Chapter 48

Late at night, the yamen district was still ablaze with lights. Anyone still working here at this hour was either being worked to the bone by their superiors or had some desperate, unfinished task on their hands.

Of course, there were always exceptions. Take the adult seated in the Ministry of War’s hall, for instance; she had no choice but to remain in the yamen district. Xie Tinglan looked over the official document just sent out from the Imperial Palace. It was really only a pile of trivial matters, but for such trivia to land in her hands at this particular juncture was anything but normal.

Ever since the Emperor had decreed that Ye Rui go to Yushan to suppress the bandits, all sorts of unimportant but bothersome memorials had been landing on her desk. Xie Tinglan understood that the Emperor was testing her; he wanted to see how she would choose between Ye Rui and these trivial matters.

One test after another left Xie Tinglan somewhat drained, and the document just delivered even had a small note tucked in with it from Helian Shaohua. There were only a few short words: [All of this is a test; endure it.]

Xie Tinglan held the note between her slender fingers and placed it over the candle flame. In an instant, it turned to ash.

At that moment, the window behind her shuddered, and a black shadow dropped silently to her side.

“Has the message been sent to Rain and Mist Pavilion?”

Xie Tinglan asked. She did not turn to look at Yin Yue; instead, she picked up her brush and slowly reviewed the official document before her, afraid of missing even the smallest flaw.

“It has already been sent,” Yin Yue answered.

“What reward does she want?”

Xie Tinglan lowered her brush and wrote the approval. Yin Yue went on, “She... doesn’t want any reward.”

Xie Tinglan raised an eyebrow and frowned at her. The candlelight cast sharp, distinct contours over half her face, while the half submerged in shadow gave nothing away.

“What does that mean?”

Hearing the chill in Xie Tinglan’s voice, Yin Yue’s heart gave a slight jolt. After thinking it over, she recounted everything that had happened in her contact with Mu Xue: “She seemed very worried about Ye Rui. She said Ye Rui is her friend, and she offered this intelligence free of charge.”

Xie Tinglan’s dark red python robe looked even more somber in the candlelight. After a few breaths, she said, “This official understands. Is everything prepared?”

“Ri Xi has already been told to take care of everything that needed instructing,” Yin Yue said.

After that, Xie Tinglan waved a hand. Not long after, the window moved again, and Yin Yue vanished from where she stood.

Under the dim yellow candlelight, Xie Tinglan stared blankly at the document before her. She could not take in a single word on it; the characters seemed to gather into Mu Xue’s shape instead.

Mu Xue, what exactly do you want to do?

**

The sunlight at chen hour in winter was not particularly fierce. The sky, on the other hand, had turned gray and hazy as if snow were about to fall.

Ye Rui had been ordered to accompany the garrison troops in suppressing the bandits. She had no authority over the operation, nor did she even hold any official position. By the time she reached the south gate, the soldiers there did not so much as spare her a glance.

Ye Rui did not mind. After sending Ri Xi off, she mounted her horse and looked back once at the bustling street.

She... still hadn’t come.

“Miss Ye, is there anything else?”

The speaker was Tang Yan, the commander of this small unit. He was very tall, broad-shouldered and imposing, with thick brows and large eyes; he had the kind of stern presence that commanded respect without even trying.

“Nothing. I was just seeing Ri Xi off,” Ye Rui said.

In truth, Ri Xi was still on her way back through the street. Ye Rui withdrew her gaze, nudged her horse’s flank, and rode over to Tang Yan’s side. “Commander Tang, this is my first time carrying out a task like this. If I do anything wrong, please point it out.”

Tang Yan had initially kept his face taut, but seeing how polite and courteous Ye Rui was, his expression softened a little. “Of course. Let’s go!”

He urged his horse forward and took the lead with great vigor. Ye Rui followed close behind him. They left the city through the south gate and headed toward Yushan.

There were only thirty men in this expedition, yet according to the intelligence Mu Xue had given her, the bandit camp held more than a hundred people. Even if they were well-trained, fighting such an uneven battle still felt off; what was more, the bandits would be fighting on their home ground.

Ye Rui could not help thinking: did the Emperor truly intend to suppress the bandits, or was all his attention fixed on me?

