Chapter 85 - Sneaking into the Prime Minister's Residence at Night

Time slipped away without a trace. Ye Beizhi and Chi Nanwei had been in the imperial capital for the last five days. It was now the end of the twelfth lunar month, and the weather was becoming increasingly cold.

Nevertheless, the entire capital was brimming with a festive atmosphere in preparation for the coming New Year celebrations.

Ye Beizhi and Chi Nanwei lived separately in their new residence. Including the newly arrived Ye Beizhi and Chi Nanwei, each of the houses within the Fuzhao Courtyard were occupied.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Their days were peaceful and uneventful. Apart from the occasional awkward encounter with the top scholar Su Yi, everything else was quite fine.

Over the last few days, they also met the other two residents of the Fuzhao Courtyard. One was Old Man Liu, a widower who lived in the room closest to the main gate. According to Old Lady Yu, Old Man Liu's wife passed away early, and he never remarried. He had no children and supported himself alone. He always appeared cheerful and content with his situation, but in reality, he lived a difficult life.

The other was Li Quezi[1] who had a lame leg and preferred to keep to himself. Li Quezi rarely spoke and kept his interactions with neighbors to a minimum. He would only come over shyly to borrow some salt when he needed some for cooking.

He raised his young daughter alone. She was ten years old and still went to school. Li Quezi’s daughter was very well-behaved. She politely greeted everyone in the courtyard, and everyone was fond of her. Li Quezi mainly spoke to his daughter.

As for how he became lame, it was said that he had been caught stealing something when he was younger and had been caught by the owner who then broke his leg as a punishment.

After that, his wife ran off with someone else, leaving him and his daughter to depend on each other for survival.

These stories were among the things mentioned during idle chats with Old Lady Yu. Chi Nanwei felt deeply touched by the stories, lamenting about how everyone had their own hardships. Ye Beizhi only blinked in response.

When Su Yi happened to be around, he would sometimes say with great bravado, "This is my mission as a minister, I have a duty to save the people and save the world. That is the true calling of a minister."

Ye Beizhi didn’t deeply care about these people or their stories, and he didn't plan to do anything. He had his own mission to complete.

Ye Beizhi felt that the time had come.

After lunch that afternoon, Ye Beizhi packed the tools he had bought a few days ago into a bundle, slung it over his shoulder, and left. On his way out, he left a note for Chi Nanwei that said he wouldn’t be back for dinner.

As he walked out the gate, Old Man Liu cheerfully greeted him, "Mister Ye, where are you off to?"

Ye Beizhi nodded at him. "To visit a friend."

At an alley near the External Prime Minister's residence, Ye Beizhi gazed at the mansion’s main gate from a distance.

The gate was tightly shut, and only two servants, who were shivering outside in the cold, manned it. The security didn’t seem very tight.

Ye Beizhi pressed his lips together and circled around to the back of the mansion.

After circling the entire mansion several times, Ye Beizhi had memorized the general layout of the External Prime Minister's residence, though he still knew nothing about the internal layout.

But he wasn’t in a hurry. He returned to the main street, found a tavern, and sat down, leisurely eating some food.

He sat there until dusk, and as the sun set, Ye Beizhi finally stood up. He took out some silver taels to pay the bill, grabbed the bundle on the table, and headed out.

Ye Beizhi headed straight to the spot he had scouted earlier in the day.

From his bundle, he pulled out a black outfit to blend into the night and put it on. He carefully secured the Tang blade to his waist.

He gazed at the External Prime Minister's brightly lit residence with sharp eyes, and took out a piece of black cloth to cover his mouth and nose.

The sun had set.

Dressed in black, Ye Beizhi quietly waited outside. He leaned against the rear wall of the External Prime Minister's residence, blending into the night. He had his eyes relaxed as if he were lightly asleep.

At that moment, the two guards who were holding lanterns left the courtyard, so Ye Beizhi made his move.

With a light leap, he stretched out his body, jumping more than a yard into the air. Halfway up the wall, he started losing upward momentum, so he pushed the wall with his toes and sprang toward the opposite wall like an agile monkey.

In the blink of an eye, Ye Beizhi was atop the opposite wall across the street from the Prime Minister's rear courtyard.

Ye Beizhi stabilized himself briefly. Then, without hesitation, he leapt again, flashing across the Prime Minister's high wall with his arms outstretched.

Ye Beizhi rolled as he landed and hid himself in the bushes. He managed to sneak into the courtyard without making a sound from start to finish.

After waiting a moment and sensing nothing out of the ordinary, Ye Beizhi stood up from the bushes.

This was the rearmost courtyard of the External Prime Minister's residence. Ye Beizhi didn’t know which room Qi Zongbi would be in at the moment, but searching forward from here seemed like a good idea.

Even at night, many guards were patrolling throughout the Prime Minister's residence.

To avoid alerting them, Ye Beizhi carefully moved through the shadows, holding his breath whenever someone passed by.

Only after the guards were far enough away would he continue his prowl.

Ye Beizhi was in luck; he saw a study not long after leaving the rear courtyard.

Someone's busy shadow stretched out from inside. Ye Beizhi wrapped his feet in cloth and leapt onto the roof in a few agile movements. Because of the cloth, his muffled footsteps were nearly silent on the roof tiles.

Ye Beizhi mentally calculated his position relative to the person still hard at work in the study. He stopped moving only when he estimated that he was directly above the person inside. Then, cautiously, he shifted aside a tile and surveyed the room below.

At this hour, a man with a long beard who appeared to be in his fifties was inside. His official robes denoted his position as the External Prime Minister. He sat at the desk and poring over a thick stack of documents.

Ye Beizhi narrowed his eyes. It seemed that he had run into Qi Zongbi.

Although he had only come to scout the residence today, his target was alone in the room right now, completely unguarded. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Should he strike?

As Ye Beizhi was deliberating, a knock came from the study door. From outside, a man called out, "Sir, it's getting late."

"Come in," Qi Zongbi responded without looking up.

As soon as the words were spoken, a middle-aged man pushed the door open and entered. He was tall and muscular, wearing short-sleeved clothes that exposed his bulging muscles even in the deep winter. His face and movements exuded an inalterable dignity.

However, what Ye Beizhi’s attention wasn’t on the man, but rather the large saber on his back.

It was a pitch-black zhanmadao[2].

1. 李瘸子 literally means Li the lame/crippled. ☜

2. 斩马刀 translated literally is horse-cutting blade, a type of large, two-handed Chinese polearm or saber designed primarily for use against cavalry. ☜