The moon hung high, its silver light spilling across the courtyard as the final notes of music faded into the night. Laughter lingered like a sweet aftertaste, but the wine had loosened tongues, and even the most composed of nobles had begun to shrug off their formalities. Collars were loosened, and clusters of guests drifted toward games and the rich, sugar-sweet pastries that decorated the tables. Lanterns ascended into the night sky like glowing fish, their soft glow rising higher, seemingly swimming toward the stars.
Yet, beneath this revelry, beneath the soft murmur of conversation and the delicate rustling of silk, something shifted. Something unseen—unheard—began to thread its way through the night's festivities. It was as if the air itself had grown heavier, the laughter tinged with something quieter, more dangerous. And, amid the brightness, a shadow lingered—faint but unmistakable.
It was subtle at first. A shadow that lingered a little too long. A servant who moved with steps too silent. A breeze that did not stir the hanging lanterns in one corner of the courtyard.
Mu Lian felt it before she saw it.
She stood near one of the courtyard's colonnades, speaking politely with a pair of officials' wives, offering nods and smiles where needed. Her shoulder still ached faintly from training two days prior, but it wasn't pain that stiffened her spine. It was memory. The prickling awareness that something had shifted.
She scanned the edges of the courtyard. Nothing.
But she remembered that kind of nothing. The kind that meant someone had hidden it very well.
Across the courtyard, Gu Yan Chen was finishing a conversation with the Minister of Rites. His gaze was distracted. Not out of boredom—no, his fingers tapped against his hip in a steady rhythm. Alert. Calculating.
Something had tipped him off, too.
They caught each other's eyes, and though no words passed, Mu Lian felt the silent message settle between them: Ready yourself.
The Gu Estate was vast. Its many wings and gardens stretched out like a miniature city, and though guards stood at every key corridor, there were always blind spots. Always ways in.
In one such shadowed passage behind the eastern wing, three figures slipped past a servant door. Clad in robes black as burned silk, they moved with the elegance of water spiders.
Three assassins. Silent. Precise.
Their orders were clear: create a diversion, strike at the target while the estate was relaxed, escape before full alarm.
Their blades had been dipped in the venom of southern marsh vipers. One cut, even a scratch, and the victim would die gasping.
They split paths. One ascended a servant's stairwell to the rooftops. Another slid along the koi pond path. The last moved into the corridor closest to the northern courtyard—where Gu Yan Chen was expected to pass as the final lanterns were released.
They did not expect resistance.
They certainly did not expect Mu Lian.
She had seen the first one crouching behind the garden rock. Only a flicker of movement—too fluid to be coincidence.
Mu Lian didn't cry out.
Instead, she slipped away from her companions with a muttered apology and made her way to the second-floor balcony. From there, she could see the layout. And that's when she spotted the other two.
Her breath caught. Not in fear, but fury. It had been years since she had seen that kind of discipline, that kind of coordinated stalking. These weren't bandits. These were trained killers.
She scanned for Gu Yan Chen.
There. Standing near the peach blossom tree, isolated, talking to a visiting general.
She didn't hesitate.
Mu Lian spun and darted down the servants' stairs, her slippered feet soundless on the wood. She crossed the courtyard in a flash of pink silk, snatching a guard's polearm mid-stride.
"To arms!" she shouted, voice ringing like steel. "Protect the Young Master!"
Gasps. Motion. Confusion erupted.
Gu Yan Chen turned, eyes narrowing. He saw the blur of movement, the figure leaping from the koi pond path, blade gleaming.
Before he could draw, Mu Lian was between them.
Her polearm struck the attacker's elbow. The crack was audible. The man hissed and reeled, but she pressed forward.
He raised his blade again—too slow.
A throwing knife whistled through the air, buried itself in his throat.
Gu Yan Chen lowered his hand from the throwing motion. "Second one," Mu Lian snapped.
He turned just in time to see the next assassin darting from the roof.
Everything happened at once.
Guards shouted. Steel rang.
The third assassin dropped like a hawk toward Gu Yan Chen's back.
Mu Lian lunged, shoving the heir aside. The blade meant for his spine sliced across her shoulder. She gritted her teeth, spun, staff raised despite the blood now dripping from her sleeve.
Gu Yan Chen's sword flashed. The final assassin fell with a soft grunt.
In the aftermath, the courtyard lay still, as though the world had forgotten its breath. Lanterns flickered, their soft glow muted in the sudden quiet. The once-celebratory atmosphere now felt distant, unreal, as blood stained the stones beneath the weight of what had just transpired.
Mu Lian stood at the center of it all, pale and breathless, her arm slick with crimson, her chest rising and falling with each strained breath.
"You..." Gu Yan Chen's voice was quiet, edged with something hard to place. "I owe you more than thanks."
She shook her head, her expression unreadable, her movements careful as she wiped her hand across her brow. "Don't worry."
The servants and guards had gathered, their faces pale, their eyes wide with shock. The guests, too, were ushered away, their voices hushed, their celebrations forgotten in an instant.
Gu Yan Chen's gaze swept over the fallen assassins, their lives extinguished in an instant. His eyes then shifted to Mu Lian, lingering on her with a weight of thought that lingered longer than the action that had just unfolded.
"Bring her to the doctor," he ordered, his voice firm, though beneath it, a trace of something deeper remained.
Without another word, he turned and left the scene, his movements as purposeful as always. But later that night, when the moon had risen and the house had returned to a fragile quiet, a single peach blossom was found at Mu Lian's door.
Neither of them spoke of it.