After learning from the mute woman that Xue Huaiyuan’s former subordinates had been sent to East Mountain, Ye Mingyu had someone escort her back. Just as Jiang Li had expected, because of the mute woman’s advanced age, and because outsiders believed she couldn’t speak, Feng Yutang paid her no mind. When Ye Mingyu’s people sent her back, no one discovered anything.
Inside the room, Jiang Li and Ye Mingyu still sat facing each other. It was already late at night, yet neither had any inclination to sleep. Ye Mingyu looked at Jiang Li and said, “A Li, this matter is not simple.”
Although Ye Mingyu had known from the start that the Xue family case was no small matter—after all, it involved overturning a case against a convicted official, and whenever a case was overturned and an injustice cleared, it inevitably infringed upon other people’s interests—this Tongxiang Deputy Magistrate Feng Yutang was clearly no good person. What Jiang Li intended to do would naturally not be simple.
But the mute woman’s words had greatly exceeded Ye Mingyu’s expectations. For Feng Yutang to dare so brazenly turn the former yamen runners into slaves and arbitrarily control others’ lives and deaths—this could be said to be extremely arrogant and cruel. If there weren’t some major power backing him, Ye Mingyu absolutely wouldn’t believe it. Although Jiang Yuanbai was the Chief Minister and a powerful minister of Northern Yan, he wasn’t the only one.
Ye Mingyu thought he had already taken this matter seriously enough, but he hadn’t expected to still underestimate it.
Jiang Li looked at Ye Mingyu. Seeing his grave expression and knowing what worried his heart, she said, “I know, Uncle, but I don’t plan to give up.”
This statement was entirely within Ye Mingyu’s expectations. Jiang Li had gone to such great lengths, even going so far as to directly oppose Feng Yutang. If she could be so easily discouraged, it wouldn’t be Jiang Li’s character. Moreover, Ye Mingyu believed Jiang Li’s understanding of this matter probably far exceeded his own.
He was just a rough martial artist, not as clever as Eldest Brother Ye or Second Brother Ye. He couldn’t devise any strategies to help Jiang Li, so he could only do as she said and, within the scope of his abilities, do his utmost to assist her.
Therefore, Ye Mingyu only hesitated briefly before saying readily, “In that case, A Li, I won’t try to dissuade you. Whatever you need to do next, just say the word. Uncle is with you.”
These words warmed Jiang Li’s heart. She said, “Although the mute woman said those people are now at East Mountain, so much time has passed, I don’t know if Feng Yutang and his people have moved them or whether they’re still alive.” Jiang Li paused, then said, “Uncle, you also heard what the mute woman said. Life in the mines is harsh, and Feng Yutang deliberately wants to torment them. I don’t know how long ordinary people could hold out in there.”
“What you say makes sense,” Ye Mingyu said. “I’ll personally take people to make a trip to East Mountain first to see what condition those people are in now. Tongxiang isn’t large—making a night journey to East Mountain shouldn’t be difficult.”
Jiang Li continued, “Not only that, if they’re truly at East Mountain, Feng Yutang must have arranged overseers at the mine. Uncle’s people need to see clearly how many men they have, whether we can avoid them without alerting them. If we must alert them, can we take them all down in a short time? Otherwise, they’ll send word to Feng Yutang’s side, and when reinforcements arrive, it’ll be much harder for us to act.”
Ye Mingyu chuckled, “Don’t worry. These intimidation tactics—your uncle has become quite skilled at them.”
Jiang Li nodded, “I wonder if Uncle can give me an answer by tomorrow?”
“So soon?” Ye Mingyu was surprised.
“It’s not that I want to make things difficult for Uncle,” Jiang Li said apologetically. “It’s truly because we don’t have much time left. In seven days, County Magistrate Xue will be executed. If we can’t find enough evidence within seven days to raise doubts and halt the execution, everything will be for nothing.”
Ye Mingyu sighed, knowing Jiang Li’s words made sense. If Xue Huaiyuan died, once the person was dead, doing anything else would be meaningless. He said, “All right, I’ll do my utmost this once. A Li, while I’m away, wait for me at the residence and stay safe.”
