And so, Wei Tingyu had never entertained the thought of taking Galing into his manor.
Upon receiving Wei Tingyu's command, Ren Ruyi cast a grateful glance at him, then raised her sharp sword and began to walk, step by step, towards the fallen Galing.
Gazing at the gleaming blade, still dripping with blood, a look of profound terror flashed in Galing's eyes.
But neither Wei Tingyu nor Ren Ruyi showed a shred of sympathy for the beautiful woman's plight.
After all, she had set this trap to kill Ren Ruyi, and when Wei Tingyu appeared, she had even sought to kill him!
If not for Wei Tingyu's superior cunning and overwhelming strength, would a woman like Galing have spared him and Ren Ruyi? The answer was a resounding "no," a truth plain enough to grasp with a mere flick of a thumb.
And Wei Tingyu's mercy had never been for such irreconcilable enemies.
"Galing!" Ren Ruyi pressed the tip of her sword against Galing's throat, looking down at her with a cold expression. "Today is your comeuppance for being an accomplice in the death of Empress Zhaojie!"
"But rest assured, Deng Hui won't live much longer! I will soon send him to join you!"
"Heh...heh...cough...cough..." Galing coughed up fresh blood, yet a strange smile bloomed upon her lips.
Seeing that there was no path to survival, she found a sense of release.
She stared at Ren Ruyi, breathing heavily, and spoke: "Do you truly believe...cough...that the real culprit...cough...in Empress Zhaojie's death...cough...was Deng Hui...?"
"Who was it?" At the mention of Empress Zhaojie, Ren Ruyi's expression instantly changed. She lowered her sword, crouched down, and asked Galing.
Wei Tingyu stepped forward and pressed two of Galing's pressure points with his finger, temporarily stopping the blood from gushing from her mouth, giving her enough breath to continue her conversation with Ren Ruyi.
"Ren Xin, oh Ren Xin!" Galing felt a sense of relief after Wei Tingyu's intervention. She looked at him with a hint of surprise, then turned back to Ren Ruyi. "Why did you go to save the Empress, and yet she refused to leave with you?"
"Who in this world could make the Empress willingly choose to die?"
Upon hearing Galing's words, Ren Ruyi's eyes widened in disbelief. It was as if her long-held beliefs had been shattered in that instant, her gaze filled with an expression of utter inconceivability.
"Speak clearly!" Though the possibility had dawned on her, her instincts refused to believe it. She stared at Galing and demanded, "Who was it?!"
"Hmph... Do you... still not... understand?" Galing sneered, a look of disdain on her face. Then, her voice grew fainter and fainter, the light in her eyes rapidly faded, and her body went limp, collapsing completely onto the ground, devoid of all strength.
Ren Ruyi's earlier sword thrust had already fatally wounded Galing. These last few words were merely a final, fleeting surge of life. Now, all the energy within her had been consumed.
"Speak clearly!" When Ren Ruyi saw that Galing had lost her life, she went mad, desperately shaking her body.
But it was all in vain. She could feel the warmth rapidly leaving Galing's body, which soon became a cold corpse.
"The medicine! Where's my medicine!" Heavily impacted by the turn of events, Ren Ruyi frantically fumbled at her waist, but finding no miraculous elixir that could bring the dead back to life, she turned to Wei Tingyu.
"Marquis! Save her! I must know the answer!" Ren Ruyi pleaded with a look of extreme anxiety.
In that moment, she believed that there was nothing in this world that Wei Tingyu could not do, and so she could only turn to him for help.
"She is already dead!" Wei Tingyu's voice was filled with a helpless resignation. He reached out and embraced Ren Ruyi. "And you have already received the answer! She said enough!"
"I don't know! I don't know anything!" Ren Ruyi cried out, as if losing her mind. Amidst the torrential downpour, Wei Tingyu couldn't tell if the liquid on her face was rain or tears!
"She's always been a liar! She's lying to me!" This was the first time Ren Ruyi had ever displayed such a distraught demeanor. Not even on the day of Empress Zhaojie's death had she been so utterly lost.
"Ruyi!" Wei Tingyu watched as Ren Ruyi stood up, stumbled a few steps in the heavy rain, then her body went slack and she fainted.
Thankfully, he was quick, and he caught her from behind, scooping her up into his arms, preventing her from crashing hard onto the rocky ground.
…
The next morning, Ren Ruyi woke up in a warm embrace.
She opened her eyes to find that she had been changed into a fresh silk garment and was lying in Wei Tingyu's arms.
He was looking at her, his head tilted, a gentle smile on his face.
"Marquis!" Ren Ruyi frowned, then tried to get up, but found she had no strength in her body.
"You're finally awake!" Wei Tingyu smiled upon hearing her call his name.
This girl had not been asleep last night, but had fainted, and couldn't be woken up until she came to on her own.
Fortunately, Ren Ruyi had always been a martial artist with a strong constitution. Even after such a severe shock and being drenched in a downpour, she had recovered on her own after a night of unconsciousness.
Now, she was just a little weak!
