Your daughter-should I trust her?

Qingzhou City was destined for an uneasy night.

Bursts of fireworks shot into the heavens, illuminating the sleepless city and some of the unseen, shadowy corners of the ancient streets.

Figures slipped through the cover of darkness...

Mounted soldiers pursuing leads, black shadows flitting past, and wanted portraits plastered across the walls... together, they formed a seething undercurrent.

"Boundless Heavenly Venerable."

No one noticed the ragged beggar sitting cross-legged by the street, silently watching it all.

He lowered the brim of his bamboo hat slightly, hiding his face completely. Yet the knowing smile curling at the corners of his mouth was unmistakable...

The Provincial Governor's residence.

Zhuge Jingcheng was still poring over his books.

His desk was a mess, the oil tea had gone cold, and the candles had burned out. Governor Jingcheng's brows were tightly knitted.

He rose and asked, "Have you still not found my daughter?"

"No."

The officer who entered shook his head. "There's something very unusual about her running away this time. We always managed to find her before, but this time... we've searched almost all of Qingzhou City and still found nothing. Could she have..."

The officer hesitated.

"Could she have what?"

Zhuge Jingcheng's gaze chilled.

The officer finally worked up the courage to speak. "A secret letter arrived from the Capital City, saying a band of rebels has entered Qingzhou City. You must already know, Governor—the magistrate of Lotus Town is dead. They killed him...

"And your daughter is so fond of 'playing the wandering champion.' Could she have run into them?"

"No matter where she's gone, as long as she's still in Qingzhou City, we can find her!"

"Our immediate priority is to find her before those escort guards and criminals do!"

Before the officer could finish, however, Zhuge Jingcheng coldly cut him off.

"Have you found the employer behind this?"

The officer merely bowed his head even lower. "Not yet, either..."

"Then go and investigate!"

Zhuge Jingcheng abruptly raised his voice.

The officer flinched in fright and hurried out.

Zhuge Jingcheng's gaze fell once more on the secret letter from the Capital City lying on his desk—it ordered him to spare no cost, gather every underground force, and wipe out that band of rebels within Qingzhou City!

Yet now, the two matters seemed to have collided.

The pressure bore down on Zhuge Jingcheng like a collapsing mountain...

He slowly rose and, under cover of darkness, passed through the corridor to the ancestral shrine.

He bowed before the spirit tablets enshrined there.

One of those tablets belonged to Zhuge Jingcheng's wife, the woman he had married in his youth.

She was dead.

She had died the year of the Empress's Ascension.

At the moment the two armies rebelled.

Back then.

He had stood with the Empress, but his wife had long been secretly carrying on an affair with a powerful dignitary serving under the First Prince.

Later, the First Prince lost. According to the rules, everyone on the defeated side would be made to answer for it.

His wife included.

Zhuge Jingcheng would never forget that day—he had stood opposite his wife, sword in hand.

Knowing what awaited her, his wife gave him a wretched smile, then suddenly drew her sword and slit her own throat.

She fell into a pool of blood, yet her final gaze before death remained fixed on Zhuge Jingcheng.

It was an extraordinarily complex look, filled with regret, sorrow, mournful tenderness, and a hint of amusement... as though it were all fate.

"Your daughter—should I trust her?"

After kneeling for a long time, he raised his head, looked at his wife's spirit tablet, and murmured to himself.

Meanwhile, Zhuge Jingcheng's daughter, Zhuge Qing, had followed Ning Que back to the inn.

Since the inn had already closed for the night, there were no spare rooms available.

Zhuge Qing could only follow him into Ning Que's room.

"Grrr..."

The moment she entered, her stomach rumbled.

A blush rose over Zhuge Qing's lovely face.

Ning Que merely smiled. "Hungry? I'll ask the innkeeper to get you something to eat."

The inn's food clearly could not compare to what the Provincial Governor's residence served, but Zhuge Qing still ate with relish.

She practically wolfed it down.

There was not the slightest trace of a governor's daughter's airs about Zhuge Qing.

After eating, Zhuge Qing looked eagerly at Ning Que, her bright eyes sparkling.

She was just about to speak when Ning Que took Zhuge Qing's wrist first.

Startled, Zhuge Qing instinctively tried to pull away.

But Ning Que did not seem to be taking liberties with her, so she ultimately restrained herself.

After a while, Ning Que released her and shook his head. "You have good talent, but you've been training down the wrong path and missed the best window."

"You won't be able to learn my saber technique. You can only learn a very basic self-defense technique."

Zhuge Qing was a little disappointed to hear that.

She could hear the unspoken meaning beneath his words—I have nothing to teach you, so there's no reason for you to stay. Going back to the Provincial Governor's residence is your best choice.

Of course, he could not let her leave within these three days. Ning Que was merely testing her, because he still sensed something unusual about Zhuge Qing.

For instance, why did a governor's daughter keep running away every few days?

And why was she unwilling to return to the governor's city?

Even after someone tried to assassinate her, she refused to go back, though the Provincial Governor's residence was clearly the safest place for her...

A bitter smile appeared on Zhuge Qing's face. She seemed to have something to say, but when the words reached her lips, she froze.

Seeing that, Ning Que asked no more questions.

"Get some rest."

After tidying up and clearing a place for Zhuge Qing to sleep, Ning Que lay down.

He did not give up his bed. He had already saved her life; she ought to be grateful to him.

After the lights went out, Ning Que did not fall asleep.

Although he could use Background Editing, every edit was like opening a side quest waiting for him to carry it out.

Thus, Ning Que decided to hold off on his second use of Background Editing until he had finished consolidating Flowing Sand.

In the darkness, he could also hear Zhuge Qing's slightly hurried breathing.

He knew she was awake, too.

One thing was almost certain: there was friction between Zhuge Qing and her "governor father," perhaps even outright conflict!

Otherwise, she would not have wanted to run away.

"Playing the wandering champion" was merely a pretext. She wanted to escape.

Then who was behind the enormous bounty on Zhuge Qing?

With that thought, Ning Que closed his eyes, then opened them again.

Day had broken.

When he raised his head, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

He walked out of the inn and saw mounted soldiers everywhere along the streets.

Word had it that the night had been turbulent. Many people had been arrested, and even the Provincial Governor's Main Army and the City Guards had been mobilized.

Ning Que did not go out again that day, instead spending the entire day at the inn.

More news came from the Flower Delight House: its star courtesan, Liu Ningzhi, had also vanished without explanation.

Not even a corpse had been left behind.

At breakfast, his expression darkened as he listened to the diners at the other tables discussing it.

He knew Liu Ningzhi was not dead.

But for even her body to be gone was rather absurd.

Last night, he had clearly snapped Liu Ningzhi's neck.

Had someone secretly carried her body away?

Mu Yuwei, however, said, "That's the Yin Lotus Cult's dark magic! Liu Ningzhi must be their holy maiden!"