The Glory After Rebirth

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C367: A Fight

It happened in an instant.

Fang Quan suddenly launched himself at the Concubine Liu, produced a knife from somewhere about his person and abruptly stabbed it at the Ninth Prince who was in the Concubine Liu’s arms!

He did it so fast that nobody was able to stop him. When the Concubine Liu’s scream was heard, the Ninth Prince had already fallen to the ground, lying in a pool of blood. The ringleader kicked Fang Quan aside, whipped out his saber and held it to Fang Quan’s neck, a glacial look on his face.

“You’re not supposed to have done this, Your Lordship.”

Fang Quan’s teeth were chattering from the coldness of the blade against his neck. “You–You can’t kill me. I’m the Eighth Prince’s grandfather, and my life is worth something. You want to lose the part of the payment for my life?!”

The ringleader’s eyes went cold, the rippling muscles on his face making him look like a cacodemon. The Concubine Jin and the Eighth Prince both screeched with horror, flinching and curling up.

“My son! My son!” wailed the Concubine Liu, holding the Ninth Prince. “You’re scaring me, my son!”

All the others stood motionlessly, not daring to utter a word. The Concubine Liu’s shrill crying sounded exceptionally poignant in the wilds on this pitch-dark night.

The ringleader dealt Fang Quan a blow with the flat of his saber which knocked him out. Icy-faced, looking at the Ninth Prince’s body and the Concubine Liu who was still wailing, he instructed, “Gag her.”

Soon someone forced the Concubine Liu to stop crying. With a demented face, the Concubine Liu stared murderously at Fang Quan and the Concubine Jin, the look in her eyes so venomous as though she would eat them alive and drink their blood if she could.

At first the Concubine Jin was scared, but after a while, seeing that the ringleader was showing no inclination to kill Fang Quan and the Concubine Liu had been restrained, she became smug again. “It’s no good staring at me. This is your fate.”

The Concubine Liu struggled frantically and somehow she actually managed to free herself from her bonds and lunged towards the Concubine Jin and the Eighth Prince. The Concubine Jin immediately dodged aside, squawking, so anxious to save her own hide that she failed to notice that her son was glued to the spot. The Concubine Liu held the boy, jerked the pointed gold hairpin out of her bun and plunged it deep into the Eighth Prince’s chest.

“NOOOO!” yelled everybody nearby, but none of them was quick enough to stop the Concubine Liu who had suddenly put on a spurt.

“AAAAAAARGH! YOU BITCH! I’LL KILL YOU!” It was after seeing her son sink to the ground that the Concubine Jin came to herself and dived at the Concubine Liu.

The ringleader gave each of them a kick, sending them flying, his face so cold as though it were about to frost. Then he looked from the Eighth Prince’s dead body on the ground to the two women who were half dead from the kicks, a bloodthirsty expression flashing across his eyes. “What a double whammy. These two women ruined such a lucrative deal.”

“What should we do now, Chief?” a killer asked.

The ringleader’s eyes raked the Concubine Jin and the others who were still alive, and then he replied flintily, “It’s the two princes that our employer wants. The others are insignificant. Now that the most important goods were damaged, the others are naturally useless now. Kill them all and burn this place.”

“Yes, Chief,” answered the killer.

“No! Don’t kill me! I’m the Concubine Jin! I’m an imperial family member! You riff-raff! Don’t you dare kill me!” the Concubine Jin cried out in fright.