Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 234 Entering the Jurchen (Bonus chapter for Yong Su's Alliance Leader)

However, they forgot about Hua Lian Yue's abilities. She was a genuine grandmaster-level expert. Finding a little money to buy two sets of clothes from a cloth shop was really not a difficult task for her.

Women often take a long time to change clothes, but this is on the premise that there are many clothes to choose from. Therefore, the door was opened again in less than 15 minutes.

Luo Tianyi seemed to have fully recovered, her face as indifferent as ever. She merely glanced at Song Yan, and that gaze inexplicably reminded Song Yan of the way a female protagonist in an anime looks at trash.

He's not a masochist; he doesn't have any particular fetish for that kind of look, nor does he get excited about it.

I wanted to explain, but I didn't know how to start. If I angered my sister-in-law, it would be even more troublesome.

Seeing Hua Lianyue's smiling face again, he felt a little resentful... well, not really.

As if nothing happened.

The three boarded the carriage, and with the creaking of the wheels, the carriage began to head towards Xinhou County.

On the way, Song Yan asked Luo Tianyi why he had wiped out the entire Fan family. He then learned that on the day Hua Lian Yue took him away, there was actually a ninth-rank martial artist and two eighth-rank martial artists appearing simultaneously. Song Yan felt somewhat fortunate that it was Hua Lian Yue who appeared before him that day; otherwise, his life would have been in danger.

Song Yan knew that Yang Lie was unwilling to give up after his first failure, and unaware that Song Yan had been kidnapped by Hua Lian Yue, he actually launched another assassination attempt. Unfortunately, he encountered Luo Tianyi in a fit of rage, who slit the throats of all three of them.

They also knew that Yang Lie was backed by a branch of the Fan family, which is why the entire family was slaughtered.

Even with Song Yan's sharp mind, she felt a little dizzy for a moment.

He wondered if he had offended the Fan family, and he had never encountered their smuggling operations before. He figured he should at least spend some money to see if he could get through to them.

Is it too much to start with an assassination?

Feeling somewhat frustrated, Luo Tianyi seemed to remember something at that moment, took out a yellow envelope from her bosom, and handed it to Song Yan: "There might be clues inside."

"The person the Fan family hired Yang Lie to kill you was Fan Jiu'en. I think Fan Jiu'en cherishes this letter very much."

Song Yan raised an eyebrow and took the envelope.

turn on.

He glanced at it briefly and then frowned.

Luo Tianyi carefully observed Song Yan's expression, and when she saw Song Yan frown, she immediately asked, "How is it? Do you have any clues?"

Song Yan glanced at Luo Tianyi, then at the letter in his hand, and then smiled: "There are indeed some clues. We should be able to follow the trail and find the real mastermind."

Luo Tianyi chuckled twice.

He seemed quite satisfied.

Song Yan's expression was slightly strange. Clues my ass! These are love letters between Fan Jiu'en and a girl named Ling Yu.

It was so cheesy that even corny pickup lines seemed less awkward in comparison. Just looking at Song Yan gave me goosebumps. Seeing Luo Tianyi's expectant eyes, he ultimately told a white lie.

The coachman was far superior to these men. Although the outside world was covered in snow and desolate, he managed to determine the exact direction even in such conditions. By mid-afternoon, Song Yan actually saw a very familiar place: Taiping Town. It was here that he beheaded Wugucha, the young prince of the Bureau of War.

Before you know it, night falls.

As the stars filled the night sky, the city walls of Xinhou County finally came into view.

When they returned to the county government office, tears welled up in the eyes of Gu Banxia, ​​Yang Siyao, and the maid Kong Chan.

Even Gao Yang, upon hearing the commotion, couldn't help but come out of his bedroom, a look of relief on his face.

However, perhaps due to her status as a widow, and the possibility of rumors arising from too much contact with her cousin-in-law, she nodded to Song Yan as a greeting before returning to her room.

