Jin Si Yu’s lips curled into a smile, one without any warmth. He reached into his sleeve and took out a small, silver chain-like object with clasps on both ends. He fastened one end to Feng Zhi Wei’s right thumb and the other to his own left thumb. With a click, both ends locked into place.

Jin Si Yu’s four subordinates stared blankly at him, an expression of disbelief on their faces. Jin Si Yu’s gaze swept over them, and the four immediately lowered their eyes.

A faint trace of a smile appeared on Jin Si Yu’s lips.

The chain was the “Lovelock” of Da Yue’s imperial family. It sounded ordinary, but the material was anything but that. It was made of a kind of rare white iron found only in Da Yue. The metal was extremely rare, silver in color, but a hundred times tougher than silver. Only one particular type of liquid could corrode it. No weapon, no matter how sharp, could break it. The Da Yue royal family used this material to forge the Lovelock. Every prince had a pair, to be used on their wedding night. One end would be clasped to the prince, the other to the princess, to show their eternal devotion and an unbreakable bond. Some princes also used them as intimate bedroom toys, but the lock can only be used with their principal wife. In short, it was not something that would ever casually appear in someone’s hands.

Wei Zhi…

Tonight, I’m putting this on with you.

Let’s see how you can escape this now.

He then tucked the chain inside their respective sleeves. Sweeping an arm beneath Feng Zhi Wei’s knees, he lifted her into his arms. The moment he picked her up, he frowned, thinking inwardly that she seemed to have gotten thinner again. He sighed and stepped swiftly into the tunnel below. The four guards followed after him in a single file, restoring the entrance behind them to its original state. The group moved silently for a while, traveling on the passage that vaguely sloped slightly upward. After a short distance, Jin Si Yu stopped, pressed a hidden spot on the wall, revealing yet another new doorway.

He carried Feng Zhi Wei out of it. The doorway wasn’t an exit to the outside world, but into yet another room. This room was, however, much more sparsely furnished than the previous study. It was clearly a servant’s quarters, but if one looked to the distance, the wall surrounding the courtyard was unmistakably still part of the same courtyard Feng Zhi Wei had been staying in.

They were indeed still within the same pavilion. Jin Si Yu was, after all, still in a foreign land, so it wasn’t possible to dig a full escape tunnel in such a short time. In fact, ever since Feng Zhi Wei had moved in, digging had become entirely impossible. This short passage was something Jin Si Yu had ordered after arriving in advance, and upon learning that Wei Zhi was the envoy from Tiansheng, he had rushed construction overnight. It only connected her study to the west courtyard servant rooms. 

Entering the room, a set of servant clothes was already prepared. Jin Si Yu said, “Turn around.” His four subordinates immediately turned their backs. Jin Si Yu personally dressed Feng Zhi Wei in a loose-fitting women’s outfit. Holding her thin shoulders, his fingers inevitably brushed past her slender waist and long legs, feeling the delicate curves at her hips or the softness behind her knees.

The woman under him remained limp and compliant, like a warm cloud. Her sleeping soft breaths had a faint, bone-penetrating fragrance. The scent made Jin Si Yu’s hands pause. His gaze briefly became clouded, and his breathing quickened slightly. Unconsciously, his hand moved to caress her face, but just then, a cough outside the window snapped him out of it.

His eyes instantly regained clarity. Moving swiftly, he finished dressing her, took out the face mask of Nanny Zhang (a maid), and placed it over her face. One of the guards reached out to carry her, but Jin Si Yu blocked him with a hand and hoisted her onto his own back. With a silent nod, the group moved toward the small rear gate that was used by the servants.

At the small back gate, four house servants were stationed there as usual. They were deep in a Xiliang-style Fork Mahjong, a game unique to Xiliang, and were thoroughly engrossed when Wang Tang, the deputy envoy from Tiansheng, suddenly came strolling by, hands behind his back, inspecting the security of the pavilion. The men hurriedly scrambled to their feet, but Wang Tang waved his hand and said with a smile, “Go ahead and enjoy yourselves. It’s late, and no one is really coming or going. I’m just having a look around.”

