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Глава 13

The other person hesitated somewhat: "I don't know..."

Upon hearing this, Zhan Zhao thought to himself, "How did these two know I was going to Jiangnan?"

Just then, someone inside asked, "Who is that little girl next to Zhan Zhao? I've never seen her before."

"She's just a little girl, nothing to worry about. Judging from her figure, her internal strength is far inferior to yours and mine. There's no need to pay her any attention."

After a long silence, someone said, "Get some rest. We have to keep going tomorrow morning."

After a soft rustling sound, a voice suddenly shouted sharply, "Who is it! Come out!"

Zhan Zhao was startled, thinking that he had been discovered. He leaped up, only to find that a dark figure was also fleeing in a disheveled state from the other side of the house. The figure was slender and passed right in front of him. It was Mo Yan!

She had somehow managed to eavesdrop outside the window on the other side, and no one knew how she was discovered.

Upon hearing that the two men had broken through the window and were pursuing her, Zhan Zhao didn't have time to think. He deliberately revealed himself and leaped aside to distract the two men.

The town was very small. With a few light leaps, Zhan Zhao led the people to the outskirts of town.

The moon was bright and the wind was gentle. The reeds along the river swayed softly in the breeze, and the waves lapped against the shore. Zhan Zhao stood quietly with his sword in his hand, waiting for the two men to catch up...

"So it was you! Zhan Zhao!"

"You two do indeed recognize me," Zhan Zhao said with a slight smile.

"Zhan Zhao! You think too highly of yourself," the seven-foot-tall man sneered. "In a one-on-one fight, I may not be your match, but even if the two of us join forces, you won't gain any advantage."

As they spoke, the two drew their swords, the silvery blades reflecting the cold moonlight, slicing straight toward him like venomous snakes.

The giant sword spun in Zhan Zhao's hand, but he only parried it with the scabbard and did not draw it. He leaped more than ten feet away, stood with his sword in hand, and said calmly, "I'm afraid you two have misunderstood. I have no intention of fighting with you."

Upon hearing this, the two paused their swordplay and stopped fighting. To be fair, they had no chance of winning against Zhan Zhao, so they naturally didn't want to engage in a direct confrontation.

"Since Lord Zhang has sent you two to Jiangnan, why don't you travel with me?" Zhan Zhao said with a smile. He wanted to know if Zhang Yaozuo was the mastermind behind this, and was deliberately trying to bluff them.

"How come you..." the tall man asked in surprise, but was interrupted by the short man who said coldly, "What Lord Zhang or Lord Li? We don't know them at all."

Zhan Zhao noticed the changes in their expressions, but he only smiled faintly: "Since you two don't admit it, I won't force you. When Lord Bao ordered me to go to Jiangnan, he also mentioned the dangers involved and instructed me to be careful..." He paused before continuing, "Lord Bao meant that a high-ranking official of this rank is the lifeblood of the court, and he naturally understands the principle of sacrificing a pawn to save the king."

He spoke the last few words very slowly, watching the expressions of the two men... Although the two men were confused, they vaguely sensed that he was implying that Bao Zheng, for the sake of stabilizing the court, did not want to expose Zhang Yaozuo, and that they did not need to be so nervous.

After a long silence, the short man, still wary of Zhan Zhao, revealed his imperial guard badge and said coldly, "I don't understand what Lord Zhan is saying. We are just following orders from above. We don't interfere with each other."

Zhan Zhao felt a chill run down his spine. He had only intended to elicit their identity from them, but they hadn't expected to reveal it. This was something he hadn't anticipated.

"Farewell!" the two men said, bowed slightly, and turned to leave.

Zhan Zhao stood alone by the river, deep in thought. He had thought that the two men were just henchmen hired by Zhang Yaozuo. Even if he couldn't get anything out of them, he could still subdue them. But he never expected that they were actually imperial guards!

Imperial guards, imperial guards… Not only could he not control them, but this also meant that the matter had already involved the palace. He had to find a way to inform Lord Bao about this.