"Did the Marquis stay with me all night?" Ren Ruyi's heart was deeply touched. She looked at Wei Tingyu and asked, "How could you be so foolish? So many people at home are waiting for your safe return!"
"If you were to fall ill from caring for me... How could I possibly face your wives?"
"I couldn't just leave you in the pouring rain, could I?" Wei Tingyu said, leaning down to gently kiss her on the forehead.
"I have been tortured in the Ice Spring. What is a little rain to me?" Ren Ruyi smiled faintly, feeling the touch of his lips on her forehead.
"It is precisely because I know you have been in the Ice Spring that I couldn't bear to let you suffer that hardship again!" Wei Tingyu pulled the beauty closer in his arms. "From now on, I will never let you be hurt again!"
Upon hearing these words, a single, clear tear finally rolled down Ren Ruyi's face.
…
After lunch, Wei Tingyu, who had just returned from a stroll through the An Kingdom Imperial Palace with Princess Yang Ying, was uncharacteristically feeding Ren Ruyi mouthfuls of ginseng soup.
The girl was filled with happiness. She had served Wei Tingyu his meals countless times, but now, being fed a bowl of ginseng soup by him while she was ill, moved her to the core.
"Galing..." With the bowl of ginseng soup in her stomach, Ren Ruyi finally brought up the unfinished business from the night before.
"Don't worry, I've handled everything!" Wei Tingyu smiled and said.
Naturally, dealing with the bodies of the Scarlet-clad Guards and Galing from last night was child's play for him.
"What about the Scarlet-clad Guards?" Ren Ruyi nodded, then asked another question.
This was no small matter. The Right Envoy of the Scarlet-clad Guards had simply disappeared!
And it was highly likely that Deng Hui knew about the ambush on Ren Ruyi. Now that Galing and many of the top assassins of the Scarlet-clad Guards had vanished, he would certainly know that Wei Tingyu and she were responsible.
The more Ren Ruyi thought about it, the more worried she became!
"Just now, I went with A'Ying to the palace to see the An Emperor!" Wei Tingyu comforted her, saying, "The An Emperor's attitude was extremely calm. It's very likely that Deng Hui never reported yesterday's events!"
"If you were in his shoes, what would you do?" Ren Ruyi pondered for a moment, then asked.
"If I were Deng Hui, I would say that Galing colluded with the Northern Barbarians to assassinate Li Tongguang, and that the Left Envoy Chen Gui also died at her hands!" Wei Tingyu thought for a moment, then began to laugh. "And that, thanks to my skilled command, Galing was secretly eliminated!"
"This way, he can answer to the An Emperor and also use the opportunity to purge dissenters within the Scarlet-clad Guards! Killing two birds with one stone!"
Ren Ruyi considered this and nodded. She felt that Wei Tingyu's words made perfect sense, and that Deng Hui would most likely do exactly that!
In this way, their actions from last night would be concealed by Deng Hui himself, and they wouldn't have to worry about him openly seeking trouble.
Of course, if that fellow tried any underhanded tricks behind their backs, they would still have to be wary!
"Marquis!" With the immediate security threat resolved, Ren Ruyi finally asked, "How much do you believe what Galing said last night?"
"I haven't told you yet," Wei Tingyu said, looking at Ren Ruyi. "The Sixth Gate's branch in An capital just received a palace secret!"
"A few years ago, before your incident, when the An Emperor was fighting the Kingdom of Wu, he sought cooperation from and bought horses from the Northern Barbarians!"
"Empress Zhaojie found out and immediately tried to stop him, angrily denouncing it as treason!"
"The An Emperor's feeble excuses failed, and he lost all face! He threatened to depose her if she ever brought the matter up again!"
"The Marquis means..." Ren Ruyi was taken aback, then said, "The An Emperor actually colluded with the Northern Barbarians, and the Empress defied him out of a sense of justice?"
When Ren Ruyi said this, she already had a seven or eight-tenths certainty of the answer in her heart. Although this was merely a "palace secret" and not necessarily true, such rumors were often not without some basis.
It was important to note that as a citizen of the An Kingdom, Ren Ruyi had always referred to the An Emperor as "His Majesty." Even after Empress Zhaojie's death, she had believed that the An Emperor had been misled by slanderous whispers, and had only sought to clear Empress Zhaojie's name in front of him.
Now, she simply referred to him as "the An Emperor"!
"But this is just a rumor! What if someone is just spreading lies?" Wei Tingyu, of course, heard the dissatisfaction in Ren Ruyi's tone toward the An Emperor, but not wanting to overly provoke the girl who had just recovered from her illness, he spoke again.
"But his certainty that you killed the Empress is too strange!"
"It's as if he's desperately trying to cover something up, intentionally making you a scapegoat!"
"I will find out the truth!" Ren Ruyi nodded resolutely at Wei Tingyu's words. "No matter who harmed the Empress, I will not let them get away with it!"
Seeing the determined look on Ren Ruyi's face, Wei Tingyu nodded inwardly.
