“Your sister isn’t in the residence. The one you’ve seized is my wife. Return her to me and I’ll treat it as if nothing happened. I’ll let you leave.” Yun Ye knew this wasn’t the time to act tough—gentle persuasion was the best strategy.

“Nonsense! You people captured my sister and presented her to the prince. If you don’t return her to me, I’ll kill her.” The gaudy-colored woman spoke with a strange accent and released Little Lingdang’s mouth.

“Husband, run quickly!” Little Lingdang shouted as soon as her mouth was free, and tried to bite the woman. The woman’s hand was very strong—she just pressed on the side of Little Lingdang’s neck and Little Lingdang went limp in her arms.

Yun Ye looked carefully at Little Lingdang. Seeing her chest still rising and falling, he knew she’d passed out. At this moment, Yun Ye was extremely worried about the child in her belly. Suppressing his rage, he said: “You’ve found the wrong person. The prince’s residence is opposite—this is the lord’s residence. My wife is with child. Release her. This is your last chance, or I’ll slaughter every single person in your village.”

The woman looked at Little Lingdang and said arrogantly: “You people took advantage of us being out at sea with no one guarding the village and snatched away my sister. Return her to me! You’re an official—you’re all scoundrels. I don’t care. If you don’t return my sister, I’ll kill your wife.”

“You’re dead. Everyone in your village is dead too. I’ll make you understand what regret means.” Yun Ye shouted loudly because Wu She was already standing behind the woman.

Just as the woman was about to speak, Wu She’s large hand had already gripped her throat, lifting her bodily off the ground. With a push on Little Lingdang’s back, she fell into Yun Ye’s arms. Not bothering to deal with that damned woman, Yun Ye carried Little Lingdang hurriedly back to their room, unfastened her collar, and pressed her philtrum.

After a long while, she finally woke up. Only then did Yun Ye breathe a sigh of relief. From start to finish it was only the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, yet his clothes were already soaked through with sweat, his heart beating so fast it was about to leap out.

“Husband, run quickly.” The first thing Little Lingdang did upon waking was shout. Yun Ye held Little Lingdang tightly, stroking her back continuously saying: “It’s alright now, it’s alright. The bad person has been caught. It’s alright.”

Little Lingdang looked around and found herself in the bedroom with no terrifying woman behind her. Only then did she realize she should be afraid, and burst into loud tears. As long as she could cry it out, that was good—otherwise Yun Ye was extremely worried about her and the child’s safety.

The residence’s physician rushed over. After taking her pulse, he said to Yun Ye: “My lord, the fetus is unharmed. The lady was just frightened. This old man will prescribe a calming, fetus-protecting medicine. After drinking it for three days, there will be no problems.”

At this time, Little Lingdang seemed no longer afraid. She stared blankly at Yun Ye, whose sweat flowed down like a stream, and said softly: “Husband, this concubine is fine now. Please don’t be alarmed.”

“You’re fine, but my soul still isn’t complete. Where were tonight’s guards? Was anyone derelict in their duty?” Yun Ye stared at the hurriedly arriving Liu Jinbao and began roaring: “How is the young master? Is he alright?”

“Replying to my lord, five of our residence’s guards were knocked unconscious by these pebbles. The young master is fine—Lady He is with him. It’s been confirmed that only this one person entered the residence to assassinate.”

After speaking, Liu Jinbao opened his palm to reveal an egg-sized stone he’d nearly squeezed oil from.

Yun Ye waved his hand irritably. Five grown men knocked unconscious by one woman with stones—truly absurd. The Yun family’s guards were all skilled fighters from the battlefield. Who’d have thought they’d be so fragile?

It was all that bastard Feng Ang’s fault. No matter how consumed by lust Li Tai was, he absolutely wouldn’t do something like forcibly seizing commoner women. Only a local tyrant like Feng Ang could do such things—accustomed to running roughshod over Lingnan on ordinary days, snatching a few commoner women wasn’t a big deal, especially in a remote place like Hepu.

Li Tai’s residence was guarded so tightly by five or six hundred people that not even water could leak through. Trying to commit murder there was harder than ascending to heaven. Because Li Anlan had taken the whole family to Guilin, the Princess’s residence had seventy percent fewer guards—inevitably there would be gaps for an assassin to slip through. By the looks of it, this woman wasn’t simple either. Even Wu She hadn’t detected her, much less those five guards would have been alert.

However, Yun Ye had no time to deal with that woman right now. Comforting Lingdang was the important matter. Everything else could wait until tomorrow. Yun Ye didn’t plan to let anyone connected to the assassination off.

He helped Little Lingdang lie down, but she grabbed his hand. Seeing her face full of pleading, Yun Ye stroked her hair and said: “Alright, alright. I won’t go anywhere. Tonight I’ll watch over you. You just expended energy and suffered a fright. Be good and sleep. Your husband will fan you.”

After waving the fan twice, his heart worried about Li Rong. He had Liu Jinbao carry the sleeping Li Rong over and place him inside Little Lingdang’s bed. Only by seeing them with his own eyes could he feel at ease.

