Cold wind blew fiercely over Fanchang City, with withered branches occasionally falling into the courtyard from the narrow lanes.

Han Qian walked out of the room with slight drunkenness, seeing Feng Liao standing in the corridor. He said: “If this cold wind blows all night, by tomorrow morning the ice on the rivers and ponds will be thick enough for people to walk and horses to tread on. Your journey accompanying my second uncle to Langxi should be more convenient. Considering the difficulty of surviving the spring famine, after you arrive in Langxi, organize as many people as possible to transport cloth, ironware, and tea medicine to Shao, Heng, Hong, and Yuan provinces, so we can exchange these provinces for sufficient grain or precious metals and copper coins that are easier to transport, then bring them into Langxi. These next few days I won’t have too many matters in Fanchang City, so I’ll talk with Prince of Yuzhang and the others about these things…”

If the cloth, iron, tea, and medicine produced in Xuzhou were transported into Langxi, then using Langxi as a transfer point for distribution to the Two Zhes to exchange for grain to make up the shortfall, the efficiency would be too slow. The best method was to transport Xuzhou’s cloth, iron, tea, and medicine via the Xuefeng Mountain post road into Shao and Heng or Yuan and Hong provinces to trade for grain, or to trade for precious metals or copper coins that were easier to transport.

Of course, even if commercial travel between provinces wasn’t banned, the high transit taxes and market taxes between prefecture-counties were still an extremely large additional consumption. Han Qian still had to negotiate with the relevant parties.

Han Qian stood in the corridor talking with Feng Liao about various matters, mainly having Feng Liao return to Langxi on his behalf to coordinate the many transition tasks in the process of dissolving the Commissioner’s Office.

Seeing that matters were generally arranged properly, with some minor details he couldn’t think of for now that he believed Feng Liao could handle when encountered, Han Qian signaled him to go rest first.

“Regarding Emperor Tianyou transferring the Old Master to the capital to serve as Metropolitan Governor—how does My Lord view this?” After hesitating a while, Feng Liao asked, not concealing that he had been standing in the corridor earlier and heard Wang Jun ask this question inside the room.

Han Qian stood in the corridor looking at the wintersweet quietly blooming in the corner of the courtyard, not making a sound.

“Emperor Tianyou used My Lord’s strategies to pacify Hunan. Though it might have seemed somewhat risky beforehand, afterward he should have clearly recognized My Lord’s capabilities—far beyond what the likes of Li Pu could match in this age. Just now hearing Miss Wang’s words, I also wondered: did Emperor Tianyou already察觉 the truth about Shen He’s death, already perceive that he himself was deeply poisoned, his life completely controlled by Anning Palace, and thus transferred the Old Master to the capital merely to ensure My Lord and Anning Palace had no room for compromise?” Feng Liao’s deep eyes watched Han Qian standing before the wintersweet like a statue without reaction, continuing: “I wonder if when Emperor Tianyou issued the edict transferring the Old Master to the capital, there was simultaneously a secret edict regarding My Lord sent to Yueyang. Otherwise it’s truly hard to imagine how the Third Prince could act with such ruthless decisiveness this time!”

“Does the truth even matter now?” Han Qian turned to glance at Feng Liao, asking indifferently. But without waiting for Feng Liao’s answer, he waved his hand signaling him to withdraw and rest.

After Feng Liao left, Xi Ren came out carrying the leftover wine. Just then, as if a patrol guard unit was passing through the street, fine footsteps came from outside the courtyard. But she saw Han Qian standing in the courtyard looking at the wintersweet, like a wildcat, standing quietly still, listening to the sounds outside.

Xi Ren wondered what sounds outside were worth listening to, but then she saw Han Qian suddenly draw the saber at his waist. The blade flashed like silk pouring down, cutting the old wintersweet trunk at its waist. After lightly wiping the completely undamaged blade, he turned to look at Xi Ren, saying: “These next few days, pay more attention to secretly observing the street patrol guard units passing through the front street and back lanes, see if they show any abnormalities…”

Xi Ren thought no matter what, it wouldn’t come to that. But seeing Han Qian’s eyes full of cold light, her spirit also trembled. She nodded, and in that moment her heart was also shrouded in a layer of gloom…

……

……

When Yao Xishui walked onto the street and was blown by the cold wind, her drunkenness faded and she became completely sober.

She also knew An Jixiang had now attached himself to His Highness’s side and was quite favored. She had nothing to say to An Jixiang, so after leaving the street where Han Qian was located, the two parted ways. She led her personal maid Ye Feiying toward the end of the street.

However, still some distance from Li Zhigao’s residence, Yao Xishui saw several familiar figures emerging from Li Zhigao’s dwelling. Looking carefully, it was Yun Puzi, who had left Guangde to wander the world after Li Yu’s burial, along with two disciples from the Leiping Peak Taoist temple at Maoshan.

Yao Xishui was slightly startled, not expecting that Yun Puzi had managed to infiltrate the extremely heavily guarded Fanchang City through some connection, and at this hour was actually coming out of her elder brother’s residence?

“Miss Yao, seeing Old Taoist Yun without even a greeting—are you just going to leave?”

