Nanyi struggled in the lake water. Her swimming skills weren’t bad, but jumping unprepared into the icy water left her movements panicked for a moment. Lake water rushed into her nasal cavity, and bone-chilling cold spread through her limbs.

This kind of cold instantly brought her back to the snow and ice of Tiger Kneel Mountain. Those days, she had run through the mountains covered in snow until she reached that Podao Temple.

Though Pang Yu had told her she only needed to deliver a message to Guoyu Tower, Nanyi worried she might not survive to reach Li Du Mansion and wanted to make an extra preparation.

Only ruins remained in the temple – not a soul could be found, but there was indeed a withered tree in the courtyard.

Nanyi couldn’t read, but she had a photographic memory. She only needed one glance at that silk paper, and treating each character as a pattern, she memorized all the patterns on the silk letter at once.

Nanyi found a talisman paper but couldn’t find brush and ink, so she simply bit her fingertip and used her blood to carefully reproduce the characters from the silk letter stroke by stroke, then buried the talisman paper under the large tree.

Only after completing this did she go to Luoyang Town and knock on the Qin family’s door.

But as these days passed, she didn’t even dare recall this matter. What was the plan exactly? Had it succeeded? Did Prince Ling’an see the information she buried under the tree? If Prince Ling’an was captured, would she be the eternal sinner? She felt confused – she was just a small thief who never thought she’d become involved in any earth-shaking events.

Not until this moment, when the bone-piercing lake water placed her in similar cold, did she suddenly remember these things again.

…

Soon, Nanyi was pulled ashore. The maids waiting in readiness immediately wrapped her in thick felt blankets and handed her hot ginger tea to warm her body. Even so, Nanyi still sneezed several times in succession.

“Quick, quickly take the young madam to change clothes.”

The woman directing the others was Lu Jinxiu, the Xie family eldest branch’s third concubine. She had gentle features but her movements revealed decisiveness and efficiency.

Nanyi was led forward in confusion by the clustering maids, surrounded by completely unfamiliar faces.

Perhaps sensing Nanyi’s bewilderment, Lu Jinxiu stepped forward and smiled at her reassuringly.

“Earlier when the officials searched the wedding hall for assassins, only the young madam was missing, and everyone thought…” Lu Jinxiu stopped there tactfully. “But we didn’t expect the young madam to be such a virtuous woman, actually wanting to die for love with the eldest young master.”

The weight in Nanyi’s heart relaxed slightly – at least someone believed her performance. But looking around, Xie Queshan was nowhere to be seen.

Gusha stood atop the city wall, a position that allowed him to gaze out at the Xie family’s Wangxue Manor with its blue tiles and vermillion eaves.

Winding corridors connected courtyards, with shadowy figures moving beneath the roof lines. Even after such enormous upheaval, the great family’s bearing and dignity remained.

The two spies who had infiltrated the wedding hall returned and were reporting to Gusha: “General, Xie Hengzai is dead.”

“Did you kill him?”

“Strangely enough, when the prefect and Young Master Queshan suddenly arrived, we couldn’t find a suitable opportunity to act, but Xie Hengzai just died suddenly like that. The physician said he died from anxiety attacking his heart – no external wounds on his body. We don’t know if there are other hidden circumstances…”

Gusha wasn’t surprised; instead, a cold smile of expectation appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“The prefect used investigating Xie Hengzai’s death as an excuse to surround Wangxue Manor with troops, but after searching inside and out, they found no trace of Prince Ling’an. The soldiers have all withdrawn now.”

“It seems the Xie family also failed to escort Prince Ling’an…” Gusha mused thoughtfully. “Someone must have warned Prince Ling’an about the ambush in the valley, but there wasn’t time to notify Xie Hengzai, so Xie Hengzai also didn’t know Prince Ling’an wouldn’t appear. Otherwise he wouldn’t have deployed so many death warriors – it looked like a fight to the death.”

“But… who warned Prince Ling’an? Could we have a traitor in our army?”

Gusha closed his eyes, his mind racing.

