King Kang's palace is located in Tongcheng, Kishu. It is now midsummer, the hottest time of the year in Tongcheng.
Several months of scorching heat and drought have made water as expensive as oil in Tongcheng. Several villages outside the city have to trek several miles to get water.
Such a place is very wary of outsiders. Coupled with the assassination of King Kang, Tongcheng has actually become a city without an owner. Most of the people in the city have moved out in just over a month. If it hadn't rained, the official road leading to Tongcheng would probably have been overgrown with weeds.
In this tense atmosphere of fear and insecurity, the escort agency's business was booming. The wealthy in the city were paying out money to save their lives and evacuating Tongcheng with their families. On a good day, the escort agency could earn a hundred taels of silver from a single escort.
Xiao Nanhui saw this as an opportunity and managed to find a job in the escort agency's guard team. She and Shrike were both good at fighting, so making a living was not a problem for them. After following them on the official road outside Tongcheng several times, they became familiar to the team.
Everything is ready, now all we need is an opportunity, an opportunity to enter the city.
But nowadays it is easy to leave Tongcheng but difficult to enter the city.
After King Kang's death, his 100,000-man army was temporarily placed under the command of the Governor of Ki Province, Shika Matsudaira. Shika Matsudaira was arguably the youngest governor Tiancheng had ever sent to a provincial position, and despite his youth, he possessed considerable ambition, as evidenced by his willingness to take on the daunting task of governing Ki Province.
After the assassination attempt a month ago, Tongcheng was placed on emergency alert. Entry required not only a written document but also proof of residency. Lu Songping claimed this was to prevent further rebellion by Bijiang spies, but rumors also circulated that the governor might have been colluding with the Bai family, using this as a deception to shield the Tiancheng court from their presence.
Unfortunately, most of the escorts were escapees from Tongcheng. They were so desperate to enter the city at this critical moment, plunging into a dangerous den. Xiao Nanhui was unwilling to wait for days, and just as he was about to give up and prepare to climb the city wall at night, he actually saw someone entering the city.
No one was willing to take work in the city, but Xiao Nanhui easily secured this job. The man who hired her was named Jia, a young, handsome man who didn't look like someone with a broken brain. Xiao Nanhui had tried to inquire about his desire to move to the city, but was met with silence.
After a while, she was no longer curious. As long as she could achieve her goal, there was no need to delve into the details of this little incident.
Mr. Jia was extremely efficient. It took only half a day from paying the deposit to setting off. Before Xiao Nanhui could react, he was already standing at the gate of Tongcheng.
The number of soldiers guarding the city was three times as many as usual. Except for Master Jia who handed over the silver, the luggage of Xiao Nanhui and others was turned upside down, and they were ordered not to stay in the city for more than three days. Only after the red seal of the entry date was stamped on the document were they allowed to enter the city.
The deserted Tongcheng was eerily quiet, and most of the people who remained in the city chose to close their doors and windows and stay indoors.
The air was filled with the smell of death. This atmosphere spread all around as soon as one entered Kishu, and became thicker as one moved southwest.
Depressed emotions are contagious, and Xiao Nanhui felt that even the usually noisy Shrike had become much quieter. Young Master Jia clearly didn't want to stay any longer. After handing her the remaining hire money, he hurried away.
After some thought, Xiao Nanhui decided to act separately from Shrike.
"no!"
Xiao Nanhui was just halfway through his sentence when he was interrupted coldly by the other party. He was quite angry: "I haven't finished yet, why are you so anxious?"
Shrike glanced at her slowly and calmly. "Is there anything I can't tell you? You just want to ditch me and run off on your own? The Marquis specifically told me to follow you closely before we left."
This is to bring Xiao Zhun out to put pressure on her again.
But she had limited manpower, and she wished she could split the work of two people by herself. It was such a waste to have a clever creature like Shrike do nothing but eat and sleep by her side.
Xiao Nanhui has many years of experience in dealing with shrikes.
"I've already contacted the people at An Daoyuan. They'll lend us a night owl. You can stay in Tongcheng and help me keep an eye on Lu Songping. And by the way, just pass my news back to Quecheng."
Sure enough, as soon as the word An Daoyuan was mentioned, Shrike became as frantic as a hen with its feathers blown off.
"Why are you contacting An Daoyuan? I've already left there. I don't want to see anyone there. I'll kill every bird I see there!"
Before he could finish his words, a fat, round, and pockmarked night owl landed on the shrike's shoulder with a whoosh, its agility far exceeding its size.
The Shrike turned his neck stiffly and made a fatal eye contact with the raptor with a sharp beak and round eyes.
Xiao Nan put his hands up to look at the sky. "Ah, your An Daoyuan is really efficient. But it's no wonder. Your master is in Wancheng these days, which is not too far from here. Who knows, he might come to Tongcheng to see you one day on a whim."
How could the Shrike not hear the threat implicit in these words? The night owl is a carrier bird unique to the An Dao Monastery, capable of traveling hundreds of miles a day despite being hungry and thirsty. Its ferocity makes it difficult for outsiders to approach. A single night owl is worth a fortune and is one of the most precious treasures of the current sect leader, Xie Li. Even if she had the ability to kill the bird, why would Old Man Xie rush to confront her with a knife in the blink of an eye?
Anyway, Xiao Nanhui is determined to take advantage of her this time and has no intention of taking her to Bijiang.
But thinking of the general's serious instructions before leaving, Shrike still struggled: "Even if I go with you, I can still pass on the message."
Xiao Nan looked back at Liangliang and didn't have the courage to say: If they were both hacked to death, there would be no one to collect their bodies.
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