CQDF 4

Tearing Up the Pig-Torture Script: Consort Qi Dominates Her Fiefdom

CHAPTER 4: Hidden Undercurrents in Chang'an, The First Flash of Lethal Intent

Early in the morning, the East Gate of Chang'an City swung wide open. A seemingly ordinary, slightly battered black-canopied carriage, escorted by a handful of low-profile imperial guards, rolled slowly out through the gateway. The wheels ground against the unmelted residual snow with an ear-piercing creak, startling the roosting birds across the city.

Inside the carriage curtains, Yu Xiaoqing was wrapped tightly from head to toe in a deep-cyan hempen cloak. She held young Liu Ruyi tightly in her embrace, one hand gently patting her son's back.

The palace walls of Chang'an gradually receded behind them. Yet Yu Xiaoqing knew full well that this was not the beginning of freedom, but the opening prologue of a desperate struggle for survival.

Historically, Empress Lü had never been a soft-hearted individual. Yesterday in the side hall, though she had temporarily numbed Empress Lü's suspicions with an Oscar-worthy performance of pathetic weeping, Shizhi Bu—that viper-like strategist by the Empress's side—would never let a tiger return to the mountains.

"Your Ladyship..." Cui'er sat in the corner of the carriage, her face drained of color, her voice trembling violently. "Have we... have we actually escaped?"

"Not that easily." Yu Xiaoqing lifted a corner of the carriage curtain, casting a cold eye on the desolate snowy landscape outside. "From Chang'an to Changle Slope is a mere ten miles. Those ten miles lie completely outside Shi Zhongyuan's operational zone, and they represent the single blind spot under the Emperor's nose where jurisdiction is entirely blurred. If Empress Lü is going to make a move, this place is the ideal graveyard."

Meanwhile, back in Chang'an City, inside the Jiaofang Palace.

The charcoal fire in the underground hearth burned bright and steady, while Shizhi Bu knelt silently on the floor clad in jet-black robes.

"Has she left the city?" Empress Lü asked indifferently.

"Replying to Your Ladyship, she has departed. She carries little—just a few chests of past imperial rewards from Gaozu, alongside her own personal belongings. This old servant had men inspect them; exactly as she claimed, she didn't even take an extra copper of military payroll." Shizhi Bu kept his head bowed, a flash of vicious malice glinting in his eyes.

Empress Lü set down her bowl and sneered: "This cheap woman is clever enough to surrender her bargaining chips to save her skin. But... to think the Emperor actually granted Ruyi military and fiscal autonomy over Zhao. That decree is like a thorn jammed into my heart, thoroughly uncomfortable."

"Your Ladyship need not worry; this old servant has already arranged everything." Shizhi Bu stepped forward, lowering his voice. "I dispatched thirty top-tier elite assassins from the Lü clan's roster—desperados whose criminal records have been scrubbed and whose identities cannot be traced by the local magistrates. They are already lying in wait at the mandatory bottleneck below Changle Slope—Stone-Jumble Ravine."

"What about Shi Zhongyuan's side?" Empress Lü narrowed her eyes slightly. She had always harbored a lingering wariness toward that young northern wolf general.

"Shi Zhongyuan received a covert mandate and set up camp outside Changle Slope. According protocol, without an explicit imperial edict from the Emperor, his Yanmen cavalry are strictly forbidden from crossing the Changle Slope defense line." Shizhi Bu flashed a confident smile. "The assassins will strike in Stone-Jumble Ravine, and a single fire will make it look like 'bandit looting and plunder.' By the time Shi Zhongyuan hears the commotion and rushes over, all he will find are the charred corpses of Consort Qi and her son. At that point, even if the Emperor flies into a rage, he will never trace it back to Your Ladyship."

Empress Lü slowly closed her eyes and waved a hand: "Make it clean. I do not wish to hear that woman crying in Chang'an ever again."

"Understood." Shizhi Bu bowed and backed out, his eyes swimming with unshakeable murderous intent.

Suddenly, the wind and snow picked up fiercely.

The black-canopied carriage sped rapidly along the bumpy post road. Pulling back the curtain, Yu Xiaoqing stared at the sky outside, her brows locking tighter and tighter.

It's too quiet.

Along the entire route, not a single passing merchant or traveler was in sight. A faint, unusual reek drifted through the air—the suffocating stillness recognized only by those accustomed to lifelong slaughter.

"Stop the carriage!" Yu Xiaoqing suddenly ordered in a sharp voice.

The imperial guard driving the carriage paused, hastily pulling back the warhorse's reins. As a trusted loyalist left behind by Liu Bang, he stepped forward to ask in a low voice: "Your Ladyship, what is wrong? Changle Slope is barely three miles ahead; if we don't push on, we won't reach General Shi's camp before nightfall."

"What place is this ahead?" Yu Xiaoqing stepped down from the carriage, her boots sinking into the snow as her gaze locked fixedly onto the narrow valley ahead.

"Ahead is Stone-Jumble Ravine, flanked by cliffs on both sides. It is the mandatory choke point on the road to Changle Slope," the guard replied.

