Hidden Shadow – CH 123

Chapter One-Hundred-Twenty-Three: The Little Shorty

Lou Mingyue said, “I’ve only heard my mother mention it once. It is said to be directly under the Emperor’s command.”

Outsiders at least knew the name of the Konghe Army, but this hidden force was unknown even to most members of the army. Lou Mingyue only received this information because she was the head of the Lou family.

“Heh.” Lou Mingyue gripped the jade in her hand, giving a self-deprecating laugh.

Lou Mingyue absolutely did not want to be a Dragon Martial Guard, because she disdained serving the Emperor. More importantly, she had only one purpose in joining the Konghe Army: to one day personally kill Yelu Huangwu. Who knew what the Dragon Martial Guard’s daily duties would entail?

“Let’s go; someone’s here,” An Jiu said.

Lou Mingyue responded and led An Jiu to the kitchen.

A fire still burned in the kitchen stove, but there was no one in sight. An Jiu was looking around when Lou Mingyue said, “There’s no ambush here, but food is limited, and some of it is poisonous. They would not intentionally poison it; they just used poisonous substances to cook it.”

A while ago, Qiu Yuntong had been relentlessly pursuing Lou Mingyue. With her strength, driving him away or even killing him would not have been a problem, but she had not. She wanted to learn from him every day when she came to get food; knowing more about poisonous substances would not hurt people like them.

An Jiu looked around the stove. There was porridge, pancakes, and various dishes, almost all of them stir-fried together with meat. An Jiu had dabbled in this when learning wilderness survival skills, but the plants in the Americas were different from those here. She might not even recognize these herbs whole, let alone cooked like this.

Without thinking, An Jiu broke open a pancake, sniffed it, and, finding nothing unusual, took seven or eight pieces.

Lou Mingyue had already picked out a few dishes, and turning back, she noticed that half of the pancakes on the table were gone. She could not help but smile and took the other half.

Eating dry food alone would not do. She needed something to drink, too. An Jiu’s gaze lingered between a pot of soup with an unidentified substance simmering inside and plain porridge, finally choosing the porridge.

“Wait.” Lou Mingyue stepped forward and sniffed. “This porridge has a sleeping potion in it. Let’s take the snake soup instead.”

An Jiu poked at the snake soup with her chopsticks. “The snake meat is too finely chopped; I cannot tell if it is poisonous.”

It was so finely chopped that it was impossible to tell what kind of snake it was, and the soup contained a lot of strange seasonings. An Jiu preferred simpler things.

“You two are here very early,” Qiu Yuntong said as he entered, his eyes lighting up when he saw the snake soup. “This is nourishing; if you do not want it, you can have it.”

Even if Qiu Yuntong said that, Lou Mingyue and An Jiu would not believe it was truly non-poisonous.

Lou Mingyue still had some water in her water pouch, enough to last until tomorrow, so she did not take the snake soup. An Jiu, however, took the white porridge, drawing frequent glances from Qiu Yuntong.

He knew perfectly well what was going on but did not say anything. An Jiu also observed everything.

The two of them quickly left the kitchen after collecting their things, returning to their residence along the same route.

“Let’s eat together,” Qiu Yuntong said, following them as they approached. “Eating alone in the dark is no fun.”

An Jiu ignored him, not pausing for a moment, and slipped into the house.

“I do not think it is more fun for two or three people to eat together in the dark!” Lou Mingyue retorted coldly, stepping inside.

Qiu Yuntong hesitated in the courtyard for a moment, holding the snake soup, then said to An Jiu’s house, “Lady Mei, let’s eat together.”

An Jiu did not have time to pay attention because she vaguely saw many more things on the table and cautiously approached. She then confirmed they were some daily necessities. She put down the porridge and looked through the items. There was a water pouch, two cloth bags, a tinderbox, a rope, a dagger, two sets of dark-colored close-fitting clothes, a cloak, a coat, two pairs of boots made of some unknown leather, and a quilt.

An Jiu measured them with her hands—they all fit her perfectly! The clothes and shoes were clearly hastily prepared; the instructor and Xu Zhi could not have done such a thing… She suddenly realized she had underestimated the unassuming Headmaster Sheng.

This made An Jiu even more cautious.

After tidying up her things, An Jiu sat down and ate some pancakes. Qiu Yunyu, perhaps finding it boring, left after a while.

