Ji Yunshu had just finished washing up in her room when the waiter knocked and entered.

He brought in an incense burner.

“Young man, has something happened in Shanhuai County these past few days?” Ji Yunshu suddenly asked.

The waiter’s hand trembled slightly as he quickly replied, “No! Why would you ask such a thing, sir?”

“This place is on the main route to the capital, and it’s still some distance from Shanhuai County. By all rights, the inn should have many guests staying here, but I notice the inn seems rather deserted.”

“The weather hasn’t been very good lately, so fewer people are traveling long distances. It’s like this during this season. Wait until autumn comes, and there won’t be enough rooms at the inn.”

“Is that so?”

The waiter nodded repeatedly!

After using the incense burner, the waiter wiped the table with the towel on his shoulder. As he was leaving the room, he reminded her once more, “Young master, it gets cold late at night. If there’s nothing urgent, please don’t go out. Rest well.”

Based on the television dramas Ji Yunshu had watched, this waiter’s words were definitely not simple.

But she still agreed.

The door had barely been closed for a moment when someone came knocking again.

She thought it was the waiter returning, but when she opened the door, Jingrong stood at the entrance.

Standing ramrod straight.

“Why did you come over?” Ji Yunshu asked.

But Jingrong had already walked past her, entering directly and sitting down with the air of the master of the place.

He said, “Close the door!”

Ji Yunshu vaguely sensed something and closed the door, then sat across from Jingrong and asked seriously, “Did you notice something?”

Jingrong wasn’t surprised that she knew his purpose and nodded slightly.

“This place is very strange!”

“Yes!”

“I’ve already ordered people to guard the entrances and exits on the second floor. You need to be careful yourself too.”

“Are you suspecting it’s related to those bandits from today?”

Jingrong frowned and analyzed, “I can’t say for certain, but since those bandits were so brazen, it’s not impossible they’d come at night to take revenge. Moreover, that bandit said earlier that even the magistrate of Shanhuai County has to give their chief some face. A mere inn might have long become meat in those people’s bowls.”

That’s what he said.

However—

Ji Yunshu questioned, “If those bandits wanted revenge, why didn’t they simply poison the food and drinks earlier?”

“That’s precisely why I say their chief is a clever person. If they really poisoned it, we would definitely have detected it and naturally wouldn’t have stayed here. We might have already made our move earlier. The other side’s chances of winning aren’t great.”

Ji Yunshu nodded.

Jingrong said, “Alright, this prince has already posted guards. You should rest early too.”

“Yes!”

But—

Would you please lift your rear and leave!

Instead, he adopted a posture of sitting still without moving.

Ji Yunshu stood up to remind him, “Aren’t you going to rest?”

“This prince will sit here.”

“Hm?”

“In case something really happens tonight, there will be someone to protect you.”

While speaking, Jingrong had already poured himself a cup of tea and began drinking it on his own.

Ji Yunshu felt helpless, knowing this fellow wouldn’t leave, so she could only undress and burrow into the bedding.

However—

She deliberately moved toward the inner position against the wall, leaving the outer space available.

This seemingly casual movement was caught by Jingrong’s eyes. His lips curved in a smile. He finished the tea in his cup, rose swiftly, extinguished the candle on the table, then lifted his feet and walked to the bedside. Without a word, he slipped into the bed.

Pulling up the covers, he embraced Ji Yunshu’s soft body from behind, pressed his head against her neck, and contentedly closed his eyes to sleep.

At this time, on the other side!

Ji Wanxin had been sitting by the table, her gaze fixed tightly on the flickering candlelight before her. Those originally gentle eyes now resembled that small flame, growing increasingly red as several teardrops fell.

Her hands inside her garment were clenched into fists.

Her crimson eyes gradually filled with viciousness and malice!

After a while, she suddenly stood up, left the room, asked the waiter for two steamed buns, and carried them to the leftmost room on the second floor.

Outside stood a guard.

“What brings Miss Ji here?” the guard asked.

Ji Wanxin smiled gently, lifting the steamed buns in her hands, her tone soft as she said, “Good sir, I see those two people inside have been locked up for so long without even a sip of water. So I got two steamed buns to bring in and give them a few bites.”

The guard quickly said, “Miss Ji, those two are bandits who are to be sent to Shanhuai County prison.”

“I know, but we can’t let them starve, can we? If something happens, we don’t want them dying on the road. Don’t worry, nothing will go wrong.”

The guard thought about it. After all, they were Jingrong’s people, so there was some measure of goodwill.

He said, “Alright then, give them to me and I’ll take them in.”

Ji Wanxin immediately moved the buns aside, saying, “Let me take them in instead. You guard outside, otherwise it wouldn’t be good to have no one out here.”

That made sense too!

The guard agreed, opened the door, and let Ji Wanxin enter.

Inside the room, the two bandits sat bound hand and foot on the floor, both tied to a large pillar, unable to move.

Because they had shouted and yelled continuously along the way, both their mouths were stuffed with cloth.

Seeing such a beautiful woman like Ji Wanxin enter, both men’s eyes lit up. Their bodies twisted a few times, and sounds of “mm mm” hummed from their mouths.

When Ji Wanxin walked over and crouched before them, she pulled the cloth from their mouths.

“You two must be hungry, right? Eat some steamed buns to tide yourselves over.”

She had just picked up a bun from the bowl when one of the bandits said in a teasing tone, “Beauty, why don’t you stay and play with us brothers?”

The other quickly chimed in, “That’s right! Look how bored we are. Beauty, you’re so pretty. If our chief takes a liking to you, you might even become the mountain stronghold’s lady!”

Both men laughed “haha!”

Ji Wanxin’s face turned cold as she stuffed the two buns into their mouths.

That gentle countenance suddenly became like the bitter cold of the first month.

She said, “You’d better hurry and eat these buns. You can only blame yourselves for taking that fool hostage, making that Master Ji so anxious he nearly rushed up to fight you to the death. And what my lord cares about most is Master Ji. If anything happens to Master Ji, he would even risk his own life.”

Heaven knows why Ji Wanxin suddenly said these things!

Those two bandits didn’t dare speak, fearing that if they opened their mouths, the buns would fall to the ground, which wouldn’t be worth it.

So they could only watch helplessly as this beauty finished speaking and left the room!

But what no one expected was that something remained on the floor.

It was a small knife!

It appeared to have been dropped accidentally!

Yet it also seemed deliberate.