At Prince Ding's Manor in the capital of Chu.

“Your Highness, My Lady has sent a letter home.”

It was the end of April with suns.h.i.+ne in the garden. Looking outside the window, there were several peonies in full blossom. Mo Xiu Yao looked at the garden and suddenly recalled that he met Ah Li around this time last year. Back then, he never thought a malicious and shameful section of marriage made by Mo Jing Qi would bring him such a different wife. Right now, in the capital, people who were loyal to the emperor and those loyal to Prince Li were as incompatible as fire and water. Prince Ding's Manor, however, shut itself away from the world because of the missing princess, expressing its dissatisfaction with the emperor, ignoring the open fight and covert maneuver between the emperor and Prince Li instead of a.s.sisting the emperor timely like it used to.

“Bring it to me!” Turning his eyes back, he said as he looked at Chief Steward Mo who was standing on the doorstep.

Also standing by the door, Feng Zhi Yao giggled at Mo Xiu Yao with a heavy sealed record in his hand: “Come to think of it, Ah Yao, the princess, my sister-in-law, is tough indeed, only thinking of writing a letter almost two months after she left.”

Mo Xiu Yao frowned. With a lift of hand, he got the record held by Feng Zhi Yao with the force of his internal energy. “Where are they now?”

Feng Zhi Yao shook his head and said: “If she's that easy to find, I will have news of her whereabouts by now. The secret guards who received the letter was at the border of Luoyi Clan of Nan Zhao but none of them saw who sent the letter. By now, n.o.body has any clue as to where she is, not our men, not those who worked for other people. Well... the five of them should have been easy to spot. Even if others don't know this information, our men do.”

Mo Xiu Yao said with a frown: “That means they don't travel together. Besides, Ah Li is good at dressing up in disguise. None of the secret guards outside the capital has seen them before so it will be difficult for them to recognize them.” Besides, knowing the general deployment of secret guards at each place made it easier for them to take a detour.

Opening the record, a glittering something and a sealed letter fell out. Mo Xiu Yao caught that thing. It was a gold ornament with several delicate gems in sunflower patterns.

Feng Zhi Yao was surprised. “The princess sent you a jewelry?” But... isn't something wrong here?

Watching the gold ornament for a while, Mo Xiu Yao put it down on the table. Then he opened the letter. As he read, his brows drew tightly together. After a good while, he said: “Get me someone who is good with Nan Zhao's language.”

Feng Zhi Yao looked at him in a strange expression and said: “Don't you know the language of Nan Zhao?”

Mo Xiu Yao said with a frown: “This is something different. I think it's an ancient language of Nan Zhao.”

Taking it over, Feng Zhi Yao felt a headache reading the twisted and crocked characters on it. “It looks like the language of Nan Zhao, but... I can't read it. How come princess sister-in-law knows this strange language?”

Mo Xiu Yao was reading the brief letter as he said: “She didn't. She simply memorized them and wrote them down according to her memory.”

Feng Zhi Yao didn't believe it. “How can she memorize those twisting characters without knowing them?”

Mo Xiu Yao glanced at him with indifference.

Feng Zhi Yao rubbed his nose and said: “All right. We have a lot of men who are good with the current language of Nan Zhao, as for the ancient language... I think it was used some 200 years ago.” In the past, though Nan Zhao attached itself to the previous dynasty, it was prosperous with many clans using various languages. After it established a nation, it started to use its current language. It was hard to figure out which clan this language on the paper belonged to. “I'm afraid we have to consult Lord Su and see if he knows what it is. But...” Though Lord Su Zhe was of n.o.ble character and enjoyed high prestige, he was an official of the royal court after all. It was very likely that he would report to Mo Jing Qi if it was something big.

Mo Xiu Yao frowned. He shook his head and said: “Lord Su holds no good opinions of Nan Zhao and doesn't know its language well.”

Feng Zhi Yao came up with another idea and said with a laughter: “Well... Ah Yao, have you forgotten someone crucial?”

Mo Xiu Yao's brows rose. He gazed at Feng Zhi Yao calmly, signifying him not to purposely make a mystery of a simple matter.

Feng Zhi Yao giggled as he said: “Don't forget... which family our princess comes from. Is there another one more knowledgeable than Xu Family in Great Chu? If Xu Family has no idea what it is, I don't think we'll ever find out anything about it.”