Jiang Li said, “All right.” She pulled out from her sleeve a map of Tongxiang she had drawn earlier and handed it to Ye Mingyu, saying, “This is a map of Tongxiang I drew based on what others told me. Uncle, take it—it might be useful when necessary. I can also draw a map of East Mountain, but you’ll need to give me the time it takes to burn an incense stick.”
Ye Mingyu took the map. Seeing the paper densely covered with markings and annotations in great detail, he was momentarily stunned. Jiang Li said she had drawn this Tongxiang map based on what others had mentioned, but when Ye Mingyu traveled with sea merchants, he learned that such maps couldn’t be drawn in such detail unless one was extremely familiar with the environment.
But he said nothing, only laughed heartily, “Good, good, good! With this, I reckon our task will be half as easy. A Li, I’ll leave the rest to you. I’ll go brief the brothers first.”
Ye Mingyu went outside to instruct his subordinates. Jiang Li watched his retreating figure, feeling both guilty and moved. Although Ye Mingyu clearly knew there were many suspicious points, because of her, he asked nothing and still placed his trust in her. This trust was precious beyond measure—she would remember it in her heart forever. Since arriving in Tongxiang, Ye Mingyu had constantly stood by her side helping. Tonight he would travel through the night again without any rest. Jiang Li didn’t want him to work so hard, but on the other hand was Father.
She believed that while she was considering countermeasures, Feng Yutang was also certainly finding ways to inform Princess Yongning of the situation in Tongxiang. Once Princess Yongning learned of this matter, she would undoubtedly find a way to have Feng Yutang stop her. But Jiang Li thought it even more likely that Princess Yongning would directly order Feng Yutang to kill her.
Between her and Feng Yutang, the key to this war was time. Whoever was faster would have an additional chance at victory. She dared not pause—she couldn’t afford to delay even a moment.
“Tong’er, help me grind ink,” Jiang Li said.
Tong’er hurried to the table. Jiang Li picked up the brush. She had once gone to East Mountain with Xue Huaiyuan out of curiosity, and because Xue Huaiyuan wanted to understand what East Mountain was like. Although it was only once, she still remembered the places she had walked. Although today’s East Mountain might have changed somewhat due to Feng Yutang’s “mining operations,” the general locations should remain unchanged.
By drawing the location of the East Mountain mine tunnels, she could make things easier for Ye Mingyu and his people to investigate. However, once Ye Mingyu’s initial exploration clarified the situation there, she herself would need to personally make a trip to East Mountain. Those subordinates of Father’s—in the past she had spent time with them day and night and understood them best. If she wanted them to come forward and trust her, Ye Mingyu couldn’t accomplish it. She had to speak with them personally.
Not much longer—it would be soon enough.
…
The time it took to burn an incense stick later, Jiang Li gave the completed East Mountain map to Ye Mingyu. Ye Mingyu didn’t dawdle either. After receiving the map, he immediately set out with his men. East Mountain wasn’t far from here, but investigating in an unfamiliar place naturally required some caution.
After Ye Mingyu left, Jiang Li didn’t remain idle either. She continued picking up Xue Huaiyuan’s case files to read slowly. Tong’er and Bai Xue urged her to rest a while—reading continuously without pause would inevitably take a toll on her body. But how could Jiang Li listen? She simply kept reading silently until the rooster crowed three times. Only when she truly felt weary did she climb onto the bed and rested briefly without removing her outer clothes.
But in the end, she didn’t rest long.
Jiang Li woke on her own. Although she was very tired, probably because her heart was concerned about Xue Huaiyuan and she knew she couldn’t delay even a moment now, she maintained a degree of alertness even in her dreams, ready to wake at any time. When she slept groggily, she vaguely heard Tong’er saying softly to someone outside, “Miss only just lay down. She didn’t sleep until dawn broke last night. Young Master Uncle, please wait for Miss to rest a bit longer.”
