The weather turned hot in May. The night breeze carried the heat of summer, and cicadas chirped incessantly in the dark, narrow alleys.
The dogs from the Ministry of Justice led the way, followed by two guards holding lanterns that illuminated about half a foot around them.
The alley was too narrow for two horses to walk side by side. Yan Seventh Young Master and Enemy rode one behind the other, their horses' hooves crunching fallen leaves, the echoes resonating in the deep alley.
Enemy spoke from the front. His voice was deep and cold, perfectly matching Ying Xiaoman's impression of how a villain should sound.
"Why investigate such trivial matters?"
"How can we know it's unrelated if we don't look into it?" replied Yan Seventh Young Master.
Enemy spoke slowly, habitually pausing after every few words.
"We still have the major case of illegal weapons trafficking to deal with. High-quality firearms produced by the Ministry of War have somehow been transported to enemy countries, appearing on the northern frontier battlefield."
"Your recent brush with danger is also connected to this major case. Yet you ask me to investigate a mere sixth-rank official from the Ministry of Justice?"
Enemy's words carried an imposing air, but Yan Seventh Young Master was unfazed. "This 'mere' official has been embezzling and reselling confiscated grappling hooks from the Ministry of Justice's storage for two months now, completely undetected. Don't you find that strange?"
Enemy's voice grew even deeper, "Who has time to investigate such petty cases?"
"It may be petty, but how was it carried out so smoothly? How did they deceive so many colleagues, both superiors and subordinates? How has it remained hidden until now? The Ministry of War and Ministry of Justice are both among the Six Ministries. There might be something to learn from this."
Yan Seventh Young Master rode slowly through the deep alley: "Those who have been in high positions for too long often underestimate the lower-ranking officials of the sixth and seventh grades. These officials handle many routine matters of the Six Ministries daily and have their own set of tricks learned from years of experience. As they say, small devils are the hardest to deal with. These 'small devils' band together, cover for each other, creating loopholes, while the high-ranking officials remain oblivious."
"It's still worth investigating," Yan Seventh Young Master said calmly. "There might be unexpected findings."
After a long silence, Enemy asked, "This official in charge of storage at the Ministry of Justice. What's his name?"
"His surname is Zhou, Zhou Xianguang."
Seventh Young Master continued leisurely, "Don't mention that I tipped you off. After all, when I caught him selling grappling hooks at the ghost market last time, I asked him to deliver a message, hinting that if the message was delivered, the Ministry of Justice would overlook his theft from the storehouse."
Enemy scoffed, "You sure know how to coax people. Fine, if he confesses honestly, I might let him off—"
Suddenly, the two black dogs leading the way stopped, whining excitedly and wagging their tails furiously as they rushed to the narrow wall, refusing to budge.
The guard holding their leashes hurriedly brought the lantern closer to see, and couldn't help but laugh. He kicked away a half-eaten meat bun by the wall and reported back, "Someone left a meat bun on the roadside, and its smell attracted the dogs—"
As the lantern light moved from the center of the narrow alley to the corner, Enemy's immediate surroundings were plunged into momentary darkness.
A pair of bright eyes appeared in the dark alley. They shone like stars, clear and distinct.
They were a pair of extremely beautiful round eyes, meeting Enemy's gaze on horseback for a moment. Enemy instinctively pulled on the reins.
The next instant, a flash of bright blade light appeared in the darkness.
Enemy clearly hadn't reacted yet, still sitting stunned on his horse, his wrist not even having tightened on the reins—
The blade was already before his eyes.
The horse neighed in fright. Its front hooves rose high, and Enemy tumbled from the saddle, falling heavily to the ground, caught completely off guard.
Several shouts rang out simultaneously in the pitch-black alley.
The guards in front and behind, sensing something amiss, quickly converged towards the center, but unexpectedly stepped on a patch of caltrops scattered on the ground. The iron spikes pierced their feet, causing them to stumble and fall.
The two hunting dogs, smelling the blood from both directions, began barking furiously in the darkness.
Enemy rolled a couple of times on the ground in the narrow alley, and before he could struggle to his feet, a cold blade tip was pressed against his neck.
"Don't move!" A crisp, suppressed shout came from the darkness.
Ying Xiaoman's heart was pounding rapidly. She had finally waited for this moment!
With the blade tip pressed against Enemy's vital neck artery, her mind went blank with excitement, leaving only one thought.
Before her father passed away, he had specifically instructed her to explain the reason for revenge to Enemy's face, to clarify how the feud between the two families had started, so that Enemy would die understanding!
"My father's master and your Yan family have a blood feud! If the father is not around, seek the son; if the son is not around, seek the grandson. You are the head of the Yan family in this generation, so I'm coming for you!"
"You Yan family scholar-officials are insidious! Your grandfather, Minister Yan, secretly harmed my father's master's entire family! My father's name is Da Shuo, but he didn't have time to tell me his master's surname!"
After speaking rapidly to this point, she finally caught her breath. The bright blade reflected Enemy's shocked face.
In that split second, as their gazes met at close range, Enemy, pinned to the ground, unexpectedly called out Ying Xiaoman's identity, "Miss Ying?!"
Ying Xiaoman: ...?
Her mind went blank for a moment. Huh?!
The guards whose feet had been pierced by caltrops were struggling to their feet. Panicked shouts filled the narrow alley, "We're under attack! We're under attack!" "Release the dogs! Protect the master!" One guard fumbled around for the fallen lantern.
A strong, sinewy hand reached out from the side, intercepting the lantern.
