The oil lamp flickered dimly, casting dancing shadows on uneasy faces.

“How did you know the other party were spies? Did you recognize them?” Xiao Wei looked at Mo Zi, who sat on the bench with a remarkably composed expression.

“What kind of question is that? I was the first to report this, and now I’m being suspected of being an accomplice?” What kind of logic is that—how impressive.

Unable to tolerate her strange tone and manner of speaking, Xiao Er slammed the table. “Speak properly.”

“Yes, Xiao General. Although I’ve said this no less than three times, I will definitely cooperate with your demands.” Mo Zi cleared her throat. “Zhao Liang—that’s Manager Zhao from Wangqiu Tower—and I went to find the head manager. We didn’t see anyone along the way until we reached the rear garden where the entertainers live. Who would have thought we’d hear strange sounds, so we frantically knocked on the door. An entertainer came out saying she was ill. Zhao Liang then led people into the garden to check. To cooperate with your operation, we were very conscientious. As for me, I stayed in front to question that entertainer. As I questioned her, I felt something was wrong. After probing slightly, four masked men jumped out from the flower terrace wanting to kill me. In my panic, I shouted about spies.”

“Who asked you about the process?” A vein throbbed at Xiao Er’s temple. “I asked you how you knew the other party were spies.”

“Aren’t you capturing spies? When I saw strangers who were also vicious and evil, my first reaction was naturally that they were spies. Is this so simple you still can’t understand? Is there grass growing in your brain?”

“First reaction?” Xiao Er’s expression turned cold and grim. “That doesn’t seem right. According to what Zhao Liang said, a period of time elapsed between when he and the guards left and when they returned to the front.”

“Mm, I also talked with that fake entertainer for quite a while. To be honest, I never thought she was fake. There are dozens of entertainers in this garden, and I don’t come here often, so I couldn’t distinguish familiar faces from strangers. At first, we just chatted casually, then later I wanted to extract information, but I was somewhat nervous and ended up saying a lot of useless things.” She took back her comment about grass growing in his brain. Actually, this person had always been intelligent, and moreover had shocking courage—daring to act and take responsibility, full of determination, forcing her to steel herself each time to deal with him.

“You say you were nervous?” Ha, someone who doesn’t fear death would be nervous?

“What does Xiao General mean? The other party dared to infiltrate the capital alone as a Da Qiu person—most likely they kill without blinking. What if, possibly, I had the misfortune to encounter them? How could I not be nervous? So many of you couldn’t catch those five people. If I acted tough, wouldn’t my life be forfeit?” Mo Zi knew Xiao Er was very annoyed by her common street manner of speaking, so she deliberately performed with exaggerated oily tones. As long as this person wasn’t calm enough, she could fish in troubled waters.

Xiao Er indeed showed an expression of disgust. “You dare to run smuggling ships and transport contraband, yet you fear death?”

“I wasn’t afraid before, but now I’ve reformed and turned over a new leaf, so of course I’m afraid.” She even used the phrase “reformed and turned over a new leaf”—she could be considered to have racked her brains trying to prove her innocence. “Xiao General, the people escaped from your hands. Don’t vent your resentment on innocent common people. All of us at Wangqiu Tower are law-abiding citizens. Tell me, if I were secretly communicating with Da Qiu people, why would I shout so loudly and draw you all here?”

Talking with her gave Xiao Wei a headache. He really wanted to turn around and leave, but duty bound him—he couldn’t be careless. “Did you see their faces clearly?”

“No.” She answered very decisively. “The four people were masked. That woman stood with her back to the light and lowered her head pretending to be weak and sickly. I only saw that her skin was snow white.”

“Were there any other distinguishing features?” Xiao Wei reluctantly accepted her explanation, but his intuition told him something was off.

“No, ordinary Da Zhou clothing. One outfit was slightly more ornate, seemingly the leader.” She was being quite cooperative.

