He Yan didn’t immediately sit up, only clutching her head and groaning while thinking about other matters. Yuan Baozhen had indeed come to test her – firstly to probe how she discovered the problem with that cup of wine, and secondly to see if she was truly blind. This man was meticulous in his thinking, even having Ding Yi deliberately place a stool to observe her reaction. If He Yan’s response had been even slightly off, this master and servant pair would likely have developed other suspicions.

With her exceptional hearing, she had detected Ding Yi’s movements early on and knew Yuan Baozhen hadn’t immediately left. That’s why she deliberately cooperated in this performance, acting out what Yuan Baozhen wanted to see. But while Yuan Baozhen was testing her, wasn’t she also testing Yuan Baozhen?

Despite their deep connection, he insisted they were merely acquaintances. If they were just acquaintances, He Ruwei’s servant Ding Yi wouldn’t be following him here. That cup of wine had something wrong with it, but what puzzled He Yan most was what role He Ruwei played in all this. Was he conspiring with Yuan Baozhen to harm Xiao Jue, or was He Ruwei the mastermind, or were they both working for someone else?

Next, she would need to follow Ding Yi to figure out what these two were really up to.

When the sounds outside ceased, He Yan’s “ouch, ouch” grew louder. From behind came Fei Nu’s voice asking, “What’s wrong with you?”

“I just hit my head,” He Yan reached out blindly for him. “Brother Fei Nu, please help me up, I’ve twisted my ankle.”

Fei Nu came forward at her call and helped her to the couch. With the cloth covering He Yan’s eyes, Fei Nu couldn’t read her emotions from them and naturally didn’t know what she was thinking at that moment.

The earlier performance wasn’t just for Yuan Baozhen’s benefit – it was also for Fei Nu to see.

While Yuan Baozhen and Ding Yi were intent on testing He Yan, they failed to notice that Fei Nu had been standing at the door, listening to everything inside. They hadn’t noticed, but He Yan had – Fei Nu was just supposed to clear away the bowls and plates, so why had he been gone so long? It was a case of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.

For some reason, He Yan felt that both Xiao Jue and Fei Nu didn’t trust her. This was understandable – why would they immediately trust someone they barely knew before? But she sensitively perceived that Xiao Jue’s attitude wasn’t just distrust – there was also a hint of wariness and suspicion.

He Yan couldn’t make sense of it, wondering what she had done to arouse suspicion. Since arriving here, she hadn’t even had any interaction with Yuan Baozhen before, yet somehow she’d fallen under suspicion.

Never mind, let them suspect. One performance to deceive two people. He Yan said, “Brother Fei Nu, where did you go just now? You missed that Inspector Yuan who came and sat for quite a while.”

Fei Nu avoided her question and asked instead, “How’s your head?”

He Yan touched her head and said, “There’s quite a big bump. Who knows when it will go down.” She sighed deeply again, “This was a trap. My little brother was quite smart not to come. This is much more dangerous than being forced into marriage.”

If Cheng Lisu were here instead, who knows what the situation would be like now?

“Sit and rest for a while,” Fei Nu’s voice revealed no emotion. “I’ll be at the door if you need anything.”

He left again.

He Yan lay on the couch. With the cloth covering her eyes, Fei Nu couldn’t see her expression, just as she couldn’t see his reaction, though she imagined he maintained his usual expressionless face.

She wondered when Xiao Jue would return.

When Xiao Jue returned, it was already deep into the night.

That day, He Yan and Fei Nu had stayed in the Sun mansion, doing nothing. All food and wine sent by Sun Xiangfu had to be tested for poison with silver needles. Since He Yan couldn’t see, she simply slept in the room all day, while Fei Nu kept watch at the door.

When Xiao Jue returned, Fei Nu, who had been sleeping on the couch, immediately woke up and walked to Xiao Jue’s side, saying, “Young Master.”

Xiao Jue gestured for him to follow into the inner room. Fei Nu glanced at He Yan on the couch – in the dim lamplight, she appeared to be sleeping soundly.

