Guard Yuan was filled with regret—why had he told them they were heading toward Yunzhou!
Guard Lei comforted him: “Old brother, this is fate. Those two officers had a clear target—they came straight to our security company’s banner and asked if there was a woman with a child in the ‘Weiyang Security Company’ caravan.”
He spread his hands helplessly. What else could be done?
“Hey!” Guard Yuan struck the carriage shaft. “If we meet again, we must help her.”
It wasn’t just for personal reasons—there was also a matter of loyalty to family and country.
After queuing for a long time, Guard Yuan handed over the caravan pass. They were the last to enter the city.
The city guards urged them to hurry—it was almost time to close the gates.
“Wait, wait!”
Li Kui galloped out from a side path on horseback. Guard Yuan turned and exclaimed, “Hey! What a coincidence!”
He immediately jumped down from the carriage, pulled the guard aside, and slipped him a handful of copper coins. “Officer, officer, please wait. That’s part of our caravan—he fell behind on the road to relieve himself.”
The guard weighed the coins in his hand, sneered, and continued directing others to push the city gates shut.
Guard Lei cursed inwardly—clearly, the bribe wasn’t enough.
Gritting his teeth, he pulled half a tael of broken silver from his robe and pressed it into the guard’s hand. “Officer, officer, sorry for the trouble. If it rains tonight, the goods on our carts will be ruined.”
The guard scoffed, “Hurry up, don’t delay our shift change.”
“Brother Li, faster! The gates are closing!”
Zhao Nuan sat inside the carriage, hoping the capital hadn’t yet discovered Zhou Ningyu was alive. If they were only investigating servants released from the Hou Estate, the search wouldn’t be too strict, and wanted posters wouldn’t be plastered everywhere.
Li Kui noticed the city guards standing by the gate, showing no intention to inspect them.
He smiled awkwardly and cupped his hands in gratitude. “Thank you, thank you. Once this shipment is delivered, I’ll treat you all to drinks.”
In the brief moment he spoke, the two cargo carts smoothly entered the city.
The gates slammed shut behind them.
In reality, the list of servants released by the Hou Estate had already been urgently distributed to every city. But the guards assumed runaway servants couldn’t possibly travel hundreds of miles so quickly—a few days’ delay in the investigation wouldn’t hurt.
Leaving only a few on duty, the rest of the city guards noisily headed to the tavern.
Zhao Nuan and her group found an inn to stay in, while the three officers were drinking at an official post station sixty li away from Yangbao Town.
The leader took a sip of wine and grumbled, “Ah—damn, that woman can really run.”
“Boss, no need to rush. The more tricks she pulls, the more it proves she’s hiding something.”
“Boss, I think Third Brother is right.” Second Brother took a sip of wine and popped a peanut into his mouth. “If the Hou Estate’s young master is really with that woman, the three of us will earn quite the merit. Let’s see if that He fellow still dares to look down on you!”
“Hmph! I almost hope it’s not the Hou Estate’s young master.” The leader grinned slyly. Money was what truly mattered.
The other two caught his meaning and chuckled along.
After the Hou Estate was exiled, higher-ups had ordered an investigation into the servants they’d released.
Whether by luck or misfortune, these three were assigned to find Zhao Nuan—the servant who cleaned chamber pots.
Feeling sidelined, they grew even more displeased. How could a lowly maid who scrubbed toilets possibly be involved in anything suspicious?
Though resentful, they had to carry out their duties.
They tracked down the old man with the oxcart, who claimed she was the daughter-in-law of the innkeeper at Twenty-li Inn.
Hearing this, the three became even more lax. They drank all afternoon and didn’t bother heading to the inn until the next day.
The innkeeper then said she was the daughter-in-law of the oxcart elder… At this point, they realized something was amiss.
After much effort, they brought both parties together, and only then did the innkeeper’s wife and the oxcart elder discover that the young woman had been spinning lies.
After discussing among themselves, the three reached a conclusion.
