Xiao Baoyue said coldly, "Lian San."
The effeminate man, nightmarish as ever, was about to step forward when someone hurried in with a report, his voice frantic. "Young mistress! The soldiers want to search the rooms. We can barely hold them back!"
Wang Yang muttered to himself, "That fast? Has it even been an hour? Oh, right, an hour at the latest. Never mind, then."
His words made the already drawn-sword tension grow heavier still.
The swordsmen tensed like leopards poised to spring! Every face held murderous intent as they watched Wang Yang. Lian San narrowed his eyes slightly, sinister and cold as a man-devouring specter.
"You think you're very clever, don't you?" Xiao Baoyue asked with a cold smile.
"Reasonably, I suppose. Mostly because I've been forced to be. If you'd been willing to talk things through, we wouldn't have ended up here. You keep viewing our relationship in terms of threats and control, and that really isn't appropriate. Put plainly, we're partners. You help cover the holes in my identity, and I help you gather information on the Prince of Badong. We each get what we need. Stop calling for Lian San every other breath. Who are you trying to scare?"
Xiao Baoyue rested her cheek on her hand. "You think I'm trying to scare you? Impersonating the gentry is already a capital offense, but as long as it isn't exposed, you still have a chance to live. Get involved in treason, though, and it's ten deaths with no hope of survival."
"Are you telling a joke? Who's committing treason? You? So you commit treason, then blackmail me, and that makes me an accomplice?"
Wang Yang looked utterly unconvinced and spoke mockingly, but a suspicion had already begun to take shape in his mind.
"Are you genuinely confused,