บท 22: Under the Bed
บรรณาธิการ: Transn
Gu Shenwei tried to suppress his sneeze. The sound had been relatively quiet, but all the same, it almost destroyed their plan. Fortunately, someone outside shouted just as he was sneezing.
"Boss, will Third Brother come tonight?"
It was Slave Ji who was lying on the bed. Gu Shenwei suddenly felt fortunate it was not his target, the killer, who had arrived. If it had been Han Shiqi who had lain on the bed, he undoubtedly would have perceived that someone was hiding under the bed, even with someone speaking outside.
Slave Ji sat up and said impatiently, "I told you, I don't know. If he comes, I'll tell you. Go back to your room!"
It was Slave Qi who spoke outside. He had spoken loud on purpose to let Slave Huan know that the target would probably not come after all.
Slave Qi followed the order and left. Slave Ji lay down again and muttered to himself. "Ambitious little bastard, you were still crying two days ago, but now you're so eager for it. I have to be careful. You're still too tender to compete with me."
Slave Ji talked to himself for a while and hummed a tuneless melody. After tossing and turning for an hour, he went to blow out the light and got ready to sleep.
Gu Shenwei remained motionless and did not dare to deepen his breathing. He put his hands over his nose to prevent himself from inhaling more dust and waited for almost an hour. After Slave Ji snored louder and louder, Gu Shenwei quietly crawled out and gingerly escaped from the room. Then he ran back to his bedroom.
The pair of brothers were waiting for him inside. It was safe for them to stay here, as the other five teenagers were sleeping in the other room.
The man did not arrive. Slave Qi heard a rumor that the Eighth Young Master, Shangguan Nu, had not adequately finished his task. Though they had succeeded in killing the target, they had lost a killer.
According to Golden Roc Fort's standards, a killer should strike the moment his target was unable to resist. If the target were to manage resistance, it would then be proven that the killer has made a mistake in taking the action.
Shangguan Nu was having a rough year. There were two tasks that he had failed to complete with perfection, which had lowered his position in his father's mind. As a result, he gradually became angrier and vented his anger on his subordinate killers and macheteman. It was said that someone had been hurt yet again under the blade of the Eighth Young Master.
In this case, Han Shiqi would not dare to fool around as soon as he came back, lest he aggravate the Young Master and suffer his blade for no reason.
However, it was a sort of torture for the three teenagers, who were eager for vengeance.
That night, Gu Shenwei hid under Slave Ji's bed for the third time. The previous two times, he had achieved nothing more than sweeping the dust from under the bed to prepare a relatively comfortable position for himself.
Han Shiqi arrived a bit late, but Slave Ji did not fall asleep. With only one knock at the door, Slave Ji, like a dog smelling out bones, jumped out of the bed suddenly, picked up the key behind the door, and opened the yard door with delight.
Han Shiqi either did not care about the curfew order or had managed to avoid the night watchmen so that he could come to Firewood Yard late at night.
"Third Brother, I missed you so much. Look, I've gotten thinner."
Slave Ji's feminine voice made Gu Shenwei's scalp tingle, causing goosebumps. Then Slave Ji laughed and acted coy, completely different from the overseer with the rosewood stick in his hands.
Gu Shenwei felt sick.
He had deep compassion for Slave Qi and Slave Xie, and understood why they persisted in assassinating this killer of Golden Roc Fort.
After the two guys outside lit a candle and sat together on the bed, Gu Shenwei held his breath and hoped that they would not stay long. If he had known Han Shiqi's exact position on the bed, he would have killed him immediately.
Han Shiqi spoke few words, for his purpose was to enjoy himself, not to cultivate emotion. After a while, he said, "Where's the scrappy kid? Call him in."
Gu Shenwei was startled. "Does 'the scrappy kid' refer to me?"
"Slave Huan? He's got an evil spirit. Don't call him tonight. The pair of brothers..."
"What evil spirit?"
"Well! There was a kid in the yard who went mad in front of the Eighth Young Mistress. Ah! The servant brought back by the bandit's daughter was no good. Slave Huan saw him off, so he got an evil spirit from him. I asked him to stay in the room and not come out."
"Don't talk about the business of the eighth yard. How unlucky the Eighth Young Master is! He's had so many problems from inside and out. It's got me on edge all the time. I'm afraid that he'll stab me someday just because he's in a bad mood."
