“How is it not peaceful?” Chen Guang humbly asked for guidance.

The old man pushed the silver back into Chen Guang’s hand and sighed. “I’m not after your silver, young man. Just based on that package of honey twist candy you gave my little grandson, I’ll give you a warning. A few nights ago, some bandits surrounded an official’s residence, and the sounds of fighting and killing went on for most of the night before stopping. I happened to deliver firewood to that official’s residence every day. When I went there at dawn that day, I saw the bluestone slabs were all stained red, and people were washing them with basin after basin of water.”

Chen Guang’s heart jumped as he quickly asked, “Which official’s residence was it?”

“It was General Xing’s residence, where his family lives.” The old man shook his head. “Those bandits were foolish. They could have troubled anyone, so why did they have to trouble General Xing? General Xing has so many soldiers under his command – dealing with a few bandits would be child’s play, tsk tsk.”

“Old sir, did you leave just because of this?”

The old man’s expression changed slightly. “This matter hasn’t spread throughout the city yet. Only those with connections got the news. I only found out by chance, too. Think about it, young man – Fuxing City isn’t some small village or town. For such a big city to have this kind of incident happen, isn’t it quite frightening? Those bandits could break into General Xing’s residence today, and tomorrow they might start killing and setting fires. So some people who got the news temporarily left to avoid trouble. I happened to have nothing urgent, so I simply brought my grandson to visit his parents.”

“I see. Thank you for the warning, old sir.” Chen Guang cupped his hands.

The old man stood up and pulled his little grandson. “Alright, we’ve rested enough. We should go. Young man, if you’re not in a hurry, don’t go to Fuxing City for now.”

“Fine, we understand. Thank you, old sir.”

The old man gradually walked away with his little grandson, while the three of them remained standing under the tree.

“Bandits besieged Xing Wuyang’s residence?” Shao Mingyuan pondered the old man’s words and looked at Qiao Zhao. “Zhaozhao, did you notice that when the old man mentioned those bandits just now, his tone wasn’t like a commoner’s hatred toward robbers, but carried a hint of regret?”

Qiao Zhao nodded in agreement. “Yes, it was as if he wished those bandits had succeeded. This shows how unpopular Xing Wuyang is.”

Shao Mingyuan gazed into the distance, where the figures of the grandfather and grandson had gradually disappeared from view.

“The identity of those bandits is quite interesting.”

Qiao Zhao looked thoughtful. “Going straight for Xing Wuyang’s residence – it wasn’t for money. If it were for money, there’d be no need to pick the hardest bone to gnaw.”

“Then what do you think it was for?” Shao Mingyuan asked.

“We’re still completely in the dark about that area, so how can we guess?” Qiao Zhao smiled, then, meeting Shao Mingyuan’s encouraging gaze, she thought for a moment and said, “Most likely it’s related to a popular uprising.”

Shao Mingyuan stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze deepening as he said quietly, “Perhaps it’s a military mutiny.”

Qiao Zhao was startled. “A military mutiny? Why would you think that?”

A military mutiny was different from a popular uprising. If a mutiny occurred among the troops under a regional commander, it proved his army was rotten to the core.

“I have no concrete evidence, just the intuition of a general who’s led troops in battle for years,” Shao Mingyuan said frankly.

This kind of intuition was by no means unfounded speculation, but experience accumulated through countless large and small battles in predicting the rapidly changing situations on battlefields.

“Come on, let’s go see what Fuxing City is really like with our own eyes.”

The three continued their journey. By afternoon, Fuxing City, with its arched city gates, appeared before them.

A squad of soldiers stood by the city gate, inspecting people entering the city.

“First Young Master—” Chen Guang called out.

“It’s fine.”

The three joined the queue. When their turn came, the soldier standing by the city gate carefully examined Shao Mingyuan and Chen Guang, then asked coldly, “Not locals?”

Both Shao Mingyuan and Chen Guang were quite conspicuous in height in this southern coastal region.

“Right, we’re here to visit relatives,” Chen Guang said with a smile.

“Travel permit.” The soldier extended his hand.

Chen Guang quickly handed over the travel permit, along with a substantial piece of silver.

Feeling the weight of the silver, the soldier hastily glanced at the permit, returned it to Chen Guang, and reminded, “Don’t cause trouble.”

“Absolutely. We’re all law-abiding citizens.”

The three finally entered the city smoothly and found an inn not too far from Magistrate Xing’s residence. Chen Guang muttered, “I never thought height would become an obstacle one day.”

“Advantages and disadvantages are always relative. Chen Guang, rest for a bit, then go out and find an inconspicuous private residence to rent. We’ll move in tomorrow.”

“We need to rent a house, too?” Chen Guang was quite surprised.

“Once we rescue Magistrate Xing, they’ll know. The first places they’ll search will certainly be the inns, and our height makes it easy for people to guess we’re from the north,” Shao Mingyuan explained.

“This subordinate understands. I’ll go right away.”

By evening, Chen Guang returned. “General, it’s all arranged.”

Shao Mingyuan nodded. “Good. Tonight you protect Miss Li, and I’ll scout the Xing residences.”

“Which Xing residence?” Qiao Zhao asked.

Since both Xing Wuyang and Magistrate Xing happened to share the surname Xing, she really needed to clarify which one Shao Mingyuan planned to visit.

“I’ll scout both.”

Night soon fell. Shao Mingyuan changed into black night clothes, even his handsome face covered by a black cloth, leaving only a pair of pitch-black eyes exposed.

“Zhaozhao, I’m leaving.” Shao Mingyuan raised his hand to gently stroke Qiao Zhao’s hair.

“Be careful then.”

Shao Mingyuan smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll come back early.”

Qiao Zhao took out a delicate pouch from her sleeve and handed it over. “Take this with you. It contains several medicines. The red bottle has a detoxification pill – if you encounter common poisons, swallow it and it can sustain you for at least an hour. The white bottle contains hemostatic powder – pour it on wounds for rapid bleeding control. The green bottle contains the Immortal Pill—”

Qiao Zhao paused and looked deeply at Shao Mingyuan. “I hope you won’t need to use it.”

The man was much taller than her, so she had to tilt her head back to look at him, perfectly catching the tender laughter in his eyes.

Miss Qiao thought: This man is hers. No matter how roguish and thick-skinned he might be, she couldn’t bear to let anyone hurt him. Anyone who dared hurt her man would face her wrath.

Miss Qiao then pulled out a palm-sized bottle from her sleeve and handed it over, instructing, “The Immortal Pill is for preserving life. I believe you won’t need it, but just in case. As for what’s in this bottle, if you encounter someone very difficult to deal with, open the stopper and splash it on them.”

“What would happen then?”

“It’s not too serious, just that their entire body would instantly burn like fire,” Miss Qiao said lightly.

Shao Mingyuan held the small bottle and pondered for a moment before asking, “This was given to you by Physician Li, wasn’t it?”

Qiao Zhao didn’t deny it.

This was originally a life-saving item that Physician Li had given her when they parted recently.

Shao Mingyuan pushed the bottle back. “Silly girl, I don’t need it.”