When Qin Yining arrived, she saw the senior maid Cai Ju carrying a white porcelain bowl on a red wood tray, walking from the small stove under the west wing room’s corridor. The bowl contained dark brown medicinal soup that reeked of bitterness even from a distance.

Seeing Qin Yining arrive, Cai Ju quickly curtsied: “Fourth Miss has come. This servant just finished preparing medicine for Madam.”

“How is Madam? Was a doctor called? Which doctor? What did the doctor say?”

Seeing Qin Yining’s rapid-fire questions, clearly showing genuine anxiety, Cai Ju couldn’t help but feel moved that Madam was truly blessed. She said gently, “Master ordered someone to take his calling card and invite Imperial Physician Zhang to examine her. He said Madam is suffering from internal melancholy combined with catching cold from the rain. Though it looks serious, once the fever breaks, there will be no problem. Master is in the room right now. Miss, please go in quickly.”

By the time they finished speaking, they had reached the corridor.

Perhaps hearing their voices, Cai Lan lifted the light blue brocade bamboo door curtain from inside the room and quietly invited Qin Yining to enter.

The temperature inside the room was much warmer than outside.

Qin Yining walked around the screen, passed through the side room used for daily relaxation, turned a corner to reach the inner chamber, and saw Qin Huaiyuan wearing a sapphire blue robe, sitting on a folding stool beside the bed reading a book. Nanny Jin was crouched on the footstool in front of the canopy bed, watching over Sun Shi.

Sun Shi had a cold compress on her forehead and wore a snow-white undergarment, lying in light green brocade bedding. Her face showed an unnatural flush, but she was sleeping fairly peacefully.

Seeing Sun Shi like this, Qin Yining felt very distressed.

She lowered her voice to bow to Qin Huaiyuan, then went to the bedside to quietly inquire about Sun Shi’s condition from Nanny Jin.

After hearing from Nanny Jin that Sun Shi was in no serious danger, and having Bingtang examine her as well, confirming this repeatedly, Qin Yining finally relaxed. She quietly asked Qin Huaiyuan to spend the night in the outer courtyard study while she stayed to tend to the illness.

During the night, Sun Shi developed a fever again. Qin Yining kept watch all night, and only fell asleep from exhaustion just before dawn when she saw Sun Shi’s fever had completely broken.

When Sun Shi opened her eyes, daylight was already bright. The first thing she saw was Qin Yining sitting on the footstool, sleeping with her head resting on her arms against the bed edge.

Her long hair was somewhat disheveled, scattered across her back. Her cheek was half-buried in her arms, and from this angle, her eyelashes appeared very long, casting shadows on her eyelids. In sleep, she looked even more childlike, like a cute and fragile porcelain doll.

Sun Shi was first stunned, then felt overwhelming emotion welling up from her heart. Her whole body felt as if soaked in a hot spring, with every blood vessel warmed through.

This child truly cared for her.

Time reveals people’s hearts. The several incidents they had experienced together were enough to prove Qin Yining’s filial devotion to her.

Sun Shi’s hand trembled slightly as she touched Qin Yining’s head.

Qin Yining awakened as soon as she was touched. She raised her head, saw that Sun Shi was awake, smiled and sat up on the bed edge, feeling Sun Shi’s forehead.

“The fever has broken. How do you feel now, Mother? Nanny Jin has prepared congee and light dishes for you. Shall we eat something before taking medicine?”

Sun Shi nodded and propped herself up with her arms to sit up. Qin Yining quickly took a large pillow to support Sun Shi’s back.

“I’m fine. It’s just that last night when I was returning from Cixiao Garden, it suddenly started raining halfway, and I got caught unprepared and got soaked. Look at you—you have dark circles under your eyes. I’m not in serious trouble, so you should go back and rest.”

“I’ll wait until Mother takes her medicine before leaving. I already went to tell the Old Madam earlier. She said you’re excused from morning and evening respects for these few days and should focus on recovering your health.”

At the mention of the Old Madam, Sun Shi felt annoyed and just nodded.

Qin Yining accompanied Sun Shi for breakfast, watched her take her medicine, helped her settle down to rest, and only then returned to Shuoren Study.

After returning, she made up for lost sleep, sleeping until afternoon. She was still debating whether to get up for lunch or continue sleeping when someone came.