Hua Lianyue, however, seemed to sense something, and frowned slightly as she looked into the distance.

After some gentle reassurance, the chattering maids, including Kong Chan and Die Yi, gradually quieted down. Gu Banxia seemed to realize that Song Yan had something to tell her, so she waved her hand and sent the maids back to their rooms.

Yang Siyao's bedroom.

A pair of small hands gently massaged Song Yan's shoulders, the movements slow and gentle, relieving the obvious stiffness in his muscles.

Where is the bright moon?

“Asking other women in my room, you’ll lose me.” Yang Siyao puffed out her cheeks and teased, but she didn’t really care. “After delivering the message, he hurriedly went back, saying he was going to use the power of the Hehuan Sect’s reformist faction to see if he could find your whereabouts.”

Although Mingyue was partly to blame for this incident, Song Yan was still very grateful for her going to such lengths for him.

"Has there been any movement from the Yang family lately?"

"There seems to be some infighting going on. Yang Guochen and Yang Ming have repeatedly acted on their own, which has greatly displeased the seven elders of the Yang family. The main branch of the clan feels that Yang Hetong's lineage does not obey the family's orders. Yang Hetong is alright, but his descendants feel that the main branch of the clan is too cowardly. However, for now, they are probably only cursing each other in private and have not yet made it public."

"Keep an eye on Gao Yang and see if she's in contact with anyone in private, but don't make it too obvious. In any case, your own safety is the most important thing," Song Yan said softly after thinking for a moment.

Yang Siyao's expression changed slightly, and she slowly nodded.

She didn't ask why.

Perhaps, with Yang Siyao's intelligence, she must have sensed something was amiss.

After chatting for a while, Yang Siyao's hands stopped moving without her realizing it. Her hands slowly landed on Song Yan's chest, and her delicate body pressed against Song Yan's back.

"Can you not leave tonight? At least get some rest for the night."

Song Yan shook his head: "Some things just have to be done eventually."

Yang Siyao sighed, but didn't try to stop her. She was never the clingy type of girl. Their cheeks touched, and they lingered like that for a while before Yang Siyao got up.

"Be careful, and remember that there are many people waiting for you here."

Song Yan nodded, then glanced at Yang Siyao: "Wait for me to come back."

After saying this, he turned and left.

Once outside, the cold air fell on my face, and I couldn't help but sigh. It felt good to have someone care about you, but sometimes I couldn't help but feel guilty.

“Cousin…” A familiar voice rang out.

Song Yan, who was originally going to find Liu Yisheng, stopped in his tracks. Here, the only person who would call him cousin was Gao Yang... Yang Siyao used to call him that too, but now they all call him husband.

Looking up, sure enough, in a bedroom diagonally opposite, Gao Yang was standing at the door, gently waving at him.

Despite the freezing weather, Gao Yang's pajamas were quite revealing, and under the moonlight, a patch of snowy white was visible below the collar.

Like the bright moon, it is dazzling.

Song Yan's Adam's apple bobbed slightly as she averted her gaze: "Princess..."

“I already told you, call me cousin.” Gao Yang was quite dissatisfied with this form of address.

Song Yan scratched her hair: "Okay, cousin, is there something you need?"

Gao Yang then took out a book with a blue cover and black lettering from his pocket and handed it to Song Yan with satisfaction: "That day, my cousin killed the three Yang brothers. This was found on one of them. It should be a secret manual. I am not a martial artist and do not know much about these things, but it should be useful to you, cousin."

Song Yan took it and saw that it was a book called "Treading Snow Without Leaving a Trace". Judging from the name, it should be a lightness skill. It appeared just in time.

Then Gao Yang yawned, seemingly very tired, and waved his hand: "I'm going to sleep now, cousin, good night."

The door slowly closed, completely shutting out Gao Yang's figure, and Song Yan finally withdrew his gaze. He put the Snowless Trace into his arms and headed towards the study. It was already late at night, but the study was still lit. Xinhou County was in dire need of reconstruction, and with more and more people returning over the years, various problems inevitably arose, and Liu Yisheng had even more things to deal with.