He knew that the one thing the woman by his side could not let go of was the death of Empress Zhaojie. Only by resolving this issue would her heart be fully open.
…
"Sister Ruyi has been nowhere to be seen these past two days. What is she busy with?" Two days later, in the evening, Wei Tingyu and Princess Yang Ying were enjoying the cool air in the courtyard. The young girl directly asked about Ren Ruyi.
After dinner, all the maids and servants were forced to leave the courtyard where Wei Tingyu and his group were staying. Only their own people remained, with two female Golden Shadow Guards on watch, so there was no fear of being seen.
"She has some matters to handle. We should just not disturb her," Wei Tingyu smiled, hugging the princess who was nestled in his arms.
With Galing dead, there was no one in the An capital with a martial arts skill level close to Ren Ruyi's, so Wei Tingyu felt at ease letting her act alone.
"Marquis, are you not going with Sister Ruyi?" Princess Yang Ying was a little worried for her sister, as she had just recovered from a serious illness.
"She is dealing with a royal secret concerning her benefactor, Empress Zhaojie!" Wei Tingyu shook his head. "Unless she asks me, it would not be appropriate for me to get involved!"
"All we can do now is wait for her to return safely!"
"Oh!" Princess Yang Ying always listened to Wei Tingyu. Hearing him say this, she nodded and also committed his words to her heart.
"Marquis!" But a moment later, Yang Ying spoke again. "There is something I can't do on my own, so can I ask for your help?"
"Go ahead!" Wei Tingyu laughed. This girl was being so formal just to ask for his help? He thought she was absolutely adorable!
"Two days ago, I went into the palace to see the An Emperor, and the Marquis was there with me, wasn't he?" Princess Yang Ying blinked, then pouted. "At the time, I felt that the An Emperor was just giving us the runaround. He clearly wants to keep the one hundred thousand taels of gold but doesn't want to release my imperial brother!"
"Hmm! That is indeed the case!" Wei Tingyu nodded, because Yang Ying was absolutely right.
At the time, he had been in the main hall and clearly saw the old An Emperor beating around the bush, never once mentioning paying the ransom and releasing the man, but always deliberately and unintentionally asking where the one hundred thousand taels of gold was hidden!
His calculations were so obvious they were practically slapping Wei Tingyu in the face. Even a naive and innocent Princess Yang Ying could sense that something was not right.
"So, we absolutely cannot give them the one hundred thousand taels of gold! But I have a duty to fulfill, and my imperial brother must be saved!" Princess Yang Ying thought for a moment, then said, "There is only one way!"
"You want this Marquis to attack the tower and forcibly rescue your imperial brother?" Wei Tingyu blinked, then said directly.
"Yes!" Yang Ying nodded hastily. "The Marquis's martial arts are unparalleled in the world! With the assistance of Sister Ruyi and the two Golden Shadow Guards, breaking into the tower where my imperial brother is imprisoned... should be possible!"
"Afterward, we won't linger. One person, one fast horse, and we'll head straight for the border of the Kingdom of Wu. As long as we return to our territory, we will have succeeded!"
Wei Tingyu listened to Princess Yang Ying's plan, and his heart was filled with gratification.
From the current situation, this method was indeed very feasible, and it seemed to be the only viable one!
And Yang Ying had clearly learned from their experience of coming to the An capital lightly armed and on fast horses, as she had incorporated a similar method for their withdrawal.
All in all, this girl had truly matured a great deal!
"But doing this still carries a great deal of risk!" However, after Yang Ying finished speaking, she frowned and muttered to herself, "After all, this is the An capital, and we would have to bring along my imperial brother, who knows nothing of martial arts..."
This operation was certainly not without risk. But Wei Tingyu was confident that he would not be captured. No matter what, he could escape with the Golden Shadow Guards.
As for Ren Ruyi, she would definitely lead Princess Yang Ying out of the city in advance to wait!
After all, asking an An citizen like Ren Ruyi to help him raid an An prison would be a bit too much!
It wasn't that Wei Tingyu didn't trust her, but Princess Yang Ying also needed protection, and Ren Ruyi was naturally the most suitable person for that role.
The only difficulty lay in how to get Emperor Wu, who knew no martial arts, out. What if the An soldiers unleashed a volley of arrows, and he was struck and killed on the spot?
Whether Emperor Wu lived or died was not important to Wei Tingyu. He just didn't want Princess Yang Ying to be sad!
"For the matter of the Tower of Eternal Peace, please, Marquis, prioritize your safety, and that of the Golden Shadow Guards and Sister Ruyi!" But after a few seconds of thought, Princess Yang Ying looked up at Wei Tingyu and said, "As for everything else, please act as you see fit!"
"If the imperial brother can be saved, then save him! If he cannot be saved..."
"Just force him to write a decree granting me to the Marquis before you return!"
Upon hearing this, Wei Tingyu's eyes widened! It was said that a girl's loyalty leans toward her husband, but this little girl's loyalty had leaned so completely in that direction!
For the sake of her husband, she was even willing to abandon her imperial brother? But this did not seem like something this girl would do!