Bearing the mockery of the entire street, Zhou Ziqin finally followed them to the inn. Running to the back courtyard, he saw an earthen pot simmering on a small stove, with Zhang Xingying sitting on a small stool, gently fanning the fire while lifting the lid to check the medicinal soup inside.

“Brother Zhang Er!” Zhou Ziqin suddenly shouted, rushing in and nearly knocking over the medicine stove. “Weren’t you going to Hanzhou? Why are you here?”

Zhang Xingying was startled, quickly protecting the pot, saying: “Careful, careful, just a bit longer and it’ll be ready.”

“What happened? Are you sick? Are you injured?”

Seeing Zhang Xingying stumbling to explain the situation, Huang Zixi said from behind: “He and a friend encountered danger on the road, so we brought him back first.”

“What friend? Brother Zhang Er seemed to have set out alone.” Zhou Ziqin said, peering into the room, then suddenly exclaimed in shock, “Jing Yu?”

“Young Master Zhou.” Jing Yu lay on the bed, turning his head to force a smile, then said, “Oh no, it’s Constable Zhou.”

“You’ve escaped danger too? Why are you staying here?”

“I… naturally it’s better to stay by His Highness’s side.” Jing Yu’s gaze turned to Li Shubai as he said softly: “However… in the current situation, I’m afraid I’ll be a burden to Your Highness…”

“Don’t say such things.” Li Shubai interrupted him, “Focus on recovering.”

Jing Yu nodded with difficulty and gratitude. Outside, Zhang Xingying came in with the medicine bowl, saying: “When I was at Duanrui Hall, I learned how to brew medicine. This bowl should be just right now, quickly drink it while it’s hot.”

Li Shubai took the medicine, personally sitting at Jing Yu’s bedside to blow on it and cool it.

Jing Yu hurriedly sat up against his pillow, lowering his head to accept the medicine, not daring to let him feed it to him. Zhou Ziqin sat down nearby, watching Jing Yu drink the medicine.

Huang Zixi pulled out the jade hairpin from her hair, sitting at the table and drawing absent-mindedly while pondering the clues discovered today.

As the sky darkened and twilight faded, everyone ate dinner together at the inn. Zhou Ziqin couldn’t bear to leave, chattering away until almost midnight.

Finally, Huang Zixi had no choice but to pull Zhou Ziqin up, saying: “You should let Sir Jing rest early, don’t disturb him anymore.”

“I’m not leaving! I’ll just sleep here, saves me from going back late and rushing here early tomorrow – that’s too tiring.” Zhou Ziqin said, then looked at her with bright eyes, “Chonggu, how big is your bed? Let me stay for one night?”

Huang Zixi felt a chill down her spine and was about to refuse when Li Shubai’s voice came softly from behind: “Not big enough.”

She quickly lowered her head, bowing to Li Shubai.

Zhou Ziqin said dejectedly: “Fine, I’ll go get a superior room.”

“Remember to help us pay for the room charges from the past few days!” Huang Zixi quickly shouted at his retreating figure. This was natural – the money confiscated from the captives was almost spent, better let Zhou Ziqin, this willing victim, pay.

Finally, with Zhou Ziqin settled, everyone got some peace and went to rest.

Amid sleep, suddenly shouts of alarm rose from outside.

When Huang Zixi awoke, she had barely glimpsed the firelight reflected in the window when Li Shubai was already knocking at the door: “Fire!”

She immediately got up and dressed, though binding her chest inevitably delayed her a bit. By the time she got out, Zhou Ziqin had already stumbled over: “Terrible news, terrible news!”

Li Shubai and Huang Zixi ignored him, rushing first to Jing Yu’s room by the firelight.

There was already a heavy smell of smoke in the air. Zhang Xingying was already in Jing Yu’s room, while people from the inn had all swarmed into the small courtyard.

“This fire… this fire is too fierce!”

The front of the inn was already engulfed in flames, black smoke billowing, already surging toward Jing Yu’s room.

When Li Shubai and Huang Zixi had been wandering the Chengdu night market, they had discussed that the best way to attack someone would be to burn down an inn. However, they had also observed that this inn would be very easy to escape from in case of fire, unless—

Huang Zixi immediately stood up, grabbed a stool, and smashed the window. As the window frame fell, they saw that the outside was already completely engulfed in flames. All the courtyards front, back, left, and right had somehow caught fire almost simultaneously – they were surrounded by raging flames.

