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Moreover, this was the moment when Li Yuan was having deep misgiving toward Li Shimin. Probably Li Jing would also meet disaster. Therefore, when they saw Wanwan outside the window only this moment, immediately the three immortal souls scattered, the seven mortal forms in chaos. [Note: in Taoism, three immortal souls represent spirit and intellect, seven mortal forms represent carnal life and desires.]

They were being extremely careful in covering up this aspect, exhausting all methods, yet they had never thought that in the end Wanwan was able to see through. The worst thing was that until this moment they still did not know where the leak was? Moreover, if Wanwan was able to do this, then Shi Zhixuan, who was watching in secret, would also be able to do the same thing.

While the two boys’ scalp went numb, they were dumbstruck and unable to reply, Wanwan floated in through the window and sat at the end of the bed without any trace of politeness, the corner of her mouth hid the springtime, she said, “Two gentlemen boyfriends, how are you? Have your considerations bore any fruits?”

Looking straight at her, Kou Zhong took a deep breath to ease his horrified, tumultuous mind, he spoke heavily, “How did you find out?”

Xu Ziling shifted his position so that he was now sitting facing her, lightning shot out of his pair of eyes toward Wanwan, in his heart he was thinking that the only solution now was to hope that Wanwan was the only one who knew about ‘Operation Situ Furong’, and then the two of them would join hands and do whatever it took to stake everything and to sustain injuries to kill her to shut her mouth; otherwise, in the future, she would lead them by the nose. He was certain that the same thought has appeared in Kou Zhong’s mind. He was not sure whether Kou Zhong could harden his heart, but he knew for sure that he would be able to do it.

Wanwan raised her fragrant eyebrows slightly, she spoke with ease, “A hundred secrets one negligence, a sage’s thousand considerations, there must be one failure, not to mention Wan’er already knew that you guys have some other conspiracy.”

The refined light in Kou Zhong’s pair of eyes flared up suddenly, but he quickly held it back. Sighing dejectedly, he said, “Looks like you are unwilling to tell us where we made the mistake!”

A complex emotion emerged in Wanwan’s pretty eyes, she cast a faint glance toward Xu Ziling, before her gaze returned to Kou Zhong, and then she spoke softly, “Exactly the opposite. I originally did not plan on telling you, but now I changed my mind, I decided to immediately dispel your misgivings, so that you can feel relieved. Will you trust me just once? Even if you refuse to help me, Wanwan will definitely not betray you.”

Astonished, Xu Ziling asked, “Why did you suddenly change your mind?”

Wanwan moved her gaze toward the garden outside the window, sighing slightly, she said, “Just now I was trying to test you, to see if you would kill people to shut their mouth. When I entered the room, I was really taking a great risk, yet under such circumstances you guys are still unwilling to strike me treacherously. People are not plants that can be heartless. Wan’er is touched by you!”

Hearing that, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked at each other, because it was hard to fathom whether her words were genuine or fake, so they felt useless to the extreme point, like a meat on the chopping block, in the wretched passive state just waiting to be slaughtered.

Wanwan’s soft voice continued, “Your leak is Shang Xiuxun, which is also your only unwise move. I was guessing that you would look for her to explain, only I never thought that the one acting on your behalf was the Song Family’s Er Gongzi [second young master]. Following his track was a lot easier than following you, these two crafty-like-a-ghost kids! Plus when he left Shang Mansion earlier, his heart was filled with worries.”

The two boys suddenly saw the light. This was certainly one negligence in their hundred secrets. But they were relieved at the same time, because Shi Zhixuan definitely did not know what happened between them and Shang Xiuxun, hence, unlike Wanwan, he could not possibly watch Shang Xiuxun’s tracks and whereabouts to wait for the two boys to take the bait.

Noticing the two boys were looking at her with blank, bird-head expression, Wanwan smiled and said, “I really will not betray you, I won’t take advantage of this matter to threaten you even more, because what good would it bring Wan’er? Besides, even if there is a gargantuan benefit, I don’t want that in the future you will consider me as not only an enemy with whom you have unresolvable enmity, but also an extremely despicable person.”