The autumn wind was slightly chilly. He turned around and walked back a few steps, stopping under an old tree. He sighed softly and said, "...Come down."

A person floated down from the tree, glaring at him with an angry expression; it was Mo Yan.

Chapter Nine

Author's Note: I haven't abandoned the story! Hehe. "Lord Zhan, let me ask you, what does 'sacrificing the pawn to save the king' mean? Who is the pawn? And who is the king?"

Zhan Zhao looked at her, feeling both amused and helpless. He knew she must have overheard what he had just said and had become suspicious of him.

Questioning him like this is still childish... A hint of a smile played on his lips. How could she be so impatient? If he really was what she thought, what good would it do to question him like this, except to bring trouble upon herself?

"What are you laughing at?" Seeing the slight upturn of his lips and his gentle smile, Mo Yan became even more annoyed and said urgently, "Lord Bao, are you planning to abandon my senior brother and protect Zhang Yaozuo?"

"no!"

"Zhang Yaozuo is a first-rank official of the imperial court, and you officials are protecting each other!"

"No."

"I heard everything you just said clearly." Mo Yan bit her lip and said, "You officials are all unreliable. You pretend to be impartial and law-abiding, but deep down you're all just like everyone else. 'If you don't trust me, young lady, don't you trust Judge Bao either?'"

Mo Yan sneered, "Isn't Judge Bao an official too? He clearly knows my senior brother isn't the murderer, yet he still refuses to release him. It seems he's keeping him around to take the blame for Zhang Yaozuo. Clearly, Judge Bao and Zhang Yaozuo are in cahoots!"

"Miss Mo," he shouted sternly, "how dare you insult Lord Bao!"

"I'll say it anyway... Why can't Lord Bao be criticized! Let alone Lord Bao, even the Emperor, if he does something wrong, do you think you can silence the world's gossip!" She grew angrier as she spoke, thinking about how, out of concern for her senior brother, she had been foolishly deceived by Bao Zheng and followed Zhan Zhao to Jiangnan. If she hadn't overheard Zhan Zhao's words tonight, wouldn't she have been used by them even more?

Seeing her like this, Zhan Zhao laughed instead of getting angry, and then said, "Can't you really tell that I said that on purpose just now in order to get them to talk?"

Mo Yan was taken aback, and hesitated before asking, "Try to get information out of them?"

She had grown up in the mountains with her master since childhood, and this was her first time descending the mountain. Although she was exceptionally intelligent, she was ultimately too naive and knew very little about the deceit and treachery of human nature. Recalling what Zhan Zhao had said earlier, she thought about it seriously for a long time, but she was still confused.

"Don't try to fool me!" She hesitated for a moment, then said, "Those two were most likely here for the account books, which means our whereabouts have been exposed. If someone in Kaifeng Prefecture hadn't told them, how would they have known?"

Zhan Zhao frowned slightly. He had already thought of this when he was eavesdropping outside the window: "It's hard to say whether there are any accomplices in Kaifeng Prefecture, or whether the news has leaked somewhere!"

"What do you mean it's hard to say! It was clearly a pre-arranged conspiracy! Furthermore, the swords these two used match those used by the person who killed Bai Baozhen. Why didn't you arrest them and bring them to justice?"

"How can you arrest people just because they use the same sword?" Zhan Zhao said helplessly. "Do you even know who they are?"

"Imperial Guards." Mo Yan had also seen the gold badge the guard was holding. "So what? Even the emperor is subject to the same laws as commoners. Are mere Imperial Guards not allowed to be arrested?"

Zhan Zhao sighed inwardly. How could this girl be so naive and romantic? Although it is said that the emperor is subject to the same laws as commoners, which emperor in any dynasty has ever truly done so? But at this moment, how could he possibly explain these things to her?

“The Imperial Guards are of the fifth rank, and without solid evidence, how can we capture them?”