Wang Daxia had only been upstairs once—that night when he climbed over the wall to rescue Wei Caiwei who had been kidnapped by Zhou Xiaoqi. After that, he had never set foot upstairs again. After all, it was a lady’s boudoir, a private place where outside men should not enter. Wang Daxia could only stop at the staircase.

He could only whistle every day when riding past Wei Residence on horseback, watching her wave back in response while she was grooming herself on the second floor.

This place of infinite fantasy for him—Wei Caiwei was actually letting Lu Ying go up to sleep there. Even the study wasn’t acceptable!

Wang Daxia had performed well today, using both intelligence and force to protect Wei Caiwei. Lu Ying asked him: “You want to sleep in the study?”

“I do, but—” Wang Daxia glanced at Wei Caiwei. “Of course I’ll follow the host’s arrangements and listen to her.”

Lu Ying said to Wei Caiwei: “I don’t mind switching with him. What about you?”

Privately it didn’t matter, but with outsiders present, Lu Ying didn’t want to be treated specially. She hoped Wei Caiwei would treat her like an ordinary man to avoid arousing suspicion—though given Wang Daxia’s intelligence, the probability of him suspecting she was a man was still quite small.

Actually, Wei Caiwei had always been very indulgent toward Wang Daxia. Basically, whenever he acted spoiled, she would give in. This time was no exception.

Wei Caiwei went with the flow and said: “That’s fine.”

Lu Ying slept on Ding Wu’s bed, which still had a bamboo mat, a bamboo pillow, and a bamboo wife shaped like a vase inside the bed for cooling. Though simple, it was wiped very clean, with a thin cotton quilt in a rice field pattern and no strange odors.

Wei Caiwei led Wang Daxia upstairs. The study had a luohan couch. She moved away the cushions and small table from the couch so someone could sleep on it.

“You’ll sleep here. I’ll go get you some bedding.”

Wei Caiwei went to the adjacent bedroom, opened a trunk, and carried out a quilt and pillow. When she returned to the study, she found Wang Daxia had already fallen asleep on the cold, hard luohan couch, with soft snoring sounds.

He was truly exhausted.

Wei Caiwei covered him with the quilt. Autumn mosquitoes were fierce, and unlike Ding Wu’s bed, the luohan couch had no mosquito net, so she lit mosquito incense and placed it under the couch.

After placing the mosquito incense, she was squatting right at Wang Daxia’s sleeping face. Sleeping Wang Daxia looked exactly like her deceased husband from her previous life. Even though they weren’t the same soul, both were doing everything they could to protect her.

Wang Daxia wasn’t sleeping with a pillow and seemed uncomfortable, his head unconsciously nuzzling around like a little puppy.

Wei Caiwei gently held his head and tucked her embroidered soft pillow behind his neck. She used two pillows—in her previous life, Wang Daxia liked sleeping on high pillows.

Sure enough, in this life he had the same habit. With two pillows under his head, he was comfortable and finally stopped moving.

After settling the “new love and old flame,” Wei Caiwei went to the first-floor pharmacy to prepare ginseng nourishing pills for the Grand Duchess of Dingguo. Ordinary people didn’t know Lu Ying was a woman, but Lu Bing’s in-laws and Emperor Jiajing knew, so they wouldn’t believe the rumors about Wei Caiwei and her new love and old flame being more dramatic than opera scripts. They only recognized her medical skills.

Wei Caiwei had scored first place in the Palace Supervisory Imperial Physician examination. When results were announced, her name was listed first. At such a young age, she had gained recognition from imperial physicians. Capital City noble families, especially Lu Bing’s in-laws, were very curious about her and invited her to treat ailments inconvenient for imperial physicians to see. If there was no illness, they’d have her prepare safe prescriptions for health maintenance—noble ladies all emphasized wellness.

From dusk until the night watch curfew sounded, the heavy rain outside showed no signs of stopping or lessening, and no passersby saw Lu Ying or Wang Daxia emerge from Sweet Water Alley.

This was… keeping both new love and old flame overnight?

That night, many onlookers were too excited to sleep, imagining what the pretty widow and her new love and old flame were doing together in the night. Surely they weren’t just chatting under blankets or studying medicine.

This pretty widow was protected by both one of the Four Scourges of North City and Lu Bing’s illegitimate son—she was not to be trifled with.

In the Ten Thousand Goods Trading House on Head Alley, White Lotus Sect leader Zhao Quan and messenger Wu Dianyong were thrilled to hear about the major incident on West Gulou Diagonal Street—”New Love and Old Flame Join Forces to Save Pretty Widow.”

