For a moment, Fu Tingyun felt like she was sitting on pins and needles.

She felt it necessary to remind Zhao Ling, so she asked A-Sen, “When are you going back? Help me send a message to Master Nine.”

A-Sen’s mood suddenly dampened again: “Master Nine said to stay here with you for now and not return.”

Fu Tingyun was somewhat surprised: “Then who’s attending to him?” As soon as the words left her mouth, her heart sank.

Zhao Ling, alone at the Xisheng Inn.

With Moyi, who was watching him.

Even A-Sen, who could run errands for him, had been sent by him to Willow Lane.

And Yang Yucheng, who had rented a courtyard next to where they were staying…

What was he planning to do?

Fu Tingyun felt a chill down her spine just thinking about it.

She hurriedly walked out of the hall, calling loudly: “Zheng San! Zheng San!”

Her voice was high-pitched and sharp.

Zheng San hurried over from the corridor to the east: “Miss!”

Without waiting for him to bow, she urgently said: “Go quietly and see what Yang Yucheng and Jin Yuanbao are doing.”

Zheng San was stunned, but quickly regained his composure. Without asking anything, he left in response.

A-Sen rushed out: “Miss, Miss Fu, what’s happened?”

Fu Tingyun didn’t know either. She just felt uneasy.

She wanted to carefully question A-Sen about what Zhao Ling had said when he came, but seeing A-Sen’s tense expression, she suddenly realized that there were old and young people, all either outsiders or servant women, and she had become the only person who could make decisions.

She couldn’t panic, much less become confused. If she became flustered, A-Sen and the others would be even more at a loss.

Fu Tingyun admonished herself and quickly calmed down.

“What could be wrong?” She smiled at A-Sen, “I was just thinking, now that we’re all here, what about Master Nine? I asked Zheng San to see what Master Yang is doing. If he’s not busy, ask him to visit Master Nine more often, so Master Nine won’t be bored staying there alone.”

A-Sen’s gaze flickered, but he pursed his lips tightly, saying nothing.

Fu Tingyun grew suspicious but didn’t show it, smiling as she went inside with A-Sen.

After washing up, she had lunch accompanied by Madam Lü. Learning that Zheng San had not yet returned, she went to her room for a midday rest.

Though she lay down, her mind kept spinning like a lantern wheel.

People say a crafty rabbit has three burrows. Though Zhao Ling, traveling in the jianghu, couldn’t be compared to a crafty rabbit, life is unpredictable, and with his intelligence, he must have at least two backup plans.

Willow Lane was a place he had maintained for five years, not only supporting two people, but also setting up shops. He had tried his best to make this place appear flawless, spending who knows how much effort and energy. She couldn’t believe this wasn’t his backup plan.

Yet now, he had placed her here… A-Sen had grown up with him since childhood; nominally master and servant, they were practically family… But she had no relation to him…

Thinking of this, she rolled over.

Before, not knowing, she had thought he wanted to avoid suspicion, always thinking the worst of him. Now it seemed she had wronged him.

Yet he hadn’t offered a single word of explanation.

If she hadn’t casually asked A-Sen on a whim, was he planning to keep her in the dark forever?

Fu Tingyun thought of his solitary figure when she left Xisheng Inn, his deep and distant gaze. Her heart ached, and her eyes grew moist.

He was always like this, saying nothing, yet considering everything for her.

Only six years older than her.

So steady and reserved.

Thinking this way, she felt something welling up inside her, warm and making her cheeks flush.

Outside came Lin Chun’s “giggling” laughter, and Zheng San’s wife’s reprimanding voice, tinged with amusement: “Stop fooling around, be careful not to wake Miss—Miss hasn’t closed her eyes for two days and two nights.”

Had she gone that long without sleep?

Yet she didn’t feel sleepy at all!

Fu Tingyun thought for a moment, got up, pushed open the window, and looked outside.

A-Sen had caught a caterpillar from somewhere and was now putting it on Lin Chun’s little arm, now on her little leg. Lin Chun couldn’t shake it off nor catch it. The two little ones were having great fun, leaving Zheng San’s wife both amused and exasperated.

“A-Sen!” Fu Tingyun beckoned to him.

Both A-Sen and Zheng San’s wife ran over.

“Take Lin Chun and go rest!” Fu Tingyun instructed Zheng San’s wife, and then said to A-Sen: “I have something to ask you!”

Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes flickering, radiant with a touch of shyness, like a peony about to bloom. A-Sen stared at her, dazed, and only after a while did he come to his senses and run into the hall: “What is it?”

“Sit down and talk!” Fu Tingyun pointed to the chair beside her, handed him a cup of tea, and said, “I have something to ask you.” Her tone revealed some hesitation.

A-Sen, troubled, couldn’t help but show his fear: “What, what is it? Some things I know, some things I don’t.”

Fu Tingyun, also troubled, didn’t pay attention to his flawed speech. Instead, she bit her red lips and pondered for a while before asking carefully: “You’ve followed Master Nine for so many years and even know about places like Willow Lane. Have you ever met his family?”

“No!” A-Sen replied without thinking.

