Tang Dynasty Hidden Guards

Xue Wei strode into the inner hall. He didn't kneel or bow, but stood to the side like a wooden statue, without saying a word.

Xue Wei of the Tang Dynasty was the same; he never bowed to his mother, much like the Xue Wei of today. The two did not have any intellectual exchange, but their feelings were the same: they were both dissatisfied with the cold-heartedness of their mother, Princess Taiping.

Li Lingyue was used to it. She glanced at her son for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Where did you get these clothes?"

The clothes she gave her son were all made of cloth, but Xue Wei wore a moon-white satin robe.

"I bought it myself!"

"What about the clothes I gave you?"

"Burn it!"

Li Lingyue frowned, a flash of anger crossing her eyes. Suppressing her displeasure, she asked, "Do you hate me that much?"

Xue Wei glanced at her and said calmly, "If you go to jail, I'll bring you food every day."

One sentence left Li Lingyue speechless for a long time.

After a long pause, she softened her tone and said, "I heard you've been getting quite close to Amin lately."

"Mother heard it from Chongjian, right? Even though we can't be husband and wife, we can still be friends."

Li Lingyue sighed, "Amin is very good. She is smart, capable, and good-looking. She would have been a perfect match for you, but unfortunately, you two are not destined to be together."

After a pause, Li Lingyue continued, "If I'm not mistaken, this outfit, hat, and shoes were actually a gift from her, weren't they?"

Xue Wei remained silent. Li Lingyue gave a bitter smile. "She's your ex-wife, so she's definitely more suitable to give you clothes than I am. With her taking care of you, I feel at ease."

"What did Mother want to see me about today?" Xue Wei didn't want to waste any more time on small talk.

The eldest son's indifference sent a piercing pain through Li Lingyue's heart. She stared intently at Xue Wei, "Wei'er, why have we become so cold towards each other? It wasn't just after you were released from prison; it was before you went in. Why?"

Xue Wei suddenly remembered something his wife had said to him when she filed for divorce in his previous life, and that advice still held true for his mother today.

He took a deep breath and slowly said, "There is a thin crack in my roof that runs from the head of my bed to the corner of the wall. It is about seven feet long. I never noticed it before. It turns out that some cracks have always been there, but I didn't look up to look at them. By the time I remembered to look, they had already reached the end."

Li Lingyue understood her son's words. A pang of sadness struck her. "Are you saying the rift between us has long since reached its breaking point?"

"Yes!" Xue Wei admitted it crisply and decisively, without any hesitation.

"And what about the rift between you and Amin? You're already divorced, but you're still trying to mend it."

Xue Wei thought of the bluestone slabs in the water dungeon. His mother would rather let him sink into endless darkness than help him, but his wife brought a ray of light into the darkness.

He straightened his back and said, "I've actually forgotten the past, but forgetting doesn't mean everything can start over. There are some cracks I'm willing to repair, and some I don't want to touch again."

"For example, the rift between a mother and child!"

Li Lingyue chuckled self-deprecatingly, "It seems that the relationship between husband and wife and the relationship between mother and son are indeed different."

Xue Wei remained silent; his silence spoke volumes.

Li Lingyue knew that the conflict between her and her eldest son was too deep to be resolved with just a few words. Since her son was unwilling to mend the rift between them, she did not force him.

"I summoned you because the Emperor inquired about you."

Xue Wei's heart skipped a beat, but he feigned ignorance and asked, "What did you ask me?"

"Because of the two poems you wrote!"

Li Lingyue stared sharply at her son. "The Emperor likes it very much, but I want to know, did you really write it?"

"What does Mother suspect? Those two poems are so famous; if there were other authors, they would have spoken out long ago!"

"Because that's regulated verse, which has only recently become popular. You haven't touched literature for many years, so I'm wondering if that's abnormal?"

"I wrote this in the water dungeon!"

Xue Wei pointed to his head, "Since I don't have paper and pen, I write in here. It's not just those two poems. When people are in the most desperate and painful moments, they can write something good."

"I see!"

The eldest son's answer silenced all of Li Lingyue's questions. She was too ashamed to ask any further, so she could only slowly say, "The Emperor would like to see your other works."

What kind of poetry does she like?

"The Empress's health is not very good. In the last two years, she may have preferred poems about Zen and family affection."

Xue Wei thought for a moment and said, "Besides Qingming and Lantern Festival, I also have a poem for the Double Ninth Festival. Does the Emperor have any activities planned recently?"

