Yunyi suddenly realized: “So it was you whom the night watchman saw arguing with Chunxiu that night?”

“That’s right. When I saw I couldn’t persuade Chunxiu and was anxious, plus I hated her for killing Meixue, after the night watchman left, I knocked her unconscious and carried her to that hill. I didn’t intend to kill her at the time, just wanted to prevent her from returning to the Governor’s mansion to reveal your affairs. Who knew that after she woke up, she made a huge fuss, saying that by doing this, I was conspiring with the assassin and was an accomplice. She also said that once she returned to the Governor’s mansion, she would definitely have the Governor punish me as well, then she clamored to leave. I naturally refused, and during our struggle, she slipped and hit the rocks below. When I went down, she was still conscious, constantly begging me to save her!” At this point, Wu Laosan said mockingly: “She kept saying she wanted to put me to death, but now she wanted me to save her. Tell me, isn’t that laughable!”

Yunyi said in a low voice: “You didn’t save her?”

Wu Laosan’s eyes rarely showed a trace of ruthlessness. “That’s right. I just stood by and watched, watched her wail, then breathe her last. When she died, I seemed to hear Meixue’s voice in my ears, saying she could finally rest in peace!”

“I knew Chunxiu’s body would be discovered sooner or later, so I erased my traces. Thanks to my years of hunting experience, I was able to leave without a trace. Even Second Young Master didn’t discover anything afterward.”

Yunyi nodded, then asked: “What about just now? How did you know it was me outside and pre-emptively set the cart on fire?”

Wu Laosan smiled and said: “I’m not some immortal who can predict the future. How could I know in advance? However, I knew that before you left, you would definitely come back to visit, but the Governor’s mansion had many soldiers lying in ambush nearby. Once you appeared, you would inevitably be discovered by them. So I poured the cooking oil from home into buckets beforehand, and also took all the money from home to buy oil. To avoid arousing their suspicion, I didn’t dare buy too much and made several trips. I poured all of that into the buckets as well and put them on that cart. Just now, when I heard shouting from outside about catching and beating someone, I knew you must have been discovered by them. I quickly took out a fire starter and threw it into the bucket. Oil catches fire when it meets flame, and the timing was just right, blocking all of them.”

Yunyi said with a complex expression: “But this way, you’ll be regarded as my accomplice. For someone who impersonated your daughter and whom you’ve known for less than half a year, is it worth carrying such a charge?”

Wu Laosan thought seriously for a while, then shook his head: “I haven’t thought about these things, nor do I want to. If Heaven let me do it all over again, I believe I would still do the same thing.”

Without flowery words, Yunyi was moved to tears. Wu Laosan reached out his rough hand to wipe away her tears: “Why are you crying for no reason? Quickly dry your tears.”

Yunyi nodded, and after wiping away the tears on her face, she tremblingly called out: “Father!”

Wu Laosan’s body shook, and he said in a trembling voice: “You… you’re still willing to acknowledge me as your father?”

“Father treats me so well, how could I bear not to acknowledge you? As long as we can safely leave Honghua Commandery, I will fulfill my filial duties to you in place of Meixue.”

“Good! Good!” Wu Laosan nodded repeatedly, his face showing joy rarely seen in recent days. “Even if Father has to risk this old life, I will definitely get you safely out of the city.”

Yunyi quickly said: “No, I want Father to live well.”

Wu Laosan’s eyes flashed with a trace of comfort, then he asked: “Where did you bury Meixue?”

“Right in the Governor’s mansion.” Seeing Wu Laosan hesitate to speak, she said: “In the future, I will find an opportunity to move Meixue and rebury her elsewhere. Father, you can rest assured.”

“Good.” Wu Laosan responded, then asked in confusion: “By the way, the Governor is such a good person, and there’s Second Young Master, who has always helped you. Why did you want to assassinate him, and even… even kill Third Young Master? Who exactly made you do this?”

Yunyi’s expression darkened, and she sighed: “No one made me do this. Li Yuan might truly be a good person, but if he doesn’t die, Great Sui will be in danger. For the stability of the court, he must die!”

“How can this be? Although Father is illiterate and rough, I also know that Governor Li has outstanding military achievements. The people of Honghua Commandery and even the entire Guanzhong region can have peaceful days all thanks to Governor Li’s blessing.”

“The peace Father speaks of is only temporary and local. What I’m talking about is the peace of the entire Great Sui.”

Wu Laosan became even more confused: “How could the Governor harm Great Sui’s peace? In my opinion, it should be that emperor instead. With him around, the world can never be peaceful.”

His casual words made Yunyi somewhat sad, but she couldn’t say much about it. After all, Yang Guang had indeed done many things that angered both Heaven and people. She only said: “His Majesty is not as Father thinks. He also hopes the people can have good days.” Before Wu Laosan could say more, Yunyi had already changed the topic: “Is this place truly safe?”

Wu Laosan said with certainty: “Unless they search every inch of Honghua Commandery, they absolutely won’t find this place. So in the short term, it’s definitely safe.” After speaking, he found a clay pot that hadn’t been taken away at the time, scooped some rainwater into it, then found tree branches to make a fire and boil water. He was also careful – as soon as the water boiled, he immediately extinguished the fire to prevent discovery. Then he tore cloth from his body, cleaned the wounds with the cooled water, and bandaged them one by one.

While they were hiding in the old residence, soldiers were intensifying their search. Ever since Wu Laosan rescued Yunyi that night, the two of them had disappeared like they had vanished into thin air. For several consecutive days, their traces could not be found, making Li Yuan extremely angry. He again increased the number of searchers, bringing the soldiers responsible for searching for the Wu family father and daughter within the city to an unprecedented twenty thousand!

County Magistrate Qin was under the greatest pressure these days. The Wu family father and daughter were under his jurisdiction. Now that the two had colluded and escaped with unknown whereabouts, if they couldn’t be found, he feared he wouldn’t be able to keep the black hat on his head.

For several days, he had been studying where the Wu father and daughter might be hiding with his secretary, but unfortunately, they had found nothing. This day was the same. The secretary thought for a while, then tentatively asked: “My lord, do you think… that Wu Laosan might have hidden in the mountains?”

County Magistrate Qin leaned back against the wide chair back, pinching his brow: “The city gates have long been heavily guarded. They couldn’t possibly have escaped from the city. As for those few places within the city, the Governor has been sending people to search, almost turning those mountains upside down. If they were really there, they would have been discovered long ago. This is truly strange. Could it be that someone is deliberately harboring the father and daughter?”

“Wu Meixue committed the serious crime of murder. Logically, no one would dare harbor them. Moreover, I have already sent people to focus on searching those few households in Changshi Lane, and found nothing suspicious. There are also those abandoned temples, none showed any discoveries. I really can’t think of where else they could be hiding, and according to the headman of Changshi Lane, they only have that one residence and no other.”