Ren Yaoqi gazed out the window in silent contemplation.

The air after the rain was still very humid. A swallow flew out from somewhere, skimming low across the courtyard before suddenly falling to the ground with several faint chirps.

Li Tianyou emerged from somewhere, walking with his hands clasped behind his back to where the swallow had fallen. He crouched down and gently poked the poor little bird that kept hopping but couldn’t fly with his right index finger, while looking up, searching for something. When he spotted the eaves, he picked up the swallow.

“Dong Sheng, is there a ladder in this courtyard! A stupid bird fell out of its nest.” Li Tianyou’s cheerful voice rang out in the courtyard.

Dong Sheng apologized to Ren Yaoqi and hurriedly ran out to Li Tianyou’s side to quietly respond. Li Tianyou then handed the constantly fluttering little creature to Dong Sheng, waving his hand: “Then you put it back.”

Dong Sheng carefully took it with his lowered head and ran back.

Ren Yaoqi watched Li Tianyou standing in the middle of the courtyard with his hands behind his back, constantly directing with animated expressions.

After a while, Dong Sheng returned, still holding a coarse cloth handkerchief he had just used to wipe his hands.

Outside under the eaves, the voices of Ren Yaohua and Li Tianyou bickering about something could be heard, quite lively.

“Who intercepted the court’s secret letter?” Ren Yaoqi asked softly.

White Cloud Temple was located between White Crane Town and Yunyang City, right near the official road that was a necessary passage between north and south.

Dong Sheng stood by Ren Yaoqi’s side again, lowering his head: “I didn’t see the fighting process, so I can’t make rash judgments. However, that letter was about reducing Yan Bei Army’s military pay.”

Ren Yaoqi was shocked to hear this.

Related to Prince Yan Bei’s mansion?

Although the Yan Bei Army was nominally the Great Zhou Dynasty’s military force, in reality they were Prince Yan Bei’s direct troops—one could say they were the “Xiao Family Army.”

Ren Yaoqi had once heard Teacher Pei mention that most of Yan Bei’s taxes had to be submitted to the court, but the court only provided a very small portion of the Yan Bei Army’s military pay each year. In reality, most of the military pay was shouldered by Prince Yan Bei’s mansion itself.

She remembered that a military mutiny had once occurred in Yan Bei. At that time, some lower-ranking soldiers in the Yan Bei Army, dissatisfied with the court’s reduction of military pay, had banded together to rob wealthy households and shops in the city, causing unrest.

Eventually, someone memorialized the throne, criticizing that the Yan Bei Army was too large, too many monks for a small temple, and that this was the root cause of the disturbance, requesting that the Yan Bei Army be downsized.

Not long after, a small-scale border dispute occurred in Ningxia territory when Tangut tribes fought over pasture resources at horse farms. Prince Yan Bei’s mansion, responding to Ningxia Commander Wu Xiaohe’s request, dispatched Yan Bei Army troops to Ningxia to help Wu Xiaohe quell the unrest. That portion of the Yan Bei Army remained stationed in Ningxia for several years afterward, and the court’s plan to reduce the Yan Bei Army came to nothing.

However, the Ningxia Commander Wu Xiaohe at that time was Prince Yan Bei’s son-in-law, so many people believed that the Yan Bei Army’s entry into Ningxia was Prince Yan Bei’s strategy to preserve his military forces and divert the court’s attention.

Unfortunately, three years later, Ningxia Commander Wu Xiaohe died, and the court sent Zeng Pu, delivering a devastating blow.

At that time, Zeng Pu was still unknown. Yan Bei also thought he had only obtained this position through the connections between his family’s Xichang Marquis mansion and the Empress Dowager’s Yan family, focusing their attention instead on Military Supervisor Lu Dexin, who took office alongside Zeng Pu.

But Zeng Pu’s performance greatly exceeded everyone’s expectations. He incorporated most of Wu Xiaohe’s troops, catching Prince Yan Bei’s mansion completely off guard.

And Zeng Pu’s rise was the beginning of the Ren family’s disaster.

Thinking of this, Ren Yaoqi slightly lowered her eyes.

Since awakening, she had been constantly thinking about how to change the outcome of her previous life. But the imperial court was too far from her. If things followed the original trajectory, Zeng Pu would still be sent to Yan Bei as the court’s chess piece against Prince Yan Bei’s mansion. With Zeng Pu’s abilities, the Ren family would still want to curry favor with him. Thinking of this, she always had nightmares. In this life, even if she didn’t want to seek revenge for her previous life, what could she do if her enemies still came to her door? As a young lady confined to the inner quarters, all she could do was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. The outcome was hard to predict.

She could no longer clearly remember the specific timing of when the court planned to reduce the Yan Bei Army in her previous life, but calculating roughly, it should be around these two years. The secret letter Dong Sheng mentioned might very well be a precursor to this event.

How could she prevent Zeng Pu from becoming Ningxia Commander, or how could she make Zeng Pu merely a figurehead even if he did become Ningxia Commander?

Ren Yaoqi’s heart pounded rapidly.

