At the third quarter of the *mao* hour, the twelfth drop of morning dew fell from the bronze clepsydra in the study of the Lu Mansion. Zhang Shun pushed open the door, cloaked in frost, and the agarwood ash seeping from the secret dispatches in his arms drifted silently onto the gray bricks. Jiang Wan unfolded the yellowed sheets of paper, where the four characters "Assassination at the Dragon Boat Banquet" were heavily circled in cinnabar, resembling bloodstains spattered on plain silk. Tapping her fingertips against the sandalwood table, the East Pearl on her silver hairpin swayed gently with her movement: "The Remnant Plum Pavilion is indeed making a desperate final struggle, actually choosing to strike at the Dragon Boat Banquet where the entire imperial family will gather."
Lu Jingyuan slammed the strategic map flat upon the desk, and his cinnabar brush came down heavily on the location of the Jingnan Marquis Mansion: "At the Dragon Boat Banquet, the Crown Prince, the Prince of Zhenbei, the Jingnan Marquis, and other nobles will all be in attendance. If they create chaos here, the Capital will surely plunge into turmoil." He turned his gaze toward Ren Yao, who was biting into a preserved fruit while toying with a soft whip: "Princess, when can the elite cavalry be in place?"
Ren Yao snapped her whip, shattering the candlewick, and twirled a gilded wine pot in her palm until it cast a silver gleam: "Two hundred elite cavalry have disguised themselves as a merchant carav…
Chapter 274