Prince Eighth's birthday party officially began in the evening.
Everyone was invited to the backyard, where many round tables were set up on the open space next to the pond, laden with sumptuous food. The guests took their seats in turn, with the prince and his three wives sitting in the main seats.
Rumor has it that the prince is fond of beautiful women, and these three ladies are indeed all unique. Madam Yun is dignified and elegant, Madam Qing is bright and beautiful, and Madam Han is delicate and gentle. Surrounded by beauties, the prince has a big smile on his face and looks to be in a great mood.
Great Qi State has an open-minded culture, so there is no rule that women cannot show their faces. All three wives have arrived, but the four daughters have not yet appeared. Perhaps they are preparing congratulatory gifts for the prince.
Shao Qingge and the distinguished guests from the Lin family sat at the same table.
Lin Shaobo, the eldest son of the Lin family, sat next to him. Today, this young master Lin hadn't been drinking. Compared to the reeking drunken playboy he'd met at Tianxiang Tower the day before yesterday, the serious young master Lin was quite handsome. He was engaged to the eldest daughter and would be getting married next month. As the prince's son-in-law, he naturally had to attend his father-in-law's birthday celebration. The congratulatory gift he brought on behalf of the Lin family was quite substantial, consisting of several boxes.
Lin Shaobo glanced at Shao Qingge, calmly lowered his head to drink his tea, and pretended not to know him.
Shao Qingge also gave him face and didn't mention Tianxiang Tower.
Amidst the clinking of glasses and lively conversation, the Prince's mansion was truly bustling with activity tonight.
After a few rounds of drinks, the performance began. The girls from Tianxiang Tower were invited up, and after a graceful dance, the owner, Aunt Qing, smiled and said, "The next performance is a brand-new sword dance specially trained by Tianxiang Tower to celebrate the prince's birthday!"
Shao Qingge noticed with his sharp eyes that Ye Qi had also made an appearance.
Tonight, Miss Ye changed her outfit, wearing a bright red floor-length dress embroidered with gold thread, and her hair was adorned with many pearl hairpins, which shone brightly in the candlelight.
When the glamorous top star of Tianxiang Tower appeared, Shao Qingge almost choked on his food.
It's fine to dress festively for a birthday banquet, but is it really necessary to be this overly festive? Wearing a veil on your head, you could practically be getting married.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang were also trying hard to hold back their laughter—poor Ye Qi, this embarrassing history of dressing up as a woman will probably be remembered by everyone.
Qu Wanyue, seeing Ye Qi dressed like this for the first time, almost choked. She quickly covered her face with her sleeve and pretended to calmly drink her tea. Ninth Princess, however, asked with interest, "This young lady is very beautiful. What is Tianxiang Tower?"
Qu Wanyue forced herself to remain calm and explained in a low voice, "It's the largest dance hall in Jiangzhou. The women here sell their talents, not their bodies."
Princess Ninth pondered: "They're going to perform a sword dance, right? I remember you can do it too. I wonder if their sword dance is as beautiful as yours?"
Qu Wanyue smiled and said, "Your Highness is too kind. I only know a little bit."
As the two were chatting, music started playing on Ye Qi's end.
Today, he was in charge of accompanying the music with the pipa. There were two beautiful women playing harmonies beside him. The three of them sat in the pavilion. As the melodious music started, five women dressed in red dresses, holding long swords, danced gracefully in the open space.
Seeing them draw their swords at the same time, the guards of the Prince's mansion immediately stepped in front of the Prince.
Eighth Prince smiled and waved his hand: "Everyone, step back. It's just a sword dance for entertainment."
The guards then withdrew, all staring nervously at the woman wielding the sword, fearing that the tip of the sword might accidentally pierce them.
All five women wore red veils. Their sword dance was graceful and swift; each swing of their longswords was as fluid and controlled as a snake emerging from its hole. Moreover, their movements were perfectly synchronized with the music, clearly indicating extensive training.
The melody played by Ye Qi gradually changed from melodious and gentle to rapid and passionate, like a waterfall cascading down and stirring up thousands of waves.
The five women's dance gradually improved, their movements becoming faster and faster, and the five swords were wielded into a beautiful display of sword flowers, dazzling the guests.
Prince Eighth led the applause, and the guests followed suit.
Amidst enthusiastic applause, the formation instantly dispersed, and the four women suddenly leaped into the air. The four women converged at the center of the arena from the east, south, west, and north directions, and the tips of the four swords met accurately at one point with a "whoosh"!
The remaining woman leaped into the air, her toes barely touching the water, landing precisely at the intersection of the four swords. She stood on one leg, suspended in mid-air, striking an elegant "white crane spreading its wings" pose.
"Bravo!" The applause around them grew even louder.
The sword dance performed by the five people was truly an eye-opener for the guests.
However, Xiao Lou clenched her fingers nervously, a sense of unease rising in her heart.
Those five swords reminded him of the assassin from the early hours of the day before yesterday. They were long swords with no obvious features, the tips of which were coated with deadly poison. They had slashed Yu Hanjiang's back, and just thinking about the wound made Xiao Lou shudder.
It's normal for high-ranking officials and nobles to hire dancers for their birthdays, but sword dances... Xiao Lou always felt they were a bit unlucky.
Suddenly, he met a pair of eyes.