Fei Nu followed Xiao Jue into the inner room, not noticing that the supposedly sleeping youth was lightly tapping the bedding beneath them. Of course, He Yan wasn’t asleep – having slept all day, how could she still sleep at night? She wasn’t a village pig. Young Master Xiao had something to discuss with his confidant, and Fei Nu would likely tell the Commander everything that had happened here day.

He Yan didn’t dare eavesdrop on the master and servant’s private conversation. Xiao Jue wasn’t Yuan Baozhen – he had real martial arts skills. If she exposed herself, there would be too many complications, and it wouldn’t be worth it. But she could guess what Fei Nu would tell him. He Yan believed her performance today had fooled Fei Nu.

As for whether she could fool Xiao Jue, that she didn’t know.

In the inner room, the lamp was lit.

Xiao Jue placed his sword on the table and sat down in the chair.

“Young Master, Yuan Baozhen came today,” Fei Nu said.

Xiao Jue looked up and asked, “What for?”

“I believe he came specifically to see He Yan. Yuan Baozhen exchanged a few words with He Yan.” He recounted the entire conversation between Yuan Baozhen and He Yan to Xiao Jue, finally adding, “Yuan Baozhen seemed to be testing He Yan.”

Xiao Jue pondered for a moment before asking, “What do you think?”

“From He Yan’s responses, it seems she doesn’t know Yuan Baozhen. There weren’t any obvious flaws, though it’s possible they were both acting. But overall, the suspicions about He Yan can be temporarily cleared.”

“Cleared?” Xiao Jue smiled wryly, “Fei Nu, the deceiver in our room has even fooled you.”

Fei Nu was stunned, not understanding.

“Don’t forget, when He Yan competed in archery with Wang Ba, she hit a flying bird while blindfolded. Do you think someone with such acute hearing couldn’t detect Yuan Baozhen’s guard placing a stool in front of her?”

“Young Master means…”

“She could have easily avoided the stool, yet chose to fall – deceiving Yuan Baozhen was one thing, deceiving you was another.” Xiao Jue spoke casually, “This person is quite skilled at deception.”

People’s typical impression of a blind person is someone who stumbles around helplessly, unable to do anything without assistance, appearing quite pitiful. Both Yuan Baozhen and Fei Nu were ordinary people who would naturally think this way – seeing He Yan fall helplessly matched their image of a blind person. But He Yan wasn’t an ordinary blind person – even with a blindfold, she could practice archery better than others.

Yuan Baozhen had never seen He Yan shoot arrows blindfolded, but Fei Nu had, yet even he overlooked this point.

“Deceiving you was secondary; her main goal was to mislead Yuan Baozhen, otherwise she wouldn’t have made up such an absurd story about insects in the wine.”

Insects in the wine? How was that possible? It wasn’t summer, and the Sun mansion was particularly careful about such things, with artemisia sachets hung everywhere to ward off insects. It was quite creative of He Yan to come up with such an excuse.

“Young Master, then is she Yuan Baozhen’s person or not?” Fei Nu was also confused now. If she were Yuan Baozhen’s ally, why such testing and suspicion?

“It doesn’t seem like it, but we can’t rule it out.” There were writing materials on the table, apparently arranged by Sun Xiangfu. He didn’t care for such things, yet pretended to be cultured.

Xiao Jue found paper and brush and wrote a few characters. His handwriting was elegant and forceful, very beautiful, standing out on the paper like his person.

“I want you to deliver a letter to Lin Shuanghe.”

“Master Lin?” Fei Nu’s usually calm face finally showed surprise. “Young Master, didn’t you forbid Master Lin from coming to Liangzhou?” He suddenly realized something and asked incredulously, “Could it be… because of He Yan?”

The ink dried quickly in the breeze. He placed the letter in an envelope and lowered his eyes, saying, “It’s for him, but not entirely for him.”

Fei Nu asked no further questions. He secured the letter and was about to leave on tiptoe when Xiao Jue saw this and let out a derisive laugh.

