Neither Yang Jing nor Yu Wenli had expected Li Chi to appear suddenly, least of all so early in the morning.

Yang Jing’s nerves held somewhat better — he maintained a semblance of composure — but Yu Wenli’s reaction was a shade more visible.

One casual remark — *I’d imagine you’re not* — was enough to make Yu Wenli’s heart leap into his throat.

An unannounced visit from the Prince would never be made without reason, and certainly not to say something like that out of nowhere.

“What would Prince Ning like to eat?”

Yang Jing noticed the change in Yu Wenli’s expression and quickly changed the subject.

Li Chi walked and spoke. “The first meal of the day is not something to be careless about. If breakfast doesn’t go well, one has no energy for the rest of the day — so it ought to be something refined. A thick white congee would be ideal, and if there’s cooked meat, that can be sliced as well.”

He smiled. “Looking at the two of you, it seems you’ve both gone hungry too.”

Yang Jing dipped his head slightly. “It is only because Prince Ning arrived without warning — one cannot help but feel a certain trepidation.”

Li Chi asked, “Why trepidation?”

Yang Jing said, “Prince Ning does not intend to kill me, yet I fear Prince Ning may kill me. Whenever we meet, I am frightened regardless.”

Li Chi said, “Then I am a bad person.”

Yang Jing quickly said, “It is only that I am too timid — how could it be Prince Ning’s fault?”

Li Chi said, “If I were a good person, you would not fear me. I told you I wouldn’t kill you, and you would have no reason to doubt it. The fact that you both fear me and doubt me means I am a bad person.”

Yu Wenli hurriedly said, “Prince Ning misunderstands — our master doesn’t mean it that way. Prince Ning carries the authority of Heaven — anyone who comes before Prince Ning cannot help but feel some awe.”

Li Chi said, “Master Yu is greatly learned, but has clearly never studied the art of telling an untruth.”

He smiled. “You ought to spend more time getting to know the people around me. Every last one of them can talk the hind legs off a donkey — not a word of truth from any of them.”

Yu Wenli reflexively replied, “Yes, yes, I should learn from the generals — no no, Prince Ning is joking, how could the generals be like that?”

Li Chi burst out laughing.

Once inside the reception hall, Yu Wenli hastily instructed the servants to prepare breakfast. Li Chi sat down, and only then did Yu Wenli and Yang Jing dare sit as well.

But Li Chi had barely sat when he rose again. “Master Yu’s home is quite elegant. Would it be convenient for us to take a look around?”

Yu Wenli’s hand trembled almost imperceptibly. He bowed to hide the alarm on his face. “Of course — of course it is.”

Li Chi nodded. “Then let’s have a look.”

He said to Yu Hongyi, Shang Qingzhu and the rest, “The lot of you are such roughnecks — pay careful attention to how Master Yu has arranged things here, so that when you finally get your own residences, you don’t decorate them in some dreadful rustic fashion.”

“Yes!” Yu Hongyi and Shang Qingzhu immediately bowed and headed off.

Li Chi walked to the middle of the courtyard and stopped, stretching his back — and in so doing, looked out toward the watch-tower the Tingwei Office had been using to monitor Yu Wenli’s home.

He smiled to himself. *So we’re being watched nice and carefully.*

From where he stood in the courtyard, the three-story wooden tower was visible. But from the tower’s third floor looking down here, all they could see was someone entering the gate — they couldn’t see where that person went inside.

From that alone, one could reasonably conclude that the man who appeared to have just arrived in Daxing actually already knew precisely where the Tingwei Office had positioned its watch around Yu Wenli’s home — and had moved along positions that used the outbuildings and walls to block the tower’s line of sight.

Li Chi pointed toward a side room that could obstruct the line of sight. “Master Yu — is the side room there for servants’ quarters?”

Yu Wenli quickly said, “No — just a storeroom for odds and ends.”

Li Chi smiled. “Then I’ll have a look. If someone were living there, it wouldn’t be proper to intrude.”

He walked toward the side room. Yu Wenli’s expression grew steadily worse — but Yang Jing, curiously, seemed to have collected himself. His expression was calm; his step unhurried.

Gao Xining, watching from the side, was reading both men. She could deduce: either the man had already left — or Yang Jing’s composure surpassed anyone she’d encountered.

If he had left, to vanish without a trace under such tight Tingwei surveillance required preparations made well in advance.

Li Chi stepped into the side room and glanced around. Sure enough it was only storage — odds and ends. His eye landed immediately on the bolt of rough cloth leaning against the wall to one side.

Li Chi saw it. Yang Jing and Yu Wenli’s eyes fell on it at the same time without thinking.

Yu Wenli had already been telling himself not to panic, had already rehearsed exactly how to answer whatever was asked.

But Li Chi turned and walked straight out — without asking a single word about the cloth.

“I’ve been walking around Daxing these past two days.”

Li Chi strolled back toward the main building, talking as he went. “I’ve come across quite a few vacant large residences — a shame to see them empty.”

The city’s former high officials and court grandees — Yang Jing had had a considerable number of them killed, and quite a few households confiscated and the families exterminated, leaving many large estates standing empty.

Yang Jing couldn’t tell whether Li Chi’s words carried any particular meaning, so he only nodded in agreement.

Li Chi said, “One morning the day before yesterday, I noticed a large compound lying derelict and went to look. It turned out to be what used to be the prominent Yuwen family’s residence.”

He looked at Yang Jing. “Master Yu’s home, though elegant and well-kept, is really quite small for so many people. So the day before yesterday I gave orders to have the Yuwen compound cleaned up. Once it’s ready, you can move there.”

