“You don’t want to leave?” The woman in black scrutinized Chen Ji. It was the first time in years she had observed him so closely, just a step away.
Beneath the young man’s bamboo hat were calm eyes and eyebrows sharp as swords. His nostrils were narrow, but his nose bridge was high. Beneath his rolled-up sleeves, veins were clearly visible on his wrists and the backs of his hands.
This was no longer the small child who used to follow her everywhere.
The person who had arrived was Lu Shi.

However, when Chen Ji looked at her, she averted her gaze and said, her voice completely calm: “Hundreds of soldiers from the Trouble-Relief Guard and the Secret Intelligence Bureau have arrived. Tonight, they are determined to turn Changping County upside down. They will start searching from the north of the city and will finish scouring this medium-sized Changping County before dawn.”
“The Trouble-Relief Guard has a camp of troops five li away. If they don’t find you tonight, they will dispatch those five hundred men to conduct a second search tomorrow.”
“If you’re still not found after the second search, they will compel local figures like village elders and gentry—these ‘local snakes’—to conduct a third search. If you’re still not found after three searches, they will feign withdrawal, then scatter their personnel throughout the marketplace for close surveillance for up to a month.”
“You might evade three rounds of searches, but if you intend to capture Liao Zhong in Changping, the result will be that any slight sound of fighting will immediately draw secret agents and Trouble-Relief Guards, who will swarm in from their hidden positions.”
Lu Shi looked at Chen Ji. “Do you still intend to stay in Changping?”
As she spoke, she showed no emotion, simply presenting everything she knew to Chen Ji for him to make a decision.

Chen Ji, however, remained unmoved and said seriously, “I’m sorry, but I haven’t yet considered leaving the Ning Dynasty.”
Lu Shi calmly said, “I’ll only charge you ten copper coins.”
Chen Ji remained silent.
Lu Shi continued, “Five.”
Chen Ji shook his head. “I’m sorry, I still can’t leave.”

Lu Shi frowned slightly. “Are you not afraid to die? Just hide in the inn for now. I’ll come ask you again tomorrow. If you’ve made up your mind, I can send you out of the Ning Dynasty at any time.”
She walked out decisively, as resolute as a jianghu knight’s sword.

But at that moment, the door curtain was pushed aside.
As Lu Shi was walking out, a woman squeezed into the inn through a gap in the curtain, brushed past her, and headed straight for the counter. “It’s chaos outside with all the soldiers. Who’s been spreading the ‘leaves’?”
The woman was around thirty years old, dressed in a black night-suit, with two Emei daggers tucked into her waistband.

The innkeeper, recognizing her, instinctively said, “Sister Su Zhou, when did you get back?”
The woman named Su Zhou leaned against the counter. “What, do I need to inform you every time I return? Oh… it’s you?”
She turned and saw Chen Ji, exclaiming in surprise, “Why are you here? And where’s that troublesome girl Xiao Man?”

Chen Ji was also somewhat taken aback; he hadn’t expected to encounter this female assassin here. “Xiao Man is still in the capital.”
Lu Shi stopped, standing at the doorway and turning to observe the two.
She looked at Su Zhou, then at Chen Ji, unable to understand how the two were connected.

Su Zhou’s expression turned slightly cold as she reached for the Emei daggers at her waist. “You promised to escort me to the capital, but you abandoned me in a box right after leaving Luocheng! Do you have any idea how I managed to reach the capital?”
Chen Ji quickly clasped his hands in apology. “I’m sorry, there was a reason last time. The Chen family was summoned to Guyuan, and we had to leave midway. Xiao Man also forgot that you were still in the box.”
Su Zhou scoffed, “Forgot? I’m a living, breathing person, and you just ‘forgot’ me? The next time I see that troublesome girl Xiao Man, I’m going to give her a good thrashing.”
Chen Ji bowed. “You don’t need to hold a grudge against Xiao Man. It was all due to my oversight.”

Su Zhou poked Chen Ji’s shoulder with her finger, continuing her scolding. “I was hiding in that box for so long, still severely injured, unable to eat or drink. I had to wait until everyone was asleep in the middle of the night, crawl out of the box, rummage through the Zhang family’s luggage for some food and a water skin, and then crawl back into the box…”
The innkeeper lowered his head, trying to suppress his laughter. Su Zhou shot the young innkeeper a glare. “Dare to laugh out loud, and I’ll rip your mouth open.”
Chen Ji’s face showed embarrassment.

Su Zhou walked around him with her hands behind her back. “Is it you who spread the ‘leaves’? Wanted posters are everywhere for you outside, and you still dare to come to an inn?”
Chen Ji explained softly, “I came to Lantern Inn to ask for help from ‘Lantern’ in finding Liao Zhong’s whereabouts.”
“Liao Zhong?” Su Zhou was surprised. “Weren’t you two conspiring to assassinate the Crown Prince? Why are you looking for him? Did you get separated?”

Chen Ji couldn’t explain.
Anyone who saw the Directorate of Ceremonial simultaneously post two wanted posters would assume he and Liao Zhong were accomplices in the Crown Prince’s assassination, but the truth was otherwise.

At that very moment, a cacophony of sounds approached from outside.
The Trouble-Relief Guard and the Secret Intelligence Bureau had already sealed all exits and begun searching the city.
Seeing the noisy search getting closer, the innkeeper quickly said, “Everyone, let’s head to the backyard to lie low for a bit. We can come out after the eunuchs’ faction has searched the inn.”

