My father ordered me to kill the emperor, but His Majesty bestowed a princess upon me instead.

I've taken many train journeys in my life.

There was a broken-down donkey cart used by someone traveling to the capital, disguised as a poor scholar.

There were luxurious carriages from the princess's residence that went out of the city to offer incense.

There were also trucks that I randomly squeezed into when I was being chased, and the jolting was so bad I almost threw up my breakfast.

But this was the first time I had ever ridden in a carriage belonging to the Imperial Guard.

It's fast.

It's also very uncomfortable.

It was so fast that I felt the wheels weren't running on the ground, but crushing my bones.

I leaned against the car wall, my face turning pale.

Yan Xiaoyi sat opposite him, eyes closed, as if he were sitting on his own bed.

I couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you dizzy?"

He didn't even open his eyes.

"I'm used to it."

"Do the Imperial Guards always travel this fast?"

"When you're in a rush to kill someone, it's faster than this."

I immediately stopped asking.

Gu Xingzhi rode his horse outside the carriage.

The night was very dark.

The city gates were already locked, but the inner guards leaving the city needed little explanation.

Gu Xingzhi revealed a card, and the gatekeeper didn't even dare to ask any questions before opening the side gate.

As I watched the city gate close behind me, I suddenly thought of Xu Sandao.

If he knew that I followed the Imperial Guards out of the city in the middle of the night, he would probably think that I was no longer far from killing the emperor, but had begun to serve the emperor.

The problem is, I also feel like I'm somewhat like that.

But I can't not go.

The true original map of the Yongning River channel is located at Huaihua Bieyuan.

Someone wants to burn something before midnight.

If that booklet were gone, Qian Rong could still sit in his position as Vice Minister of Works, drinking tea, writing memorials, and gently threatening me.

The poisoning of Liu Laoqi, the torture of Bai Laoxiu, the corpse of the old warehouse guard, and the death of Fang Yuanshi will all be gradually whitewashed into "no evidence found".

I can't let it burn.

At least it can't be burned in front of me.

Once the carriage left the city, the wind was as cold as a knife.

Gu Xingzhi suddenly spoke from outside:

"Shen An".

I lifted the car curtain.

"Commander Gu."

"After we arrive at the villa, follow behind me."

"it is good."

"Don't run around."

"it is good."

Don't be presumptuous.

I paused for a moment.

"This is a bit difficult."

Gu Xingzhi turned around and glanced at me.

In the darkness, his eyes were like freshly polished iron.

I immediately added, "Your subject will do his best."

Yan Xiaoyi chuckled inside the car.

Gu Xingzhi did not laugh.

He probably didn't learn this when he was a child.

Huaihua Bieyuan is located ten miles southeast of the city.

Qian Fu said there were two old locust trees there.

But when we arrived, the first thing we saw was not the locust tree.

It was firelight.

The villa is already on fire.

Fire erupted from the study on the east side, illuminating half of the courtyard wall. A night breeze blew, and flames shot up to the eaves, crackling and popping as they burned the tiles.

Gu Xingzhi dismounted.

The guards silently dispersed.

The movements were extremely fast.

It didn't look like putting out a fire; it looked like killing someone.

I had just gotten off the bus, and my legs were still a little weak. I almost missed a step.

Yan Xiaoyi reached out and helped me up.

"Can you still walk?"

"able."

You look like you're about to be blown over by the wind.

"Then you should block the wind a bit."

"The guards don't block the wind."

"Then what use are you?"

"To take the blow."

That works too.

The gate to the villa was wide open.

Two servants lay dead at the entrance.

One had a knife wound on his neck, and the other had an arrow in his chest; the blood was still wet.

They weren't burned to death.

They were killed first.

Gu Xingzhi squatted down and took a look.

"He died not long ago."

I asked, "Ji Qing?"

"picture."

He didn't explain further.

But I saw that one of the servants' sleeves had been cut open, as if someone had searched him.

Ji Qing did not come simply to burn the books.

He was still looking for something.

The guards rushed into the courtyard.

Soon someone reported back:

"The study caught fire, and there were burnt account books inside."

Gu Xingzhi looked at me.

My heart sank.

Are we late?

wrong.

If I'm really late, Gu Xingzhi won't even look at me.

