Chapter 14

"So, Consort Shen, what did you want to tell me?" He asked smiling pleasantly.

Shen Nuo gasped in amazement. "How did you know I had been wanting to meet you?"

Zhanhua didn't say anything. He looked at his slender fingers that played with the tea cup gently. But his smile broadened.

They were at Huayue Restaurant at Lincheng. Their private room was situated in the uppermost fifth storey. They both sat for the morning meals forth a desk by the window.

Zhanhua placed away the tea cup and pulled out an old scroll that was not dusty anymore. He placed it upon the desk and pushed it toward Shen Nuo slowly. "This is what you couldn't end reading yesterday. This subject brought it for you."

Shen Nuo picked up the familiar scroll and finally had the time to identify that it was the particular scroll he was flipping through yesterday. Then his mouth felled open in disbelief.

"You -!"

Zhanhua blushed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to watch. I accidentally happened to see it."

Shen Nuo could imagine Zhanhua behind a rack, staring stunned over the romance drama by a black wood book shelf...

He shook his head disgustedly. "Forget it! Anyway, it wasn't intentional. So it's ok!"

Zhanhua nodded with an awkward smile. But his eyes subconsciously turned to look at Shen Nuo's left ear. That ear lobe was very pink and a bit swollen. But the most eye catching thing was there was a sharp and a deep teeth mark that had been slightly scabbed over.

Zhanhua pursed his lips. After a long while, he spoke in a low voice again. "You don't seem to like His Majesty very much."

Shen Nuo just stared at him.

Zhanhua was alarmed by that look. His eyes widened. He immediately lowered his head. "This subject was wrong! Please forgive him!"

Shen Nuo broke into a laugh. "How stupid! I was just going to agree and here you are already done with saying sorry."

Zhanhua: "..."

"And who cares about that bastard dog? Tell me, if a dog bite your leg, would you go and bite it's dog leg, no right?"

"!!!" Zhanhua was speechless.

Shen Nuo sighed. "Forget that too. What were you doing inside the library yesterday? It was past midnight. You -"

Zhanhua smiled softly. "Consort Shen, it's too silent and calm during the night hours. I also happened to come in search of this scroll and just happened to see you and, ahem, anyway, I'm done with this scroll. You can have it and return it back to the library once you're done."

Shen Nuo slipped the scroll into his sleeve pocket and took a dumpling to eat.

"Why suddenly interested in Wolf Head Organization?" Zhanhua asked furrowing his brows slightly. "If you're interested, perhaps this subject can give you few important facts that any of these scrolls would not have mentioned."

"Drop the courtesy when we are alone." Shen Nuo said sipping the tea. "I'm sick of being a consort. And please do tell me all that you know."

Zhanhua did not move his eyes from Shen Nuo for a moment, and those eyes were gentle but sharp. "This matters privacy. Once you get to know of these matters, you shouldn't play recklessly, agreed?"

Shen Nuo nodded casually. "Of course I know!" He poured himself tea.

"The leader of the Wolf Head Assassin Organization is actually a woman." Zhanhua said slowly. "But would you believe me if I say that person is Consort Lian?"

Shen Nuo was stunned. He almost spat the tea onto the desk. The leader of Wolf Head Assassin Organization was Consort Lian? This was something that even the author of the novel did not mention. What was going on? "But how do you know?" He asked in incredulous disbelief.

Zhanhua did not reply this. But he answered in a different way. "Trust me! I won't lie in this matter. Since I started having my doubts, I had been personally investigating it."

"Of course I believe you." Shen Nuo said feeling a headache. "It's that it's too shocking to believe."

"At first, I didn't believe it either." Zhanhua said with a sigh. "Until the moment I clarified the matter over with my own eyes. Consort Shen, this assassin organization does not have a fixed place where they meet. They are often mingled amid the crowd, so no one can catch or detect them." He slowly sipped his tea before he spoke again. "But I know several places where they meet."

Shen Nuo was amazed. "How do you know?"

"I set some spies among them..." Zhanhua replied briefly.

"Lian is just twenty. How can she own Wolf Head Assassin Organization which has a history of hundreds of years?"

Zhanhua looked at Shen Nuo. "Where did she come from?"

"A brothel." Shen Nuo said. Then he suddenly understood. Who knew who she was? The ones who knew about her only knew that she was picked up from a brothel. No one said what she had been doing before that...

"Then the original owner of the Wolf Head Assassin Organization is actually Lian's father!" Shen Nuo gasped.

"Her third uncle." Zhanhua corrected. "She was the only successor of the Shi Family and is highly skilled in martial arts. She intentionally entered a brothel and waited at a window watching three years ago when His Majesty was on his way from the battle fields of Nianya."

