After the gathering dispersed, Huang Zixia intentionally stayed behind to ask Zhang Xingying, “Second Brother Zhang, I noticed you’ve been quiet the whole time with a worried look on your face. Is something troubling you?”

Zhang Xingying hastily replied, “No, it’s not that… I’m just thinking about Eunuch Yu’s death, and wondering when those assassins might come to strike again…”

“Don’t worry, the Prince won’t give the assassins another opportunity,” Huang Zixia consoled him, “If he couldn’t handle this, he wouldn’t be the Prince of Kui.”

Zhang Xingying nodded silently, his expression relaxing slightly, “Then… then I can rest easy.”

Huang Zixia watched as he took up position outside Li Shubai’s door, adopting a stance ready to stand guard all night, and couldn’t help but feel exasperated: “Didn’t you just say you could rest easy?”

“Uh… easy enough to stand guard.”

Huang Zixia felt both annoyed and amused and had no choice but to knock on the door to ask Li Shubai: “Your Highness, do you think the assassins will come tonight?”

Li Shubai’s voice drifted out faintly from inside: “Every time they organize an assassination attempt, they strive to kill me with a single strike. Now that I’ve suddenly moved here, they won’t act without proper planning.”

Huang Zixia looked at Zhang Xingying with complete justification: “So, the most dangerous place is the safest place, and the most dangerous moment is the safest moment. If you trust us, go get some sleep.”

Footsteps sounded from inside as Li Shubai rose to open the door.

“Now that my guards are scattered and I’m in a precarious situation, you’re willing to follow me at this time – this truly shows one’s worth through hardship.” Li Shubai patted his shoulder and said, “Tonight, go get some proper rest. In the future, I’ll need your help.”

Zhang Xingying responded with deep reverence: “This servant will give it his all, until death!”

“It’s not that serious,” Li Shubai said calmly, “They’re just moths flying into the flame.”

After sleeping in the early morning hours and waking near noon, everything was indeed peaceful – so peaceful that when Huang Zixia opened her eyes, she had to think for a moment before remembering where she was.

Outside the window, bamboo rustled and a spring burbled. She put on her clothes and got up, pushing open the window to see Li Shubai exercising in the bamboo grove.

She leaned against the window, her right fist raised to her lips to stifle a slight cough – yesterday’s big fire had left her chest still dry and slightly painful: “Have you recovered already?”

He paused to glance at her: “Mm.”

“What would you like for lunch? I’ll go order first.”

“Whatever you like.”

“Not picky about food, that’s nice.” As she spoke, she caught sight of Zhang Xingying standing at the edge of the grove, staring at them in astonishment.

Remembering their casual, informal exchange just now with Li Shubai, her face reddened slightly, and then she asked him: “Second Brother Zhang, what would you like to eat?”

“I-I-I… whatever you order is fine.”

As the group ate the same breakfast items, Zhou Ziqin came over with sleepy eyes: “Morning…”

Huang Zixia asked: “You didn’t go home this morning?”

“Obviously not. If I went home at dawn, my father would scold me again. Might as well say I was out investigating a case.” As he spoke, he grabbed his head trying hard to think, “Ah, I slept so well, my mind seems completely blank – what were we supposed to do today? Feels like we had many important things to do, but also like we had nothing to do?”

Huang Zixia reminded him: “General Fan, the Military Commissioner, is going to your house, so you need to help Madam Gong Sun prepare some things.”

Zhou Ziqin quickly patted his body, only relaxing when he felt that piece of paper.

“Alright then, you go prepare those things.” Huang Zixia stood up.

Zhou Ziqin quickly asked: “Where are you going?”

“To the streets, going for a walk.”

The streets and alleys of Chengdu Prefecture were still bustling with activity and crowds.

Li Shubai accompanied Huang Zixia through the streets and alleys until they reached a pawnshop. The shopkeeper sat behind a high counter, lifted his eyelids to look at them once, and asked: “What would you like to pawn?”

Huang Zixia asked him: “Shopkeeper, do you also have a branch store in Longzhou?”

“Yes. But we here can’t manage the Longzhou store.”