Zhao Quan said: “Last night on the pleasure boat, I personally saw Dr. Wei dancing the zhezhi dance with the courtesan from Red Sleeve Recruitment, witnessing her ability to captivate all beings beneath her cool exterior. It’s not surprising that Commander Lu and Wang Yanei, new love and old flame alike, would go protect her.”

Wu Dianyong took out an invitation: “Wang Yanei arranged for us to have a farewell banquet at Taotie Restaurant tomorrow, but it looks like we’ll need to change venues. This subordinate heard that Commander Lu was dissatisfied with Taotie Restaurant allowing Wu Lianchi, Bu Yaolian, and Lu Renjia—those three Prefecture Academy students—to humiliate Dr. Wei, so he ordered Taotie Restaurant to close and prohibited them from doing business in Capital City. This Taotie Restaurant has been operating in Capital City for over a hundred years with more than ten shops of various sizes throughout the city, yet they all closed overnight. Commander Lu’s power truly reaches the heavens.”

Actually, Wang Daxia’s arrangement of the farewell banquet was also to delay time and keep Zhao Quan stable. Now that Taotie Restaurant had closed and been expelled from Capital City, it provided a perfect excuse to choose another restaurant, facilitating continued delays. It was truly an accidental success.

“It’s his father Lu Bing who’s formidable—who in Capital City dares provoke the Embroidered Uniform Guard? Otherwise, who would pay attention to a mere illegitimate son?” Zhao Quan opened the invitation. “Changing venues is fine. I think this heavy rain will continue for several days, making roads muddy and difficult to travel. We might as well stay in Capital City a few more days. When the rain stops and autumn is clear and refreshing, that’ll be the perfect time to depart.”

Wu Dianyong said: “Everything follows the Sect Leader’s orders.”

Now for “widely watched” Sweet Water Alley.

It wasn’t until nearly the third watch that Ding Wu hurried home and knocked on the door. Wei Caiwei opened it, and Ding Wu, still wearing his bamboo hat and straw raincoat, immediately asked: “Where is Commander Lu? I have urgent business with her.”

Wei Caiwei pointed toward his room: “Sleeping.”

“She… is sleeping on my bed?” Ding Wu could hardly believe it.

Wei Caiwei said: “Would you rather she sleep on the floor?”

No, this wasn’t the time to think about this. Ding Wu suddenly rushed toward the bedroom but stopped at the doorway: “You’d better wake her up.”

Ding Wu was a refined gentleman. Though Lu Ying tried hard to conceal that she was a woman and acted like a man, Ding Wu still insisted on maintaining propriety.

Wei Caiwei woke Lu Ying. At this time, Wang Daxia was also awakened by the door knocking downstairs. Thinking someone was harassing Wei Caiwei, he didn’t even put on shoes and immediately grabbed his sword to go downstairs.

Seeing Wei Caiwei hand Lu Ying a bamboo hat and raincoat as Lu Ying put them on, Lu Ying said to Wang Daxia: “Perfect timing. There’s some trouble at Head Alley—we need to hurry over.”

It was a major problem.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard had dug a tunnel from the medicine shop to the underground warehouse of the Ten Thousand Goods Trading House. Originally, progress had been smooth with no obstacles like large rocks, and the soil layer was relatively soft and easy to dig.

But today was Beginning of Autumn, and it had been raining heavily. The soil layer above the not-yet-completed tunnel had been soaked by rainwater, and several places were already starting to leak.

After water seepage, the supporting soil layer would become increasingly soft and prone to ground subsidence and collapse, making all their efforts futile.

This was the disadvantage of soft soil—very easy to dig but also very prone to collapse. If it hadn’t rained, there would be no problem in the short term, but who could have predicted that after Beginning of Autumn, when weather should become dry, there would be heavy rain instead?

Ding Wu had already tried using wood and planks to support the tunnel and continuously used small buckets to scoop out seepage water to slow the collapse.

However, if it continued raining heavily tomorrow, Ding Wu’s efforts would be like a drop in the bucket, and the tunnel could collapse from water saturation at any time.

So Ding Wu had run over in the middle of the night to consult with Lu Ying.

Lu Ying went down into the tunnel and indeed found severe water seepage. Even with Ding Wu using wooden frames and plank walls to support the tunnel, muddy water still leaked through the gaps in the planks. Water in the tunnel had already reached shoe level—and this was with Embroidered Uniform Guards continuously bailing water out.