Yao Xishui had just wanted to turn into a side lane to avoid Yun Puzi, but unexpectedly, though Yun Puzi was not young, his eyesight was quite sharp. From far away he saw her and called out in greeting.

“I didn’t expect to encounter Observer Yun in Fanchang City—what a surprise.” Yao Xishui thought that saying she happened to be passing through here surely wouldn’t arouse Yun Puzi’s suspicion. Steeling herself, she brought Ye Feiying toward Yun Puzi, bowing in courtesy.

Yun Puzi’s eyes fixed on Yao Xishui’s sleeve and asked: “I’m just a wandering cloud and wild crane. Since I cannot return to Maoshan for now, I can only roam about. I once heard the Prince comment on famous figures while by his sickbed, saying General Li was an exceptional person. Since the opportunity presented itself, I took the liberty of calling to visit, hoping to meet more heroes of the realm. I didn’t expect that barely two months after parting at Xujia Settlement, I would encounter Miss Yao here. By the way, Miss Yao, so late at night—were you also visiting General Li?”

“Following His Highness’s instructions, I just went to see Administrator Han,” Yao Xishui was quite suspicious of Yun Puzi’s reason for visiting her elder brother, but had nothing proper to question him about. She just said with a smile: “At this hour I was about to return to the traveling palace to report back to His Highness. What, this is Elder Brother Zhigao’s residence? We’ve only been here two days—though Fanchang City isn’t large, we haven’t yet familiarized ourselves with all the streets and lanes in the city.”

Yun Puzi smiled and stepped aside to let Yao Xishui pass, but his eyes couldn’t help glancing at Yao Xishui’s left sleeve, as if looking at a fierce object that might strike at any moment.

Yao Xishui raised an eyebrow. It was normal for Yun Puzi to know she concealed a short sword in her left sleeve, but for Yun Puzi to be so wary of her without reason made a thought flash through Yao Xishui’s mind. Her heart turned cold, and the short sword in her sleeve shot out like lightning, directly into the face of one of Yun Puzi’s disciples behind him. The man didn’t even have time to cry out before the sword struck his face and he fell to the ground.

Without Yao Xishui even needing to call out, Ye Feiying behind her seemed telepathically connected. The short sword concealed in her sleeve also shot out like a rainbow from her sleeve, piercing into the chest of Yun Puzi’s other disciple.

Watching Yao Xishui pull the blood-stained short sword from his disciple’s face and walk toward him, Yun Puzi felt he was about to collapse to the ground. Stammering, he demanded: “Miss Yao, what is the meaning of this?”

“Xishui, stop!” At that moment, the courtyard gate suddenly opened from inside. Li Zhigao’s face was grave as water as he stared at Yao Xishui, who was raising her sword to stab at Yun Puzi’s throat, ordering her to stop.

Then Deng Tai emerged from the courtyard with two men.

Seeing no patrol soldiers passing by on either side, Deng Tai grabbed Yun Puzi by the collar, while his two subordinates dragged the stiffened corpses of Yun Puzi’s two disciples, all pulling them into the courtyard together.

Deng Tai signaled his two subordinates to directly drag the two corpses to the rear courtyard for disposal, not to concern themselves with matters in the front courtyard.

“What’s going on with you?” Li Zhigao asked Yao Xishui with a stern face.

“That depends on why Taoist Yun is hiding in Fanchang City and why he came to visit you, Elder Brother,” Yao Xishui said. She took out a brocade handkerchief to wipe the blood from her short sword clean, returned the sword to her sleeve, and with a trace of cold light in her deep beautiful eyes, stared at Yun Puzi.

“Yesterday I happened to see General Li accompanying His Highness passing through the front street. This old Taoist saw that General Li’s face extremely resembled an old acquaintance. The distance was quite far at the time, and I thought my eyes were deceiving me. Today I specially came to call, only wanting to confirm again—absolutely no other intention,” Yun Puzi said, having calmed down somewhat by now.

As a core disciple of Wanhong Tower, Deng Tai of course knew Yun Puzi’s former identity. Hearing Yun Puzi speak thus, he was so frightened the hair on his spine stood up.

Yun Puzi had not only met the Prince of Lu—he might even have met the Princess of Lu. When he said Li Zhigao extremely resembled a certain old acquaintance, wasn’t the meaning obvious enough?

If there was yet another person who knew the secret of Li Zhigao’s true identity, completely beyond their control, without their awareness even—what a terrifying, frightful matter that would be!

Deng Tai looked toward Li Zhigao, secretly shaking his head, indicating that such an important secret absolutely could not fall into an outsider’s ears. Otherwise, the slightest mishap could see countless heads roll. Yao Xishui also secretly gripped the short sword in her sleeve—if Yun Puzi showed the slightest abnormality, this sword would unhesitatingly pierce his throat.

Seeing this scene, Yun Puzi’s heart leapt to his throat again. He hastily said to Li Zhigao: “Li Xiu and Li Qi are both divinely brave. Using my strategies, both these men can be used by you.”

When Yun Puzi said this, Li Zhigao’s expression didn’t change, but Yao Xishui’s face showed movement…