“How was it ornate? Could you see the patterns clearly?” If she saw the clothing style clearly, they could inquire about the person’s appearance from Wangqiu Tower’s workers.

“No, it was too dark.” But Mo Zi didn’t give him hope. Seeing his face full of doubt, she added two words: “Really. If you don’t believe it, you can stand there yourself and try. If you can see clearly, then I’m an accomplice.”

Xiao Wei gave up. But he kept his guard up. When he walked past where Mo Zi had stood earlier, looking at the soldier in front, the man indeed had his back to the light. At a slightly greater distance, the patterns on clothing couldn’t be seen clearly, and the colors appeared different from broad daylight.

As soon as Zan Jin saw Mo Zi come out, he followed behind her. “Brother Mo, what did that official ask you?”

Cen Er and Zhao Liang also cared, walking beside Mo Zi.

Hearing Zan Jin’s unfriendly tone, Xiao Wei coldly glanced at him, but then saw several people following Mo Zi step by step, and furrowed his brow. This girl who dressed as a man every day—after he warned her, not only did she not take it to heart, looking at those around her there were even several new unfamiliar faces, clearly becoming even more flagrant.

“Nothing much. The young general was just following procedure. Having failed to catch anyone, he naturally had to ask about details to report to his superiors.” Mo Zi smiled.

Although she lowered her voice, Xiao Er, being a martial artist, heard every word clearly. Angered, his brow twisted, yet he couldn’t really argue with her.

“Brother Mo, at Yunge Terrace, Ninth Master sent someone to find you, saying he’s still waiting.” Tonight Cen Er had been scared quite badly. Somehow, seeing Mo Zi made him feel more settled.

“Alright…” Mo Zi wanted to say she’d go right away.

“I think Brother Mo won’t have time to go after all.” Xiao Er ultimately couldn’t suppress the frustration in his chest. If this girl had no awareness, then he didn’t mind helping her along. “The Mid-Autumn reunion festival—I imagine Brother Mo should have a home to return to. Don’t forget your proper duties.”

Mo Zi curved a brilliant smile that made Xiao Er’s eyes suddenly hurt. “How pitiful for the general—during this great festival, unable to return home, only able to watch others enjoy their freedom. However, it’s also for the safety of the capital’s common people. The general sacrifices his small self for the greater self—Brother Mo admires that. I originally wanted to invite the general and all the brothers for a drink to celebrate the festival, but unfortunately the general must continue searching for spies, so I truly dare not detain you. How about another day—whenever the general is free, just come. The wine will be on me.”

Directly refusing to go back and fulfill her duties—so what? This person had been away from home for half a month. Little did he know that his sister-in-law had decided to stop managing things, that the merchant continued as before, laying all cards on the table with Xiao San.

The maid? Sorry, she had already resigned from that position.

Xiao Er really wanted to just grab Mo Zi and take her back to let Qiu Sanniang discipline her properly. But he couldn’t. Because Mo Zi was currently Brother Mo. Although her male disguise was becoming increasingly careless, doing this in front of so many people would cause rumors to fly everywhere. Things between Third Brother and his wife were just beginning to reconcile—this would cause friction again. He also feared the elders asking questions. If Grandmother and Mother investigated and discovered the truth, this girl definitely wouldn’t have good days ahead—a beating would be unavoidable. Although he felt she should receive some lesson, somehow, he didn’t want to see her suffer physical punishment.

Therefore, he could only let it go for now, leading his men to withdraw from Wangqiu Tower.

Watching the rising dust, Cen Er let out a big breath. “Good heavens, what a night this has been.”

Mo Zi’s face was expressionless. She was thinking about something, something that concerned her greatly.

What was Wu Yanle doing at Wangqiu Tower? Could it really just be for eating, drinking, and watching entertainers?

“Cen Er, do you remember tonight’s guests? Four men and one woman. Two older ones, one tall and one short, one with a goatee beard. Among the young ones, there should be one very handsome-looking. Distinguishing feature—” She thought for a moment. “He wore his hair in a topknot, and should have a deep purple gemstone clasp.” Phoenix stone.

