Perhaps Wind Spirit Manor was simply too large. Shen Jiaqing spent a long time sketching with his brush, pausing at each spot to add a comment or two—like how he was bitten by a snake here at age eight, leaving a pair of tooth marks on his buttocks that remained to this day, or how he got lost over there at ten and wasn’t found until two days later, starving.
But the woman had no interest in these stories. She alternated between fierce warnings and urging him to hurry up.
Wen Lisheng chimed in with playful banter, saying that if he was rushed too much, he might misremember details. Wind Spirit Manor was full of deadly traps everywhere, and without an accurate map, anyone who entered would surely never return.
The woman, suppressing her anger, dared not press further.
The room fell quiet for a while as Shen Jiaqing continued sketching leisurely. Suddenly, there was a commotion outside.
Highly alert, the woman immediately looked toward the door and gestured for her attendants to investigate.
Just as two guards reached the door, it was kicked open from the outside with tremendous force, slamming directly into their faces.
Everyone looked up simultaneously to see a man in gray robes stride in with light steps, a gentle smile on his face. His gaze swept the room, landing first on the figure in the corner.
The woman stood up in alarm, shouting angrily, “Who are you? How dare you barge in here!”
Wen Lisheng also rose to her feet, her expression one of surprise.
The newcomer was none other than Qiao Ling.
This man was Xie Xiaonan’s top attendant, someone who rarely appeared in ordinary situations. It was unclear how he had found his way here.
Only then did Qiao Ling notice her. He smiled and said, “So Miss Wen is here as well.”
Wen Lisheng felt a wave of relief. Qiao Ling’s presence here was enough to resolve these minor troubles.
As she was thinking this, another person followed closely behind. The moment he entered the room, he exclaimed, “Good heavens! Boss, are you all right?”
With that, he rushed straight toward Xie Xiaonan in the corner. Seeing how quickly he approached, the woman grew wary and drew an extremely small dagger from her sleeve, thrusting it at him.
Unexpectedly, the man merely tilted his head slightly, effortlessly dodging her fierce strike. His expression remained unchanged, and his steps didn’t falter in the slightest as he walked to the corner, knelt on one knee, and took the young man’s wrist to check his pulse.
Xie Xiaonan was in an exceptionally foul mood at that moment. Seeing his people arrive, he immediately felt a sense of impending retribution. Without saying anything else, he pointed at Wen Lisheng and said, “Take this—”
“To thank me, right?” Wen Lisheng thought to herself, This isn’t good. Knowing that this strangely dressed pickpocket was about to tattle on her, she quickly raised her voice to cut him off, wearing an apologetic smile. “No need. Helping you earlier was just a small favor.”
Xie Xiaonan looked at her with disbelief, momentarily forgetting what he had intended to say out of sheer anger.
After carefully checking Xie Xiaonan’s pulse, the man pointed at the woman and asked, “Was there poison in the drug you gave him?”
The woman’s eyes darted around as if she were scheming something else. Qiao Ling saw right through her, still smiling as warmly as a spring breeze. “Madam, for the sake of your own life, it would be wise to tell the truth.”The woman, for some reason, felt a chill run down her spine and dared not entertain any devious thoughts. She hurriedly said, “It’s not poisonous, not poisonous at all. It just saps one’s strength, but it’ll wear off after a while. This matter originally had nothing to do with this young man. He was only captured along with this Wen family girl because they were inseparable at the time.”
As soon as the words “inseparable” left her mouth, the expressions of those present shifted slightly. Qiao Ling and the other man both turned to look at their young master.
Xie Xiaonan immediately furrowed his brows, clearly disliking the choice of words. He said in a low voice, “She has something of mine on her. Go retrieve it.”
The man kneeling before him asked, “Shall we spare her life?”
“Kill her,” he replied coldly, his voice devoid of any emotion.
The man promptly stood up, but before he could act, the woman, seeing no room for negotiation, nimbly rolled on the ground and snatched the paper Shen Jiaqing was still earnestly drawing on. Just as she was about to tuck it away and flee, she caught a glimpse of the drawing—it wasn’t a map at all, but an ugly, oversized turtle.
She stared in shock at Wen Lisheng, suddenly realizing something.
The girl, who moments ago had worn a look of fear, was now tilting her head as she observed the woman. Her fair, delicate face was framed by a pair of beautiful, ink-black eyes that reflected the lamplight in the room. “Madam, you must be at least thirty years old, right? Why do you believe everything others say, like a three-year-old child?”
Shen Jiaqing also tossed aside his brush and stood up, sighing with regret. “I hadn’t even finished drawing it yet. It still needs a tail.”
Seeing the expressions on their faces, the woman finally understood she had been fooled by these two. Instantly, she flew into a rage, tearing the ugly turtle drawing to shreds. “How dare you deceive me!”
Wen Lisheng found the woman’s naivety genuinely amusing and chuckled. “So what if I deceived you?”
The woman hadn’t expected such a candid admission. Her face shifted through a range of emotions. “You clearly used the Wen family’s reputation as a guarantee, saying you wouldn’t lie!”
Wen Lisheng couldn’t hold back her laughter this time, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. “You might as well go out and ask around—what reputation does my Wen family even have left? Who doesn’t know my father is a famously corrupt official?”
Shen Jiaqing gently nudged her with his elbow. “Watch what you say. Xie Shizi’s men are here.”
Only then did Wen Lisheng realize her slip of the tongue. After all, others saying it and her admitting it herself were two entirely different matters. With no way to take it back now, she hurriedly said to Qiao Ling, “Brother, please don’t tell Shizi about this. You did accept five hundred taels from me, after all.”
Qiao Ling didn’t respond, but Xie Xiaonan lifted his eyelids to glance at her and let out a disdainful snort.
