Chapter 40: Probe

  Wang Wei rushed over with Hua Tuo, but Long Fei had already finished his task. Hua Tuo examined Dian Wei's wound: "Fortunately, the poison is not deep, and taking some antidote medicine will be fine!"

  Long Fei nodded slightly and fell to the ground. The crowd was shocked, and they discussed in hushed tones about how Long Fei had helped Diandi treat his wound. Hua Tuo listened with growing alarm, realizing that while this might save Diandi's life, it put himself in danger. On the other hand, if Long Fei hadn't taken such a risk, Diandi might have died from poisoning.

  When Long Fei woke up, it was still dark outside. Wang Jing was leaning against the bed, and when she saw Long Fei wake up, she was overjoyed. From her face, Long Fei could tell that she had cried a lot, and her eyes were swollen. Wang Wei and Zhao Yun, Dian Wei came in from the door, saw Long Fei woke up, and were also very excited. Dian Wei knelt down with a thud in front of Long Fei's bed: "Boss, you saved me, this life is yours from now on!" He knocked his head three times with a loud bang.

  Long Fei hastily lifted Tian Ye: "It was you who saved me first, so I can save you! What life is whose, your life is yours, we are all brothers, only talking about feelings and not discussing life matters!"

  Zhang Liao, Gao Shun, Hua Tuo, Huang Zhong, Xu Huang and others knew that Long Fei had woken up and rushed over in a hurry. Seeing that nothing serious had happened, everyone was naturally delighted. From Wang Yun's mouth, they learned that Long Fei had been poisoned indirectly and had been unconscious for three days and three nights. It was Hua Tuo who had pulled him back from the gates of hell. Long Fei thanked him repeatedly. When it came to the assassin, however, everyone had different opinions.

  Zhang Liao and Zhao Yun tended to be on the side of Yang Feng's people, who had come to avenge him and also to warn Long Fei not to mess with his own people again. Long Fei nodded: "Your judgment makes some sense, Dian Wei have you investigated, who brought this person?"

  Dian Wei shook his head: "I asked that night, they all said no!"

  "After such a big thing, who would admit it!" Wang Wei smiled and took out something from his pocket: "I checked the body of the assassin, there was nothing, but I found this in the belly of that person, it should be what he swallowed before making the assassination attempt!"

  Wang Wei's palm opened, and a small jade piece carved with dragon patterns appeared in front of everyone. Gao Shun, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, and Dian Wei had never seen it before. The rest of the people immediately guessed the murderer behind the scenes. Everyone looked at each other, and all lowered their heads. Zhang Liao hastily asked: "What's going on? What does this jade piece mean?"

  Long Fei nodded. Wang Wei then told the others about the Black Ice Table. This mysterious assassin organization was something that none of them had heard of before, and Long Fei had just happened to provoke them. They all lowered their heads in contemplation. Dian Wei saw that no one was speaking, so he loudly declared: "It's just a few assassins! With me, Old Dian, around, the boss will definitely be fine, you can all rest assured!"

  After two days of nursing, Long Fei's injuries had mostly recovered. For the past few days, Wang Qian had been inseparable from Long Fei's bedside, not even taking off her clothes or leaving his side for a moment. Looking at Wang Qian's busy figure, Long Fei couldn't help but think: Having such a wife, what more could he ask for in this life? He smiled slightly and called out to Wang Qian: "Qian'er, come here!" The couple leaned against each other, speaking softly. Soon, the topic turned to the assassin.

  "Since we've been targeted by Hei Bingtai, we can only fight it out with them and can't just sit around waiting to die."

  "What do you plan to do?"

  Long Fei smiled slightly and his hands began to get naughty again: "Take advantage of the situation, go straight for it!"

  "Sister!" Wang Wei burst in, just in time to see this scene. Long Fei's hand was still on Wang Qian's clothes. Wang Wei hastily covered his eyes and turned around: "I didn't see anything, didn't see anything! Hehehe! Didn't see anything at all!"

  "It's done, what can you do about it now?" Wang Qiang adjusted her clothes: "What's the matter? Come and say!"

  Wang Wei hehe smiled and turned his face, walking to the front of the two: "I went to Wang Yun's house to collect things today, guess who I saw?"

  "Who?" Long Fei and Wang Qian hastily asked.

  Wang Wei's round eyes rolled around: "I don't know either! There were over a dozen strangers drinking with Wang Yun, their accents from all corners of the country, and everyone was carrying swords. One middle-aged man dressed as a merchant, Wang Yun showed him special respect!"

  Long Fei thought for a moment: "I understand! Hei Bing Tai disguised himself as a businessman, on the one hand to gather information, and on the other hand to make money with money. Indeed, their organization is tight! Where are they now?"

  "You should still be drinking!"

  "Hurry up and get Second Brother, Dian Wei, and Taolong here! This time we're going to meet those Black Ice Pavilion people!" While speaking, he prepared to get out of bed. Wang Jian hastily helped Long Fei with his shoes and clothes.

  Wang Yun was overjoyed, his expensive move to deal with Dong Zhuo seemed to have paid off, as so many people came to help. He invited Cao Cao and some loyal Han officials to join in, and hosted a banquet for these people. The wine party was very lively, the leader of the assassins repeatedly expressed that they would definitely complete this task successfully. These loyal Han ministers were also overjoyed.

  Everyone was drinking happily, when the steward of the Situ Mansion hurried in, bypassing the crowd to come to Wang Yun's side, and whispered a few words into his ear. Wang Yun's face showed joy: "Ladies and gentlemen, another noble guest has arrived, please wait a moment, I will go to greet him!"

