In the old residence.

After Li Cheng was sent away by the Marquis of Nanguo, he hurried to the old residence to wait for them.

Upon learning that Li Cheng had taken them to the Ministry of Revenue and they had nearly been caught by the Second Prince.

Bai Yin immediately slapped the table and stood up.

“How could you go directly to the Ministry of Revenue without notifying me first?”

Li Cheng explained: “The situation was urgent.”

“But it couldn’t be that urgent.”

“Right now everyone is busy with Du Mubai’s case, so they definitely wouldn’t notice the Ministry of Revenue. I thought that if we went now, no one would notice and it would be very safe. This was a decision I made after careful consideration and deliberation.”

But Bai Yin wasn’t buying his explanation.

After all, he was someone who had rolled around on the grasslands. These explanations to him were like playing a lute to a cow.

He firmly believed that Li Cheng’s decision was far too rash.

“If you had really been discovered by the Second Prince then, if something had happened to them, I definitely wouldn’t have let you off.”

Li Cheng was rendered speechless.

He didn’t know how to respond.

Bai Yin was angry.

But Lang Bo was pondering another matter. He made clicking sounds with his mouth for a long while, then looked at Li Cheng and asked: “Wait, are you saying… when you were almost discovered by the Second Prince, the Marquis of Nanguo appeared and saved you! Not only that, he actually knows our two young masters? In the end… he even took them away. Is that right?”

His eyes flashed with puzzled light.

Under his questioning, Li Cheng numbly nodded his head.

Lang Bo exclaimed: “Just who is this Marquis of Nanguo?”

Li Cheng said: “From what I saw, it seemed Young Master Ji and Young Master Jing both knew the Marquis of Nanguo too. As for when they had dealings with each other, I have no way of knowing.”

“This won’t do. What if something happens to them? I need to hurry out and find them.”

Lang Bo grabbed his sword and was about to leave on foot… but Li Cheng, rarely clearheaded for once, quickly grabbed him: “You can rest assured, the Marquis of Nanguo isn’t a bad person. I know him. He has a marquis title, but he’s actually just an honest merchant! Besides, if he really wanted to harm Young Master Ji and Young Master Jing, he wouldn’t have gone to the Ministry of Revenue to help clear things up for us.”

“Then now…”

“I think they must have something important to discuss. Even if you go now, you won’t be able to find them.”

“What you’re saying is simply…”

Before he could finish speaking, footsteps came from outside the door.

Everyone looked over.

They saw Ji Yunshu and Jingrong coming in.

Bai Yin rushed out first, asking: “How did it go?”

“Let’s go inside to talk.”

The several people went in.

Jingrong then explained about asking the Marquis of Nanguo to help find Cha He.

Bai Yin asked: “Do you truly trust him?” Ji Yunshu said: “Years ago when the Marquis of Nanguo came to Dalin for business, we happened to meet in a broken temple. At that time his wife had died unexpectedly on the road, but there was still a child in her womb. I saw that the child hadn’t completely become a stillborn, so I performed a caesarean section to take the child out. He was very grateful to us and wanted to help us find someone as repayment. So I told him our purpose for coming to Huyi, hoping to borrow his abilities to help us find the person. After all, now that we’ve already alerted the enemy, we can’t go to the Ministry of Revenue again.”

A helpless sigh.

Li Cheng sighed and his face showed shame: “I’m truly sorry. I thought I was doing a good deed, but instead I nearly caused trouble.”

“Young Master Cheng, you’ve already done your best.”

“However, only now do I know that you saved the Marquis of Nanguo’s young heir. This destined connection was already predetermined. You truly are living bodhisattvas.”

Living bodhisattvas!

Really?

Ji Yunshu smiled bitterly.

She could save another person’s life, but couldn’t protect the lives of those around her.

She should be a disaster star instead!

…

At the Marquis of Nanguo’s residence.

In the ancestral hall in the back courtyard.

The Marquis of Nanguo dragged his steps, walking inside step by step.

His hands hung powerlessly at his sides.

His eyes were moist, his face full of sorrow.

In the ancestral hall, the scent of incense and candles was intense. On the shelves on both sides, many candles were placed.

Under this silent night, the firelight flickered dimly.

Drawing his shadow longer and longer…

He stood there, looking at the spirit tablets covered with two pieces of red cloth among the many tablets before him.

Those two tablets were placed in the foremost position.

After a long while—

He reached out his hand and pulled down one of the red cloths.

More than twenty years had passed. On the tablet one could clearly see the traces left by time—broken, worn…

But it had been wiped clean.

Written on it was “Spirit Tablet of Mingdao.”

Very few people in Huyi knew that the two characters “Mingdao” were the title of the Late King before he ascended the throne.

So this tablet was erected by the Marquis of Nanguo for the Late King.

Years ago, the Late King was beheaded by the current King of Huyi in the great hall. His body was thrown directly into the deep mountains, intended to be devoured by the jackals, wolves, tigers and leopards in the mountains. Therefore, no coffin or tomb was established for him in the imperial mausoleum.

The generals and officials involved in that civil war all thought that the King of Huyi’s body had already been torn apart and swallowed by the jackals, wolves, tigers and leopards in the mountain forest.

But how could they know that half a stick of incense after the corpse was thrown in, the Marquis of Nanguo’s people had already secretly “rescued” the body from the mountain forest.

Then buried it in the Marquis of Nanguo’s ancestral burial grounds!

So the characters written on the tablet didn’t use the Late King’s title, but rather used his title from before ascending the throne.

It was worshipped in the ancestral hall.

Three sticks of incense daily.

And to prevent anyone from discovering anything, it was covered with red cloth.

The Marquis of Nanguo spoke heavily, then pulled open the other piece of red cloth.

On that tablet was written “Spirit Tablet of Cha’er Clan Xi.”

This was his younger sister Cha Xi’s tablet.

No one in Huyi knew that the Late Queen who enjoyed all honors, before being enfeoffed as queen, had the surname Cha. But because in childhood the Cha clan committed an error, the great family required everyone to become separate families, so the Late Queen’s family withdrew their original surname.

Changed it to Ke.

The Marquis of Nanguo also changed his name to Ke Cha!

Before this, his original name was Cha He!

Only those closely connected to his Cha clan knew this secret.

Lord San of the Hou Liao knew this secret because from childhood he had grown up together with the Late Queen and the Marquis of Nanguo.

And to prevent attracting attention, Lord San deliberately reported the name Cha He to Bai Yin.

Actually, when he saw Ji Yunshu’s face that looked almost identical to his younger sister’s, the Marquis of Nanguo already had his suspicions. And today when he heard her say the person she was looking for was “Cha He,” he became even more certain of one thing.

That Young Lady Ji absolutely had a great connection with him.

Which meant… she was his younger sister’s daughter.

This was the only thing he could think of!

His heart stirred with immense excitement.

Yet he was also grief-stricken.

Suddenly—

A voice came from behind: “Is A’Jin also alive?”

When Lian Que entered, he placed the long sword in his hand outside the door.

He walked in quickly.

He stood behind the Marquis of Nanguo, looking at those two spirit tablets in front. “If that Young Lady Ji truly is the Late Queen’s child, and the person they’re looking for truly is you, Marquis, doesn’t it mean… the Late Queen and A’Jin are both still alive?”