This was the first time Lu Linyuan had seen Jiang Yanyi looking so fierce, and he felt it was very strange.

In the past, if he saw a noble lady behaving so rudely, he would have thought she was lacking in decorum.

But after facing several desperate situations, he had come to understand that not everyone is born into wealth and can indulge in the arts like playing the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting from a young age.

In his previous life, when the country fell, many noble ladies could not bear the fall from grace and chose to end their own lives.

Those who managed to survive were few and far between.

Putting aside his former prejudices against Jiang Yanyi, Lu Linyuan suddenly felt she was doing better than most noble ladies.

She had made mistakes in the past, but now she had a home she could not return to, relatives she could not acknowledge, and had to fend for herself.

That was punishment enough.

Wanting to live was not a wrongdoing.

Jiang Yanyi felt his gaze on her and cleared her throat, saying, “I hope the magistrate can uphold justice and clear the small shop’s name.”

Lu Linyuan finally came back to his senses and asked, “Is the dead cat still here?”

“It’s still here,” Jiang Yanyi replied.

She had not had the chance to bury it yet; she had just put it in a basket.

Lu Linyuan nodded. “Take it with you to the clinic and let the doctor decide.”

The one-eyed dragon didn’t know what had happened on the other side of the exchange, but as long as the other party wanted him to bring Jiang Yanyi to the Huichun Hall, that was fine.

The two brothers had caused trouble initially just to extort some money and trick Jiang Yanyi over.

Now there was an additional seemingly weak scholar, but he was from the government, so they would handle it on their end.

The one-eyed dragon pointed at Jiang Yanyi and said, “My third brother is still at Huichun Hall, not knowing whether he is dead or alive. You have to go with us!”

Today’s incident had to come to a conclusion.

Jiang Yanyi nodded. “Okay.”

Aunt Guo hurriedly said, “Shopkeeper, I’ll go with you.”

Jiang Yanyi glanced at Aunt Guo, hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

After witnessing Aunt Guo’s quick actions with the stool earlier and recalling what she had said to persuade her, Jiang Yanyi had a vague suspicion about her identity, but she didn’t dare to confirm it.

The two big men were burly, and Lu Linyuan was just a weak scholar, not to mention her own combat ability.

If something unexpected happened along the way, it would likely be dire.

Bringing along a capable Aunt Guo felt safer.

Jiang Yanyi thought about seeking help from the Feng residence, but her relationship with Feng Shuo was not yet established.

Moreover, after what those two had said to smear her and Feng Shuo’s names, if she went to seek help now, it would seem like she was validating their words.

Even if it were later found that their third brother’s diarrhea and vomiting had nothing to do with her hot pot, the public might suspect that the Wang residence had pressured the clinic.

Thus, Jiang Yanyi dismissed the idea of seeking help from the Feng residence.

She instructed Qiu Kui to secure the shop’s door before heading with the others to Huichun Hall.

---

Western Province Government Office.

Xie Zhizhou looked at the person seated in the grandmaster’s chair and respectfully presented a cup of wine, flattering, “My lord, please enjoy.”

“Have the people below been instructed?” Fan Yaonian was holding a beautiful maid whose clothing was half undone.

The beautiful maid took the wine that Xie Zhizhou handed over and was about to feed it to Fan Yaonian.

Fan Yaonian refused to drink.

The maid blushed and smiled, understanding his meaning, and took the wine into her mouth to feed it to him.

In front of Xie Zhizhou, the two began to behave intimately, oblivious to anyone else around.

Fan Yaonian was the eldest son of Fan Wei.

After his younger brother Fan Shengnian died, in order to stabilize the Fan family, the emperor not only promoted Fan Guifei from the palace to the rank of imperial concubine but also elevated him to the position of General of the Steed Cavalry.

Fan Yaonian was just like his brother Fan Shengnian; wherever he went, there were bound to be fine wines and beautiful women.