“Why are you being so careful? The person outside has long been awake,” he said.

“Young Master?” Fei Nu froze.

“Forget it, when it comes to deception, you’re no match for them.” Xiao Jue shook his head and said lazily, “Anyway, they don’t dare to come in here.”

Fei Nu stood there thinking for a moment before leaving the room. After he left, Xiao Jue adjusted the lamp wick. In the bright light, his pupils were piercingly bright.

“Xu Jingfu…”

The night swallowed his whispered words.

When He Yan woke up, Xiao Jue was gone again.

He seemed very busy these past two days. He would be gone when He Yan was awake, and He Yan would be asleep when he returned – they hadn’t even seen each other. She guessed Xiao Jue’s activities were probably related to what happened at the Sun mansion’s night banquet, but she couldn’t follow along and could only sit and wait.

But sitting and waiting wasn’t to her liking. Fortunately, afternoon, near evening, Fei Nu also had to go out. Before leaving, he repeatedly cautioned her to stay in the room and not go out to avoid trouble.

He Yan nodded in agreement.

Actually, in He Yan’s view, the Sun mansion wasn’t as fraught with deadly intent as Fei Nu suggested. From the night banquet incident alone, it was clear that the assassins’ target was only Xiao Jue. With Xiao Jue gone, the mansion was seventy percent safe. As for the remaining thirty percent, they might not even be able to defeat her.

Early this morning, He Yan had removed the cloth from her eyes, simply because after two days, it needed to be changed. However, since the mansion’s doctor had been frightened away by Xiao Jue last time, there was no one to make new bandages for He Yan.

Although she had removed the cloth, after two days, everyone in the mansion had accepted He Yan as a blind person and wouldn’t treat her as normal – except for He Yan herself.

Suddenly removing the cloth made the daylight seem too bright and still uncomfortable. Yesterday morning, maintaining an unchanging expression while removing the bandage in front of Fei Nu – heaven knows how much she wanted to cry then – it was too bright.

He Yan had never actually “lost her sight.”

That day at the night banquet, when she finally caught the servant who rushed at her under Ding Yi’s instructions, he threw something like powder. She had blocked it, though her eyes did hurt somewhat at the time.

Having been blind once before, she was extraordinarily nervous and sensitive about her eyes, and instinctively felt everything become blurry, fearing she had gone blind again. But after calming down, she realized she had actually dodged it, and at night, when no one was around, He Yan secretly removed the cloth and could see the lantern light outside.

It was just a false alarm caused by excessive nervousness. She had intended to explain the next day, but when the next day came, she changed her mind.

A blind person generally poses no threat. Being a non-threatening person made it easier to get close to Yuan Baozhen than being the “clever Young Master Cheng who could detect poison in wine.”

So when removing the bandage in front of Fei Nu, He Yan showed no unusual reaction. She had played blind for quite some time and could perfectly imitate all the reactions a blind person should have, leaving no trace of inconsistency for others to find.

But she hadn’t expected Yuan Baozhen to be so cautious, specifically coming to verify if she was truly blind. This left He Yan in an even more difficult position. But it also made her more certain that there was something suspicious between He Ruwei, Ding Yi, and Yuan Baozhen. He Ruwei must be involved in the plot against Xiao Jue. Although she didn’t understand what grievance existed between He Ruwei and Xiao Jue, the enemy of my enemy is my friend – now she and Xiao Jue should be on the same side.

She needed to find out exactly what Yuan Baozhen and Ding Yi were planning.

He Yan tied up her hair and quietly left the room.

Everyone knew that Young Master Cheng was now blind and stayed in his room all day except for bathroom visits. Moreover, these days everyone in the mansion was worried about their safety, and Sun Xiangfu was busy clearing his name – no one was watching He Yan. Fortunately, she had an excellent memory for routes, and on her first day at the Sun mansion, she had already figured out most of the layout.

