The tall, thin guard said: “What, still haven’t caught the assassin?”

The guard shook his head: “It’s really strange. It was one thing when they escaped from the firewood shed earlier, but today we spent the entire day searching the governor’s mansion again according to the eldest young master’s instructions, and we still haven’t found the assassin.”

The person beside him said: “In my opinion, those two assassins must have already escaped, otherwise how could we keep failing to catch them?”

The tall, thin guard shook his head repeatedly: “As soon as the assassin fled, the eldest young master ordered the governor’s mansion to be sealed off. Not even a fly could escape. Unless they know magic, it’s absolutely impossible for them to have gotten away.”

The other person waved his hand: “Alright, forget about all that. In any case, we just need to do our duty. Once we discover traces of the assassin, we’ll immediately capture them. The eldest young master has given his word – whoever can catch them will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver!”

After those two guards left, the area returned to quiet. Shen Moping gritted his teeth tightly. The exotic poison from the Western Regions that he had bought at great expense and applied to the dagger had failed to take Li Yuan’s life – how infuriating!

He waited like this until midnight, never finding an opportunity to enter the back courtyard. Shen Moping looked at the moon gradually sinking toward the west, gritted his teeth, and decided to take a desperate risk. He picked up a stone from the ground and threw it forcefully into the distance, making a “thud” sound that startled the guards stationed there, who shouted: “Who’s there?”

After waiting a while with no response, one of them whispered: “Could it be the assassin?”

“Come on, let’s go take a look!” Following the other person’s words, the two drew their waist sabers and headed toward where the sound came from. Shen Moping seized this opportunity to dart out from behind the stone and quietly slip past, running all the way to the medicine room. Relying on memory, he grabbed several medicines for treating wounds and reducing fever, then found a bottle of wound medicine and some other items. After hastily stuffing these things into his chest, he didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he searched around and found several fire starters and a stack of paper used for wrapping medicine. He placed the paper by the door, then used a fire starter to ignite it. Soon flames engulfed the paper and kept climbing up along the door frame, burning more and more vigorously.

After doing all this, Shen Moping finally left. After hiding in the shadows, he shouted loudly: “Oh no, there’s a fire! Come quickly to put out the fire!”

The back courtyard was mostly inhabited by servants and old women. Hearing this voice, they quickly threw on clothes and got up. Indeed seeing flames blazing at the medicine room, they hurriedly called for water to extinguish the fire. The guards at the courtyard gate were also alarmed and rushed in. Seeing this situation, they quickly said: “How did a fire suddenly start when everything was fine?”

An old woman said: “We don’t know either. We suddenly heard someone shouting about fire, and when we came out, we saw this scene. Stop talking and quickly bring water to put out the fire, otherwise it’ll be troublesome when the flames spread.”

Hearing this, the guards quickly nodded and went together to the nearby Yuehua Pond to fetch water to fight the fire. Taking advantage of the chaos in the back courtyard, Shen Moping lowered his head and quietly left, following the shadows all the way back to the ice cellar.

As soon as he closed the iron door, he impatiently came to Yunyi’s side. She was still unconscious. Shen Moping took out the medicine while murmuring: “It’s alright now, it’s alright. This servant has found the medicine. Master, you’ll recover soon.”

Speaking thus, he cleaned all of Yunyi’s wounds as thoroughly as possible, then sprinkled the wound medicine on her injuries and tore clean cloth strips to rebandage them.

After doing all this, he mixed those medicinal materials together and placed them in a medicine mortar, adding a little water from melted ice, then grasped the pestle with one hand and pounded vigorously. Originally these medicines should be boiled with water, but given their current situation, there was no way to decoct the medicine. He could only use this method, hoping it wouldn’t affect the medicine’s efficacy.

Yunyi was awakened by a pungent medicinal smell. Opening her eyes, she saw Moping forcing something bitter and fishy into her mouth. After reluctantly swallowing the paste-like substance in her mouth, she shook her head: “What is this?”

Shen Moping said joyfully: “Master, you’re awake! This is medicine. As long as you take the medicine, your fever will subside quickly. Come, quickly eat the rest too.”

Yunyi didn’t take the medicine paste he offered, but instead mustered her spirits and said: “Where did you get this medicine?”

Shen Moping’s smile froze, then he said: “I’ll explain that later. Right now the most important thing is to quickly take the medicine so you’ll get better.”

Yunyi said firmly: “If you don’t explain clearly, I won’t take it.”

Seeing that he couldn’t deceive her, Shen Moping had no choice but to tell her everything exactly as it happened, then hurriedly said: “Master, don’t worry. This servant was very careful and wasn’t followed. They won’t know we’re hiding here.”

Yunyi was silent for a moment, then said quietly: “Have you thought about what would happen if they discovered you when you went out like that? You would be dead for sure.”

Shen Moping lowered his head and bit his lip: “This servant knows, but Master, your fever was so severe that without medicine, you would surely die. This servant absolutely cannot watch you come to harm.” Speaking thus, he held up the medicine jar like offering a treasure: “This medicine was taken by this servant according to prescriptions that imperial physicians used to write. It should be effective, but since there’s no way to decoct it, it will be somewhat difficult to swallow.”

Yunyi endured waves of dizziness and said: “Don’t take such risks again in the future. If something happens to you too, then no one will be able to help me with tasks.”

Although Yunyi’s tone was cold, Shen Moping had been by her side for many years – how could he not hear the concern in her words? He nodded repeatedly: “This servant understands. This servant will definitely follow Master’s instructions.” Speaking thus, he looked at Yunyi expectantly. She understood his meaning and, using his hand for support, swallowed the difficult-to-consume medicine paste.

After taking the medicine, Yunyi slept for a while again. When she woke up next time, she felt that her body wasn’t so cold anymore, and the fever had also subsided somewhat. It seemed the medicine had taken effect.

Seeing her condition improve, Shen Moping said happily: “There’s still some medicine left. After this servant finishes pounding it, you can take it again, and then Master will completely recover.”

Yunyi responded absent-mindedly, then said: “You mentioned before… Li Yuan didn’t die?”

Shen Moping’s movements paused, and he said quietly: “This servant heard it said that someone neutralized the poison we applied to the dagger and saved the lives of Li Yuan and his son!”

“Do you know who it was?” Faced with Yunyi’s question, Shen Moping shook his head: “This servant didn’t hear about that, but having such a person with superb medical skills around Li Yuan is very disadvantageous to us. Moreover, our identities have been exposed. Trying to find another opportunity to strike would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.” Speaking thus, he tentatively said: “Master, how about… we return to Luoyang instead? Let’s not worry about Li Yuan’s affairs anymore.”

Yunyi firmly refused: “No, having come this far, we absolutely cannot give up halfway. Besides, this is my only chance. If I give up, I’m afraid I’ll never earn Father Emperor’s regard for my entire life.”