Chapter 18 : Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Wayfarer

Outside the Zhou residence, shouts and torchlight roared. Inside, over ten Secret Spy Division warhorses were tied to trees in the courtyard, pawing restlessly at the chaotic air.

Someone battered the residence’s gate, the barred door shaking with booming thuds.

Yunyang looked at me: “The Liu family might break through in less than a quarter of an hour. No one can predict what’ll happen then. Can you find evidence in that time?”

Another quarter of an hour.

I asked myself: Could I really decipher the book’s secrets in a quarter of an hour? Impossible.

My face hidden under a gray cloth mask, I thought briefly and replied: “A quarter of an hour won’t do. I need at least…”

Outside, a furious shout cut me off: “Listen, people inside! Come out and explain! If you have evidence, show it. No evidence? The killers pay with their lives!”

Yunyang tucked his robe’s hem into his belt, snatching a long sword from a spy’s waist and heading to the gate: “Seven Stripes, Five Tiles, hold the door! Jiaotu, watch the back wall. Anyone who breaks in is a traitor—kill without mercy! Chen Ji, you’ve got one quarter of an hour to find evidence, or we die here together!”

I didn’t hesitate, turning to shut the door, blocking out the noise.

I opened Zhou Chengyi’s handwritten

The Four Books Annotated

and rapidly scanned it, using every ancient cipher technique I knew to identify how he hid his messages.

Hidden word method? No.

Verification word method? No…

Could it be the character dissection method?

The ‘character dissection method’—like “thousand-mile grass” for “Dong” or “ten-day divination” for “Zhuo”—hides information in components.

If it was this method, it’d be trouble. It’s not hard to crack, but the workload is massive—days, not minutes!

As time ticked by, the gate could be toppled any moment by the enraged crowd. In the cool autumn, sweat beaded on my forehead.

Not the dissection method—I found no matching clues after searching!

What now?

I closed the book, shutting my eyes to think…

Wait!

The answer to a problem often lies outside the problem itself!

A spark flashed in my mind. I rushed back to the bookshelf, pulling down books—one, two, three… The more I flipped through, the brighter my eyes grew.

Outside, the noise strangely quieted, an eerie calm after the chaos.

Someone called through the gate: “Liu Mingxian of the Liu family requests a meeting with Lord Yunyang.”

The spies glanced at Yunyang.

Jiaotu whispered: “Liu Mingxian, son of Chancellor Liu, grandson of Old Master Liu, now head of the Liu family’s second branch, Luocheng’s judicial commissioner, fifth rank.”

Yunyang considered, tossing the sword to a spy: “Open the gate. Don’t shame the Secret Spy Division’s prestige!”

With a creak, the vermilion gate opened slowly. Outside, hundreds stood with torches, waiting silently.

Liu Mingxian sat on horseback, standing out like a crane among chickens.

He wore white mourning cloth, a filial hat, eyes red, his chestnut horse adorned with white silk flowers.

Yunyang stepped forward, stopping just inside the threshold: “Lord Liu, gathering hundreds at midnight to besiege the Secret Spy Division—plotting rebellion?”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Liu Mingxian’s voice rasped, gripping the reins tightly. “We’re only here to ask why you arrested our Liu family without cause. Got evidence?”

“Of course!” Yunyang said firmly.

“Then show it. If our Liu kin are guilty, we’ll accept punishment!”

Yunyang shook his head: “Not yet. It’s classified and must be presented to the Inner Minister.”

Liu Mingxian urged his horse forward, facing Yunyang across the threshold, voice rising: “So, no evidence! If I let you brush me off, where’s the honor of our Liu family, a lineage of nobles? How can my grandfather rest in peace? How do I face the Empress Dowager?”

“Lord Liu, I advise you not to court a rebellion charge,” Yunyang said, retreating into the residence’s shadows. “Close the gate. Anyone stepping into the Zhou residence is a traitor!”

The gate shut. Liu Mingxian’s face twisted in the flickering torchlight: “Eunuch lackeys ruin the nation, mere dogs of the venomous minister… Call Liang Gou’er. Prepare to break the gate.”

A young man hesitated: “Second Uncle, Liang Gou’er’s drinking in Red Cloth Lane tonight, probably asleep in some girl’s room… Do we need him?”

