Night had deepened. Nanyi emerged from Sanzhi Courtyard where Madam Gantang was staying, and happened to run straight into Xie Queshan returning to the mansion.

She glanced at him once, immediately stepped back several paces, and bowed respectfully.

Xie Queshan could tell at a glance that the little girl was angry.

She must be upset that he let Qiao Yinzhi escape. She’d been cursing him in her heart all day, no doubt.

But—what was wrong with the clothes? Why wasn’t she wearing the new clothes?

Xie Queshan was completely puzzled. Did she not like new clothes? Or was the style of those clothes unattractive? The seamstress had clearly said that ladies would definitely love that color and silk fabric.

Over this trivial matter, thousands of thoughts had already flashed through his mind. In this world, there were still things that even Xie Queshan couldn’t figure out.

“Young Master, I’ll return to my courtyard first.” Seeing him remain silent for a long time, Nanyi couldn’t read his thoughts either and tried to slip away.

“I’m assigning you a task.” Only then did he snap back to attention, speaking seriously.

“Young Master, I’m helping Madam Gantang organize the New Year banquet. I’ve been especially busy these days.”

“Tomorrow Second Sister is taking Qin’ge and Ah Fu to Tiger Kneel Mountain to pay respects to Big Brother. You secretly follow them and come back to tell me where Second Sister went and whom she met.”

Qin’ge and Ah Fu were Madam Gantang’s son and daughter, one twelve years old, the other only three.

Nanyi was startled, realizing that Xie Queshan suspected Madam Gantang. She didn’t want to be his accomplice and instinctively refused: “How would I know how to track people! Young Master thinks too highly of me.”

“Just imagine you want to steal something from her, but you never managed to succeed, so you secretly follow behind her.”

“Didn’t you forbid me from stealing things?”

“So I’m telling you to imagine it.”

“But didn’t you say before that I just needed to watch Xie Xiaoliu and find out where Prince Ling’an is?” Nanyi was still looking for excuses to decline.

“Have you found out?” he countered.

Nanyi was speechless, having no more excuses to refuse. Whether she agreed or not, she had to agree.

Xie Queshan took out a small sleeve arrow from his sleeve and handed it to Nanyi.

“Take this for protection.”

Nanyi curiously examined the iron arrow case in her hand—it was quite heavy: “How do you use this?”

Just as she finished speaking, whoosh—a hidden arrow shot toward Xie Queshan. Fortunately, Xie Queshan reacted quickly and immediately dodged by tilting his head.

His face turned completely dark.

After several seconds of silence, Nanyi dropped a line: “Got it, got it, no need to teach me, thank you Young Master.”

Then she ran off with lightning speed.

The snow that had just accumulated in the back courtyard was trampled with a line of hurried footprints.

Madam Gantang took her two children to Tiger Kneel Mountain to pay respects, bringing none of the Xie family’s servants, only Tang Rong, the guard she had brought back from Yu City.

For a titled lady of Madam Gantang’s rank, having eight female attendants by her side would draw no criticism from anyone, but she had brought back a guard—a man whom no one in the household had seen before—which inevitably aroused suspicion.

However, given that these were wartime circumstances, everyone speculated that he was probably arranged by Marquis Pingnan to stay by his wife’s side for their protection, so it didn’t seem strange.

The ritual offerings alone filled several boxes, and judging by how deep the boat sat in the water, there were probably far more boxes than what could be seen.

Hiding in the shadows and observing, Nanyi was almost certain in her heart that Madam Gantang was sending supplies to people in the mountains. It wasn’t convenient for her to appear in person for the purchasing, so she had Nanyi do it—she was just an inconspicuous little widow in the Xie family whom no one would notice.

But exactly whom was she hiding in the mountains?

Although this was just the task Xie Queshan had given her, Nanyi couldn’t help but grow curious.

Madam Gantang was also cautious. After reaching Tiger Kneel Mountain, she entered an eatery for a meal, but quietly changed clothes, left all the supplies she had brought at the eatery, and slipped out through the back door, afraid that someone might be following her.

This caution made Nanyi careful as well. Sure enough, she discovered people disguised as hunters secretly following Madam Gantang’s group.

Whoever they were, they definitely had no good intentions.

Nanyi snuck into the eatery and found that Madam Gantang had left her clothes behind. She happened to change into those clothes, deceiving the group of watchers into following the wrong direction into the deep mountains, then slipped away like a cicada shedding its shell and took a shortcut to catch up with Madam Gantang.

It didn’t take much effort. Because Nanyi was hiding in the shadows and acted unexpectedly, it actually had a miraculous effect.

Through this ordeal, she vaguely began to understand some principles of operation—who was in the open and who was in the shadows would affect the situation.

She followed Madam Gantang even more carefully.

Initially they were indeed heading toward Xie Hengzai’s tomb, but halfway there, they changed direction and walked toward the valley.

When Nanyi followed them to the broken Daoist temple she had visited before, she was greatly surprised by what she saw.

That broken Daoist temple had clearly become a military camp with at least several hundred soldiers inside—some training, some keeping watch. When they saw Madam Gantang arrive, everyone respectfully saluted her.

A military banner with the character “Yu” fluttered beside the camp. Nanyi recognized this character—Yu from Yu the Great who controlled the floods. Connecting this to Madam Gantang’s return from Yucheng, without much deliberation, she knew the origin of this army.