He even lingered to watch the game with interest, asking about the rules. Just as things were getting lively, someone knocked on the gate. One of the servants went to check and soon returned, reporting, “An old cleaning woman in the back courtyard suddenly took ill. It seems to be something serious. We need to send her out for a checkup.”

Xiliang’s southern climate was humid and disease-prone, so sick servants were routinely removed immediately. No one found it strange. They looked to Wang Tang, who smiled and said, “We are guests here, so we’ll follow your procedures. In case it’s something contagious, I agree we should get her out quickly. There are hundreds of people in the Tiansheng delegation, after all.”

Right away, the door was opened to let those few people pass. Seeing the door open, Wang Tang took the opportunity and said, “I’ve also had some stomach discomfort today. No need to wake the physician when it’s so late. I’ll just go along and have the medical clinic check on me as well.” With that, he too stepped out the door.

Once outside, the group saw from afar a figure floating toward them. Judging by the exceptional lightness of his movements and the strangely peculiar posture, they knew immediately it was Gu Nan Yi. Everyone quickly pressed themselves against the wall and stood motionless. Gu Nan Yi sped toward the back gate but suddenly paused.

He stopped on a tree at the corner of the street, surveyed the area from a distance. No one dared to even breathe. After looking around briefly and finding nothing unusual, Gu Nan Yi floated away. Only then did the group dare to move again. After they turned a corner, two carriages swiftly approached. Wang Tang silently got on the second carriage, while Jin Si Yu and the others boarded the first without saying a word as well. The two carriages went off in opposite directions.

Jin Si Yu’s carriage sped straight toward the outskirts of the city. When they reached the city gate, the guards shouted out to question them. One of Jin Si Yu’s subordinates leaned out, flashed a black token in his hand. The guard immediately saluted, ran down from the wall, and opened the city gate. As the carriage raced out into the night, the soldier scratched his head amid the rolling dust and muttered to himself, “…Who are these people? How did they even get hold of that token…”

The carriage raced through the darkness until it reached a forest on the outskirts of the city. There, a larger carriage was waiting, and a group of people stood upright in a row, waiting as well.

Jin Si Yu let out a long breath and motioned for his subordinates to get down first. Only now did he finally feel halfway at ease. He could hardly believe that everything had gone so smoothly, that they had actually managed to get her out. Although he had planned this operation for a long time, and with such a meticulous scheme and collaboration from inside and out, they really should’ve been able to bring anyone out. But since it was Feng Zhi Wei, he couldn’t help but feel fortunate to have accomplished his plan.

Now that he was able to relax a bit, he leaned back against the wall of the carriage and looked at Feng Zhi Wei lying peacefully beside him. After a while, he reached out a finger and gently stroked her cheek. Something didn’t feel quite right beneath his fingertips. He frowned slightly and reached to remove her mask, but after a moment’s thought, stopped himself and sighed softly.

“… after thinking for so long. Since I can’t kill you… I’ll just take you away.”

Feng Zhi Wei’s long lashes were closed, her expression serene. Jin Si Yu gazed at her, thinking: When she’s not being cunning or sharp-tongued, when she’s not playing tricks, she really does look so gentle and harmless. If only she could always stay like this, how nice would that be?

“You were meant to come to my Da Yue anyway. The poison in your body has transformed and is set to trigger this New Year’s Eve.” Jin Si Yu slowly tidied a loose strand of hair at her temple and spoke with calm deliberation. “You don’t seem to care at all. Haven’t seen you seek out a physician or medicine. In fact, that poison has another level of transformation it could go. However, once activated, you would truly become a soulless porcelain doll. I didn’t use it before because I didn’t want to damage your intellect. Now, thinking back, I think it’s a pity. Tell me…” He gently stroked her hair with a slight smile. “Should I use it now?”


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