Chapter Eleven

"At that time, Qin will gradually lose the Southern Emperor's trust, just like Sak, right?"

Zhou Yanqing smiled slightly, his gaze towards her revealing appreciation, "Madam has impressed me greatly today."

"Could it be that you used to think I was just a clueless liar?" Si Yanmo pouted.

"At the very least, he's a charlatan who knows nothing and has to deal with me just to survive," Zhou Yanqing teased her on purpose.

Si Yanmo crossed her arms in front of her chest. The more she looked at his face, the more she felt he was despicable. She must have been bewitched to help him back then.

"Finished yelling? Feeling better now?" Her voice was cold, clearly indicating she was furious.

Zhou Yanqing chuckled to herself and whispered teasingly in her ear, "You're cute like this too."

"Get lost, let's get down to business!"

"The important thing is that since the King of Qi wants to take Wufeng Pass for himself, his spies will not just be a few ordinary soldiers, but must have infiltrated among the generals."

"Then what should we do? Can we torture them one by one?" Si Yanmo frowned.

“Of course not, that would require—” Zhou Yanqing nodded slightly, his eyes meeting those of his superior Yan Mo again, “That would require Madam’s help.”

"You want me to look at their birth charts?"

“That’s right. But we can’t alert them. What you said when you interrogated that guy today must have reached their ears by now. Even if they don’t know your abilities, they will still be wary of you. If you were to examine each person one by one like a fortune teller, that person would have already run away.”

"But I can't see people, and I can't see their fate."

Zhou Yanqing pondered for a moment, then leaned close to Si Yanmo's ear, "We'll do this—"

——

At dusk, Zhou Yanqing instructed Liu Ziwei to host a banquet under the pretext of his wedding to reward the border soldiers, and invited the generals of Wufeng Pass to sit at the same table with him.

The two men sat high on the stage, while the crowd below toasted each other, and a few people chatted curiously about how they had captured a spy from Qi Gu that afternoon.

"Old Liu, did that guy really die without saying anything?" Li Hu asked, taking a sip of his drink.

"Yes, what a pity." Liu Ziwei nodded. "The princess was about to ask, but unexpectedly, that heartless bastard killed her to silence her."

"But this Marquis's wife is really amazing. I don't know how she knew about the spy's household situation. She scared that guy into saying everything with just a few words!"

To be honest, Liu Ziwei initially looked down on Si Yanmo, thinking she was just a woman who wanted to interrogate prisoners with them.

If she were frightened, she would probably run into the King of Qin's arms and cry.

Unexpectedly, this woman actually had some skills. Chen Wu and the King of Qin couldn't get the spy to talk, but she did.

Hearing this, Zhang Wu teased, "Oh my, there's a woman you, Old Liu, admire? It seems the King of Qin has married a heroine!"

"I wouldn't call her a heroine, but she's pretty capable." Liu Ziwei lowered his head and took a sip of his drink.

Li Hu slapped his thigh: "Hey, if the princess is so amazing, could she have been a fortune teller before?"

"this--"

Liu Ziwei secretly glanced at Si Yanmo, who was sitting in the main seat with Zhou Yanqing, and remembered what the two had told him half an hour ago:

"Uncle Liu, this matter is up to you." Zhou Yanqing patted his hand.

Liu Ziwei asked in bewilderment, "Yanqing, is there really a spy in our military camp? That can't be right, how come I haven't noticed anything?"

"Whether it's there or not, we'll find out tonight. You just need to arrange for everyone to come over, and leave the rest to me."

Si Yanmo's eyes were full of confidence. Even though Liu Ziwei didn't believe it, after hearing Zhou Yanqing say that the princess was originally a diviner, he could only do as the two of them said.

On the main seat, Si Yanmo sat next to Zhou Yanqing, pretending to be a loving couple while constantly calculating the divination with her fingers.

At this moment, Zhou Yanqing noticed that everyone's peripheral vision fell on her face and that her lips were pale, her forehead was covered in fine sweat, and she looked like she was about to collapse.

"How are you?"

He frowned, reached out a hand, and pulled her to his side, letting her lean on him for support.

Si Yanmo was panting heavily, her voice weak: "No, it's fine."

She stretched out a hand and rubbed her temples with some effort. "But I can keep going."

"Didn't you also do fortune-telling for people at the restaurant before? I didn't see you like this before." Zhou Yanqing was surprised, and unconsciously tightened his grip on her arm.

He always thought that Si Yanmo's abilities wouldn't have any side effects.

“Before, I would only see three people a day, but here… there are too many people here.” She barely had the strength to speak.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Seeing how upset she was, Zhou Yanqing hurriedly reached out a hand and covered her eyes, her tone full of worry and anger. "Then don't look at them. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Si Yanmo turned her head away, wiped the sweat from her face haphazardly, and insisted, "Just one more person left, it'll be quick!"

Zhou Yanqing wanted to stop her again, but saw her shake her head and struggle to sit up.

Her gaze was fixed on the last soldier. Just as she was about to say something, everything went black and she collapsed into Zhou Yanqing's arms.

Before her consciousness completely faded, she heard a man's anxious voice: "Si Yanmo!"

Zhou Yanqing picked the person up and found that the person was cold. He immediately asked Chen Wu to call the army doctor.

When the King of Qin hurriedly carried the Queen back to his tent, the generals below were all somewhat bewildered.

