the women in the Li family were easy to deal with?

Wu Chongxun's desire to kill Xue Wei was certainly driven by personal motives. The emperor wanted to select the fourth successor of the Hidden Guard from among his blood relatives, and Xue Wei, being the emperor's grandson, met the requirements for a candidate. Wu Chongxun had always wanted to eliminate this rival.

Another source of hatred is Li Guo'er. Whenever Wu Chongxun thinks about his fiancée Li Guo'er's relationship with Xue Wei back then, an overwhelming hatred wells up in his heart.

.........

The room was very dark, and the doors and windows were tightly closed. Xue Wei held a throwing knife and shot it towards a stick of incense about two zhang away. The throwing knife was essentially the same as the arrow in the pot. His predecessor was a master of arrow in the pot, so he must also be a master of throwing knives, otherwise there would not be five throwing knives in the weapon box.

With a sharp "whoosh," the third throwing knife precisely extinguished the incense burner.

Xue Wei put down the throwing knife and entered a meditative state, thinking about his brother Xue Chongjian's matter today.

Xue Chongjian's arrival gave him an opportunity.

Xue Wei had already figured out a way to resolve his own crisis. To break free from the control of the Zhang brothers, only one person could do it: Empress Wu Zetian, who was also his maternal grandmother.

Given his current state, he has no chance of meeting Wu Zetian. However, Xue Chongjian is a high-ranking official, and he has the opportunity to meet Wu Zetian. Using Xue Chongjian to meet Wu Zetian is his only chance to get out of his current predicament.

Just then, a slow, steady knocking sound came from outside, and Xue Wei felt a sense of foreboding.