Tang Chen reached out and gently stroked A Yuan's furrowed brow, smiling brightly as he said, "Don't worry so much about your age, frowning and looking so miserable every day. You're still young, so don't bear the burdens of thoughts that shouldn't be borne at your age, okay?"
Upon hearing this, A Yuan seemed a little unconvinced and corrected herself, "A Yuan is not a child anymore. After this year, A Yuan will be sixteen."
Tang Chen gently pinched A Yuan's chubby little face, which still looked like a baby, and said, "Haha, Sixteen, you really are a little adult now. Come on, accompany me to the pigeon house for a walk."
Seeing Tang Chen about to leave, A Yuan rushed in front of her to block her way: "Madam, don't you usually hate places where these birds hang out? Why do you want to go there today? It's getting dark now, why don't you go tomorrow?"
Tang Chen smiled and shook his head, then turned back to his bedroom to get two cloaks. He said, "I can't sleep, so I might as well go check on those pigeons. Of course, I mainly want to see if there's any news from those people who went away."
In desperation, after helping Tang Chen take measures to keep warm, A Yuan took a lantern and slowly accompanied her to the pigeon house in the corner of the garden.
The pigeons in the dovecote cooed, and Tang Chen didn't know whether they were sleeping or having a sleepover. If they were having a sleepover, would they talk about what they had seen and heard during their arduous journey? In their conversation, would they occasionally mention the people she missed?
While observing the pigeons in the pigeon house, Tang Chen asked, "Ayuan, do you know where these pigeons will fly to?"
A Yuan raised his head slightly, thinking as he answered, "Apart from our valley, it's probably the contact points outside the valley, such as Jingji, Qinghe, Jiangdu, and Wujiang."
Tang Chen didn't say anything else. He just stared at the pigeons in silence for a while, then gave a wry smile and turned away. "... Let's go. It's late. It's time to go back."
It feels like so many years have passed since I came to this unfamiliar world and time. Now that so many things have happened, thinking about it carefully, I feel so overwhelmed with emotions that I don't have anyone to confide in.
It had been a while since she'd been back to Jiangdu, and she didn't know how Su Zhirou was doing. The last time they'd met, she'd had Wang Yanzhou withdraw all the people who were secretly observing Su Zhirou. With all the chaos going on outside, she didn't know if it had affected Jiangdu.
...That night, in the small town where the South Vietnamese were temporarily stationed, Li Xinzhai picked up the Emei Spear and stood quietly in a dark corner for a long time, without speaking or making any movements. He was completely integrated with the surrounding environment, like a stubborn stone.
Hua Wuxin saw the sky gradually brighten. She had been able to remain calm and wait for Li Xinzhai to make a move, but now she could no longer stand still. "You've been preparing for this for a long time. If you don't take action now, I'll go back!"
Li Xinzhai opened his eyes slightly and whispered, "Don't be impatient. There are people in his room. Let's wait a little longer."
"..." Hua Wuxin raised his head and sighed, expressing his inner dissatisfaction. He turned back to see Li Xinzhai closing his eyes again. He couldn't help but wonder, was this person really biding his time, or simply looking for a chance to catch up on some sleep? Catching up on sleep in a place like this, didn't he feel a little rebellious?
After that, no matter how Hua Wuxin urged him, Li Xinzhai would only say, "The time has not come yet." Finally, Hua Wuxin gave up struggling and simply moved to a corner, found a spot sheltered from the wind, and sat down, beginning to "close his eyes and rest." Not long after, Li Xinzhai heard the sound of light, yet extremely regular breathing behind him.
The two people who were supposed to assassinate Xie Zhuangshui tonight actually fell asleep in a corner of Xie Zhuangshui's courtyard due to a brain circuit that Li Xinzhai didn't know whether it was a sudden system failure caused by a crash.
Those who didn't know what was going on naturally found it somewhat baffling. Li Xinzhai had previously stated the purpose of this move: someone was in Xie Zhuangshui's house. While he didn't know who it was, he could say with certainty that as long as that person was there, their chances of success tonight were practically zero. Rather than rushing in and alerting the enemy, it would be better to hide aside and bide their time.
These two people were resting their eyes in peace and quiet, but the people waiting for pick-up outside the town were like ants on a hot pan, unable to sit still and feel uneasy.
Mo Yu watched the pale white light rising in the east and could no longer sit still. "No, I can't wait any longer. Dawn will come in half an hour. No matter how lazy the South Vietnamese army is, they should be up by now. If Li Xinzhai stays in town and gets harassed by those experts, it will be bad."
Wang Ruo immediately said, "I'll go with you."
Mo Yu said, "No, I can go by myself. If we haven't come out by daybreak, you guys should find a place to hide first."
"Understood. Be careful."
Mo Yu followed the signal Li Xinzhai had left, dodging the South Vietnamese patrol, and successfully reached the courtyard wall where Li Xinzhai and the other two had previously hidden. However, now that he was there, apart from the faint signal at the base of the wall, there was nothing else. "Why can't I see them? Could they have gotten lost in the town?"
Just as Mo Yu was struggling, by some unforeseen accident or coincidence, he missed the perfect time to attack. With no other choice, Mo Yu had no choice but to leave and search the town for any other signs left by Li Xinzhai.
Not long before Mo Yu came to look for Li Xinzhai's whereabouts, the two people who had been resting with their eyes closed suddenly widened their eyes after hearing a very small and deliberate sound of a door opening.
At this moment, before the two could react, two tiny silver needles flew over from somewhere and headed straight for their eyebrows.
The two men had no time to react. Just when they thought they were truly doomed, a dark red light flashed before their eyes. The silver needle, barely visible to the naked eye in the twilight, fell to the ground, leaving no trace. Meanwhile, before the needle's owner could even approach, Li Xinzhai and Hua Wuxin were forcibly taken away.
By the time they finally realized what was happening, they were already inside a long-abandoned house. Seeing the young man dressed as an ordinary South Vietnamese soldier, Li Xinzhai and Hua Wuxin's first reaction was to wonder if this man was their elusive ally in the South Vietnamese army.
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