Chapter 70
WU DU LOOKED OVER the gifts. There were thirty-six bars of gold bullion on the platter, each worth two taels of gold, making up seventy-two taels in total. The lapis lazuli chunks were the size of half a palm. The Central Plains didn’t produce lapis lazuli—it had to be imported via the Silk Road, which made it astonishingly precious. Grinding even a tiny piece from this stone would create valuable pigment, and a chunk this size could be sold for almost a hundred taels of silver.
Duan Ling covered the gifts with a cloth. “I’ll return all these,” he said in a small, guilty voice.
Wu Du’s answering scoff was heavy with disdain.
An idea struck Duan Ling. “Here’s a thought: How about you go do your business tonight while I meet with him? Helan Jie wouldn’t dare try and capture me in front of the Tanguts, right?”
“Meet him, my ass!” Wu Du exclaimed, raising a hand in anger.
Duan Ling scrunched his eyes shut and flinched away on reflex. But when the anticipated smack never came, he emboldened himself and said quietly, “Just this once. I’ll use it as a chance to return everything and give him a talking to. You’ve got your work to do—if you miss this opportunity and the Tanguts leave, it’ll be much harder to act.”
Wu Du hesitated for a moment, but then a thought seemed to occur to him. The smirk that appeared on his face surely spelled trouble. “Sure. You should go,” he said.
The change in his mood baffled Duan Ling.
“Go on. I agree with your suggestion. When are you heading over there?” Wu Du asked.
“Actually maybe I shouldn’t. Forget it,” Duan Ling said, quickly backtracking.
“Don’t worry about me. If you want to go, I won’t stop you,” Wu Du said. When Duan Ling still looked doubtful, as if suspecting sarcasm, he added irritably: “Master Wu is a man of his word—why would I lie to you? It’s not as if someone’s giving me candy for it.”
This new agreeableness made Duan Ling even more wary. “I should try to gather information from them at some point, right?” he tried to explain. “Didn’t Mister Fei say as much? And after you steal the evidence, you’re going to take care of Helan Jie and Bian Lingbai, so…”
“I said go,” Wu Du repeated, his tone entirely earnest. “I really won’t stop you.”
Duan Ling still felt this had to be a trick—why was Wu Du acting like a different person all of a sudden? Just to be sure, he confirmed one more time, “I’ll go, then?”
Wu Du made a shooing gesture—go.
“Not now. I’ll go in a bit,” said Duan Ling. “When night falls, you do your thing and I’ll do mine.”
Wu Du simply nodded. No further words were exchanged; they sat in an awkward and thickening silence. Some time later, apparently having learned Duan Ling had fallen ill, Bian Lingbai sent someone to ask after his welfare; they reassured the attendant and sent him away.
When night came at last, Wu Du produced a set of black clothes from a hidden compartment in his chest and changed.
Wu Du had a striking figure: tall and long-limbed, with broad shoulders that tapered into a narrow, toned waist. After donning his form-fitting assassin’s garb, he was a sight to behold, the trim lines of his body complemented by his handsome, sculpted face.
“I can’t believe you brought these clothes,” Duan Ling commented, kneeling to tie Wu Du’s black bootstraps for him.
“How else am I supposed to hunt for evidence?” Wu Du asked.
He retrieved a finely crafted thumb ring from the same hidden compartment, slipping it onto his finger and pressing down to test its concealed mechanism. A small well clicked open at his touch, filled with poison powder. This was Duan Ling’s first time seeing Wu Du’s tools of the trade. Wu Du handed Duan Ling a length of black cloth and tilted his head: a silent gesture for Duan Ling to help him tie it over his face while he continued preparing.
An awkward silence hung in the room as Duan Ling fumbled with the cloth until, exasperated, Wu Du barked: “Are you trying to blindfold me so I can play hide-and-seek?!”
Duan Ling quickly tugged the mask down a little to reveal Wu Du’s eyes as Wu Du pinned four darts to his belt.
“Aren’t you taking your sword?” Duan Ling asked.
Wu Du waved a hand, glancing at himself in the mirror. “Am I recognizable?”
With that body? Duan Ling thought. Who wouldn’t recognize you? You’d stand out from any crowd.
Seeing Duan Ling’s thoughts written across his face, Wu Du scoffed. “You’re used to seeing me; of course you can tell.”
Then why’d you ask? Duan Ling thought with a huff. But Wu Du’s earlier irritation had seemingly subsided, and he didn’t sound sarcastic now either.
“Go on, then.” Wu Du shooed him off.
Duan Ling had thought to tell Wu Du to be careful, but as no one in the manor was any match for him, there wasn’t much of a point. As Duan Ling pushed his way out the door and strode into the courtyard, a blur of a shadow darted past—and with that, Wu Du was gone.
“Off so quick, huh?” Duan Ling muttered. He looked around the yard and expelled a heavy sigh. It already felt weird not having Wu Du around.
Wu Du’s voice rang out from the shadows: “What’re you standing around for? Go!”
Wordlessly, Duan Ling looked up and spotted Wu Du perched lazily on the eaves with his arms dangling over his knees, putting Duan Ling in mind of a big black cat.
“Don’t worry about me,” Duan Ling said.
“I’ll only follow you for a short stretch,” Wu Du said, impatient. “What if that cripple is waiting for you on your way? Now hurry up.”
Duan Ling obediently set off. He honestly wanted to go hunt for evidence with Wu Du; it would likely be much more fun than meeting with an old flame, or whatever Wu Du was imagining. But of course, business came first… Duan Ling’s thoughts wandered as he walked, his surroundings silent save for the quiet rustle of the breeze. Yet even without looking, he sensed Wu Du shadowing him from the eaves above, flitting silently between rooftops, sometimes on his left and sometimes on his right.
“What’re you peering around for?” Wu Du hurled a pebble at Duan Ling that landed just inside his collar; Duan Ling hastily shook it loose. Keeping his eyes forward, he walked down the long corridor.
“Helan Jie isn’t lurking around,” Duan Ling said.
“Lucky for him,” Wu Du said, casually hopping down. “It’s a perfectly dark night with a good breeze; I was itching to throw a dart at him.”
Upon Duan Ling’s arrival at the guest courtyard, his knock was answered by a Tangut attendant who promptly opened the gate and welcomed him inside. Duan Ling could still sense Wu Du hiding in the dark, keeping a keen eye on him until the attendant guided him safely inside.
He found Helian Bo talking excitedly with Shang Leguan, despite his stammers and awkward phrasings. Once Duan Ling had made entirely sure no one else was around, he finally broke into a grin and called out to his old friend.
“Helian,” he said.