Xie Zhizhou disregarded the affectionate display of the two, believing that as long as the beautiful maid he presented pleased Fan Yaonian, he would be even happier.

He eagerly said, “As long as that Jiang girl leaves the Duhu government street, I have ways to capture her. I just fear that the Prince of Liao Nan will get wind of it…”

Since the news of Jiang Yanyi still being alive reached the emperor’s ears, Feng Shuo, to avoid anyone secretly trying to kill her, had not only strictly controlled the people entering and leaving the city at all the major gates but also set up a tight security net along the entire Duhu government street.

On the surface, everything seemed fine, but Xie Zhizhou had received hints from above.

Several times he had sent assassins to kill Jiang Yanyi, and none of them returned alive.

After losing dozens of assassins, they finally figured out the layout of that security net.

Hearing Xie Zhizhou’s words, Fan Yaonian sneered, “The Turkic prince has infiltrated Xizhou. He’s probably too busy to worry about anything else. Once Jiang Yanyi is dead, the emperor will have no leverage against the Prince of Liaonan.

When the Turks and the Prince of Liao Nan are both heavily damaged, the emperor can send troops north. Not only can he regain Xizhou, but he can also seize the military power of the Prince of Liao Nan!”

He glanced at Xie Zhizhou. “At that time, I will report to the emperor, and you can take the position of Duhu of Xizhou.”

Xie Zhizhou was greedy for wealth and coveted high positions, but no one knew better than him how the Turkic prince had managed to infiltrate Xizhou city despite the layers of security.

Once the truth came to light, it would be a treasonous crime deserving of extermination of nine generations.

He was worried about his own life: “The Prince of Liao Nan is known for his bravery in the army. If the Turks are defeated…”

“He will undoubtedly die!” Fan Yaonian said confidently, his hands roaming over the beautiful maid, his eyes filled with malice.

The one on the dragon throne dared to take this risky step because they had put in a lot of effort to uncover the major weakness of the Prince of Liaonan.

Due to an old injury from years past, the Prince of Liaonan would be in so much pain from the cold that he couldn’t even hold a weapon.

From the very beginning, the one on the dragon throne had been plotting to lure the Prince of Liaonan to Xizhou.

They had thought that the Turkic spies left in the Xizhou garrison would be able to hold on until the harsh winter, but unexpectedly, Feng Shuo had quickly cleared out the spies.

Now the Prince of Liaonan had started to take control of the Xizhou government.

If he gained complete control over the Xizhou government, then Xizhou would become an iron barrel, impossible to pry open no matter how much effort was expended.

Thus, it was crucial to completely disrupt the situation before Feng Shuo could fully clean out Xizhou.

Teaming up with the Turks to eliminate the Prince of Liaonan was the most audacious move of the new emperor.

Fan Yaonian understood well that, in the eyes of the new emperor, the threat posed by the Prince of Liaonan was far greater than that of the Turks.

The new emperor’s initial plan was that if the Prince of Liaonan sent troops, there was an 80% chance he would be killed in battle; if the Prince of Liaonan chose not to fight, he would be publicly shamed, and the citizens of the entire Xuan Dynasty would curse him.

This way, if he ever wanted to rebel and seize power, he would have no support.

Now that the new emperor had sent him, he had no intention of allowing the Prince of Liaonan to leave Xizhou alive.

Fan Yaonian had managed to reach the position of General of the Cavalry, not by being a fool.

During the Prince of Liaonan’s prime, he had indeed dared not provoke this “living Yama,” but a sick king who couldn’t even hold a weapon? He could take down ten of them!

Xie Zhizhou, unaware of the secret regarding Feng Shuo’s old injury, felt a chill just thinking about Feng Shuo’s reputation in the army. “What if…”

“There is no ‘what if’!” Fan Yaonian pushed away the beautiful maid in his arms.

