Stranger at Courtyard

Under the dark night where the clouds parted to make way for the shining moon, Lu Tong Xiao walked down the cobbled path of Autumn Courtyard from his own courtyard where he had stopped sleeping after regaining consciousness a week before. His hair was slightly damp after the bath he took to wash away the smell of blood from the dungeon and the black robe with red cloud pattern gently swayed in the night breeze with his every step.

His mind was still thinking back to what Zhang Song had said about Consort Shu about making her create a scene at Bai Yu Yan's shop while pretending the encounter with Bai Yu Yan to be coincidental.

However, as per the woman, Consort Shu had not given her any more commands after that so the matter with the fake silk was most probably not related to her. From this, he could see that Consort Shu's objective was not to harm Bai Yu Yan but create a coincidental opportunity so that she could take her order for the dress. However, it made him further ponder on what actually Consort Shu was trying to achieve by making connections with his wife.

What could she actually want from Yu Yan, he thought with a slight knot on his forehead.

Although Consort Shu might seem harmless at this moment, he could not trust her. Who knew what she was trying to achieve? He had not wanted to involve Yu Yan with the affairs of the palace but seeing her being drawn to it without even doing anything, Lu Tong Xiao was not pleased.

With this thought occupying his mind, Lu Tong Xiao was striding in his pace when suddenly he felt like he saw a black shadow dash past the red-tiled roof of Autumn courtyard.

Lu Tong Xiao's senses immediately became alert. Although the black shadow could easily blend into the dark night, his senses told him that it was definitely a person, and not one of his men.

Except for his personal bodyguard, Xuyi, the rest of his guards were all left to guard his empty courtyard in order to create the impression that he was still living in his own courtyard. This was something he started doing after encountering the incident at the border while returning from the Jin kingdom. He had always been the target of enemies assassination attempt so he did not want to put Bai Yu Yan's life at risk by openly tightening security at Autumn Courtyard.

So apart from the regular guards guarding the gate and a few shadow guards who appeared only at the time of absolute need, there were no other men in this courtyard.

Lu Tong Xiao motioned with his eyes for Xuyi to check the vicinity of the courtyard without alarming anyone while he himself dashed towards the roof of one of the buildings with a smooth leap using qinggong.

The movement under Lu Tong Xiao's feet was so stealthy like a cat that the other man did not notice it until Lu Tong Xiao was already standing behind him.

From the look in his eyes, which was the only exposed area, it could be seen that the man was surprised by Lu Tong Xiao's appearance at that place. But the man was not an easy opponent. He immediately turned around and raised his hands in defense position, ready to take the attacks of Lu Tong Xiao.

Lu Tong Xiao subtly raised his brows, not expecting the other person to adopt a defensive position rather than attacking him. Even the aura the other man was emitting did not seem like he wanted to hurt him

Still, since he had dared to step foot on his place, Lu Tong Xiao was not going to be courteous.

Lu Tong Xiao did not let the other person gauge the situation before striking out. His upper body was slightly lowered and the side of his forearm swung towards the man's rib cage. However the man stepped back at the last second and although the arm hit his abdomen, he did not sustain a heavy injury. But Lu Tong Xiao seemed to have already expected it as his next attack was thrown without wasting a second.

Quick blows were exchanged without making a single noise. After a series of attacks, the man seemed to have already lost more than half of his strength and swallowed the blood rising up his throat. Seeing that Lu Tong Xiao did not have a single scratch on his robe and even his strength had not diminished to the slightest, the man took out a short blade from the back and swung towards him.

Lu Tong Xiao was standing at the edge of the beam of the roof and immediately leapt towards the other building of the courtyard before the man could lung forward with his blade. However, the man did not come forward as expected but took a few steps back and jumped to the other roof.

Seeing that the man had no intention to stay here any longer, Lu Tong Xiao did not chase after him but picked up a small pebble and flicked at the direction of the man's foot which had him lose the balance and slip towards the ground.

Just as Lu Tong Xiao was about to leap where the man had fallen, his eyes caught the crest on the handle of the blade that was reflected on the moonlight and his movement slowed down at the sight of a small object which had been dropped on the tile of the roof without the man's knowledge.

He turned his head to see that the man had already crossed the threshold of the courtyard and blended into the dark night without any trace.

Lu Tong Xiao was in no hurry to chase for the other person as he had already seen that the man was not an assassin since he did not attack him. With his long legs, he instead bound to the place where the man had stood previously and slightly lowered his upper body, his slender fingers picked the white object lying on the roof.

Right at this moment, Xuyi leapt to the roof with a serious face. "Master! There was no one suspicious in the whole manor other than that man!" he reported the result of his search with a slight bow. But he did not understand his Master's action of letting the man leave while they could have easily captured him.

Hearing it, Lu Tong Xiao gave a nod to indicate that he understood before looking at the object in his hand.

Unexpectedly, it was an envelope. A letter envelope.

From outside, it looked no different than an ordinary envelope used in the Xin kingdom to enclose a letter and send it around. Lu Tong Xiao's eyes held no emotion as he tore it open at the side and pulled the letter from inside.

His long fingers flattened the folded paper and his eyes fell on the content inside.

Xuyi was also surprised that the other person had dropped a letter in a hurry to escape. He stood at the side, waiting for his master's order after reading the letter. However, a long time had passed but he did not hear a word from Lu Tong Xiao.

The night was silent and the only sound was from his robes fluttering in the cold wind. Lu Tong Xiao's original expressionless face had long turned frosty and the depth of his eyes had burning flames as if he wanted to turn everything to ash. The hand holding the letter was faintly trembling, giving away the emotions of the man standing under the night sky.

Seeing this, Xuyi felt his scalp go numb. He wanted to call his Master but the aura emanating from Lu Tong Xiao was so intense and suffocating that Xuyi was unable to utter a single word.

Suddenly, a small item fell from the envelope and landed on his palm. It did not need a second for Lu Tong Xiao to recognize the charcoal stick that he had always seen being held between the delicate fingers whenever the owner of those fingers sketched with great concentration.

It was like a blunt knife had stabbed his heart and was slowly moving in his chest to mercilessly intensify the pain.

The hand holding the charcoal stick clenched tightly which made the veins on his knuckle even more prominent. When he opened his hand, the wind had already blown away the charcoal dust, leaving only a dark stain on his palm as if reminding him of what was there before.

Under the moonlight, the words in the paper were particularly striking:

There is no need to hide any longer. Soon, I will be there to help you escape that shackle.

Wait for me!

~FLW