Xuelei, Tears of Blood

Chapter 5 - Mission Complete

The next few days were horrible. They were worked to the bone with little rest and little food. Their overseer was a lazy man and left everything to his over worked assistant. The assistant was too busy doing both his job and the overseer's job to notice anything amiss.

He had to plan everyone's work and ensure the grounds were orderly and well kept. He checked that there was enough fire wood to warm the mansion and the stoves in the kitchen. The fields had to be worked and he too pitched in, all hands were needed before winter set in.

Every evening he ate with the overseer and reported the day's work. He left the workers to their seniors. He was not aware of the abuse the male servants were subjected to. The female servants were doing just fine.

The time was not wasted though, Xuelei found out the information that he needed. The servants gossiped about everything, from what happened outside the mansion's walls to what happen in the bedrooms. It seemed Master Tian had quite a huge appetite for pretty girls. Some of the prettier maids had also fallen victim to his lust. Madame Tian turned a blind eye, she had three grown sons and was living in comfort and luxury. She would not do anything to upset her position in the house.

The Tian family had three male heirs. The eldest was a quiet scholar who preferred reading and music. The second was active in sports and loved hunting. The third was scheming and spiteful. He craved power. He never had a good word to say about anyone and made the servants miserable. Unfortunately, he was also the Madame's favourite son. He could do no wrong in her eyes.

It would be easy to eliminate the eldest son. He was no fighter, but to pin the murder on the second son, it seemed wrong. It was probably the third son's scheming. It was a brilliant move, kill two birds with one stone. Get rid of both his brothers, one dead and the other disgraced. He would inherit the family's fortunes.

Xuelei shook his head, he hated politics of any kind. Still, a job was a job. It was not his place to ask questions, only to carry out orders. He probably did not know of other issues the family were having, who was he to judge who was right and who was wrong. All he knew was that he was growing tired of manual labour and getting beaten every day. He would make his move that night.

When darkness had enveloped the mansion, Xuelei opened his eyes. He knew the various guards' nightly routes. The time they would start, how long it would take each one to walk the paths and when they would end their rounds. He knew their schedules, routines and who was on guard duty that night. He was ready.

Amazingly, there were only five security routes. Insufficient for a mansion of this size, by his professional opinion, but hey, he was not in charge of security. Each route was walked every hour and had three guards on each shift who took turns. Most of the time, they were on time. He had studied each guard and noted each one's habits. Even taking a smoke en route would affect the timing of his planned 'exposure'.

The young assassin had infiltrated the Tian household, done a week's worth of observation to get valuable information, make plans and double check that it will work. He allowed himself a smile, the 'witness' would be the hourly guard. He would have to time the murder and 'escape'.

A young couple he knew was going to have a tryst at a gazebo near the first son's rooms that night. He had heard the gossip from two giggling maids that afternoon. The couple was going to be his back-up 'witnesses'. He was not going to fail in the task just because a lone guard missed seeing the fleeing assassin.

Xuelei listened carefully, snoring sounds and deep breathing was all he heard. Someone muttered in his sleep and turned to find a more comfortable position. All was normal, everyone was fast asleep. They should be, they were all exhausted.