Concubine Yuan was pacing back in forth in front of the doorway while wringing her hands together.

“What are you doing?” asked Old Lady Fang.

Concubine Yuan trembled in fright for a moment before coming in.

“N-nothing,” she stammered.

There were only two concubines in the Fang Family, and she would have never thought that the villain who sought to destroy the Fang Family was actually Concubine Su.

Honest Concubine Su, never desirous or covetous Concubine Su.

She did not look the part at all.

If she had to say, she was the more likely one out of the two.

“The perpetrator should have been me,” sighed Concubine Yuan.

Old Lady Fang glared at her.

“You? Stop imagining that your love was reciprocated. You only think about yourself and what’s best for you. No one would trust you if you were also a villain. When it came to it, there would be no need for threats; you would be the first to give yourself up for your own advantage,” she remarked.

Concubine Yuan was embarrassed.

“Old Lady, are you praising or mocking me?” She laughed weakly.

Old Lady Fang ignored her, continuing to read the letter with worry in her eyes.

This was the first time she had shown worry after resolving the matter with Concubine Su.

Of course, it was not because someone so close to her had betrayed her that she was feeling sad and disappointed.

Old Lady Fang had long since accepted that someone so intimate had stabbed her in the back.

“Is this really okay?” she muttered to herself. “It won’t waste all our previous efforts?”

Concubine Yuan’s face immediately filled with concern.

“Yes, yes, is it okay for Lady to go on her own? And we just caught the perpetrators; wouldn’t it be better to let Young Master hide for two more days until everything has been picked up,” she said.

Old Lady Fang snorted.

“Your thinking is not wrong,” she commented. “As expected, we should have them return so that all those demons and monsters can pop up and we can clean them up all at once. You happy?”

Although it was now known that Concubine Su was the main criminal, her accomplices still had not been fully unmasked.

Concubine Yuan had always been intimate with Concubine Su. Though she hadn’t been arrested, perhaps she was the number one criminal in Old Lady and Lady Fang’s minds.

Concubine Yuan felt embarrassed again. She did not dare to speak and watched Old Lady Fang throw the letter into the incense burner.

She didn’t know what she had read. Who had written it, for Old Lady to act on the words of a letter?

As Concubine Yuan was lost in thought, some guards came in quickly.

Concubine Yuan took several steps backwards. She saw the guard whisper something into Old Lady Fang’s ear. She then smiled coldly, and got up.

“Let’s go,” she said, quickly exiting the room.

……

When the manor came in sight, thee sky was already dark. The guard in front of Lady Fang’s carriage lit a torch.

“Lady, we’ve arrived,” he said quietly.

Lady Fang lifted the curtain and looked around.

“Don’t go in. Directly take it out,” she said quietly.

The carriage stopped in front of the manor. One of the guards knocked on the door three times, then cried like a bird thrice. Right after, the door opened. Two lanterns appeared, glowing in the darkness, one illuminating a stretcher and a delicate figure wrapped in a quilt following right after.

A row of people quickly reached the carriage, and it galloped away speedily.

Only the sound of horse hooves could be heard on this lonely mountain road. As the night grew deep, the torches became muffled by darkness.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed in front of them, like stars had fallen to earth, like dry grass had been set alight.

The guards in front reined in their horses and lifted their arms. The carriage also stopped, and the guards looked around vigilantly.

“What is it?” Lady Fang poked her head out from the carriage.

“Lady, there looks to be someone here,” reported a guard quietly.

Lady Fang clenched her fist. The sound of horse hooves came as expected.

“Eldest Daughter-in-law,” came a decrepit voice.

The guards in front of Lady Fang’s carriage blocked the way.

A team of horsemen emerged from the darkness. Their bright torches illuminated the area like it was daytime.

“Second Uncle Song,” she replied, watching the approaching old man with surprise and anxiety. “Why are you here”

The guards around the carriage began to feel indescribably nervous. They looked at the people in front of them warrily.

Head Shopkeeper Song was not smiling at all atop his horse.

“I know everything that happens in the house,” he commented, looking at Lady Fang’s carriage. “Is Chengyu all right?”

Of course matters of the household were told to him. For such a big matter, Old Lady definitely asked him for help.

Lady Fang nodded.

“He’s fine,” she said.

Head Shopkeeper Song did not step forward and ask to see Chengyu.

“Don’t return home first. Wait here for a few days first,” he said.

Lady Fang nodded.

“We were going to do that. The manor is being prepared now,” she said.

Head Shopkeeper Song nodded.

“Okay, let’s go there quickly. Once we get Chengyu settled, we can discuss other matters of when we return.”

Lady Fang sat back down in the carriage. The horses were urged forward, and Head Shopkeeper Song had his people surround them.

Because there were so many torches and people, the carriage was illuminated brightly, casting Lady Fang’s face half in light and half in shadow. Her expression was complicated. She seemed like she wanted to cry but was also very fierce. Soon the carriage stopped again.

“We have arrived,” said the guards outside.

Lady Fang covered her face and lifted the curtains.

It was a small manor, at the outermost edge of a village. Their group of people arriving in the night summoned a lot of barking.

Lady Fang got off the carriage and watched the guards open up the lock, which was covered by a thick layer of dust.

“In order to keep the secret, we temporarily rented a room,” she explained to Head Shopkeeper Song quietly.

Head Shopkeeper Song grunted but didn’t say anything.

Lady Fang watched the carriage be led away, then she entered the courtyard herself.

“Go clean up a room and light some lanterns,” she told the guards. “Be careful.”

A cloaked girl had come down first, before the guards carried Fang Chengyu out.

It was a bit cramped with all the people crowded in front of the carriage.

Lady Fang thought of something then looked out the door.

Head Shopkeeper Song stood outside it.

“Second Uncle, hurry up and go in,” she said. Then she asked, “What other instructions did mother have?”

Head Shopkeeper Song nodded.

“Eldest Sister-in-law said…” he started, then waved a hand. “You should die.”

What?

Lady Fang stared in shock. The guards in front of Head Shopkeeper Song suddenly took out bows and arrows and lit their heads in flame.

“Lady, be careful,” Fang Family’s guards shouted, pushing Lady Fang behind them.

Then came the whooshing of arrows.

However, the arrows were not aimed at Lady Fang, rather, they were aimed at the carriage.

The people next to the carriage had already scattered, so only the carriage went up in a conflagration.

Fang Chengyu was still in the carriage.

But Lady Fang was not sobbing wildly in the courtyard.

Pushing aside the guards covering her, she glared at Head Shopkeeper Song with righteous fury.

“Second Uncle!” she shouted, her voice choked with tears. “What do you think you’re doing?”

He looked as stoic as ever.

“What do I think I’m doing? What do you think you’re doing? Did you bring me here so you can hack me to death?” he asked. “Could it be that your second uncle is just an old decrepit man in your eyes?”

He lifted his hand again.

Something like stars sparkled in the dark. Guards seemed to arise from the earth, with bows and arrows pouring into the small courtyard.

“Did you think this idiot’s trick would get me?” Head Shopkeeper Song stood at the center, scorn and fury in his eyes. “I am no idiot.”

As he shouted, countless more arrows rained down onto the manor like shooting stars.

Lady Fang shrieked once. She was shielded again by the guards, but the fire arrows were not targeted at her.

The simple and crude building was set alight by the fire arrows. Tens of guards came running out, their weapons and shields out as they formed a tight guard around Lady Fang.