The enemy had set fire to all the surrounding buildings just to kill them, willing to reduce this entire district to ashes without hesitation.

Amidst flames on all sides, they were trapped in the only place not yet burned, but surrounded by rolling smoke. This was already a desperate situation, with seemingly no way to escape.

Li Shubai frowned slightly, gesturing for Zhang Xingying to help Jing Yu up, saying: “Let’s go.”

Before he finished speaking, there was a cry from outside – an old, poorly maintained building next door had suddenly collapsed with a crash. All the burning beams fell into the inn’s courtyard. The people who had escaped from the front of the inn were all crowded on this side, and several were now crying out in pain from being struck.

This inn was in a deserted alley, surrounded by abandoned old buildings. Now all the surrounding buildings were burning, with flames seeming to press down from all directions, black smoke enveloping the inn in the middle.

Many people in the courtyard were already coughing violently from the smoke, and some elderly, weak, women and children had already fainted from the fumes.

Li Shubai directly tore off the bedding, and before he could speak, Huang Zixi had already soaked the cloth in tea water and distributed a piece to each person.

They covered their faces with the wet cloth and left the room together. The fire was urgent, but even more urgent than the fire was the rolling smoke.

“Smoke rises upward, bend down low, it’s better near the ground.” Huang Zixi crouched down, leading them toward the door.

The smoke made everyone’s eyes unable to open. They walked along the wall with their eyes closed, but the wall was already burning hot – they couldn’t feel their way along it and could only crawl in the darkness.

“Ah…” Zhou Ziqin tripped over a body on the ground, scrambling up on all fours, not knowing if the person was dead or alive. He frantically felt where he had tripped over them, saying: “Sorry, sorry.”

Huang Zixi tried to warn him, but as soon as she opened her mouth, her throat burned painfully and her head began to spin. Her knees weakened and she nearly fell to the ground. Fortunately, someone grabbed her arm and steadied her.

“I’ll lead you.” She heard Li Shubai’s voice, so close in the murky darkness, suddenly making her feel at ease. She covered her eyes and face with the wet cloth, not needing to look or think about anything – as long as he led her, she could keep going.

It seemed his back was the safest place for her.

Li Shubai suddenly stopped. Ahead was the end of the courtyard wall – his sense of direction was excellent, and he had successfully found the back door.

As Zhang Xingying raised his foot to kick the door, Li Shubai grabbed his shoulder, saying softly: “There are people outside.”

On this dark and windy night, the great fire burned not far from them, crackling. Three sides were aflame, and at the only remaining exit, there was dead silence.

Zhang Xingying listened carefully, saying in surprise: “There’s… there’s no sound of people?”

“With such a big fire, how could there be no one gathered at the only exit?” Li Shubai’s voice began to waver slightly, “Yet now, there’s not a sound of people outside.”

“Are people guarding this door?” Zhou Ziqin blurted out, “Will we be met with a rain of arrows if we rush out?”

“This is within Chengdu Prefecture, and there’s no cover outside – it’s impossible to have many archers in ambush. But— people are lying in wait outside, we’ll be cut down if we rush out.”

Cold sweat broke out on everyone’s backs.

Just then, people from behind began surging toward them, someone shouting: “The door’s over there! Quick, run…”

In the chaos, the crowd was in complete disorder. Amid the pushing and shoving, suddenly there was a thunderous crash, sparks flying everywhere—

The burning, rotting building next door collapsed entirely. The crowd behind immediately pushed and trampled, with those who fell, were injured, burned, or scalded all crying out in endless misery.

Only the five of them were trapped among the flames, with searing heat surrounding their entire bodies, clothes, and hair. Their only path to survival was the door ahead. The walls on both sides were burning hot, nearby trees all aflame – the situation was critical.

In the rolling smoke, as it gathered and dispersed, Huang Zixi looked up and saw someone on the parapet wall watching them, waving down in acknowledgment.

She turned to Li Shubai and said: “They’ve discovered us and are waiting for us to walk into their trap!”

Li Shubai nodded slightly, his gaze returning to that door.

Jing Yu, who had been supported by Zhang Xingying, covering his nose and mouth as he stumbled along with them, suddenly removed his wet cloth. He let go of Zhang Xingying and walked to the door, saying: “Your Highness… your servant bids you farewell.”

Zhang Xingying was stunned, instinctively asking: “Where are you going?”

“If I go out, they won’t be able to maintain their encirclement.” His voice was hoarse as he spoke.

