Ji Xinhe almost clenched her teeth: "You could be a bit more shameless."
Mu Houchu casually sat on the kangtou, a simple earthen stove, but when he sat on it, it somehow seemed pleasing to the eye.
Ji Xinhe suddenly grimaced as if remembering something: "The assassin that snuck into the village a few days ago in the middle of the night—there was more than one, wasn’t there?"
She knew that this man’s late-night appearance in her room was not as simple as wanting to flirt with her. The real reasons must be related to the assassins. If there’s one in her room then, there must be more in the village.
"Yes, many."
"Where are they?" Ji Xinhe couldn’t believe it. The next morning, when she awoke, the village was as calm and peaceful as if those people had never been there. No one seemed to notice any disturbances.
"They’re dead," Mu Houchu said, taking it lightly.
Ji Xinhe, a previous-life assassin used to witnessing life and death, still could not help but shiver slightly at the indifferent coldness in Mu Houchu’s eyes.
Mu Houchu looked up at her, "Actually, my coming to find you is also related to this matter."
As soon as Ji Xinhe heard that it was related to the matter of the assassins, she became nervous: "What happened?"
"Are you sure you don’t want to marry me?"
Ji Xinhe clenched the bowl in her hand that she was drinking water from, suppressing the urge to throw it at him. Grinding her teeth, she said: "Is this related to the assassins?"
"Yes, I just wanted to tell you, I might be leaving in a few days."
Ji Xinhe paused, Mu Houchu looked into her eyes, seemingly trying to gauge her emotions. But after Ji Xinhe’s brief surprise, she returned to her usual calm: "I won’t see you off."
Please go as far away as possible!
Mu Houchu darkened his eyes and suddenly stood up, walking towards Ji Xinhe. Ji Xinhe watched him warily, "What are you doing?"
Mu Houchu walked over to her without making a move. He only slightly lifted his lips: "Nothing, just saying goodbye."
Ji Xinhe immediately retreated a step, "Just say goodbye. From now on, we each go our own way, and we won’t meet again!"
A small smile played at the corner of Mu Houchu’s lips, but he didn’t say anything else. He turned around and walked away.
Ji Xinhe watched his retreating figure, but she didn’t feel at ease. She found it suspicious that he’d let her go so simply, was it really possible?
"Xin He, we’re back!"
The voice of Ji Dong echoed from outside the door, and Ji Xinhe immediately ran to open it: "You’re back?"
Ji Dong threw all the firewood he had chopped into the courtyard before coming inside with Xiao Bei, "We’ve cut a lot of firewood today on the mountain. We’ll have plenty for this winter."
Ji Xinhe smiled, "I’ll start cooking."
Xiao Bei immediately went to the jar of fermented sour bamboo shoots, "Sister, are the bamboo shoots ready?"
"It will take a few more days. Let’s have stir-fried bamboo shoots for dinner tonight, alright?"
"Alright!"
Ji Xinhe pushed down her suspicion towards Mu Houchu and busied herself with cooking, forgetting about it after a night of hustle and bustle.
——
Meanwhile, things were not so peaceful with Mu Houchu.
The atmosphere in the usually quiet mansion had become more stifling.
"Master, we made a play at the third prince last time and caught quite a few of his men. But the third prince is cunning; we still couldn’t pull out the weed by the roots. He’s hiding in the dark, which is unfavorable to us," a voice crisply rattled.
The new emperor has just ascended to the throne and is still unstable. The third prince still possesses so much power, one can see the threat he poses. Should he create trouble, it might trigger a lot of turbulence. More critically, from the current court’s outlook, suppressing him will be a challenge.
Therefore, the best method would be to crush him in his crib.
Mu Houchu deliberately moved to this village to recover and to lure the snake out of the hole, right?
But the third prince was cunning, and despite attempts to capture him, only his party followers ended up being killed.
"How’s the investigation on the iron mine?" Mu Houchu asked coldly.
There was indeed something strange about the iron mine. The man behind the mine is not the wealthy household we see on the surface but someone else. Moreover, there seems to be a secretive business operation at the mine. They’re producers that also distribute."
"Distributing what?"
"Weapons."
Mu Houchu’s eyes sharpened – weapons? Were they planning a rebellion?
"The iron mine may seem insignificant, located on the outskirts with no influential individuals overseeing it, but their security measures are excellent. We’ve done our best but have only gotten this far. Digging deeper, constant obstacles hinder us. It’s tough to make a move. There must be some relationship between the iron mine and the third prince, hence if we can’t get rid of the prince, we can’t easily infiltrate the iron mine," Ling Feng reported in a low voice.
Mu Houchu gave a cold smile: "It seems the third prince is clamping down tight on me, not merely because of our personal vendetta, but more so because he wants to protect the iron mine."
"How about we deal with the third prince first, then handle the iron mine? What do you think, sir?"
But Mu Houchu shook his head: "He’s in the dark while I’m exposed. It’s unwise to waste time on such a cunning character."
He was sure the threat behind the iron mine had to be bigger than that of the third prince.
"What do you plan to do, sir?"
"Distract in the east and attack in the west." Mu Houchu said coldly: "Silently spread a rumor that I’ve found out about the private operation behind the iron mine, their secret weapon forging trade. Once the third prince finds out about this, he’ll undoubtedly make a desperate move."
Ling Feng frowned, "Won’t that provoke a larger scale assassination?"
Mu Houchu’s eyes were icy, his lips curved in a faint smile: "Just wait and see."
True to his word, soon after Ling Feng released the news, changes began to stir that evening.
A group of assassins, twice as many as the previous time, marched in openly, unafraid of causing any ripples. They brazenly stormed into the mansion.
Despite the late hour, quite a few villagers were roused.
Ji Xinhe had been restless due to Mu Houchu’s conversation earlier and hadn’t slept much. When she heard the commotion outside, she quickly got out of bed.
Ji Xinhe just opened her door when she saw Ji Dong in the courtyard.
"What’s going on outside? Why so noisy?"
"You stay in the house. Don’t venture outside. There seems to be robbers in the village. I’m going to go check," Ji Dong instructed.
Ji Xinhe grabbed Ji Dong, asking anxiously, "Who got robbed?"
"It looks like it was the new wealthy household that just moved in. Ah, don’t know what misfortune they have suffered. They just moved in and they’re already experiencing such problems. We never had any robbers in Yangluo Bay before. I wonder if they angered somebody."
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