Old Madam Song sat heavily for a long moment, gripping the armrests of her chair so tightly her knuckles turned white. She glanced at Song Chuyi, then looked at Old Master Song, and declared resolutely: “Send someone right now to bring A’Yan back, and ask him exactly what shady business he’s been up to outside!”
Song Yan was simply too young, too easily influenced by the outside world. If someone were leading him astray, it would be the simplest thing imaginable. And with Han Zhi harboring such malicious intent, Old Madam Song hardly dared imagine what exactly Han Zhi had been taking Song Yan to do.
Old Master Song patted her hand to calm her, then turned to look at Song Chuyi and asked: “Since you’ve known about this for some time, you certainly wouldn’t just sit idle. Yet you didn’t tell me, nor did you tell your aunt and uncle—were you planning to handle this yourself?”
“I was afraid this matter would blow up and alarm the elders,” Song Chuyi admitted candidly. “At most, once the new year begins, we’ll be setting off for Jinzhong to celebrate Grandmother’s birthday. If A’Yan gets into any trouble at this time, both the Song family and the Cui family would be disgraced together.”
Old Master Song stared at her intently and pressed on: “Then according to your original plan, what were you going to do? Have someone follow A’Yan, find out where exactly he is and what Han Zhi is luring him into doing, and then what?”
Of course he wouldn’t doubt how much Song Chuyi cared for Song Yan. That Han Zhi would specifically target Song Yan was truly malicious to the extreme. While Song Chuyi might endure other matters, when it concerned Song Yan, she would absolutely never let Han Zhi off so easily.
Song Chuyi shook her head honestly: “I haven’t figured that out yet. I need to know what exactly A’Yan is doing first before I can plan my next move.”
Old Madam Song quickly interjected: “This matter is probably beyond what you can handle alone. Don’t let Han Zhi’s young age fool you—he’s the one truly in charge of the Marquis Jinxiang’s estate now. Han Zhengqing’s power is all in his hands. He has plenty of military thugs and enforcers under him, and behind him stands Prince Dongping. Old Master, you must think of a solution. Otherwise, just go directly to demand our person back and see how he tries to play tricks then.”
Old Master Song waved his hand and sighed at his wife: “If I get involved, the matter will truly blow up. With Han Zhi’s cunning nature, he would very likely use the opportunity to escalate things. Little Yi’s consideration has merit. Right now, when we still don’t know what exactly A’Yan has been deceived into doing, we’d best do nothing—we shouldn’t even question A’Yan himself. Otherwise, once Han Zhi catches wind of it, I fear A’Yan’s situation would become truly dangerous.”
Old Master Song was indeed an excellent judge of character. Just from being forced to reveal his hand once during Cui Shaoting’s incident, he could discern Han Zhi’s personality from a few brief exchanges. People like Han Zhi most enjoyed playing the game of boiling a frog in warm water—he wouldn’t let you die quickly and cleanly.
“Then what do we do?” Old Madam Song looked anxiously between Song Chuyi and Old Master Song. “Are we just supposed to watch A’Yan sink deeper and deeper while we don’t even know what kind of trap he’s fallen into?”
Song Chuyi kept her head lowered and didn’t speak immediately. Song Yan was still young, unlike her who had already lived through one lifetime. He didn’t yet know that heaven was most fair—every wrong deed committed in youth would be paid for with a corresponding price in the years to come.
Old Master Song looked at Song Chuyi: “Here’s what we’ll do—I’ll give you three days. I can provide you with whatever people or money you need. If this matter can be resolved quietly and without incident, that would naturally be best. If not, after three days, I’ll handle it.”
For the Song family head Song Chengru to personally intervene would mean that this matter couldn’t be concealed within the Song clan at the very least. Moreover, if it truly reached that point, it would indicate that Song Chuyi was powerless to handle it, and Han Zhi would never let the matter pass so easily.
Song Chuyi pondered for a moment, then nodded without hesitation.
By evening, she went to the mansion she had used last time to meet Lai Chenglong. The setting sun was just right at that moment, hiding behind ink-colored clouds with only half its face showing, painting half the sky’s clouds crimson. She sat in the pavilion open on all sides, draped in the sun’s lingering glow, her expression grave.
This time Lai Chenglong arrived very punctually. He hadn’t had time to change out of his Flying Fish Robe, the Embroidered Spring Blade at his waist exuding an ominous aura. Upon seeing Song Chuyi, his first words were thanks: “Your strategy was truly foolproof, and even the breakthrough point you selected for me was divine. Thanks to the Zhao family being so unwilling to accept their fate and making such a fuss, I was able to smoothly take care of Jia Yingxin and Xu Liang.”
The Zhao family naturally wouldn’t accept being saddled with the black mark of spying on the emperor’s movements. Of course they would spare no effort to clear their name, simply having Centurion Zhao say that he had originally had no intention of entering such a critical place as the Yulin Guard. Since they knew he was unwilling to enter the Yulin Guard and that he was just a good-for-nothing playboy they couldn’t make anything of, Xu Liang and Jia Yingxin seemed especially suspicious with their ulterior motives.
Song Chuyi today had her hair styled in a drooping twin-tail divided-shoulder coiffure, the hanging hair all braided into small plaits adorned with pearls dangling at her chest. Combined with her pair of misty, extraordinarily beautiful eyes, she looked entirely like a harmless fairy maiden from a painting.
Yet she opened her pitch-black ink-dot eyes to look at Lai Chenglong and asked directly for his help: “This favor might not be as thorny as my uncle’s matter last time, but it’s no good deed either. If Uncle Lai is willing to help me, I would be immensely grateful.”
She didn’t use her help to him this time as an exchange condition—her eyes were frank and open, clear to the bottom.
From the moment he accepted Song Chuyi’s help, a tacit alliance had formed between them. When it came to helping each other, it was naturally a matter of give and take.
Though Song Chuyi didn’t say it, Lai Chenglong had long been prepared to pay a price. Hearing her speak this way now, he agreed almost without thinking: “Tell me—as long as it’s something I can do, I’ll certainly get it done for you.”
Qing Ying’s constantly tense heart finally relaxed. If even the Imperial Guard couldn’t help with this matter, she truly didn’t know who else could.
“Han Zhi has recently set his sights on my younger brother. My brother has been running around with his people every day. Because the timing is so tight and he’s deliberately guarding against me, my people can’t figure out exactly where my brother has gone or what he’s doing.” Song Chuyi spoke straightforwardly to Lai Chenglong: “My grandfather has only given me three days to handle this matter. If I can’t handle it well, he’ll take over. And if he takes over, everyone in the Song family will inevitably find out. I cannot let my brother fall into such a predicament. The Imperial Guard has eyes and ears everywhere and operates with extreme efficiency—my people cannot compare in this regard. So I’d like to ask Uncle Lai to help me investigate.”