Yang Jing quickly said, “Many thanks for Prince Ning’s gracious consideration — but I’ve grown used to living at Master Yu’s, and moving somewhere else…”

Before he could finish, Li Chi was already talking past him. “You’ve been here twenty days and gotten used to this place. You’ll be in another place twenty days and get used to that.”

He turned to Yu Wenli. “The Yuwen compound is large. If Master Yu is uneasy being apart, you’re both welcome to move there.”

Yang Jing let out a long inward sigh. *Li Chi, you are exactly as clever as I thought.*

Moving Yang Jing to a larger compound provided all the justification needed to station troops there as guards.

“Oh — and one more thing.”

Li Chi said, “Yibin Garden is rather crowded as it is — all my people have moved in there and I can’t chase a single one of them out. Since they won’t leave, I’ll leave. I’ll move to the Yuwen compound as well.”

Yang Jing tensed inside. Yu Wenli’s hand trembled again.

“And.”

Li Chi looked at Gao Xining. “Since I’m moving there, the Tingwei Army moves there as well. Those fellows are so fond of Yibin Garden — let’s leave it to them.”

Gao Xining smiled slightly. “Very well. I’ll send people back to transfer the Tingwei Army to the old Yuwen residence.”

“Is breakfast ready yet?”

Li Chi turned to ask Yu Wenli. Yu Wenli hurriedly said, “I’ll go and hurry them along — right now.”

The breakfast wasn’t particularly lavish — thick white rice congee with a slightly ordinary flavor (the rice was old), and a few side dishes quite pleasant to the palate, well suited to accompany the congee.

Li Chi ate and chatted with Yang Jing. Yang Jing answered with the utmost care, while inwardly churning with feelings and a desperate wish to swallow Li Chi whole.

Breakfast done, Li Chi rose. “I’ll not impose any further. Thank you for the hospitality, Master Yu.”

Yang Jing quickly said, “Allow me to see Prince Ning out.”

Li Chi smiled. “What need is there to see me out? We’re going to the same place anyway — might as well go together.”

Yang Jing’s eyes dimmed slightly, but he could only nod. “That would be best. Let me gather my things…”

Li Chi said, “Everything in the way of clothing and daily necessities — get it all fresh and new. Let’s go now.”

Yang Jing got into the carriage with Li Chi. Seated, he kept telling himself to stay calm, to be calm.

At this point Prince Ning certainly had no concrete evidence. If he did, this wouldn’t have ended at a simple move out of Yu Wenli’s home.

“Feeling unwell?”

Li Chi asked Yang Jing.

Yang Jing forced something like a smile. “No — just ate a bit too much. Feeling a little stuffed.”

Li Chi said, “Then let’s get out and walk.”

He opened the carriage door and stepped out — startling Yang Jing once again.

Li Chi wanted to walk the whole way there with him?

Was this deliberate — letting the people Pei Qi had sent see them?

He didn’t dare not to follow. He got down from the carriage and walked closely behind Li Chi, step for step.

Li Chi chatted with him the whole way. Yang Jing racked his mind to keep up, while his thoughts grew increasingly tangled. Truly, as the saying goes: a guilty conscience makes a man jumpy.

About two hours later, the people in Yu Wenli’s home were also urged out by Tingwei soldiers, loaded into carriages, and escorted by Black Cavalry to the old Yuwen residence.

Soon the compound fell quiet — so quiet that even the sound of the wind moving a window seemed loud.

Half an hour after everyone had gone, a figure emerged from the very side room Li Chi had entered — Yao Huancheng.

There was a hidden chamber in Yu Wenli’s home, dug against the possibility of war’s upheaval. The hidden door was beneath one of the water vats, and the bolt of rough cloth had been leaning against the vat.

Yao Huancheng came out, looked carefully in every direction, confirmed there was no one about, and made his way toward the rear courtyard.

His reasoning: once the people in Yu Wenli’s home had moved out, many of the Tingwei watching the place would likely be withdrawn, giving him a chance to slip away.

He passed through the moon gate — and stopped.

In the rear courtyard, several neat rows of Tingwei Army troops stood in formation.

When he appeared, a Tingwei Qianban sitting at the front of the formation with a cup of tea smiled.

The troops had entered through the rear gate after Yu Wenli and the others departed. The one with the tea was Fang Xidao.

He rose unhurriedly and looked at the figure who had evidently been caught off-guard.

Yao Huancheng immediately spun and ran back toward the front courtyard. Fang Xidao didn’t rush to give chase — he simply stepped forward, and the Tingwei soldiers stepped forward with him.

Back in the front courtyard, Yao Huancheng stopped again. There were many more Tingwei coming in through the front gate.

Shang Qingzhu strolled forward with a smile. “The Prince truly sees with uncanny clarity.”

Li Chi had walked into that side room for a look, and concluded the man had not yet left.

He hadn’t given the order to move immediately because the implications were too significant. With Yang Jing staying here, having his people make an arrest inside this compound would send all manner of wild rumors flying through Daxing.

And so he had Yang Jing and Yu Wenli move out.

Now the compound was empty, Yang Jing was gone, and whatever happened here had nothing to do with what people might gossip about.

When Li Chi had entered the side room, he noticed the bolt of cloth leaning against the water vat. The cloth had clearly been unrolled and re-rolled — and done so somewhat unevenly.

The water vat had been moved. The marks beneath it had been exposed slightly — very faint, not easily noticed.

The vat was also empty. Bone dry. Not a trace of moisture.

If the man inside was the one Yao Huancheng was protecting and Yao Huancheng was the one operating outside, a detail this small would never have slipped through.

Now, Yu Hongyi appeared on the roof with a bow in hand. Should that man make any unexpected move, she’d put an arrow through him.

Yao Huancheng looked around at all sides — and then, suddenly, he smiled as well.

“Reputation well-earned.”

He began to applaud.