Pan Yucheng looked at Li Hongzhuo’s earnest face and could not help laughing.

“Ning Chen said something once that I think is exactly right.”

Li Hongzhuo looked at him, not understanding. “Said what?”

Pan Yucheng said, “Ning Chen said that when a man is in extreme panic or extreme rage, his brain isn’t much smarter than a pig’s.”

“Care to guess why I’m here? And who sent me?”

Li Hongzhuo said at once, “I know Ning Chen sent you. But Pan the Gold Coat is a clever man, and ought to understand that a good bird chooses its tree.”

“Ning Chen is carrying on with the Wu woman emperor. Once that is exposed, he’ll be dead with nowhere left to bury him. Following him won’t win you a thing — it’ll drag you down with him.”

Pan Yucheng’s eyes filled with mockery.

“Lord Li Hongzhuo, I know about Ning Chen and the woman emperor. I knew it before you did.”

Li Hongzhuo’s face changed sharply.

Pan Yucheng said evenly, “And I know something more. The woman emperor is carrying Ning Chen’s child.”

Li Hongzhuo’s eyes flew wide, his face full of shock.

“Lord Li Hongzhuo came to Wu to find hard proof that Ning Chen and the woman emperor are carrying on, didn’t he? The child in the woman emperor’s belly is the best proof there is.”

“A pity you won’t be going back to Great Xuan. Knowing it does you no good.”

With that, Pan Yucheng stepped in close to Li Hongzhuo.

Li Hongzhuo’s body shuddered. He looked down. A sharp dagger had gone into his belly.

Li Hongzhuo’s eyes were full of terror. He clutched at Pan Yucheng’s clothes. “You — you… why?”

Pan Yucheng said coldly, “High office and rich pay are tempting enough, but some things matter more… You meant to harm Ning Chen. So I kill you.”

This was close by the Prince Regent’s residence, where ordinary people did not dare come near even in daylight… and now the sky was dark and there was no one about at all.

Looking at Li Hongzhuo, who had stopped breathing, Pan Yucheng laughed coldly. “You aren’t fit to contend with Ning Chen.”

Elsewhere, Ning Chen and the others drank until deep in the night before returning to the Hall of Martial Honor.

Pan Yucheng heard them and came out of his room.

“Chief, why didn’t you come find us?”

Feng Qizheng had drunk a little too much, and his tongue was thick.

Pan Yucheng said, “I couldn’t find you, so I came back.”

“You’ve all had plenty. Get some rest.”

He stepped up, took hold of the drunken Ning Chen, and helped him back to his room.

The moment they were through the door, Ning Chen’s eyes cleared.

“Well?”

Pan Yucheng nodded slightly. “All settled.”

“How did you know he’d go to Song Tiancheng tonight?”

Ning Chen smiled easily. “He came to Wu to find proof in the first place… Today I met the woman emperor, and after I came out of the palace I gave him a slap. Naturally he’s full of resentment toward me, and he’d want that proof as soon as possible.”

“Old Pan, get some rest. Tomorrow it’s the Prince Regent’s turn.”

Pan Yucheng made a sound of assent and went out.

Ning Chen sat down at the table, poured himself a cup of water, and began going back over the plan again and again, looking for the gaps.

The next day, Ning Chen was still fast asleep when there was a knock at his door.

“Ning Chen, come out — something big has happened!”

It was Feng Qizheng’s voice.

Ning Chen sat up, yawning, rubbing his eyes, and went to open the door.

“It’s first thing in the morning. Are you calling back the dead?”

“Hm? Lord Fu and Lord Li Ruishi are here too?”

Fu Lu and Li Ruishi both looked grave.

Pan Yucheng said heavily, “Ning Chen, Lord Li Hongzhuo is dead.”

Ning Chen went blank for a moment, then smiled. “Don’t joke. Lord Li Hongzhuo was alive and kicking yesterday. How could he be dead?”

Fu Lu stepped forward and said gravely, “Marquis Ning, something has indeed happened to Lord Li Hongzhuo… He was found this morning, dead in an alley near the Prince Regent’s residence.”

Ning Chen’s face went from shock to fury.

“Is what you say true?”

Fu Lu nodded. “Calm your anger, my lord marquis.”

Ning Chen’s face was dark. “How did he die?”

Fu Lu sighed. “A single blade. Killed outright.”

Ning Chen’s face went frighteningly dark.

“Who did it?”

Fu Lu shook his head.

