What… was that thing?

Lu Xian sat across from Xie Wei. Those few characters weren’t very neat, and he found them extremely difficult to read. He couldn’t help leaning forward, wanting to bring his head closer for a careful look. “What does it say? Is it some kind of secret code?”

However, he had barely moved his head a bit toward Xie Wei when Xie Wei’s eyes lifted, his gaze glancing at him lightly.

His hands naturally gathered up that stack of pieced-together banknotes beneath them.

Lu Xian was dumbstruck.

Xie Wei explained in one sentence, “It’s not written for you.”

“…”

A hint of suspicion suddenly appeared on Lu Xian’s face, and he secretly used his gaze to steal glances at those banknotes that had been neatly arranged again.

His brow furrowed as he spoke shockingly, “A love letter You Fangying wrote to you?”

“…”

A dog’s mouth spits out no ivory.

The gloom that had previously shrouded Xie Wei dissipated along with that earlier smile that melted like ice and snow. Xie Wei’s entire person appeared to have returned to his usual detached, aloof stability, only saying, “No.”

Lu Xian said, “I guessed as much. Miss You is about to marry, and she has no connection with you. She wouldn’t write you anything at this time. Then which young lady exactly wrote you love words?”

Xie Wei’s brow furrowed slightly. “What love words?”

Lu Xian’s gaze didn’t move from that stack of banknotes still not set down in his hands, revealing several traces of sharp scrutiny in his eyes. “If it’s not written to you by a young lady, and the matter is significant, why can’t I look at it?”

The fifty thousand taels in banknotes searched from Celestial Doctrine sleeper agents who took direct orders from Gongyi Cheng—fifteen thousand taels of which he’d previously paid to You Fangying. These fifteen thousand-tael banknotes, when stacked and pieced together, actually concealed hidden characters.

This entire matter concerned the safety of Marquis Yongyi’s manor!

After Xie Wei read this message, he seemed to have set his mind at ease, as if this matter was already under control and nothing serious.

However, Lu Xian’s feeling was precisely opposite to Xie Wei’s.

It wasn’t the matter itself that made him wary. What vaguely made him feel uneasy and vigilant was the state Xie Wei had revealed in that instant just now—a state he felt shouldn’t appear in Xie Wei.

Xie Wei was truly stumped by his question.

With such handwriting, such a tone, and that little turtle he’d seen before—even without a single character of signature, he knew who had left these words. He also knew who was behind You Fangying, which was why he’d set his mind at ease.

Logically speaking, he should show both this matter and these characters to Lu Zhaoyin.

However…

He actually didn’t want to.

Raising both eyes, meeting the gaze cast from across unflinchingly, Xie Wei was also a perceptive person—he couldn’t fail to detect the implication in Lu Xian’s earlier words.

Lu Xian said, “Do you know what I admire most about you after knowing you all these years?”

Xie Wei didn’t speak for the moment.

Lu Xian then pulled at the corners of his lips, but there wasn’t much smile in his eyes. “It’s not your schemes, nor your forbearance—it’s that you don’t get close to women.”

However, having gone through everything from beginning to end, Xie Wei didn’t feel he’d done anything improper. Ningning was his student. It was just that whether these characters or this drawing weren’t very presentable, that was all.

Moreover…

Ningning was different from others after all.

First, he merely wanted to probe this little young lady’s true nature. Second, he merely wanted to restrain and teach her so she wouldn’t walk a crooked path. He asked himself that beyond this he had no selfish motives, much less any desire for physical relations between men and women. He regarded her as a student, as a junior. Therefore, he had a clear conscience and felt Lu Xian was worrying unnecessarily.

Xie Wei pressed that stack of banknotes under his hand, still showing no intention of returning them to Lu Xian, saying, “They’re merely small tricks, playful antics not worth presenting on stage. Showing them to others would only invite ridicule. You’re overthinking.”

Lu Xian couldn’t help trying to judge whether these words were true or false.

But seeing Xie Wei’s expression indeed showed no abnormality, for a moment he truly suspected his own petty-minded paranoia. “However, it’s better to worry more than to think less. It seems this trouble has been resolved. But did you deduce whose hands the letter fell into, or did the other party state it clearly in the message? If the latter, did you tell someone else about our actions in advance?”

“…”

Xie Wei’s fingers pressing on the banknotes seemed to freeze for a barely perceptible moment.

Seeing this, Lu Xian immediately raised his eyebrows.

He had known Xie Wei for quite a long time, so much so that with one look at the other’s subtle expression, he knew he’d probably touched on something. But clever people should stop talking at this point.

