Chapter 47

The Imperial City's Palace.

Xiaoming had been in Luoyang for several days, but the old eunuch Luo Yuan, also known as Lord Eunuch Luo, seemed to be taking it easy, hiding inside the palace. Every day, he led a group of young eunuchs and palace maids to clean the rooms in the palace, as if his arrival was solely for the purpose of cleaning the Imperial City's Palace... It was as if a tiger had decided to eat grass instead of meat.

"Tap tap... tap tap...!"

The footsteps were light and hurried, and then someone burst into Lord Eunuch Luo's room.

The young eunuch Man Ning had a sullen look on his face and reported, "Grandpa... The Deputy Commander of the Luoyang Yingyang Guard, Zhao Xi, has come to pay his respects. Should you see him or not?"

Luo Yuan was drinking tea. Upon hearing this, he put down his teacup, stroked his neatly trimmed and beautiful beard, and pondered for a moment before saying, "See him! You may invite him in!"

"Hmph~"

The young eunuch Man Ning still had a reluctant look on his face, and with a coquettish huff, he turned and left in a seductive manner.

Not long after, Deputy Commander Zhao Xi appeared before Lord Eunuch Luo. His face, which resembled a mummy, was plastered with an extremely fawning smile as he bowed deeply and said, "This humble official, Deputy Commander Zhao Xi of the Luoyang Thousand-Man Garrison, pays respects to Your Excellency!"

Lord Eunuch Luo waved his hand, displeased, and said, "Didn't I tell you? Your Yingyang Guard is the Emperor's personal army, while we, the Huangmen Guard, are just servants of the imperial family! Our statuses are different, and it's not proper for you to bow to me."

Zhao Xi, who was still bowing, slightly raised his head, his eyes filled with respect, and said, "You are also the Deputy Director of the Imperial Guard!"

The Imperial Guard oversees three divisions: the Yingyang Guard and the Huangmen Guard are two of them. The leader of the Yingyang Guard is the Yingyang Langjiang, a fifth-rank official. The leader of the Huangmen Guard is Luo Yuan, known as the Chief Eunuch, and he is one of the top three eunuchs. The position of Director of the Imperial Guard is just a nominal title, and no one has held it for two hundred years. However, the position of Deputy Director is a permanent one, and there are three of them, each leading one of the three divisions. In name, although the three divisions operate independently and often have conflicts, the Deputy Director has a limited but significant influence over the affairs of the other two divisions.

Zhao Xi's meaning was simple: in name, he was also under Lord Eunuch Luo's command, and it was entirely appropriate for him to bow deeply.

Lord Eunuch Luo smiled, shook his head, and said in a high-pitched voice, "I almost forgot about that! Well, well, well! Deputy Commander Zhao, what brings you here?"

Zhao Xi pondered for a moment and slowly said, "This humble official has come to seek Your Excellency's guidance on how to handle the criminal Wu Fan."

Lord Eunuch Luo was taken aback, blinked his eyes, and then said nonchalantly, "That's an internal matter of your Yingyang Guard, and I have no say in it!"

Zhao Xi was stunned but quickly understood and then took his leave.

"Grandpa... If you say that, you might end up killing that young man!" The young eunuch Man Ning, who had appeared out of nowhere, was now sitting on the tall red-painted threshold and said, "That young man is cunning but not very capable. If you want to make it look real and make the Maitreya Sect believe him, don't forget that none of the Yingyang Guard's officers are easy to deal with; they are all bad apples."

Lord Eunuch Luo remained expressionless, continued drinking his tea, and after a long while, said, "You just want an excuse to go out and play, don't you? Hehehe... Go ahead, just don't mess things up!"

"Really?"

"Really!"

"Hehe! Grandpa is the best!"

The young eunuch Man Ning, with a coquettish smile like a woman, skipped away and disappeared.

After the young eunuch Man Ning left, Lord Eunuch Luo tapped his fingers on the table, deep in thought, pondering something.

...

The An Yuan Marquis's Mansion.

To be precise, outside the An Yuan Marquis's Mansion, Wu Fan was dining at a three-story tavern. Dining was just a pretext; he had scouted the location the previous night and came early in the morning to observe the An Yuan Marquis's Mansion through the telescope in the Fourteen-Form Saber Box. At the very least, he needed to confirm whether the woman Yu Xiang was indeed hiding in the An Yuan Marquis's Mansion as Ma Ye had said... To expect Wu Fan to fully trust Ma Ye? Don't be ridiculous! It was impossible!

"Just a leisurely marquis, a fallen noble of the first rank, and yet he is so wealthy! Tsk tsk!" Wu Fan watched the An Yuan Marquis's Mansion through the single-lens telescope, envying it nonstop. "This mansion alone occupies more than an acre of land, with the main street of Luoyang, Zhuque Street, to the north, and the bustling Dong Market to the south... With the capital about to be moved, this residence... is going to make a fortune!"

From his vantage point, not too far away, and with the high-quality telescope, Wu Fan could see the An Yuan Marquis's Mansion quite clearly, at least enough to see the maids bathing... cough, cough, anyway, it was quite clear. It took him only a little time to identify the An Yuan Marquis Zheng Jie.

Hmm!

Wu Fan was absolutely certain it was the shameless man who was peeking at his maids bathing by the wall in the courtyard!

[Scoundrel! Peeping Tom!]

The righteous Wu Fan harshly despised the An Yuan Marquis in his heart, even though his telescope was still focused on the maids who were bathing outdoors in the courtyard.

"Hmm?"

A glance from the corner of his eye, and Wu Fan shifted the telescope to a familiar figure that had just flashed by.

[She really is here!]

Wu Fan sighed inwardly and fixed his gaze on Yu Xiang, who was disguised as a maid in the An Yuan Marquis's Mansion. However, it seemed that Yu Xiang soon noticed Wu Fan's gaze, and from over a hundred yards away, she accurately looked in his direction!

"Snap!"

Wu Fan put away the telescope, threw some loose silver on the table, and ran off with the Fourteen-Form Saber Box. He had some understanding of Yu Xiang, and from such a distance, she might have just relied on intuition to look over, but she certainly couldn't see anything clearly. However, with Yu Xiang's caution, she would definitely send someone to investigate! Because this tavern was the only place that could overlook the entire An Yuan Marquis's Mansion!

Wu Fan started to run. The time to meet Yu Xiang was not now.

Just—

When Wu Fan had already reached the corner between the first and second floors.

"Thump thump thump...!"

The footsteps on the stairs suddenly grew loud.

"..."

And then it was silent again!

[So fast?]

Wu Fan was startled.

Despite his shock, Wu Fan had considered the possibility of directly encountering Yu Xiang, so he calmly smiled and took a few steps down the stairs, saying, "It's one of us..."

The person was indeed one of his.

But, that was in the past.

At least now, everyone knew that Wu Fan, the Yingyang Guard's officer of the Luoyang Thousand-Man Garrison and the Western Hundred-Man Garrison, had brutally killed fifty of his comrades and defected to the Maitreya Sect.

Wearing a Fan Yang hat, a flying eagle uniform, knee-high black boots, and... that murderous gaze!

Yingyang Guard!

[What the hell! This is not how it's supposed to be!!]

Wu Fan's smile turned stiff, and his eyes started to dart around.

[What to do? What to do? What can I do?]

Wu Fan felt like crying but couldn't, secretly blaming himself for playing such a dangerous game of spies within spies! This was a surefire way to get beheaded!

...

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