Chapter 1450: The One in Charge Is a Big Fat Man

Guan Fangyi was filled with suspicion and uncertainty. She had no idea what had gotten into Yuan Fang.

For the moment, she did not dare act rashly. Nor could she contact Niu Youdao. She could only deal first with the most urgent matters.

The Goldenwings used for confidential communications had to be handled.

Pretending that she needed to repair the damaged entrances at both ends of the secret passage, she quietly cleared away the Goldenwings used for secret contact in the two courtyards...

Inside the Hall of Martial Valor, Shang Chaozong and Meng Shanming were both silent. Lan Ruoting stood beside them.

With something like this happening, Lan Ruoting could not possibly conceal it from the other two.

The problem was that none of them knew what exactly had happened inside Maolu Annex.

How could they not worry?

After discussing the matter, they ultimately had no choice but to follow Yun Ji’s instructions.

They would pretend nothing was wrong.

They would respond to change by remaining unchanged and wait to see what happened...

In the mountains, the unconscious Yin’er had been brought over.

Yun Ji was about to wake her.

Niu Youdao raised a hand to stop her. “This girl clings to people too much. Now is not the time to listen to her chatter. Let her sleep for now.”

Yun Ji had no objection. She propped Yin’er against a large rock, then set down an eagle cage as well. Inside was a Goldenwing.

“The Prince’s residence showed nothing abnormal,” she explained. “Being completely cut off from the city is not workable. I had Lan Ruoting give me a Goldenwing so we can keep in contact with them.”

Niu Youdao nodded. “Good... Wait.”

His expression changed slightly.

“The Prince’s residence is only across one road. There was nothing unusual there at all?”

Yun Ji replied, “According to Lan Ruoting, everything at the Prince’s residence is normal. But there is definitely something wrong inside Maolu Annex...” She explained in detail what Lan Ruoting and Shang Shuqing had encountered, then added, “The Commandery Princess should not be lying, and her reaction did not look as though anything had happened to her.”

“The Prince’s residence is completely normal?”

Niu Youdao frowned in silence.

This time he was genuinely bewildered.

The others were much the same. The event had come without warning and so suddenly that no matter how hard they thought, they could find no clue.

Everyone knew the relationship between Maolu Annex and the Prince’s residence.

If Misty Pavilion had truly come straight for Maolu Annex, how could it make no move at all against the Prince’s residence?

What was going on?

After considering the matter repeatedly, Niu Youdao said in a low voice, “We left in too much of a hurry and lost contact with home. The situation is unclear, and we cannot conveniently make contact directly.”

“If Hongniang wants to contact us, the first place she will think of is the Prince’s residence. Once she knows nothing happened there, she should also guess that we will try to maintain contact with the Prince’s residence. She will find a way to communicate with the Prince.”

“Send a message to the Prince’s side immediately. Tell them that if Hongniang comes looking for them, they should first observe whether anything seems abnormal. If nothing does, have them help Hongniang contact us.”

“All right.” Yun Ji immediately did as instructed.

This side also immediately made a second layer of arrangements, guarding against the possibility that the unknown enemy had deliberately left the Prince’s residence untouched in order to preserve a trail for tracking them.

After Yun Ji released the Goldenwing, Niu Youdao turned his back toward Lü Wushuang and suddenly said, “The scouts Wuliang Mountain keeps outside have contact with home. Go find one of Wuliang Mountain’s scouts and have him send a message back. See if he can learn what happened.”

Yun Ji froze slightly, but she caught the look Niu Youdao threw her and nodded. “All right.”

She turned to leave.

Yuan Gang, standing silently nearby, glanced sideways at Lü Wushuang.

Sure enough, Lü Wushuang frowned and suddenly called out, “Wait.”

Yun Ji stopped and looked back.

Niu Youdao turned as well. “What is it?”

Lü Wushuang slowly said, “You cannot contact Wuliang Mountain inside the annex to ask about this.”

Niu Youdao looked surprised. “Why? Is there some problem?”

