CHAPTER 240: CHAPTER 237: THE COMMANDERY PRINCESS’S TACTICS

Cui He watched as the two Death Warriors continued their attempt to assassinate Miss Xie and couldn’t help but frown. He had deliberately made noise to alert the people of Chen Family Village and had intentionally gotten injured to thwart this assassination, yet at such a crucial moment, the Death Warriors still refused to leave with him.

Cui He had no choice but to endure the pain and chase after them. If this assassination attempt failed, the people of Chen Family Village would be cautious and prepared, and the route through the Commandery Princess would be blocked, at most, he would face punishment from the Commandery Princess.

Cui He had schemed all night and chose the most clumsy method to intervene, which he felt was the safest, but little did he know that things would not develop according to his plan.

The two Death Warriors were well-trained and fast; Cui He, in his daze, simply couldn’t keep up with them.

Cui He was about to think of another plan when suddenly a noise came from around him, several shadows raced towards them, and before he could see clearly, the two Death Warriors ahead hesitated and were trapped.

Cui He immediately understood that their movements had probably long been detected, and those people lying in ambush in the woods were waiting to catch them red-handed.

Cui He changed direction to attempt an escape, but he had just taken one step when a gust of wind hit him, and someone kicked the back of his knee.

Pain shot through Cui He’s leg; he reacted swiftly, curling up on the ground and rolling over, preparing to get up again. But before he could stand up straight, a sharp blade was pressed against his neck.

The cold blade pressed against Cui He’s burning flesh, and with no hesitation, Cui He turned his head towards the blade.

Even though Cui He disagreed with the Commandery Princess’s actions, and was starting to believe in the reasoning of Old General Zhang deep down, since he was working for the Commandery Princess and had not yet left, he couldn’t betray her. If they failed, he must bear the result himself. If the two Death Warriors couldn’t survive, he wasn’t planning to leave alive either.

Cui He embraced the belief of dying, yet he didn’t feel pain; the blade had left his neck the moment he turned.

Stunned, Cui He felt pain in his leg, and then he was thrown off balance and fell to the ground. When he tried to speak, his chin hurt, forcing his mouth open, and someone stuffed something into his mouth and proceeded to bind his hands and feet.

Cui He lay on the cold ground, struggling to turn his head, finally seeing the person standing before him. The young man was barely in his twenties, yet from this angle, his figure appeared particularly tall, his gaze was icy, exuding a majestic aura.

Cui He could see that the sharp blade that had just rested against his neck was likely the long sword in the young man’s hand.

"You deliberately exposed your whereabouts to warn others and intentionally got shot," Song Xian said. "Since you know not to kill indiscriminately, you should understand what to do next. Being on a different path means there is no trust or loyalty."

Song Xian finished speaking and looked at Chang An, who was wrapping a swallow-tailed dart in cloth.

Song Xian said, "One of the Death Warriors threw this at you when caught; it appears poisoned. Princess Jiahui didn’t intend for you to live."

Cui He widened his eyes. When Song Xian went to the Xingzhou Prefecture, he happened to be in Daming Prefecture, so they hadn’t met, but now, with a little thought, Cui He could guess the identity of the person before him; he should be Song Xian, the Commander of Zhenzhou and Zhaozhou.

The Commandery Princess secretly did these things, thinking Song Xian and Chen Family Village were unaware, but Song Xian had long detected it.

As Cui He pondered, Xie Liangchen, Liu Erniang, and Chen Zhongdong quickly came over.

Liu Erniang looked at Cui He, recognized him as the merchant who inquired her for news, she turned to look at Xie Liangchen, who nodded.

Only then did Liu Erniang say, "Are you also a person of this territory? Have you always worked for Princess Jiahui? You... raise Death Warriors to kill... does Old General Zhang know about these secret deeds?"

Mentioning Old General Zhang, Cui He was completely stunned.

Cui He couldn’t speak with his mouth sealed, and Liu Erniang first figured it out: "I almost forgot, Old General Zhang doesn’t approve of Princess Jiahui. Although Princess Jiahui’s father was a branch of Prince Guangyang’s family, but... the Old General said, after Prince Guangyang passed away, he led us in those efforts, not for Prince Guangyang.

It’s because before he died, Prince Guangyang told him to take good care of the people in his territory, so Old General Zhang never cared about ancestry.

If Prince Guangyang cared about these, he wouldn’t have led his heirs and close ones to die in battle on the field. He would have abandoned the city with his soldiers and family long ago."

Liu Erniang’s eyes were red: "Though I’m a woman and haven’t contributed to Old General Zhang’s work, I understand this. If you want power, wealth, use any means openly or secretly, but don’t use Prince Guangyang’s name."

Cui He’s gaze completely darkened; earlier, he still had the courage and belief to die for a higher cause, but now they were completely gone.

Liu Erniang said, "Think carefully!"

Xie Liangchen remained silent; Liu Erniang had made things very clear, and now it was up to this person to figure things out.

Song Xian looked at Xie Liangchen, seeing her unharmed, he finally relaxed and was about to speak when Chang An said, "The village over the mountain is on fire."

The embroideress mentioned by the Second Steward was in that village.

The Second Steward of the embroidery workshop was brought over by Song Family’s House General, his face had long turned pale in fright, he would’ve revealed everything he knew: "Someone instructed me to deceive Miss Xie. That person has a house in Xingzhou City, when he gave me the silver ingot, he slipped, saying his employers were the Shi Family Trading Team."

Xie Liangchen had anticipated this, Song Xian already found out that the people behind the Shi Family Trading Team were Third Master Du, Princess Jiasan was using people from the embroidery workshop to frame the Du Family.

The Second Steward continued: "That embroideress is indeed in the front village, it was pre-arranged by me. Those people said, have the embroideress lure you into a trap, once you entered the woods, it would be considered a great success.

To prevent any mishaps and in case you realized the clues, I had to lie to cover it up. So I... I made arrangements with the embroideress, asking her to wait at home so that when the government office inquired, I could say I brought you to meet the embroideress." Only this way, she wouldn’t be suspected, and could smoothly escape in the future.

Xie Liangchen looked at Song Xian, that embroideress was likely in grave danger. According to Princess Jiahui’s plan, once the Second Steward and embroideress disclosed the truth to her, upon knowing this, Third Master Du would secretly send people to quietly eliminate her to conceal the inside story. The Du Family wouldn’t leave any future troubles so both Second Steward and embroideress had to die.

With such a big commotion, Song Xian would surely investigate. Princess Jiahui would leave some clues for Song Xian to trace it back to Du Yi. Thus, this deadlock would be completed.

Song Xian would relentlessly pursue the Du Family, and the Du Family would suspect it was Song Xian deliberately framing them.

Song Xian, hearing this, looked at the person standing next to Chang An, "Did you hear that? The embroidery workshop’s Second Steward said it was instructed by the Shi Family Trading Team."

The person frowned, his eyes tightly fixed on the Second Steward, "Is what you said true? The person who came to you, genuinely said it was the Shi Family Trading Team?"

The Second Steward hurriedly nodded.

The person reached out and pulled aside a steward-dressed person next to him, coldly saying, "He is the steward of the Shi Family Trading Team, have you seen him?"