He's looking at me so I can make a judgment.

I followed them into the study.

The fire had reached the beams, and the heat was intense.

The desk lay overturned on the ground, covered with a pile of charred papers, and several guards were using wet blankets to put out the fire.

I covered my mouth and nose with my sleeve and squinted at the pile of scraps of paper.

The paper is very thick.

The paper edges are neat.

The characters "Yongning", "Fuhe", and "Liaoshi" can still be vaguely seen on it.

It looks like a backing book.

so similar.

I don't believe it because it seems so.

I asked Gu Xingzhi, "Would someone like Qian Rong keep a life-saving manual in his study?"

Gu Xingzhi said, "The most dangerous place is sometimes the safest."

"That's for the poor."

"What do you mean?"

"Only the poor have nowhere to hide things, so they stuff them under the bed, in the study, or behind the stove. Qian Rong has a villa, servants, a bank, and an ironworks. If he really wanted to hide a book of self-preservation, he would never put it in a place where a fire could burn it to ashes."

Gu Xingzhi looked at me.

"continue."

I crouched down to look at the study floor.

The smell of kerosene is very strong.

The fire started not at the desk, but at the door and near the window.

In other words, someone deliberately let the fire burn from the outside in.

It was as if they were afraid we would arrive too late and miss the fact that the tents had been burned here.

I used my short blade to pick up a piece of paper that hadn't completely burned.

The ink on the paper was faint, as if it had been recently copied.

A genuine copy of the original document, if kept for many years, will show signs of wear on the paper, darkening of the ink, and signs of being turned over on the edges.

This pile of papers is too new.

"Fake."

Gu Xingzhi asked, "Are you sure?"

"Sure."

Yan Xiaoyi chimed in from the side, "Lord Shen knows the falsified accounts better than he knows his own house."

I can't be bothered with him.

Gu Xingzhi immediately gave the order:

"Search the entire hospital."

The guards dispersed.

I didn't go with them to search the house; instead, I stood in the yard and smelled the house.

In addition to the smell of kerosene, there was also a faint fragrance of locust blossoms in the night breeze.

It's not the season for locust flowers to bloom now.

But the taste is quite distinct.

I looked up at the backyard.

Two old locust trees.

The branches and leaves are dense, and the trunk is thick, like two silent old men watching the fire at night.

Qian Fu said there are two old locust trees at the entrance of Huaihua Bieyuan.

But these two plants aren't near the entrance.

It's in the backyard.

I suddenly realized that Qian Fu was wrong.

No.

Qian Fu was an accountant and didn't come to the villa often. He heard people say "Locust Blossom Villa, with two old locust trees," and assumed it was at the entrance.

Only those who have actually been there know that the old locust tree is in the backyard.

I walked to the backyard.

Gu Xingzhi followed.

Yan Xiaoyi followed.

Gu Xingzhi asked, "What did you discover?"

"smell."

"The scent of locust blossoms?"

"Um."

"What's the problem?"

"The scent of locust blossoms shouldn't be this strong at this time of year."

Yan Xiaoyi looked up at the tree.

"Scented sachets are hanging on the tree."

I was startled and followed his gaze.

Sure enough, several small cloth bags were hanging among the branches of the old locust tree, hidden very well. If Yan Xiaoyi hadn't been so sharp-eyed, he wouldn't have been able to see them at all.

The guard leaped up the tree and took down a cloth bag.

It contains dried locust flowers.

It also had a little bit of incense ash mixed in.

A thought struck me.

Incense ash is used to suppress moisture.

The methods used in the inner warehouse material storage room.

Some people use dried locust flowers and incense ash to mask the smell and prevent moisture.

What flavor are you trying to mask?

What kind of dampness are you trying to prevent?

I looked down at the tree.

The soil around the roots of the old locust tree was turned over.

It was turned very carefully, the surface was flattened again, and fallen leaves were sprinkled on top.

If it were during the day, perhaps it could still fool people.

When illuminated by the firelight at night, the mud color actually looked off.

I squatted down and touched the soil.

It's wet.

I flipped through it not long ago.

"dig."

Gu Xing gave the order.

The two guards immediately took action.

The soil was dug up, and soon a stone slab was revealed.