He knew intelligence exchanges affected the course of battle. From the moment they obtained the intelligence about Xie Hengzai’s escort plan and decided to turn the tables for a trap, he had intentionally sealed off information. Except for a very few trusted confidants who knew the plan’s location and timing, other soldiers only learned where they were going right before departure.

Gusha appeared to be a hot-tempered rough man, but actually his mind was meticulous and his observation keen.

He mentally reviewed everyone who accompanied the army, and the more he thought, the more suspicious everyone seemed, especially Xie Queshan.

Honestly, even though Xie Queshan had served the Qi royal court loyally for years, Gusha still didn’t trust this Central Plains man much. Those not of our race must have different hearts.

But from the moment Xie Queshan came into contact with that Li Du Mansion intelligence, Gusha had used various pretexts to monitor him, watching his every move. Xie Queshan indeed had no opportunity to pass messages outside.

Gusha thought of the day Xie Queshan’s purse was stolen, but that thief, Pang Yu who had contacted the intelligence, and everyone in the inn were all dead…

So who exactly was the traitor? Who had warned Prince Ling’an?

They must root out this person and cut him to pieces, or future operations would be constrained at every step. Gusha’s expression turned vicious as he punched the brick wall hard.

Xie Queshan stood in the mourning hall, gazing at the lifeless man in the coffin. The entire Wangxue Manor had hung red silk for his wedding celebration, then changed to white candles for his funeral – all these changes happening in a single night.

“Elder brother, forgive my offense.”

Xie Queshan bent down and pried open Xie Hengzai’s mouth, inserting a silver needle into his throat. The silver needle showed no reaction.

He beckoned to He Ping nearby, who immediately stepped forward to help hold the needle.

Xie Queshan unbuttoned Xie Hengzai’s upper garment and used a towel soaked in hot vinegar to slowly wash from his abdomen toward his throat. The deeply hidden poison vapors in the body were steamed out and dispersed, and black color began to appear on the silver needle.

He Ping observed the silver needle in his hand and whispered in surprise: “The eldest young master died of poisoning!”

“Moreover, this poison had penetrated deeply into his body. It required years of gradual administration to create tonight’s illusion of sudden death from anxiety attacking the heart without anyone knowing.”

Xie Queshan withdrew the towel and quickly used another prepared dry towel to wipe away the water traces on the corpse, then re-fastened his clothes, making everything appear unchanged.

He Ping thought of something: “Then the eldest young master’s chronic illness these past years was also…?”

Xie Queshan nodded and analyzed: “The poisoner is hidden within the Xie family, otherwise it would be impossible to administer poison without anyone knowing.”

“That person… is a spy Gusha planted in the Xie family?”

“Yes.”

“But Gusha also sent two death warriors into the wedding hall to act, and he has backup plans but doesn’t inform you…”

“He doesn’t trust me,” Xie Queshan smiled self-deprecatingly. “After all, I have foreign blood flowing in my veins. Even after years in the Great Qi royal court, I’m still an outsider.”

He Ping felt indignant for his master: “Even the chancellor trusts you completely – what right does a mere general have to question you!”

“Gusha is no mere general. He achieved in one year the military accomplishments others need five years to earn. If this mission to capture Prince Ling’an succeeds and he returns to the royal court, his status could even rival the chancellor’s.”

He Ping pursed his lips in dissatisfaction but couldn’t argue.

“Don’t mention the eldest young master’s poisoning to anyone.”

“If we don’t speak of it, won’t the Xie family continue to misunderstand that you angered the eldest young master to death? If you want to return to the Xie family, you can’t let the Xie family members keep treating you with such contempt.”

“Did their disgust for me only begin tonight when elder brother died?”

He Ping was speechless.

Betraying country and abandoning family – his path was naturally much harder than others’. There was no need to argue; he just had to keep walking.

While speaking, Xie Queshan had already redressed Xie Hengzai properly. He solemnly and carefully smoothed the wrinkles in his elder brother’s clothes, then raised his face with its customary calm expression.

“Take these items back and store them safely first. I’ll stay here a while longer.”

He Ping bowed: “Yes, Young Master.”