Two people walked into the inn from the entrance – a master and servant, both young women dressed as men, with three male guards behind them who looked like bodyguards. Suzhen was familiar with the two in front – they were Wuyan and Xiang’er.

“Innkeeper, we need lodging – four upper rooms.”

Wuyan stood quietly behind while Xiang’er handled the arrangements in front.

The innkeeper didn’t scrutinize the two closely, but his gaze held some strangeness. “Four gentlemen want three rooms?”

Suzhen covered her mouth and laughed. Was the innkeeper taking them for cut-sleeves? Xiang’er was a fiery girl, and sure enough, her willow eyebrows shot up as she snapped: “Is that any of your business?”

The innkeeper was somewhat embarrassed, but wisely shut his mouth when Wuyan handed over a silver ingot.

The two were still arranging something. Suzhen didn’t look closely anymore, but frowned slightly, muttering to herself: “How could they have come here? Could it be that Murong Liu sent them? Impossible – he’s here on serious business… There shouldn’t be anything that absolutely requires Wuyan to come. Why would he let her take such risks? Could it be that Wuyan has business with Murong Liu?”

“But how would she know to find this place? Murong Liu’s itinerary should be very secret.”

She couldn’t figure it out. Leng Xue beside her couldn’t help rolling his eyes. “Why don’t you just ask her directly?”

Suzhen was about to go downstairs, then suddenly realized something and stopped. If Wuyan was here to find Lian Yu, having Lian Yu know she was also here wouldn’t be good at all.

So she decided not to meddle or catch up with old times.

She quietly beckoned to Leng Xue. “Let’s slip away quietly. We can’t stay here anymore.”

Leng Xue glanced at the sky outside – evening was falling dark, with wind picking up and rain approaching, but Suzhen had already bounced back to her room to pack.

Wuyan’s current situation was remarkably similar to Suzhen’s.

After getting their rooms and seeing a heavy rain about to fall outside, though Wuyan preferred quiet, she also found the room’s air stuffy, so she took Xiang’er to sit in the outer hall for dinner, with the three Wei Manor guards at a neighboring table.

The food came quickly. Xiang’er saw Wuyan holding her chopsticks without speaking, her brow furrowed again and again. Feeling uneasy, she lowered her voice: “Miss, what’s wrong? Is the food not to your taste? Or do you have something on your mind? Won’t we be able to see Sixth Young Master soon?”

Wuyan put down her chopsticks and smiled bitterly. “We were both carried away by impulse. Since he came here secretly on business, would he stay at the prefectural office or official post stations?”

Xiang’er’s face went pale. “Then… what do we do? Was our long journey all for…”

Wuyan wasn’t as nervous as her, sighing softly: “If we really want to find him, it’s not impossible. He won’t stay at the post station, but Chancellor Yan will definitely be there.”

Only then did Xiang’er breathe a sigh of relief, patting her chest petulantly: “Miss, you nearly scared your servant to death.”

Wuyan shook her head. “It’s just that I think I may have truly been impulsive. He came here to work, and my disturbing him like this isn’t proper.”

Xiang’er didn’t care about such principles and was about to persuade her when she saw Wuyan’s gaze turn slightly cold. She was startled, then looked over to see two pairs of ill-intentioned eyes at a neighboring table.

This kind of situation was all too familiar to Xiang’er.

Wuyan was beautiful enough to outshine even palace ladies.

They’d encountered this twice before when meeting Judge Li at wine houses. That innkeeper had been too busy seeing money to notice, but these two men had realized her young lady was actually a woman.

These two men – one tall and one thin, about thirty or forty years old – the tall man even wore a melon-skin cap with brocade clothes draped casually over him. He had a broad, wide face with a square mouth, and somewhat thick earlobes. His eyes were quite bright and spirited, but somehow his clothing gave an incongruous feeling – perhaps it was his appearance that at first glance seemed to have the compassionate look of a Buddhist monk, contrasted with the lecherous gleam in his eyes, creating this uncomfortable, strange sensation.

The other thin, tall man had an even darker gaze, yet it held a hint of shrewdness. He stared at Wuyan sideways with a low laugh – that feeling of a hunter eyeing prey. Before Xiang’er could react, the three guards had already tensed and stood up.

“You two dare show disrespect to our young master!” one of them shouted loudly.

This drew the attention of half the people in the inn.

The thin man chuckled lowly for a while, then suddenly raised his head: “Oh, what are you talking about? Why would I, a proper gentleman, be looking at your young master? Unless your young master isn’t actually a young master?”

Wuyan knew the newcomers were deliberately causing trouble. From their appearance, these two weren’t ordinary wastrels but definitely not good people. Normally in the capital it would be fine, but now traveling away from home, she didn’t want trouble. Just as she was about to stop the guards from arguing with these two men, those two moved with extreme speed – with a flutter of their sleeves, several black shadows shot swiftly toward the three guards.

The three men screamed instantly. Wuyan and Xiang’er looked in shock to see each guard’s palm pierced by a chopstick, blood flowing freely and dripping all over the table.

The inn was thrown into chaos. Some timid young women screamed aloud, while the innkeeper was already trembling, let alone stopping anything – he himself was shaking as he clung behind two waiters.

Though there were strong men in the building, seeing how fierce and vicious these two tall and thin men were, none dared intervene. At that moment, Suzhen was carrying her bundle planning to escape with Leng Xue through the second-floor window. Seeing this scene, she naturally no longer cared about being exposed and pulled Leng Xue to go downstairs to help Wuyan. But Leng Xue’s eyes moved, and he pressed her shoulder, holding her back.

…

Wuyan never expected that the tall man was actually a monk. Before she could speak out, those two had already attacked. During the fight, the tall man’s melon-skin cap was knocked off by one of the guards, revealing his completely bald head with ordination scars. That guard barely touched his clothing before being sent flying with a palm strike, crashing into a table with his head bleeding and lying crooked on the ground with terrified eyes. The other two guards fared little better, knocked down by the thin man’s palm and kick.

Just as the thin man laughed lowly and sent Xiang’er flying with a palm strike, then stared intently at Wuyan and reached for her chest, a large hand wrapped in wet sleeves brought dampness as it struck heavily against his wrist bone.