Jiang Li’s eyes snapped open. She stood up from the bed and saw the travel-worn Ye Mingyu outside. Although his face also showed weariness, his eyes were very bright.
Jiang Li’s sleepiness instantly vanished. Without any hesitation, she immediately asked, “Uncle, you’ve returned.”
Only then did Ye Mingyu and Tong’er notice Jiang Li had come out. Tong’er said anxiously, “Ah, Miss, why did you get up?”
“Yes, A Li,” Ye Mingyu also said, “why didn’t you sleep a bit longer?” They were men who traveled constantly—going one night without sleep was nothing. But Jiang Li was still young and a girl—this would inevitably be very tiring for her.
“I’ve woken up,” Jiang Li asked. “Uncle, how did the investigation at East Mountain go?”
When the main matter was brought up, Ye Mingyu couldn’t worry about anything else and replied, “A Li, I took people to look. The mute woman was right—there are people in the mine tunnels at East Mountain. However, there are guards outside. We took advantage of when the night watchmen fell asleep to walk to the mine entrance. We wanted to go inside, but East Mountain’s cavern is really too large. We couldn’t find our way and were afraid of getting separated and alerting others, so we withdrew first.”
Jiang Li murmured, “That’s right. East Mountain’s cavern does have complex terrain. People unfamiliar with it can easily get lost inside. Uncle, your people withdrawing in time was correct. Otherwise, if you got lost inside, you’d easily be trapped.”
Her words made it sound as if she often walked around inside East Mountain and knew its internal conditions thoroughly. However, Ye Mingyu didn’t notice the strangeness in what Jiang Li said at this moment. Instead, he said, “Although we didn’t go in, we can confirm there are indeed people mining gold in the tunnels. As for whether they’re those yamen runners, since I don’t know what the former runners looked like, I can’t tell.”
Jiang Li asked, “How can Uncle be certain?”
“Feng Yutang’s people are too despicable! We arrived at the mine at night, and even at that late hour, those miners were still working!” Ye Mingyu was filled with righteous indignation at the mention of this. “This is treating people as less than human—it’s truly detestable!”
Jiang Li lowered her eyes. Since Feng Yutang intended to torment those people, he naturally wouldn’t let them have it easy. But with this kind of day-and-night labor, how many of those yamen runners could hold out?
“Uncle, can you tell approximately how many miners are working in the tunnels?” Jiang Li asked.
Ye Mingyu said, “I don’t know the exact number, but I guess there absolutely aren’t many.”
Jiang Li’s heart sank. “Why do you say so?”
“Because there are too few guards,” Ye Mingyu said. “Only two in total. If it weren’t for being unfamiliar with the terrain, honestly, I alone could knock down those guards and directly rescue the miners inside. But think about it—if there really were many people, why would Feng Yutang only send two guards? Wouldn’t he fear something going wrong? Unless there aren’t many people to begin with, so two guards are enough for him and naturally pose no problem.”
Jiang Li remained silent for a long time before saying, “Uncle is quite right.” Actually, there was another possibility—that in Feng Yutang’s eyes, with a new emperor come new ministers, Xue Huaiyuan was already a man about to die. With no heir in the Xue family, these former subordinates naturally became abandoned pawns. Who would go to the trouble of rescuing abandoned pawns? Since no one would come to rescue them anyway, sending too many guards was truly unnecessary.
But Jiang Li knew this possibility was just something she thought up to comfort herself. What Ye Mingyu said was more likely. But at least some people were still alive—that was ultimately a good thing. This meant the witness testimony she hoped for still had a chance of being found.
“A Li, now we’ve found the people, but the terrain on the East Mountain side is complex. We can’t temporarily find a way to bring all these people out. Also, even if we can take them away, I’m not familiar with this place called Tongxiang. I don’t know where we can safely hide these people. If Feng Yutang sends people to search, they’ll easily find their whereabouts. After all, Tongxiang is too small.”
This was also true. What Ye Mingyu was considering was not without reason.