Huang Zixia took out the badge from Zhou Ziqin’s side and tapped it twice on the counter: “Official investigation.”

The shopkeeper took one look and hurriedly came out from behind the counter, inviting them to the back, having someone brew tea and serve snacks: “May I ask what… the officers are investigating?”

Huang Zixia could tell from his manner and said: “Please don’t worry, shopkeeper. There haven’t been any major cases recently; we’re not here to investigate stolen goods.”

The shopkeeper visibly relaxed, sat down beside them, and asked: “What brings the three of you here?”

“We’re looking for an item that should have been an active pawn at your Longzhou branch. From what I understand, when pawned items pass their redemption date without being claimed, they’re sent to your main store for the head shopkeeper to inspect before being sold together, is that right?”

The shopkeeper nodded: “That’s correct.”

“I want to find a white jade bracelet with two fish, the fish biting each other’s tails, hollow in the middle, with a very unique design. If the shopkeeper has seen it, you would remember it.”

“Oh, I remember! There was indeed such a jade bracelet, it passed its redemption period this April and was sent over from the Longzhou store.”

“Then, where is it now?”

The shopkeeper quickly flipped through the ledger of incoming and outgoing items, then showed it to them: “This bracelet has already been sold, not long after it was sent here. The buyer… didn’t leave a name.”

They could see written “Double Fish Jade Bracelet, full payment received.”

Huang Zixia asked: “Is the person who handled it at the time still here?”

“Let me ask.” He hurried to the back to call people over to inquire, all the shopkeepers and assistants shook their heads, except for one quick-witted young assistant who said: “This… since it was sent from Longzhou, perhaps someone from Longzhou helped write it, you can see this handwriting isn’t ours, it’s possible someone from Longzhou wrote it.”

“Quickly go ask who brought the items from Longzhou and if they handled that bracelet at the time.” The shopkeeper said, turning his head to smile apologetically at them, “Officers, how about this: we’ll quickly send someone to Longzhou to inquire, it’ll only take a day or two, and we’ll have an answer right away.”

Huang Zixia nodded and wrote him a note, saying: “When the time comes, remember to bring someone to find Young Constable Zhou.”

“Certainly, certainly! As soon as someone arrives, I’ll bring them!”

As the three left the pawnshop, Huang Zixia asked Li Shubai: “Where does Your Highness plan to go next?”

Li Shubai said: “The Military Commissioner’s mansion. Since they’ve forced us to reveal ourselves, we naturally should seize the opportunity to cause some trouble.”

“Wonderful.” Huang Zixia agreed without hesitation, “But we’ll have to wait a bit, I expect the General Fan’s son hasn’t even gotten out of bed yet.”

Zhang Xingying listened to their conversation and his face turned green: “Cause trouble?”

“Let’s go.” Huang Zixia smiled, “Isn’t making trouble more fun than asking for help?”

Li Shubai gave her an approving look and asked: “Are you sure those two people who harassed Madam Gong Sun at the inn a few days ago, who were later beaten down by Zhang Xingying, are Fan Yuanlong’s men?”

“I’m sure. I used to train them often.” As Huang Zixia spoke, she felt her chest still dry from yesterday’s fire, and had to cover her mouth to cough lightly twice, turning to walk toward Cloud Come Inn, “Anyway, it’s still early, let’s see if Madam Gong Sun is still at the inn? Ask her for a small favor.”

Before they reached the inn’s entrance, they spotted Gong Sun Yuan and Yin Luyi buying candy at a fruit shop on the street.

Gong Sun Yuan had just bought two large blocks of maltose candy, and because of the hot weather, had the shop assistant wrap it in several layers of rice paper, then wrapped it again in large white cotton paper, carrying it in her hand.

Huang Zixia greeted them and looked at the candy in her hand with surprise, asking: “Madam, do you like candy so much?”

Gong Sun Yuan turned to see her with a surprised expression, but quickly recovered and smiled: “I don’t particularly like candy, actually it’s because Luyi’s blood and qi are deficient, she often feels dizzy, and the candy she brought has run out, so we came to buy some more.”

