The crescent moon was hidden behind thick, dark clouds. Outside the window, all was pitch black, with occasional gusts of cool, chilly wind blowing through.
Song Jinzhao glanced at Song Shixue and Song Anhao sleeping soundly in bed, then gently closed the bedroom door.
The candlelight in the west room had already gone out. She closed the main hall door behind her, led the horse from the courtyard, and vanished into the night.
The sound of hoofbeats followed a small path through the fields, heading all the way towards Xining City.
Song Jinzhao tethered her horse to a tree stump in a grove outside the city wall, waiting for the guard change before swiftly approaching the fortifications.
Using a dagger wedged into the gaps between the bricks for leverage, she scaled the wall, her taut arms like fully drawn bowstrings.
The Wanchun Lou was the largest pleasure house in Xining City. At night, it was ablaze with lights, more bustling than the main street at noon.
In a private room on the second floor, Zhao Sandao, enduring the pain of his wounds, poured wine for Wang Shizhang.
"Young Master Wang, that little wench said she'd deliver the silver to the brokerage first thing tomorrow morning, all two hundred and sixty taels, not a coin short."
Wang Shizhang, feeling smug, picked up his cup and took a hearty swig.
"Such a trivial matter, and my father couldn't even handle it properly. He even hit me. Tomorrow, I'll definitely go to him and claim credit for this."
The ruffian sitting on the stool looked up at him with an expression of utter disbelief.
Whether he'd even make it back alive was another matter.
Spending money to teach someone a lesson without first checking their background—what an utter fool.
He's gotten us into this terrible mess!
Zhao Sandao forced a painful, ingratiating smile. "Who in Xining City doesn't know of Young Master Wang's virtue, talent, wisdom, and courage?"
"It's only thanks to your patronage that we brothers have such a good life now. Let me toast you again."
The other five men also raised their cups to toast Wang Shizhang, hoping to get him thoroughly drunk and unable to leave the Wanchun Lou for the night.
After six consecutive pots of wine, Wang Shizhang's speech began to slur. He braced his hands on the table, his body swaying unsteadily.
Zhao Sandao picked up a wine cup and continued pouring it into his mouth until he was completely insensible.
Once Wang Shizhang slumped groggily over the table, Zhao Sandao waved at the courtesan who had been serving them. "You, get out. We don't need your service here today."
The courtesan laughed coquettishly, wrapping her arms around Wang Shizhang's arm and letting her red gauze shawl slip to reveal a snow-white shoulder.
"Young Master Wang called for me to serve him. How can I leave now?" How would she get her overnight fee otherwise?
Zhao Sandao took out five taels of silver and placed them on the table. "Get lost, now. We don't need you here."
The courtesan's eyes lit up. Her perfumed handkerchief fluttered past Zhao Sandao's face as she giggled. "Master Dao, you must call for me anytime, don't call anyone else."
Under normal circumstances, not a single man present would have let her leave.
But now, their very lives were hanging by a thread. How could they spare a thought for dalliances?
The six men fidgeted nervously. She had said she'd come during the night, but when exactly?
After what felt like an eternity, one of the ruffians stood up anxiously. "What if... what if she's backing out because she's afraid of Wang Shizhang's status as the son of a Provincial Graduate?"
"Bah! That girl is ruthless. There's no way she won't come."
Their antidote was still in her hands. If she didn't come, what would they do?
"Then why isn't she here yet?"
The burning sensation at their wound sites was a constant reminder that their lives were in someone else's hands, that the poison could flare up at any moment.
"Missing me that much?"
Song Jinzhao leaped in through the window, her gaze sweeping over the six men before finally settling on the man slumped over the table.
Zhao Sandao stood up excitedly. "You've finally come! We've kept him here. Give us the antidote."
"Wait."
Song Jinzhao gripped Wang Shizhang by the throat and inserted a needle into his philtrum acupoint.
Wang Shizhang slowly opened his eyes, stared at Song Jinzhao, and grinned. "Where did this little beauty come from? Did the Wanchun Lou get new stock?"
Zhao Sandao gulped and couldn't bear to watch.
Courting death while already at death's door, daring to flirt with the female King of Hell—he'd never seen anyone so eager to die.
Song Jinzhao gave a cold laugh. In the next instant, her dagger sliced across his arm. "Feeling clearer now?"
Wang Shizhang's eyes widened in pain, about to cry out, but Song Jinzhao's hand tightened around his throat.
The sound caught halfway, swallowed back down with a painful constriction.
"Still feel like screaming?"
Wang Shizhang shook his head in terror. Why was she here? Wasn't she supposed to be taught a lesson by Zhao Sandao and forced to pay up at the brokerage tomorrow?
Song Jinzhao loosened her grip slightly. "Was it you who had them ambush me on the road to teach me a lesson?"
Wang Shizhang didn't dare nod. As the dagger pressed closer, he begged frantically: "Spare me, miss! I'll never dare again!"
"It's all my father's fault! He was the one who wanted to swindle your silver. It has nothing to do with me!"
Song Jinzhao smiled, then completely released her grip.
"So that's how it is. It seems I misunderstood you. You may go."
Wang Shizhang's legs gave way, and he collapsed to the floor.
Ignoring the pain, he scrambled desperately towards the door on his hands and knees.
The next second, a blade edge swept across his windpipe.
His neck felt a sudden chill, followed by an eruption of agonizing pain as intense as molten lava.
Wang Shizhang clutched his neck, his hands meeting only a sticky, warm wetness.
Zhao Sandao clenched his fists, not daring to breathe loudly.
Giving hope only to deliver despair—human life was just a plaything in her hands.
Seeing Wang Shizhang breathe his last, he cautiously spoke up: "Miss, can you give us the antidote now?"
Song Jinzhao curled her lips into a smile and took out a small bottle from her robe, uncorking it.
"Of course. One pill each. Take it, and the poison will be neutralized."
The six men hurriedly reached out their hands.
Blades swept across their throats. Blood gushed forth. Zhao Sandao and the others stared at Song Jinzhao in disbelief.
"You were never poisoned. And now, you don't need an antidote either."
Looking at the seven bodies on the floor, she forcefully drove her dagger into the wound left by the short crossbow bolt, churning the surrounding flesh into a bloody pulp.
The next morning, the courtesan pulled open the door from outside. Seeing the seven men on the floor, their throats a bloody mess and the ground covered in blood, she shut her eyes and screamed.
"Ah—! Dead people!"
The entire Wanchun Lou was jolted awake.
Early in the morning, Zhang Yuanzong was still deep in sleep.
Constable Zhao rushed like a whirlwind to his room door and began pounding on it. "Sir! It's terrible! There are dead people at the Wanchun Lou!"
Zhang Yuanzong felt as if he had fallen off a cliff, jolting awake with a start.
"Sir, wake up! There's been a murder!"
He didn't even put on his clothes, charging to the door and yanking it open.
"Where? Who's dead?"
Constable Zhao instinctively pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "At the Wanchun Lou. Seven lives. The bodies were already cold when they were found."
"One of them is Provincial Graduate Wang's son, Wang Shizhang."
