That night, the lights in the guest courtyard stayed lit.

Every step had to be implemented solidly, every possibility had to be thoroughly considered. No one dared gamble with their own life.

Time passed bit by bit.

Zhu Qing pushed the door open again. “Master, if we’re going to grab the first incense, we should leave soon.”

After he spoke, the atmosphere in the room suddenly changed.

Even the usually cold and detached Yan Sanhe could taste a hint of the tragic resolve of “if we don’t succeed, we die trying.”

She looked up at Xie Zhifei, wanting to give some instructions, but felt she couldn’t speak such sentimental words. After struggling for a moment, she only nodded slightly at him.

“Be careful in all things.”

“Those words should be mine to you.”

Xie Zhifei frowned. “I’ll be very safe at Guanyin Temple. It’s you all…”

In stark contrast to Yan Sanhe’s restraint was Pei Mingting.

He walked over and forcefully embraced Xie Zhifei, his large palm slapping his back several times. “Brother, take care.”

“You as well.”

Xie Zhifei pushed him away, walked before Yan Sanhe, and without a word reached out to ruffle her hair, smiling gently.

“Losing to Li Buyan means losing to you. Whatever you want to pray for, I’ll tell the Bodhisattva.”

My head…

You’re addicted to ruffling it?

Yan Sanhe looked up at him, thought seriously for a moment, then said: “I pray for a good death!”

Third Master’s thick brows rose slightly as he looked at her with a half-smile.

“Good. We’ll pray for that!”

…

Once Third Master Xie left, the room fell silent.

Yan Sanhe and Pei Xiao sat motionless like two wooden posts.

At this moment, they were waiting for a message that would determine life or death—

Whether Xie Zhifei could smoothly leave the magistrate’s office.

If he left smoothly, there was still a thread of hope.

If he couldn’t even leave those vermillion gates, it meant Zhou Ye intended to kill them. Then they’d be dead for sure.

Half a quarter-hour!

One quarter-hour!

Half a shichen!

Just as Pei Xiao was about to cry “Help!”, Huangqi and Li Buyan pushed the door open.

“How is it?” Pei Xiao shot up.

Huangqi nodded forcefully. “Master, Third Master has gone far.”

“Bodhisattva bless us, Bodhisattva bless us!”

Pei Xiao collapsed back down, thinking: If this continues, my heart will expire sooner or later.

Yan Sanhe glanced at him lightly. “Lord Pei, write the letter!”

“Writing it now.”

Pei Xiao struggled to stand, went to the writing desk, and earnestly wrote several lines. After blowing the ink dry, he placed it in an envelope.

“Go deliver this to Magistrate Zhou.”

“I’ll go!”

Li Buyan pulled Huangqi behind her. “While I’m at it, I’ll observe the enemy situation—I’m good at this.”

Pei Xiao used his eyes to question Yan Sanhe. Seeing her nod, he placed the letter in Li Buyan’s hands.

Li Buyan took the letter and smiled.

“There’s a hard battle tonight. If you don’t want to lose, Lord Pei and Miss should both go rest. You too, little Qi.”

Huangqi’s face flushed red with a “whoosh.”

How could this Miss Li call him that? So improper—wasn’t she teasing him?

…

Once Li Buyan left, Yan Sanhe flicked her sleeve and entered the inner room.

Pei Xiao also returned to his own room. Upon standing still, his eyelids suddenly began jumping violently.

“Huangqi, is it left eye for wealth or left eye for disaster?”

Huangqi froze. “Master, left eye for wealth!”

Done for. I’m having right eye jumps now. Right eye means disaster… Could the Bodhisattva be warning me that great calamity approaches?

Without thinking, Pei Xiao lifted his leg and kicked Huangqi’s rear.

“You wretch, it’s clearly left eye for disaster, right eye for wealth.”

Huangqi clutched his rear, about to protest when he suddenly saw his master’s face turn deathly pale as paper.

“Master, what’s wrong?”

“Both my eyes… are jumping!”

Huangqi froze like a pillar.

Both eyes jumping meant not just great calamity but complete annihilation!

“Huangqi, prepare paper and grind ink for me.”

“Who is Master writing to?”

“You idiot, who else would a final testament be written to?”

Pei Xiao’s voice was more dying than dying. “If I’d known this trip was this dangerous, I never would have meddled in the Ji family’s business.”

Huangqi thought: Right, with Master’s personality…

Suddenly his collar was grabbed, Pei Xiao’s gaze bore into him.

“Forget preparing paper and grinding ink. Quickly find me an incense burner, get three sticks of incense, and go buy some joss paper. Buy a lot.”

“Master, this is for…”

“I need to speak with my maternal grandmother, have her protect me well. If I’m gone, all hundred-some people of the Ji family are completely finished.”

…

Compared to Lord Pei’s restlessness, Yan Sanhe fell into deep sleep the moment her head touched the pillow.

When she opened her eyes, the sun was already setting.

Li Buyan sat in the evening light, wiping her soft sword with cloth again and again.

Seeing her wake, Li Buyan wrapped the sword around her waist and sat on the bedside.

“I delivered the card to Zhou Ye but didn’t see him in person—a yamen runner passed it on. I’ve also found out where his home is.

Around noon, those guards outside our courtyard withdrew. I suspect it was Zhou Ye’s doing.”

Was Zhou Ye accepting their goodwill?

Yan Sanhe braced herself on the bed edge and sat up, vigorously rubbing her face. After a long silence, she said: “Buyan, I don’t know why, but I keep feeling something’s strange about this situation.”

“Strange in what way?”

“I can’t put my finger on it—just a feeling. Especially Zhou Ye. This person is like a deep, dark mountain cave. What’s inside the cave—whether it’s danger or treasure—we simply don’t know.”

“Of course we don’t know!”

Li Buyan tilted her head. “Because we haven’t crawled in to explore yet.”

Yan Sanhe stared at her fixedly and gripped her hand.

“Li Buyan, this trip if something really happens, you don’t need to worry about me…”

“Yan Sanhe, you shut your mouth!”

Li Buyan yanked her hand away.

“Don’t think just because you’re the young lady I won’t dare scold or hit you. If you say such words again, this auntie will slap you across the face. Believe it or not?”

“I believe!”

Yan Sanhe suddenly jumped up and hooked her arm around her neck, rubbing her face against her neck.

“Get off, get off!”

Li Buyan made as if to push her away, saying viciously: “I don’t fall for this act.”

“You do, you do!” Yan Sanhe held on tighter.

Li Buyan appealed wordlessly to heaven.

Who would believe that spirit medium Yan, when acting shameless, was even more shameless than wastrel Xie!

…

The Zhou manor residence was at the foot of Daming Mountain.

The three-courtyard residence wasn’t large and was quite plain. Two old servants each busied themselves with their tasks.

In the master’s courtyard, roses bloomed abundantly.

Beneath the flowers sat a stove, on which medicine bubbled away.

Beside it sat a person—this person held a fan in one hand to fan the fire, while occasionally lifting the medicine pot lid to look inside.

This person was Zhou Ye.

Seeing the medicine liquid had reduced sufficiently, he set the pot aside, carefully poured out a bowl of medicine, tasted it himself, then carried it into the house.

Inside, the furnishings were luxurious—extremely incongruous with the residence’s plainness.

On a bed of yellow rosewood lay a white-robed man, half-sitting, half-lying.