"Yes, that's right. The Eighth Young Mistress's business is her own problem. I feel pity for the Eighth Young Master with that striking appearance and excellent skill at Kung Fu..."
"Hey, let's not talk about evil spirits. I heard what happened to the kid. He practiced Kung Fu and suffered from Qigong Deviation. It has nothing to do with any evil spirit. The woman called Mama Xue has already admitted that she was anxious to teach him Internal Strength. As a result, it killed him."
"Right, right." Slave Ji's mouth agreed with him, but his heart was not convinced. He himself was still inclined to believe that an evil spirit was responsible.
Hearing all this from under the bed, Gu Shenwei was startled. "Undoubtedly, Slave Yao learned Internal Strength by himself, and I intentionally made him suffer Qigong Deviation. Why did Mama Xue confess that it was her fault? Did she want to protect the Miss from the event of an evil spirit?"
Gu Shenwei could not figure out the reason.
"Go call the kid in. I'll drive the evil spirit out of him."
As he spoke, Han Shiqi's voice was somewhat indecent. Slave Ji smiled knowingly. Meanwhile, Gu Shenwei under the bed was terribly frightened. Their assassination plan had appeared to be flawless, but they neglected that the killer would not believe in the evil spirit.
Once they found that Slave Huan was not in the room, all of their planning would be in vain.
Slave Ji grinned as he rose from the bed. Gu Shenwei moved the little sharp knife slightly and intended to take immediate action as soon as Slave Ji was far enough away. However, the problem was that he did not know Han Shiqi's exact position, therefore, he could only rely on his best guess.
This tactic had the lowest probability of hitting Han Shiqi in any vital area of his body, but it seemed that he had no choice left.
On the bed, Han Shiqi spoke suddenly. "Who is that? Who's sneaking around?"
Gu Shenwei was startled again. As he was about to make his move, a voice came from outside.
"Is Third Brother here?"
"I said I would call both of you. Piss off," Slave Ji angrily shouted.
The person outside was Slave Xie. Slave Ji had already been vigilant and impatient toward the liveliness of the brothers.
"Yes, boss. Eh, isn't Third Brother in the room? I'll go ask my elder brother to come together."
"Who says you guys are going to serve tonight? Go to sleep!"
"But boss, you taught us that we should..."
"Little bastard, you've really got some nerve to talk back."
Slave Ji patted his rosewood stick in his palm, intending to teach the naughty Slave Xie a lesson.
But it seemed that Han Shiqi's interest was piqued by Slave Xie. "Wait a second. Just let the pair of brothers come in. I want to know what you've taught them."
"Hehe! Third Brother, you've seen what tricks I have up my sleeve."
Once Slave Ji went to call Slave Qi, Gu Shenwei felt relieved and quietly move the sharp knife back to its previous position. He could find the position in the darkness, as he was so familiar with it.
But now there was another problem. Han Shiqi and Slave Ji had wasted too much time chatting on the bed. Almost 15 minutes had passed. Gu Shenwei slowed down his breath for a long time and was already feeling suffocated. He desperately needed a breath of fresh air.
Slave Qi came in and closed the door. Slave Ji did not follow him, which seemed to be the only part of the plan so far that had gone without a hitch.
Han Shiqi jumped out of bed. As his feet landed on the ground, Gu Shenwei took a deep breath.
"So, you've improved since last time, hmm? Come here, I feel tired today. Let me see your tricks. Don't disappoint me, or you'll learn the way of my fist yet again."
"I assure you, you will be satisfied." It was Slave Qi's voice. Slave Qi still could not call him Third Brother. Gu Shenwei could sense that he was a little nervous.
"Satisfied..." Han Shiqi repeated in an ambiguous way.
"Third Brother, let's sit on the bed." Slave Xie was not normally talkative, and he appeared to be calmer than his brother.
"Take it easy."
What happened next, Gu Shenwei could not understand. The voices and groans that he heard sounded quite strange and ugly as if something filthy was invading his ears. Initially, he blushed and nearly could not control his breath. But soon, the power of vengeance and anger allowed him to recover and focus on the point just above his head.
The brothers employed all their skills. However, this time Han Shiqi preferred to stand up rather than to get on the bed, no matter how hard they tried.
