Given her status, unless Yuan Se had given instructions otherwise, no one would stop her from coming and going here.
Not to mention this place—even in Great Yuan Sacred Land, she could come and go as she pleased.
Consort Yuan asked for a carriage and left the estate directly through its side gate.
There was no need for Xu Laoliu and the others to report it; Guan Fangyi saw it herself. She had not expected Consort Yuan to leave so openly and brazenly, without even bothering to conceal herself.
Then again, perhaps there was no need to sneak around. Leaving openly might instead arouse less suspicion.
Having discovered that Consort Yuan had left, Guan Fangyi paced over to another window in the pavilion, pushed it open, and waved her round fan toward the kitchen.
At dusk, Yuan Fang was strolling around the kitchen courtyard. Upon noticing Guan Fangyi's signal, he immediately turned and walked over to the well, lifted a bucket and rope, and lowered the bucket into the well.
The bucket swung wildly inside the well, striking its four walls.
Underground, Yun Ji had been lurking behind the well wall. Hearing the commotion, she focused and identified it, confirming that the signal had come from Guan Fangyi's side. With a poke of her finger, a brick in the well wall fell into the water, and she swiftly fled.
When Yuan Fang saw the well brick fall into the water, he stopped swinging the empty bucket about. He decisively lowered it into the water, filled it, hauled it up, then personally carried the bucket into the kitchen.
Seeing this from the pavilion, Guan Fangyi knew Yun Ji had received the signal to act. She immediately stopped keeping watch here and turned to leave.
Everything was carried out with utmost secrecy.