The stone slab was small, with a rough pattern carved around it, resembling a locust flower casually chiseled out.

My heart started racing.

The bottom volume might be located beneath the stone slab.

But just then, a scream suddenly came from the front yard.

Immediately afterwards, the woodshed on the west side also caught fire.

The second fire point.

Gu Xingzhi's eyes turned cold.

"Luring the tiger away from the mountain."

Yan Xiaoyi looked towards the top of the wall.

"He's still alive."

I know who he's talking about.

Ji Qing.

He didn't leave.

He waited until we discovered what was under the old locust tree before lighting the second fire.

Gu Xingzhi said, "Keep digging."

After he finished speaking, he turned to go to the front yard.

I called out to him.

"Commander Gu."

He turned around.

"Don't chase after them too far."

Why?

"Ji Qing isn't here to kill you; he's here to distract you."

Gu Xingzhi glanced at me.

"so?"

"The person who truly wants to kill me is under the tree."

As soon as he finished speaking, one of the guards who was digging suddenly let out a low groan and leaned back.

He had a short crossbow stuck in his chest.

Up in the tree!

Yan Xiaoyi moved almost simultaneously.

He kicked the tree trunk, used the momentum to leap up, and swept the short stick deep into the branches and leaves.

A muffled thud came from the tree canopy.

A dark figure tumbled down from the tree, but before it hit the ground, Gu Xingzhi pinned it down with a single slash.

He was a gray-clad assassin.

The mouth contains poison.

Gu Xingzhi dislocated his jaw.

The movements were so fast they made my teeth ache.

He looked at me.

"You guessed right."

I'm not happy at all.

In the eyes of an assassin, guessing this kind of thing correctly usually only means that you are still alive.

Continue digging under the tree.

The stone slab was pried open, revealing a stone box underneath.

The gaps in the stone box were stuffed with tarpaulin, and the outside was covered with moisture-proof mud.

No wonder they used incense ash and dried locust flowers to mask the smell.

I reached out to touch it, but Yan Xiaoyi grabbed me.

"I'll do it."

He used a short stick to pry open the stone box lid.

There is no organization.

Inside lay an oilcloth bag.

The oilcloth is very old.

The edges and corners were pressed until they shone.

My heart was in my throat.

This thing looks like the real thing.

Gu Xingzhi reached out and took out the oilcloth package. He had just opened a corner when yellowed pages were revealed in the firelight.

The paper edges are worn and rough.

The ink is deep and rich.

The cover had a few words written on it:

Yongning River Channel Review Register.

found it.

But before I could even catch my breath, a bamboo whistle suddenly rang out from outside the courtyard wall.

Sharp and short.

Gu Xingzhi's expression changed slightly.

"withdraw."

I asked, "What's wrong?"

"There are soldiers lying in ambush outside the villa."

My heart sank.

Ji Qing did not come alone.

He lit the fire, set up the crossbows, and dragged Gu Xingzhi away, all just to wait for the people outside to gather around.

From the moment we unearthed this manuscript, it became everyone's target.

Gu Xingzhi stuffed the oilcloth bundle into my arms.

I was stunned.

"Give me?"

"You found out, so you're holding onto it."

"Commander Gu, do you trust me?"

"no."

"What is that?"

"They'll kill you first."

I:"……"

That's really well planned.

Holding the bottom volume, I suddenly felt as if I were holding a piece of red-hot iron.

It's too hot to handle.

He even offered a knife.

Yan Xiaoyi glanced at me.

"Stay close."

I asked, "With whom?"

"I."

"Where is Commander Gu?"

Yan Xiaoyi pointed to the front yard.

Gu Xingzhi had already drawn his sword and walked towards the firelight.

At that moment, I suddenly understood why the emperor dared to entrust the inner guard to him.

Gu Xingzhi is like a cold, emotionless bronze mirror.

But when someone blocks his way, he becomes a door.

A cold, hard door that can kill.

I clutched the bottom volume tightly and followed Yan Xiaoyi back towards the back wall.

Behind them, the fire at the Locust Blossom Courtyard grew larger and larger.

The firelight made the two old locust trees look like two giant ghost hands.

The booklet in my arms was like a life snatched from the clutches of a demon.