It would take half a day to reach Yushan. They stopped briefly in Sanyuan Town, and Ye Rui, remembering something, told Tang Yan she wanted to visit a bookshop before temporarily leaving the group. Tang Yan followed under the pretext of protecting her, and Ye Rui did not care; she let him come along. She had no intention of running anyway. At least, not before the bandit suppression began.

When they returned to the familiar street and that familiar bookshop, the shifty-eyed owner came out to greet Ye Rui and Tang Yan. Since Ye Rui was now dressed in fitted riding clothes and her skin had lightened, the owner naturally did not recognize her. He had barely begun to introduce the books in the shop when Ye Rui placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Boss, do you still remember selling me three erotic novels?”

Tang Yan, standing by the side, heard this and his face reddened a little. He had not expected Ye Rui to be so direct, without the slightest attempt at circumlocution.

The owner caught sight of Ye Rui’s waist token and knew at once that she belonged to Xie Tinglan. Frightened, he nearly couldn’t stand straight and had to brace himself against a nearby book table. “M-Milady, with so many people coming and going, this humble one really can’t remember.”

“You tricked me back then by claiming I was a hunter who couldn’t read, and you still sold me three erotic novels. How shameless!”

Thinking of that matter, Ye Rui still felt furious. If not for this dishonest peddler, how would Xie Tinglan have caught her and laughed at her for so long!

Tang Yan was speechless on the side. Ye Rui grabbed the owner by the collar and snapped, “You don’t run an honest business, so today I’m giving you a little lesson!”

With that, she struck the bookcase with her palm. Inner force surged through her hand and burst outward in an instant; the bookcase let out a loud crack. A deep fissure split open from the bottom, and without support, the shelf crashed to the ground with a boom. The books on it tumbled down as well, kicking up a cloud of dusty debris that smelled faintly of paper.

Tang Yan’s gaze froze. He took a step back and looked at Ye Rui with an odd expression. Only then did Ye Rui let go of the owner, whose face had gone livid, and smile in satisfaction at the pile of fallen books.

Originally, that palm strike had been meant for the man himself. It was just that her control over her inner force was not yet precise enough. If she actually killed him, not only would she feel guilty, she would also be unable to escape the law.

She was angry, yes, but this man was only a greedy merchant skimming a bit of profit through petty tricks; his crime did not warrant death.

“Consider this a small punishment as a warning. If I find out you’re cheating others again, I’ll have ways to make sure your business can’t survive.”

The owner’s face crumpled. So frightened he nearly knelt on the spot, he said with tears in his eyes, “I-I won’t dare again. I truly won’t dare again.”

At first, his mind had gone completely blank from terror, but then a tanned female hunter’s face suddenly surfaced in his memory. How could he have known that the silly hunter who couldn’t even count silver properly would one day become someone in that wolf’s den of Xie Tinglan’s?

People could not be judged by appearance. Fate was impossible to measure.

Seeing that the bookshop owner was so frightened his legs were nearly giving out, Ye Rui’s anger also subsided. She warned him a few more times before leaving with Tang Yan.

Once they stepped out of the bookshop, Ye Rui pulled Tang Yan aside and said, “Commander Tang may not know this, but I used to be a hunter...”

She briefly explained her simple background, saying only that she had accidentally saved Xie Tinglan, which was how Xie Tinglan brought her back to Fuyi, leaving out that month they had spent together.

Tang Yan listened seriously, then said, “Miss Ye must have some extraordinary qualities for Prime Minister Xie to value you so highly.”

The words “value highly” set off alarm bells in Ye Rui’s head, but she did not panic. She smiled and said, “Commander Tang flatters me. I don’t have any special qualities. The Capital City is full of talented people; I’m just an anonymous nobody.”

After that, Tang Yan said no more. They returned to the post station to rest briefly before continuing toward Yushan.

The two of them were testing each other out. After that conversation, Ye Rui was already certain Tang Yan would do something to her.

Ri Xi had already drawn the route to their destination for her, and Tang Yan did not take any detours. The group arrived peacefully at the foot of the mountain and dismounted to enter Yushan on foot.

Along the way, Tang Yan had offered her food and drink several times. At first, Ye Rui refused, but then she thought that if she kept refusing, it would only arouse Tang Yan’s suspicion. So she ate a piece of flatbread, then secretly swallowed an antidote pill.

