At dawn the next day, the sky was still overcast and the east was just beginning to brighten when Nanyi returned to Wangxue Cottage utterly exhausted. After two consecutive nights of such torment, her entire body felt as if it had fallen apart.
Xie Queshan sat waiting for her in his room. Seeing her enter, he lazily yawned.
“If you hadn’t come back soon, the roosters would have started crowing.”
Nanyi was too tired to bother with courtesies and directly grabbed the water pitcher, gulping down water. Finally recovering some strength to speak, she looked at Xie Queshan with resentment written all over her face.
“Are you trying to kill me?”
“Aren’t you still alive?”
Nanyi gritted her teeth and threw an arrowhead at Xie Queshan. Only when she was escaping at the very end did she remember to pick up an arrowhead to examine it. Sure enough, the arrowhead was blunt. If she had discovered this earlier, she could have just stood still and let them shoot.
“You’re going to torment me to death.”
Nanyi practically collapsed onto the couch, lying stiff as a corpse, completely forgetting to act submissive before Xie Queshan. Once she was certain he wouldn’t kill her, she would show her untamed insolence, not expending an ounce more energy than necessary.
Xie Queshan pulled out a scroll of parchment from his sleeve and tapped Nanyi’s head.
“Don’t want to look anymore?”
Nanyi struggled to sit back up.
“Look!”
Xie Queshan unrolled the city defense map. In the blink of an eye, he rolled it back up.
“You really just let me look once?!”
“I always keep my word.”
Nanyi collapsed back down speechlessly, too lazy to bother with Xie Queshan anymore.
Xie Queshan stood to leave: “After Xie Little Six finalizes her plan, come tell me.”
Nanyi grumbled inwardly: “I’d be a fool to tell you the truth.” But she still obediently replied aloud: “Understood.”
Xie Queshan had already reached the door when, as if he could see through her, he turned back to look at Nanyi again.
“If I discover you’re lying, you’re dead.”
Nanyi’s heart still skipped a beat.
She needed to think of a way to tell Xie Queshan something that was both truthful and would allow Xie Sui’an to carry out her operation smoothly.
……
After obtaining the complete city defense map, Xie Sui’an was somewhat dumbfounded. The Qi forces deployed on the city walls far exceeded her imagination.
“How could we possibly fight our way in…” Xie Sui’an scratched her head in distress.
Nanyi nearly cried out: “Your original plan was to fight your way in?”
“Yes.” Xie Sui’an answered matter-of-factly.
Nanyi had thought Xie Sui’an already had some brilliant strategy, that once the city defense map was in place, they could immediately begin operations. She hadn’t expected Xie Sui’an to consistently embody her reckless character as always.
Her plan was to get the city defense map, find weaknesses in the Qi guards’ positions, then fight her way in. Only when the moment came did she realize how difficult it would be.
Xie Zhu was hanging in the most conspicuous position atop the city walls. To rescue him under everyone’s watchful eyes, the city walls were the key battleground. The Qi people were waiting for big fish to take the bait, so naturally they guarded the walls watertight, with almost no blind spots to be found.
Since the inside traitor hadn’t been rooted out yet, besides Chang Yan, Xie Sui’an didn’t dare deploy other Bingzhu Division personnel. But to truly face the ambush forces on the walls single-handedly would be as difficult as ascending to heaven. Even if they assembled the Bingzhu Division’s death warriors for a head-on confrontation, victory wasn’t guaranteed.
Xie Sui’an scratched her hair and mumbled sheepishly: “With Big Brother’s death and Third Uncle’s capture, the Bingzhu Division now has no leader. Everyone’s acting without coordination, and I’m not one to make decisions—Sister-in-law, you must have a good idea, right?”
Nanyi felt overwhelmed—she was just making up the numbers, where would she get good ideas from?
The two stared at each other wide-eyed.
When the room quieted down, they could hear the sound of water droplets falling outside.
Nanyi poked her head out and saw icicles under the eaves were melting. She suddenly had inspiration and said thoughtfully: “Speaking of guards, it’s not that there are no blind spots at all.”
Xie Sui’an looked up curiously: “Where are the blind spots?”
“In the gate tunnel.”
Xie Sui’an’s brush stopped moving.
“The gate tunnel’s entrances and exits only have normal patrol guards, because everyone thinks that to rescue someone, you can only go up the city walls. But maybe we can rescue him from below the walls?”
“Without going up the city walls, how do we get Third Uncle down?”
Nanyi paused. Just then, a drop of melted ice water fell, making a clear dripping sound.
“Make him fall down.” Nanyi answered with certainty.
Though Xie Sui’an was single-minded, she was also clever. She understood immediately, her face breaking into an extremely delighted smile: “Sister-in-law, this strategy is brilliant!”
“But there’s still one problem—how do you leave this room? Xie Queshan is watching you constantly.”
“I’ve prepared for this long ago. Help me deliver a letter to Prefect Huang Yankun, have him invite me out.”
“The prefect is also from the Bingzhu Division?” Nanyi was shocked.
“How could that be possible? Huang Yankun is just a dog loyal to the Qi people. But he’s shown interest in me several times before, wanting to marry me to form an alliance with the Xie family. If I take the initiative to send word for him to invite me, he definitely won’t miss this opportunity.”
“Then you toward him…”