A single sentence reminded Li Lingyue, "Yes! She's going to meet with a group of people over eighty years old early next month, and the poem for the Double Ninth Festival is quite fitting."

Xue Wei nodded. "I will write it down and give it to my mother, or I will present it to the emperor myself."

Li Lingyue gave him a sharp look. "You want to see the Emperor?"

Xue Wei was silent for a moment, then said, "She is my maternal grandmother, and I want to see her."

Li Lingyue thought of the last time her eldest son saw his mother when he was seven years old. Fifteen years had passed in the blink of an eye. His mother's health was deteriorating, and she probably didn't have many years left. This might be the last time the grandmother and grandson would see each other.

"Alright! I'll tell her to have you recite a poem on the day she summons the old man!"

Xue Wei bowed and said, "If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave now."

Seeing her eldest son turn and leave, cold and heartless, Li Lingyue's heart shattered. She could no longer hold back, her voice trembling with endless sorrow.

"If a woman has no knife, how can she protect her beloved husband and son?"

Xue Wei stopped in his tracks. His reply was calm and resolute: "Then let's go find that knife, me too!"

After saying that, he quickened his pace and left.

Li Lingyue watched her eldest son's figure disappear into the distance, tears finally blurring her vision. At this moment, the betrayal of her lover and the affection of her other children were all unimportant. She only wanted her eldest son to turn around and look at her one more time, to call her "Mother" one more time.

…………

Luoyang would close its city gates around 8:30 p.m., then beat the drums 600 times, closing the ward gates no later than 9 p.m., and opening the city gates again around 4 a.m.

Therefore, restaurants usually close around eight o'clock, giving customers half an hour to go home.

But for those who work at night, whether the gates are closed or not is meaningless; they will carry ladders and climb over the walls to go from one neighborhood to another.

Those with superior martial arts skills can use grappling hooks to scale walls, or form human ladders if there are many people.

As night fell, five shadowy figures slipped into Tongjifang.

…………

At midnight, Xue Wei, who was fast asleep, was suddenly awakened by a slight noise. This was a habit he had developed in the water prison; the slightest sound would wake him up. He remained motionless and pricked up his ears.

"Snap!"

A crisp sound—the sound of a tree branch snapping underfoot. He had deliberately placed the thin branches in the yard as a kind of concealed alarm.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!" The sound of something cutting through the air came. Without thinking, he sat up abruptly. Immediately afterward, two crossbow bolts shot through the window and landed where he had just been sleeping. The crossbow bolts glowed green.

Xue Wei was startled and broke out in a cold sweat. It was too late to reach for the sword by the bedside. With two loud bangs, two dark figures wielding long swords smashed open the door and window and rushed in.

Without hesitation, Xue Wei drew two throwing knives and threw them. Two screams rang out as the knives pierced the heads of the two men.

As he threw the dagger, Xue Wei did a backflip and landed at the head of the bed. Before he even touched the ground, he had already reached for his sword. With a swift backhand strike, the sharp sword pierced the neck of the third assassin who had crashed in through the back window.

"You're tough, time to run!"

In the courtyard, the other two crossbow-wielding assassins who were crouching on the roof turned to flee.

Xue Wei no longer carries any throwing knives. He only carries two throwing knives when he sleeps, because carrying too many would be uncomfortable and would affect his sleep.

In a moment of desperation, he grabbed two chopsticks from the bedside table. At that time, he was too lazy to take the bowls and chopsticks to the kitchen when he ate noodles at night.

The chopsticks were made of jujube wood and were quite heavy. He threw them out of the window one after the other, like throwing knives.

Two screams rang out, and two dark figures tumbled down from the rooftop, landing in the yard, where two chopsticks pierced the back of their heads.

The house suddenly fell silent.

All five assassins were dead. Xue Wei waited for a while, but there was no further movement. Only then did he jump out of the study and walk towards the two corpses in the courtyard.

Just then, a soft "click" broke the silence of the night.

Oh no! Xue Wei instinctively turned to the side, and a sharp pain shot through his left arm. A short crossbow bolt glowing green had struck his left arm.

Xue Wei turned around abruptly and saw a black-clad figure resembling a lynx crouching on a large tree in the backyard. The figure was shaped like a woman, and her face was covered by a black cloth, revealing cat-like eyes that shone brightly in the darkness. Suddenly, she leaped into the deep night.

"The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind!"

The thought flashed through Xue Wei's mind, and suddenly everything went black before his eyes. His legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.