Jinxia looked at YangYue, a feeling of uneasiness grew in her heart. It was clear that in the morning Shangguan Xi went to see Lu Yi, why were Xie Xao saying she had yet to return?
Could it be that she deliberately concealed it from Xie Xiao? As for the matter between the two of them, they will of course not say anything. YangYue said: “Brother Xie, I want to ask for your help, I do not know whether you are willing. We are looking for information about a lady, we only know that her residence is not far from the lake. Since there are a lot of Wu’An Gang members, maybe you can help us in our search.”
“Such a small matter, don’t use such words. Say, who are you looking for?”
“Her surname is Zhai, the first name is Lanye, she’s the foster child of the Zhai family. The landlord of the family is the brother-in-law of the Yangzhou prefect.”
After Xie Xiao heard it, he waved and called a young fish seller who was beside him, and asked him about it. The young man laughed, “The family likes to eat fresh fish soup, that old man is going to send fish to the house in a few days. Originally, they lived on the phoenix bridge, I don’t know why but later they moved to Guanqian front street.”
“Which part of Guanqian front street?”
“The back door of their house is close to a large locust tree, next to it is a temple of the land of god.”
Xie Xiao grew up running around the Yangzhou area. As soon as he heard such an explanation, he immediately understood, opening the boat branch and saying to Jinxia and YangYue: “Get on the boat, I’ll take you there.”
Rowing to follow the waterway, turning left and then turning right, they arrived at the head of the bridge. Xie Xiao pointed to the front: “You just walk straight ahead, once you find the temple of the earth gods, it means you have arrived. Since I happen to be free, I will wait here. When your business is over, I’ll treat you guys to drinks.”
Just when Jinxia was about to go up to the mainland, she saw YangYue cautiously holding the rice cakes. Jinxia called for him, handing the wooden box over to him: “Da Yang, you go first, I want to talk to Brother Xie.”
YangYue was bewildered.
“You, don’t panic, we will wait here for you.” Jinxia laughed. Since Lu Yi wanted to give the gift to the girl, she was sure Zhai Lanye will personally come out to receive it, and Jinxia decided to let YangYue do it instead, in order for him to have a chat with her. At least he could somehow relieve his pain of longing.
YangYue accepted the wooden box. While scratching his head, he laughed and walked away.
Xie Xiao tied the rope and leaned on the boat, wondering: “Aren’t you here to investigate a case? Isn’t this lady a hint?”
Any information related to the internal affairs was not something to discuss with him. Jinxia simply said: “This Ms. Zhai was born beautiful. This morning Lu Daren got in the boat to meet her and, after returning home, he couldn’t forget her, thus he bought perfume ingredients and told us to give it to her to get her attention.”
“Lu Yi…” Xie Xiao snorted, “I was not expecting, with a temperament like his, that he would get caught up in love.”
“That’s right.”
Jinxia chuckled in agreement with him.
“You’re happy being his servant?” Xie Xao looked at her while examining her expression.
“Brother, a man in the kagnouw world, does not have the freedom to choose as he pleases…” Jinxia was not angry, just thinking seriously. “I’m not really happy, but I am someone with a big heart.”
Xie Xiao giggled while shaking his head, asking her, “That night, how do you know it was me?”
“Not only did I know it was you, but I also knew that Shangguan Jie used the lightning mine for the explosions.” Jinxia approached him, saying in a low voice, “Listen, you were too careless, just changing your outfit is not good enough to mix in with them. Those JinYiWei are no good, but they’re not there for nothing.”
“Okay… Okay.. Don’t say those useless words, you can’t even help.”
“You just take it easy. Lu Daren is very busy right now, he doesn’t have the time to care about you and your brothers. People in the provincial court all want to kiss up to him, they don’t dare to carelessly punish, but you should watch out for your brothers. The important thing is he* is well in prison, nothing will happen.”
*[The person in the prison is Sha Xiuzhu, TN]
Hearing what she said made sense and Xie Xiao became a little relieved.
“I’m also helping you in secret, if they’re planning to move him to the Capital…” Jinxia glanced at him, then slowly said, “It’s easier to take action on the street.”
Xie Xiao did not speak but only made a ‘huh’ sound twice.
Jinxia’s hands and feet could not stand still, while talking she eagerly paddled the boat left and right. They didn’t have this kind of boat in the Capital, but in Jiangnan, there were many. She hadn’t seen much of these boats, so she only knew how to pull here and there, push them to the left and swing to the right.
