Consort of a Thousand Faces

The attention of the two guards were focused on the steam rising from the huge cauldron, and neither of them noticed the pair of gleaming eyes in the window.

Seeing as how she didn’t plan on staying here much longer, Su Xi-er decided to ignore them, stealthily stepping away after a final look at the cauldron.

However, the compound was quite large, and she found herself returning to the same courtyard after walking for quite some time. How could such a maze-like structure exist in Beimin’s capital city? It’s fishy that such a large area could go undetected, even more so when Situ Li is housing sishi here.

All of a sudden, Su Xi-er heard footsteps from around the corner in front of her.
Sneaking into the bushes on the side of the path, she watched as an important looking man stepped out while shouting orders.

“Princess Consort Hao has disappeared! Split up and search for her, quickly! There’s no way she could have escaped this maze-like place so quickly!” It was apparent by the demeanour of the other guards that this man was a commander, and someone who should be rather important to Situ Li.

The other guards answered in acknowledgement, while the two guards who were taking care of the cauldron earlier asked, “Are we going to throw her into the cauldron immediately after we find her?”

“We’ll ask the master later, but we can’t rashly decide on anything on our own anyways.
What’s important now is that we find her! The two of you should go back to the cauldron and make sure that nothing goes wrong!” The commander chided them.

The two guards bowed and answered, “This subordinate obeys the order.” before leaving hurriedly.

The commander of the guards frowned. Our master’s plan will be foiled if we’re unable to locate Princess Consort Hao within two hours!

Su Xi-er remained hidden in the bushes thinking about what to do next.
The compound was crawling with guards, and it would be too easy for her to get caught with how little she knew about the area. Maybe I should just destroy the cauldron instead? Then their plans would fail regardless of if they find me or not.

Deciding that this would be a more secure plan, she picked up a few pebbles from the ground and headed back to the room with the cauldron.
There, she found the two guards on high alert.
One remained inside the room and watched the cauldron, while the other stood outside with one hand on his sword, ready to draw it at the first sign of disturbance.

Su Xi-er flicked a tiny pebble and hit the guard’s sword, prompting his gaze to flick towards the bushes as he shouted, “Who’s there! Come out!”

He slowly made his way over with his blade drawn.
Su Xi-er purposely rustled the branches of the bushes, and the guard once again shouted, “Come out, or else I’ll kill you!

Before he could do anything else however, he felt something strike his knees and the base of his neck, causing his legs to go weak. 

“Who’s there!” He yelled as he whipped around, but felt another strike to his wrist before his sword fell from his hands.
After finally turning around, a solid kick to his rear end had him face first in the dirt. 

Before he could catch a glimpse of his assaulter, he first saw the glint of his own sword being held under his chin.

The bright moonlight shone on Su Xi-er’s face through the scattered leaves, the shadows covering her face and giving her a dangerous look.

What! A woman! I’m a sishi who’s not afraid of anything! I can do anything for my master, but there’s something off about this woman.