“Miss Cousin?” Seeing Ren Yaoqi’s poor complexion, Dong Sheng called softly.

Ren Yaoqi took a deep breath, calming her heartbeat. She reminded herself not to be anxious, to take things slowly. She didn’t believe she had been reborn just to repeat her previous life’s mistakes—there must be a way.

“Miss Cousin, the person who intercepted the court’s secret report was very likely sent by Prince Yan Bei’s mansion. The secret report mentioned having the recipient incite trouble among the lower-ranking officers and soldiers of the Yan Bei Army when the court orders military pay reductions. I heard that Prince Yan Bei’s mansion’s Second Young Master is recuperating at a villa near here. Do you think he might have sent someone?” Dong Sheng said quietly.

Hearing this, Ren Yaoqi looked up with a frown: “You’re talking about Prince Yan Bei’s Second Young Master Xiao Jingxi? He’s near White Dragon Temple?”

Dong Sheng nodded.

But Ren Yaoqi suddenly remembered the man she had encountered earlier in front of the Dragon King Hall at White Dragon Temple. She and Xiangqin had mistaken him for the lover of the nun that those women were looking for.

But afterward, Ren Yaoqi had doubts about his identity. From his bearing and demeanor, he didn’t seem like someone who would be anyone’s male companion. Especially when he gave her that string of golden stone and wood beads, her suspicions grew stronger.

She had seen fine things before—that string of beads was a rare treasure, yet he had casually given it to her merely for repaying a favor that wasn’t even that significant.

Later, when Li Tianyou appeared and admitted he was the lover of the nun being pursued, who was that man?

Why did he want to avoid those women?

He was also wearing white clothes. Had he been mistaken for Li Tianyou by those chasing Dong Sheng? And what was he doing near the White Dragon Temple at that time? Why was his sleeve torn? Thinking of the legendary appearance of Prince Yan Bei’s Second Young Master, Ren Yaoqi couldn’t help but suspect he was Xiao Jingxi. But was he the one who sent people to intercept the court’s messenger? Thinking this way, for some reason, Ren Yaoqi still shook her head based on her intuition: “I’ve heard that Prince Yan Bei’s Second Young Master is extraordinarily intelligent and brilliantly talented. Even if he wanted to intercept the court’s secret report, he wouldn’t use such extreme methods. For such important matters, the court’s messengers sent to Yan Bei should not be limited to just this one route. Even if Xiao Jingxi intercepted this messenger, what would it accomplish? The letter would eventually be delivered to its intended recipient, while Prince Yan Bei’s mansion would have alerted their enemies.”

What Ren Yaoqi could think of, she didn’t believe the Xiao Jingxi praised by Teacher Pei could think of.

Dong Sheng thought about it and was at a loss: “Then who could it be?”

“I said it wasn’t Second Young Master Xiao, but I didn’t say it wasn’t someone from Prince Yan Bei’s mansion.” Ren Yaoqi said with some uncertainty—all of this was just her speculation.

With too little information available, she had no way to judge. Moreover, if the person she encountered was indeed Xiao Jingxi, his appearance was far too coincidental.

Here, Ren Yaoqi was speculating with Dong Sheng about the identity of the person who had killed the court messenger and eventually disposed of the body.

Meanwhile, someone else was also investigating the whereabouts of this secret letter.

A young man who had changed into a blue wide-sleeved robe also stood by a window, listening to a black-clothed man kneeling on one knee report to him. His eyes, black as ink, quietly watched the continuous rain outside the window gradually becoming smaller and finer, seemingly also shrouded in an impenetrable mist.

Raindrops still dripped intermittently from gaps between the roof tiles, falling into a pair of somewhat aged granite fish tanks with three-sided lotus patterns placed under the eaves. The water in the tanks overflowed.

The young man’s low, soft, and slightly hoarse voice calmly resonated in the room. Though not loud, it somehow overcame the sound of dripping water outside: “Send the body to Xiao Jingyue and ask him how to handle it. I’m only here at White Dragon Temple to recuperate.”

The kneeling subordinate was startled and carefully glanced up at his master, tentatively asking: “What if Third Young Master denies that he sent the person?”

Hearing this, the young man tilted his head slightly, looking at his subordinate with a half-smile, somewhat surprised: “How can he deny it?”

The subordinate immediately lowered his head: “This subordinate understands. It’s just that the letter Third Young Master wanted to intercept is still in someone else’s hands. Should this subordinate send people to—”

The young man withdrew his gaze from outside the window, seeming to consider for a moment before asking calmly: “Are you certain that person is from the Li family?”

“This subordinate is certain. That person is a follower of former Prince Xian’s heir Li Tianyou. At the time, he was with a woman who was a young lady from the Ren family of White Crane Town.”

“The Ren family?” The young man’s tone remained calm and peaceful, though there was a thoughtful expression between his brows. But in an instant, he smiled faintly and nodded: “I understand. You may go.”

The black-clothed subordinate was stunned—his master didn’t want to get involved?

But with Third Young Master’s character and methods, many people would likely be implicated and lose their lives, and even the Li family’s heir would probably…