While she was trying to paddle, Xie Xiao also followed the boat swinging left and right. He wasn’t angry, just letting her play around.
While the two of them were chatting, another boat came from the bridge, so fast that one could hear the sound of water splashing.
“Young Master Bangzhu! There’s a problem!”
Xie Xiao jumped on his feet and shouted: “What’s the matter?”
“Dozens of our brothers met the Japanese in the He family’s residence: they were very cruel since they did not say anything and began to beat them up, also killing and wounding some of our brothers. The rest were unable to fight back, hence they jumped in the reeds swamp and fled.”
“Japanese people!”
Jinxia was surprised, she immediately remembered that YangYue had mentioned this before, a few people were hurt by the Japanese and came to the clinic for treatment. It seemed like the local officers had still not been able to catch them.
“You get off the boat first, I have to go see my brothers.” Xie Xiao said, looking at her. “Later if there is free time, I will look for you again.”
“I’m going with you.” As a constable, Jinxia wanted to see how bad the situation was.
Xie Xiao hesitated for a moment, but nodded slowly, “Hold on tight!”
The boat sailed fast out of the city of Yangzhou, like an arrow speeding through the lake, towards southwest. Not long after, they caught the sight of a swamp of reeds. Two fishing boats were sailing on its surface. Around them, the reeds were as tall as two people moving around, the boat turned left and then right. At first, Jinxia was still trying to remember the way, but after three turns and five circles, she was completely confused. Every turn looked almost the same, there seemed to be no difference.
“Don’t think about it too much,” Xie Xiao saw her trying to remember the ways, “Without my lead, once you enter, you would become a lost ghost hitting the wall.”
Jinxia sighed and said, “When reading ‘Zhongyi Shuihu Zhuan’*, Shijie’s village also had a large swamp of reeds, and the three Ruan brothers were inside…”
*[Zhongyi Shuihu Zhuan = A classic novel by Shi Nai’An. One of his chapter talks of the three powerful Ruan siblings from Shijie village, TN]
“That book is talking about a group of bandits, you’re a state official, why are you reading it?”
“It’s not a forbidden book, so why not?”
“That’s right. Now in the palace many officials are cunning and clever. Some dare to rob outside the Capital and force people to become rebels. It’s not unusual.” Xie Xiao continued talking and moving the paddle. As he paddled to the left, suddenly their surroundings became open.
Boats were gathered at that place. Shangguan Xi wore a lotus colour robe. She was standing inside, her eyebrows furrowed and her gaze darkened after hearing the subordinates of her gang reporting the situation. At almost the same time, Jinxia and Shangguan Xi saw each other. It seemed like she didn’t expect Xie Xiao to be with Jinxia, she was a little surprised.
“Young Master Bangzhu, Young Master Bangzhu…” The gang members around him alternately called out to him.
Xie Xiao walked with wide steps and leaned against the pier and, after a quick jump, he landed right to the side of Shangguan Xi.
“Young Master Bangzhu,” Shangguan Xi once again looked at Jinxia who was following behind him, “Miss Yuan.”
Jinxia raised her hands and greeted her, “I hope Shangguan Jie forgives me for my bluntness. I heard there’s a problem with the Japanese people, so I’m here to look around.”
“You are too formal.”
“Jie,” Xie Xiao asked Shangguan Xi, “How many of our brothers are injured?”
“A total of six people are injured severely while three people have minor injuries.” Shangguan Xi took a deep breath, “Four people died.”
Xie Xiao paused for a moment, then said, “Take me to see him… Oh yes, don’t say anything to the old man.”
Some of the injured brothers were being taken to the clinic. Shangguan Xi took them to the mainland where the bodies were located: in a hollow room there were four bodies, all covered in white cloth.
“May I take a look?” Jinxia was a constable, but the place was in Wu’An Gang’s territory, therefore she had to remember the proper etiquette.
Shangguan Xi caught a glimpse of Xie Xiao, saw that he did not mind, thus she went ahead and opened the white cloths.
First, Jinxia stretched her hand and pressed it on the skin of the corpse: it was still elastic, his death had occurred in less than an hour. After that she checked his wounds. There were dozens of cuts on the body: the cut on his chest, from the upper right down to the lower left, was quite deep… This had been the fatal wound. Other cuts were divided in many areas; shoulders, abdomen, and thighs, there were still more wounds in some places that have been blackened…
Xie Xiao had been absent for several years, therefore he wasn’t familiar with the four people that died today. He bowed his head to ask Shangguan Xi, in the corner of his eyes he saw a glimpse of Jinxia stretching her hand toward the blackened wound. He promptly leaned over and pulled her away, shouting: “Be careful, there’s poison!”