Hearing footsteps, Liu Yisheng looked up and, seeing it was Song Yan, he took a deep breath; his face flushed slightly under the oil lamp.

"Lord."

"Don't overwork yourself." Song Yan glanced at the various documents on the table. "If all else fails, we can hire a clerk to help with some simple tasks."

Liu Yisheng shook his head: "There aren't many scholars in Xinhou County, and most of them have fled to avoid disaster. Even if you want to find a clerk, you can't find one. There are many places in Xinhou County that need to be rebuilt, so things are inevitably a bit busy. Things will get better after these days."

"Lei Yi has already set off?"

"On the very night that our lord had his accident, Captain Lei Yi and the Third Young Master had already taken action. They took two thousand soldiers with them. Currently, there are still two thousand black-armored soldiers stationed in Xinhou County, with Wang Chao and Ma Han in charge of command."

The third young master is Luo Tianyang.

In the current Xinhou County, almost all the important figures know Luo Tianyang's identity.

It's probably only Luo Tianyang himself who doesn't know this. Every time he appears, he's fully armored and wearing a mask, continuing his disguise, and he's too lazy to expose it.

"That's good then." Song Yan nodded, a hint of apology on her face. "Sir, you're already very busy, but I still have some things to attend to..."

"The Lord will make the arrangements." Liu Yisheng waved his hand and said. The moment he chose Song Yan as his lord, he already knew that the road ahead would be difficult, and he had already made preparations.

"First, send two letters to Ningping, to my mother and Fang Hai, hoping they can use their connections to protect Jiao Junze, the Prefect of Dingzhou, in the imperial court!"

The other party let Luo Tianyi go once.

This is a favor.

Report it.

Liu Yisheng nodded and noted it down.

"Also, investigate Prince Fu."

Liu Yisheng suddenly raised his head, his expression gradually becoming serious.

Even though Prince Fu is an exception among the royal family and seems to have little influence, he is still a prince no matter what. Investigating a prince could be fatal if one is not careful.

Even so, Liu Yisheng nodded: "Please tell me, my lord, what aspects will you mainly investigate?"

"Is the Princess Consort of Prince Fu a woman from the Kong family, one of the eight great families of Jin? What are the identities of the other concubines?"

“Investigate the descendants of Prince Fu again. I am already a prince consort and a member of the imperial family, but apart from Princess Gaoyang, we know nothing about the other members of Prince Fu’s lineage.”

"Also, investigate whether there is any connection between Prince Fu and the eight great families of Jin."

Song Yan's expression was somewhat grave.

He didn't want to suspect Gao Yang, but given the current chaotic situation, it was better to investigate some things thoroughly.

Before the night of the incident, he had told Gao Yang about the stalkers, but Gao Yang's reaction was very strange. She did not tell Fang Hai and Fang Jun about it, as if she did not care at all, and even dared to go out at night. Otherwise, she would not have given those three hooligans the opportunity to attack.

It felt like I had willingly offered myself up to be attacked.

Perhaps Yang Ming and Song Zhe were enjoying using Jiang Miaojun, but they didn't realize that they were also pawns being used by others.

If that's the case, then it's a bit scary.

What is the purpose of the other party?
Is the intention to undermine the relationship between the royal family and the Fang family while simultaneously suppressing the Yang family?
"Check again to find out who the newly appointed Minister of Rites is and whether he is related to Prince Fu."

Damn it, a country on the verge of collapse still has so much deceit and intrigue.

"Finally, help me investigate Jiao Junze!"

……

Winter of the nineteenth year of Ninghe.

November 27th.

Xinhou County, Beicheng.

The city gates, which had never been opened since they were repaired, were reopened.

Several warhorses, their hooves pounding the snow, departed into the night.

Beyond this gate lies the territory of the Jurchens.

(End of this chapter)