Chapter Four: The Blood-Weeping Winter Plum Chapter Thirty-Seven: Total Defeat

The needle was already at his brow! In this moment of utmost peril, Jiang Shenyang had no time to react. With a swift wave of his hand, he silently knocked the silver needle to the ground.

“What do you all think—being able to deflect my sudden strike with such ease! What sort of skill does this man possess?” Yu Bing lifted the curtain and turned to the people behind her.

“Unfathomable,” Zhang Huai replied. The others followed her onto the platform, taking their places beside Lord Xu.

“The general’s steed gallops through fields of new grass and singing orioles, a hundred thousand warriors shrouded in darkness beneath the moon. Through wind and dew they cross the passes, swords raised to resist the enemy—when shall they return?” Yu Bing recited this poem of departure, fixing Jiang the Fool with a cold gaze. “Jiang Shenyang, Lord Jiang! Surely you know this poem by heart?”

“You… what… what are you talking about?” Face-to-face with drawn blades and surrounded on all sides, Jiang Shenyang’s expression remained unchanged, yet his trembling voice betrayed his act. “I… ha, I don’t… don’t understand a word you’re saying…”

“Is that so?” Seeing his stubborn defiance, Yu Bing realized it wasn't time yet to break him—so she unleashed her trump card:

“What about her? Can you say you don’t know her either?” As she spoke, Kaixin pushed Yan’er forward to Yu Bing’s side. Unlike Kaixin, who looked ready to tear Jiang Shenyang apart, Yan’er’s eyes were full of curiosity as she stared at him.

Yu Bing understood that Yan’er truly did not recognize Jiang Shenyang. This spoke to his strong sense of self-preservation—even his own apprentice, raised since childhood, knew nothing.

But not without flaw. At the very least, when Yan’er appeared, Yu Bing caught a fleeting flash of anger in Jiang Shenyang’s eyes—an anger that quickly hardened into lethal intent.

Yu Bing knew: from this moment on, Yan’er had become his target—his next mark. Even though she was his direct disciple, even though she once regarded him as a father.

“Weiyue Yan!” Perhaps realizing that feigning ignorance was futile, Jiang Shenyang suddenly looked up. His gaze sharp, he fixed upon Yan’er standing beside Yu Bing, and in a voice Yan’er knew well—cold and commanding—he ordered: “Kill her. Don’t forget your mission.”

At her master’s command, Yan’er instinctively pressed her sword to Yu Bing’s neck.

“You!” With a flick, Zhang Huai opened his folding fan and leveled it at Yan’er’s throat, a deadly edge in his voice. “Try moving against her. See whose weapon is faster—your sword or my fan!”

“Sister Bing, I told you she couldn’t be trusted! You wouldn’t listen! Now look, our lives are in her hands!” Kaixin, sword at Yan’er’s chest, grumbled anxiously for Yu Bing’s safety. “Let’s see if you’ll trust strangers so lightly next time!”

“Miss Yan… you!?” Lord Xu was thoroughly bewildered by this sudden turn. Just moments ago the three women were chatting and laughing together, and now…

He looked from Yu Bing, threatened at swordpoint, to Yan’er, who now faced Zhang Huai and Kaixin’s weapons. He had no idea whom to help.

“Lord Xu! Why are you still standing there?” Zhang Huai, seeing Xu’s hesitation, barked, “Seize him!”

“Go!” With a wave of Xu’s hand, the men surrounding the stage rushed at Jiang Shenyang with weapons drawn.

Below the stage, Jiang Shenyang shed all pretense. The invisible weapon in his hand flashed with deadly speed, its attacks sharp and unpredictable. As the guards closed in, their weapons were swiftly cut in half—a display that stunned everyone.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Jiang Shenyang looked up at Yan’er with a piercing gaze and coldly urged, “Why are you hesitating? Kill her—now!”

Yan’er’s grip tightened involuntarily, and her sword bit into Yu Bing’s fair neck, leaving a vivid wound. Scarlet blood welled up and quickly stained her collar.

“How dare you!” Zhang Huai, beyond furious, moved to strike Yan’er dead.

“Sister Bing!” Kaixin glared at Yan’er, her own sword thrusting mercilessly toward Yan’er’s chest.

At that critical instant, Yan’er was struck from behind by a sudden palm strike and flung aside, landing by Jiang Shenyang’s feet, blood at the corner of her mouth. Both attackers missed their marks.

“It’s you!?” Zhang Huai, seeing the jade flute in the newcomer’s hand, felt a pang of jealousy, but breathed a sigh of relief to see Yu Bing unharmed.

Kaixin quickly pressed her fingers above Yu Bing’s wound, stemming the flow of blood.

