He was dazed for quite a while before coming to his senses, hastily climbing out of the pile of corpses with difficulty.

Lying on the muddy yellow earth, he was still in shock.

Wasn’t he dead?

Could this place be the Hall of Yama?

It didn’t seem like it!

Suddenly, several crows circling above the dead bodies flapped their wings, making “caw caw” sounds, then landed on those rotting corpses to peck at the raw flesh.

Only then did he suddenly realize—this was a mass grave!

He wasn’t dead yet.

He struggled to his feet, his body weak, swaying for quite a while before standing steady.

By the faint moonlight, he surveyed the terrain around him, roughly knowing where he was. After determining a direction, he left this place with his injuries, walking with difficulty.

He didn’t notice that behind him, four or five figures were following.

An hour later.

The man arrived at the back door of a residence in the outskirts. After vigilantly looking around several times and confirming no one had followed him, he knocked on that door.

After a moment, a voice came from inside the door, “Buying fabric? Or dyeing fabric?”

“Delivering fabric.”

Creak!

The door opened.

An old man peered out from inside. When he saw who had come, he was utterly shocked.

“Xie Qin?”

Xie Qin’s legs went weak, and his body pressed heavily against the door frame beside him.

“You’re not…” dead?

The old man didn’t speak those last three words aloud.

Xie Qin said, “Let’s go inside first.”

The old man quickly nodded and hurriedly helped him inside. After confirming no one was behind them, he closed the door.

Lang Bo jumped out from the shadows and hid at the corner by the back door. He too was extremely shocked.

Because the courtyard Xie Qin had entered was the Si Family Silk Shop!

And that old man was precisely the person who had taken that batch of fabric from the Wen Family Embroidery Workshop.

Beyond his shock, there was also unexpected delight. Lang Bo’s entire being perked up, and he was even somewhat excited. He had been watching for so many days, and the Si family had shown no activity. Today he had finally caught a rabbit—how could he not be excited?

He quickly ordered the guard beside him, “You go back first and report to His Highness.”

“Yes!”

The guard received the order and disappeared in a flash, while Lang Bo quietly infiltrated the Si residence.

Xie Qin was helped into a room, and the old man quickly locked the door.

Inside, one of the two candlesticks suddenly went out, and the other seemed to have been picked up by someone. As the figure slowly moved, the light grew dimmer and dimmer, until it finally disappeared completely, leaving the room pitch black.

Looking at the direction the light moved, it was as if someone carrying that candlestick was walking farther and farther away.

But how big could that room be?

At most fifty square meters would be enough.

Walking farther and farther away? How was that possible?

Lang Bo quietly jumped onto the roof beam and moved aside a small roof tile to look inside.

It was a room piled high with boxes of various sizes, and besides the boxes, there was nothing else.

Even… Xie Qin and the old man who had just entered were nowhere to be seen.

Was there a secret chamber in the room?

Impossible! Lang Bo negated his own speculation.

Because earlier, he had already infiltrated this room and looked all around, but there was no hidden passage or mechanism inside at all.

How could the people inside have disappeared for no reason?

Just as he was feeling puzzled, a pebble suddenly flew over from the distance, aimed precisely at his head. Fortunately, he had detected it early, tilted his body, and dodged it, then immediately leaped down from the roof.

By the light of the surrounding lanterns, he saw clearly the person who had just thrown the pebble at him.

Wen Xian!

Wen Xian wore a long black robe, clean and neat, with that flute still tucked at his waist as always.

He looked Lang Bo up and down, revealing a surprised expression, “So it’s someone from Prince Rong’s side. What are you doing here so late at night?”

Lang Bo’s expression was stern, his eyes narrowed, “Young Master Wen? What are you doing here?”

He smiled and stepped forward calmly, “This is my place. What’s strange about me being here?”

“Your place?”

Lang Bo was astonished!

He had been staking out the Si residence for so long and had never seen Wen Xian appear here before.

Wen Xian slowly explained, “The Si Family Silk Shop has always been managed by me. It’s just that business hasn’t been good, so I’ve left it here, with everything entrusted to others to help manage. When I have time, I come back once. I just didn’t expect that on the very day I returned, unable to sleep and taking a walk in the courtyard, I would run into someone spying on my rooftop. I threw a pebble at you just now, not knowing it was actually someone from Prince Rong’s side. I’ve given offense—please forgive me.”

“It’s nothing!”

“However… you still haven’t answered my question. What are you doing here so late? And you even climbed onto the roof.”

That last sentence was like a sharp blade scraping across an iron plate.

Though Lang Bo was a rough man, when it came to actually getting things done, he wasn’t like those little guards who panic when encountering trouble.

He kept a straight face, “Young Master Wen, please don’t misunderstand. I was chasing a little thief who came here. That thief stole an important item from my prince, which is why I came here.”

“A thief?” Wen Xian looked around, “If a thief stole Prince Rong’s belongings, we should search thoroughly. But I wonder where that thief has run off to?”

“Into that room behind me.”

“Oh?” Wen Xian was puzzled, “That room is just a warehouse for storing fabric. There’s no way to hide a person in there.”

Creak!

The door behind them suddenly opened.

The old man walked out, holding an extinguished candlestick in one hand while pressing his bleeding forehead with the other.

Upon seeing the people in the courtyard, he quickly walked over with a bowed posture.

“Young Master? It’s so late—why haven’t you rested yet?” the old man asked.

Wen Xian asked him, “Uncle Wang, this gentleman says he saw a little thief enter the fabric warehouse. Did you see anyone?”

“A thief? I didn’t see anyone. I was just inside checking the quantity of that batch of fabric. I accidentally knocked over the candlestick and fell, nearly cracking my head open.”

His forehead was still bleeding!

He quickly added, “Besides, there was only me inside. I didn’t see anyone else come in.”

Lang Bo glared at Uncle Wang, naturally not believing him. He snatched the candlestick from his hand, pulled out the fire starter he carried, lit it, and turned to enter that warehouse.

The warehouse was rectangular in shape, filled with boxes of various sizes. He carefully examined every part of the room, not even sparing those small boxes containing fabric.

But—

He found nothing, not even a secret passage.

Wen Xian walked in, looking at those opened boxes without even furrowing his brow, only saying, “As you can see, this room contains nothing but fabric. It simply can’t hide a person. Perhaps your eyes were playing tricks on you. Presumably that thief has already run away.”

Faced with the empty room, Lang Bo’s expression darkened.

The hand holding the candlestick also tightened!

Finally, he could only clasp his hands toward Wen Xian in apology, “I apologize, Young Master Wen, for disturbing you. Perhaps… my eyes really were playing tricks on me. Since the thief isn’t here, I’ll take my leave.”

“I won’t see you out!”

After Lang Bo left, his body leaped and he immediately disappeared from sight.

Only after confirming the person had truly left did Wen Xian’s indifferent expression turn somber, and he asked Uncle Wang.

“Where is he?”

“Don’t worry, Young Master. Xie Qin is fine.”