Another 15 minutes passed. It was the longest 15 minutes in the three teenagers' lifetimes. Suddenly, Han Shiqi gently let out a cry, followed by the sound of someone being hit.
"Little bastard, I knew that you had evil desires. You want to plot against my penis. How dare you!"
"You killed me. I want to kill you in revenge," Slave Qi said.
Gu Shenwei was surprised and did not know if Slave Qi could not bear such humiliation and had taken action in advance. He wondered whether he should get up help them or stay under the bed.
"Thwack, thwack!" It was the sound of someone being beaten, followed by a cry from Han Shiqi that grew more and more excited.
"Hah! My methods are more fun. I'll give you a taste of something new."
"Let my brother go!" Slave Xie shouted.
The pair of brothers in Han Shiqi's hands looked like weak lambs, whose screams and struggles only stimulated the former's evil desires.
Then someone jumped onto the bed. "Come and get me, bastard."
It was Slave Xie, who had held mastery of Central Plains Chinese for less than a month, but could shout abuse as well as Slave Ji.
With a bang, another person landed on the bed. Judging from the landing sound, Gu Shenwei guessed that it had to be Slave Qi being thrown on the bed by Han Shiqi.
"Haha, a couple of fledglings. Let me join your little game. Now that you can understand my words, it'll be more fun."
Gu Shenwei understood the brothers' intention. They were using Han Shiqi's enjoyment of a challenge to entice him onto the bed.
Gu Shenwei cleared all the thoughts in his mind and quietly waited for the signal to make his move.
The bed was almost turned upside down as continuous cries filled the room, but Gu Shenwei blocked all the commotion from his mind.
"Brother!"
Finally, the signal had come. Gu Shenwei even could not recognize who said it. Blood was flowing to his head. He wanted to exert all his strength, but had no strength at all. He wanted to move swiftly, but acted slowly as if he was frozen.
The sharp knife passed smoothly through the seam of the bed, as if moving through the air.
Then it encountered a hard obstacle and could not be pushed any further.
บท 23: Dumping the Corpse
บรรณาธิการ: Transn
After the knife was plunged into the bed, Gu Shenwei immediately turned his body to dodge.
Gu Shenwei had practiced this action numerous times. At the last moment, though he maintained his feeling of urgency, all his muscles became stiff, as if his mind was occupied by an evil spirit. He moved slowly, like in a nightmare.
His blood flowed uncontrollably into his head, and his limbs were much weaker than he had expected.
Eventually, Gu Shenwei got out from under the bed and saw Slave Xie huddle on the ground with his face buried in his arms, his thin naked body shivering.
The sight of Slave Xie looking so terrified made Gu Shenwei calm down. Gu Shenwei disentangled himself from his nightmare. Immediately, he stood up and jumped onto the bed. His moves were agile, as if he were an experienced master in Lightness Skills.
He used all his strength to press down on the pillow. The man under it seemed to be both struggling and, at the same time, totally unresponsive.
After quite a while, Gu Shenwei found that another person was pressing on the pillow with him.
Slave Qi was also naked. As he exerted his strength with every muscle, his face was distorted, his eyes bulged out, almost falling to the point of popping out, and his teeth clenched his lower lip, which was starting to bleed.
Suddenly, Gu Shenwei felt frightened and gently pushed Slave Qi. "Alright, he's dead."
Slave Qi had used up all his strength. He was not as tough and firm as he looked. With the gentle touch, he instantly sat on the bed and open his mouth blankly, saying a word in his own language. It sounded meaningless to Gu Shenwei.
Han Shiqi was dead.
Gu Shenwei removed the pillow. His enemy was staring at them, but could hardly recognize him.
Han Shiqi was stark naked as well. The ugly thing between his legs had turned impotently to the side. Slave Xie held a dagger and rushed over to chop it off.
Gu Shenwei hastily jumped off of the bed and stopped the impulsive Slave Xie just in time. "Watch out, no more blood."
Gu Shenwei crawled under the bed again to dismantled the hilt. Slave Qi and Slave Xie had settled their minds and slowly lifted up the corpse together until the sharp knife was completely taken out from the seam of the bed, and then they turned the corpse around.
Though many unforeseen incidents had occurred, this assassination had gone more perfectly than they had imagined.