His voice was so loud that it startled Shangguan Xi, who was standing nearby.
“I say, brother, can you not be so surprised?” Jinxia felt helpless, she showed her hands to him and said, “It’s not my first day being a constable, how can I not know about it?”
Only now that he saw in her palm a small silver needle, Xie Xiao awkwardly let go of her hand, still saying, “There’s a needle, be careful of that too. If you die here, it can be a big problem for us.”
“Don’t worry, If I do die, I will crawl home and die there.”
Jinxia also answered without hesitation. She then turned back to look at the remaining dead bodies.
Shangguan Xi observed the two of them and became speechless, then she said, “Lao Si, Miss Yuan is a guest, how can you talk to her like that?”
Xie Xiao said, “You don’t need to be polite to her, Jie, don’t look at her like everyone else.”
After a while, the silver needles were put away. Jinxia frowned and asked Shangguan Xi: “How many Japanese people did they meet?”
“One wounded brother managed to come home and reported that they were stopped by four people, their encounter was at the pier of the He family’s residence, but from afar, they could see that there were dozens of Japanese people in the residence.”
“They’re still in the residence?” Jinxia was very surprised, “Did you report it to the local officers?”
“I’ve already sent someone to report to the local officers.”
Jinxia exhaled and, furrowing her eyebrows, said, “These Japanese people are very cruel and fierce, I’m afraid… Where is the He family’s residence? Is it far from here?”
“They are not easy to deal with, don’t add more fuel to the problem.” Xie Xiao frowned, “Come, I’ll take you back to the front of the temple. The officers in this Yangzhou area aren’t all dead, I don’t need an outsider like you to try and resolve it.”
“I just want to take a look. Brother, look at these wounds, they were caused by small-sized secret weapons, and these weapons are poisonous on the surface, but this poison does not make people die immediately, but slow down their movements. You see dozens of these cut wounds, this is like playing with people, until they were hit with the last stroke and died. This indicated that, at that time, they didn’t even have the power to fight, and could only become a dead fish. Among this group of Japanese people, using secret weapons is the most tortuous. This poison, I have never encountered before… Shangguan Jie, among the wounds of the other brothers, are there any poisonous ones?”
Shangguan Xi nodded, “Yes, the physician was not familiar with this poison, even though he had taken the medication, but there seems to be no effect. Luckily, it isn’t deadly, so it can be slowly investigated.”
After listening to this, Xie Xiao’s eyes glanced towards the corpses and, after a moment, he said, “This master will break them, let’s go!”
“Lao Si, you can’t go!”
Shangguan Xi wanted to block him.
“Brother, I’m an official, there’s no other way, this is a mandatory business, but you should not cause any more problems.” Jinxia didn’t want him to go either.
Xie Xiao’s eyes widened. He waved his hands: “This master cannot let these brothers die in vain.”
“The situation is not clear at the moment, we don’t know how many Japanese people there are. If you’re going to seek revenge, you better not go.” Jinxia also tried to stop him, “I’m just going to take a look, I wasn’t planning to take any action yet.”
“This master also just wants to take a look.” Xia Xiao glared at her.
Jinxia waved her hands in front of his face, raising up three fingers: “I’ll say this ahead, you can’t take any action, only follow me from behind, anyone who decides to take action will become a sled dog.”
“Still talking about dogs, how old are you now… It’s better if you follow me.”
Xie Xiao mumbled in his mouth, but didn’t disagree with her rules. He pulled her aside and jumped on the boat. Shangguan Xi couldn’t persuade him, she could only follow him from behind. The young man who had met Jinxia earlier this morning had squatted silently outside the door waiting, and silently followed the boat.
“Jie?” Xie Xiao was shocked.
Shangguan Xi did not look at him, turned and gave an order to the young man: “A’Rui, use the waterway in the west, around the nine inner pavilions to ascend to the mainland.”
“Nine inner pavilions?”
“It’s only half a mile from the pavilions to the He family’s residence, and there is a large area of mulberry forest to hide in.” Shangguan Xi explained.
Before Xie Xiao could speak, he heard Jinxia applauding, “Shangguan Jie really thought of it thoroughly.”
Before they could speak, the young man named A’Rui paddled the boat away, leaving the reed field, sailing silently to the nine inner pavilions.
