Tang Doudou looked at the two with a smile that didn’t quite seem like a smile. “What were you two chatting about that got you guys so absorbed in the conversation?”


  “It’s just some funny news… Waiter, are there any private rooms left?”


  “There are. Dear customers, this way please.”


  Gu Xun hastily shifted topics when he saw that Tang Doudou was suspicious of them. He called over the waiter and gave instructions. Then the waiter led them upstairs to a private room.

  Tang Doudou had been actually been eavesdropping on their conversation near the door. She had purposefully asked them what they were doing in order to avoid suspicion.

  From the looks of it, it was 90% certain that the person that escaped was Baili Yu.

  However, why was he by himself? Where were the maids? And where did he go?

  Tang Doudou couldn’t figure out what exactly happened so for the time being, she could only focus on taking cautious steps forward.

  They entered the private room and sat down. Before their seats had even warmed, a ‘whoosh’ came from outside the window as an unidentified object headed straight towards Tang Doudou’s face.

  Tang Doudou was scared to the point the back of her head was covered with cold sweat. She couldn’t react at all. Just when she thought she was done for, she saw Gu Xun flick his sleeve and strike that object down.

  The object hit the ground with a ‘clang’. It seemed to be some sort of small weapon.

  Tang Doudou, whose heart was still beating rapidly in lingering fear, couldn’t bring herself to look at it at first. However, she feigned calmness. Lifting the teacup, she took a light sip before slowly lowering her head to look at it.

  Gu Xun had already gotten up and walked over. He stooped down to pick up the object and placed it on the table.

  It was a rusted arrowhead. It was stabbed through a faint yellow paper that seemed to be casually folded. The black handwriting inside could be seen through the back of the paper.

  “Alliance Head Li,” said Gu Xun.

  Tang Doudou lifted her eyes to glance at him, then picked up the arrowhead. “Looks like it’s for me.”


  Gu Xun nodded and returned to his original seat. However, as he did so, he made a hand signal towards the window. In the distance, a person saw the signal and his figure immediately flitted towards the direction from which the arrowhead came.

  Back in Hundred Fragrance House, Tang Doudou was unfolding the strip of paper. She opened it without hesitation right there in Gu Xun and Old Suo’s presence.

  On it, there was only one symbol. Or actually, it was a drawing.

  It was a vivid drawing of a lamp. The unmistakable shape of the lamp was sketched out with only a few brush strokes. It could be said to be the work of the greatest drawing master!

  This is a message someone sent her to tell her about the location of that antique lamp?

  When her thoughts got to here, she glanced at Old Suo. It was clear that he also had an idea of who this letter was from because his expression instantly turned dark as he said, “Those stinkin’ fearless bugs. Do they really think lao zi can’t bear to kill them!?”


  “Ahem…” Gu Xun gave a dry cough. “What is this?”


  Old Suo explained the entire story to Gu Xun but neglected to mention what he saw on the announcement poster in Mist City. Of course, he wasn’t trying to hide it from Gu Xun. He just didn’t want Tang Doudou to know that someone was looking for this lamp.

  “Old Suo! Seriously, why have you been making so many mistakes like this lately?” said Gu Xun with a serious expression.

  Old Suo muttered to himself for a while. Then, instead of responding to Gu Xun’s words, he asked Tang Doudou, “Is that lamp very important to Alliance Head Li?”


  “It’s not ah, I just thought it looked pretty nice. If it’s lost then so be it. It’s no matter. Let’s forget about it and have a drink!” Da fudge! Who would freaking be able to understand what she was feeling as she said this?

  Her mood was so terrible she practically wanted to ‘go die’ ah!

  She tightly gripped the paper in her palm. There was additional information on the drawn lamp. Tang Doudou made sure she had memorized it before throwing the paper onto the ground as if she didn’t care about it. She opened the wine next to her and poured cups for Gu Xun and Old Suo. After a pause, she passed the wine to them and asked in a low voice, “Wonder if Brother Gu knows of Baili Yu?”


  __________

  Credits: Translated by Chiyomira, Edited by Dray

  [Chiyomira's Corner]