Several days have passed since Aya was urgently summoned back to the royal court by the third prince.

During this time, he also assassinated several ministers who were at odds with the third prince, causing a great uproar in the royal court.

The third prince, fearing that his whereabouts would be discovered, gave him leave and allowed him to leave the palace to avoid trouble.

Ah had no home, and apart from when he was on duty, he had nowhere to go.

After leaving the palace, he casually found a restaurant and booked a private room as his lodging. He spent the last few days drinking and making merry in the private room, occasionally listening to the other guests discussing major events that had occurred in the royal court, which provided him with some entertainment.

Occasionally, he would inexplicably recall the young woman he had seen in Xizhou City that day, her slightly red and tearful eyes, which would always linger in his mind for some reason.

He then recalled an earlier incident where a man inexplicably approached him, claiming to be his biological father.

The man was clearly from the Great Wei. It would have been fine if he had been tied up, but he insisted on claiming to be his father and that he had lost his memory and was being deceived by the Third Prince.

Ah didn't know if the Third Prince was a good person or if he was lying to him. Ever since he was saved by the Third Prince, his past memories were completely blank and he had no way to trace them.

But looking at the man's fierce expression, he couldn't find a trace of paternal love on his face. The man's expression suggested that if he still didn't admit it, he would immediately draw his sword and kill his own father.

So he pretended to compromise and escaped when the other party was off guard.

Later, he did become curious about the other party's identity and took advantage of his spare time to go to the black market to ask Shunfeng'er about the other party.

However, the information Shunfeng'er gave him did not include a portrait. Although he felt admiration for the man as he read his biography, he could not find a trace of filial piety towards his father.

Then, the Third Prince suddenly sent him to Xizhou to search for gold mines, and the matter was put on hold.

But ever since he saw that tearful woman that day, Ah Ye couldn't help but connect the two completely unrelated people. The information Shunfeng'er gave him stated that Shen Mingjiang not only had a son but also a young daughter, whom Shen Mingjiang doted on and cherished like a treasure.

When Ah Ye is bored, she sometimes thinks that if Shen Mingjiang really is her father, would her sister in the file be as beautiful, well-behaved, and pitiful as the woman she met in Xizhou?

Because of this sudden thought, he suddenly felt an urge to go back and find Shen Mingjiang.

Before they could even act, they saw the woman they had glimpsed in Xizhou being helped down from a carriage by two maids at the entrance of the inn across the street.

After the woman got off the carriage, she turned around and smiled as she talked to the man beside her. The two seemed to be a couple.

The man said something, and the woman's smile became even brighter.

Aya stared at the two of them until they entered the inn and disappeared from sight, then she looked away with slight displeasure.

His previous intention to go find Shen Mingjiang faded. After thinking for a moment, he jumped down from the second floor of the restaurant, stepped on the shadows of the wall, and slipped into the inn.

These two must be extraordinary individuals. As soon as Aye infiltrated the inn, he immediately discovered the extra guards, both overt and covert.

He carefully hid himself and finally found the courtyard where the other party was staying.

Guests who can afford to stay in this inn's private courtyard must be quite wealthy. But Ah Ye, thinking of the woman's extraordinary demeanor, felt from the bottom of her heart that this place was not worthy of her.

Surrounded by enemy guards on all sides, Aya changed locations several times before finally finding a safe hiding place.

From where he was, he could see the situation in the courtyard where the woman lived.

However, the woman was probably resting because she was tired from traveling, and she did not come into the courtyard. Only two personal maids were coming and going, busy with their work.

Aye couldn't see anyone and was bored, so he pulled two grass stalks from the bird's nest above his head, and with his nimble fingers, he quickly wove a grass grasshopper.

He stared intently at the grasshopper woven from grass in his palm, clicked his tongue, and then pulled out a few more grass stems from the bird's nest, weaving them into butterflies, crickets, and other little trinkets.

Aye didn't have a memory of how he wove these little things, but his fingers seemed to remember, and he could skillfully weave these exquisite little things without having to recall them.

He held the three straw trinkets in his palm for a long time, then turned to look at the courtyard where the woman lived. After a moment of contemplation, he carefully avoided the guards on duty and hung the three trinkets on a tree branch that extended from the courtyard wall.

When he returned to his hiding place, he saw the breeze blowing through the branches, and the little trinkets hanging on the branches swaying gently, which was very lively and interesting.

He couldn't help but glance at the small courtyard again. If the woman woke up and went out for a walk, she might pass by this path and see three small straw trinkets hanging on the branches extending from the roadside.

I wonder if she would smile then.

Aya thought of the other person's bright smile and couldn't help but smile as well.

*

When Shen Youying woke up from her afternoon nap, Xue Shen had already returned and was sitting in a rocking chair by the window, reading the travelogue that Shen Youying had read before.

Seeing that she was awake, Xue Shen put down his book and looked at her: "You're awake? It's still early, Zhao Zhao, would you like to go out for a stroll?"

Shen Youying was visiting the royal court for the first time and had read about the local customs and culture in the travelogue that were different from those of the Great Wei. Naturally, she was curious about the royal court and nodded upon hearing this.

However, she was still concerned about the fact that this trip was to find Shen Xiuyi's whereabouts, and asked, "The royal court is so big, where are we going to look for my brother?"

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