Impératrice douairière Xiaoxuan

Chapitre 112

Mo Yan asked curiously, "What's wrong with postponing it a little?"

Zhan Zhao shook his head and sighed, "Only after entering the palace today did I realize that the power of the Xiao family in the Liao Kingdom far exceeded my original imagination. Empress Dowager Xiao has suddenly passed away, and Yelü Hongji is about to marry a princess. If we hold a grand ceremony at this time, it will surely anger the Xiao family and destabilize the Liao court. Yelü Zongzhen will definitely postpone the grand ceremony under the pretext of mourning to appease the Xiao family."

"It's better to wait. I see Yelü Hongji and Xiao Guanyin are very affectionate. The princess has no desire to marry."

"The longer it is delayed, the greater the danger to the princess."

"Danger?" Mo Yan thought for a moment and immediately understood. "You mean, the Xiao family will harm the princess?"

Zhan Zhao remained silent for a moment before saying softly, "I'm just worried that it's not just the Xiao family..."

Without even thinking, Mo Yan said, "And Yelü Hongji's uncle, Yelü Chongguang, he probably doesn't like the princess marrying Yelü Hongji either, right?"

Unexpectedly, she would say that. Zhan Zhao smiled and looked up at her: "Why would you think that?"

She said matter-of-factly, "I heard that when Yelü Zongzhen was drunk, he jokingly said that he would pass the throne to Yelü Chongguang. I'm afraid Yelü Chongguang took it seriously. Then the person Yelü Chongguang hated the most should be Yelü Hongji, who was competing with him for the throne. Naturally, he didn't want Yelü Hongji to form a marriage alliance with the Song Dynasty."

"When did you hear about it?" Zhan Zhao asked.

"When I was in the capital."

Mo Yan was smug. While she was still in the capital, she secretly inquired about the affairs of the Liao Kingdom in her spare time, hoping to be able to help Zhan Zhao after she arrived.

From her words, it was clear that she had been planning to come to Liao with him for quite some time back in the capital. It was remarkable that she had kept it a secret from him for so long. Touched, Zhan Zhao poured her a cup of tea.

Mo Yan continued, "Yelü Pusa Nu is Yelü Chongguang's subordinate. Just by looking at how he treats us Song people, we can see very clearly what he's doing. But I think Yelü Chongguang probably wants to see us and the Xiao family both suffer heavy losses, and Yelü Hongji end up pleasing neither side, so he'll be happy. We don't need to worry about him too much."

Although her words made sense, Zhan Zhao remained silent for a long time. Bao Zheng's instructions still echoed in his ears: someone in the court had secretly given Yelü Chongguang the Song Dynasty's military deployment map. This matter was of great importance, and he couldn't tell Mo Yan yet, but how could he not be worried? He also wondered who Hai Dongqing was and when he would contact him.

"Big brother, big brother..." Mo Yan called softly when she saw him lost in thought.

"Um."

Zhan Zhao snapped out of his daze, smiled faintly, and indicated that he was alright.

Knowing he had a heavy responsibility, Mo Yan really didn't know what to say to comfort him, so she simply jumped up and said, "Big brother, are you hungry? I'll go cook. The small kitchen here is fully equipped. What would you like to eat?"

"You must be hungry too. Just make two bowls of noodles."

She smiled happily and said, "Okay, then you wait, it will be ready soon."

Watching her jog out the door, Zhan Zhao felt a surge of warmth in his heart, but in an instant, he suddenly heard a very faint sound of a sharp weapon cutting through the air...

"Xiao Qi!" His heart turned cold, and in a flash, he lunged out the door.

However, it was too late. By the time he arrived, he could only see a fleeting figure disappearing from the top of the wall, while Mo Yan lay limply at the foot of the artificial hill, blood seeping from her forehead. Without bothering to chase the assassin, he first bent down and picked up Mo Yan, whose eyes were closed, her face pale, her previous smile gone.