However, He Yan didn’t know where Yuan Baozhen was staying. While she was pondering this, she saw someone quickly walking through the garden ahead – none other than Ding Yi.

Perfect! He Yan inwardly rejoiced and quickly followed. She moved swiftly and was skilled at finding hiding places. The Sun mansion, proud of its luxurious design, had artificial mountains and potted landscapes everywhere, providing her with many places to conceal herself. No one discovered her along the way, and finally, Ding Yi stopped in front of a room and went inside.

For some reason, the room where Yuan Baozhen stayed was also far from the main hall, almost considered remote, with few people around. In the autumn evening in Liangzhou, it was already dark. He Yan made an estimate and leaped onto the roof.

With her small frame, among the curving eaves and carved decorations of the roof, He Yan lying there almost merged with it completely. She carefully searched for a long time until finally finding a gap – perhaps from rain or hail damage – where a small piece of the fragile glass tile had broken, leaving just enough of a crack. He Yan pressed her face close to listen to the sounds inside.

Inside the room, Ding Yi had entered.

“How is it?” Yuan Baozhen asked.

“I lost him,” Ding Yi shook his head.

“He didn’t discover you?”

“No, he didn’t.” Ding Yi hesitated, “I didn’t dare get too close, afraid he’d notice me. He left early today and headed east. I searched around but couldn’t find him.”

Yuan Baozhen’s expression was uncertain: “What is this Xiao Jue trying to do? The incident happened at the Sun mansion, yet he stays here, going out every day – who knows what he’s doing. Something feels off.”

Hearing this, He Yan grew suspicious – Yuan Baozhen had Ding Yi following Xiao Jue?

“Are the matters at the yamen settled?” Yuan Baozhen asked.

“The Yinyue group is all dead, leaving no evidence. The inside man at the mansion is also dead. Since we coordinated with Sun Xiangfu beforehand, there shouldn’t be any problems.” At this point, Ding Yi added, “I still don’t understand how Cheng Lisu knew about the inside man’s movements then, and he discovered that cup of wine too.”

“You think he’s suspicious? But yesterday you saw – he’s blind, just an ordinary youth.”

“Even so… something feels wrong.” Ding Yi couldn’t quite explain it. The youth should be blind, otherwise he wouldn’t act so convincingly. The servants said he stayed in his room all day, watched by Xiao Jue’s guard. He appeared to be just a helpless rich young master. But Ding Yi remembered at the banquet when Cheng Lisu had glanced at him.

That glance was fleeting, like a casual look at a passerby, but for a moment, Ding Yi seemed to sense anger and shock in the youth’s eyes. When he looked again, the youth was looking elsewhere, as if it had been just his imagination.

But was it imagination?

As they discussed animatedly, He Yan listened in shock. “Yinyue dead,” “no evidence,” “coordinated with Sun Xiangfu” – this meant the attempt on Xiao Jue’s life was indeed Yuan Baozhen’s doing. Perhaps Sun Xiangfu had helped too.

Then why was Xiao Jue still staying here, practically inviting further harm?

As she pondered this, she heard Yuan Baozhen ask: “Any recent letters from Brother He?”

This “Brother He,” He Yan thought, was almost certainly He Ruwei.

“No. Before leaving, the master instructed me that this must succeed,” Ding Yi said. “If we fail, we can’t face Minister Xu.”

Minister Xu?

He Yan’s mind raced. This suggested He Ruwei had Ding Yi assist in assassinating Xiao Jue to answer to “Minister Xu.” In other words, He Ruwei was working for Minister Xu? But who was Minister Xu? She knew of current Prime Minister Xu Jingfu but wasn’t sure if this was the “Minister Xu” Ding Yi mentioned.

“We’ve already failed,” Yuan Baozhen said, half angry, half dejected. “I didn’t expect Xiao Jue to be so troublesome, and now he suspects me… who knows if we’ll get another chance.”

“Xiao Jue is indeed difficult, but he has a blind nephew,” Ding Yi said. “Since he’s blind and helpless, like a fool, I think we can make use of him.”