He kept watch by the bedside the entire night, not knowing when he’d fallen asleep leaning on the bed. When he woke, daylight was already bright. Seeing Little Lingdang and Li Rong sleeping sweetly, he stretched and ordered servants to prepare washing water—cold water to invigorate his spirits. He needed to clarify last night’s events. Although he’d already guessed seventy to eighty percent, Yun Ye felt it very necessary to verify.

Little Lingdang was startled awake. Seeing Li Rong sleeping beside her, she covered the blanket he’d kicked off, then leaned coquettishly on Yun Ye’s back as he washed his face.

“Alright, it’s daylight. Be good and go eat breakfast. Wake Rong’er too, both of you be good. I’m going to see exactly who is so bold as to dare commit assassination here.”

“Husband, please don’t kill that woman. Her sister was taken away—she’s very pitiful. Don’t make things difficult for her.”

“Nonsense! If we’d failed last night and something happened to you and the child, your husband here would be the pitiful one. Such a menace can’t be left alive. That’s men’s business. You be good and take Rong’er to eat.”

Yun Ye roused the still-sleeping Li Rong and had Lady He prepare breakfast for them. He had no time to eat. Throwing on a robe, he went to the dungeon.

After just one night, the woman was already on her last breath. Her entire body was covered in whip marks. Liu Jinbao was extremely enraged by last night’s assassination and showed no mercy in his blows. If not for the lord needing to interrogate her today, this woman would have been chopped up and fed to dogs.

Yun Ye came before the woman bound to the wooden frame and looked her up and down. The gaudy colors turned out to be a white hemp garment. For the convenience of traveling at night, it had been deliberately dyed with plant juices in many colors, mostly a strange gray-green. Many areas were unevenly dyed, appearing gaudy under moonlight.

The first impression this woman gave Yun Ye was that her legs were very long—extremely long, giving the feeling they forked just below her navel. Slender waist, broad shoulders, well-developed arm muscles, bare feet, hair not long but disheveled across her face, wheat-colored skin smooth and glossy, appearing very healthy.

This was probably the legendary pearl diver. He’d only heard of pearl divers’ beauty, never heard that pearl divers could be so fierce. But of course—women who dealt with sharks year-round, how weak could they be?

“Return my sister to me!” The woman repeated this phrase in a daze.

“My lord, from last night until now, this woman has only said this one phrase. No matter what torture we applied, she won’t speak. Let’s chop off the hand that harmed the lady and see if she’ll talk.”

“Find Liu Fulu. He’s an official of the Princess’s residence. He should be quite familiar with Lingnan now. I want to know which village this woman is from and why she can speak fluent official dialect.”

That cry just now—Yun Ye had heard it clearly. It was indeed Chang’an official dialect. A pearl diver who could speak official dialect—especially in Lingnan where dialects changed every three li and customs every ten—this was a strange phenomenon. If she was just a pearl diver, Yun Ye would order her killed without the slightest hesitation. All who harmed the Yun family’s women and children must be eliminated immediately, regardless of whether she had grievances. She found the wrong person and should be punished.

Liu Fulu came quickly. He’d also heard about last night’s assassin incident and was worried he’d be implicated. His current ability to command wind and rain in Lingnan depended entirely on Marquis Yun’s support. As long as the marquis abandoned him, he’d immediately revert to his original form, and his fate would only be more miserable. Everyone was the same—once you obtained something, you absolutely wouldn’t want to easily lose it.

“My lord, this woman is definitely a pearl diver without doubt. Look at her broad shoulders and thick arms like a man’s—this is the physique created by frequent swimming. Short hair is to reduce resistance in water and to prevent sea clams from catching her hair. Her skin looks like it’s coated with wax—the reason is that to keep warm underwater, they frequently apply beeswax, leaving these traces. Such pearl divers only exist in Hepu County, which has always been the production area for South Sea pearls.”

“During the Former Han period, because harvesting was too frenzied, South Sea pearls nearly went extinct. There was once talk of South Sea pearls migrating to Annan. The pearl diver profession also nearly died out. Only in these past two to three hundred years has there been improvement, with pearl divers reappearing, but the numbers aren’t many. The pearls harvested aren’t very good either, so their lives aren’t prosperous.”

“Have you heard of pearl divers who can speak official dialect?” Yun Ye asked Liu Fulu doubtfully.

“Absolutely impossible, my lord. There’s no possibility. Pearl divers are all local natives, fierce in temperament, daring to fight sharks in the ocean. They’re all illiterate foolish women. Speaking official dialect means being literate—my lord, this is impossible.” Liu Fulu acted as if he’d heard a joke and hurriedly corrected Yun Ye’s words.

“Not necessarily. Liu Fulu, you’re just uninformed. The assassin before your eyes—she’s a pearl diver and she can speak official dialect. If you don’t believe me, listen carefully to whether she’s speaking official dialect or not.”

Yun Ye signaled for him to be quiet and lean close to the pearl diver to listen carefully to whether she was speaking official dialect.

Liu Fulu put his ear near the pearl diver’s mouth. He heard the woman still murmuring as if in a dream: “Return my sister to me.”

This struck Liu Fulu as extremely strange. Involuntarily, he moved his ear even closer…