Jinxia looked at YangYue, a feeling of uneasiness grew in her heart. It was clear that in the morning Shangguan Xi went to see Lu Yi, why were Xie Xao saying she had yet to return?
Could it be that she deliberately concealed it from Xie Xiao? As for the matter between the two of them, they will of course not say anything. YangYue said: “Brother Xie, I want to ask for your help, I do not know whether you are willing. We are looking for information about a lady, we only know that her residence is not far from the lake. Since there are a lot of Wu’An Gang members, maybe you can help us in our search.”
“Such a small matter, don’t use such words. Say, who are you looking for?”
“Her surname is Zhai, the first name is Lanye, she’s the foster child of the Zhai family. The landlord of the family is the brother-in-law of the Yangzhou prefect.”
After Xie Xiao heard it, he waved and called a young fish seller who was beside him, and asked him about it. The young man laughed, “The family likes to eat fresh fish soup, that old man is going to send fish to the house in a few days. Originally, they lived on the phoenix bridge, I don’t know why but later they moved to Guanqian front street.”
“Which part of Guanqian front street?”
“The back door of their house is close to a large locust tree, next to it is a temple of the land of god.”
Xie Xiao grew up running around the Yangzhou area. As soon as he heard such an explanation, he immediately understood, opening the boat branch and saying to Jinxia and YangYue: “Get on the boat, I’ll take you there.”
Rowing to follow the waterway, turning left and then turning right, they arrived at the head of the bridge. Xie Xiao pointed to the front: “You just walk straight ahead, once you find the temple of the earth gods, it means you have arrived. Since I happen to be free, I will wait here. When your business is over, I’ll treat you guys to drinks.”
Just when Jinxia was about to go up to the mainland, she saw YangYue cautiously holding the rice cakes. Jinxia called for him, handing the wooden box over to him: “Da Yang, you go first, I want to talk to Brother Xie.”
YangYue was bewildered.
“You, don’t panic, we will wait here for you.” Jinxia laughed. Since Lu Yi wanted to give the gift to the girl, she was sure Zhai Lanye will personally come out to receive it, and Jinxia decided to let YangYue do it instead, in order for him to have a chat with her. At least he could somehow relieve his pain of longing.
YangYue accepted the wooden box. While scratching his head, he laughed and walked away.
Xie Xiao tied the rope and leaned on the boat, wondering: “Aren’t you here to investigate a case? Isn’t this lady a hint?”
Any information related to the internal affairs was not something to discuss with him. Jinxia simply said: “This Ms. Zhai was born beautiful. This morning Lu Daren got in the boat to meet her and, after returning home, he couldn’t forget her, thus he bought perfume ingredients and told us to give it to her to get her attention.”
“Lu Yi…” Xie Xiao snorted, “I was not expecting, with a temperament like his, that he would get caught up in love.”
“That’s right.”
Jinxia chuckled in agreement with him.
“You’re happy being his servant?” Xie Xao looked at her while examining her expression.
“Brother, a man in the kagnouw world, does not have the freedom to choose as he pleases…” Jinxia was not angry, just thinking seriously. “I’m not really happy, but I am someone with a big heart.”
Xie Xiao giggled while shaking his head, asking her, “That night, how do you know it was me?”
“Not only did I know it was you, but I also knew that Shangguan Jie used the lightning mine for the explosions.” Jinxia approached him, saying in a low voice, “Listen, you were too careless, just changing your outfit is not good enough to mix in with them. Those JinYiWei are no good, but they’re not there for nothing.”
“Okay… Okay.. Don’t say those useless words, you can’t even help.”
“You just take it easy. Lu Daren is very busy right now, he doesn’t have the time to care about you and your brothers. People in the provincial court all want to kiss up to him, they don’t dare to carelessly punish, but you should watch out for your brothers. The important thing is he* is well in prison, nothing will happen.”
*[The person in the prison is Sha Xiuzhu, TN]
Hearing what she said made sense and Xie Xiao became a little relieved.
“I’m also helping you in secret, if they’re planning to move him to the Capital…” Jinxia glanced at him, then slowly said, “It’s easier to take action on the street.”
Xie Xiao did not speak but only made a ‘huh’ sound twice.
Jinxia’s hands and feet could not stand still, while talking she eagerly paddled the boat left and right. They didn’t have this kind of boat in the Capital, but in Jiangnan, there were many. She hadn’t seen much of these boats, so she only knew how to pull here and there, push them to the left and swing to the right.
