Ajin thought it was a corpse and was too frightened to approach. Just as he was about to go to the office to report it, the “corpse” moved slightly, and only then did he realize the person still had a breath of life. He quickly carried him back to his own home.

There was a very deep wound on his abdomen that looked like it had bled heavily, and the flesh around the wound had already turned white from being soaked in water.

Because his family was poor, Ajin’s family couldn’t afford a physician. They could only clean and bandage the wound for him, then cook some fish porridge to feed him. He remained unconscious like this for half a month before finally waking up. The first thing he did upon waking was to have Ajin go to the Governor’s residence to find Li Yuan, asking him to come here as there was an extremely urgent matter. He repeatedly instructed that only upon seeing Li Yuan could he reveal his name, which led to what Ajin had said at the Governor’s residence.

Upon entering the house, they immediately smelled the same fishy odor as on Ajin’s body. In the corner were fishing nets and other items. An old woman was carefully carrying a bowl of steaming fish porridge out from the kitchen. Though her eyes were open, she seemed unable to see Li Xuanba and the other, and asked tentatively, “Ajin, have you returned?”

Ajin quickly went to support the old woman’s hand, “Yes, yes, I’ve returned.”

The old woman nodded, then asked nervously, “What about the Governor? Did you bring him?”

Ajin answered truthfully, “The Governor wasn’t at the residence, but I brought the Governor’s Third Young Master. It should be the same.”

“Good that you brought someone. Feng Li just woke up. Quickly take Third Young Master over.” Ajin responded and led Li Xuanba to the inner room. By the sunlight streaming in from the window, they could see a person lying on the bed with a face as pale as paper – it was indeed Feng Li.

Li Xuanba quickly walked to the bedside. Feng Li was extremely excited to see him and said with difficulty, “Third… Third Young Master!”

“It’s me.” Li Xuanba responded, then asked urgently, “Feng Li, how did you end up like this? What happened? Where is Big Brother?”

Feng Li caught his breath and said, “Third Young Master, rest assured. The First Young Master… is fine.”

Hearing this, Li Xuanba felt relieved, then asked puzzledly, “If he’s fine, how did you end up here, and injured so severely?”

Feng Li sighed, “It’s all because this subordinate was careless and fell into Wu Meixue’s trap. No, I should say Shen Yunyi’s trap.”

Li Xuanba said in astonishment, “Wu Meixue? Shen Yunyi? What are you talking about?”

Feng Li struggled to open his mouth, but his voice was so low it was almost inaudible. Ajin brought in fish porridge and said, “Third Young Master, Brother Feng just woke up and is still very weak. Let him eat a few mouthfuls before you question him.”

Though Li Xuanba was anxious, he also knew that Feng Li’s current condition wasn’t suitable for questioning, so he had to patiently wait on the side.

After drinking a few mouthfuls of porridge, Feng Li shook his head to signal Ajin to take the porridge away, then said weakly, “The First Young Master heard that Second Young Master interfered in county office matters because of Wu Meixue, and adding to the previous incident with Lord Wang, he felt that this woman’s existence would endanger Second Young Master, so he secretly ordered this subordinate to return to Honghua Prefecture to eliminate Wu Meixue!”

Li Xuanba gasped, “Big Brother ordered you to kill her?”

“Correct.” Feng Li said, “On the night of the fifteenth of the second month, this subordinate set an ambush to intercept and kill her on her way back to the residence. I was confident I could take her life, but discovered that Wu Meixue not only knows martial arts, but her fighting style is similar to Shen Yunyi’s. This subordinate dares to confirm that she is the Shen Yunyi who disappeared before!”

“Wu Meixue is Shen Yunyi?” Li Xuanba said incredulously, “How is this possible? They are two completely different people. How could they be the same person? If you’re talking about disguise, Second Brother already checked at the time, and Wu Meixue wasn’t disguised.”

“This subordinate also doesn’t know how Shen Yunyi managed to deceive everyone, but it’s definitely her without a doubt!” Feng Li coughed a few times, enduring the pain from his abdomen, and said hoarsely, “This woman is extremely cunning. She took advantage of this subordinate’s momentary carelessness and wounded me. If this subordinate hadn’t jumped into the Qingshui River, I would have died under her blade long ago!”

Li Xuanba sat there in a daze, unable to come to his senses for a long time. He wasn’t unfamiliar with Wu Meixue. When Second Brother had protected this woman despite pressure from Wang Wei, he had also opposed it, but… he never imagined that Wu Meixue would be an assassin!

Feng Li caught his breath a few times and said, “Third Young Master, is she… still in the residence?” After Li Xuanba nodded, he said urgently, “You must quickly return and tell the Governor about this, have him immediately arrest Wu Meixue to prevent her from escaping.”

Li Xuanba agreed, then asked, “By the way, when you fought with her, did you get any information?”

“No, she was very tight-lipped, and we were constantly fighting, so there was no time to ask anything. But this subordinate believes that with severe torture, we can definitely get information out of her.”

Li Xuanba nodded, “I’ll arrange this matter myself. For now, I’ll first arrange for someone to take you back to the Governor’s residence, then find a physician to treat you.”

Feng Li said with some hesitation, “Before coming, the First Young Master instructed that this matter must not be known by others. Alarming Third Young Master this time was already unavoidable. Although we now know Wu Meixue is an assassin, it’s still best not to let Second Young Master know.”

Li Xuanba frowned tightly, “What you say makes some sense, but if you don’t come forward, there’s no way to identify Wu Meixue as an assassin. Second Brother protects her greatly. If I rashly arrest her, she will definitely cause trouble through Second Brother.”

Feng Li thought this made sense too and asked, “What about the Governor?”

“Father went to see an old friend early this morning and won’t return for several days.” Hearing this, Feng Li also fell silent. After a long while, he said, “To make Second Young Master believe that Wu Meixue is an assassin, there’s only one way – to make her reveal herself in front of Second Young Master.”

Li Xuanba nodded approvingly, then said, “Since it’s inconvenient for you to return to the residence now, rest here and recover. I’ll arrange for a physician to come.”

After Feng Li agreed, Li Xuanba took out all the copper coins on him and gave them to Ajin, who held so much money and didn’t know what to do, “Third Young Master…”

“Thank you for saving Feng Li. This money is a small token of my appreciation.” Before Li Xuanba finished speaking, the latter had already hastily pushed the money back, shaking his head repeatedly, “Mother said that saving people is what one should do. I can’t take your money.”

The old woman beside them also said, “Yes, Third Young Master, we can’t accept your money. Please take it back.”

Seeing they refused to accept it, Li Xuanba had to say, “Consider this payment for taking care of Feng Li and money for buying food. Buy more chicken, fish, and meat to nourish Feng Li’s body. I’ll arrange for the physician.”

The old woman smiled, “We’re fishermen ourselves, so we don’t need to buy fish. We can buy a few chickens to make soup for him. Ajin, you keep it for now, and if there’s any left over, return it to Third Young Master later.”