Fortunately, Chen Wu quickly smoothed things over, saying that the princess was unwell and needed to go back to rest.

He didn't know if the princess had figured out who the spy was, so he could only have Liu Ziwei arrange for the camp exits to be sealed off to avoid alerting the enemy.

Zhou Yanqing carried the person back to his tent. After the army doctor came to take her pulse, he anxiously asked, "How is she?"

The man's brows betrayed his anxiety and concern.

After all, he was the one who asked her to help investigate spies, and if anything happened to her, he wouldn't forgive himself.

After a moment, the military doctor withdrew his hand from taking her pulse, saluted him, and said, "Don't worry, the princess is just overworked and has some acclimatization issues since arriving in Qin. I'll give her an acupuncture and prescribe some medicine, and she'll be fine."

The military doctor took out a package from his medicine box, opened it, and pulled out a thin silver needle. He slowly inserted it into the acupoints on Si Yanmo's hand, and the person on the bed slowly opened her eyes.

Seeing that she had woken up, Zhou Yanqing breathed a sigh of relief, thanked the military doctor, and asked Chen Wu to go with the military doctor to get the medicine. He then sat down by Si Yanmo's bedside.

"I told you not to be stubborn!" he said, his words reproachful yet tinged with concern.

Si Yanmo's vision was still blurry, and she struggled to make out the person in front of her. Her beautiful face was filled with worry.

Her face was pale, but she forced a smile and said, "If I don't put on a brave face, how can I convince the King of Qin that we are of one mind?"

Zhou Yanqing stiffened. "Cough, I, I didn't say I didn't believe you!"

He said this, but his eyes darted around, looking elsewhere.

"Alright, stop acting." The woman smiled and shook her head, having already seen through everything.

"This isn't the first time Your Highness has tested me. Do you think I can't see through it?"

From making himself memorize more than twenty books in three days when he was in Nandu, to allowing himself to go and interrogate a spy he had caught, he was either testing his "loyalty" or testing his ability.

Si Yanmo had seen through it all long ago, but she simply didn't want to dwell on it.

After all, the two were not related, and if he just said he was willing to save his life, who would believe him?

"only--"

"Just what?"

"But if I tell Your Highness that I haven't found the traitor, I wonder if Your Highness will still believe me?"

Zhou Yanqing sat up straight and asked in confusion, "Didn't you finish reading it?"

“No.” Si Yanmo slowly sat up. “There is none. There is no information about a traitor in their destinies, and these people have never even met Marquis Qi.”

Zhou Yanqing frowned even more deeply.

That's strange!

Their previous speculations were flawless; how could they not be?

Could it be that the Marquis of Qi's plan has not yet progressed to this stage?

Or is it—

“The traitor is still among the soldiers,” Zhou Yanqing said.

"Do you want me to look at it again?" Si Yanmo asked.

Zhou Yanqing shook her head and chuckled, "Fine, I know you can't stand it anymore, I won't let you watch it anymore."

He deliberately leaned closer to the woman and teased, "If I work you to death, who will save my life? Right?"

Perhaps it was because he was too close, or perhaps it was because his smile was too ambiguous, but Si Yanmo inexplicably felt her face burning and reached out to push the man away.

"Then, what should we do?"

"Since we can't find him, let's make him come to us."

Zhou Yanqing summoned Chen Wu: "Chen Wu, pass on the message that the madam has discovered the spies' identities and knows their plans, but unfortunately, before she could explain, she fell ill and fainted in bed."

He paused, then turned and continued, "The army doctor said he won't wake up until tomorrow morning. Tonight, the military camp will be sealed off."

Chen Wu immediately understood his intention, and went out to mingle among the soldiers who were drinking. In a few casual words, he let the message slip out.

"Will this trick really work?" Si Yanmo raised one eyebrow, looking at him skeptically.

“Of course.” Zhou Yanqing stood up confidently. “If the mole knew that you knew his identity, but others didn’t, what do you think he would do?”

"Kill him to silence him."

"Yes, so he must come back tonight, otherwise he'll be the one dead tomorrow. He can't afford to gamble now."

"So you're going to gamble my life?" Si Yanmo rolled her eyes at him.

"Aren't I also gambling with my life for you?" Zhou Yanqing's eyes curved into a smile. "I'm confident I can save you, Madam."

"Of course I have one too!"

The woman defiantly raised her chin, her adorable expression making him chuckle. "Then we'll see."

——

As night deepened, several crows landed on a bare maple tree near the pass, cawing incessantly.

The soldiers in the camp had all returned to their tents to rest, leaving only a few patrol teams moving around outside.

Si Yanmo lay alone on the bed in the tent, her eyes closed, looking as if she were fast asleep, but her long hair, which was tied up, remained in place.

Crack!

Outside the tent, a furtive figure dressed in black night clothes and wearing a mask appeared.

Perhaps because he was too nervous, he accidentally crushed a branch under his feet, which startled him. He looked around and was relieved when he saw that no one had noticed.

The man carefully parted the curtain and tiptoed inside.

By the light of the candle that had been forgotten in the corner and had not yet gone out, he could see the person on the bed.

Seeing that Si Yanmo was fast asleep, he slowly pulled out a dagger from his waist and raised it gently—

"You really came!" Si Yanmo suddenly opened her eyes and smiled wickedly.