“Miss, someone from the second gate brought word that Chief Steward Zhong from Zhaoyun Division has urgent matters to discuss with Miss. He’s currently waiting outside the residence and requests Miss to come out.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Yining lost all sleepiness and quickly got up, ordering servants to help her wash and dress.

Chief Steward Zhong was skilled at business—he wouldn’t seek her out for trivial matters. For Chief Steward Zhong to specifically request she come out to talk was enough to show the seriousness of the situation.

Ordinary young ladies never stepped outside their homes, but Qin Yining had business affairs and going out was common for her. She simply informed Sun Shi that she was going out, completely ignored the Old Madam, and left with Bingtang and Ji Yun.

Qin Yining had originally planned to bring Song Lan as well, but Song Lan smiled and said, “Taking too many people is inconvenient. Ji Yun has martial skills, and Bingtang knows medicine—they’re perfect to accompany Miss.”

Qin Yining thought about it and agreed this made sense. She instructed Song Lan and Qiu Lu to be sure to watch the house for her and take good care of Er’Bai.

Sure enough, as soon as she left the residence, she saw Chief Steward Zhong’s carriage.

Qin Yining had Ji Yun and Bingtang wait outside while she got into the carriage.

“Chief Steward Zhong, what matter is so urgent that you called me out?”

Chief Steward Zhong said in a low voice, “Boss, regarding those assassins who attacked at Immortal Maiden Temple that you asked me to investigate—we have leads.”

Qin Yining said in surprise, “Really?”

Though she had asked Chief Steward Zhong to help investigate, so much time had passed, and she didn’t fully understand Zhaoyun Division’s intelligence-gathering capabilities yet, so she was quite surprised.

Chief Steward Zhong nodded understandingly with a smile. “Our people are on good terms with coroners in the city, and from them we learned that the assassins who attacked at Immortal Maiden Temple and one group of the assassins who attacked when His Majesty personally went out of the city to welcome Marquis Anping should be the same batch of people. The coroner said these people had the same type of poison in their mouths, and they all had the smell of Hu Yan in their mouths.”

“Hu Yan?”

“Exactly. This Hu Yan is different from ordinary tobacco. Hu Yan comes from the north—it’s strong and potent. Northerners smoke it more, but we don’t smoke much of it here. Given the long transport distance and higher price, even fewer people use it. In the entire capital city, there’s only one shop that sells Hu Yan. The coroner said that group of assassins all smoked Hu Yan, so I had people quietly watch outside the Hu Yan shop, waiting for opportunities. Surprisingly, we really did find clues.”

At this point, Chief Steward Zhong lowered his voice even more. “These people who come to buy Hu Yan are all tall, sturdy men who don’t talk much. When we occasionally overhear their conversations, we can tell they’re speaking Tatar. Among them, one person seems to be the leader—he doesn’t look like one of us Great Yan people. Not only is he tall and large, but his eyes are somewhat light gray, though you can’t tell unless you look closely.”

Qin Yining nodded upon hearing this. “What else?”

“Our people continued watching the Hu Yan shop, and yesterday they encountered these people buying tobacco again. They secretly followed them and found their gathering place. I don’t know how to handle this matter, so I came to ask for Boss’s opinion. Should we continue surveillance and investigation, or does Boss have other arrangements?”

Seeing that Qin Yining showed no surprise when hearing the word “Tatar,” Chief Steward Zhong knew she had already suspected this.

In fact, just from analyzing the political situation, Qin Yining had long suspected the Tatars.

Great Zhou was north of Great Yan, while the Tatars were north of Great Zhou. It was said that the Tatars had been at war with Great Zhou for years. Now that Great Zhou and Great Yan had made peace, if Great Zhou had the energy to deal with the Tatars with full force, that definitely wasn’t what the Tatars wanted to see. That’s why the Tatars would work hard to sabotage the peace negotiations between Yan and Zhou.

Now that her suspicions were confirmed, Qin Yining frowned and pondered for a moment before saying, “Where is that place? Let’s go take a look.”

Chief Steward Zhong thought briefly and nodded, instructing the coachman, “Go to Yongkang Alley in North Juxian Ward.”

The coachman acknowledged, had Ji Yun and Bingtang sit on the carriage shaft, cracked his whip with a “snap,” and the carriage headed toward the northern part of the city.