“What do you suggest?” Yuan Baozhen asked.

“Don’t forget what I used to do,” Ding Yi said. “I have my ways…”

Before he could finish, there was a “crack” from above, and a small piece of green tile fell. Ding Yi’s expression changed. “Who’s there?” He leaped outside.

In the moonlight, a figure flashed past swiftly, graceful as a swallow, disappearing instantly into the night.

He Yan was cursing her luck. Sun Xiangfu’s pretentious taste extended even to the roof tiles – jade-crystal tiles that looked beautiful but were extremely fragile. Even someone as light as she could accidentally crack them. What logic was this? He Yan suspected Sun Xiangfu might be cleverer than he appeared – perhaps the tiles were chosen specifically to prevent eavesdropping from the roof. A normal man would probably fall through immediately.

In the distance, Ding Yi continued his pursuit but, for some reason, didn’t alert the mansion’s servants about an intruder – probably due to his guilty conscience. He Yan, familiar with the layout, dodged and hid while pondering the conversation she’d overheard.

Yuan Baozhen came to Liangzhou, Ding Yi came to Liangzhou, He Ruwei to Shuojing – all for one purpose: to assassinate Xiao Jue, and all three had to answer to “Minister Xu.” Now Xiao Jue was still alive, the assassins all dead, and Yuan Baozhen, unwilling to give up, wanted to try again, with Ding Yi targeting her, the “useless blind person.” They wanted to use this blind person to murder Xiao Jue.

Thinking it through, one person using another usually meant either turning them, using them as a hostage, or making them an unwitting murder weapon. Given that Cheng Lisu was Xiao Jue’s nephew, Yuan Baozhen probably wouldn’t try to turn her. As for the other two options – He Yan didn’t believe Ding Yi could overpower her, and since she wasn’t Cheng Lisu, Xiao Jue wouldn’t do anything foolish like “surrendering for his nephew’s sake.”

As for the third option, being an unwitting murder weapon… they’d forgotten the most important point: He Yan wasn’t blind and had been wary of Ding Yi from the start.

While pondering this, He Yan had reached her quarters. The lights were on – Fei Nu must be back. He Yan felt her clothes – she’d left the cloth bandage inside. The thought of having to act for Fei Nu again gave her a headache.

Fearing Ding Yi would catch up, she leaped forward, darting into the room with lightning speed. As she turned around, she nearly choked on her saliva.

A wooden bathtub sat in the room, steam rising from it, with Xiao Jue sitting inside. It was like a scene from a painting – a beauty bathing, skin like ice and jade. Moonlight slipped through the window cracks, casting a cool sheen on his black hair, making him particularly alluring. His shoulder blades were exceptionally beautiful, and for a moment, He Yan’s thoughts wandered. She recalled their time at Xianchang Lodge, wondering when she’d last seen him without outer garments. The military men were typically rough and burly – although Xu Zhiheng was considered refined, Xiao Jue was different from them all, both graceful and powerful, with an especially enticing waist. No wonder people, regardless of gender, would admire such a sight.

So not only was his face handsome, but his body was also extraordinary – no wonder he was called the “Jade-faced Commander,” truly living up to the name.

The misty air made it difficult to see his expression. He probably wasn’t pleased – Xiao Jue surely hadn’t expected someone to suddenly burst in. He stood up immediately with a splash, the water sounding crisp.

He Yan: “…”

It was over – what should and shouldn’t have been seen, He Yan had seen it all. At this moment, she cursed herself thoroughly – why had she worn the cloth bandage every day except today? Or if only she were truly blind, how much better that would be.

Second Young Master Xiao quickly grabbed a robe from the rack and put it on, looking at her coldly.

The room seemed to drop several degrees in temperature.

As he was about to speak, he saw the youth in front of him spread their hands, clumsily closing the door, their eyes calm and expressionless, seemingly wider but reflecting nothing. They asked, “Who… who’s there?”

“Heh.” Second Young Master Xiao was both angered and amused by this poor acting.