In the darkness, Yunyi revealed a bitter smile. It seemed that this time… she would truly die in Honghua Commandery.

She looked up at the starry night sky. She remembered when she was little, her mother would often hold her while sitting in the palace courtyard, pointing at the starlit sky and telling her all kinds of stories about immortals and ghosts. She never tired of listening and would pester her mother to tell them over and over again.

Mother, your daughter misses you so much…

And Father Emperor, I’m sorry. Your daughter cannot help you pacify the realm. I hope that in the future you will understand the people’s suffering and create an immortal foundation, so that people of all generations will remember your name and achievements!

Besides Yang Guang, there was another person Yunyi couldn’t let go of—Wu Laosan. She wondered how he was now, whether the Li family had made things difficult for him.

The more Yunyi thought about it, the more worried she became. After much deliberation, she gritted her teeth and headed toward the Wu family home under cover of darkness. She knew that with Li Shimin’s shrewdness, he would surely have defenses set up around the Wu family. But… if she truly couldn’t escape Honghua Commandery, at least she wanted to see with her own eyes that Wu Laosan was safe.

While Yunyi was quietly making her way to the Wu family home, messages from all parts of the commandery were constantly being delivered to the Li family, including the incident of an extra woman suddenly appearing in the bridal sedan of that wedding family.

After dismissing the messenger, Li Yuan said in a deep voice, “So Wu Meixue is currently within Honghua Commandery?”

Though it was already late at night, the county magistrates of several major counties within the commandery were still present, including County Magistrate Qin. He bowed and said, “The entire city is now under martial law. Even with wings, she couldn’t escape.”

Amid the agreement of the other county magistrates, Li Yuan frowned and said, “This woman is full of cunning schemes—we must not be careless. Before, we all thought she had escaped, but she had been lurking in the residence all along, successively harming Jiancheng and his brothers, and finally causing Xuanba’s death!”

The cold hatred in his words made County Magistrate Qin and the others shiver inwardly. They quickly said, “Governor, rest assured. We will certainly conduct thorough searches and absolutely will not let her escape again.”

A somewhat younger county magistrate said, “I heard this woman’s family lives within County Magistrate Qin’s jurisdiction. Perhaps she might return to visit her family—that area should have more people guarding it.”

County Magistrate Qin immediately said, “Both the Governor and I have sent many people to secretly watch around the Wu family. As soon as she appears, she will be immediately captured.” Then he said to Li Yuan, “Governor, how are Second Young Master’s injuries?”

“His internal organs suffered some shock, but it’s nothing serious. He’ll be fine after resting for a few days.” Saying this, Li Yuan clasped his hands and said, “Everyone has worked hard today. It’s getting late—you should all go home and rest early. Please continue to trouble yourselves with the assassin matter.”

County Magistrate Qin and the others quickly said, “Governor, you’re too kind. We will certainly do everything possible to capture the female assassin!”

After the county magistrates left, Li Yuan frowned and pondered for a long while, then called over a servant and instructed, “Pass my order—send twenty more men to guard around the Wu family. I want the area within ten zhang of the Wu family to be so secure that not even a fly could get in.”

As twenty soldiers rushed to the Wu family home through the night, Yunyi finally approached the place where she had once lived. She didn’t dare get too close and stopped when she was still more than ten zhang away. Looking up, she could see orange candlelight coming through the small window, clearly showing that the person inside hadn’t yet gone to sleep. After a while, a figure moved to the window, and immediately afterward, the light in the room went out.

After Yunyi watched silently for a while longer, she was about to turn and leave when she turned around and saw, by moonlight, a squad of soldiers walking toward her direction.

Trouble! Yunyi cried out silently in her heart. It was too late to hide. The soldier walking at the front saw her and shouted sternly, “Who goes there? Stop!”

Yunyi naturally wouldn’t stand there as he commanded and quickly moved forward. Seeing her flee, those soldiers shouted while chasing after her at quick pace. One of them saw Yunyi’s figure clearly and urgently called out, “It’s a woman! She must be the female assassin the Governor ordered us to capture. Don’t let her escape!”

He shouted very loudly, immediately alerting the soldiers and constables lying in ambush at this location. They all rushed out from hiding and chased after the figure the soldier had pointed to. For a moment, dozens upon dozens of people were chasing after Yunyi alone—quite a spectacular sight.

Yunyi groaned inwardly. She was already at the end of her strength and couldn’t hold out much longer. Moreover, with this commotion, the patrolling soldiers on the street would soon be attracted here. Whether fighting or fleeing, she had no chance of winning. It seemed… she truly couldn’t escape this calamity.

In this chase, Yunyi ran past the door of the home she had once been familiar with. Just as the soldiers behind were about to catch up, the tightly closed door suddenly opened, and immediately a blazing “fire cart” rushed out from inside, blocking their path. This alley was already narrow, and it was suddenly blocked. With the fierce flames, they couldn’t pursue at all and had to look everywhere for water to put out the fire. They didn’t know what had caused the fire, but after pouring several basins of water on it, not only did it not go out, but it burned even more fiercely. Several people at the front were accidentally burned.

The soldiers struggled greatly before finally extinguishing the fire. By this time, a full incense stick’s worth of time had passed since they had been blocked, and there was no trace of Yunyi ahead, much to the soldiers’ chagrin. Only then did they finally see clearly what the cart was—it was an ordinary wooden wheeled cart used by common people to carry water, with two wooden buckets on top that still contained some unburned oil. No wonder it had burned so fiercely.

Some continued the chase while others entered the Wu family home to search. Wu Laosan, whom they had been monitoring, was not in the house. The sudden “fire cart” that had rushed out must have been his doing, meant to rescue the female assassin. But… from when they started shouting and chasing the female assassin to reaching the Wu family door, it had only been a matter of ten-odd breaths. How could Wu Laosan have prepared all this so quickly, unless… he had prepared everything beforehand and only needed to light it? He… had already planned to help the female assassin! Thinking of this, those soldiers didn’t dare delay and quickly ran to the Governor’s residence to tell Li Yuan what had happened here.

As for Yunyi, before she could see clearly what had happened behind her, someone suddenly grabbed her and pulled her forward at quick pace. That person was none other than Wu Laosan.

“Father, you… what’s going on?” Wu Laosan didn’t respond to her words. With a serious expression, he ran while avoiding patrolling soldiers who might appear at any moment. They ran for about half an hour before he pulled Yunyi into a house that was so dilapidated it was about to collapse. Inside was full of dust—just taking a step would stir up countless dust particles, clearly showing it had been empty for many years.

Yunyi looked around in confusion and asked, “What is this place?”