One other person lived in the outer courtyard where the kitchen stood: Fan Wuzhe.
Though he was a relative, even he had not been allowed to stay in the inner courtyard.
Fan Wuzhe had been tossing and turning on his couch, and he himself had no idea when he had drifted off into a hazy sleep.
After leaving the kitchen, Shi Chun returned to the front hall for a short while, then slipped back into the courtyard. This time, he did not go to the kitchen. Instead, he went to Fan Wuzhe's door, gently pushed it open, slipped inside, and quickly closed it behind him.
He then went to the couch and checked Fan Wuzhe's pulse and breathing. Only after confirming that he was deeply asleep did he seal his acupoints, then bend down to pick up a spherical Hollow Metal Pellet from beneath the couch.
It was no treasure, merely an intricate trinket often hung inside carriages to burn incense and add fragrance. He had simply put Sleep Incense inside it.
He had planted it earlier, when the City Guards conducting the inspection had decided that a mere assistant was not qualified to answer them and told him to summon everyone in the reading hall. He had first called Fan Wuzhe outside, then gone to the inner courtyard to summon Dong Wenshu and his family, using that interval to tamper with the room.
After putting away the incense pellet, he hurried back to the couch and swiftly searched Fan Wuzhe.
Fan Wuzhe had no Heaven-and-Earth Bag or anything of the sort on him, so his possessions were limited. Shi Chun had no interest in them and left them untouched until he felt a Mother-Child Talisman. He took it out and set it aside, then continued searching Fan Wuzhe's entire