  The time was not long, and Wang Yun led Long Fei and a group of people into the hall. Seeing that it was Long Fei, the courtiers were first stunned, and in an instant, they had the intention to leave. Wang Yun smiled slightly: "Everyone, don't be nervous, Dragon Lieutenant is our man, he is a mole within Dong Zhuo's inner circle, regarding this matter, everyone must keep it strictly confidential!"

  Long Fei couldn't help but laugh at this, Wang Yun was really an idiot, how could he say such things in this setting. But he didn't have the mind to care about these things now, because his eyes had already locked onto the man sitting in the guest seat, a refined-looking, slightly chubby man dressed as a merchant. This person looked around thirty-five years old, with a smile all over his face, fair skin, and hands like a woman's. At first glance, it was clear that he had never done any hard labor since childhood. His entourage consisted of a dozen or so men in various attire, some were farmers, some were peddlers, some were scholars, and some were merchants. They were all different, but from their eyes, Long Fei could tell that these people's identities were not what they seemed to be.

  "Who are these people?" Long Fei looked at those people.

  Wang Yun smiled: "These are all heroic knights from the outskirts of Luoyang, they were invited by Mr. Zou to come and assist us!"

  "Zou Rong?" Long Fei took another two glances: "Xuzhou Zou Rong?" Long Fei knew that Zou Rong was not particularly famous, but rather it was his sister, Lady Zou, who was Liu Bei's wife, although this was not mentioned much in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. However, in other fantasies, this woman was a key figure.

  Mo Zhen didn't expect Long Fei to know him, and was somewhat surprised. He smiled wryly a few times, then chuckled: "General Long is indeed knowledgeable and experienced, I didn't think you'd even heard of my humble name, impressive!"

  Long Fei burst out laughing: "Mr. Zou has traveled thousands of miles from Xuzhou, all for this great righteousness, it's truly admirable!"

  King Yong let people bring in a few more tables and chairs, asking Long Fei and others to sit down, and the banquet continued. Soon, from the country's great disaster, it was said that Dong Zhuo was on his body. King Yong constantly flattered Cao Zhen's loyalty, Cao Zhen was extremely humble, and repeatedly polite. Long Fei's eyes scanned over the group of people beside Cao Zhen, and it could be seen that these people were all extraordinary, each one a top-notch master.

  Zhao Yun leaned in close to Long Fei's ear: "Big brother, are you sure they're all from Hei Bing Tai?"

  Long Fei nodded: "Look, what's that on Mo Zhen's waist?" Zhao Yun hurriedly took a closer look. On Mo Zhen's waist, amidst the subtle movements, there was a jade pendant, crystal clear and round. As Mo Zhen moved his body, the faint outline of a dragon pattern carved on the pendant could be seen, and the style of the dragon pattern was very similar to that of Wang Qian's, except this one was much larger.

  Long Fei raised his wine cup and walked to the front of Mang Zhong, with a slight smile: "Mr. Mang, I recently heard a story from an old friend, I don't know if it's true or not, can I ask you to judge?"

  "Long Xiao Wei requests your lecture!"

  Long Fei nodded: "Legend has it that during Qin Xiao Gong's time, Princess Ying Yu..."

  "General Long! Today we are here to entertain a few heroes and discuss important matters. The stories, however, are mostly false and not worth believing!" Cao Cao suddenly stopped Long Fei from continuing to speak.

  Long Fei turned his head and glanced at Cao Cao: "Lord Cao only heard one sentence, how do you know it's fake? Maybe it's true? Mr. Mang, what do you think?"

  Mo Zhi smiled slightly: "I'm just a humble scholar, merely a merchant, I naturally wouldn't know about such things. If General Long wants to investigate the truth, why not ask Minister Wang and the other esteemed gentlemen present? They are all erudite scholars!"

  "Haha, Mr. Mang said it extremely well! Lord Cao, what do you think?"

  Cao Cao sat down with a face full of anger and drank wine. Long Fei regained his composure, this time he went straight to the point: "Have you all heard of Hei Bingtai?"

  As soon as this was said, the so-called heroes opposite him were shocked all over their bodies. Some had already secretly grasped the hilt of their swords. Zou Zhan hurriedly swept his gaze over them. Although all this was done extremely covertly, it still did not escape Long Fei's eyes. Wang Yun furrowed his brow: "I have seen in the classics that it is said to be a secret organization of Qin State, which has been passed down until the time of Emperor Wang Mang's chaotic reign, and later Emperor Guangwu disbanded it. How did Dragon Camp know?"

  Long Fei said: "To be honest with you, I..."

  "General Long, stop while you still can!" Cao Cao intervened again: "Many things are fine as long as one understands them oneself, no need to say them out loud!" After saying this, Cao Cao stood up and walked out. Mi Zhu also hastily stood up and bid farewell, leading his men to rush out the door. Long Fei gave Wang Wei a signal with his eyes, and Wang Wei retreated into the shadows.

  The main guest's departure made the banquet dull. The ministers also bid farewell one after another, only Long Fei did not leave. Wang Yun asked curiously: "What does General Long want to say?"

  Long Fei shook his head: "I don't want to say anything, just to confirm a guess. In the future, it's better for adults to stay away from that Cao Cao, otherwise..." Before Wang Yun could ask again, Long Fei led his men out of the Imperial Tutor's mansion.