Glancing at the pitch-black window outside, Lu Xian said, “You should go back.”

Xie Wei rose to take his leave.

When departing, he also took away those fifteen thousand taels in banknotes.

Lu Xian didn’t stop him and saw him to the door.

However, boarding the carriage returning to the manor, Xie Wei leaned back in the carriage, staring at the ink marks on that stack of banknotes in his hands, truly thinking for a very long time.

Upon reaching the manor gates, he descended from the carriage.

Daoqin noticed his expression was somewhat off.

Xie Wei lowered his eyes, but not knowing what he thought of, suddenly smiled slightly and said, “Tomorrow go to the Jiang manor and have Ningning come to study the qin. Though she needn’t go to Fengchen Hall anymore, her studies cannot fall behind.”

Zhou Yinzhi secretly felt shocked.

Jiang Xuening’s side gathered sufficient money in the afternoon. Such a large sum to give directly to people—she truly couldn’t feel reconciled. Moreover, this group were Celestial Doctrine’s secretly left sleeper agents. Even if they couldn’t intercept this money, capturing these people could also establish merit.

So when leaking news to Xie Wei’s side, she also made a second contingency plan.

Deliberately trading with the other party only in the evening.

Ambushing inside the city was too conspicuous, so she had Zhou Yinzhi find another pretext to deploy some Embroidered Uniform Guards to ambush outside the city gates. Even those two Celestial Doctrine rebels they’d previously captured were released, only waiting for this group to exit the city to intercept and kill them, seeing if they could have the luck to retrieve these fifty thousand taels.

But after waiting all night, no one exited the city.

When Zhou Yinzhi arrived at the office the next morning, he heard colleagues mention that last night the city gate guards had shot and killed several Celestial Doctrine rebels. It seemed they had paid money to bribe guards wanting to exit the city, but hadn’t expected the city gate guards’ side was merely feigning compliance, only waiting for them to walk into the trap.

Zhou Yinzhi had dealt with those few Celestial Doctrine rebels.

These jianghu people valued loyalty but were very shrewd. They could know from traces and clues that their own informants had been captured, then bring out half a letter to force their compliance and negotiate a bold business deal—how could they stumble at the stage of bribing city gate guards?

Unless the person contacting them was someone they trusted from the start!

But something changed.

The other party betrayed them, instead ensnaring them to their deaths.

The matters involved within must be complex. Zhou Yinzhi’s understanding of Celestial Doctrine’s internals was even less clear, but suddenly hearing this news, he could already clearly sense that behind this matter, beyond himself and Jiang Xuening plotting, there seemed to be another thick, unfathomable layer of shadow.

More vast, more secretive.

It must be said that at that moment, what he associated it with was what Jiang Xuening had previously instructed him to leak the news—could it be related to that Mentor Xie he’d never dealt with but who had a saintly reputation?

Zhou Yinzhi once again felt that in this treacherous capital city, he was merely a small wave lifted by this surging sea, no different from those grains of sand lying on the shallow beach being brought here and there by waves.

Enter the world, and only then know the world is vast.

After becoming an Embroidered Uniform Guard commander and gaining a foothold in the office, he had actually begun considering, after Marquis Yongyi’s manor fell, what could such an insignificant little young lady like Jiang Xuening still bring him?

However, this time, he discovered—

Even this little young lady, he seemed not to have truly fathomed her depths.

Zhou Yinzhi came to the Jiang manor once again, but this time he put away the airs he displayed before subordinates, appearing as humble and forbearing as when he first arrived in the capital and still worked at the Jiang manor.

Jiang Xuening hadn’t received news from Zhou Yinzhi’s side last night and was still worried this morning.

Who would have thought that just as she was thinking about it, he arrived.

She then asked, “How did it go?”

Zhou Yinzhi related last night’s situation and this morning’s information heard at the office, one by one.

He observed Jiang Xuening’s expression.

Surprisingly, Jiang Xuening didn’t seem as grave as he’d imagined, instead appearing as if this was within expectations. She sighed in relief, but afterward furrowed her brow, as if beyond setting her mind at ease, she’d added several traces of vague worry.

Zhou Yinzhi probed tentatively, “Should we secretly investigate?”

Jiang Xuening supported herself on the edge of that carved lacquer redwood desk, slowly sitting down. She almost immediately shook her head, saying, “Don’t investigate.”

At times like this, the more you do, the more you err.

She said, “I already know about the matter. You should go back. From now on, don’t concern yourself with anything else.”

However, Zhou Yinzhi felt her speech today was more profound than any previous time, revealing an unfathomable inscrutability that caused him to show rare hesitation.

