Continue waiting. This was the next task Nanyi received.

Song Muchuan was planning the final scheme codenamed “Nirvana.” Before that event arrived, hiding well and ensuring safety was the primary task.

Life at Wangxue Cottage was still too comfortable. Nanyi didn’t dare relax, secretly setting up a wooden stake in the small courtyard to practice some boxing and martial arts, keeping her body constantly alert.

Nanyi spent much of her time climbing onto the roof of Zheyue Pavilion, from where she could just see the courtyard where Xie Queshan lived. He had been home quite often recently.

He seemed to be deliberately teasing her, knowing someone was waiting like a hunter by a tree stump. He didn’t go out to meet people or conduct business, just eating, drinking, and sleeping—entirely ordinary. He openly allowed her to monitor him, as if this way they were together at all times. Occasionally he would look up, see her on the roof, and do nothing, just stand under the courtyard wall with spring flowers flying about and watch her.

Since leaving that spring equinox years ago, this was his first spring back in his homeland.

Spring was also very beautiful.

Nanyi even wondered if the endgame never came… would everyone be able to remain in such peace forever? No one would die, no one would draw swords against each other.

So during the period of hiding, no news was the best news.

But this morning when she opened her eyes, Nanyi sensed someone in the room. She immediately reached under her pillow for her dagger but heard a familiar call.

“Sister-in-law.”

Nanyi started and sat up: “Xiaoliu?”

She quickly lifted the bed curtains to see Xie Sui’an standing bewildered in plain clothes. It was drizzling outside, and she was soaked through, her eyes misty with fog, a few wilted petals clinging to her hair.

“What happened?” Nanyi had an immediate bad feeling.

She went to grasp Xie Sui’an’s hands and found them alarmingly cold.

“Prince Ling’an… has disappeared.”

……

During this period, Xie Sui’an’s life was very simple. A soft sword for killing, a meditation room for practice; a silent Buddha statue, a frail monarch.

These incongruous combinations all gathered in this small Buddhist hall.

The space was small, the days of staying indoors were boring and seemed endless.

She became silent. Occasionally sitting in the courtyard chatting with Xu Zhou, both would deliberately avoid mentioning that person. Carefully, afraid of accidentally tearing open the scab and bringing new wounds.

There were also some sudden crises.

A few days ago, a drunk guard staggered into the courtyard and accidentally saw Xu Zhou. The guard was greatly alarmed and was about to run report it when Xie Sui’an struck him down with her blade.

However, burying the corpse and covering traces wasn’t easy. Xu Zhou helped Xie Sui’an together.

Digging pits, disposing of the body, burying it. Making real contact with this land, with life and death. That night it also rained, making every shovel of dirt particularly heavy. After finishing all this, covered in mud and blood stains like evil spirits crawling out of an Asura battlefield, Xu Zhou collapsed.

When a string is stretched too tight, it will suddenly snap.

He had clearly faced greater crises and endured them all, but perhaps the accumulated anxiety of recent months had gradually piled up, and this not-too-serious matter finally became the last straw that broke his mental state. He sat in the rain and wept bitterly. He was no different from anyone else. He was equally small flesh and blood. He didn’t even have extraordinary courage and strategy. There was a reason the Emperor never favored him from childhood—he was probably just mediocre. He even found the current scene terrifying.

He was extremely powerless, but no one cared, and he didn’t dare let anyone discover it. So many people went through fire and water for him, sacrificing their lives and blood—how dare he show any affectation? Who he was didn’t matter; the dynasty needed legitimacy, so they supported him.

Everyone told him to wait, so he waited quietly. He imagined himself best as a statue, without sorrow or joy, without emotion or desire. But he was still just a shell, breathing the turbid air of this world, eating three meals a day like any human, unable to develop bones of steel. Then Xie Xiaoliu came, and every time he saw her, he would think of the dead Pang Yu. He thought she must feel the same. Their existence to each other was a kind of harm, yet they had to coexist and survive together.

He watched those living things about her gradually fade away while she had to be trapped in this cage with him.

He wanted to do something, but he could do nothing.

After crying his heart out, he regained his calm. As usual, listening to evening drums and morning bells daily, walking around the square courtyard in one direction, then in reverse—eighty-one steps total. Imagining these were the eighty-one tribulations, wondering when the final tribulation would come.

Then just a few days later, today, Xu Zhou suddenly disappeared. In this tiny square courtyard that could be seen at a glance, surrounded by an inescapable net, such a living person vanished right under their noses.

Soon Xie Sui’an discovered the path of his departure.

Today was the day for delivering food and emptying slop buckets. Xu Zhou had waited early in the kitchen, knocked out the person there, changed into his clothes, and left carrying the slop bucket.

An inconspicuous little servant left Wangxue Cottage in the early dawn when the sky wasn’t yet bright, and no one even saw which direction he went.

Xie Sui’an frantically searched the vicinity but found no one, only then coming to seek Nanyi’s help as a last resort.

This was serious and required consultation with Song Muchuan. Nanyi made an immediate decision, having Xie Sui’an disguise herself as a maidservant to follow her, then went to pull the still-sleeping Xie Qin from bed, telling him to immediately prepare some academic questions requiring Teacher Song’s answers, hastily calling maidservants to dress him and stuff him into a carriage.

Song Muchuan was just about to leave for the Shipping Bureau when he was intercepted at his own gate by the “studious” Xie Qin.

Taking advantage of this moment, Nanyi quickly told Song Muchuan the whole story. Even someone as composed as Song Muchuan showed signs of tension upon hearing it.

