The story returned to a little over half a month earlier.
In a secluded courtyard deep in the mountains.
A charming, beautiful woman was watching a man work outside the courtyard, bored out of her mind.
The man looked middle-aged, with an ordinary face and an utterly unremarkable appearance, dressed in coarse hemp clothes.
He was digging holes to plant vegetables, one swing of his hoe after another.
An elderly woman stood beside the beauty with her hands lowered respectfully.
A mountain breeze swept through the courtyard, stirring the beautiful woman's hair.
Li Niang was thoroughly vexed and could not help complaining to the old woman beside her:
"Granny, tell me, when will these dull, tasteless days ever end? Why did the Tower Master have to station me here of all places?"
"This place is secluded and desolate, with nothing but barren mountains and vegetation. There isn't even a soul in sight. I'm bored to death!"
"And you! Have you really decided you're a vegetable farmer?"
As she spoke, she pointed her slender, pale fingers at the middle-aged man planting vegetables, her petulant anger tinged with helplessness.
"A top assassin of the Shadow Tower, and you neglect all your proper duties to plant vegetables here every day. You've really taken yourself for a farmer."
The middle-aged man, A Fan, smiled faintly at her words. "There's nothing wrong with planting vegetables, really."
"You... you... you're infuriating!"
"Hmph!"
Li Niang gave a petulant huff and stopped paying attention to the wooden-headed man.
She walked back inside.
The old woman had watched kindly throughout and accompanied her into the house.
The mountain breeze blew on, and A Fan continued swinging his hoe, planting vegetables.
Before long,
The sound of wheels rolling over the ground came from the secluded mountain path. An exquisitely