"I have done what you entrusted to me, but the second daughter interfered. Decide for yourself what to do about Fledgling."
"I have ascertained that the second daughter is committing the family fortune to establishing a Mutual Market with the Mountain Tribe, hoping to make up the Dingyuan Army's shortfall in funds and grain. I need your help with this."
Chen Yi looked at the two disjointed statements on the Yunsong paper.
He could still tease several pieces of information out of them.
First, this was not an intelligence report submitted to a superior or passed down to a subordinate, but clearly correspondence between two people of equal standing.
Second, Xiao Dongchen had once helped the other party do something concerning Fledgling... in other words, concerning him.
What had it been?
Third, Xiao Dongchen-or rather, the Hidden Guard-was also targeting the Xiao Family and did not want them to make up the Dingyuan Army's shortfall in funds and grain.
That last objective seemed to coincide with what the Imperial Court was doing against the Xiao Family?
So the "Hidden Guard" belonged to the Imperial Court?
He mulled it over repeatedly.
Chen Yi circled three things on the Yunsong paper: "I," "Fledgling," and finally, "Dingyuan Army."
"I can count my encounters with Xiao Dongchen on one hand. The first was delivering gifts, the second was welcoming Chen Yunfan, and the third was at the Birthday Banquet."
Aside from those, there had been several incidents where they had not met face-to-face but had still been connected.
One was when Xiao Dongchen had spoken a few words on his behalf after he had "forcibly seized Yunxiang."
But the Secret Letter clearly did not refer to that, because the "second daughter," Xiao Jinghong, had not been at the residence then.
The second was something