Dumbstruck.

Mo Zi was dumbstruck.

She pointed at the several people standing beside Yuan Cheng and asked in astonishment, “How did they get in?”

The tall man who loved to wear armlets as accessories winked with one eye. “Brother Mo truly breaks one’s heart. We just met face to face, yet you didn’t recognize anyone.”

Just met face to face? The only people she’d met face to face today were her close female friends and the maids and matrons they’d brought—

“Ah? You men dressed as women?” No wonder when she left the courtyard she found it strange that there seemed to be fewer people. “I can understand Xu Jiu dressing as a woman, but how could the talented scholar Xiao Sanlang—doesn’t Sanniang laugh at you?” Moreover, except for Xiao Wei who had no choice, no one else from the Xiao family associated with Yuan Cheng.

“I’ve already yielded my reputation as a talented scholar.” Married men weren’t popular. After Wang Ting returned from his travels and studies, there was no more business for him, Xiao Yong. “This humble one is secretly handling an assignment for His Majesty and came specially to meet with Lord Sikong.”

“Wait, Brother Mo, what do you mean you can understand me dressing as a woman?” Xu Jiu wanted to get to the bottom of this.

Mei Shan laughed. “What Brother Mo means is that whatever outrageous thing you do, Master Jiu, she finds it not outrageous at all.”

“Master Mei Shan, correct answer.” Seeing old friends, Mo Zi recalled her passionate younger self.

Xu Jiu laughed heartily. “Lord Sikong, even though Brother Mo has become your wife, she’s still as lively as ever!”

“Mountains and rivers may change, but one’s nature is hard to alter.” Yuan Cheng smiled and glanced at Mo Zi. “Keep your sisters for dinner. It’s rare they came—you don’t need to worry about us.”

Mo Zi’s intuition told her that these people gathering together must be related to the questions she couldn’t figure out. “Do you have leads?”

“Not yet. However, Lord Xiao and Master Jiu both encountered some interesting matters. Do you want to hear about them?” Since getting to know Mo Zi, Yuan Cheng very much enjoyed having her participate in his affairs. She always had unique insights that he greatly appreciated.

“What interesting matters?” Mo Zi’s eyes lit up. Forgetting there were still people waiting for her in the courtyard, she sat right down.

Xiao Yong spoke first. “The day Chen Niang was judged to be an official servant, Wang Ting invited me for drinks.”

This was indeed somewhat interesting. Mo Zi focused intently.

“He didn’t just invite me, but also several classmates from when we studied together at the Imperial Academy. Halfway through the meal, his personal attendant ran in and whispered a few words to him. His expression turned very ugly, and he immediately said there was an urgent matter at home and left. I was sitting by the window at the time, and curiosity made me look down. Besides him and the attendant, there was another person who looked like a steward. I hadn’t seen that man before, but I remembered one of his characteristics. On the back of his hand was a very large dark patch.”

“Steward Lu!” Mo Zi still remembered vividly.

Yuan Cheng nodded. “Exactly. We can almost be certain that Wang He can’t escape involvement in this matter. Now listen to Master Jiu’s account.”

“Lord Sikong, please don’t keep calling me Master Jiu. I can’t bear it.” Xu Jiu grimaced.

Yuan Cheng didn’t respond.

Xu Jiu had no choice but to continue. “The gang bought a small dock half a year ago. It’s in a remote location, mostly used for mooring fishing boats. At first, we didn’t notice anything wrong. Later we learned that the dock’s previous owner dealt in black ships. As they say, walk the night road often enough and you’ll meet ghosts. He had too many secrets, so he said he wouldn’t do it anymore and tricked me into buying this muddled mess. I lost money over this, but there was nothing I could do. If the authorities investigated, I couldn’t completely distance myself, so I personally led my brothers to guard at night. When we encountered suspicious vessels, we’d just say the dock had changed owners and was for private use, turning them away. But then four months ago, something happened.”

