Someone requested an audience outside. Upon hearing Jia Yang's voice, Hua Zhi immediately knew what it was about and rose to her feet. "I'll take a walk outside."
"No need to avoid this. You should listen as well."
Hua Zhi herself didn't know when she had stopped being formal with Yan Xi. Hearing his words, she straightforwardly sat back down, assuming an attentive posture.
Gu Yanxi's eyes carried a smile as he raised his voice. "Enter."
Not only Jia Yang entered, but also another plain-looking, short man—Xue Liang, the head of the Fourth Division responsible for intelligence gathering.
"Speak."
"Yes." Xue Liang bowed. "When I approached the Crown Prince, I made contact with Jia Yang. He has uncovered some information. Jia Yang, you report."
"Yes. The Crown Prince currently has only one eunuch accompanying him in exile, so I followed him closely. At first, I found nothing unusual—the Crown Prince worked from sunrise to sunset, smiling at everyone. Over these days, many people have changed their opinion of him. But that's precisely the biggest problem."
Jia Yang paused before continuing. "This is the Crown Prince who dared to offer the Emperor a lethal elixir. He has a violent temperament and has taken numerous lives recklessly. For such a person, any behavior after exile would be normal except for his current conduct. He's overperforming, as if putting on a show for someone. Suspicious, I followed him around the clock and indeed discovered something."
Gu Yanxi and Hua Zhi exchanged glances, both growing tense.
"That eunuch is a woman," Jia Yang continued. "At first, I thought she was just someone the Crown Prince brought for... pleasure. But I later realized their relationship isn't like that. The Crown Prince is very obedient around that woman. This is all I've uncovered for now."
Xue Liang took over. "After learning this from Jia Yang, I boldly searched the Crown Prince's residence but found nothing to identify the woman. She behaves impeccably—every word and action beyond reproach. Only one thing: she wears coarse cloth externally, but underneath, she's dressed in the finest silk. All her inner garments and belly bands in the wardrobe are silk. Additionally, I found two crates of tea bricks in the Crown Prince's residence."
"Silk garments, tea bricks." Gu Yanxi sneered. "These aren't rare in the Central Plains, but both the tribes beyond the pass and the Chao Li Tribe highly prize them. Keep close surveillance—don't alert them. I want to see exactly what demons and monsters are involved!"
"Yes."
"After receiving imperial education for so many years, he now needs a foreigner to tell him what to do? What a colossal joke! Summon the Seven Constellation Bureau—sift through Yinshan Pass once more for me. Screen out the Chao Li Tribe members hiding within!"
"Yes." Jia Yang and Xue Liang withdrew in unison.Hua Zhi understood his frustration over their lack of progress. She refilled his teacup and said, "You needn't be so impatient. Even if the Chao Li Tribe has spent two whole generations on this scheme, I still believe they couldn't have embedded too many spies in the Great Qing Dynasty. Firstly, their declining population is a fatal weakness. Secondly, not every offspring is suitable - those who physically resemble the Chao Li Tribe too much would be unusable. Even among the half that might pass, further selection is required. Judging by the captured agents like Yuan Shifang and Tong Yi, they're all exceptionally clever. If everyone were this capable, the Chao Li Tribe wouldn't need such underhanded methods - they might not even lose in a direct war."
Gu Yanxi grasped her hand and pressed a restrained kiss to it. "Your analysis makes sense."
Hua Zhi pretended not to notice his transgression. "If the Great Qing Dynasty had tighter control over local regions, and local authorities maintained stricter population records, things would never have reached this point."
Even without the advanced technology of later eras where an ID card could take you anywhere, if women were valued more and their disappearances recorded, the authorities would have noticed when multiple regions reported similar cases. They might not have been able to rescue the victims, but at least the Chao Li Tribe wouldn't have dared to act so brazenly. Over the years, who knows how many women have been abducted without any record.
In rural areas, when women disappeared, they simply vanished. Few would report it to the authorities - most families didn't want to lose face.
"A Zhi, it's a pity you were born a woman."
"Even if I were a man, I wouldn't enter government service. I wouldn't want to, and our family rules wouldn't permit me to qualify anyway." Her thoughts were too complicated, and she was too selfish - far from the pure scholar Hua Jingyan required. Besides, "If I were really a man, I would have been exiled with the others. Then there would be nothing between you and me."
Gu Yanxi leaned closer. "What would there be between you and me?"
Hua Zhi blinked. "Business matters."
"Is that all there is between us?" Gu Yanxi moved even closer.
"What else?"
Gu Yanxi caught her hand and kissed it. "This."
"Oh?!" Without changing expression, Hua Zhi raised his hand and kissed his knuckle in return. "So this is what you meant."
Gu Yanxi stared blankly for a moment before bursting into laughter. His A Zhi!
Outside, Shaoyao sat on the corridor steps with Zeng Han in her arms, leaning against the pillar while watching the star-filled sky. Hearing the laughter from inside, she smiled too. She could barely remember what Brother Yan had been like before, but she clearly recalled that such laughter only appeared after he met Hua Hua.
Tomorrow would be a fine day.
Gu Yanxi settled in at the Hua residence. The younger generation squeezed together to make room for him.
To avoid arousing suspicion, he seldom went out during daytime, spending entire days accompanying A Zhi - reading together, talking, and on this day, they even set up a proper battlefield for two rounds of war games.
The terrain for this round was modeled by Hua Zhi based on a topographic map. Precisely because it was familiar territory, everyone from the Hua family to Wu Yong watched with intense concentration.
In the first round, Hua Zhi defended. She employed numerous tactics, even trying one from Sir Siqing's writings that no one had ever used before. But after holding out for two hours, she still lost.In the second round, Hua Zhi took the offensive. Compared to Gu Yanxi's steady and methodical advance, she pushed the strategy of taking risky moves to its extreme, repeatedly deploying surprise troops. It wasn't until they breached the mountain stronghold that everyone realized the so-called surprise troops were merely a diversion—the main force bearing the brunt of the battle was the commander herself. In the end, she achieved a pyrrhic victory.
Gu Yanxi strongly disapproved. "A Zhi, you were too reckless."
"That was the only way I could have any hope of winning." Hua Zhi wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her injuries hadn't fully healed, and such mental exertion was taking its toll on her.
"Gambling with your life doesn't guarantee victory every time. You must use such tactics sparingly."
"But if I hadn't gambled with my life, I would have already lost." Hua Zhi grinned, revealing a set of bright white teeth. It was clear that beating Yanxi had put her in high spirits. "Don't worry, I'm not going to the battlefield anyway. This kind of tactic is only useful in sand table deductions. In reality, I wouldn't be the one leading the troops."
Gu Yanxi wanted to say more but ultimately swallowed his words. Sand table deductions hardly reflected a person's true character. A Zhi favored surprise tactics, but her greatest trust always lay in herself. He resolved to rigorously hone her skills—if her foundation was solid, even in a life-or-death gamble, her chances of winning would be greater.
PS: The foreshadowing begins again... Shamelessly went ahead with a livestream. Thank you all for your support, thank you to the ladies who attended, and thank you to the ladies whose reviews got swallowed by the system. I noticed fewer reviews these past couple of days and initially thought I'd become unpopular, but after seeing Xinyan's message, I realized they'd been deleted. Sending virtual knives to the tech team! Ahem, and thank you, ladies, for your patience these past few days. There will be three updates tomorrow! Also, Kongkong really does have a big face, but she only weighs 96 jin!
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