Jiang Li pondered for a long time before saying, “Where to hide people—Uncle Mingyu needn’t worry about that. I have a way.” Although Tongxiang was small, it wasn’t entirely exposed to view. She and Xue Zhao had grown up in Tongxiang and walked through every nook and cranny. Those abandoned secret chambers that Xue Zhao once shared with her as amusing things had now truly become treasures when others didn’t know about them.
Although Ye Mingyu was curious how Jiang Li would solve this problem, he never asked more about things he shouldn’t ask about. His mind was simple, and he didn’t want to think about overly complex problems, so he said, “All right, let’s set this matter aside for now. But how do we fish those people out? If you want them as witness testimony, we need to bring them away from East Mountain. Once Feng Yutang knows you have this intention, or even guesses it, he’ll silence them permanently. Then all our efforts will be wasted.”
“Uncle Mingyu, the reason you all find it troublesome isn’t because of the guards outside, but because you’re unfamiliar with East Mountain and fear getting lost in the numerous mine tunnels inside,” Jiang Li said. “Leave this matter to me.”
Ye Mingyu asked, “What do you mean? A Li, what method do you have?”
“I’ll go to East Mountain,” Jiang Li said. “I’ll enter the mine tunnels and personally lead those runners out.”
At these words, Ye Mingyu nearly jumped up. He said, “What kind of joke is this? A Li, how can you go in?”
“Yes,” Tong’er, who had been listening all along, couldn’t help but speak up to persuade, “Miss, this is also your first time coming to Tongxiang. Even Young Master Uncle doesn’t know how to navigate the mine tunnels. It’s so dangerous inside—how can you take such a risk?”
“I’m not taking a risk,” Jiang Li said. “I know how to navigate inside the mine tunnels.”
“No,” Ye Mingyu said. “It’s too dangerous. Besides, how do you know how to navigate the tunnels?”
“Uncle Mingyu,” Jiang Li looked into Ye Mingyu’s eyes and spoke earnestly, “I’m telling you, I know how to navigate inside the mine tunnels.”
Ye Mingyu was stunned.
Jiang Li’s eyes were clear and distinct, like a pool of stream water. Yet the determination within them transformed that pool of water into solid rock. She wasn’t lying. She truly knew how to navigate inside the mine tunnels.
Ye Mingyu suddenly didn’t know what to say. This niece of his had a sincere appearance and was gentle and kind, yet she held countless mysteries. Sometimes it made one feel they could never enter her inner heart.
“All right.” After a long moment, Ye Mingyu finally said, “But I can’t let you go in alone. A Li, I’m going with you.”
Jiang Li was about to say something when Ye Mingyu waved his hand. “A Li, I know you have your own considerations in how you do things. I won’t ask you why or what. But I’m your family. I can’t watch you take risks with my eyes wide open. If today it were me who needed to enter the mine tunnels, I imagine you wouldn’t be at ease standing by and watching either.”
Ye Mingyu’s attitude was also very insistent.
Tong’er and Bai Xue looked at this one, then at that one, both not daring to speak.
After a while, Jiang Li said, “All right.”
Hearing this, Ye Mingyu’s earlier seriousness vanished completely. He said, “Good! A Li, you tell me—when do we set out?”
Jiang Li: “Now.”
“Now?”
“Yes, right now. Feng Yutang hasn’t thought of the matter of the runners yet, but he will soon. Just to be safe, he’ll clear away everything that could possibly become evidence, including the runners. So we don’t have extra time. We must bring all those runners out as quickly as possible.”
“But Miss, you only just woke up…” Tong’er reminded.
“I’m fine. Uncle Mingyu, we’ll have to work hard again. Once we bring them out and hide them well, we can relax for a while.”
Ye Mingyu answered readily, “No problem. A Li, whatever you need, just tell Uncle once. Uncle has no objections. Let’s go!”
Bai Xue and Tong’er helplessly exchanged glances. This uncle and niece were both equally bold and fearless in their actions.
“Then let’s set out.”
…
From decision to departure took no more than half the time to burn an incense stick.