Jiang Xuening said, “Is there anything else?”

Only then did Zhou Yinzhi collect his thoughts. Though he wanted to ask what hidden circumstances lay behind this matter, recalling how she had that day inexplicably exposed his intentions behind wanting to infiltrate Marquis Yongyi’s manor, facing this little young lady before him, he actually felt somewhat intimidated. Fearing she would become dissatisfied with him, he said, “Nothing, just somewhat unexpected. Then this subordinate will return first. Second Miss can just send someone to find me. If I’m not at the office, finding Wei Xi is also fine.”

Jiang Xuening recalled that young man she’d seen blushing that day at Zhou Yinzhi’s residence and thought this was indeed a good candidate. She nodded, “Understood.”

Only then did Zhou Yinzhi take his leave.

The moment he left, Jiang Xuening sat quietly for a long time. Suddenly she held her head and knocked it against the table. “As expected, it’s him. I’m finished!”

That was fifty thousand taels!

Exchanged for so many things Yan Lin had given her, added her own personal funds, and sold off the Ren family salt yard silver shares in her hands at their rising momentum at a low price—this was what she’d painstakingly scraped together.

Being coerced by these Celestial Doctrine people for nothing—though it could be considered spending money on the blade’s edge, in her heart she still felt somewhat displeased.

Moreover, she worried these people would commit double-crossing, so she had no choice but to make a third contingency plan.

First, her side would honestly give money. If she could smoothly obtain the letter, naturally nothing could be better.

In fact, this point worked.

The other party indeed kept their word quite well. Perhaps they felt that those who would run about and spend money for Marquis Yongyi’s manor’s affairs should also be trustworthy, loyal, and righteous people. They really did hand the letter into her hands.

Second, she sent Zhou Yinzhi’s side to ambush outside the city gates as a precaution. Whether blocking the letter or intercepting back the money, both counted as merit.

This point didn’t work.

This related to the third point.

Third, she also instructed that news be secretly leaked out, so Xie Wei’s side would detect traces and clues, then also get involved in this matter. This could be said to be adding a final layer of insurance for the overall situation.

Because she didn’t dare say she could ensure the first two points were foolproof.

This was a major matter concerning Marquis Yongyi’s manor’s survival.

Losing money, even exposing herself—before this major matter, all became insignificant and not worth mentioning.

Jiang Xuening couldn’t afford the risk of failure.

So she gambled—

She gambled that the Xie Wei she knew from her previous life was secretly a person powerful to the point of terror. She gambled that as long as this person knew the news, he would certainly have the ability to control the overall situation. She also gambled on his concern for Marquis Yongyi’s manor, or rather, she gambled on…

That guess from her previous life that You Fangying had made that was never confirmed by anyone!

However, whether to call it fortunate or unfortunate, this guess was almost confirmed by herself in this lifetime through this incident!

One must ask: Xie Ju’an was born in Jinling and grew up in Jiangnan. He’d never had deep relations with Marquis Yongyi’s manor. Teaching Yan Lin was merely incidental when presiding over the Wenyuan Pavilion’s classics mat lectures. He had neither vital personal interests nor deep sentiment of mutual aid in adversity. Yet merely obtaining a bit of hearsay news, he was willing to expend great effort and risk danger to set a killing trap at the city gates. His methods were ruthless, his actions sharp—chilling to the bone. How could he truly have no relationship with the marquis manor?

In her previous life, Jiang Xuening also knew a secret.

That was, that person who later returned to the Xiao clan as a frivolous, lecherous good-for-nothing who infuriated the entire Xiao clan—Xiao Dingfei—fundamentally wasn’t the real Heir Dingfei!

At that time, this person was drunk.

Throughout court and countryside, whether this person was truly the heir or not—at first they deeply believed it. After all, he knew everything about past events. But as time went on, they always felt how could someone so good as a child grow into this. There were criticisms in secret.

She also had quite some thoughts about this.

Thus, she took advantage of that time, quite calculatingly asking him about his experiences “wandering outside” in the past.

As a result, this wastrel swayed unsteadily. Taking advantage of no one watching in the pavilion, he deliberately drew close to her as if taking liberties. His lips almost pressed against her ear as he said, “Does Your Majesty think that because I’m drunk, I might say some ‘truth’?”

Jiang Xuening was startled and wanted to retreat.

Who would have thought this person would forcefully grab her sleeve, pulling at the corners of his lips rather wickedly, his gaze burning as it locked onto her. “If Your Majesty is willing to sleep with me once, I’ll tell you—I’m truly not that ‘Heir Dingfei.'”

He said he truly wasn’t Heir Dingfei!