The streets and alleys were now under extremely strict surveillance. Even entering and leaving neighborhoods required checking identity papers, and anyone with suspicious identity would be detained on the spot.

This matter couldn’t be made public or involve citywide searches, as it would trigger even more uncontrollable consequences.

Song Muchuan quickly mentally traced Prince Ling’an’s approximate departure time and possible means of transport, calculating which neighborhoods he might have reached by now.

Having roughly defined the scope, Xie Sui’an and Nanyi set out to search, while Song Muchuan sent Ah Chi to notify Liangda and Ninth Lady—they were extremely familiar with the terrain throughout the city and could surely help.

Finally, Song Muchuan privately gave Xie Sui’an a few words of advice.

“Think carefully about why His Highness wanted to leave—that’s the key to finding him.”

——

Xu Zhou changed into servant’s clothing and left Wangxue Cottage pushing a cart for emptying slop buckets. The slop needed to be transported all the way to a designated garbage disposal area, which allowed him to successfully leave the neighborhood.

However, when passing through the next neighborhood, he was stopped and questioned by soldiers at the ward gate. Fortunately, the servant had identity papers, so the soldiers didn’t suspect anything and let him pass after a cursory glance.

But that soldier vaguely felt the servant looked familiar and took another look at his retreating figure, always feeling this person’s cart-pushing posture wasn’t very skilled, unlike someone who did manual labor year-round, arousing suspicion.

Fortunately, just then the shift-change team arrived, so he didn’t pursue the matter. During the handover, he inadvertently glanced at several portraits of key fugitives, including Prince Ling’an—he immediately remembered that the person who had seemed familiar bore some resemblance to the person in the portrait.

Looking up again, that person’s figure was nowhere to be seen. His heart jumped, and he immediately reported it, but his commander didn’t believe him, mocking him for being crazed with wanting to achieve merit. Prince Ling’an was well protected by the Candle Bureau—how could he possibly appear in the streets pushing a slop bucket?

But the more he thought about it, the more wrong it seemed. He prepared to report upward and have people cast a dragnet for the arrest. That person pushing a cart couldn’t move fast and definitely couldn’t escape the next neighborhood.

He hurried forward and bumped into someone head-on.

Xie Queshan hadn’t heard the morning practice sounds from the neighboring courtyard this morning and already felt it strange. During breakfast, hearing that Nanyi had taken Qin boy early to consult Song Muchuan about academic matters, he sensed something had definitely happened.

It was also a sudden incident, probably quite troublesome, or Nanyi wouldn’t have suddenly sought out Song Muchuan.

He had been claiming illness and hadn’t appeared before the Qi People for several days. Gusha had just brought down Wanyan Jun and was in the limelight, suspecting him closely. He’d better stay put and not be caught with any handle. However, today he must make a trip to see what had happened.

On the way to the garrison, he encountered a hurried Qi soldier.

Upon seeing Xie Queshan, the Qi soldier was overjoyed and urgently reported: “Sir, I just saw someone who looked like Prince Ling’an heading toward Tongji Ward. Please order troops dispatched to capture him!”

Xie Queshan showed only slight surprise on his face, but his back was already breaking out in cold sweat.

“Really?”

“Absolutely certain! General Gusha ordered that we’d rather kill a thousand wrongly than let one slip by. I indeed saw that person bore a strong resemblance to Prince Ling’an and was acting suspiciously. Even if we arrest the wrong person, there’s definitely something wrong!”

Xie Queshan pondered for a moment and asked: “Who else knows about this?”

“I reported it to the Captain, but he didn’t believe me. I felt this was important, so I had to seek you out, sir.”

“Good, this matter is your responsibility. Come with me to mobilize troops.”

The Qi soldier’s face lit up as he cupped his fists: “Yes!”

Xie Queshan calmly led the man into a small alley, going deeper and deeper.

Nanyi and Xie Sui’an had already searched to Tongji Ward and learned that not long ago a servant pushing a slop bucket had passed by, walking particularly hurriedly and nearly overturning his cart.

Following the direction pointed out by that person, they found an abandoned cart in the alley.

But the person was no longer there.

Again a step too late, missing Xu Zhou.

Just as the two were getting anxious, they suddenly heard commotion from the neighboring ward not far away. The two exchanged glances and hurried toward the disturbance.

A Qi soldier’s corpse lay on the ground, throat slit, thrown from a height, causing great turmoil.

Common people surrounded it in several layers, all showing expressions of shock, pointing at the corpse and whispering. Some bolder ones showed satisfaction at this turn of events. Nearby Qi forces were quickly drawn over, and the ward was about to be sealed off.

Nanyi instinctively felt this matter was suspicious. It seemed like a shocking major case that would definitely trigger Qi soldier searches, but if the Qi soldiers all gathered here, then as long as Prince Ling’an wasn’t in this ward, his chances of exposure would be greatly reduced.

Someone was secretly helping them.

She instinctively looked up and around, then saw Xie Queshan leading a team of soldiers over. Her heart immediately skipped a beat, and a certain premonition grew stronger.

But when Xie Sui’an saw Xie Queshan, she immediately pulled Nanyi and turned to leave—she should be in the Buddhist hall now and couldn’t be discovered.

The two followed the dispersed crowd away from the commotion, breathing a slight sigh of relief. At least up to now, Prince Ling’an’s disappearance hadn’t caused waves among the Qi People.

He seemed to have a purpose, wanting to go to some specific place.

Xie Sui’an couldn’t figure out where he wanted to go or why he had to leave.