Although Ye Mingyu acted roughly without regard for consequences, this disposition of doing things once he thought of them meant he never wasted time hesitating. Such swift and decisive action perfectly aligned with Jiang Li’s thinking. The group took advantage of early morning to avoid passersby and secretly set out for East Mountain.
They didn’t bring all of Ye Mingyu’s men. They left some behind to disguise themselves as Ye Mingyu to fool the people Feng Yutang had sent to monitor them.
This group, excluding Jiang Li, totaled seven people. After Jiang Li and Ye Mingyu discussed it, the other six would wait at the mine entrance to provide support while Ye Mingyu and Jiang Li entered the tunnels to search for those runners. Before that, they had to knock down the two guards Feng Yutang had sent, but just in case the guards had some special method of sending messages, from finding people to bringing them out, everything should be completed within the time it took to burn an incense stick.
Actually, providing support wasn’t difficult. The difficulty lay in finding those runners in the interconnected mine tunnels, since there were many tunnels inside and no one knew which one they traveled. The common people of Tongxiang didn’t know the routes inside the East Mountain mine tunnels. Even if they knew, who would dare guide them when everyone knew it was Feng Yutang’s territory?
So all the heavy burden fell on Jiang Li’s shoulders.
Because of the danger this time, they didn’t bring Tong’er and Bai Xue. Jiang Li also changed into men’s clothing—short hemp shirt, black trousers, deerskin boots, with her long hair bound up and hidden in a hat. She looked like a refined young gentleman, hiding away that soft, delicate beauty and carrying instead several traces of heroic sharpness.
Ye Mingyu asked Jiang Li, “A Li, don’t worry too much. If we can’t find them, we’ll come back. Try a few more times, and we’ll eventually figure out the routes. You don’t need to take all the responsibility on yourself.” Ye Mingyu thought Jiang Li was overly concerned about the Xue family case. Although he didn’t know the reason, he didn’t want A Li to feel sad or blame herself over it.
“I’m not worried.” Jiang Li smiled faintly at him. “Uncle Mingyu, we won’t fail to find them.”
Ye Mingyu was stunned, scratched his head, and said, “All right then.”
The distance from Qingshi Lane to East Mountain wasn’t far. Along the way, the carriage traveled according to the route Jiang Li indicated. Ye Mingyu gradually discovered that the path Jiang Li had them take had few pedestrians and was very remote. Taking this route, there was indeed no possibility of Feng Yutang’s people discovering them. Ye Mingyu found it strange. As far as he knew, this was Jiang Li’s first time coming to Tongxiang, yet her familiarity with Tongxiang exceeded that of locals.
Precisely because of this, what initially seemed like comforting words when Jiang Li said she knew the routes in the East Mountain mine tunnels now made Ye Mingyu gradually believe that Jiang Li truly did know the routes in East Mountain.
After some unknown time passed, the carriage stopped. Ye Mingyu said from outside, “A Li, we’ve arrived.”
Jiang Li jumped down from the carriage.
East Mountain was on the west side of Tongxiang. Hardly anyone came here on ordinary days. This mountain wasn’t like ordinary mountains—verdant and tranquil. Instead, it was desolately barren. Occasionally, a crow’s cry came from the vast sky, adding several more traces of bleakness to the scene.
Jiang Li raised her eyes to look toward East Mountain.
She saw a bare, round-topped mountain sitting forlornly beside a dried lake. Strange rocks jutted from the mountain, making its entire shape look bizarre, like some monster’s head—rather unsettling to behold. Ye Mingyu had come at night before and couldn’t see the mountain’s features clearly. Now seeing it clearly, he also felt his back prickling. He wanted to tell Jiang Li not to be afraid, but saw her staring straight at the peak with slightly upturned lips. Not only did she not show the slightest trace of fear, she even seemed somewhat joyful.
Ye Mingyu suddenly had nothing to say.
In truth, Jiang Li hadn’t quite reached the point of feeling joyful, but she did genuinely feel a true sense of familiarity. When she and Xue Zhao first came to this place with Xue Huaiyuan, he had investigated East Mountain’s past history and brought them once, though they only looked at the mountain entrance without entering.