Lü Wushuang was silent for a moment. “If I remember correctly, the Sect Leader of Wuliang Mountain is a watcher Misty Pavilion planted among your people. If the people who broke into Maolu Annex really belong to Misty Pavilion, making contact this way would be dangerous. It would be better to find another method.”

Niu Youdao asked back, “Gongsun Bu is one of Misty Pavilion’s people?”

Lü Wushuang replied, “I don’t remember the name. If this Gongsun Bu you mentioned is the Sect Leader responsible for intelligence from your various regions, then yes. It should be him.”

Yuan Gang and Yun Ji both looked toward Niu Youdao.

Niu Youdao tilted his head slightly toward the two of them.

Understanding, they walked off to one side.

Lü Wushuang immediately sensed something wrong.

After thinking it through briefly, her heart jolted.

She slowly stood and stared at Niu Youdao. “You already knew this Gongsun Bu was one of Misty Pavilion’s people?”

Niu Youdao smiled. “He is responsible for the intelligence network of my entire Maolu Villa. No matter how you look at it, he is one of my trusted people. If I didn’t know he belonged to Misty Pavilion, then unless I had deliberately avoided him, how could I have hidden beneath Misty Pavilion’s own eyes for this long without being discovered?”

That was exactly the key point Lü Wushuang had realized after noticing something strange.

She secretly clenched her teeth. “Which means you actually knew all along that I knew this watcher existed.”

Niu Youdao said, “I caused quite a disturbance back then, especially inside the Sacred Realm. I don’t believe you never paid attention to my situation. Naturally you would have known about it long ago.”

Lü Wushuang slowly turned her head and looked toward Yuan Gang in the distance.

Niu Youdao said, “I told you before not to take Monkey’s surveillance personally. He is never careless about his responsibilities, and he does not distinguish between those close to him and those distant from him. I was not saying that for show.”

“Back when he could still appear openly, so long as he was home, everyone in Maolu Annex except me was under his watch. He is very good at reconnaissance. It is difficult to hide anything abnormal from him.”

“From the moment Baili Jie of Misty Pavilion found Gongsun Bu and recruited him as a watcher, Monkey had already discovered it.”

“You blamed Monkey before for being too harsh with you. I did not know what to say. In any case, I cannot blame him.”

“Sometimes shouldn’t people put themselves in each other’s shoes? With certain things, perhaps the fault does not lie entirely with one person.”

Lü Wushuang pressed her lips together tightly. “You were deliberately testing me just now?”

Niu Youdao replied, “If what happened today had not occurred, I might not have exposed this matter so easily. I probably would have continued watching in silence.”

“Before you married Monkey, you kept quiet because your life was in danger. I could understand that.”

“After you married Monkey, I believed you should have said something. Yet you never mentioned it at all. In truth, we have been waiting for you to speak.”

“To make you speak, I even allowed you access to the core secrets of my intelligence network, hoping sincerity would be repaid with sincerity.”

“But you still said nothing.”

“Now something has happened that concerns all our lives, so I wanted to test you.”

“Fortunately, you finally spoke.”

Lü Wushuang asked coldly, “If I still had not said anything, would you have killed me?”

Niu Youdao replied, “You insisted on marrying Monkey because you saw clearly what kind of relationship he and I have. You knew that once you became his wife, with that status between us, I would not lightly move against you.”

“That is true.”

“If I casually harmed you, how would I explain it to my own brother? I would not even be able to justify it to myself.”

“But if you insist on seeking death on your own, then no matter what I do, Monkey will not resent me.”

“So I hope you understand: with matters like this, there is no ‘if.’”

Lü Wushuang stared into his eyes. “You are too dangerous. Your schemes run too deep. You discovered Gongsun Bu’s problem years ago, yet for all this time you were able to remain completely calm and allow such a watcher to continue controlling the center of your intelligence network.”

Niu Youdao smiled. “If I were not a little more careful, you people would have killed me long ago.”

“At a time like this, whether you spoke because you were worried about your own safety or because you were considering everyone’s safety, I would rather believe the latter.”

