Chapter 29: Then I Have No Choice But to Force My Way In

"Golden Hammer, catch her!"

"At once, my lady."

Golden Hammer leaped into the air, using a nearby tree trunk to vault upward before executing a graceful mid-air turn to catch the woman Yun Zhaozhao had tossed onto the bank.

"My lady, she has fainted. What should we do now?"

"Lay her flat on the ground; let me take a look."

Xiaodao quickly examined the woman who had fallen into the water, then shook her head in disappointment. "My lady, she has no pulse."

Upon hearing this, the woman’s maid threw herself over the body, wailing in despair. "My lady, wake up, please wake up! If you leave me, I cannot go on living..."

Yun Zhaozhao stepped forward, pulled the maid aside, and knelt on one knee to perform chest compressions to expel the water.

The onlookers began to gossip and point. "Good heavens, what is she doing? This is utterly indecent."

"Exactly. She won't even let the dead rest in peace—how perverse."

"What kind of nonsense are you all spouting? Can't you see my lady is trying to save a life?" Golden Hammer shouted indignantly.

"Pah! She’s already dead; what is there to save? This is clearly desecration of a corpse," remarked a woman dressed like a governess from within the crowd.

The maid, hearing this, tried to push Yun Zhaozhao away, pleading, "The dead are to be respected. I beg you, please leave my lady alone and let her depart with some dignity..."

"Out of the way," Golden Hammer said, shoving her aside.

"Cough..."

The woman who had fallen into the water suddenly let out a soft cough and slowly began to regain consciousness.

"My goodness, she even brought a dead person back to life! Could she be a celestial being reincarnated?" The crowd looked at Yun Zhaozhao with a mixture of awe and expectation.

"I am no celestial being, and I have no power to resurrect the dead. She was merely holding her breath in a state of suspended animation." After saying this, Yun Zhaozhao ignored the crowd's reaction and said to Golden Hammer and Xiaodao, "Let's go."

However, she had barely taken a few steps when the woman’s tearful accusations rang out from behind her.

"Why did you save me? Why! My life is nothing but suffering—am I not even allowed to die?"

Yun Zhaozhao paused and said coldly, "My apologies; it was meddlesome of me. If you still wish to die, there is still time to jump back in."

"Yun Zhaozhao, why are you pretending to be a saint? If it weren't for you, would I have ended up like this? Don't think I'll be grateful just because you saved me. None of you are human—you are all devils!"

Indeed, the woman was none other than Miss Mei, who had slandered the Xiang sisters regarding the stolen hairpin at the palace banquet.

Yun Zhaozhao walked away, a faint, mocking smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

***

Indeed, there is always something detestable about the pathetic.

"My lady, I have found out the truth. The reason Miss Mei jumped into the river is that last night, Kong Yuling had her stripped of her clothes and dumped at the entrance of a brothel. Among the onlookers just now was Kong Yuling's wet nurse."

So that was it. The Kong woman was truly vicious.

In this situation, Miss Mei had only two paths: to be married off to some distant place or to spend the rest of her life in front of a flickering lamp and an ancient Buddha.

If she could treat her own lackey with such cruelty, one could only imagine what kind of deranged things Kong Yuling might do, given her hatred for the General's Mansion. It seemed it was time to contact her father.

"My lady, the Ruyi Workshop is causing a scene again," Golden Hammer said excitedly.

Yun Zhaozhao looked over; it was indeed the Ruyi Workshop. The one causing the ruckus at the door was a fair-skinned, handsome youth—one of her husband's cronies, the young Marquis Qin Tianbao.

"How about that? I told you all, Sixth Brother doesn't want to touch that shrew at all; there is no way he will ever consummate the marriage with her!"

"My lady, let me go and beat him to death!" Golden Hammer rolled up her sleeves, ready to rush forward, but Yun Zhaozhao held her back.

"Ignore him. Xiaodao, go check what the current betting odds are."

"My lady, are you... still not planning to consummate the marriage with your husband?" Xiaodao asked, hesitant.

"No rush."

She would wait until she could earn a bit more from the odds. When the time came, she would give the Ruyi Workshop a very big "surprise."

Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of a suspicious figure darting out from a nearby alley. The figure was clearly a woman. Even though she was shrouded in a black veil, she gave Yun Zhaozhao an inexplicably familiar feeling.

Just as she was about to follow and investigate, the voice of the Rebirth System echoed in her mind.

*[I have already told you, your primary task is to gain the Fourth Prince’s favor so you can ascend to the position of Empress in the future; nothing else matters. Once you become the noble and exalted Empress, killing Sheng Wanqing will be as easy as crushing an ant. There is no need to rush into hiring assassins!]*

*Tsk*, so that’s why she looked familiar. It was Sheng Hongfei!

*[You don't understand. If I don't kill Sheng Wanqing, I cannot sleep or eat in peace. Having lived a second life, I will never repeat the mistakes of my previous one.]*

*[You are simply incorrigible! It seems the intensity of the punishment was not enough...]*

*[Outside of the mission parameters, you have no right to interfere.]*

***

Yun Zhaozhao never expected that after only a few days, Sheng Hongfei would be this bold—daring to defy the system directly. Had the electric shock punishment malfunctioned?

Since she had just come from the alley and the system mentioned "hiring assassins," could that place be a base for a killer organization? Based on the direction Sheng Hongfei emerged from and her own prior reconnaissance of the three most likely entrance/exit points for the Ruyi Workshop's secret chambers, that alley was one of them.

It seemed necessary to pay a visit tonight.

As soon as the three of them returned to the Duke’s Mansion, they were intercepted.

"Sixth Mistress, the Duchess requests your presence."

They had sent people to block the main gate again; it was obvious this was about her going out today. Since that was the case, she might as well resolve it once and for all.

When Yun Zhaozhao arrived at the main courtyard, she found the Duke of Sheng there as well.

"Greetings, Father-in-law, Mother-in-law."

"Yun family girl, how dare you leave the mansion without permission! Do you have any regard for the rules of the Duke of Sheng’s mansion in your eyes?"

"Since you have asked, Mother-in-law, I will state this clearly once and for all. I grew up on the frontier; I cannot abide by the custom of never stepping out the door. If the Duke's mansion cannot grant me the freedom to come and go as I please, then I will force my way out. I suspect there is no one in this mansion capable of stopping me."

Lady Liang was so angry her heart ached. She pointed at Yun Zhaozhao’s back, choked with rage, and said, "Look at her, just look! Is it that I don't want to manage her? I don't know what sins I committed in my past life to end up with such a boorish, unfilial daughter-in-law!"

The Duke of Sheng furrowed his brows tightly, remaining silent.

At nightfall, Yun Zhaozhao blew a unique whistle into the night sky. A giant eagle descended from above, landing on her windowsill.

"Long time no see, Xiongba." Yun Zhaozhao stroked the eagle's head and fed it some treats. Then, she tucked a note she had prepared into the scroll on its leg.

"Go, deliver this to my father as quickly as you can."

Afterward, she changed into night-traveling clothes, leaped over the walls of the Duke’s mansion in a few fluid motions, and headed straight for the back alley of the Ruyi Workshop.

She had just crept inside when she heard a conversation that caught her by surprise.

"What is going on? How could Number 1 discover the existence of Number 2 and even find out we were hired to kill?"

"I don't know, but those watching from the shadows have noted that Number 1 has indeed been acting rather abnormally lately."

"Could it be... that *she* has awakened?"

The speaker's voice trembled with excitement. "This won't do. I must report this to the Master immediately. After all these years, we have finally waited for this day!"