Chapter 206: Chapter 186: Oops, Something Dropped

Su Zhenyue took it and glanced at it. Her eyes widened, and she shot to her feet, exclaiming in anger,

"The nerve of these people!"

As soon as she spoke, Su Zhenyue turned to the protesting Pei Guanli and asked with a grave expression,

"Miss Pei, are you certain you didn’t write this letter?"

"I already told you I didn’t."

"Then how did it end up on you?"

"I, I don’t know..."

No matter how Xiao Jinghong and Su Zhenyue interrogated her, Pei Guanli held fast to Chen Yi’s instructions and adamantly denied ever having seen the letter.

After a long moment.

Xiao Jinghong let her go, took the letter again, and read it over carefully twice more before she finally spoke.

"I’ll believe you for now."

"But if I find out later that you wrote this, I won’t spare you, even if Granny Shan herself is protecting you!"

Pei Guanli pouted and mumbled an "oh," grumbling to herself.

’How strange.’

’This isn’t going how I imagined.’

’Sister Jinghong wasn’t alarmed by the letter, and she didn’t rush out the door. She actually interrogated me first...’

’Jerk.’

At this point, however, Xiao Jinghong and Su Zhenyue clearly had no time for her.

After a moment of silence.

Su Zhenyue couldn’t help but speak up. "General, when the Sword Madman left, he said he wanted to repay you for sparing his life. Could it be..."

Xiao Jinghong, of course, hadn’t forgotten. She gave a slight nod. "It’s better to believe it than to dismiss it."

"What are your plans, General? Should I send word to the Three Towns now?"

"That won’t be necessary."

"You..."

Before Su Zhenyue could say more, Xiao Jinghong had already stood up and announced, "I’ll go myself."

"The letter doesn’t specify who is hiding among the troops in the Three Towns, which means we can’t rule out the three garrison commanders as suspects. I must confirm this myself before I can make the necessary arrangements."

"While I’m gone, you’ll take my place here. Remember to maintain my identity; don’t let anyone realize I’ve left."

At this point, she was suspicious of everyone in the Three Towns.

She didn’t even plan to send word to the Xiao Mansion, for fear of tipping off her quarry.

Su Zhenyue knew the matter was urgent, so she naturally didn’t try to talk her out of it.

However, when she saw Pei Guanli pouting to the side, she couldn’t help but ask, "What about her?"

Xiao Jinghong fastened a long sword to her waist as she gave her instructions.

"Her brother is coming today. Once he’s finished inspecting the progress at the Mutual Market, have her go back to the Mountain Race with him."

Pei Guanli shook her head instinctively. "I don’t want to. I want to go to Shu State to find my brother-in-law."

"Hm? Didn’t you just say you wanted to go back to the Mountain Race for the Mid-Autumn Festival?"

Hearing this, Xiao Jinghong frowned at her. Her suspicions flared up again as she asked in a stern voice,

"I’ll ask you one last time: do you know what is in that letter?"

Feeling the terrifying force of her presence, Pei Guanli flinched and said with her head down,

"I... I meant I’d go find my brother-in-law *after* the Mid-Autumn Festival."

Xiao Jinghong no longer believed her.

After staring at her for another moment, Xiao Jinghong snorted. "When I get back, I’ll make you tell the truth!"

Before her voice had even faded, she tucked the letter from the table into her sleeve. Her body blurred into a pale shadow that shot out of the wooden cabin and vanished.

Once she sensed that all was quiet,

Pei Guanli finally dared to lift her head. Her eyes darted around for a moment before meeting Su Zhenyue’s gaze.

Feeling a bit of relief, she couldn’t help but put on a pitiful expression and ask,

"Sister Zhenyue, what in the world did that letter say? Why did it make you and Sister Jinghong so tense?"

Su Zhenyue gave her a long, hard look. Without a word, she stood up, found a set of Xiao Jinghong’s clothes, and changed into them.

Seeing this, Pei Guanli pouted but didn’t dare say anything more.

But a troubled expression couldn’t help but cross her face.

’What should I do, brother-in-law? I think I blew my cover.’

’Sister Jinghong isn’t really going to interrogate me, is she?’

’Nooo, I’m scared of pain...’

Fortunately, Pei Guanli was resourceful enough to come up with a plan—of sorts.

’If worst comes to worst, I’ll just go beg Ah Ma to help me.’

’Hmph, hmph. With how clever Ah Ma is, she’ll surely know how to help me avoid Sister Jinghong’s interrogation.’

It was a good thing Granny Shan didn’t know her own granddaughter considered her "cunning," otherwise...

...the Mountain Race’s clan rules would probably teach the Tiger Girl the true meaning of pain.

...

「Shu State. Dingyuan Marquis’s Mansion. Spring Lotus Garden.」

Of course, Chen Yi had no idea that Xiao Jinghong had seen through the Tiger Girl’s odd behavior.

After waking up bright and early, he took Xiao Wuge and Xiaodie to Jiaxing Garden for breakfast.

However, it was not a peaceful breakfast.

It wasn’t because of any "lecturing" from Xiao Wan’er. Rather, in the time it took them to eat, four separate calling cards had already been delivered.

That didn’t even include the verbal messages from the people of the Second and Third Households.

It left Chen Yi feeling awkward, neither able to stay nor leave. All in all, he felt bad about letting Xiao Wan’er take the heat for him.

Xiao Wan’er, on the other hand, acted as if everything was normal.

She accepted the calling cards as a matter of course.

Whether it was visitors from the Second or Third Households, or from other side branches of the family, she met with them all herself.

Even with Chen Yi sitting right beside her, Xiao Wan’er never had him give a definite answer or even asked for his opinion.

After breakfast, as Juan’er, Cui’er, Xiaodie, and the others cleared the table, Xiao Wan’er finally smiled and said,

"Most of the people visiting now are close to the Mansion, so it wouldn’t be right to refuse them outright. I might as well let them come for a visit, and we can ask how they’ve been."

Chen Yi saw that she spoke of it lightly, but he was well aware that he was the reason for all this trouble.

After a moment’s thought, he promised again, "I’ll resolve this matter as soon as possible."

The visitors now were people close to the Xiao Family, but it was inevitable that less-friendly faces would appear later.

He couldn’t keep letting Xiao Wan’er put on a false smile to entertain those people.

Xiao Wan’er accepted his promise, nodding with a smile before changing the subject.

"It’s been a few days since that Boss Chen submitted his proposal. I’ve thought about it carefully, and I believe we should have him come so I can convey Grandfather’s intentions to him."

"If you have some free time today, perhaps you could make a trip to Hundred Herbs Hall for me and ask if Boss Chen is still in Shu State."

Chen Yi’s interest was piqued. He asked, "You’re not going to wait for word from the Old Master?"

"I don’t think Boss Chen will be a problem."

"Even if he does turn out to be a problem, we’re only beginning the preparations now. It won’t affect our subsequent arrangements."

"In that case, I’ll make a trip to Hundred Herbs Hall later."

’After all, Boss Chen most certainly wasn’t in Shu State.’