Ri Xi had said that her blazing flame aura could neutralize many toxins; now, with the antidote pill on top of that, she was almost immune to all poisons.

From the Capital City to Sanyuan Town, Tang Yan had been cold and indifferent toward her. But after she made her move at the bookshop, he started offering her food and drink. That let Ye Rui see through him.

Tang Yan had not begun respecting her because her martial arts were formidable. He was afraid her strength might hinder him from completing his task. After she ate that piece of flatbread, Tang Yan kept glancing at her from time to time, yet Ye Rui remained as relaxed as ever, which only made him more suspicious.

However, Tang Yan would never know that every one of his actions and every word he said had already fallen under Ye Rui’s gaze.

As expected; so the bandit suppression was fake, and dealing with her was the real goal. Ye Rui even thought of another possibility: if the bandit suppression failed, Tang Yan could push all the blame onto her, and the Emperor would have plenty of opportunities and excuses to punish her and lock her away.

What a perfectly layered scheme.

Once they entered the mountain, Ye Rui asked with curiosity, “Commander Tang, do you have any battle plan?”

Her voice was not loud, but in the stillness of the mountain, it sounded rather abrupt. This place was far from where she had once lived on Yushan; it was practically another world. Ye Rui was naturally unfamiliar with the mountain paths here, so she had to be extra careful.

“We’ll find a place to camp first. Tomorrow morning, we’ll attack,” Tang Yan said.

He handed her a map. Ye Rui took it and unfolded it. Tang Yan had marked the bandit camp’s location in cinnabar; it matched the intelligence she had received.

“The mountain paths are difficult. If Miss Ye feels unwell, please let us know,” Tang Yan added.

Ye Rui glanced back at the garrison troops behind them, all of whom were wearing heavy armor and breathing hard, then said, “I’m fine. I used to walk mountain paths all the time; Commander Tang needn’t worry.”

A flicker of suspicion passed through Tang Yan’s face, but he said nothing else. In the end, they set up camp and rested in a relatively open area.

Ye Rui had her own small tent, but she did not go in immediately to rest. Instead, she told Tang Yan she wanted to look around.

They were still far from the bandit camp, and according to Mu Xue’s intelligence, the bandits’ patrol routes would not reach here. Tang Yan had chosen the place well.

So Tang Yan really was prepared, but with only thirty soldiers, could they truly destroy that camp?

Or had he already planned from the start for this bandit suppression to fail, so he could dump every bit of responsibility onto her?

Whatever the reason, Ye Rui came to one conclusion: this group could not be relied on. In the end, she would still have to depend on herself. But how could she, alone, contend with an entire bandit camp?

She could not win by force; she would have to win by strategy.

Ye Rui wandered around the area near the tent, and Tang Yan kept following her, saying he was afraid something might happen to her and he would be unable to answer to the Emperor and Xie Tinglan.

He made it sound nice enough. If anything happened to her, it would certainly be easier for him to answer to the Emperor.

Ye Rui glanced back at the idling soldiers and suddenly had an idea. “Commander Tang, I have an idea.”

Tang Yan frowned but did not interrupt, so Ye Rui went on, looking mysterious. “Let’s go gather intelligence on the enemy.”

Tang Yan: “...”

**

“Miss Ye, Miss Ye...”

Tang Yan was still following behind Ye Rui, but Ye Rui lifted a finger to her lips, signaling for silence. The two of them were hidden in the darkness, shielded by tall grass and tree trunks. Ye Rui could even smell a faint stench of urine; this was probably where the bandits came to relieve themselves wherever they pleased.

At night, the mountains were pitch-black, crouching like beasts. The bandit camp stood against the mountain slope, wooden fences towering upward, with scattered pinpricks of firelight like ghostly flames lying in wait in the hills. Hiding behind a tree to look out, Ye Rui saw the camp gate set high with wooden barricades; torches embedded on both sides of the entrance blazed brightly, and their dull yellow glow revealed the cold gleam of the bandits’ sabers at their waists. Now and then, loud voices drifted over from inside.

Ye Rui looked as far as she could. Inside the camp were scattered rough huts and wooden sheds; dogs wandered through, and she also spotted patrol teams moving in twos and threes.