The two began to see Wanwan’s sincerity. After exchanging a glance, Kou Zhong said, “Seeing how well-behaved you are, we want to pay you back. Last night we visited the Yin Mansion, we heard Yin Zuwen and your honorable sect’s Wen Caiting’s conversation. Yin Zuwen pointed out that since it’s hard for you to forget the hatred of getting your master killed, it is unfavorable toward the unification of your holy school’s Two Sects Six Ways, so he proposed to replace you with Bai Qing’er. It seems that Wen Caiting is already leaning in that direction, she said that Bian Bufu, Pi Shouxuan, two men both support Bai Qing’er. As long as Shi Zhixuan is willing to harden his heart to kill his daughter, Yin Gui Pai will acknowledge allegiance to Shi Zhixuan.”

Xu Ziling added, “Yin Zuwen thinks that if they could capture you alive, he will have a way to force you to hand over the ‘Tianmo Jue’.”

Wanwan’s countenance remained tranquil, her pair of eyes dropped down, she spoke indifferently, “You guys indeed possess great magical power, unexpectedly you can see through Yin Zuwen’s identity.”

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “This is perhaps what is called heaven’s net has wide meshes, but nothing escapes it [idiom from Laozi, fig. the way of Heaven is fair, but the guilty will not escape].”

A hint of disdain seemed to appear at the corner of Wanwan’s mouth, she sneered and said, “What heaven’s net? What Mandate of Heaven [or destiny, fate]? Taishi Gong [Lord (Duke) Grand Historian, Sima Qian] early on sighed about Bo Yi and Shu Qi; benevolent people might not die a good death, while the one whose hands were filled with the reek of blood and sins obtained virtuous end? He himself suffer the punishment of castration, could not have sexual intercourse [orig. human way]. The so-called heaven’s net, the Mandate of Heaven, is but nothing! It’s just a hypocrite’s, whose mouth is full of benevolent and righteousness – big talk to cheat people into slavery.”

Kou Zhong spoke in astonishment, “I was just speaking without thinking the matter through, there is no opinion in my heart, yet you seem not to take the people-rebelling-and-friends-deserting [idiom: to find oneself utterly isolated], on-all-sides, the-songs-of-Chu [idiom: surrounded by enemies, isolated and without help] situation to heart?”

Wanwan’s pair of eyes was fixed on Kou Zhong, she spoke slowly, “After Zhu Shi died, Wanwan no longer has any close relatives. Within the holy school, only the strong will be called the king. As for killing Shi Zhixuan, the other people are afraid I don’t have enough time, how could they dare to come to provoke me? Now the final decision is in your hands, if you are obstinately clinging to your course, I have no choice but to find another way, but I still will never uncover your shady business.”

Her last sentence gave the two boys very good opinion on her.

Turning to Xu Ziling, Kou Zhong asked, “Ling Shao, what do you say?”

Xu Ziling replied, “Something that I already promised, I never consider that it does not count.”

Wanwan was pleased beyond her expectation, her tender body shivered lightly, she said, “Shi Zhixuan will definitely die! What’s your plan?”

Kou Zhong said, “We hope to have some reservations at this point. What we can tell you is that we know Shi Zhixuan has another identity in Chang’an, hence we are waiting for a certain fortunate timing to come, to force Shi Zhixuan completely without any way out, so we can ambush him at the only way out he can flee for his life. However, we’ll have to wait until just before that moment to tell you about the detailed plan. At that time you will understand the reason why we appear to guard our mouth like a closed bottle, because it involves too many secrets of ours.”

Wanwan nodded and said, “It’s very fair. The two of you are currently the ones that Wan’er barely dare to trust, I do not have the slightest worry that you will harm me. For the convenience of this operation, is it all right if nujia temporarily stay here? The ambient here is not bad, I guarantee that my subordinates will not find me here.”

Just by hearing what she said, the two boys knew that she already knew clearly the situation of the Situ Mansion.

Frowning, Kou Zhong said, “Don’t you have a place to stay? When the time comes to commence the operation, we will notify you.”

Wanwan’s countenance remained tranquil, she said, “Of course I have a place to stay, but I do not dare to tell you. Who can guess how our relationship will develop in the future? I don’t want to worry all day when you are going to drop by to give me bad luck.”

Kou Zhong smiled and said, “It’s up to you, Dajie! But your words reveal a precious information that I hope we won’t have to use against you in the future.”