The attendant quickly led the three to the well in the backyard, gesturing for them to descend into the well using the rope. “There’s a green brick at the bottom that can be removed. Kick it open, hide inside, and then stack the bricks back. No one outside will notice anything.”
Chen Ji looked at the well opening. This hiding method was identical to the one in Guyuan.
He recalled that on that day, Xiao Man had taken one thousand one hundred taels of silver from him and, in just one day, used it to acquire a grain store and two thousand *shi* of grain, all hidden in a well.
At the time, Chen Ji had simply thought Xiao Man was skilled in business. Now, it was clear she had sought help from ‘Lantern,’ and that grain store had originally belonged to ‘Lantern.’
Strange, the one who helped Xiao Man definitely wasn’t the innkeeper of Dragon Gate Inn… So who was secretly helping Xiao Man?
Third Master Hu? Or someone else entirely?

Chen Ji hesitated. Su Zhou, assuming he was afraid to go down the well, immediately grabbed the rope and slid down first. “Why are you such a coward?”
She slid to the bottom of the well, kicked open the green brick, and entered the secret room behind it.
Lu Shi glanced at Chen Ji. Hearing the sound of approaching horses behind them, she suddenly said to Chen Ji, “You first.”

Chen Ji felt a slight surprise but said nothing. After he descended into the secret room via the rope, the space opened up before him. It was more spacious than the well beneath the Guyuan grain store. The eight-foot-high secret room was paved with green bricks and sprinkled with lime, allowing even Chen Ji to stand upright.
There were no sacks of grain here, but a bed and a table. It seemed someone often hid here.
A large urn was buried in the room, covered with a thin layer of oil paper.

Lu Shi entered last, took out a fire stick, and lit the candle inside. She glanced at Chen Ji. “Stack the green bricks back.”
Chen Ji guarded the opening, placing the green bricks back into position one by one. Just as he wedged in the last brick, he heard a flurry of footsteps above them.
The thin paper covering the urn transmitted the sounds from above with startling clarity.
Someone shouted loudly, “Search! Don’t miss a single corner!”
“Nothing in the stables!”
“Nothing on the third floor!”
“Nothing on the second floor!”

Chen Ji and the others held their breath in the secret room, listening as the Directorate of Ceremonial’s men meticulously searched the place, like sifting through a sieve, though they couldn’t tell if it was the Trouble-Relief Guard or the Secret Intelligence Bureau.
Just as the search party was about to leave, Xuan She’s effeminate voice suddenly echoed from the listening urn. “A small Changping County has such a large inn, but there’s only one innkeeper and one attendant. The inn’s frontage is fourteen *zhang* and one *chi* wide, yet the backyard is only twelve *zhang* and three *chi*… You’ve been with me for so many years, and you can’t even spot such an obvious trick? Do I have to teach you repeatedly?”
Xuan She truly lived up to his reputation as a master investigator in the Secret Intelligence Bureau; with just one glance, he discerned the inn’s peculiarity. If others had searched, they might not have noticed the anomaly, and a master like Xuan She wouldn’t ordinarily come to Changping County.
But this time, Xuan She had come, and the secret room could not escape his notice.

The next moment, footsteps rushed towards the stables, and then a loud voice called out, “Sir, there’s a secret room behind the stables, and it contains ledgers!”
Chen Ji was startled. There was a secret room behind the stables too?
By the dim candlelight, he looked at Su Zhou and Lu Shi. Su Zhou, her eyes red, was eager to move, but Lu Shi held her in place, preventing her from stirring.
Su Zhou whispered fiercely, “What are you doing?”
Lu Shi gave her a cold glance. “The innkeepers of Lantern Inn are not afraid of death and have long accepted their fate. If you want to go out and die, you can, but wait until we’ve left.”
Su Zhou said coldly, “Don’t worry, I’m not that foolish.”
Lu Shi casually responded, “Better safe than sorry.”

Just then, a furious shout from a secret agent came from above: “No good! There’s ‘fierce fire oil’ stored in the secret room!”
Immediately after his words, a roar erupted, and a raging fire ignited on the ground above. Even down in the well, a trace of heat could be felt.
Someone yelled, “The innkeeper has fled!”
Xuan She roared, “What are you waiting for? Pursue him!”
As the footsteps faded into the distance, Chen Ji said in a deep voice, “This place is not safe to stay. They will return to search meticulously, and this well probably won’t escape Xuan She’s eyes either.”
Lu Shi had already blown out the candle. “Let’s go. The Lantern Inn’s keeper has a poison sac in his mouth; he fled to buy us time.”

The two displayed an unexpected synergy.
Lu Shi went to the secret room’s opening and removed the green bricks. This time, she said to Chen Ji, “I’ll go first.”
She scaled the rope, and in a few swift movements, leaped out of the well. Several muffled thuds came from outside the well before Lu Shi poked her head out. “Come out now.”
When Chen Ji climbed out, he was astonished to see five secret agents lying on the ground, their lives extinguished.
He looked at the masked woman, whose name he still didn’t know, in surprise. What incredible skill did she possess, to neutralize five secret agents within three breaths of time, and without them even managing to cry for help?
The inn’s backyard was ablaze with a roaring fire. Without waiting for Su Zhou to emerge, Lu Shi turned and scaled the wall to the east. “This way.”

As Su Zhou poked her head out of the well, she saw Lu Shi’s figure disappear over the courtyard wall. She gritted her teeth and followed, leaping after her. “Where did that dead woman come from? Is her blood made of ice?”
Night had fallen, and Trouble-Relief Guards and secret agents were converging from all directions, drawn by the sounds.
Lu Shi led Chen Ji and Su Zhou, moving cautiously in the shadows beneath the eaves, pausing and avoiding crowds, until they finally stopped at the Changping County granary.
Lu Shi quietly said to Chen Ji, “The Trouble-Relief Guard and secret agents won’t search the granary at night. If they accidentally cause a fire, they’d lose their heads.”
Chen Ji suddenly realized that the woman before him had been dealing with the Trouble-Relief Guard and secret agents for many years.