Zhang Huai immediately joined her, taking the clean kerchief from Kaixin and bandaging Yu Bing’s wound. Then he turned to Jiang Shenyang below and declared, “Save your strength! We know everything about you. There’s no escape now—not even with wings!”

“Oh? Is that so?” Jiang Shenyang looked up at them, casting a disdainful glance at Zhang Huai. His tone was scornful: “And who’s to say who’ll come out on top? You’re celebrating too soon.”

The crowd exchanged uneasy glances, wondering where he found such confidence when so clearly trapped.

Suddenly, he placed two fingers in his mouth and blew hard.

At the sound of the whistle, countless shadowy figures dropped from above, encircling the entire marketplace in the blink of an eye.

Cries of alarm rose from the townsfolk.

The black-clad men on the perimeter drew their weapons with vicious intent, clashing fiercely with the constables maintaining order. Chaos broke out, blood was shed, and the scene descended into bedlam.

“Well?” Jiang Shenyang looked triumphantly at Zhang Huai and burst into laughter. “Now it’s your turn!”

“You think you’ve won?” Yu Bing, who had remained silent until now, replied icily. “Don’t you find it odd how few people we have?”

The smile vanished from Jiang Shenyang’s face, his anger flaring. “What do you mean by that?”

“It means the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind,” Zhang Huai finished for her.

“Exactly!” Kaixin could not resist chiming in. “Sister Bing is too clever to face you without backup if she already knows you’re the killer!”

“You—!”

Just then, a black-clad man from the outskirts slipped to Jiang Shenyang’s side and whispered urgently.

“What?! The army?!” Jiang Shenyang exclaimed in shock. “How could there be soldiers here? Are you sure?”

“Yes, sir! I saw it clearly—it’s definitely the army!”

“Yan’er, we’re leaving!” Jiang Shenyang knew all was lost. He cast one last venomous glare at Zhang Huai on the stage. “Just wait! I’ll be back—and next time, you’d better be ready!”

With a wave of his hand, the black-clad men vanished as quickly as they had appeared. Jiang Shenyang turned to Yan’er. “We’re leaving.”

“Yes, Master.” Yan’er obediently followed him.

There was a sharp, wet sound—steel piercing flesh.

A jet of blood sprayed from one of their mouths.

A sword clattered to the ground.

“Sorry, Yan’er!” Jiang Shenyang’s detestable voice rang out. “The master has no use for failures—or traitors!”

“Is that so?” came a strange voice, as Yan’er—entirely unhurt—stood before him.

“You—?” Staring at the familiar face before him, Jiang Shenyang, for all his cunning and calculation, was struck with terror. “Yan’er?”

She casually tossed aside the corpse shielding him, her expression devoid of feeling. “Yan’er is dead—slain by the hand of her own master. My name is Chang Xiao.”

“Yan—you—?” Jiang Shenyang’s heart was filled with disappointment at the familiar name.

“My memory has returned,” Chang Xiao said coolly, pressing the sword still wet with Yu Bing’s blood to Jiang Shenyang’s neck. “Surprised?”

“I should have known,” Jiang Shenyang shook his head, belated understanding dawning. “No one else knew what happened eight years ago.”

“You’re wrong!” Kaixin shouted from the stage. “Sister Bing had already unraveled every mystery before her memory returned!”

“Even your true identity!” added Zhang Huai.

“Oh? I’d like to hear this,” Jiang Shenyang said as he surveyed the marketplace, now surrounded by soldiers. He knew he had lost, but he needed to know where he had failed.

“First, you should never have impersonated a constable, staging a scene of death by fright. You didn’t want anyone entering the haunted courtyard—because you hadn’t found it yet. So, you spread rumors of ghosts. But this was also your undoing.

After the autopsy, we learned that the real Officer Xiao Li died the same night Lord Chang’s family disappeared. So who led the investigation into the haunted courtyard days later?

The answer is obvious.

Second, you never should have feigned madness.

A true fool wouldn’t know to avoid danger. The pine needle I shot should have grazed your temple—but instead, it ended up in your topknot. The truth was immediately clear.

Third, you shouldn’t have tried to be so clever. If you’d used your real name, I might never have suspected you—your performance in Xiaqiu County fooled me completely.

But you couldn’t change. Until you found it, you couldn’t make a move, because to the world, you were two different people. It hid you well, but caused endless trouble.

Eight years searching, you still hadn’t found it, and you began to doubt its existence.

That was one reason you sent Lord Xu to call me here to solve the case.

The other reason was your relentless pursuit of me: you wanted what I carry.

Am I right, Lord Jiang—or rather, I should call you Magistrate Cai? Am I right, Magistrate Cai?”

Having laid everything bare, Yu Bing gazed quietly at Jiang Shenyang, knowing he would tear off his own mask—because once your true face is revealed to the world, a mask is useless.