When Huang Zixia heard about blood and qi deficiency, she couldn’t help but think of the bag of snow sugar Li Shubai had thrown to her at the cliff edge, and unconsciously looked toward him.

Li Shubai glanced at her, the corner of his lips lifting slightly in a curve.

“In such hot weather, won’t these foot-square blocks of maltose candy go bad if they can’t be eaten?” Huang Zixia asked again.

Yin Luyi was gentle and silent, only lowering her head without speaking.

Gong Sun Yuan answered for her: “That’s not a problem, Luyi will carve the maltose candy into various shapes, she’s a performer, even if she can’t eat it all, it can be used to practice finger dexterity.”

“Oh, is carving maltose candy like carving tofu? That tests finger skills.” Huang Zixia showed great interest.

Yin Luyi lowered her head and covered her mouth, finally speaking: “It’s fine, more convenient than tofu. When I’m done, I’ll send everyone a portion.”

As the three women walked out of the shop, they discovered Li Shubai hadn’t followed. Huang Zixia quickly looked back at him and found he had also weighed out a package of candy, lagging a few steps behind.

She looked questioningly at this person who didn’t like sweets, but he maintained his composure, calmly handing her the package of candy.

She smelled a faint pear fragrance, and when she opened it, sure enough, it was a package of pear throat-soothing candy.

She couldn’t help but feel a sweet warmth rising in her chest as if the pear candy had melted there, making her unconsciously cover that spot and cough lightly twice.

Li Shubai heard the cough and slightly turned his face to look at her.

She pretended to look at the street scene, taking a piece of pear candy to hold in her mouth. When she looked back, she found Li Shubai had already walked three or four steps away, as if he had never looked back.

They arrived at the Military Commissioner’s mansion entrance with Gong Sun Yuan and Yin Luyi, just in time to see the side gate open and a group of people leading horses out, coincidentally it was Young Master Fan coming out.

The Western Sichuan Military Commissioner Fan Yingxi had two little tyrants in his family. One was his nephew Fan Yuanhu, who was caught by Huang Zixia last year for misconduct. The Prefecture Governor Huang Min sentenced him to fifty strokes and exile for two thousand li. Fan Yingxi didn’t dare defy public anger and had to endure it. The second tyrant was Fan Yingxi’s son Fan Yuanlong, who still swaggered around Chengdu Prefecture, bullying men and harassing women.

When Gong Sun Yuan saw the two people behind Fan Yuanlong, she immediately frowned – weren’t these the two who had harassed her at the inn and then were beaten up by Zhou Ziqin and Zhang Xingying?

Zhang Xingying also noticed and was stunned.

Those two looked over and said something to Fan Yuanlong, and the group walked toward them. Zhang Xingying stepped back, saw Li Shubai and Huang Zixia not far from him, and quickly called to them: “Run quickly…”

This action in Fan Yuanlong’s eyes made things even worse – “Those two people are also accomplices! Hmph, not giving face to my men means not giving face to me, beat them!”

His followers asked proudly, rolling up their sleeves: “Young Master, to what extent should we beat them?”

Fan Yuanlong looked at Zhang Xingying’s appearance of being ready to turn and flee at any moment, flourished the whip in his hand, and said: “Break everyone’s legs!”

“How does it feel to have broken legs?”

Huang Zixia kicked one of the thugs lying at her feet and asked with a smile.

Seeing all his men beaten down by Li Shubai and Zhang Xingying, leaving himself alone and isolated amidst the onlookers’ snickers, Fan Yuanlong turned and ran, shouting at the people inside the gate: “Are you all dead?! My men have been beaten like this and you still don’t move?”

Everything had happened too quickly – instead of breaking legs, their legs were broken. The gatekeepers and guards hadn’t even reacted yet, and hearing him shout like this, they finally realized what was happening and grabbed whatever weapons were at hand to run at them.

The crowd of onlookers behind Huang Zixia immediately scattered, some shouting as they ran: “Quick, run! You’re dead for sure!”

Huang Zixia withdrew her foot, and before they reached them, she had already pulled out a token from her chest, shouting: “Envoy of the Prince of Kui’s mansion, who dares to act rashly?”