Wanwan cast a deeply meaningful glance toward Xu Ziling, she sighed and said, “The matter of the future, we’ll talk about it in the future! Presently I am in an on-all-sides, the-songs-of-Chu situation, while you, two gentlemen, are the only ones I can barely trust to depend on, I have no choice but to hide here temporarily to lie low.”

The two boys suddenly understood. Because Wanwan heard the information that the people of her own sect were conspiring to deal with her, she sensed the danger, hence she had no choice but to abandon her original hiding place and her identity.

Xu Ziling spoke indifferently, “There is another important information that we might as well tell you. Last night Shi Zhixuan personally made his move, not only to kill ‘Shan Mu’ Sha Fang, he also wiped out her entourage completely.”

Wanwan was slightly startled, she revealed a thoughtful look.

Kou Zhong seized this opportunity to ask, “Who is Da Zun?”

Wanwan cast her gaze toward him, she muttered to herself irresolutely a little bit, and then she said with a sigh, “If I tell you, it would be no different than betraying the holy school!”

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “You are still not as smart as Shi Zhixuan, last night he told Ling Shao that Yang Xuyan is some his granny’s Yuanzi. Da Ming Zun Jiao is really not one faction within your holy school, furthermore, the holy school people are supplanting you, you still want to bicker about his Niang’s so-called yiqi [spirit of loyalty and brotherhood]. You stubbornly preserving the accomplishments of previous generations like this, I, Kou Zhong, will be the first person not to have a good opinion on you.”

Wanwan smiled and said, “Yang Xuyan and Da Ming Zun Jiao are simply exploiting each other. Da Ming Zun Jiao requires Yang Xuyan to help them setting their feet in the Central Plains, while Yang Xuyan just takes a fancy to Da Ming Zun Jiao’s ‘Yu Jin Wan Fa Gen Yuan Zhi Jing’. Both sides work together for their own benefit, the so-called ‘Yuanzi’ is just in name without any substantive significance. Yang Xuyan will never become Da Ming Zun Jiao’s believer, and Da Ming Zun Jiao will never consider Yang Xuyan as their people.”

Kou Zhong knew that it would be difficult to fish any useful information from Wanwan’s mouth that would enable them to advance one step further. Looking at the sky, it was already the time when the sun was setting over the western hills, they already missed the time to see Shang Xiuxun today. He laughed and said, “We’ll be back tonight to play tricks with you. Presently we have important matters waiting to be dealt with. Wan Meiren’er may take a good rest here.”

Wanwan cast him a sidelong thousand-tenders-a-hundred-charms-hooking-the-soul glance; she said, “I am very busy too! See you tomorrow morning!” Finished speaking, she left through the window.

After Wanwan departed, the two boys you look at me I look at you, they both had a feeling of a good fortune or a disaster were difficult to foresee.

This moment, Lei Jiuzhi, leading Hou Xibai along, arrived. Noticing the two boys’ expression, the former said in astonishment, “What happened? How come you are not talking, and your expression is wooden? You are not having a row, are you?”

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Our grand plan to punish the Xiang this time is already discovered by Wanwan and she raised the alarm. It would be extremely extraordinary if we are not scowling miserably.”

Immediately Lei Jiuzhi and Hou Xibai’s countenance changed.

After giving them explanation, Xu Ziling said, “This matter has not reached the mountain-and-river-exhausted degree yet, but we must have a plan to meet a contingency.”

Lei Jiuzhi finally understood the situation clearly. He nodded and said, “There are two kinds of retreat: full retreat and partial retreat. I’ll go to consult Song Ye, so that he won’t have time to indulge in flights of fancy.”

Xu Ziling called him back, asking, “Is there any progress on that gadget?”

Lei Jiuzhi laughed aloud and said, “Don’t forget whose disciple I am. How about tomorrow morning delivery? Ha!” He left with a laughter.

Hou Xibai walked over to sit on the edge of the bed where Wanwan sat just now, he said, “If you can retreat, I guarantee that Wanwan won’t dare to betray you, because it does not have any advantage to her whatsoever. By the way, you seem to have a hundred-percent confidence that you know Shi Shi’s hiding place, is that right?”

Xu Ziling replied indifferently, “You can say that. But it’s not a hundred-percent; it will depend on Laotianye’s will to give us direction before we can make decision.”