Either the Zhao Nuan they were pursuing wasn’t merely a lowly maid as she appeared, or she had taken advantage of the chaos to steal something valuable from the Hou Estate.
Regardless of the reason, they couldn’t report it and let others reap the rewards.
The three even planned that if Zhao Nuan had indeed taken something valuable, they would kill her and seize the goods.
So, based on descriptions from the old man with the ox cart and the couple from the inn, they hired an artist to draw a portrait that bore only a fifty percent resemblance to Zhao Nuan and began their search.
It was precisely Zhao Nuan’s caution that delayed the officers for three days, causing them to miss her in Yangbao Town.
After spending one night in Yangbao Town, Zhao Nuan insisted on setting out early the next morning.
Li Kui urged her to wait a little longer to observe the child’s condition.
But Zhao Nuan was adamant about leaving, sensing something unusual in the gazes of the two escort guards, Yuan Lei and his companion.
Seeing her determination, Li Kui didn’t press further. They bid farewell once more to the people from the Xingyi Escort Agency and left the city early in the morning.
Thus, the two groups traveled one after the other, separated by a day’s journey, hurrying toward Yunzhou.
However, the officers ahead stopped at every relay station to inquire if anyone had seen Zhao Nuan.
This very action inadvertently alerted those connected to the Zhou family.
For many years after the Zhou family was stripped of their military authority, many of their followers, unwilling to endure the corrupt and degraded military camps, had scattered across the region.
Most of them settled in Yunzhou and Suizhou, as it was from here that the Zhou family had once driven the enemy all the way back to the imperial capital.
As for Suizhou, it was a place of exile. Aside from those who were truly guilty, most were there because they had backed the wrong side and been wrongfully accused.
The old marquis and the current marquis, pitying their talents, had often provided them aid in the past.
This was also one of the reasons why the Yuchi family viewed the Zhou family with suspicion.
As for why they dared to exile these people to Suizhou, it was because the Da Hong Dynasty had only this one barren, impoverished land where even basic sustenance was scarce, making rebellion an impossibility.
Moreover, situated on the border, if enemy forces invaded, these exiles would serve as cannon fodder.
Because of this, the three officers’ inquiries about Zhao Nuan reached the ears of those who were paying attention.
Some of these people had received messages from Zhou Qingci, while others took it upon themselves to search for Zhao Nuan. They searched ahead of the officers but couldn’t find her anywhere.
As they approached Yunzhou City the next day, the three officers gathered at a relay station, exchanging uneasy glances.
“Brother, could we have missed her on the road?”
“Exactly. They’re traveling by carriage, so they should be slower than us on horseback… We should have encountered them by now.”
The leader pondered for a moment. “Could it be that the woman knew we were coming and hid along the way?”
After a moment’s thought, the lead officer made a decision. “Regardless, tomorrow we’ll inquire at the gates of Yunzhou City. If she hasn’t entered the city, we’ll turn back and search again.”
Those secretly searching for Zhao Nuan had no choice but to keep an eye on the three officers.
The officers asked at the gates of Yunzhou City and confirmed that no one resembling Zhao Nuan had entered, so they turned their horses around.
Meanwhile, Zhao Nuan, who had relied on her wits to evade the authorities all this time, encountered the officers pursuing her just thirty li outside Yunzhou City.
From a distance, Li Kui spotted three riders kicking up dust as they approached. He subtly tightened his grip on the reins.
After all this time together, if he still didn’t realize there was something unusual about Zhao Nuan, he would have to be incredibly dense.
But since she hadn’t spoken of it, he pretended not to know.
He only wished to deliver her to her destination as quickly as possible, so this matter would no longer concern him.
Escort Zhang sighed. “Chief, perhaps you should take Xiao Bai and…”
Li Kui was taken aback, staring at his companion as if seeing him for the first time.
“Old Zhang, you’ve been hiding your depths well…”
“I never deliberately concealed anything, only this matter concerns my former master.”
Li Kui sighed. Old Zhang had indeed never deliberately hidden his past – when he joined the security company years ago, he had mentioned he was once a soldier.