Wang Daxia said: “If the heavy rain continues, by tomorrow the tunnel could be used for fish farming.”

Lu Ying glared at him: “At a time like this, you still have the mood for sarcasm.”

Ding Wu said: “Fish farming doesn’t matter—what’s scary is water entering the tunnel. With water inside and outside, we’ll be attacked from both sides, accelerating collapse.”

Lu Ying asked: “If we add more people to dig, could we break through tomorrow night?”

Ding Wu said: “If we just make a hole big enough for one person to crawl through, it’s possible—we don’t need to dig this deep.”

Lu Ying looked at the leaking tunnel and made a decisive decision: “Then let’s make a hole. Tunnels fear water, and gunpowder also fears water. Once soaked, it becomes unusable and won’t pose a threat to us or nearby residents.”

Wang Daxia said: “In that case, we’ll need to act two days early—we’ll have to move tomorrow night.”

Lu Ying asked: “Do you have any problems with that?”

Wang Daxia said: “I don’t. Everyone’s being watched, and besides, on rainy nights it’s hard to go out—they’ll all be holed up at home. The rain sounds can also mask the noise of us climbing over walls, slipping through doors, and picking locks. We’re just waiting for Commander Lu’s order.”

Fortune and misfortune intertwine—everything has advantages and disadvantages.

Lu Ying was decisive: “Then we begin tomorrow night.”

Both Lu Ying and Wang Daxia had slept through the first half of the night, but Ding Wu hadn’t closed his eyes at all. Swaying and about to collapse from exhaustion, he was nearly spent.

Lu Ying said: “I have a task for you.”

Ding Wu secretly pinched the flesh at his waist to steel himself: “Ding awaits Commander Lu’s orders.”

Lu Ying said: “Your task is to sleep. Tomorrow we still have a hard battle to fight.”

Ding Wu returned to Sweet Water Alley to sleep. As he lay on the bed, the thin quilt still faintly held Lu Ying’s body warmth, leaving his mind in turmoil and his dreams restless.

Wang Daxia wrote another farewell banquet invitation, canceling tomorrow’s feast at Taotie Restaurant and instead inviting Boss Wang and Wu Dianyong to dine at Santong Restaurant the day after tomorrow. Since they would act tomorrow night, they had to ensure these two stayed at the trading house and went nowhere else, making it convenient for the Embroidered Uniform Guard to catch the White Lotus Sect in their trap.

So the farewell banquet at Santong Restaurant would never happen. They could save some money.

The formerly spendthrift wastrel Wang Daxia had unconsciously begun learning to live frugally!

With urgent matters of great importance, Lu Ying hurried home overnight, woke Lu Bing, and told him the plan had changed—they would act tomorrow night.

Lu Ying’s eyes shone with excitement as she handled such a major operation for the first time.

Lu Bing supported his daughter’s achievements and said: “I’ve assigned you the best Embroidered Uniform Guard personnel. Everything follows your arrangements. I believe you can command from headquarters.”

Actually, Lu Bing wasn’t certain Lu Ying could perfectly close the net on the White Lotus Sect, but with the arrow already on the bowstring, he had to show complete confidence in Lu Ying to give her confidence and avoid discouraging her.

Even if things went wrong, Lu Bing could cover for his daughter—he had secretly sent trusted subordinates to watch. The mantis stalks the cicada while the oriole waits behind. The White Lotus Sect had been causing trouble for ten years, and now with a chance to destroy their Capital City nest, Lu Bing would never let it slip away.

So Lu Bing believed Lu Ying would definitely win this battle.

Hearing her father’s complete trust, Lu Ying decided not to hold a grudge against her father for scolding her after he took the imperial medicine and became irritable and impulsive last time.

Lu Ying said: “I will give my all and won’t disappoint father. There’s one more thing I need father’s help with.”

Lu Bing took the opportunity to reconcile with his daughter, smiling: “Between father and daughter, ‘asking for help’ is too formal. What is it?”

Lu Ying said: “It’s about Wang Daxia dragging those three Prefecture Academy students through the streets for public humiliation.”

Lu Bing had certainly heard about it: “No problem. Wang Daxia is one of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and my trusted aide—the Prefecture Academy doesn’t dare make trouble.”

Lu Ying said: “Naturally. What I mean is, please have father pressure the Prefecture Academy and Ministry of Rites to expel these three from their student status, strip Lu Renjia of his xiucai degree, and permanently ban all three from participating in imperial examinations.”

Author’s Note: Lu Ying has the demeanor of a domineering CEO~