Li Shubai called sternly from behind him: “Jing Yu, don’t be reckless!”

Jing Yu only looked back at him once, a hasty smile appearing on his face, before turning and charging at the door.

The door, already rotted through by fire, immediately fell along with its lock as he crashed into it, man and door together falling heavily onto the bluestone slabs outside.

The moment he fell, several sword flashes struck his fallen body.

Sure enough, as they had guessed, people were lying in wait outside.

Just as the blades were about to strike him, Jing Yu, heedless of all else, pursed his lips and whistled. In the black night, this sharp whistle pierced through the rolling smoke and chaotic voices, causing a ripple of movement in the surroundings.

The others rushed out with the smoke. Those people only had time to attack Jing Yu, who came out first, while Li Shubai, Zhang Xingying, and Zhou Ziqin had already leaped out, avoiding the first wave of attacks and immediately seizing weapons in the rolling smoke.

Several people used the smoke and darkness to hide their bodies, quickly pressing into the enemy ranks, and swinging their blades wildly.

Li Shubai blocked the attacks while Huang Zixi quickly dragged Jing Yu up, helping him to the alley entrance. The people guarding the alley tried to stop them but were directly cut down by Li Shubai.

The fire grew more intense, and in its illumination, even the stars in the sky lost their brilliance, becoming dim.

In the raging firelight, she saw several figures quickly closing in, directly killing their way into the group of assassins.

It was the elite forces of the prince’s manor. During these days while she had been investigating cases, they had already assembled in Chengdu Prefecture and quickly gathered around Li Shubai. Jing Yu’s whistle just now had indicated Duke Kui’s location in the fire to them – now there was nothing to worry about.

She lowered her head, leaving everything to Li Shubai to handle, only dragging Jing Yu as far as possible from the flames and fighting to avoid being caught in it.

Someone shouted from outside the alley: “People have escaped this way, help put out the fire!”

Nearby residents came running with water buckets. The ambushers had already lost their chance to kill Duke Kui in the fire, and now seeing the situation turn against them, could only abandon several corpses and flee.

Li Shubai indicated they shouldn’t pursue it, letting the secret guards handle it. After all, everyone was exhausted, having just escaped great danger – how could they have the energy to completely eliminate these people?

They gathered around Jing Yu, seeing that his previously stopped wounds had burst open again, and adding the several sword wounds he took when charging out the door, he was now covered in blood from head to toe, with no hope of survival.

Huang Zixi quickly handed him to Zhang Xingying, saying: “Quick, I’ll run to get a doctor…”

She ran a few steps before hearing Li Shubai call softly: “No need.”

She froze, turning back to look at Jing Yu. He was holding Zhang Xingying’s hand, looking at Li Shubai, saying softly: “In the future… Your Highness… may temporarily… have no one to serve you…”

Although many of the guards scattered on the mountain road had returned, Jing Yi and Jing You remained lost and hadn’t returned – Li Shubai indeed had no one for close personal service.

Zhang Xingying held his hand, unable to stop tears from welling up in his eyes as he said softly: “I… I will be here.”

Jing Yu’s gaze turned to his face, managing a difficult smile as he said: “You… dismissed fellow… can you handle it…”

Li Shubai walked to his side, crouching down to look at him, saying softly: “Don’t worry about me, go in peace.”

But Jing Yu only held Zhang Xingying’s hand, his already failing pupils turning toward Li Shubai, then back to Zhang Xingying.

Huang Zixi and Zhou Ziqin quickly held Jing Yu.

Zhang Xingying’s eyes were wet as he knelt before Li Shubai.

Jing Yu’s eyes remained fixed on Li Shubai, his lips moving, but unable to say anything.

Li Shubai hesitated for a moment, then raised his hand to help Zhang Xingying up, saying: “You were previously in my honor guard, and now returning to my side – this can be considered coming full circle.”

Zhang Xingying looked up at him, the moisture in his eyes finally turning to falling tears as he said shakily: “Thank you… Your Highness!”

A look of contentment appeared on Jing Yu’s face. He seemed to want to smile, but the smile had barely appeared before it twisted and faded.

The nearby door and walls collapsed, with people who were burned, injured from falls, or trampled rushing out in panic. Amid the howls and wails, Jing Yu’s hand silently fell.

Li Shubai held his hand, placing it back in Zhang Xingying’s arms.

Huang Zixi saw his tightly pressed lips and slightly trembling eyelashes. She silently reached out, gently covering the back of his hand with hers.