But Xue Zhao was naturally bold and loved adventure. He secretly went inside to wander around several times and even pulled Xue Fangfei along. Although she appeared well-behaved on the surface, in truth she was also someone unconstrained by convention and was very willing to explore East Mountain’s secrets together with Xue Zhao. It was just that, unlike the wild histories and legends that spoke of such things, they didn’t discover any treasures. But after coming and going many times, she became completely clear about what was inside and how the terrain was laid out.
Now that Feng Yutang had people reopen the mine tunnels, Jiang Li initially thought the tunnels inside might have changed. But thinking it over, Father’s subordinates—those former runners—numbered only about a dozen or so. For a dozen or so people to excavate many new mine tunnels wasn’t an easy task. Moreover, Feng Yutang had these runners come here not to truly have them dig for gold, but to torment them. One had to know that East Mountain couldn’t produce gold—this was a fact everyone had known for many years.
So the mine tunnels inside the cavern most likely remained as they originally were. As long as nothing unexpected happened, she could still find those people.
Ye Mingyu had Jiang Li and two guards wait in place first while he and his subordinates went to “knock down” the two guards. But not knowing if the other side might have some backup plan, if anything seemed wrong, the guards would take Jiang Li and flee first.
Jiang Li and the guards waited quietly in the grass. While waiting for Ye Mingyu to return, Jiang Li closed her eyes and replayed in her mind the scenes of exploring the East Mountain mine tunnels with Xue Zhao in the past.
When she was about to recall it a second time, a guard beside her said, “Third Master is back!”
Jiang Li opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Ye Mingyu’s delighted face. Ye Mingyu said, “Both men have been knocked down by us. We left a few people watching over them there. A Li, I’ll go in with you first. The others will wait outside! If anything’s wrong, we’ll fire a signal arrow!”
Jiang Li thought that actually, if something truly went wrong, since she was familiar with the mine tunnels in East Mountain, she could instead use the tunnels’ cover to hide inside. It was just that there was nothing to eat or drink inside and she couldn’t stay indefinitely. Moreover, she still needed to come back out to resolve Xue Huaiyuan’s matter—hiding wasn’t an option. Otherwise, the mine tunnels would be an excellent place to deal with villains.
Thinking this, she found it rather amusing and couldn’t help showing a trace of a smile.
This smile fell into Ye Mingyu’s eyes. Ye Mingyu thought she was satisfied with how well he had done, which made him smile naturally even more proudly. “A Li, let’s not wait. Let’s go in!”
Jiang Li entered the mine entrance together with Ye Mingyu.
It was very dark inside the cavern. Ye Mingyu lit a torch that illuminated the surroundings, making it easier to see clearly just how empty and vast the mountain’s interior was. Ye Mingyu looked up and exclaimed, “Good heavens, this place is really huge! So big—can we find people? Where do we even start looking?”
Jiang Li smiled, “It’s all right. Uncle, follow me.” Without waiting for Ye Mingyu to continue his exclamations, she stepped forward first, walking straight ahead.
Ye Mingyu couldn’t stop her and could only hurry to catch up.
Jiang Li’s guess was correct—the routes in the East Mountain mine tunnels hadn’t changed. Even if they were to change, the previously dug tunnels wouldn’t need further modification. Jiang Li followed her original memories forward while observing the freshly left footprints along the way, as well as changes in wind direction and scents.
The mine tunnels were very deep. Ye Mingyu feared Jiang Li would go too deep and be unable to find the way back, so he kept making marks along the way. But his marking actions couldn’t even keep up with Jiang Li’s forward movement. Jiang Li walked very quickly and very decisively. Ye Mingyu couldn’t even properly obstruct her if he wanted to.
After walking for who knows how long, Ye Mingyu felt surrounded by mine tunnels on all sides. He couldn’t tell what difference there was from before. He really didn’t understand how Jiang Li could distinguish between these tunnels. Just as he was about to call out to ask if they should withdraw, suddenly, from deep within the mine tunnels, came the sound of someone coughing.
Jiang Li asked, “Who’s there?”