“So I’m glad you finally said it.”

“But there is something I do not understand. You should know perfectly well that if we were careless, Gongsun Bu could easily notice something abnormal. You yourself would then fall into danger.”

“I want to know: why did you keep this hidden all along?”

Lü Wushuang said, “You managed to hide from Misty Pavilion’s eyes for this many years. Naturally you had your own methods. If you were going to be exposed, it would not have taken until now. So I did not think you would be exposed easily.”

“I kept quiet for no other reason.”

“The problem lies with Yuan Gang himself.”

“His attitude toward me leaves me very uneasy. I wanted to leave myself one road of retreat. If anything went wrong, perhaps Gongsun Bu could still be useful to me.”

Niu Youdao said, “That explanation is something you may need to tell Monkey yourself.”

“I have already told you that Monkey knew about this. What you choose to do now is your business. I will not say anything more.”

“But I’ll give you one final reminder.”

“What we know may be more than you imagine. If there are things you should tell us, tell us early. I believe you understand what I mean.”

Some things had been endured silently until now.

Niu Youdao had even prevented Yuan Gang from questioning Lü Wushuang about this matter precisely so that he himself could deliver this warning at the right time.

Lü Wushuang’s face remained tight. “Other than this matter, I have concealed nothing concerning your side. At least where your affairs are concerned, I have no other concealments.”

“As for other matters that do not involve your side, I cannot immediately think of anything I ought to say.”

Niu Youdao neither agreed nor disagreed.

He had already said he would not speak further, so he did not.

He turned away, walked to Yin’er, and used his art to inspect her. Then he dissolved some of the strange demonic power that had once again begun growing inside her.

Lü Wushuang stood hesitating for quite some time.

In the end, she walked toward Yuan Gang and explained why she had hidden the matter.

Yuan Gang merely looked at her coldly.

He said nothing.

Not one word.

Then he walked away from her.

Lü Wushuang remained standing alone.

She lifted her face toward the stars that had begun appearing in the sky, her expression complicated.

She had thought some things had long since become distant to her and that she could face them calmly.

Only now did she discover that once feelings became entangled in the matter, her own emotions could still be stirred...

While Niu Youdao and the others were trying to find out what exactly had happened inside Maolu Annex, Guan Fangyi regained her freedom.

More precisely, everyone in Maolu Annex regained their freedom.

After tasting Maolu Annex’s cooking and confirming that it suited his appetite, Yuan Se made his final decision.

For the time being, he would stay here.

Since he had decided to use this place as his temporary base, continuing to lock down the entire annex would be inappropriate. Keeping it sealed indefinitely would attract attention instead.

So everyone in Maolu Annex was told to continue doing whatever they normally did.

There was only one rule.

No one was permitted to reveal to anyone that Yuan Se was staying here.

Anyone who leaked the secret would bear the consequences themselves.

As far as Yuan Se was concerned, nothing else was much of a problem.

Once Guan Fangyi regained her freedom, the first thing she did was indeed go to the Prince’s residence to investigate.

Because of that, she quickly established contact with Niu Youdao.

After making careful arrangements, Guan Fangyi left the city and entered the mountains, finally meeting up with the group.

“What happened?” Niu Youdao asked the moment they met.

Guan Fangyi spread her hands. “I don’t know either. Misty Pavilion’s people suddenly barged in. Even now, I still can’t figure out what they want.”

Such a bizarre event?

Everyone exchanged looks.

It truly felt as though they had seen a ghost.

Niu Youdao asked, “Who from Misty Pavilion came?”

Guan Fangyi spread both hands again. “I don’t know. They still haven’t revealed their identities.”

“But the manager of the All-Under-Heaven Money House in the provincial capital came over and confirmed that they really are from Misty Pavilion. He told us to cooperate with them.”

“Beyond that, they refuse to reveal anything.”

“Oh, right.”

“Among those uninvited guests, the one who seems to be in charge is a huge fat man. Judging from the way everyone treats him, his status inside Misty Pavilion is probably not ordinary.”

[End of Chapter 1450]