Hou Xibai shook his head with wry smile, he said, “Am I making two gentlemen feel that Xiaodi is very troublesome?”

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Not troublesome but contradictory. Because the sharpest lance and the strongest shield are striking each other, so the ending will be the lance breaks and the shield shatters; with no lance and no shield, there is no contradiction. Your contradiction is your Shizun Shi Zhixuan, with whom you have both enmity and benevolence. With him, the Senior, alone, you are playing two roles; if you get rid of him, the whole world will be at peace. It’s that simple.”

Laughing involuntarily, Hou Xibai said, “Zaixia does not need you to explain, simply because after Ziling reminded me that the way of the painting is the way of the martial art, my heart is already free, my spirit relaxed. Only I am afraid you are underestimating Shi Shi’s intelligence and scheming ability; one thing goes wrong, he will bite you back. Furthermore, you must be careful that you guys plus Wanwan may be the world’s sharpest lance, but Shi Shi is definitely the strongest shield; a strong shield that has never been broken by anybody.”

Changing the subject, Xu Ziling said, “Have you accomplished those two things?”

Hou Xibai replied, “I went to see Luoyan first, the servant said that she was summoned by Zhang Jieyu into the palace, I am afraid she will stay there for a few days. Why does your expression become so unsightly?”

Kou Zhong spoke heavily, “This is very likely the first step of the operation to deal with her. Did you push further into the palace to see her?”

Hou Xibai shook his head and said, “I went to the palace to ask an audience with Zhang Niangniang, but her number one court eunuch Zheng Gonggong said that she was accompanying Huangshang playing chess, hence I could not see Luoyan, naturally I did not have the opportunity to inquire the Han Ling Qing Yuan Tu’s whereabouts.”

Xu Ziling said, “When we enter the palace tonight, we must find a way to notify Luoyan.”

“Why is it that giving up is easy, obtaining is hard?” Kou Zhong said, “Isn’t Li Yuan going to host a banquet to entertain Meiren’er Changzhu? Shen Luoyan is definitely going to be one of the accompanying guests. We could ask Meiren’er Changzhu to warn Shen Luoyan; won’t that work?”

“Too late!” Hou Xibai said, “When I was leaving the palace, I happened to come across Shang Xiuxun’s convoy entering the palace; she even stopped and lifted the curtain to speak to me a bit. Ay!”

Listening to the tone of his voice, the two boys knew that it could not possibly be good news. You look at me I look at you, they were speechless.

Hou Xibai spoke in low voice, “She said she is not going to blame you anymore, but from now on you need not look for her. When she said that, her eyes were revealing a sad and lost, helpless look.”

Smiling wanly, Kou Zhong said, “Everything you told us is bad news; don’t you have any news that will make us happy?”

Hou Xibai said, “Do you think I don’t want to give you good news? Too bad things turn out contrary to the way we wish. The imperial palace guard is significantly strengthened, I was with palace supervisor Wei Gonggong waiting closely upon me, hence I did not dare to inquire about the treasured painting to anybody. After all, I am Shi Zhixuan’s disciple. Now that Shi Shi has just stricken and killed Sha Fang, Li Yuan must guard against me, no matter what.”

“Who’s Wei Gonggong?” Xu Ziling asked. [Fun fact: Eunuch Wei – exact same characters as Wei Xiaobao in Jin Yong’s Deer and Cauldron.]

Hou Xibai replied, “Wei Gonggong was serving Yang Jian during the Old Sui, afterwards he followed Yang Guang. He is the chief of the court eunuchs with the highest and most powerful martial art skill. When Yang Di was assassinated, he was in Jiangdu; he relied on his martial art skill to break the siege and escape, henceforth he came to Li Yuan to seek shelter, who promoted him to be the inner palace’s supervisor. All the court eunuchs in the palace, big and small, are under his supervision.”

Kou Zhong said, “To be able to break the siege and escape under such circumstances, this person must have some real skill. We have seen Yang Guang at Jiangdu, there was no such person that look like that.”

Hou Xibai said, “Wei Gonggong maintains a low profile, which is precisely why Li Yuan likes him. Wei Gonggong’s martial art skill was trained by Yang Jian himself, and he had the heavy responsibility of protecting Yang Jian. Honestly, looking at him horizontally, looking at him vertically, I don’t feel anything special about him, but just this skill of the sage presents as an ordinary person [idiom] is enough to make people sense that he is deep and immeasurable.”

