The great fire in Bei Juxian Ward wasn’t extinguished until dawn. But strangely, the neighboring houses around the burned residence were all empty, with at most one or two people watching over them, so no casualties occurred.
Even stranger was that the original household in the burned residence now only had four people remaining, each one silent as a mute gourd, refusing to speak a word. The Fire Brigade Bureau and Five Cities Military Commissioner personnel had witnessed with their own eyes no fewer than thirty men fleeing from the residence, yet now those people seemed to have vanished overnight.
Xu Mao and the others vaguely sensed something was amiss and hurriedly sent word to Imperial Uncle Cao.
At the Cao residence.
All the servants and maids in the outer courtyard study had been assigned other tasks by the steward, who now stood at the courtyard gate, forbidding anyone from approaching.
Imperial Uncle Cao sat grimly in a huanghuali wood official’s hat chair, his thumb wearing an emerald thumb ring trembling slightly, betraying his anger.
Seated across from him was a tall, voluptuous woman of seventeen or eighteen with thick eyebrows and large eyes. Though her features weren’t particularly outstanding, her profile was quite pronounced. A bright red cross-collar jacket with blooming peony patterns complemented her honey-colored healthy skin. Her slightly wavy long hair was styled in a cloud chignon. Though dressed as a lady of Great Yan, her entire bearing radiated stubbornness and dominance, completely unlike the gentle demeanor of Great Yan women.
This was the Tatar princess, A’na Ri.
“Imperial Uncle Cao! Didn’t you say that residence was the safest place in the world, that you had arranged everything around it perfectly? Why do I now have only four of my thirty-plus Tatar warriors remaining, with all the others completely missing!” A’na Ri angrily furrowed her brows. “Imperial Uncle Cao must give this princess an explanation!”
Imperial Uncle Cao sneered coldly. “Princess, please calm yourself. This old man indeed arranged all security measures for the residence properly, even spending great sums to purchase several surrounding residences as cover. How much effort this old man invested in this matter—even if Princess A’na Ri cannot see clearly, Young Master Si Qin should understand. For the princess to make such a commotion, do you have grievances against this old man?”
Si Qin, sitting below A’na Ri dressed as a scholar, merely pressed his thin lips together without answering, though his handsome face showed some anger as well.
Imperial Uncle Cao continued, “As for today’s incident, it’s clearly because your subordinates were too foolish. Even if they were captured, it was because they exposed their own whereabouts. What the princess should be doing now is carefully considering how to handle the aftermath, not shouting at this old man here.”
A’na Ri’s fury blazed even hotter as she slammed the table hard. “No matter how much you arranged, my warriors are all gone now! When so many people came to your Great Yan initially, and we lost so many warriors in two failed assassination attempts, this princess didn’t get angry. Our Tatar warriors are eagles of the grasslands—even if they die in battle, they return to the embrace of Eternal Heaven. But now? Due to your negligence, so many warriors disappeared before they could even draw their swords, and you still blame the warriors this princess brought for being foolish?”
“Aren’t they foolish? If they weren’t foolish, how would the residence catch fire in the middle of the night? How would they panic during evacuation and get swept up in one net? Princess A’na Ri should indeed be angry. If this old man had such useless subordinates, perhaps he would be just as furious.”
“You! I’ve long heard that people in your Central Plains court don’t do real work, just play with words. Today this princess has truly witnessed it!”
“Compared to the princess’s poor leadership, this old man falls short by several degrees. The princess acts so deviously that this old man bows in admiration. The Huichun Garden this old man kindly gifted to the princess was immediately regifted by her to others. This old man hasn’t yet asked what the princess meant by this, yet the princess comes here to make a scene!”
Seeing A’na Ri and Imperial Uncle Cao going at each other with pointed barbs, even involving matters between the Tatars and Great Zhou, Si Qin quickly intervened.
“Imperial Uncle Cao, please don’t mind. Princess Highness is only concerned about the life and death of these warriors. The road of future cooperation is still long—there’s no need to harm relations over these matters. Imperial Uncle Cao is right; what’s important now is considering how to handle the aftermath.”
A’na Ri had been full of anger with nowhere to vent, but after hearing Si Qin’s words, she miraculously calmed down. Though still wearing an angry expression, she no longer spoke rudely.
Imperial Uncle Cao’s gaze shifted between A’na Ri and Si Qin, his expression softening slightly. “These people wouldn’t disappear for no reason. They must have been captured by someone. If it were others, that would be manageable, but if they were captured by His Majesty’s people, things would be difficult.”
Upon hearing this, a sharp gleam flashed in Si Qin’s hawk-like eyes before being replaced by a gentle smile. “Regardless of who captured them, those people are already finished and need not be considered further. In Imperial Uncle’s opinion, if your country’s emperor captured these people, how would he handle them?”
Imperial Uncle Cao raised an eyebrow. The first half of Si Qin’s statement meant that if they could handle things properly, those missing people could be treated as pawns to be discarded, as if they never existed.
This Tatar actually had something of a Great Yan style in his actions and words.
Imperial Uncle Cao said impassively, “Young Master Si Qin need not test this old man. If His Majesty truly learned of this matter, both you and I would be in great difficulty. However, to handle things properly, with Young Master Si Qin’s prior words, this old man has an idea of what to do.”
“The Imperial Uncle is a clever man. Speaking with clever people is refreshing.” Si Qin smiled.
Seeing Si Qin and Imperial Uncle Cao chatting and laughing together, A’na Ri gazed at his handsome, profound features with an infatuated expression.
When Si Qin’s sharp eyes looked over and met A’na Ri’s gaze, he suddenly put away all his edge and smiled gently at her.
A’na Ri felt as if she had fallen into a pool of warm water, her entire being becoming dizzy with intoxication.
Imperial Uncle Cao observed these two and didn’t pay much attention, only calling his trusted aide to whisper, “Go summon all our people planted in the Five Cities Military Commissioner and Fire Brigade Bureau. Whether through threats, bribes, or even torture, we must make these people divulge some valuable information. Who passed by that residence these past days, who acted suspiciously—don’t let anyone slip by!”
“This subordinate obeys.” The subordinate left to carry out orders.
Seeing Imperial Uncle Cao take concrete action on this matter, A’na Ri and Si Qin temporarily felt relieved.
At this moment, Qin Yining and Qin Huaiyuan sat facing each other in the outer courtyard study of the Qin mansion.
Qin Huaiyuan reclined against the arhat couch by the window while Qin Yining moved a folding stool to sit beside the footrest. Father and daughter ate refreshments and drank tea while analyzing the day’s events.
“I’m leaving those people to Father. The subsequent matters are for Father to resolve—your daughter won’t interfere.” Qin Yining held her tea bowl and took a sip of hot tea to cut through the sweetness of the refreshments.
Qin Huaiyuan raised an eyebrow. “The way you’re doing this, I suspect you deliberately dragged me along to clean up your mess.”
Qin Yining laughed. “It is indeed cleaning up the mess. Even if I captured them myself, I couldn’t handle them—I’d still have to hand them over to Father. These people will definitely be useful to Father.”
Qin Huaiyuan hadn’t slept all night and was somewhat tired now. Looking at Qin Yining’s spirited, pretty face, his smile deepened as he deliberately tested her.
“Then tell me, with these people in my hands, how should I handle them?”