Yu Xiaoqing gave a cold laugh.

Twin cliffs and a single ravine. This terrain is a textbook textbook definition of an ambush zone. If Shizhi Bu wants to make his move, this is absolute ground zero.

"We cannot go through the valley floor." Yu Xiaoqing pivoted decisively, scooping Liu Ruyi out of the carriage. "Cui'er, gather every flammable material left in the carriage and pile them up inside the cabin! Guard, cut the horses loose, whip them hard, and drive the empty carriage charging straight into Stone-Jumble Ravine!"

The trusted guard was a decisive man as well; catching on instantly, a flash of shock crossed his eyes: "Does Her Ladyship mean... there is an ambush?"

"Empress Lü will never let us walk to Zhao alive," Yu Xiaoqing said with a razor-sharp gaze, wrapping Ruyi's cloak tighter as she commanded in a deep voice, "Do as I say! Move!"

Moments later, several panicked warhorses dragged the empty black-canopied carriage, charging madly into the gorge of Stone-Jumble Ravine.

Scarcely a hundred meters into the canyon mouth, several massive boulders suddenly plunged down from the cliffs on either side, smashing the carriage into splinters! Instantly, dozens of black-clad assassins wielding heavy crossbows surged out from behind the rubble, unleashing a torrential downpour of poisoned bolts toward the shattered cabin.

"It's burning! Quick, search the corpses!" a raspy shout echoed from within the ravine.

Cui'er, hiding behind the tree line up at the canyon entrance, clutched her mouth tightly as tears streamed down her face. Had her mistress not possessed such deep tactical foresight, the three of them would have already been ground into pulp.

"Move! Circle round the ridge and head for Changle Slope!" Yu Xiaoqing hauled Ruyi up, ignoring her skirt snagging and tearing on the thorny brush, and pushed forward through the deep snow toward the other side of the ridge.

Yet, she had ultimately underestimated Shizhi Bu's ruthlessness.

"There are footprints over there! They're taking the mountain path! After them!"

A sharp cry rang out from the valley floor. Discovering the carriage was empty, the assassin commander immediately tracked the fresh footprints leading up through the snow.

The assassins were all agile experts, moving at blistering speed across the snowfield. Within moments, the chilling whistle of air-rending projectiles cracked viciously right behind Yu Xiaoqing!

Swish—

An imperial guard shielding them cried out in agony as a heavy crossbow bolt punched straight through his chest, splashing bright blood across the pristine white snow in a shocking display.

"Run, Your Ladyship! This subordinate will hold them off!" The final guard drew his side-saber, roaring as he turned to charge straight into the rushing pack of black-clad assassins.

Yu Xiaoqing hoisted the eight-year-old Liu Ruyi onto her back, running frantically through the knee-deep snow. The howling gale cut across her face like a razor blade, and her chest heaved as if her lungs were about to burst.

The sounds of slaughter behind her gradually subsided; that loyal protector had clearly given his life in the line of duty.

The dense trampling footsteps of the assassins were closing in to within fifty paces behind them.

"Consort Qi! The Emperor cannot save you now! Hand over your life!" the assassin commander sneered hideously, raising his heavy crossbow to target Yu Xiaoqing's back once more.

Ahead of Yu Xiaoqing lay a sheer drop-off. Below the precipice stretched an open plain, where distant campfires flickered faintly.

Changle Slope was right in front of them.

Yet that hundred-meter vertical drop transformed into an insurmountable ghost gate.

"Ruyi, are you scared?" Yu Xiaoqing clutched the child tightly to her chest, glaring at the approaching assassins with eyes devoid of fear, burning instead with an almost manic, desperate resolve.

"This son is not afraid! Mother Consort, Ruyi is right here with you!" Eight-year-old Liu Ruyi gritted his teeth, his little face frozen red, yet not a single tear fell.

"Good boy." Yu Xiaoqing turned around, staring coldly at the closing assassins. This life was borrowed from the grave; if you want me to die a second time, keep dreaming!

The assassin commander sneered coldly and squeezed the trigger mechanism.

Thwip!

The poisoned bolt carried a piercing, shrieking whistle through the air, streaking straight toward Yu Xiaoqing's heart.

At the very split second of life and death, a shrill, soaring horse whinny echoed from below the cliff.

An instant later, a dark-black figure vaulted upward from the cliff edge.

Clang!

A dark iron longsword swept out in a piercing, freezing cold arc, snapping the hidden bolt mid-air.

At the cliff's edge, a magnificent black steed stood pawing the ground restlessly, snorting in agitation.

And right atop the precipice, the young wolf general stood with his robes fluttering, his dark cloak snapping wildly in the wind, his heavy armor still carrying the dust of the northern frontier.

"I would like to see," Shi Zhongyuan slowly turned his head, his gaze sweeping across the assassins like a physical blade, his voice dropping into the low, echoing resonance of a hellish asura, "who in Chang'an dares to touch the person I, Shi Zhongyuan, have sworn to protect."

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