In the dim, hazy light appeared a tall figure. He glanced at the direction where Ying Xiaoman was holding Enemy at knifepoint, then without hesitation, lowered his head and blew out the candle in the lantern.
—The light went out.
The narrow alley plunged into complete darkness.
Ying Xiaoman was stunned for only a moment before becoming excited. Seventh Young Master had come to help her!
The question of why Enemy could recognize her was already pushed to the back of her mind. Her adoptive father had instructed her to explain the grudge face-to-face to Enemy, to make him die understanding. Now she could strike!
She immediately pounced forward, pinning Enemy, who had just sat up, back to the ground. With two parts excitement, three parts thrill, and four parts relief, she happily said to the wide-eyed, shocked Enemy on the ground:
"Grudges have their masters, and the gods are watching above. Tonight, I'll use my father's heirloom to avenge my father's master in the Capital City!" She let out a long, relaxed breath and reached back to feel for the door bolt.
Seventh Young Master's footsteps rapidly approached.
A hand with distinct knuckles suddenly exerted force, gripping her wrist.
He moved faster, pulling out the ten-pound iron door bolt she had been carrying on her back, hiding it somewhere in the darkness, and instead grabbed her hand:
"There must be a misunderstanding! Don't do it!"
Ying Xiaoman reached back to feel for the door bolt and found nothing, immediately shocked.
In the moment she was stunned, Enemy, who she had been pinning down, struggled and rolled away, escaping from under her blade tip. He rolled to an unknown location in the darkness and called out again from afar, sounding full of grievance:
"Miss Ying, is that you? Why are you trying to kill me?!"
Ying Xiaoman froze on the spot.
The situation had developed completely differently from what she had imagined. Why had Enemy immediately recognized her identity?
If Seventh Young Master had helped her by blowing out the lantern to conceal her actions, why had he then taken away the door bolt she had brought from her hometown and prevented her from killing Enemy?
As she was lost in confusion, her wrist was forcefully pulled, and Seventh Young Master dragged her to the wall of the narrow alley in the darkness.
"Quick, let's go," he urged in a low voice. Ying Xiaoman hesitated for a moment and asked, "Where's my door bolt?"
"I'll return the door bolt when we have time. Hurry!"
The sound of repeated striking of flint stones rang out in the darkness. The guards shouted as they closed in from both sides, and someone found the extinguished lantern on the ground, attempting to relight it and illuminate the chaotic dark alley.
As the flint stones produced a faint light, Ying Xiaoman had no time to think further. She shook out her grappling hook and rope, and the hooks reached for the top of the wall. Her figure, light as smoke, disappeared outside the narrow alley.
The night deepened. Faint footsteps could be heard in the small alley running east to west.
The young woman, having put her conical hat back on, took a different route home.
Ying Xiaoman's current mood was like her dragging footsteps, or like the moon that had long passed its zenith overhead.
Heavy. Sinking.
She had secretly followed for months, planning repeatedly, and finally found the perfect opportunity of time, place, and circumstances to confront Enemy and make him understand the grudge before his death.
Just as she was about to deliver the final blow and exact her revenge—Seventh Young Master had taken away her door bolt!
The quiet alley came to an end. She continued eastward.
The sky was cloudy with a dim moon, and lanterns at the gates of the houses she passed vaguely lit the path ahead. Her high spirits had turned to dejection, and Ying Xiaoman trudged along the roadside, the leather pouch with her grappling hook hanging at her waist, casting a long shadow behind her.
As she walked, she raised a hand to wipe her reddened eyes.
Deep in the narrow alley.
When the lanterns were relit, the slender figure had already vanished like a wisp of smoke, silently leaping over the wall.
Yan Seventh Young Master leaned against the wall wordlessly, while Eleventh Young Master sat on the ground in a disheveled state, his narrow eyes still filled with lingering shock. After a long silence, Eleventh Young Master spoke hoarsely, "What happened?"
Yan Seventh Young Master also wanted to know what had happened.
Ying Xiaoman's enemy was clearly the Yan family, so why had the revenge been directed at Eleventh Young Master?
He stood silently by the wall, discreetly changing his position to conceal the faint marks left by the flying claw. In his mind, he recalled Ying Xiaoman's words during her vengeful attack.
Ying Xiaoman had shouted into Eleventh Young Master's ear:
—"My father's master and your Yan family have a blood feud!"
—"If the father is not here, seek the son; if the son is not here, seek the grandson. You are the head of this generation of the Yan family, so I'll come for you!"
—"Your grandfather, Minister Yan, treacherously destroyed my father's master's entire family!"
A thought struck Yan Seventh Young Master. He turned his gaze and, in the lantern light, carefully examined Eleventh Young Master's features.
Narrow hawk-like eyes, thick black eyebrows, not particularly fair skin, a sturdy build over seven and a half feet tall...
In a flash of insight, Yan Seventh Young Master suddenly considered a previously overlooked possibility.
Eleventh Young Master was on good terms with him and often borrowed the official boats of the Ministry of Justice. After he went missing, Eleventh Young Master had repeatedly visited Changle Alley in person, conducting thorough investigations within the Yan family, trying to uncover his whereabouts.
Moreover, due to the major case of stolen and illegally sold refined iron weapons, which was jointly investigated by three ministries, Eleventh Young Master, as one of the chief investigators, frequently visited the Ministry of Justice...
From beginning to end, could it be that the so-called "enemy" Ying Xiaoman had been targeting, the "dog official Yan Rongshi" she had been cursing all along, was actually Eleventh Young Master?
"...What a tremendous misunderstanding!"