Come to think of it, she still had not seen any Azure Dragon Guards. She had tried to sense them, but she could not detect any especially unusual presence among the garrison troops either. She did not dare be careless. That person was hiding their identity and waiting for the right moment to act, so she had to remain on guard at all times.

They wanted this bandit suppression to fail; Ye Rui absolutely would not let them have their way. If the plot kept following the path they had already laid out, then she would be the one in danger.

She needed to create some kind of accident.

“I’m going to try slipping in. Only by entering the tiger’s lair can one get the tiger cubs.”

At this moment, Ye Rui felt that entering the bandit camp was safer than staying in the garrison. The moment her words fell, she stood and left. Tang Yan reached out to grab her, but only caught a corner of her sleeve.

Ye Rui had been a hunter by trade, and after cultivating inner force, her night vision was even better than before. She quickly distanced herself from Tang Yan, and even when he called her softly, he still could not stop her.

Seeing the situation slip out of control, Tang Yan thought for a moment, then turned back at once. His steps were quick, as if he were going to find help.

Ye Rui moved just as quickly. Thanks to the intelligence Mu Xue had sent, she knew exactly where the bandit camp’s weakest defenses were, and even where there was a hidden entrance.

She had no idea how Mu Xue knew all of this. It was absurdly impressive, as if she had been sleeping under the bandit chief’s bed and eavesdropping every night.

Hu Tu: [Is there a possibility?]

Ye Rui: [What?]

While chatting with Hu Tu, Ye Rui continued circling around the bandits, keeping an eye out for the piled-up firewood mentioned in the letter. That place was the bandit camp’s hidden entrance, and also the escape route if the camp came under attack.

Hu Tu: [The bandit chief’s bed doesn’t have a bed frame underneath it.]

Ye Rui’s footsteps halted, and she clenched her teeth hard to keep from laughing out loud.

Really, help; what was she supposed to do with a system that took everything seriously?

Hu Tu: [Ah, were you joking?]

Ye Rui: [What else? Can you imagine Mu Xue sleeping under a filthy, stinking bed? Forget under the bed; she probably wouldn’t even step into this camp once.]

Hu Tu: [True.]

At last, Ye Rui found the place where the firewood had been stacked behind the camp. Beside the pile was a fence draped over with torn cloth, hiding something. That was probably the hidden entrance.

She carefully approached, then crouched behind a pile of firewood nearly as tall as a person. After confirming that there was no movement behind the torn cloth, she lifted it and slipped in smoothly.

Since this was hardly a disciplined organization, there was no one guarding the hidden entrance. It was a storeroom of sorts, packed with miscellaneous things looted by the bandits. Anything they could not exchange for money was dumped here. Wooden items were taken away to burn as firewood; iron objects would be remelted into weapons; and some shabby old odds and ends and clothes were piled randomly in one corner.

Ye Rui hid in the heap of miscellaneous goods and paid attention to what the people passing by nearby were saying and where they were going. She had not forgotten that she needed to find someone named Lu Yihua, though she did not know who this person was, or why they would be in a den of wolves like this. Could they be someone the bandits had abducted?

After observing carefully, she discovered that there were men and women, young and old, inside the camp, and many of them were injured. Some leaned on crutches; some had bandages wrapped around their bodies. Compared to a bandit camp, this place looked more like a village sheltering the wounded. It was truly strange; by rights, there should not be so many children and elderly people in a bandit camp. What on earth was going on?

Ye Rui glanced at the clothes in the corner, randomly picked out a dirty old garment, and put it on. Then she strode out of the junk pile openly. With her head lowered, she walked around inside the camp. She was already within the camp itself now, and could hear children talking, as well as elderly people sitting at their doorways and speaking in low voices.

Was this really a bandit camp?

Ye Rui looked up and found the tallest building in the camp. That should be where the bandit chief lived.

Just as she was about to take a few more steps forward, a child came running toward her in a fluster, scanning left and right. When the child spotted her, their eyes lit up.

“Boss Hua needs someone to help apply medicine!”

As soon as the child finished speaking, they grabbed Ye Rui’s hand. “Sister, please help Boss Hua apply the medicine. All the women are in the kitchen right now, and they really can’t keep up.”

“Me?”

Me?!