Trapped in a hopeless situation, the woman knew her chances of escape were slim. Fueled by rage over being deceived, she resolved to take the life of this Wen family girl before her own end. With a flick of her wrist, the dagger in her hand extended into a long, slender sword. The blade trembled softly, reflecting a sharp, cold gleam.
“Wen family scoundrel, prepare to die!” she shouted, raising the sword and thrusting it toward Wen Lisheng.
The distance between them was so close that in the blink of an eye, she was upon her. The slender, flexible sword aimed straight for Wen Lisheng’s face. The woman’s expression turned vicious, determined to leave a scar on her cheek.Wen Lisheng stood still, not even making a move to dodge, while Shen Jiaqing beside her, who seemed as useless as a straw bag, raised his hand in an instant. A short blade flew out from nowhere, spun in a circle, and was grasped in his palm. With an upward swing, a crisp clang rang out, and the slender, flexible long sword snapped in response, its broken half flying off and embedding itself diagonally into the ground.
The short blade in his hand met the long sword and slid forward, the sharp sound of clashing blades cutting through the silence of the room until it stopped against the woman’s sword-holding hand.
From that point on, the woman’s sword could not advance another inch.
Shen Jiaqing’s gaze swept over her from head to toe, and he frowned as he said, “Your sword strike is too slow, your posture drags down the blade’s edge, and your unstable stance makes your sword force extremely weak. Breaking your sword was effortless. Someone like you wielding a sword truly dishonors the way of the sword.”
The woman, having lived for so many years, never expected to be lectured by a teenager in his teens. She glanced down at her firmly planted horse stance and angrily retorted, “Nonsense! I’ve been practicing my horse stance for half a year!”
Before her words fully faded, Shen Jiaqing crouched low and swept his leg out in a swift, clean motion. The woman felt a sharp pain in her leg, lost her balance, and by the time she regained her senses, she was already sprawled on the ground.
“See? I told you your stance was unstable,” Shen Jiaqing’s voice came from above.
Seeing her knocked down, Wen Lisheng immediately pounced, using all her strength to pin the woman’s arms down as she shouted to Shen Jiaqing, “Hand me the brush.”
Shen Jiaqing complied, passing it to her. He then watched as she ignored the woman’s screams and scribbled wildly on her face with the ink brush.
This woman had earlier threatened to disfigure her face, and Wen Lisheng was by no means a magnanimous person. Having bottled up her anger all night, she raised the brush and painted the woman’s face into a mess.
The woman continued to scream hysterically, and Xie Xiaonan found the noise unbearably irritating, his annoyance lingering between his brows. “Make them shut up!”
Qiao Ling had been standing by the door, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle, but amidst the clamor, he heard his young master’s command and immediately stepped forward to lift Wen Lisheng off the woman.
Wen Lisheng, caught up in the commotion, naturally hadn’t heard Xie Xiaonan’s order and assumed Qiao Ling was there to handle matters. After standing up and straightening her dress slightly, she handed him the purple jade she had just retrieved from the woman’s sleeve. “Brother, please pass this to the young master. I went through a lot of trouble to get it.”
Qiao Ling took it and, upon inspection, immediately showed a look of surprise. After examining the jade repeatedly, he looked up at her and said, “Miss Wen, you’ve gone to great lengths. I will ensure it is returned intact to the young master.”
Seeing how approachable Qiao Ling seemed, Wen Lisheng couldn’t help but add, “Then please remember to put in a good word for the Wen family in front of the young master. Our Wen family has served the nation with unwavering loyalty for generations, upholding the court and protecting the people. Don’t let the young master be misled by rumors on the streets and wrongfully accuse a loyal official.”
Xie Xiaonan heard every word of this and instinctively replied, “In your dreams.”
Hearing this, Wen Lisheng turned to him in surprise, her gaze lingering on his plain, disguised face. After a moment of thought, she turned back to Qiao Ling and whispered very softly, “Also, please inform the young master that no matter how vigilant one is, it’s hard to guard against betrayal from within. He should be careful…”
Xie Xiaonan was so furious he immediately tried to stand up, and Xi Lu, standing beside him, quickly bowed and reached out to support him.His strength had not yet recovered, and he had gotten up in a hurry earlier. Whether from anger or exertion, he was breathing heavily with low gasps.
Seeing this, Xi Lu said softly, “Boss, don’t get angry. This little girl doesn’t know what’s good for her. When night falls, I’ll tie her up and hang her under the eaves, letting the night wind blow on her for half the night so she learns her lesson.”
Xie Xiaonan had spent the entire evening venting a year’s worth of anger. Since birth, he had been the young master held in high esteem, and no one had ever dared to speak to him like this, slandering him without leaving any room for rebuttal, spouting nonsense without hesitation.
This person clearly had no idea how to write the word “fear.” The fear she had shown earlier in front of him was likely all an act.
Even though he was this angry, he remained calm and restrained, not lifting a finger against Wen Lisheng.
The score wasn’t settled this way.
Although Wen Lisheng was a fickle opportunist, with eight out of ten words from her mouth being lies and a foolish mind to boot, she was still Wen Puchang’s daughter and couldn’t be touched for now.
Moreover, he had altered his appearance and voice for more important matters. He couldn’t reveal his disguise yet and had to leave this place before anyone arrived.
Xie Xiaonan looked at Wen Lisheng, his deep gaze icy with frost. Miss Wen, we’ll settle our score another day.
Wen Lisheng felt his stare and turned to meet his eyes. Thinking that since this little pickpocket was Xie Xiaonan’s man, there was absolutely no need to make an enemy of him, she curved her eyes into a smile and sincerely praised, “Young master, you have quite the figure. That chest looks rock solid.”
Xie Xiaonan’s fists clenched tightly again.