While she was trying to paddle, Xie Xiao also followed the boat swinging left and right. He wasn’t angry, just letting her play around.
While the two of them were chatting, another boat came from the bridge, so fast that one could hear the sound of water splashing.
“Young Master Bangzhu! There’s a problem!”
Xie Xiao jumped on his feet and shouted: “What’s the matter?”
“Dozens of our brothers met the Japanese in the He family’s residence: they were very cruel since they did not say anything and began to beat them up, also killing and wounding some of our brothers. The rest were unable to fight back, hence they jumped in the reeds swamp and fled.”
“Japanese people!”
Jinxia was surprised, she immediately remembered that YangYue had mentioned this before, a few people were hurt by the Japanese and came to the clinic for treatment. It seemed like the local officers had still not been able to catch them.
“You get off the boat first, I have to go see my brothers.” Xie Xiao said, looking at her. “Later if there is free time, I will look for you again.”
“I’m going with you.” As a constable, Jinxia wanted to see how bad the situation was.
Xie Xiao hesitated for a moment, but nodded slowly, “Hold on tight!”
The boat sailed fast out of the city of Yangzhou, like an arrow speeding through the lake, towards southwest. Not long after, they caught the sight of a swamp of reeds. Two fishing boats were sailing on its surface. Around them, the reeds were as tall as two people moving around, the boat turned left and then right. At first, Jinxia was still trying to remember the way, but after three turns and five circles, she was completely confused. Every turn looked almost the same, there seemed to be no difference.
“Don’t think about it too much,” Xie Xiao saw her trying to remember the ways, “Without my lead, once you enter, you would become a lost ghost hitting the wall.”
Jinxia sighed and said, “When reading ‘Zhongyi Shuihu Zhuan’*, Shijie’s village also had a large swamp of reeds, and the three Ruan brothers were inside…”
*[Zhongyi Shuihu Zhuan = A classic novel by Shi Nai’An. One of his chapter talks of the three powerful Ruan siblings from Shijie village, TN]
“That book is talking about a group of bandits, you’re a state official, why are you reading it?”
“It’s not a forbidden book, so why not?”
“That’s right. Now in the palace many officials are cunning and clever. Some dare to rob outside the Capital and force people to become rebels. It’s not unusual.” Xie Xiao continued talking and moving the paddle. As he paddled to the left, suddenly their surroundings became open.
Boats were gathered at that place. Shangguan Xi wore a lotus colour robe. She was standing inside, her eyebrows furrowed and her gaze darkened after hearing the subordinates of her gang reporting the situation. At almost the same time, Jinxia and Shangguan Xi saw each other. It seemed like she didn’t expect Xie Xiao to be with Jinxia, she was a little surprised.
“Young Master Bangzhu, Young Master Bangzhu…” The gang members around him alternately called out to him.
Xie Xiao walked with wide steps and leaned against the pier and, after a quick jump, he landed right to the side of Shangguan Xi.
“Young Master Bangzhu,” Shangguan Xi once again looked at Jinxia who was following behind him, “Miss Yuan.”
Jinxia raised her hands and greeted her, “I hope Shangguan Jie forgives me for my bluntness. I heard there’s a problem with the Japanese people, so I’m here to look around.”
“You are too formal.”
“Jie,” Xie Xiao asked Shangguan Xi, “How many of our brothers are injured?”
“A total of six people are injured severely while three people have minor injuries.” Shangguan Xi took a deep breath, “Four people died.”
Xie Xiao paused for a moment, then said, “Take me to see him… Oh yes, don’t say anything to the old man.”
Some of the injured brothers were being taken to the clinic. Shangguan Xi took them to the mainland where the bodies were located: in a hollow room there were four bodies, all covered in white cloth.
“May I take a look?” Jinxia was a constable, but the place was in Wu’An Gang’s territory, therefore she had to remember the proper etiquette.
Shangguan Xi caught a glimpse of Xie Xiao, saw that he did not mind, thus she went ahead and opened the white cloths.
First, Jinxia stretched her hand and pressed it on the skin of the corpse: it was still elastic, his death had occurred in less than an hour. After that she checked his wounds. There were dozens of cuts on the body: the cut on his chest, from the upper right down to the lower left, was quite deep… This had been the fatal wound. Other cuts were divided in many areas; shoulders, abdomen, and thighs, there were still more wounds in some places that have been blackened…
Xie Xiao had been absent for several years, therefore he wasn’t familiar with the four people that died today. He bowed his head to ask Shangguan Xi, in the corner of his eyes he saw a glimpse of Jinxia stretching her hand toward the blackened wound. He promptly leaned over and pulled her away, shouting: “Be careful, there’s poison!”