Shen Nuo did not want to want Zhanhua to continue. He had read the book. He knew that the Emperor who saw the goddess like maiden flirting at him with her flowery looks from a brothel window was immediately taken by the Emperor as a Noble Lady in the harem. She won the Emperor's heart day by day and rose through ranks until she became a Noble Consort...

"Then why did she enter the palace?" Shen Nuo said Ina lame whisper. "There must be reason. Is she plotting to kill the dog- ahem, the Emperor?"

Zhanhua shook his head in distress. "Don't know. I only wanted His Majesty to be safe. Or I wouldn't even have investigated this matter further. But I don't think she's after the Emperor. Maybe she wants to give birth to the future Emperor... "

Shen Nuo furrowed his brows even tighter. "Lian is in the Palace. It's impossible for her to enter and exit the Palace often. It's even impossible for her to get mingled with these people from outside without the Emperor knowing."

Zhanhua's eyes darkened. "She rarely exits the Palace. But it doesn't mean she cannot handle the matter of her organization from afar. She has an extremely trusted assassin working under her. He is the one who runs errands between his mistress and the followers. He is extremely skilled. His name is - "

"Chen Gu, right?" Shen Nuo guessed vaugely. His face was suddenly pale.

Zhanhua was stunned. "How do you know?"

Shen Nuo sighed. "It's a long story. So don't ask me but trust me! Just this one last time, please help me, ok?"

"Ok!" Zhanhua said quickly. "No matter what, if there's any problem concerning your worry, this subject is all ears."

Shen Nuo trusted Zhanhua even if he didn't say a word. Because he had read the novel. Zhanhua was one of the kindest people in the story. He would definitely protect him in this life.

He smiled to Zhanhua weakly. "It's like this, Ah'zhan, the Crown Prince is going to be assassinated."

The tea cup slipped through Zhanhua's fingers, felled onto the floor and shattered into pieces. The hot and steaming tea spilled all over his hand and lap, almost burning his skin. But his eyes were suddenly unfocussed. Blood left his face.

"I indeed got news from the spies that they are going to make a move. But they didn't mention whom. So, they are trying to assassinate the Crown Prince!" He said lamely.

No one spoke for a while and silence followed.

Shen Nuo looked at Zhanhua deeply. "Are you willing to help me?"

Zhanhua didn't recover from the shock immediately. The first reason was he loved little Minghe very much. He was Minghe's tutor in the subject of mathematics and politics. How could he not feel flabbergasted? He gulped and subconsciously his hands clenched into fists too.

Shen Nuo realized that Zhanhua was not in a very good mood. "But don't worry. They are planning the assassination definitely after the Spring Hunt. At least during the Palace Banquet organized by the Empress."

Zhanhua looked at Shen Nuo weakly. The shock was still too much. "But how do you know?"

Shen Nuo shook his head slowly. "It's just my guess. It might go wrong. I happened to overhear some clues regarding this matter and came to this conclusion. Zhanhua, Minghe mustn't die!"

Zhanhua nodded his head gulping. "I understand. I'll protect him at all costs."

Shen Nuo sighed deeply. "Then, Zhanhua, you can come to Mingyue Palace anytime. The Emperor never visits that ghost haunted manor. So if you find anything suspicious, come find me immediately, ok?" He stood up slowly. "I'll leave now."

Zhanhua also stood up. He bit his lip nervously as if he wanted to say something but he held back himself forcefully. Unable to take it any longer, he finally called to Shen Nuo who had almost reached the door.

"Wait!"

Shen Nuo looked back and was suddenly taken aback to find Zhanhua right behind him. He gasped. "You-"

"Relax!" Zhanhua said in a soft voice, fishing out a little wooden box from his sleeve pocket. He opened it slowly. There was a pale blue translucent wax like content inside it.

Shen Nuo raised his brows. "What, no! You-"

Zhanhua laughed in a soft voice, dipping his slender fingertips into the paste. "It's a medicine. You're a consort. It's very bad to have a scar." He drew closer, lowered his face to Shen Nuo's ear and gently applied the medicine upon the scabbed wounds upon his ear.

The refreshing smell of Camphor assailed Shen Nuo's nose immediately.

He shuddered slightly as the cold medicinal paste was gently applied. He felt himself getting tensed up.

@#$k! What was wrong?

"And I don't want you to get hurt too, Consort Shen." Zhanhua whispered in a low voice, almost in his ear. Shen Nuo's eyes widened. His eyes suddenly got locked with a handsome pair of deep dark brown eyes. So close... beautiful eyes...

His heart beat sped. He nodded quickly like a chameleon. "You also!"

A freezing pair of eyes watched them both intimate from above. That person's eyes darkened. He immediately replaced the loose roof tile from where he had been peeping and skillfully hurried across the roof with extremely light footsteps.