Chapter 50: Chapter Fifty Finally, No One Is Around to Be a Hindrance

Chapter 50: Finally, No One to Hinder Me

Wei Er was still outside the prefect's residence, frantic about how to get Wei San back, when Wei San himself appeared, as if nothing had happened, cool as a cucumber.

Seeing Wei San unharmed, Wei Er breathed a sigh of relief but couldn't help scolding him, "Why didn't you discuss it with me before acting? You're too impulsive. I'm definitely going to tell the mas—"

He suddenly cut himself off, pointing at the child behind Wei San and asking, utterly speechless, "Why did you bring that kid out?"

Wasn't this just blatantly telling the Yangzhou Prefect that there really had been an assassin in the residence tonight? From now on, it probably wouldn't be so easy for them to sneak in again.

Wei San offered no further explanation, only motioning for Wei Er to head back to the inn first. Wei Er had no choice but to clam up, still completely bewildered.

Back at the inn, Wei San first settled the young boy, then pulled Wei Er along and headed straight for the mass graves outside the city.

"I must be out of my mind. In the middle of the night, you're making me dig up someone else's grave?" Wei Er shoveled dirt furiously, complaining nonstop.

"Dig faster. We've only got an hour till dawn." Wei San didn't even look up, crouching down to examine a handful of soil.

"What are you looking at?" Wei Er dropped the shovel, bending over with his hands on his knees. "What's so interesting about a handful of dirt?"

Wei San brought the soil close to him. "Look, isn't this dirt too loose?"

It had been raining for days, only stopping today. The young boy's sister had been buried in the mass graves three days ago. Logically, the soil should have been compact and damp from the rain, but the dirt in Wei San's hand was loose and half-dry, as if it had been recently disturbed.

With this reminder, Wei Er also noticed something was off. He quickly used the light of a tinderbox to circle the grave mound and indeed found marks where the soil had been turned over with a sharp tool.

"This grave was dug up not long ago. Judging by the dampness of the soil, it must have been after dusk yesterday."

Wei San thought to himself, "Just as I thought." His guess wasn't wrong, but he still didn't know what role the Yangzhou Prefect's Ninth Concubine played in all this.

Seeing was believing. The two wordlessly picked up the pace digging.

Before long, the shovel hit something soft, and a wall of putrid smell assaulted them. Wei San didn't react fast enough and inhaled a mouthful, immediately covering his mouth, dropping the shovel, and running to the side. Only when he was far enough away did he lean against a tree and vomit.

Wei San vomited until he was gasping for air. Wei Er didn't dare ask if he was okay, beating a hasty retreat.

After about a few minutes, Wei Er somehow managed to scrounge up a piece of cloth, wet it, covered his nose and mouth, and returned, not forgetting to give one to Wei San as well.

With the cloth blocking the smell, Wei San felt slightly better. He had vomited until his face was pale, his stomach cramping painfully, worse than any morning sickness he'd ever experienced. Despite being extremely uncomfortable, he didn't forget the task at hand, pointing a trembling finger at the grave mound, "Go check... the body."

As he spoke, he straightened up, ready to return to the grave and continue the interrupted work.

Wei Er truly couldn't stand the stench, which was like a foot-binding cloth soaked in a cesspit for a thousand years, but when he realized Wei San's intention, he immediately stopped him.

"Stay here. I'll check."

Wei San was far too precious now. With so many hidden guards watching in the shadows, if even one of them tattled to the master, he'd be in for a world of hurt.

Wei Er pushed Wei San down, wearing a look of grim determination, then returned to the grave mound, picked up the shovel, and continued digging.

The Ninth Concubine's remains were buried quite deep. Wei Er endured the stench and dug for another ten minutes before finally unearthing the body wrapped in a straw mat.

"Did you get it?"

Wei San intended to step forward, wanting to examine the body himself to confirm his suspicions.

Wei Er couldn't stop him, so he could only say, "Stand farther away to look. Don't get too close."

Wei San originally wanted to say that examining a corpse wasn't a big deal and he wasn't made of glass, but then he remembered his current special condition. Just smelling the odor had been unbearable; if he saw the actual state of the body, he might not be able to handle it. It was better to listen to advice.

He nodded in agreement and eventually stood a meter away.

Yangzhou's weather was humid and hot. As soon as the straw mat was lifted, an even more unbearable stench than before instantly spread. The body was already highly swollen and decomposed, with plump white maggots wriggling and crawling between the bones and flesh.

As assassins, Wei Er and Wei San had seen plenty of corpses and were accustomed to such sights, but the smell was truly unbearable.

Wei San stifled the urge to vomit and carefully examined the body.

The corpse's clothing was tattered, with obvious signs of tearing. He scanned it from head to toe and vaguely spotted a long, thin horizontal cut on the abdominal flesh.

It wasn't very clear due to the decomposition, so he pointed at the wound and said to Wei Er, "There's a knife wound on her. Tear the clothing there to take a look."

Wei Er's face twisted in disgust. The thought made his skin crawl, but his movements were swift.

He muttered, "Miss, apologies. I'll burn more offerings for you later."

As he spoke, he quickly put on gloves and tore away the shredded fabric hanging from the upper body of the corpse.

This time, Wei San saw it clearly: it was indeed a knife wound, about the length of a palm. Wei San took a branch and prodded the wound, lifting the layers to reveal the internal organs clearly visible inside.