That night there was rain, and no boats were moored at the dock—neither black nor legitimate.

Xu Jiu thought the matter was almost settled and he wouldn’t need to personally guard in the future. Suddenly brothers came to report that a suspicious vessel was approaching. He immediately went to the dock, had the gang members light bright lanterns, and shouted for the boat to stop elsewhere.

Unexpectedly, the boatman refused to leave. “There are delicate passengers on board. With such heavy rain, a small boat is difficult to navigate. Please be magnanimous—we’ll leave port immediately after letting off the passengers.”

Xu Jiu was an old hand in the martial world—how could he be fooled by a few words? “This is a private port and doesn’t accept passenger boats. Though the rain is heavy, the waves are calm. Please sail away.”

Who knew that a woman would come out holding an umbrella and say in a sweet, delicate voice, “We agreed to return to this port when we departed, and the deposit has been paid. Even if the owner changed, you should honor the old agreement. My young lady is frail—how can she endure the cold of the boat and water? Good heroes, do us a favor. We’ll pay whatever additional silver you want.”

Xu Jiu was one who cherished and pitied the fairer sex. Seeing they were truly female passengers, he thought that even if it was somewhat shady, it couldn’t be that bad, so he allowed the boat to dock. However, what he didn’t expect was that from the small boat descended seven or eight women wearing veiled hats, and they moved down more than a dozen boxes.

The one holding the umbrella gave him a heavy pouch of silver. “Many thanks, good hero. I wonder if we could borrow a few carriages?”

Based on his martial world experience, Xu Jiu felt these mysterious people had significant backing. Thinking that one less problem was better, he said, “No need to speak of borrowing. Don’t mind if the carriages are simple—take this pouch of silver as payment for buying the vehicles, no need to return them.” He immediately had people drive over three cargo carts.

The umbrella-holding woman laughed lowly twice. “You’re quite sensible. You’re generous, so we’ll be generous too—we’ll spare your lives. Remember, keep your mouths shut, otherwise—”

Xu Jiu saw a flash of white light, and suddenly there were two new slits in his left and right sleeves. He knew he’d encountered an expert, so he quickly led his brothers in retreating far away, until those people loaded the boxes onto the carts and left.

“You encountered an expert—what connection does this have to the Wang family or Daqiu?” Mo Zi interrupted his reminiscence.

“Does Brother Mo think I was truly afraid of them? I just felt these people were truly of unclear origin and strange, so I appeared weak on the surface, wanting to secretly verify whether my guess was correct.” Xu Jiu smiled, showing white teeth.

“What did you guess?” Mo Zi asked.

“I guessed that the umbrella-holder was a eunuch,” Xu Jiu said.

“Huh?” She blinked repeatedly. “Eunuch means—a palace eunuch?”

“Though that person’s voice was thin, his palms were large and his knuckles thick. When wind blew the hat veil for an instant, I saw his Adam’s apple. Compared to ordinary men it wasn’t very obvious, but it was still there. As for the other seven or eight people, that was harder to judge—I only know their martial arts weren’t poor.” Xu Jiu had evidence and reasoning.

“So did you guess correctly?” Mo Zi was very concerned about the answer.

Xu Jiu smiled again. “Brother Mo, that night it rained heavily, the ground was muddy and wet. Whatever cart wheel rolled over it would leave marks, much less the wheels of Leopard Gang cargo carts which are specially made. The best tracker in my gang found the abandoned cargo carts in the northern city outskirts and simultaneously discovered wheel marks from three carriages entering the city.”

“Did they go to the palace?”

“At this point we can’t be certain. Those people were furtive and sneaky, yet were able to enter the city smoothly. There’s no guarantee that some guards were their accomplices. If my people investigated near the city gates, they might alert the enemy. But at Juye Gate, they inquired and learned that early in the morning a carriage had entered the palace—it’s very possible they split into several routes.” The other side was very cunning, using the small gate where night soil was dumped, and only eunuchs came and went, not attracting attention.