Zhan Zhao clenched his fist, took a deep breath, calmed himself, and slowly released his grip, gently touching her nose—her breathing was shallow, she was clearly still alive. He breathed a sigh of relief, then carefully examined the wound on her forehead. Upon inspection, he discovered that although there was bleeding, it wasn't from a hidden weapon as he had initially thought; it was merely a scratch.

Zhan Zhao then gently patted her cheek and called out, "Xiao Qi, Xiao Qi..."

A moment later, Mo Yan slowly woke up. Before she even opened her eyes, she clutched her forehead and cried out in pain. When she opened her eyes and saw Zhan Zhao, she exclaimed urgently, "Brother, there's an assassin!"

"I know, they've already run away." Zhan Zhao helped her up, looked her up and down, and asked with concern, "Is there anything else that's bothering you?"

Mo Yan looked down at herself, shook her head, and said, "It seems not."

"The wound on your forehead..."

"...Well, I was in such a hurry to dodge that I wasn't paying attention and my head hit a rock."

"..."

"An unexpected surprise."

Mo Yan rubbed her forehead and said with a grin.

Unable to do anything about her, Zhan Zhao gave a helpless bitter smile. As he lowered his eyes, he suddenly caught sight of an arrow grazing obliquely among the weeds in the cracks of the rocks, with something vaguely wrapped around the shaft. He squatted down, feeling ashamed inwardly. He had been so focused on Mo Yan that he hadn't even noticed the object, which was so close.

Chapter Forty-Five

He pulled out the arrow and examined it closely. A small strip of cloth was wrapped around the arrow, but when he took it off, the cloth was empty, without a single word or any special markings.

Mo Yan curiously leaned over, wrinkled her nose, and looked up at Zhan Zhao: "It smells like raw oil, the kind that Liao people like to pour into their porridge. They seem to eat this all the time, so it's not surprising."

It was just a small, blank strip of cloth, yet Zhan Zhao frowned deeply…

Could it be a gyrfalcon?

If it were him, why would he send a blank cloth?

Forgot? Impossible.

Could it be that he was too pressed for time and afraid of being discovered, so he didn't have time to write anything? No, if that were the case, he wouldn't have needed to shoot this arrow at all.

Inside the room, Zhan Zhao sat at the table, repeatedly examining the strip of cloth in his hand, while Mo Yan fiddled with the arrow beside him, trying to find some clues from it.

"Brother, this arrow seems pretty ordinary." After a while, she put down the arrow and shrugged.

Zhan Zhao nodded: "It's an arrow used by ordinary soldiers of the Liao Kingdom, the same one I used that night."

"Strange, why is it just a strip of cloth with nothing written on it?" Mo Yan scratched her ear. "Even if you can't read, you could at least draw a picture." She took the cloth strip from Zhan Zhao's hand, brought it close to her eyes, and murmured, "It's Song Dynasty silk, that's for sure. It's very ordinary, nothing compared to what's used in the palace. I think even Xiao Guanyin wears better than this... I'm a little hungry, I'd better go make some noodles." She put down the cloth strip with a frown and rushed out.

"...Xiao Guanyin is dressed better than this..." Zhan Zhao picked up the strip of cloth again, silently repeating the sentence in his mind. Then he thought: The Song Dynasty's annual tribute of 200,000 bolts of brocade and silk was naturally all of the finest quality. As a princess, Xiao Guanyin's attire must have been from this tribute. Since this strip of cloth was ordinary, it probably wasn't from the tribute. Unlike the Song Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom couldn't produce its own silk. To trace the origin of this strip of cloth, he would probably have to go to the silk shops in Zhongjing.

However, he had only just arrived in Liao, and the Empress Dowager's funeral had not yet taken place. There were likely many things to attend to, and he feared he would be unable to leave. Zhan Zhao tucked the strip of cloth into his robes. Before he knew it, darkness had fallen, and he got up and lit a lamp.

Before long, Mo Yan came in carrying a black lacquered food box. The worried look on her face had completely disappeared, and she was all smiles, clearly very happy. As soon as she entered, she said, "Big brother, if you can't figure it out, don't think about it anymore. Eat something first, and maybe you'll be able to figure it out when you're full."