Wei Er watched him stirring the wound and organs, feeling so nauseated he nearly lost his lunch. Meanwhile, Wei San, aside from being pale, remained expressionless as if nothing was wrong. Wei Er couldn't help but admire him from the bottom of his heart.

To be able to handle something so disgusting—he was one tough cookie.

After examining the wound, Wei San stood up, tossed the branch aside, clenched his fist against his lips, and suppressed the cramping pain in his stomach as he said, "Bury her back."

With that, he staggered to the side, leaning against the tree again and vomiting until he couldn't straighten his back.

What could Wei Er do? He could only dutifully wrap the straw mat back around the body, place it exactly as it was into the pit, and fill it with soil.

The first thing the two did upon returning to the inn was bundle up the night-stealth clothes they'd worn and throw them away. Then they had the inn attendant bring a large bucket of hot water and scrubbed themselves raw.

Wei San found the young boy and told him to stop thinking about avenging his sister—the forces behind it were something an ordinary person like him couldn't afford to provoke.

The boy was unwilling, clenching his jaw but saying nothing. Wei San didn't know what he was planning, so he gave him some money, sent him away, and washed his hands of the matter.

Perhaps because they had pulled an all-nighter and been exposed to the corpse's stench, Wei San, who hadn't fully recovered from his cold, became even more seriously ill.

He slept for a full day and night, frightening Wei Er so much that he was this close to rushing him back to the capital that very night.

The first thing Wei San did upon waking was to have Wei Er investigate whether anyone was missing from the Prince of Huainan's residence.

The old emperor was paranoid by nature, so even princes in distant fiefdoms were inevitably monitored by his spies. For major affairs like plotting rebellion, if not done discreetly, it would be easy for spies to detect, and then their great cause would be thwarted before it even began, with the old emperor seizing evidence and having them executed.

Wei Er understood immediately. He said thoughtfully, "You mean..."

The Yangzhou Prefect and the Prince of Huainan were both notorious womanizers. The Ninth Concubine was young and beautiful, so it was normal for the Yangzhou Prefect to send his newly taken concubine to the Prince of Huainan to curry favor. And the death of a lowly plaything in the prince's residence was hardly anything unusual.

Outsiders only knew that the Ninth Concubine had lasted just two days in the prince's residence before dying, wrapped in a straw mat and discarded in the mass graves. Because she had offended the Prince of Huainan before her death, her family wasn't even allowed to claim her body.

A young girl had been tormented to death like this, and others could only shake their heads in pity.

Wei San had felt something was off purely based on a gut feeling, but he hadn't expected to actually stumble onto something.

He took a sip of tea to moisten his throat and said slowly, "The wound on her body was the perfect size to hide a tiger tally."

The late emperor was extremely fond of the Prince of Huainan during his lifetime. Unfortunately, the Prince of Huainan had no interest in the throne. Fearing that the Old Emperor might assassinate the Prince of Huainan after his death, the late emperor secretly gave him a tiger tally that could mobilize border troops.

The Old Emperor had always been wary of that tiger tally but feared pushing him too hard might incite rebellion. Thus, he continuously sent people to secretly monitor him, waiting to catch the Prince of Huainan in a misstep.

The Ninth Concubine's death was probably just a smokescreen orchestrated by the Prince of Huainan to cover his escape with the tiger tally.

Poor girl—she suffered such a tragic fate. Wei Er couldn't help but scorn the Prince of Huainan and the Yangzhou Prefect for their ruthless methods. Amid his disdain, he also felt puzzled. "The Prince of Huainan has shown no interest in competing for the throne all these years. Why would he be persuaded by the Fifth Prince now, as he reached his fifties?"

Wei San pondered and said, "We'd have to investigate the Huainan Prince's residence to confirm that."

After discussing, the two went to a tavern the next day and gathered many rumors, though few were useful. That night, they investigated the Huainan Prince's residence again and finally confirmed that the missing person was none other than the Crown Prince of Huainan, who had recently injured his leg bone falling from a horse.

The Crown Prince of Huainan's room was empty, and the tiger tally was most likely smuggled out of Yangzhou disguised with the Ninth Concubine's corpse. Based on their investigation of the grave the previous night, it seemed the Crown Prince of Huainan had probably already taken the tiger tally to the border.

Given the gravity of the matter, Wei San said to Wei Er, "Sending a message by carrier pigeon isn't as safe as delivering it in person. You should return to the capital and report this to our master."

Wei Er was taken aback. "What about you?"

Wei San fell silent for a moment, then slowly replied, "The secret letter hasn't been found yet. I'll stay and continue searching."

Wei Er, of course, disagreed. He insisted that Wei San return to the capital while he stayed behind, but Wei San, looking sickly and coughing nonstop, claimed his illness made him unfit for travel.

After much back-and-forth, Wei San finally promised to take care of himself and avoid recklessness, practically shoving Wei Er away.

Watching Wei Er leave, Wei San breathed a sigh of relief. With no one around to hinder him, he could now devote himself to finding Zhong Tong's senior brother.

Meanwhile, after leaving Yangzhou, Wei Er grew increasingly uneasy. He summoned a hidden guard to relay the message about the Crown Prince of Huainan taking the tiger tally to the border, then turned back to the inn where Wei San had been staying.

When he returned to the inn, he found it empty. Upon asking the inn attendant, he learned that Wei San had checked out right after he left, and his current whereabouts were unknown.

This threw Wei Er into a panic, as if he could already foresee their master skinning him alive for this failure.