Liu Mingxian sneered: “You feed a soldier for a thousand days for one moment. Tell him to bring his broken sword now. If I don’t see him, I’ll cut his wine money and his cultivation herbs. Get firewood—pile it at the residence’s walls. We’ll smoke them out!”

…

…

Yunyang hurried back, less composed: “Jiaotu, they’re out for blood!”

Jiaotu blinked: “Liu Mingxian’s rebelling?”

Yunyang sighed: “He didn’t bring Luocheng’s troops, treating this as a family matter. If he’s set on avenging his grandfather, he might get exiled later, but we’d die for nothing. This can be big or small—it’s up to the court’s lords to decide. Literati steal the nation! No wonder Jinzhu said this merit was tricky when we left the capital. He’s the smart one…”

Jiaotu blinked again: “What do we do? They haven’t surrounded the back wall yet—let’s run.”

Yunyang hesitated: “If we flee, what’s left of the Secret Spy Division’s dignity?”

Jiaotu rolled her eyes: “Then I’ll run alone.”

Yunyang: “We run together!”

“But there’s a problem,” Jiaotu said, smiling at me. “What about him? The spies can fight their way out, but if the Liu family has experts, he’s a burden.”

They exchanged a glance, then looked at me.

Yunyang picked up the two copies of

The Four Books Annotated

expressionlessly: “Leave him. We have the books—someone in the Division can decode them.”

Jiaotu said: “We should kill him. If the Liu family gets him, they’ll know we have no evidence. He’d be a witness.”

These venomous snakes turned faster than flipping a book, ready to abandon me. Jiaotu signaled, and the dozen spies silently sheathed their swords, retreating to the back wall, abandoning their horses.

Yunyang and Jiaotu expected me to beg to be taken along, but I didn’t.

I stood by the bookshelf, pulling down and flipping through books, as if I hadn’t heard them.

I didn’t examine each book closely, discarding most to the floor after a glance, searching purposefully.

Books piled thickly at my feet, nearly to my knees.

Finally, I tossed all the books down, lost in thought.

As Jiaotu moved to silence me, I spoke: “Don’t you want evidence of the Liu family’s treason anymore?”

…

…

I closed the book in my hands, stepping out of the pile.

Yunyang and Jiaotu exchanged looks. Jiaotu said curiously: “Why do I feel he’s different from that night?”

“He is different.”

“Hm,” Jiaotu tilted her head, eyeing me: “Cracked the book’s secrets?”

I said firmly: “I know where the evidence of the Liu family’s treason is.”

Yunyang frowned: “You’re not lying to get us to take you, are you?”

I said: “A lowly clinic apprentice like me—even if I tricked you into taking me, wouldn’t you kill me later?”

Yunyang half-smiled: “Then where’s the evidence?”

I tightened the gray cloth over my face, analyzing calmly: “Tonight’s a clash between the outer relatives and the Ceremonial Directorate. The Inner Minister knew you weren’t suited for this, yet didn’t send smoother operators. He used your nature as a blade against the Liu family. If you flee without evidence, you’ll face punishment back at the Ceremonial Directorate, won’t you?”

“Threatening me?” Yunyang narrowed his eyes.

“Lord Yunyang, even if I tell you where the evidence is, without me, you wouldn’t know how to find it,” I replied.

Jiaotu made her decision, calling a spy: “Seven Ten-Thousands, take him and keep him alive!”

We retreated to the back wall. Jiaotu nimbly scaled it, keeping watch: “No one’s here—hurry!”

Yunyang stood at the wall’s base, lacing his hands to boost each spy onto the gray tiles.

When my turn came, I stepped onto his hands and paused, saying earnestly: “Lord Yunyang, this merit is bigger than you can imagine.”

Yunyang sneered: “Trying to linger on my hands? Think I can’t tell? Get over!”

He heaved, sending me onto the wall.

But as we all crossed, a group of Liu family members appeared, carrying firewood to burn the residence. Seeing the Secret Spy Division, they roared: “Quick, they’re escaping from the back!”

The spies didn’t engage, darting into Luocheng’s deep alleys. Yunyang whispered: “Where do we find evidence now?”

I asked: “What’s the name of the scholar who died in the Inner Prison?”

“Liu Shiyu!”

“To his house first!”

I followed the spies, sprinting through Luocheng’s streets.

The night’s cool breeze swept the bluestone paths, fluttering our clothes and hair.

Ahead was darkness, behind were shouts of pursuit. In that moment, I felt like a wayfarer of this martial world.