His voice was so loud that it startled Shangguan Xi, who was standing nearby.
“I say, brother, can you not be so surprised?” Jinxia felt helpless, she showed her hands to him and said, “It’s not my first day being a constable, how can I not know about it?”
Only now that he saw in her palm a small silver needle, Xie Xiao awkwardly let go of her hand, still saying, “There’s a needle, be careful of that too. If you die here, it can be a big problem for us.”
“Don’t worry, If I do die, I will crawl home and die there.”
Jinxia also answered without hesitation. She then turned back to look at the remaining dead bodies.
Shangguan Xi observed the two of them and became speechless, then she said, “Lao Si, Miss Yuan is a guest, how can you talk to her like that?”
Xie Xiao said, “You don’t need to be polite to her, Jie, don’t look at her like everyone else.”
After a while, the silver needles were put away. Jinxia frowned and asked Shangguan Xi: “How many Japanese people did they meet?”
“One wounded brother managed to come home and reported that they were stopped by four people, their encounter was at the pier of the He family’s residence, but from afar, they could see that there were dozens of Japanese people in the residence.”
“They’re still in the residence?” Jinxia was very surprised, “Did you report it to the local officers?”
“I’ve already sent someone to report to the local officers.”
Jinxia exhaled and, furrowing her eyebrows, said, “These Japanese people are very cruel and fierce, I’m afraid… Where is the He family’s residence? Is it far from here?”
“They are not easy to deal with, don’t add more fuel to the problem.” Xie Xiao frowned, “Come, I’ll take you back to the front of the temple. The officers in this Yangzhou area aren’t all dead, I don’t need an outsider like you to try and resolve it.”
“I just want to take a look. Brother, look at these wounds, they were caused by small-sized secret weapons, and these weapons are poisonous on the surface, but this poison does not make people die immediately, but slow down their movements. You see dozens of these cut wounds, this is like playing with people, until they were hit with the last stroke and died. This indicated that, at that time, they didn’t even have the power to fight, and could only become a dead fish. Among this group of Japanese people, using secret weapons is the most tortuous. This poison, I have never encountered before… Shangguan Jie, among the wounds of the other brothers, are there any poisonous ones?”
Shangguan Xi nodded, “Yes, the physician was not familiar with this poison, even though he had taken the medication, but there seems to be no effect. Luckily, it isn’t deadly, so it can be slowly investigated.”
After listening to this, Xie Xiao’s eyes glanced towards the corpses and, after a moment, he said, “This master will break them, let’s go!”
“Lao Si, you can’t go!”
Shangguan Xi wanted to block him.
“Brother, I’m an official, there’s no other way, this is a mandatory business, but you should not cause any more problems.” Jinxia didn’t want him to go either.
Xie Xiao’s eyes widened. He waved his hands: “This master cannot let these brothers die in vain.”
“The situation is not clear at the moment, we don’t know how many Japanese people there are. If you’re going to seek revenge, you better not go.” Jinxia also tried to stop him, “I’m just going to take a look, I wasn’t planning to take any action yet.”
“This master also just wants to take a look.” Xia Xiao glared at her.
Jinxia waved her hands in front of his face, raising up three fingers: “I’ll say this ahead, you can’t take any action, only follow me from behind, anyone who decides to take action will become a sled dog.”
“Still talking about dogs, how old are you now… It’s better if you follow me.”
Xie Xiao mumbled in his mouth, but didn’t disagree with her rules. He pulled her aside and jumped on the boat. Shangguan Xi couldn’t persuade him, she could only follow him from behind. The young man who had met Jinxia earlier this morning had squatted silently outside the door waiting, and silently followed the boat.
“Jie?” Xie Xiao was shocked.
Shangguan Xi did not look at him, turned and gave an order to the young man: “A’Rui, use the waterway in the west, around the nine inner pavilions to ascend to the mainland.”
“Nine inner pavilions?”
“It’s only half a mile from the pavilions to the He family’s residence, and there is a large area of mulberry forest to hide in.” Shangguan Xi explained.
Before Xie Xiao could speak, he heard Jinxia applauding, “Shangguan Jie really thought of it thoroughly.”
Before they could speak, the young man named A’Rui paddled the boat away, leaving the reed field, sailing silently to the nine inner pavilions.