That sharp knife had pierced precisely into Han Shiqi's heart. He had died with hardly a struggle. He had even lost little blood, leaving only a tiny stain on the covers.
In the flicker of the candlelight, the three teenagers beheld the dead in silence, as if they were offering their condolences or appreciating a masterpiece.
After a while, they began to do their own tasks as pre-arranged in the plan.
Slave Qi and Slave Xie put on their clothes. One of them went to check the situation outside while the other left to pack up Han Shiqi's belongings with Gu Shenwei, including several pieces of clothes, a dagger, a stiletto knife, a killer waist token, several small bottles, a handkerchief, and other sundries.
The killer waist token was an oval flavescent jade stone, imprinted with a simple bird and the character "Jue".
With this waist token, one could visit lots of places in Golden Roc Fort. Gu Shenwei wanted to keep it, but gave that up after hesitating for a while. As he was just a teenager, attempting to show the killer waist token would bring more trouble than it was worth.
"You can take it. It's your trophy."
Slave Qi pulled the stiletto knife and small bottles close to his chest. According to the tradition of their clan, all of the dead's possessions belonged to the one who had done the killing.
Gu Shenwei shook his head, put the waist token with the rest of the belongings, and rolled them into a ball. "It's too dangerous. We'd better not keep his things."
"If we stay here with them, it'll be dangerous. But it won't be if we run away."
Slave Qi spoke confidently and seemed to have a plan, which he had never mentioned before. While Gu Shenwei was about to ask him, Slave Xie came back and nodded to them, indicating that everything was alright outside and they should carry the corpse away.
The three teenagers carried the corpse together. The brothers each held one foot of the corpse while Gu Shenwei held the head. They quietly walked to Ghost Cliff outside the western door with the belongings placed on top of the corpse.
Slave Xie had already opened the yard door to ensure they could get out smoothly.
Gu Shenwei was mostly worried about the mysterious night watchman, but they were lucky tonight. No night watchmen showed themselves the entire way that they carried the corpse to the gate. Ghost Cliff was a precipice. There was no need for guards, and therefore, they were safe for the time being.
The teenagers of Firewood Yard had all carried corpses, but Han Shiqi was quite heavier than any of those. Still a dozen steps away from the edge of the cliff, Slave Xie was already worn out and could not help stooping down.
Slave Qi and Gu Shenwei glanced at each other and slowly put down the corpse together. They felt exhausted. No matter how hard they tried, they could not bring themselves to finish the last few steps.
The sharp knife still remained in the back of the corpse with only a sliver exposed that could barely be seen in the moonlight.
Gu Shenwei thought that it was a mistake to take a rest and they should dispose of the corpse as soon as possible. When he stooped to pick up the corpse, it suddenly grasped his ankle!
The strength of the grip was as strong as an iron hoop.
Gu Shenwei's blood boiled and then directly froze into ice. At that moment, he felt that his spirit was outside of his body.
Slave Qi and Slave Xie were stupefied at first, but then pounced on Han Shiqi together. The elder brother pulled out the sharp knife and haphazardly stabbed with all his strength.
The corpse gave no response.
Gu Shenwei pushed Slave Qi away, disentangled himself from Han Shiqi's grip, and turned over the corpse to observe carefully.
This was still a corpse, just with a little effusion of blood around the corners of his mouth. Nevertheless, Gu Shenwei did not know why it had grasped the ankle of its murderer and whether it had been alive while grasping.
Gu Shenwei's spirit came back to him. It seemed to have been purified while it was absent. While it was gone, he had been cool-headed, like a coroner performing an autopsy.
He checked Han Shiqi's breath and touched his chest for a while. Part of him wished that Han Shiqi would still be alive, so that he could ask about his sister's whereabouts as well as the reason why Golden Roc Fort had slaughtered the Gu family.
"Is he really dead?" Slave Xie whispered. His face paled, whiter than the moonlight.
"Yes."
The three teenagers no longer had the strength to carry the corpse, whereupon they rolled it together to finish the last dozen steps and pushed it off the cliff with its belongings.
No matter if Han Shiqi was dead or alive, he would not be coming back.
"What next?"
Gu Shenwei asked. Slave Qi and Slave Xie obviously had thought it through much more than he had and already had a plan to cope with the aftermath.
