Three days…

An Jiu tucked the jade pendant back and, after inquiring about the horse market’s location, bought a horse and rode straight to Meihua Village.

Two people followed her consistently. An Jiu recognized them as two of the four from earlier, likely there for protection, so she didn’t try to avoid them.

The Mei family head had given her this jade pendant before dying, mentioning “Zhong Zheng Shou Yi Lou” (Tower of Loyalty, Righteousness, and Integrity). It seemed some secret in the tower was related to this pendant, but An Jiu had no idea where this tower was in the Mei estate. She wasn’t confident about unraveling the mystery on this visit; she just wanted to look around.

Meihua Village was not far from the outskirts of the capital. Now, the red plum blossoms blazed like flames, as if nourished by fresh blood, startlingly vivid against the white snow.

Usually, this season brought many visitors from the capital to admire the plum blossoms. Since the Mei family massacre, it was no longer as lively, though there were always a few fearless souls.

An Jiu spotted several figures in the grove from afar, all dressed as scholars.

As the horse’s hooves drew closer, the group curiously emerged from the plum grove, seemingly wondering who else was bold enough to come here.

Suddenly, An Jiu recalled many people from the Mei family: the shepherd Mr. Qingming, Master Zhao with his perpetually squinting fox-like eyes, and the Mei family head lying in a pool of blood…

“Young man, are you here to admire the plum blossoms too?” one of the scholars called out from a distance.

An Jiu, as if deaf to their words, urged her horse on, kicking up snow as she galloped past them.

Meihua Village lay buried under thick snow, its buildings ruined and collapsed, with signs of fire damage everywhere. However, the original layout remained intact.

An Jiu dismounted and wandered through the ruins. Apart from the destroyed buildings, all others had plaques, but none bore the words “Zhong Zheng Shou Yi”.

Could it be on the island where the two elderly madams lived?

An Jiu stood by the lake, holding her horse’s reins, gazing at the misty water surface. She recalled her audience with the two elderly madams. What had seemed tedious then now felt rich with meaning.

Back then, she coexisted with Mei Jiu in one body, like two tigers unable to share a mountain. She had harbored thoughts of eliminating Mei Jiu. But perhaps Mei Jiu ultimately lacked the will to survive… Otherwise, she wouldn’t have easily destroyed her meridians. With intact meridians, she might have had a better chance against the madman…

That girl might have been foolish and naive, but she had always fought hard to survive, like a fragile grass growing on a cliff edge.

Looking back, An Jiu felt she owed Mei Jiu a great deal.

“Mei Jiu,” she murmured, coming to her senses to find her face wet with tears. She wiped them forcefully, staring in disbelief at the moisture on her fingers.

After a moment, she carefully brought her fingers to her mouth and tasted them with her tongue.

Salty. They were tears!

Absorbed in her amazement and not using her spiritual energy, An Jiu didn’t notice the people behind her until they were within twenty zhang.

When they were seven or eight zhang away, one of them said, “Young man, you’re truly brave! We’ve heard about the exquisite architecture of the Mei estate and the family’s mysteriousness. We’ve long wanted to look inside but hesitated. We didn’t expect…”

His words trailed off as An Jiu turned, her face tear-stained and eyes slightly red.

Realizing she might be a Mei family survivor, they quickly bowed and apologized, “We’ve been too presumptuous. Please forgive us.”

After a pause, one added, “The deceased are gone. Young man, please don’t grieve too much.”

“This is not a place for you,” An Jiu said coldly.

Even without using her spiritual energy, the killing aura from her long years of assassination made the group tremble. They hastily apologized and left.

The two people secretly protecting An Jiu also felt this aura, causing them to reassess their impression of her.

Having easily driven away the unwelcome visitors, An Jiu tied her horse to a willow by the riverbank and walked along the lake.

Zhong Zheng Shou Yi Lou… where could it be?

An Jiu remembered that the Lou family’s “Zhong Zheng Shou Yi Lou” was built in the most prominent place in their estate, overlooking everything from a height, but otherwise unremarkable. Could the Mei family be similar?

She looked around, her gaze finally settling on a cliff.

That was where the clan school’s dining hall was located, the first place in the estate to greet the morning sun.

Not in a hurry, An Jiu slowly climbed the mountain, found and lit a torch in the clan school, and entered the cave leading to the dining hall.

Walking alone in the pitch-black cave, every tiny sound was amplified. The piercing wind occasionally howled, causing the torchlight to flicker, creating an eerie atmosphere.

An Jiu carefully observed her surroundings, noticing that while the paths were complex, most showed no signs of recent use.

Reaching the spacious dining hall, she was greeted by bright, blinding noon sunlight.

An Jiu sat by the cliff-side window, surveying the view below.

From this vantage point, she noticed something different. The cliff face wasn’t smooth; many protruding boulders bore stone tablets. Standing below, these would be hard to see. An Jiu carefully examined the nearest one, covered in dense inscriptions hard to decipher, but the first character “Zhong” (loyalty) was clear. The other tablets began with “Zheng” (righteousness), “Shou” (守, to guard), and “Yi” (integrity) respectively.

An Jiu pondered: could this be the Zhong Zheng Shou Yi Lou?

After observing for a while, she wandered around the hall. Its structure was simple, and she quickly explored it without finding anything unusual.

An Jiu speculated that there must be a path leading to those stone tablets, likely through the many branches in the cave.

Given the suspicion of a traitor within the Mei family at the time, if the Zhong Zheng Shou Yi Lou truly held the family’s lifeline, why would the family head easily entrust the jade pendant to her, a newcomer? Unless he was confident that even with the pendant and knowledge of the tower’s location, she couldn’t reach it.

So An Jiu temporarily set aside her curiosity, sitting quietly in the dining hall watching the sunrise and sunset, eating the dry rations she had brought when hungry.

She could stay like this for a month or two when targeting someone, so a day or two was nothing. This amazed her hidden observers, experienced assassins themselves, who had never seen someone sit in one place for two days without even using the toilet!

Returning to the city, it was the morning of the third day.

The city was already bustling. Red silk ribbons decorated the trees along the Imperial Road, giving the entire street a festive atmosphere.

An Jiu found a spot with a good view to wait for the Hua family’s wedding procession.

As the sun moved, the street grew more crowded.

An Jiu faintly heard the sound of music and firecrackers. People around her began craning their necks to look.