With a frown, Mo Xiu Yao's eyes were fixed on the short letter. Taking that gold ornament and watching it carefully, he said: “Do you think this is an ornament?”

Feng Zhi Yao was confused. “Is it not?”

Mo Xiu Yao felt the obvious scratches on its back and said: “It's a decoration pried off something else. Besides... do you remember which clan of Nan Zhao uses sunflower as its emblem?”

Feng Zhi Yao cudgeled his brains with a frown. “Sunflower is also called Sunlotus. It likes warmth and lives in dry areas. Nan Zhao isn't a good place for it to grow so there isn't a clan that uses it as an emblem. However... do you remember a princess of the previous dynasty who married down a clan leader of Nan Zhao?”

Mo Xiu Yao was silent for a moment. As a man who has read history repeatedly, he had some impression of what happened during the previous dynasty even if he never paid attention to it since it wasn't such a long time ago. “Was it Princess Chaoyang, daughter of Gaozong Emperor of the previous dynasty?”

Feng Zhi Yao answered with a smile: “Right. It was said that princess's name was Kui.” (Translator's note: The Chinese character “Kui” means sunflower.)

“Well... the fact Ah Li took it means it's something important. Do you think it has something to do with a princess of the previous dynasty? The descendants of a princess of previous dynasty... That princess married some 200 years before the previous dynasty was destroyed, right?”

“I have no idea.” Feng Zhi Yao shook his head.

Mo Xiu Yao hesitated for a while before he said: “Make a copy of this and send it secretly to Yunzhou. Besides... if secret guards in Nan Zhao find Ah Li, tell her to leave this behind.”

Putting away the paper, Feng Zhi Yao said with surprise: “The princess has done a good job. If she keeps her investigation, she might get a lot of secrets out of Nan Zhao. Why do you want her to stop? We can send men to her a.s.sistance.”

Gazing at the gold ornament in his hand, Mo Xiu Yao said in a serious tone: “Somehow, it feels like there's a big secret hiding in that paper, only I have no idea what it is for now. Since Ah Li doesn't know anything about it, it might be dangerous for her if she continues to investigate.”

Feng Zhi Yao shurgged. “All right, as you bid, Your Highness.”

Feng Zhi Yao left, leaving Mo Xiu Yao alone in the room. He looked down at the letter again. Except for a brief account of what happened after she entered Nan Zhao, there was only a short sentence which read “Safe, don't worry.” Stoking the letter softly, a bitter smile appeared on his face.

After a rapid trip, Ye Li and her companions reached the capital of Nan Zhao in seven days. As soon as they arrived, the Sick Scholar left with Mr. Liang which p.i.s.sed Han Ming Xi off, who couldn't help cursing: “What is he doing? Pulling down the bridge after crossing the river?”

Glancing at him, Ye Li said with a smile: “If so, what are you going to do with him?” Tianyi Pavilion had men in Nan Zhao, so did the Hall of Darkness. However, Tianyi Pavilion was an intelligence agency, the Hall of Darkness an a.s.sa.s.sination organization. Even if they weren't happy about what the Sick Scholar did, they couldn't do anything to him.

With his arms crossed, Han Ming Xi cast her a glance: “Don't you want that medicine which prolongs life and brings back the dead? If we let him go so easily, do you think he'll send it to you as he promised?”

Ye Li smiled: “Even if I follow him, he might not give it to me as promised. Besides, I can find it myself if he doesn't give it to me.” She didn't come here for the Sick Scholar and his Green Void Flower so it was impossible for her to follow him all the time. In addition... she didn't have to do it herself.

In order to reward himself for all the hards.h.i.+p he had been through in the past few days, Han Ming Xi took Ye Li to the best restaurant in Nan Zhao and left to rest in his room after gorging on a table full of Nan Zhao delicacies. He declared that n.o.body shall disturb him unless the inn was on fire in the next two days, leaving Ye Li and Secret Guard No.3 speechless as they watched him dawdle upstairs.

“Mr. Han is so different from Master Ming Yue.” Secret Guard No.3 exclaimed, which he seldom did.

Ye Li looked at him with a smile as she said: “Do you think he really goes up there for a sleep? I bet he won't be sleeping past midnight.”

It was already evening.

Secret Guard No.3 frowned without a word.

Ye Li, on the other hand, waved her folding fan in a good mood and said: “Let's go out and have a good look at the view of Nan Zhao at night.”