Cen Er shook his head, then suddenly remembered. “Four men and one woman, no. But there were five men, three of whom match what you described. They reserved a private room—it was the Golden Osmanthus Chamber.”

So Ye’er dressed in male clothing. Mo Zi continued asking, “Only those five people?”

Cen Er found the worker responsible for the Golden Osmanthus Chamber.

The workers said that from beginning to end there were only those five people. They ordered a table of food and wine, staying inside for roughly two hours. The workers remained right outside the door and saw no one else.

Was she overthinking? Mo Zi pondered for a moment. “Did they request entertainers?”

Ye’er was so familiar with the name of the courtyard where the entertainers lived—it shouldn’t have been a guess.

“Yes, they requested Shuniang who plays the qin and Xianniang who plays the flute.” One worker replied.

The qin player? So she borrowed that identity.

“Matters concerning entertainers must go through Aunt Qin.” Cen Er asked Mo Zi, “Should we ask Aunt Qin? She protects those entertainer girls like a mother hen—each one is precious to her.”

Clearly Cen Er had suffered quite a bit from Aunt Qin usually. Mo Zi smiled and asked, “I wonder where Aunt Qin is?”

Cen Er and Zhao Liang answered in unison, “Yang Ling.”

Mo Zi kept this matter in her heart. It was very strange—she was preoccupied with it and had to go ask no matter what.

Zan Jin, as long as he saw Mo Zi now, absolutely had to follow along. Therefore she couldn’t drive him away and could only bring him. Bringing one meant bringing two, because there was also Cen Dalang.

Yang Ling was at the Orchid Pavilion on Yunge Terrace.

When Mo Zi walked to the flowers outside the pavilion, she heard Lady Chen softly singing a lyric poem.

After Lady Chen finished singing, there was some applause and words of praise—not clamorous or unrestrained, then it quieted. No wonder Zhao Liang had such high praise for Yang Ling. It seemed there were still some true gentlemen in this world.

Going around, the pavilion’s interior became visible at a glance. Four plainly-dressed young scholars in either white or blue robes sat around a table, leisurely drinking wine. Two of them occupied the east and west ends of the table—one writing, one painting. Lady Chen and Aunt Qin sat at side seats with happy smiling expressions.

Mo Zi found a worker and had him invite Aunt Qin to come out.

As soon as Aunt Qin saw her, she said, “I’ll call Lady Chen over. She hasn’t seen you for some days and was asking about you.”

“Don’t disturb her good mood.” Being an entertainer was actually not easy. Meeting such guests who could smile from the heart wasn’t common. “I just want to ask you, Aunt—Shuniang who plays the qin and Xianniang who plays the flute, were they brought from Luo Zhou?”

“Shuniang was, but Xianniang is local. Why are you asking about this?” Aunt Qin was a shrewd old hand, her gaze immediately suspicious.

“Does Aunt Qin have records of their guest service these past days? Could you let me take a look?” For settlement convenience, the entertainers’ activities would be recorded.

“That’s fine, but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Right now I’m accompanying Lady Chen.” Hearing praise from the pavilion, Aunt Qin turned her head, looked, then smiled.

Mo Zi saw a painting—the beauty in the picture was Lady Chen.

“Young Master Yang is truly remarkable. Excellent at studies, excellent at painting. This year at the imperial examinations, he’ll definitely place high. Who knows who will be fortunate enough to marry such an outstanding person.” Aunt Qin rarely praised a man so highly.

Mo Zi finally remembered who this Yang Ling was. At Wei Qiongyu’s birthday, when a Taoist priest arranged a match for Sixth Miss Wei—the only son of Minister Yang from the Ministry of Rites, wasn’t it him?

Not having seen Yang Ling in person would have been one thing, but having seen him, she felt Wei Sixth Miss was foolish beyond belief.