Xie Zhizhou, realizing he had spoiled Fan Yaonian’s mood, quickly bowed and said, “I deserve to die! General Fan is a young hero; how could he possibly be defeated by the King of Liaonan!”

Fan Yaonian snorted coldly, “During the time when Chu Changping was the commander of Yunzhou, he also claimed to be a general with a hundred victories, yet he was still thrown off a cliff by me with one spear!”

---

At this moment, at the gates of Xizhou, a group of bodyguards was slowly approaching with several carts of goods.

Each bodyguard was dressed in windproof black cloaks, wearing conical hats, and carrying long swords at their waists.

In recent days, inspections at the gates of Xizhou had become increasingly strict.

As soon as the guards saw a merchant convoy, they all became alert. “What business are you here for? Show us your travel permits! Open all the boxes!”

The head guard was already about to step forward to open the boxes when the head of the bodyguards stretched out his arm to stop him.

Without waiting for the guard to get angry, he revealed a token.

Upon seeing the cold and ominous character Feng on the token, the head guard’s face changed drastically, and he immediately signaled to the soldiers behind him to remove the sharp wooden barriers. “Quickly, let them enter the city!”

Once inside the city, the head of the bodyguards lifted his hat to survey the bustling streets of Xizhou.

His rugged features exuded a strong aura, but his eye sockets were slightly red; it was Chu Changping.

He said, “After being pursued and intercepted all the way, we finally made it to Xizhou.”

The assassins sent from the palace were like a pack of mad dogs, lying in wait everywhere.

If it weren’t for Chu Changping’s feigned death after falling off the cliff and having the Prince of Liaonan’s token in hand, he would have been hard-pressed to reach Xizhou even in half a month, as there were people from the Prince of Liaonan assisting him at every turn.

One of his trusted confidants stepped forward: “Third Master, should we find an inn to settle down first or go see the young lady?”

After such a long and dusty journey, none of them looked presentable.

Chu Changping was worried about his niece.

In order to kill him, the emperor had sent Fan Yaonian, the eldest son of the Fan family.

As long as his niece was still alive, the one on the dragon throne would not be at ease.

Although he knew his niece was under the protection of the Prince of Liaonan, Chu Changping still feared that something might happen.

Eager to see his niece, he pointed to a few confidants: “Yang Xiu, Jiang Sha, Bing Shao, Fan Zha, you guys come with me to see A Yi; the rest find an inn to stay.”

The confidants nodded in agreement.

---

At this time, Jiang Yanyi was still unaware that she was part of someone else’s scheme.

Two strong men were leading the way, with Jiang Yanyi, Aunt Guo, and Lu Linyuan following behind.

Hui Chun Tang was located in the southern part of the city, a medical hall where ordinary people would go to seek treatment.

This area in the south of the city resembled a slum, and even the Xizhou government was unwilling to assign anyone to manage it.

If someone died on the street without anyone reporting it, the authorities would not send officials to investigate.

Most of the people living here were poorly fed and clothed, yet there were many children running around naked in the streets.

The poorer people seemed to have more children, even if eating was a problem; they continued to have one child after another.

Jiang Yanyi frowned at the dirty and chaotic streets.

Lu Linyuan also sensed something was amiss.

How could these two people live in such a place and have the money to eat well?

He asked in a low voice, “How much further?”

The scarred-faced man seemed to be envisioning the hefty sum promised by their contact, and his tone became much more cheerful. “We’re almost there; just around the corner in the next alley.”

As soon as they entered the alley, Jiang Yanyi didn’t even realize what was happening before Aunt Guo suddenly pulled her back.

Arrows rained down like a storm.

Aunt Guo had somehow produced a soft sword, and with her agile, mountainous figure, she expertly deflected the arrows, keeping them at least a meter away.

Lu Linyuan, who couldn’t fight, had several hidden guards around him.

At this moment, upon seeing him in danger, they all jumped out.

Only the two bearded men leading the way were directly shot into a sieve, blood spilling everywhere.