Her guard Tang Rong seemed to be from the Yucheng Army. He selected a squad to go to the eatery to transport the supplies.

Nanyi was so shocked her jaw nearly dropped—Madam Gantang was actually hiding an army in Tiger Kneel Mountain?!

Everyone in their Xie family was ruthless.

Nanyi didn’t dare look any longer, afraid that making the slightest noise would bring fatal disaster. She hurriedly left.

At the riverside ferry crossing of Li Du Mansion stood a desolate teahouse.

In winter there were virtually no travelers.

Yet a young master had been sitting in this drafty teahouse for several hours, his face completely hidden by a hooded cloak. When the attendant brought hot water, he only glimpsed a pair of indifferent eyes.

Like a gaze floating outside this world—that of a lonely ghost.

The attendant didn’t dare look any longer, set down the teapot, and retreated behind the curtain.

A small boat stopped at the ferry crossing, and a young man disembarked.

Luo Ci hurried over and whispered in Zhang Yuehui’s ear: “Boss, we lost them.”

Zhang Yuehui sipped his tea and asked: “Lost all of them?”

“That Xie family widow was originally following behind Madam Gantang, but she discovered our watchers and somehow managed to lead them away without anyone noticing… There are just too many obstacles in the mountains, so we lost track.”

Zhang Yuehui rarely frowned.

The Qi forces couldn’t search Tiger Kneel Mountain on a large scale without good reason, because the Yucheng Army was after all a well-trained military force. Once they alerted the enemy, if both sides engaged in fierce battle, it would do no good for the situation in Li Du Mansion.

The best approach would be to secretly locate their position and eliminate them in one strike.

After a long moment, Zhang Yuehui raised his hand to smooth the furrows on his brow. His expression relaxed again, with a faint smile at the corners of his mouth: “What a troublesome woman.”

Luo Ci understood his boss’s habits. When he spoke like this, he had likely developed killing intent.

“Don’t touch Madam Gantang. Let that little widow die in Tiger Kneel Mountain. She ruins my affairs every time—very annoying.” Zhang Yuehui left a silver ingot on the table. Since he had made his decision, there was no need for him to wait here any longer. “Killing just her won’t matter much. Afterwards, we’ll claim it was bandits.”

Luo Ci immediately understood. If the young mistress of the Xie family died in Tiger Kneel Mountain, Li Du Mansion could use suppressing bandits as an excuse to send troops to search the mountain.

There would be the justification they needed.

At this moment, Nanyi was on her way back, completely absorbed in contemplating how to report to Xie Queshan, completely unaware that danger was quietly approaching.

Deep in her heart, Nanyi greatly admired Madam Gantang.

The moment she saw Second Sister’s secret, she was truly shocked. Unlike Xie Xiaoliu’s swift vengeance and bold cavalry charges, Second Sister appeared completely unremarkable, traveling with her family in tow, seeming like just an ordinary household woman, yet beneath her skirts lay such tremendous power.

So she wanted to help Second Sister keep this secret. Xie Queshan was ultimately on the Qi people’s side.

Xie Xiaoliu and Third Uncle weren’t really major issues in the end. It was understandable for him to protect his family members in passing. But Madam Gantang’s matter was no small thing—that was an entire army!

If discovered by the Qi people, Second Sister’s life might not even be safe.

But she also had to lie to Xie Queshan, and her heart really had no confidence.

How about—just saying she lost track of Madam Gantang?

She would need to make it convincing, get injured a bit, so she could claim she fell in the mountains and thus lost track of them.

Thinking of this, Nanyi stopped walking and looked around, trying to see which small slope would be suitable for falling without getting too seriously hurt.

It didn’t matter if she didn’t look carefully, but once she did, she actually discovered a faint thread gleaming in the sunlight.

If she took one more step forward, she would trigger the trap and become a turtle in a jar.

Nanyi’s heart trembled—an ambush!

She wanted to turn and run, but before taking action, she forced herself to hold back. She realized that since there was a trap here, there must also be eyes watching her nearby. If she ran, those people would chase after her.

Running would mean presenting her back to the enemy.

Under Xie Queshan’s subtle influence, she had already discovered that fleeing wasn’t the first choice when encountering trouble.

Nanyi pretended to scratch her head nonchalantly, rummaging around on her body as if looking for something.

While searching, she said: “Oh no, I dropped my purse at Madam Gantang’s place! I have to go back and get it.”

Nanyi turned around and walked back, her steps appearing normal, but her heartbeat had already leaped to her throat.

Every gust of wind seemed to carry killing intent brushing against her face, making her hair stand on end. Not far away was a withered forest, its branches extending toward the sky like clawing ghostly hands.

As Nanyi walked forward, she gripped her right wrist tightly, where the sleeve arrow Xie Queshan had given her for protection was bound.

With her life hanging by a thread, she was highly tense, her mind racing rapidly. Whoever had set this trap simply wanted to capture her or kill her.

But she was just a small fry—she wasn’t important. The Yucheng Army hidden in the mountains was what mattered. She had probably just stumbled into this killing plot.

If she returned all the way to where the Yucheng Army was camped and sought help from Madam Gantang, she could stay safe, but she would also expose the Yucheng Army’s location to those watching eyes.

What should she do?

If it were Xie Queshan, what would he do?

Hide in the shadows, use others as weapons, eliminate threats at their roots.