Slave Qi, whose hands were stained with blood, appeared panicked and irritable, as if he would blow up if someone provoked him even slightly.
"Hmm? Next? Next, we'll run away. You'll come with us."
"Run away? How? This is Golden Roc Fort."
Slave Qi took a deep breath to cool down and looked much better. "You know, every morning we have to carry water. There are lots of wooden barrels. Water is sent from the outside. If there's a chance, we can hide in the wooden barrels to escape."
Gu Shenwei had also done this job, so he immediately understood what Slave Qi meant. Golden Roc Fort was located at the peak of the mountain, without a source of water. Daily water was carried from the foot of the mountain. The men that delivered the water were not allowed to enter the fort. The water would be poured into a stone pool. Then, the servants inside the fort would carry it to their own yards. By the pool, lots of empty wooden barrels were left, which might be taken away the next day by the men who delivered the water.
There was an overseer by the pool, but that did not mean that they did not have any chance. Sometimes, when there were too many servants who carried water, the overseer could not keep his eye on all of them, so one could crawl into the barrels and wait for the arrival of the men who delivered water.
It sounded like a feasible plan.
But Gu Shenwei still shook his head. It was the second time that he had refused to escape with them. Slave Qi gave him a strange look.
"I'll stay. I have my enemies here. I want my revenge."
That's all Gu Shenwei could tell them. Even though they had murdered the man together, he could not expose all his thoughts because he was cautious and also insecure. He would take revenge for his parents and brothers by killing the entire Shangguan family. It might be a whimsical goal that nobody else could understand.
However, Slave Qi and Slave Xie accepted his reason. In their eyes, vengeance was more important than anything. They had postponed escaping because they wanted to kill the man who had humiliated them.
The three teenagers returned to Firewood Yard. Gu Shenwei returned to his room alone. Slave Qi and Slave Xie went to clean Slave Ji's bed, and tried to make the small stain as inconspicuous as they possibly could. Then they went back to sleep. The other five teenagers were sleeping soundly and no one envied the pair of brothers.
Gu Shenwei closed his eyes. As the first enemy had been killed, the small piece of the huge stone blocking up his heart had fallen and a sliver of light shone inside. He had lots of things to do, but now felt sleepy. Without clearing away all of his thoughts, he fell deeply asleep.
It was a sweet sleep like Gu Shenwei had never known before.
Waking up in the morning, Gu Shenwei almost forgot everything that had happened the night before. After a while, he was infused with the joy of having tasted revenge. Even the sunshine outside appeared to be more radiant than usual.
He had enjoyed the three-day holiday for getting rid of the evil spirit and had to pay his respects to the Miss with the other teenagers. He had been wondering why Mama Xue admitted to teaching Slave Yao Internal Strength.
However, Mama Xue seemed to have forgotten all about it. He did not see any clue from her cold, stiff face.
When they returned to Firewood Yard, Slave Ji appeared slightly restless and kept asking Slave Qi and Slave Xie where Third Brother was and why he had left without saying a word.
Slave Qi and Slave Xie were quite well-composed, which Gu Shenwei admired. The brothers casually explained that Third Brother had left that night, and they had opened and then locked the yard door because the overseer had already fallen asleep and they did not want to bother him.
Slave Ji believed their words, as Han Shiqi did not spend every night there. However, Slave Ji did not know why he was so restless and kept thinking of it all day long.
In the afternoon, Slave Ji felt more distracted. Overseeing the teenagers at work, he was completely absent-minded. At dusk, he even did not call roll, and he locked the yard door later than usual. After going back to his own room, he kept the candle lit and fell asleep after midnight.
Due to his absent-mindedness, Slave Ji did not find that Slave Qi and Slave Xie were missing. The brothers went to carry water in the afternoon. They came back once, but did not return the second time, owing to the overseer's serious negligence of duty.
Gu Shenwei felt relieved for Slave Qi and Slave Xie, as the first step of their plan to run away had gone smoothly.
The other five teenagers found it unusual, but no one else cared about it. As new servants, they did not know how to deal with things like that, nor did they dare to remind Slave Ji, as the overseer was already in a bad mood.
Gu Shenwei privately prayed that the two brothers would succeed in escaping.
As for Golden Roc Fort, it was a peaceful night, but the next morning, when everything was exposed, a storm was raised.
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