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “Yuwen Shang, You Chuhong, Wei Gonggong, plus several qianbei, renowned experts who left the mountain to come and help Li Yuan, when we enter the palace, once our track falls through and stands exposed, there will only be death without any chance of living.”

Kou Zhong said, “Our entering the palace tonight is absolutely necessary, we will change according to the situation!”

Xu Ziling nodded in agreement; turning to Hou Xibai, he said, “I wonder if Xibai Xiong can check something else for us? See if Li Mi has already formally proposed to Li Yuan about him leaving Chang’an.”

“That should be a bit easier,” Hou Xibai replied, “I’ll take care of it immediately; see you tonight!”

After Hou Xibai left, the two muttered to themselves irresolutely without saying anything.

Xu Ziling’s heart was extremely uneasy. The chance that Wanwan would betray them was not great, but it gave him a sense of crisis.

For example, with Shi Zhixuan’s eyesight, plus he knew that Xu Ziling was in Chang’an, surely he could see in a glance that Taihang Shuang Jie were him, Xu Ziling, and Kou Zhong. Therefore, they must not give Shi Zhixuan this opportunity.

The terrible thing was that Shi Zhixuan would definitely try his best to find out the purpose to his visit to Chang’an. Furthermore, he issued a clear warning last night, if Xu Ziling did not leave Chang’an, he would not be responsible for not showing mercy.

Therefore, before any of these happen, he must ambush and kill Shi Zhixuan. The question to them was whether the treasured painting was in Zhang Jieyu’s fragrant chamber, or was it inside Li Yuan’s study room? Before they knew for certain, they could only wait passively for the opportunity of Li Yuan summoning Shen Wenjiang to inspect the painting.

Hou Xibai’s worry was reasonable. One thing went wrong, they would nurse grievance in Chang’an, and their grand plan would be done for.

Shi Zhixuan indeed had tricks and ability and wisdom that ghosts and deities could not fathom.

“What are you thinking?” Kou Zhong’s voice came into his ears, “Your brows are completely knitted, giving me a picture of what you’ll look like when you are old.”

Xu Ziling sighed dejectedly, he asked in return, “What are you thinking?”

Kou Zhong was staring at the tip of his own feet; he shook his head and said, “I am sure I am thinking of a different thing from you. Ay! I am thinking that my defeat at the battle of Luoyang was justified; I deserve to lose, because Li Shimin’s brilliance nearly reached the stage where he can make people tremble. He chose to move his troops in the sixth month; even if Song Que received the news and immediately maneuver his troops, he still cannot start moving before the tenth month’s winter arrives, because their arrival will be in the middle of the winter, which is disadvantageous to the southern people to deploy the troops. Therefore, he has to wait until next year’s warm spring and flowers bloom to set off. Hence Li Shimin could take advantage of these nine months to capture Luoyang, and then raze Pengliang to the ground. His granny’s! This kid’s method is certainly ferocious and ruthless.”

Xu Ziling said, “Unnecessarily sacrificing your life is meaningless, why don’t you consider retreating back to Lingnan, pacify the south first, and then make a plan to cross the river?”

Kou Zhong said, “That is not the style that I, Kou Zhong like. If I have to lose, then I lose! But if I win, I want an elegant, glorious victory. Ling Shao’s suggestion might save my life, but it will likely put me in a passive situation where I will be caught in frequent defeat and disperse for a period of time. Furthermore, there is no need for Li Shimin to decide victory or defeat on the battlefield with me. As long as Bashu surrenders to the Tang, the entire area north of the Great River will fall into the Li’s Tang’s hands. If we could preserve the area south of the Great River, that would be quite good. But how could I bear to see the Central Earth returning to the North-South confrontation situation, and thus giving the Tujue the opportunity to attack? It will be either I unify the world, or Li kid obtains the world. Therefore, I decided to defend Pengliang to the death, until the moment Song Que’s reinforcement troops arrive. I will undertake this matter alone; I won’t let you intervene in the life and death battle between Li kid and me.”

At this time, Lei Jiuzhi arrived to tell them that the time to go to Shang Lin Yuan has arrived.