After daybreak, Gu Shenwei went to greet Miss Luo Ningcha. Miss Luo told him that Shangguan Ru had promised to meet him after 9pm in Kun Yard.
Kun Yard was reserved for Shangguan Ru. When she becomes the Tenth Young Master, she would move to this yard from the Inner Residence. Gu Shenwei knew its location since he had been there before. He was a little worried about the time. 9pm was rather late as he would have less than two hours before 11pm.
Subsequently, he went to West Castle to visit Shangguan Hongye and his mother.
Luo Ningcha arranged this meeting on a sudden whim, and both parties of this meeting felt slightly awkward in the beginning. It was inappropriate to send a boy slave to feast with a young master like Shangguan Hongye, who was a nephew of the Supreme King. However, Shangguan Hongye and his mother accepted this arrangement. They found it hard to reject Luo Ningcha's money. Although the Eighth Young Mistress was ruthless and inhumane, she was filthy rich and generous. With so much money, she could accomplish anything.
Shangguan Hongye's mother was in her thirties and surnamed Yang. She had lost her youthful charms and now, she's struggling to survive. Her house was shabbily decorated, and all her servants, which consisted of a boy slave and a maid, were sent by the fort. Both of the servants were underpaid and hated working there. They would fake their obedience to Madam Yang and Shangguan Hongye in front of the guests.
Seeing Shangguan Hongye and Madam Yang living in such conditions, Gu Shenwei thought to himself, "Shangguan Fa treats his own brother's widow and son in such a cold way. He's indeed much more merciless than the most ruthless killer."
He found out that it was forbidden to talk about the Supreme King in this house. It seemed that Madam Yang and Shangguan Hongye abided by this rule much more strictly than all the other people in the fort, but this attitude also showed their dissatisfaction towards the lord.
After they got rid of the initial awkwardness, Madam Yang and Shangguan Hongye showed more enthusiasm. Gu Shenwei thought that they were a little too enthusiastic and felt slightly uncomfortable.
Shangguan Hongye spoke very little, but Madam Yang spoke endlessly. She talked about her family, praised Slave Huan for his capabilities and sighed that her son was not good at studying nor fighting. This made Shangguan Hongye very unhappy. Next, they talked about the Eighth Young Mistress and Lady Meng.
Gu Shenwei was a little absent minded and gave perfunctory replies to Madam Yang until she asked him an unusual question.
"Aren't you worried that the Eighth Young Mistress might be unhappy after seeing you work for Master Ru?" Madam Yang asked curiously with a tinge of reproach, while trying to act like a friend of the Eighth Young Mistress.
Gu Shenwei was still absent minded. Firstly, he stated that he was an underling of the Eighth Young Master and serving Tenth Young Master was Eighth Young Master's idea. Also, as a slave, he should do his best to bring both of them together, since they were a family.
Gu Shenwei left immediately after answering this difficult question.
After he left Madam Yang and Shangguan Hongye's residence, he went to the school to visit Zhang Ji. However, he did not obtain any useful information from Mister Zhang. Although Zhang Ji knew lots about strategies and history, he knew little about kung fu. He knew nothing about the origin of the Death Scripture.
After leaving the school, Gu Shenwei went straight to Eighth Young Master's house.
Luo Ningcha was pleased that she could get Madam Yang to openly support her. This was the first time that she won a lady's support in the fort, and this lady was a sister-in-law of Lady Meng and an aunt of the Eighth Young Mistress. Luo Ningcha could not wait to hear Slave Huan's judgement of this lady.
"How is it? Can she be trusted?" She asked impatiently.
Luo Ningcha only had one servant, namely Maid Cui. Luo Ningcha became more and more paranoid as time goes on and she couldn't bring herself to trust any other servant.
Separated by a wooden square wall, Gu Shenwei could only hear the voice of Miss Luo. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "You can't believe her."
"How could that be? She offered her assistance when we were in the Inner Residence," said Miss Luo, with a sense of disappointment.
"This is where the problem lies. As Lady Meng was the head of the inner residence, no one dared to sympathize with you openly. Madam Yang's exaggerated actions proved that she was under Lady Meng's orders to investigate you."
Luo Ningcha suddenly sighed. She started to throw a tantrum by smashing tea cups and hitting the maid as she berated Slave Huan, "You spout all kinds of nonsense. Initially, you said Madam Yang could be easily bribed and now you say that she was a spy for that old woman. Bighead Kingpin wanted you to help me. This is ridiculous. How can I believe you? Mama Xue always said to never let my guard down around you...".
Gu Shenwei looked down while kneeling on the ground as he waited for Miss Luo to cool down. He said, "Now that the enemy is stronger than us, it's naturally more difficult to bribe them".
"Then what do you think we can do? Are you saying that I had given out so much money for nothing? I'll deal with Madam Yang sooner or later."
Luo Ningcha was not good at earning the trust of people nor was she good at creating plans to further her own interests. Even though Gu Shenwei had to educate her patiently, he had decided to distance himself from this woman as to not be betrayed by her.
"There is a way, which couldn't only punish Madam Yang, but can also make her stand on your side."
"You should have said this earlier", Luo Ningcha said as she forgot about the fact that she was the one who was constantly nagging.
"Since Madam Yang was investigating you on behalf of Lady Meng, you should speak kindly of Lady Meng in front of her as to show a hint of regret, but don't be too histrionic..."