“Fourteenth Young Lady, do you want some food?” Lou Mingyue called from outside the door.

“No, thank you.” She would not eat anything offered to her in this environment.

Lou Mingyue did not insist, taking the food and turning back to her room.

After finishing her meal in the darkness, An Jiu sat quietly, trying to sense her dantian.

Mo Sigui had worried a great deal about this, but to little avail. An Jiu only felt a void, like the chaos of heaven and earth.

After trying for a while, she gave up, wandered around the room for a bit, and then began to exercise. Since she could no longer have internal energy, she could only train this body.

About half an hour passed, and An Jiu was still doing push-ups. Just as she pushed herself up, she suddenly heard movement in the corridor. She stopped and listened intently.

“Lady Mei?” Qiu Yuntong called tentatively in a low voice from outside the window.

An Jiu simply rolled over on the floor, as light and silent as a cat, and slipped under the bed.

The door latch slowly loosened.

An Jiu pressed her dagger.

“What are you doing, sneaking around like that?” Lou Mingyue asked coldly.

Qiu Yuntong was startled, straightened up, and resumed his usual gentlemanly demeanor. “Ahem, I’ve come to visit Lady Mei.”

“Get out,” Lou Mingyue said.

“Second Young Lady Lou…”

His words were cut short by the long sword Lou Mingyue held to his neck. This was the difference in strength; Lou Mingyue could kill him as easily as crushing an ant.

“Calm down, I will leave, alright?” Qiu Yuntong pleaded cautiously.

Lou Mingyue withdrew her hand, and he immediately dodged.

An Jiu heard the footsteps recede and emerged from under the bed, slowly saying, “This man is skilled with poison. If he holds a grudge, his revenge will have endless consequences.”

Lou Mingyue was slightly surprised. “You did not drink the porridge?”

“No.” Actually, An Jiu had drunk a bowl, but here, even the slightest bit of concealment could be a chance of survival.

Lou Mingyue did not press her about why she had not drunk it, but continued the previous topic, “Indeed, a true gentleman would never do such a thing. Qiu Yuntong is most likely a grudge-holder, but…”

But unless absolutely necessary, she did not want to shed blood needlessly.

An Jiu fell silent. If she were in that situation, Qiu Yuntong would already be a corpse.

Actually, it was good to keep a bottom line in your heart…

Darkness and silence.

Outside, the sun rose and set.

An Jiu trained in the darkness, her clothes getting wet and dry countless times. After finishing her last sit-up, there was only an hour left before the assembly time. An Jiu dried herself off, put on her clothes, changed into new clothes and shoes, gathered her knee-length black hair into a bun, cut it into a shoulder-length style, and sat back down in her chair, wrapped herself in a blanket, and slept for a while.

When there was still time for about a cup of tea left, An Jiu opened her eyes precisely on time.

At that moment, there was a knock on the wall next door.

An Jiu put on her cloak and went out, heading to the training ground with Lou Mingyue.

When they reached the corner, they could already see the moonlight, and many people were gathering from both sides.

Thirteen people, all arrived at the training ground on time, standing in a row in front of the martial arts platform.

On the platform, three black-clad men stood.

All three were cloaked, but their figures were clearly distinguishable: the one on the left was tall and slender, the one on the right was burly, and the one in the middle… An Jiu glanced at the shockingly contorted curves and judged it to be either a woman’s or the effeminate man’s.

“Gentlemen,” the man in the middle spoke, confirming An Jiu’s guess. His affected voice belonged to the Instructor, “Having passed the initial trial of the Konghe Academy, you are practically half a member of the Konghe Army. However, this time is a little different. The Konghe Army has sent two secret envoys to oversee the training. Are you not happy?” The entire room fell silent.

“They are utterly unlikable!” The Earth Instructor remained unfazed, clapping lightly and shifting his body slightly towards the more burly assassin. His voice suddenly became a bit coquettish. “Everyone’s here. The two assassins can start choosing. Hmm, that little shorty over there is a new recruit from yesterday, so she does not count. The remaining twelve are just enough.”

An Jiu stared at his hand pointing at her, inwardly cursing: a primitive creature who could not distinguish male from female!

“I’ve already tested that one’s aptitude; she will follow me.” Gu Jinghong’s uniquely clear and melodious voice resonated clearly in everyone’s ears, calm yet undeniably authoritative.