Lujiang Commandery, Liu'an City.
"Fool!"
The household servant had merely delivered a message. Who would have thought Wang Ling would give him such a tongue-lashing? Yet he dared not say anything more and could only lower his head.
Wang Ling said sternly, "Go prepare the horses first. I will return to Shouchun in two hours."
"Yes!" The servant knew better than to linger and hurried away.
Once Wang Ling was certain the servant had gone far enough, he spoke toward a screen. "Come out."
Before long, a man in plain robes emerged from behind the screen and immediately said, "Inspector Wang, that temper of yours is hardly a good thing."
"I hardly need you to remind me."
Wang Ling was deeply displeased by the man's lecturing tone. He was already angry enough.
His fool of a son had lost his composure after the slightest probing. Did he not know that a messenger from the Wang residence would be watched the moment he left?
Even if the other party could only guess, they could still guess that the messenger was bound for Lujiang.
The room was dimly lit, and the face of the man opposite Wang Ling remained hidden in shadow.
Seeing Wang Ling's irritation, the man hastily said, "Please forgive me, Inspector Wang. I was merely speaking the truth."
"Oh, yes. I hear the new military governor of Yang Province appears to be Man Chong."
"Why else would I have come to Lujiang?" Wang Ling snorted, considering that a pointless remark.
The man in the shadows said flatteringly, "You are a man destined for great things, Inspector Wang."
Wang Ling seemed eager to end the subject. Waving a hand, he said, "Enough, enough. I must head back. Give your prefect my regards when you return."
As Wang Ling spoke, he started toward the door. The man in the shadows left him with a calm remark. "Inspector Wang, when the time comes to cut, cut."
At a secluded corner outside the residence where Wang Ling was staying in Liu'an, several people in black clothes and bamboo hats were furtively watching for any activity within.
One black-clad man turned and asked, "Sister Wen, how long do we have to keep watching? If he stays here overnight, won't we have to watch all night?"
The black-clad figure called "Sister Wen" stood with her arms folded across her chest, a longsword standing squarely between her twin peaks.
Wen Qiluo reached up to adjust the brim of her bamboo hat and said, "Those were the master's orders to me. If you want to complain, feel free to return to Shouchun and complain to him."
The black-clad man repeatedly said he would not dare. His name was Wu Sheng, and like Chen Guang on Wen Qiluo's other side, he was one of the capable men she had selected from the Xiahou residence's servants.
Calling them capable was merely picking the tallest from among dwarfs. In Wen Qiluo's eyes, the two were clumsy and impatient, completely unlike her, who had followed her father and brothers in military life since childhood.
She had absorbed it all from an early age. Given a little more time, she believed she could certainly train a small squad of private soldiers whose fighting strength would rival that of regular troops.
There had simply been too little time so far. Fortunately, this assignment only involved keeping watch.
"Sister Wen, look! The target's appeared!"
Zhang Sheng's voice pulled Wen Qiluo from her thoughts. She pressed her ear against the wall and watched the activity at the residence's entrance.
A middle-aged man came to the entrance. First, he looked around, then lowered his head, bent over, and lifted the carriage curtain.
The carriage then drove away, heading toward the north of the city.
Wen Qiluo made a prompt decision. "You two, stay close to Wang Ling's carriage. See where else he goes and whom he meets."
Chen Guang and Wu Sheng both quietly acknowledged the order. Chen Guang then asked, "What about you, Sister Wen?"
"I'll keep watching here a little longer." Wen Qiluo said no more and waved for them to get moving. Only then did the two leave.
Wen Qiluo's gaze was hawklike. First, she surveyed the residence's layout, then slowly worked her way around its perimeter, trying to find exits such as side gates.
Although she had already sent Wu Sheng to scout earlier, she was still not entirely reassured.
Woman though she was, she had once served as a scout in Wen Qin's army. Routine surveillance like this could not have been more familiar to her.
She had investigated this residence beforehand. It had originally been the residence of the Administrator of Lujiang, but after the administrator built a new residence in the south of the city, this one had stood unused for a time.
Still, someone continued to maintain it, and it conveniently served as temporary lodging for senior officials from Yang Province on inspection tours.
Yet Wang Ling had actually left the same day without staying overnight. That could mean only one thing: he had come here to meet someone.
And that person should still have been here.
Before long, Wen Qiluo's efforts bore fruit. At the southwest corner of the residence, she discovered a side entrance leading to a separate courtyard. This should originally have been a small gate frequently used by the household servants, but it was naturally disused now.
Wen Qiluo reached a conclusion: since Wang Ling was acting so secretly, the person meeting him would naturally not dare march openly through the main entrance either.
Sure enough, her keen nose did not fail her. After she had watched for half an incense stick's worth of time, a man in blue scholar's robes furtively emerged from the side entrance.
His expression was composed. He casually turned his head for a brief look around, then turned onto the street and boarded a carriage.
Wen Qiluo quietly followed. To avoid being noticed, she put away her bamboo hat and tied her hair into a man's topknot.
Wen Qiluo followed the carriage to a tavern, and the blue-robed man went straight inside.
Rather than following on his heels, Wen Qiluo waited a little before strolling in with an air of nonchalance.
The blue-robed man sat on the floor beside a window. Wen Qiluo unfastened the sword at her waist, placed it on the low table, and called the proprietor over to order some wine and dishes.
She believed that, in all likelihood, no one would spot a flaw in anything she had done.
Yet in the time it took her to lower her head and sip some tea, she looked up to find the table beside the window already deserted.
Wen Qiluo immediately dashed out the door and saw the blue-robed man running into an alley. With no time to think further, she charged straight into the alley.
When Wen Qiluo reached a corner, she had only just stepped around it when she sensed a cold gleam flash across her forehead. Her eyes were sharp and her hands swift as she drew the sword at her waist. With a clang, their blades met, and their eyes locked.
"Who are you people?" Wen Qiluo demanded sharply.
Her opponent was masked and said nothing. Breaking their deadlock, he turned his hand and thrust fiercely at Wen Qiluo's face again.
From that first exchange, Wen Qiluo could feel that her opponent's strength surpassed his, yet the opponent had abandoned the use of strength to overpower her. That suited her perfectly. Agility, after all, was her forte.
Wen Qiluo twisted aside to evade the thrust, then seized the man's wrist with her left hand and used his own force against him, pushing him backward. He staggered several steps and had only just steadied himself when Wen Qiluo's diagonal slash cut his upper arm.
After only an exchange or two, the outcome was already taking shape.
Knowing he was outmatched, the masked man clutched his bleeding arm, turned, and fled wildly.
Wen Qiluo was certainly not going to let him go and immediately gave chase. Unexpectedly, an arrow shot from concealment tore through the air, drawing her entire attention.
Wen Qiluo nimbly dodged, and the arrow struck the wall less than three inches from the side of her face.
Had she not reacted so quickly, or had her opponent used a powerful bow, that arrow surely would not merely have buried itself in the wall.