With only one day left before departure, Yan Xiao roughly calculated that, including the journey, it would take her at least half a month to return, so she needed to make some arrangements.

So she hurriedly met with Mu Yunniang and Ma Youcai, especially Mu Yunniang.

According to the original plan, the first batch of soap should have been on the market in less than ten days. However, judging from the time, Yan Xiao probably wouldn't be able to make it back in time, so she decided to let Mu Yunniang take full responsibility for it.

Anyway, the sales will be handled by Mu Yunniang, so whether she's there or not isn't that important. As long as the details of the sales are explained to Mu Yunniang, that's enough.

Knowing that Yanxiao had something to do and needed to leave the city secretly, Mu Yunniang didn't ask what it was about, only assuring her that she would handle it well.

After Yanxiao had made arrangements for things in Jiangbei, the day of departure arrived.

Yan Xiao hadn't seen Shen Muzhi for the past two days, and originally thought that Shen Muzhi was angry because of her willfulness and didn't want to see her.

When the day of departure arrived, Shen Muzhi returned early and came to see her off in person.

When Shen Muzhi received Yan Xiao, he first looked at Yan Xiao's attire.

I noticed that Yanxiao had used something to make her face look a little sallow, but it looked very natural, like her natural skin tone.

And those eyes that used to be so captivating have somehow become much smaller, and with some simple contouring in other areas, the appearance has really changed drastically.

She no longer possessed that stunning beauty; she now looked like a plain-looking girl from a modest family, easily lost in the crowd.

"How did you do this?"

Yan Xiao knew what he meant just by hearing his voice. She reached up and touched her face, saying with a hint of smugness:

"This is Asian sorcery; you wouldn't understand."

"What kind of evil magic?"

Shen Muzhi looked curious, even wanting to touch it to see if his wife's color would fade, but Yan Xiao coldly avoided him:

What brings you here?

Shen Muzhi withdrew his hand with a hint of resentment, then said towards the door:

"Come in, all of you."

As he finished speaking, Yan Xiao saw Lou Guyu, whom he hadn't seen for some time, appear at the door with Man Yi, followed by three women dressed as maids.

"What are you doing here? Seeing me off?"

As soon as Lou Guyu entered the room, he began to look Yan Xiao up and down, replying as he did so:

“My brother-in-law told me you were going to Yanyun City. I thought the trip would be dangerous, so I wanted to give you some things for protection.”

As Lou Guyu spoke, he took out a small bamboo tube, about the thickness of a finger, and a small jade bottle from his pocket, handing them to Yan Xiao and introducing them:

"This is the Ant King Gu that I researched for a long time without success, but recently I suddenly had a flash of inspiration and successfully developed it. It is made from the queens of hundreds of poisonous ants."

I don't think other Gu are practical or destructive enough, and they don't suit your temperament, so I specially brought you this one with strong destructive power.

"If we don't make a move, all is well; but if we do, we'll make sure everyone knows what it means to be afraid of you, right?"

Yan Xiao became interested upon hearing this and directly reached out to take the two items:

"This thing is very destructive? How do you use it?"

"Of course it has to be good! How could anything I give my sister be bad?"

Lou Guyu then began to explain how to use the items:

"Sister, let me tell you, when you get to Yanyun City, just dilute the white pills in this jade bottle with water. One pill can be diluted with at least one bowl of water, or at most a whole bucket of water. Then put the Ant King Gu in and let it swim for half an hour."

At that time, the bathwater of the Ant King Gu will emit a special smell that only poisonous ants can smell. The smell can be smelled for miles around, and the poisonous ants that smell it will go to great lengths to get closer to the place where the smell is coming from.

All you need to do is reassemble the Ant King Gu, and then splash the medicated bathwater from the Ant King Gu onto wherever you want. Those poisonous ants will make any living creature that comes into contact with the water wish for death.

And inanimate objects, even a palace, can be demolished if there are enough ants. Doesn't that sound exciting?

Yan Xiao was increasingly moved as she listened, her eyes filled with admiration as she looked at Lou Guyu.

"Not bad, this is good, then I'll accept it without hesitation."

"Sister, why are you being so polite with me? This is what I, as your younger brother, should do."

But sister, don't forget to dilute the red pills inside with water and use them on your own people, lest you cause collateral damage.

Upon hearing this, Yan Xiao opened the small jade bottle and saw that it indeed contained two different colored medicines.

She nodded to indicate that she understood, and when she turned around, she saw Shen Muzhi, who hadn't said a word, looking at her and Lou Guyu with a strange expression.

Yan Xiao blinked in confusion:

What are you looking at?

Shen Muzhi was staring intently at the two people talking when he suddenly heard Yan Xiao's question. He paused for a moment, hesitated, and then looked at Yan and said:

"Madam, I didn't pay much attention before, but now that I look closely, don't you think that Commandant Lou looks a bit like someone?"

Who is it?

Lou Guyu immediately became interested upon hearing this, and raised his chin with a hint of smugness, saying:

"Anyone who looks even remotely like me must be either handsome or stunningly beautiful. I need to meet them."

Although the words were blunt, they were quite convincing when combined with his androgynous face.

But after he finished speaking, he did not receive a reply from the couple.

One was waiting for Yanxiao's reply, and the other didn't want to answer.

Yan Xiao knew that the person Shen Muzhi was talking about was herself. In fact, she had already noticed that her face didn't look much like Lou Guyu at first glance, but if you looked closely, you could see some resemblance to him.

She already had some guesses in her heart, but she had no way to verify them, and she didn't really want Lou Guyu to know them now.

Because she hadn't figured out how to face Lou Guyu if her guess was true.

After all, she wasn't the original owner of this body.

After Lou Guyu finished speaking, seeing that neither of them paid him any attention, he assumed they were jealous of his handsomeness and disliked his narcissism, so he didn't care much. He then stared at Yan Xiao and revealed his other purpose for coming:

"Sis, I heard you've become more beautiful! I've wanted to come see you for a long time, but I've been too busy lately to get away."

Seeing you today, my sister really has become quite beautiful, but it seems to differ somewhat from the rumors.

This is what it is now. If it were before, Lou Guyu would definitely point his finger at him and say: "You're faking it! Didn't you say you were incredibly beautiful? This is it? Not even half as beautiful as me."

Yan Xiao didn't intend to respond to that, and just laughed it off.

Seeing that Yan Xiao didn't seem to want to continue the conversation, Lou Guyu tactfully took his leave.

"My things have been delivered, so I won't bother you any longer, brother-in-law. I wish you all your dreams come true and a safe return soon."

Yan Xiao didn't try to stop him, and nodded to indicate that he should do as he pleased.

He casually inquired about Shen Qiyue's whereabouts from his servants, and then casually wandered over there.

Shen Muzhi could tell that Yan Xiao didn't really want to continue the previous topic, so after Lou Guyu left, he hesitated for a moment and didn't continue. He simply pointed to the three maids and said to Yan Xiao:

"These three are the people who went to Yanyun City with you. They are all highly trained women who used to specialize in intelligence gathering and assassination."

Now I've specially chosen them to protect you personally. To the outside world, they'll be your personal maids, just like any other maid. They can serve you like any other maid, and you can leave any dangerous matters to them.