Upon hearing this commotion, the seller’s face instantly turned vicious. He snatched back the bundle and struck with his knife straight toward Ruyi’s heart.

Ruyi silently cursed the bad turn of events, slapping the table as she rose to dodge his attack, flipping backward and kicking him into the fritillaria screen behind.

The screen crashed down with a sound, and the hidden guards emerged from the shadows, stepping forward to capture this person alive. The waiters below heard the commotion and closed both front and back doors, bolting them shut.

It looked like a situation of catching a turtle in a jar, but that seller glared viciously at Ruyi, then turned his blade and fiercely stabbed it into his own throat.

Blood spurted out with a splash, spraying across the faces of both hidden guards.

Ruyi dodged quickly and escaped harm, but seeing the seller collapse, her heart sank as she knew things had gone badly wrong.

Suicide from fear of punishment meant there was an upper connection. Once this person failed to return, she as the buyer would likely face retaliation.

Zhou Tingchuan entered the private room and, seeing she was unharmed, crouched to examine the corpse on the ground.

“Draw this person’s face and investigate his background.” He instructed those behind him. “Send someone to report to His Lordship.”

“Yes.”

Ruyi stood motionless in place, her delicate face lowered as if contemplating something.

Zhou Tingchuan asked with concern: “Is Miss Liu frightened?”

She came back to herself and exhaled: “Somewhat.”

“Come back with me first. I’ll have someone prepare calming medicine for you to rest well after taking it.”

Ruyi nodded.

The two descended together. Just as they reached the stair landing, they heard guests in another private room complaining: “How does this Immortal Meeting Wine House always have strange disturbances? That horrible whistle sound—I’ve heard it twice in five days.”

Ruyi stopped in her tracks.

The guests had already begun discussing other matters when they saw a young lady suddenly burst in, looking at them and asking: “When did you last hear this whistle sound?”

“Three days ago, on that thunderstorm day.” The guest looked at her somewhat bewildered but still answered.

“Thank you.” Ruyi turned and left, continuing downstairs.

Though there had been some autumn sun today, it had suddenly grown overcast, wind rising in the streets with everything misty and dim.

Zhou Tingchuan ordered people to place the seller’s corpse on a cart while she got into the carriage in front, returning to the Zongzheng Estate first.

As soon as the carriage left Divine Providence Street, Ruyi felt something wasn’t right.

The wind made the jade pendants on the carriage curtains clatter noisily. The air no longer carried the fragrance of syrup and pastries, leaving only a murderous aura piercing through the curtains from ahead.

Ruyi turned her head aside.

The next instant, a black-tailed plum blossom dart broke through the air, embedding itself viciously in the carriage’s rear wall with great force and precise aim. Had she not dodged in advance, it would have pierced straight through her forehead.

“Stop the carriage!” Zhou Tingchuan shouted.

Of the two hidden guards who had followed, one was guarding the corpse and the other had gone to report, leaving no one free to protect the front carriage. Since he knew no martial arts, he panicked immediately, shakily taking out the token Shen Qiyuan had given him and handing it to a servant: “Quickly go to the yamen and call for reinforcements!”

Ruyi lifted the curtain in disbelief: “The nearest yamen is a li away from here. Facing assassination head-on, you’re going to the yamen to call people over? To collect my corpse?”

Zhou Tingchuan was speechless, his face pale: “Then, then what should…”

Before he finished speaking, another plum blossom dart flew straight toward his forehead.

Ruyi was quick with her eyes and hands, stepping on the carriage shaft to leap onto his horse’s back, pressing his head down while also lowering her own to dodge that dart together. Then she seized the reins from his hands and turned the horse around: “Hyah!”

The servants behind scattered like birds and beasts. Ruyi spurred the horse to leap up, flying over the straw cart blocking the road, turning at the street intersection ahead to another street.

Zhou Tingchuan was stunned by the wildly changing scene before his eyes.

Coming from a scholarly background, following Shen Qiyuan only to manage documents and records, where had he ever witnessed such perilous scenes? He felt he would fall from the horse at any moment.

A pair of hands reached around from his waist, taking the reins while also securing him firmly on the horse’s back.

Zhou Tingchuan slumped limply, instinctively looking back.

Ruyi sat steady as a rock behind him without using stirrups, her slender waist strong, her eyes sharp and bright. The jade hairpin from her coiffure had been shaken loose and fallen, her black hair flying out like long silk, resembling a banner raised on a mountain peak ablaze with war fires, making his eyes inexplicably burn with heat.

What a formidable young lady. While he, a man, was at a complete loss, she had brought him out of the ambush circle in the blink of an eye.

No wonder His Lordship said she would be fine.

Zhou Tingchuan felt both blood boiling with excitement and lingering fear.

Ruyi rode straight back to the Zongzheng Estate.

Upon entering Zongzheng Bureau territory, purple-capped patrols were everywhere, and that relentless murderous aura from behind immediately dissipated.

She exhaled deeply.

“What is this about?” Shen Qiyuan’s voice came from behind.

Ruyi turned back to see him standing beside an imperial treasure carriage, looking at her and Zhou Tingchuan with displeasure.

“My Lord!” Zhou Tingchuan tumbled and crawled down from the horse, rushing to him with both lingering fear and excitement: “We just encountered assassins, and thanks to Miss Liu saving my life. You didn’t see Miss Liu’s skills—so swift and heroic!”

Speaking thus, he looked toward Ruyi with eyes full of admiration and some suspicious flush on his face.

Shen Qiyuan listened coldly and scoffed: “I told you to bring guards, yet you treated it as wind past your ears.”

“How could this subordinate know they would strike immediately…”

Brushing him aside, Shen Qiyuan walked to Liu Ruyi: “Where is the seller?”

“He committed suicide. The corpse has been sent to the yamen for examination.” Ruyi dismounted, smoothing her somewhat wrinkled skirt. “The previous case of Shopkeeper Rong—His Lordship hasn’t solved it yet, has he?”

“Naturally not.”

“Then good, I’ll give His Lordship another clue.” She raised her eyes. “A piercing sound rang out outside the Immortal Meeting Wine House today, probably blown from an iron whistle. The seller immediately attacked me upon hearing this sound.”

“According to other guests, three days ago during the thunderstorm, the Immortal Meeting Wine House also had such a whistle sound.”

Three days ago there should also have been a black market seller who attacked a buyer at the Immortal Meeting Wine House, but no one discovered the corpse and no one reported it.

This didn’t follow common sense.

—Unless this corpse happened to be Shopkeeper Rong, the body hidden somewhere with no one reporting it.

The thunderstorm three days ago was heavy, washing clean any bloodstains from transporting the corpse, so no one noticed.

Ruyi could roughly imagine the murderer’s method of committing the crime. Looking up across at him, she saw Shen Qiyuan with an expression as if someone owed him money—brows dark and gloomy, lips pressed tightly together.

“Did His Lordship hear?” she couldn’t help asking.

Shen Qiyuan glanced at her sideways, extremely cold: “Investigating cases is the Ministry of Justice’s responsibility. Miss Liu need not worry herself about it.”

Ruyi:?

Good intentions unrewarded—she had not only faced life and death today but also provided him clues, yet how had he turned around and gotten angry with her?