The woman, who was posing in mid-air like a white crane spreading its wings, suddenly turned icy cold. She stomped her feet hard and, with the help of the elasticity of the four swords, shot out like an arrow, flying fiercely towards the prince!
The sharp tip of the sword pierced straight towards the prince's chest!
Madam Yun was terrified: "Assassins! Quick, protect the prince!"
Despite shouting those words, she was quicker than anyone else to hide, immediately slipping behind a guard.
The other two ladies were also stunned and stood there in shock.
The prince remained calm. Just as the woman's sword was about to pierce his chest, he suddenly slammed his hand over the wine vessels on the table, grabbed a silver bowl, and precisely covered the sword with it. With a swift movement of his right hand—
The force of his arm sent the woman's longsword flying in an instant!
A gasp of surprise rippled through the guests.
The woman dropped her weapon and immediately pulled out the sharp hairpin from her hair, aiming it at the prince's throat!
The two fought fiercely, the woman's moves were ruthless, but the prince handled them with ease. No one expected the prince to be so skilled in martial arts.
Several guards rushed over and surrounded the woman. Seeing that her assassination attempt had failed, the woman left a cold look, leaped onto the roof like a flying goose, and disappeared into the night in the blink of an eye.
The prince coldly ordered, "Chase them!"
Several guards immediately flew onto the roof to chase the assassin, and the banquet became chaotic. Ye Qi, who was playing the zither, was also a little confused - he never expected that an assassin would appear in Tianxiang Tower and attempt to assassinate the prince in public!
The prince's face was very grim, and he immediately summoned the owner of Tianxiang Tower to speak.
Aunt Qing was so frightened that her legs went weak, and she knelt down in front of the prince with a thud: "Your Highness, spare me! It has nothing to do with me. I don't know that woman. Really... none of the girls in Tianxiang Tower know martial arts!"
The other four women performing the sword dance also dropped their swords and knelt down side by side, trembling.
Ye Qi and the two people playing in the distance had no choice but to kneel down in the pavilion.
Ye Qi was incredibly frustrated—who could be more unlucky than him? He was inexplicably thrown into Tianxiang Tower as the top performer after arriving in this world, and then an assassin appeared in the party on the day of the prince's birthday banquet, and they were all going to be implicated.
In ancient times, assassinating a prince was a capital offense!
The assassin was mixed in with the song and dance troupe of Tianxiang Tower. Tianxiang Tower couldn't sever ties with him. If he encountered an unreasonable prince who simply ordered them all to be dragged away and executed, wouldn't he be very wronged?
Or, we could wait and see what happens, and just use the teleportation card to run away?
Ye Qi was struggling with his decision when, in the next moment, he heard the prince calmly say, "There was actually someone in Jiangzhou City who dared to assassinate me in public. Lord Yu, you must investigate this matter thoroughly and give me an explanation."
The case was actually transferred to Yu Hanjiang?
Ye Qi was taken aback, but quickly became happy. It would be great to hand it over to Lord Yu; at least he wouldn't have to suffer any physical pain.
Yu Hanjiang immediately stepped forward: "Yes, Your Highness, I will do my utmost." He glanced at the entire room and said coldly, "Guards, take all the girls from Tianxiang Tower to the prison for trial!"
A group of guards and constables rushed up and took away all the Tianxiang Tower personnel present.
Xiao Lou never expected things to develop this way.
He had always assumed the Prince's mansion was rife with intrigue, and that something might have happened to one of the young ladies or wives. He never imagined that someone would attempt an assassination in public at the Prince's birthday banquet, and that the Prince would even transfer the case to the Prefect of Jiangzhou … Is this the case from Red Heart 8? Is this the investigation into the assassin organization?
Xiao Lou's intuition told her it wasn't that simple.
He thought about it carefully, and all he remembered about the assassin was that she was a woman, dressed in red, about 1.7 meters tall, with a cold gaze, and her features were hard to discern because her face was covered by a veil.
How can I find someone in this vast sea of people?
Just then, a scream rang out from afar: "Ah—something terrible has happened!"
It was the maid's voice.
Yu Hanjiang immediately looked in that direction, and the prince also frowned, asking in a deep voice, "What happened?"
A maid rushed over in a panic, stumbling and clearly terrified, her voice trembling uncontrollably: "Your Highness, the eldest young lady... the eldest young lady..."
Upon hearing her daughter's question, Madam Yun's expression changed drastically: "What's wrong, Miss?"
The maid knelt down, weeping, "The young lady hanged herself in the tree in the backyard!"
Xiao Lou: "..."
Miss? Is she the girl he met that afternoon, the one chanting sutras while striking a wooden fish in the Buddhist Hall?!
Xiao Lou never expected that it would be her who died!
The woman's assassination attempt on the prince had drawn everyone's attention to him, causing chaos at the banquet. As it turned out, the prince was unharmed, but the young lady was injured in the confusion.
Hanging himself?
How could a princess from a royal family commit suicide by hanging herself?
Xiao Lou's gaze swept quickly across the entire room.
Young Master Lin, to whom she was engaged, was not present, nor were Second Miss, Third Miss, and Fourth Miss.
Xiao Lou and Yu Hanjiang exchanged a glance, and simultaneously conveyed to each other with their eyes: "It's murder."