"Why?", Luo Ningcha asked while smashing another tea cup, "Do you want me to beg?"
Gu Shenwei was losing his patience and said, "Of course not. By letting Madam Yang pass along your message to Lady Meng, Lady Meng would never believe her. If you gave Madam Yang more items such as gold, some clothes for Madam Yang, so she could wear them in the inner residence for everyone to see..."
Luo Ningcha had a sudden realisation and exclaimed, "Oh, so you're trying to sow discord?"
Gu Shenwei heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Indeed. As Madam Yang and Lady Meng aren't close to each other, this trick can be very useful. After Madam Yang gets humiliated in front of Lady Meng's, the bribe will be successful.".
Gu Shenwei thought that Lady Meng and Madam Yang might collude and inflict harm to themselves to deceive her. However, there was no need to over-complicate the fight in the inner residence. Since Luo Ningcha could not comprehend the plan, he did not voice out his thoughts.
After dealing with Miss Luo Ningcha, Gu Shenwei went to Kun Yard. As the door was locked, he jumped over the wall to get in. He sat on the steps in front of the gallery while he waited for Shangguan Ru.
He went through the plan once more and made some minor adjustments. There were several major loopholes that he was unable to amend. As a humble boy slave, he could not control the whole situation. A decision made by a big shot could easily jeopardize the whole plan and put his life at risk.
He had no choice but to follow through with his plan.
Shangguan Ru, who was dressed in all black and had her face covered, arrived before the stipulated time. She wondered if Slave Huan had come up with some new games.
This dialog played an important role in Gu Shenwei's life. Not only did he solve numerous problems with the assistance of Shangguan Ru, but he had also gained her trust.
Gu Shenwei had nearly become one of Shangguan Ru's closest allies once, but they had a falling out due to various reasons. Although both of them had met on the journey towards Iron Mountain camp before, they could not find that initial chemistry they once had together. Subsequently, even though they had gone through thick and thin and Slave Huan had managed to save the lives of several young men, their relationship did not become closer.
Friendship is a mysterious thing. It can be more complex than love sometimes. Your favourite person might not be the one who helped or cherished you the most. Instead, it could be someone who opened up their hearts to you and allowed themselves to be vulnerable in front of you, but you had subsequently forgotten about all of it.
Gu Shenwei told Shangguan Ru everything that he knew about the Barren Sect. He said, "Mama Xue used the Peripheral Force on me and Maid Lotus. Both of us have less than two years to live. We were captured by two women from the Barren Sect and Maid Lotus had become their hostage. I had to take up more responsibilities and complete the mission by tonight.".
Gu Shenwei took out a thin long rope with a piece of black iron tied to one end and placed it in front of Shangguan Ru.
Shangguan Ru removed the black cloth covering her face. As she listened, she became more and more surprised. She asked, "Will you die due to qigong deviation by noon of tomorrow?"
Gu Shenwei nodded.
"Is Barren Sect going to climb up the cliff and siege the Stone Castle tonight?"
Gu Shenwei nodded again and said, "My guess is that they didn't want to attack discreetly and they have an ulterior motive.".
"Oh, no matter what motive they have, I'll tell my father and let him send people to kill those women."
"If that's the case, I'll also die. Barren Sect is the only one who can dispel the Peripheral Force."
Shangguan Ru was worried for Slave Huan. She said, while scratching her head, "What should we do? Capture them alive so they can heal you?".
"They're resistant to torture. No one can force those women to do anything."
Shangguan Ru paced back and forth in front of Slave Huan. She was only thirteen and she couldn't think of any good ideas in such a short amount of time. She asked, "This... Have you ever said this to someone else?".
"Mister Guo. He didn't believe that Barren Sect could climb the Stone Castle and he didn't believe me."
"Mister Guo? How can you count on him? Did you forget that he wanted to kill you in the first place? I hate that hypocrite the most."
"I don't like him either. However, he is the commander of South City, so I have to tell him what I know."
"How about Master Yu? You should be under her command."
"I didn't tell her. This is an important matter. Once this gets out, both Maid Lotus and I will die and it will alert the enemy."
This sticky situation is beyond the scope of Shangguan Ru's capabilities. Looking at the young man before her, he seemed taller and looked more distressed. He had that same troubled look on his face. Strangely enough, she did not notice it when they were travelling to Iron Mountain. She said, "You have a solution, don't you? You made me worried on purpose.".
Even though Shangguan Ru's eyes was darker than the night sky, it was shimmering like the brightest star in the sky. Gu Shenwei couldn't help but laughed, as though this was a trivial game.
Shangguan Ru was unhappy. She said, "What're you laughing at? Is it funny, coming up with a story to trick me? I am an adult and will have a team of assassins in a few days time.".
Gu Shenwei stopped smiling and said, "No, this is the truth. Barren Sect will climb the Stone Castle tonight. I have a guess as to what their intentions are and I have come up with a solution. However, I need your help. No one else can help or save me except you.
Shangguan Ru liked to hear this. She was satisfied. She smirked while she stretched her hand out. She said, "Count on me. I won't let you die.".
Gu Shenwei held Shangguan Ru's hand and told her his plan. Shangguan Ru frowned and said, "If that's the case, you'll still be in a dangerous position.".
"Danger is lurking everywhere. I only need your promise."
Shangguan Ru had her lips tightly pursed and her nose moved slightly. Then, she clapped and said, "Sure.".
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