Such a quick answer, clearly hiding something.

Fu Tingyun didn’t believe him at all and coldly said, “You don’t need to evade me. I know Master Nine is involved in salt smuggling.”

A-Sen was shocked, slipping off his chair, pointing at Fu Tingyun in horror: “You, how do you know?”

So he was a salt smuggler!

She should be afraid, but why did she feel relieved instead?

Fu Tingyun pondered internally, but her expression remained stern: “Throughout our journey, Master Nine only unleashed violence at Dong’an Village and Lin Chun’s City God Temple. At other times, he merely knocked out the refugees who robbed us. Master Nine isn’t one to bully the weak. So how did he form such a deadly feud with Feng Laosi? Besides a conflict of interest, I can’t think of any other possibility.” At this point, she pretended to stare fiercely at A-Sen, “You must have refused to submit to the Feng family’s control and fought over business, or even targeted the Feng family, stealing their salt. That’s why Feng Laosi, despite being the family head, personally pursued Master Nine.” Then, changing her tone, she said slowly, “In Shaanxi, only Lintong and Putian have well salt. Putian is only a hundred li from Huayin. You must have stolen salt from the Feng family’s Putian wells, then detoured through Huayin to Xi’an Prefecture. But unexpectedly, a large number of refugees came, taking all food and drink. You didn’t dare enter Huayin city, and despite having money, couldn’t buy food, so you targeted Biyun Temple…”

A-Sen jumped up, darting behind the table, staring at Fu Tingyun in shock.

“What are you afraid of?” Fu Tingyun frowned and commanded, “Come back and sit down. I have something important to discuss.”

“What, what is it?” A-Sen, like a mouse encountering a cat, cautiously examined Fu Tingyun, hesitating, his legs seeming filled with lead, unable to move for a long time.

Fu Tingyun was both angry and amused but managed to maintain her stern face.

“That Moyi is just a steward of the Sixteenth Master, yet he can provide us with good food and drink, and even get us into the city. Even Master Nine might not be much different, right?” she questioned A-Sen, “It seems he’s a capable person, yet he serves this Sixteenth Master, whose identity must be extraordinary.”

A-Sen had been suspicious about why Zhao Ling wanted him to stay in Willow Lane. Now, hearing Fu Tingyun’s words, considering how clever she was—guessing their affairs quite accurately without being told anything—her comments about Moyi must have reason, and must be related to Master Nine.

He nodded and said: “Moyi is a mobile general under the Yingchuan Marquis Meng Shu. He’s from the Mo clan of Luyi, and has a clan uncle called Mo Shang, who is currently the Commander-in-Chief of Guangdong.”

Now it was Fu Tingyun’s turn to be shocked: “Who told you this?”

Though she didn’t know who Meng Shu and Mo Shang were, she knew that the Commander-in-Chief of Gansu and the Commander-in-Chief of Guangdong were high-ranking generals commanding significant forces.

“Brother Yuanbao said so,” A-Sen murmured, “Master asked him to find out.”

Something flashed through her mind. She felt it was important and tried to grasp it, but it vanished.

“How could this be? How could this be?” Fu Tingyun, too preoccupied to remember why she had called A-Sen, paced around the room, her face pale.

A-Sen watched anxiously: “Miss Fu, you, what have you guessed?”

Moyi, Sixteenth Master, Yingchuan Marquis, Mo Shang, Zhao Ling… Like scattered pearls, she tried hard to string them together but could never find the thread, too distracted to pay attention to A-Sen.

A-Sen was extremely anxious, sitting there mumbling: “I haven’t met Master Nine’s family… Master Nine said his parents died early, and he had no one at home, so he came to the northwest to find a living…” As if only this could dispel his anxiety.

Fu Tingyun was attracted by his fragments of speech.

She stopped pacing and murmured: “Then, hasn’t he married?” Her face was so red it could drip blood, and she hurriedly added as a cover, “You’ve been away for some time, haven’t you? Now with the famine, and the world so bad, we’re being watched by Moyi and can’t move freely. Shouldn’t we at least report to Master Nine’s family that he’s safe or send some silver for them to live on?”

A-Sen found Fu Tingyun’s words strange, but thinking carefully, he felt her concern was reasonable.

“No, Master Nine hasn’t married,” he shook his head, “Many people in the underworld want to form marriage alliances with Master Nine, but he said as long as he lives such a dangerous life, he won’t marry.”

Like seeing spring flowers bloom or hearing summer insects chirp, Fu Tingyun felt the sky high and the clouds clear, the world so beautiful.

Joyful smiles couldn’t help but spread across her face.

Isn’t Master Nine in great danger now?

Why is Miss Fu so happy?

A-Sen looked at Fu Tingyun strangely: “What are you smiling about?”

“When was I smiling?” Fu Tingyun wasn’t aware of it herself.

“If you don’t believe me, go look in a mirror,” A-Sen’s eyes were wide.

Fu Tingyun was startled and ran back to her inner room.

On the red-lacquered gold-painted mirror case was set a copper mirror the size of a palm, reflecting a face smiling as brilliantly as summer flowers.