“It’s also possible they didn’t.” Mo Zi considered various possibilities. “Could you be overthinking this? Even if it was a palace eunuch, perhaps like Lord Xiao he was on an imperial assignment outside. And there were more than a dozen boxes.”

“When they were moving the boxes, one almost slipped from their hands. The umbrella-holder urgently shouted to be careful of danger and called out a word ‘niang,’ probably afraid we’d hear. The voice lowered, but it didn’t sound like cursing.” Xu Jiu knew what Mo Zi said was correct, but his guess was based on combining factual evidence with years of martial world instincts.

“Niang Niang.” Mo Zi blurted out. “Empress Niang Niang?”

“I’m more interested in those boxes.” What was being transported in the dead of night? Yuan Cheng was puzzled.

Mo Zi’s head was spinning. It was fine before hearing this, but the more she heard, the more confused she became. “It’s all scattered bits and pieces, a tangled mess. How is it that the more we know, the less clear things become? Wang He who set up Chen Niang, the Wang family hiding Daqiu people, the Empress transporting boxes at night—how do they connect?”

“However, everything revolves around one point,” Xiao Yong said.

“The Wang clan.” Yuan Cheng added another sentence. “And it’s all after Daqiu proposed peace negotiations.”

“Since we’ve identified the people, as long as we watch them and cast a wide net, we’ll catch them sooner or later.” Xiao Yong thought at least they weren’t entirely without targets.

Yuan Cheng and he exchanged glances, with the appreciation of kindred spirits meeting too late.

“The Wang family’s people are easy to watch, but how do we watch the Empress?” Xu Jiu asked.

“If we can’t watch, we must face her directly. In the confrontation between two opponents, flaws will naturally appear.” Su Lan, who had been silent all along, spoke up.

Thus, everyone looked toward Mo Zi.

“You want me to openly contend with the Empress?” Mo Zi saw them nod and smiled bitterly. “She’s the Great Zhou Empress—how would I have any chance of winning in an open confrontation?”

“She is the Empress, you are the First Lady, each representing a country—in status, you’re equal.” There were some things Yuan Cheng couldn’t say, so Su Lan said them.

“The inner palace isn’t our battlefield as men—we can’t enter even if we wanted to. But you can. The King of Daqiu is bringing Noble Consort Ying this time. The Empress will certainly frequently host you, giving you opportunities to enter the palace. That eunuch who can do such secretive things must be someone’s trusted confidant. Find him, and you find his master.” Xiao Yong had already thought it through.

“Whether that person is a eunuch or not, Xu Jiu, you can’t be certain, right?” You already lost track of them.

Xu Jiu shook his head.

“Even if he is a eunuch, he was covered up at the time—we don’t know his facial features. In such a huge palace, could I run into him just by eating a few meals?” Wishful thinking.

Xu Jiu rustled and handed over a piece of paper.

It was a portrait of a veiled woman. The facial features were obscured, the figure appeared flat—truly looking somewhat neither male nor female.

“This portrait is the same as having nothing.” Mo Zi wanted to roll her eyes.

Xu Jiu then said, “How is it the same as nothing? His back is slightly hunched, both feet turn inward, thick waist and small bottom.”

Mo Zi couldn’t help but laugh at his description. “Master Jiu, you might as well dress as a woman again and enter the palace with me. You’re so fixated on him—do you want to marry a third wife?”

Everyone laughed silently.

Mei Shan said, “Ever since Brother Mo, Master Jiu has been particularly observant of women’s physiques, afraid of accidentally encountering another one.”

Xu Jiu cursed. “Damn it, are you helping me or insulting me?”

Now everyone laughed aloud.

“In any case, you won’t be fighting alone. His Majesty already knows these things and will make arrangements in the palace. We’ll coordinate from inside and outside.” Yuan Cheng made the final decision.

A couple of days later, the King of Daqiu and Noble Consort Ying arrived, and the Empress truly became busy.