Ning Chen roared, “An envoy of my Great Xuan dies outside your Wu Prince Regent’s residence, and you tell me you don’t know who the murderer is?”

“Do you take Great Xuan for a kingdom with no men in it? Let me tell you this… unless I am given an answer that satisfies me, Great Xuan’s million armored horsemen will trample your Wu flat.”

The faces of Fu Lu and the others changed sharply.

“Marquis Ning, let your anger cool… We will certainly give you an answer that satisfies you.”

Ning Chen’s eyes reddened, and he burst into loud weeping. “Old Li, what a cruel death you died… You and I were friends across the generations. Only yesterday we were talking and laughing together, and today we are parted, the living from the dead.”

“You even said that once we were back in Great Xuan you’d marry your granddaughter to me… How could you die like this?”

“Rest easy. I will have vengeance for you… Even if it comes to blades between us, I will get justice for you.”

Shen Min, Feng Qizheng and the rest were dumbfounded.

Since when had Ning Chen been on such good terms with Li Hongzhuo?

Pan Yucheng came forward to comfort him. “Ning Chen, don’t grieve too much. I’m sure Wu will give us an answer.”

“I heard Lord Fu say just now that after Lord Li Hongzhuo was stabbed he crawled a long way… and in the end his strength gave out and he had lost too much blood, and he died in that empty little alley.”

Ning Chen wiped away tears that were not there and asked, “Crawled? Crawled from where?”

Pan Yucheng said, “According to Lord Fu, the blood trail runs from the Prince Regent’s residence all the way to that alley… And before he died, Lord Li Hongzhuo wrote three characters in his own blood.”

“What characters?”

“Song Tianyi.”

Ning Chen frowned. “Who is Song Tianyi?”

Pan Yucheng shook his head.

Something flickered in Ning Chen’s eyes, and he said suddenly, “I understand now. The murderer is the Prince Regent.”

Pan Yucheng’s face was full of doubt. “But the Prince Regent is called Song Tiancheng.”

“The yi of that Song Tianyi is the first stroke of cheng (TL Note: he wrote 宋天一. The last character, 一 yi, meaning “one,” is a single horizontal line — and it is also the first stroke of 成 cheng. He was writing the name Song Tiancheng and died before he could finish it.)… Lord Li Hongzhuo’s strength must have failed him, and he never got the rest of the character down.”

“I see it now. Yesterday at court the Prince Regent lost to us at letters and at arms both, and he nursed the grudge and killed Lord Li Hongzhuo to vent it… Old Li, this is my doing. I brought you here to die a stranger’s death far from home!”

Ning Chen finished, then looked sharply at Fu Lu, his eyes like knives. “Where is Song Tiancheng?”

Fu Lu hesitated. “That, that…”

“You won’t say?” Ning Chen said furiously, “Feng Qizheng, Chen Chong… you two ride day and night back to the frontier and carry my military order… Have the two hundred thousand men at the frontier march to the Wu border at once.”

“Yes!”

Feng Qizheng and Chen Chong took the order.

The faces of Fu Lu and the others changed sharply. This meant war.

“Calm your anger, my lord marquis. You must not, you must not!”

Ning Chen said coldly, “If you don’t want it to come to blades between our two kingdoms, tell me where Song Tiancheng is.”

Fu Lu hesitated a long while before saying, with difficulty, “Her Majesty and the Prince Regent both know of this already. They are in the palace now, discussing with the officials of the court how the murderer is to be caught.”

Ning Chen roared, “The murderer is Song Tiancheng himself. The thief cries stop thief… It seems to me you aren’t discussing how to catch the murderer, but how to shelter him.”

“I want an audience with Her Majesty the woman emperor!”

Fu Lu hurried to soothe him. “Calm your anger, my lord marquis. We will certainly give you an answer that satisfies you.”

“Good. Go into the palace now and tell the woman emperor. Within one day I want to see the murderer, or don’t blame me for what follows… Go now. This marquis will wait for you here!”

Fu Lu’s face was full of helplessness. He turned to Li Ruishi. “Lord Li Ruishi, make a trip into the palace… I’ll stay with the marquis!”

Li Ruishi nodded. He had no wish to stay with an enraged Ning Chen either.

Once Li Ruishi had gone, Fu Lu looked at Ning Chen and gave him a glance weighted with meaning.

Ning Chen understood him.

A small frame-up alone would not bring Song Tiancheng down… and besides, what they wanted was not to bring him down but to kill him, and be rid of the trouble for good.

The real performance was only beginning. What came next was the main event!

(End of Chapter 358)