This shocked her.

However, this person’s boldness truly exceeded Jiang Xuening’s expectations.

She hadn’t expected the other party would dare be so unbridled even in the palace. Her face immediately turned cold as she shook off his hand and retreated.

Xiao Dingfei’s feet swayed a bit beneath him, not standing very steadily. But the smile at his lips not only didn’t diminish but deepened. He actually brought the fingers that had grasped her magnificent palace attire’s sleeve to his nose to lightly sniff.

His eyes were carved with infuriating frivolity.

Jiang Xuening’s gaze turned cold. “You’re seeking death!”

However, Xiao Dingfei raised an eyebrow, not taking it to heart at all. Instead, he pressed that index finger to his own lips, imprinting a kiss, and chuckled lightly, “I think Your Majesty doesn’t know your own situation, constantly prying into matters you shouldn’t know. If that person learns what you heard me say today, I fear even if he doesn’t want to, even if he must settle accounts with me, he’ll still have to kill Your Majesty first.”

The palace attendant who’d gone to fetch her cloak returned at this time. Seeing Xiao Dingfei, they were quite startled.

She closed her mouth and stopped speaking.

However, Xiao Dingfei had no proper form, swaying crookedly as he performed courtesy toward her before withdrawing from the pavilion, presumably returning to the banquet.

From that time on, Jiang Xuening couldn’t help constantly wondering: who was the “that person” Xiao Dingfei spoke of, who was “he”? Moreover, perhaps not planning to kill her—that proved the other party at least had such ability…

But thinking left and right, there were no clues.

However, all those matters that the real Heir Dingfei should have known, no matter how major or minor, Xiao Dingfei knew them all. So the only thing she could confirm was: if there was someone plotting behind the scenes, they must have tremendous connection with that real Heir Dingfei! Perhaps, it was the real Heir Dingfei himself!

However, until her self-inflicted death in Kunning Palace, she hadn’t penetrated this hidden secret.

Now…

Jiang Xuening, whose forehead was pressed against the carved lacquer square table, suddenly raised her head at this thought. “How is that possible?”

Her brow furrowed as she was truly puzzled and confused.

If this person was Xie Wei, according to what Xiao Dingfei said, how could he not want to kill her?

No…

She still couldn’t confirm this person was Xie Wei.

In the capital, there might not be no one else interfering in this matter. Perhaps it really was those Celestial Doctrine people whose own careless actions were exposed and seized upon?

The key lay in those fifteen banknotes.

If the person behind the scenes was indeed Xie Wei, and with Lu Xian present, the other party would certainly recognize the origin of these fifteen banknotes. With slight examination, they would discover the characters written across the seam of the banknotes, thereby knowing her identity!

Jiang Xuening feared precisely that the person behind was Xie Wei, so after long consideration, she wrote those words on the banknotes.

Because she didn’t have more time to exchange banknotes.

Moreover, even if exchanged, such a large sum could be traced if investigated.

If the person behind wasn’t Xie Wei, naturally there was no problem. Others, even if discovering it, wouldn’t know what it meant. For her, it was merely making idle strokes—fifty thousand taels of silver going down the drain. But if it was indeed Xie Wei who intercepted and killed them, after seeing the banknotes but not seeing the letter, he would certainly expend deadly effort investigating the letter’s whereabouts.

Paper cannot wrap fire.

Much less, how could her solitary weakness compare with Xie Wei?

To guard against contingencies, better to bow her head and admit error first. Because she truly had no malicious intent but instead helped Marquis Yongyi’s manor greatly. If she waited for Xie Wei to investigate and discover it himself, admitting error then would be too late—it would inevitably arouse the other party’s suspicion and wariness.

Moreover…

She still hoped that if it was Xie Wei, perhaps those fifty thousand taels could be retrieved.

So, whose hands had those fifteen banknotes actually reached?

Jiang Xuening’s eyelid inexplicably began twitching.

Tang’er, who had gone out earlier to collect monthly wages, returned at this time. But her face carried some caution as she said to Jiang Xuening, “Second Miss, someone came from the front hall. They said it was Mentor Xie’s side instructing that you should go study the qin. No matter what, lessons cannot fall behind.”

Jiang Xuening: “…”

An ominous premonition struck.

She pressed down her eyelid. “Fine, I’ll go another day.”

Tang’er said fearfully, “That person said it can’t be another day. Mentor Xie is busy—you must go today as soon as possible.”

Jiang Xuening: “…”

So urgent—was he rushing to finish teaching her the qin before going to his next life? So those fifteen banknotes really did fall into that surnamed Xie’s hands!