I slaughtered my way through the border at the start, I am the Great Ming's Night Raider!

Chen Yuan's heart sank.

Uncle Zhao is skilled in martial arts and has a wealth of experience, so how could he be captured so easily?

Unless... we've been ambushed.

He quietly retreated and quickly returned to the banquet.

When the Grand Princess saw him return, she asked him with her eyes.

Chen Yuan shook his head slightly, indicating that nothing was wrong.

But how could nothing have happened?

The banquet finally came to an end.

The officials took their leave one after another, and the Grand Princess also rose to leave her seat.

Cao Jixiang saw him to the door with a beaming smile: "Your Highness, please take care. I will visit you again another day to apologize."

"No need," the Grand Princess said calmly. "If Eunuch Cao has this intention, he should think more about how to investigate the case of Imperial Censor Liu's attack."

"Yes, yes, Your Highness is right."

The sedan chair set off, leaving the Eastern Depot.

After walking some distance, the Grand Princess asked in a low voice, "What happened just now?"

"Uncle Zhao has been arrested," Chen Yuan said. "He's being held in the East Depot's dungeon."

The Grand Princess's expression changed: "Are you sure?"

"I saw Wang Zhen holding Uncle Zhao's dagger," Chen Yuan said. "Moreover, Uncle Zhao went to protect Imperial Censor Liu, and when Imperial Censor Liu was attacked, Uncle Zhao was captured... This is no coincidence."

Qin Xiang was waiting outside. When she saw the sedan chair come out, she went to greet it.

After hearing Chen Yuan's words, her face turned deathly pale: "Uncle Zhao, he..."

"Let's return to the palace first," the Grand Princess said in a deep voice. "We'll discuss this further later."

The sedan chair sped up.

Chen Yuan glanced back at the Eastern Depot's office; the two white lanterns swayed in the night, like two eyes, coldly staring at them.

He knew that tonight's banquet was just the beginning.

The real contest is only just beginning.

Uncle Zhao's life hung by a thread.

He must save him.

No matter the cost.

The lights in Yongshou Palace stayed on all night.

At the beginning of the hour of Yin (3-5 AM), smoke filled the side hall.

Qin Xiang brewed a pot of medicine; it had a pungent smell, but it was refreshing and invigorating.

Chen Yuan sat at the table, wiping the dagger—not Uncle Zhao's, but a short blade modified from his own wild goose feather knife.

The blade gleamed with a ghostly blue light under the lamp, having already drunk the blood of 119 people; tonight, it might add a new soul.

"Are you really going?" Qin Xiang pushed the bowl of medicine towards her.

"We have to go."

Chen Yuan picked up the bowl and drank it all in one gulp.

The medicine was very bitter, so bitter that he frowned slightly. "Uncle Zhao was arrested because of our matter, we can't just ignore it."

"But that's the Eastern Depot's dungeon." Qin Xiang lowered her voice. "I've inquired. The dungeon has three levels, and Uncle Zhao is locked up on the lowest level. The guards patrol every fifteen minutes, with a gap of about half an incense stick's time between shifts. But during this time, the cell door is locked."

"I can open the lock," Chen Yuan said. "When I was a night scout, I opened locks that were much harder than this."

Qin Xiang looked at him and suddenly asked, "You used to...do this kind of thing often?"

"The duties of a night watchman include infiltrating, scouting, rescuing, or killing." Chen Yuan sheathed the dagger in his boot. "The most dangerous time was when Zhang Baihu and I infiltrated the Tatar camp to rescue a captured Qianhu. It was winter, minus twenty degrees Celsius, and we lay in the snow for three hours, almost freezing to death."

"And then?"

"They've been rescued," Chen Yuan said, "but Zhang Baihu lost three toes to frostbite. As for that Qianhu... he didn't last three days after returning to camp; he succumbed to his injuries."

He spoke calmly, but Qin Xiang could hear the heaviness in his voice.

"This time is different," Qin Xiang said. "The Eastern Depot is not a Tatar camp. Cao Jixiang is more cunning than any Tatar general, and Wang Zhen is no pushover either. Their capture of Uncle Zhao is very likely a trap."

"I know." Chen Yuan stood up. "So we can't attack by force; we can only outsmart them."

"How can we outsmart them?"

Chen Yuan walked to the window and looked at the deep night outside: "The guards of the Eastern Depot's dungeon are also human. As human beings, they have weaknesses."

"What weakness?"

"Greedy, lustful, cowardly, or...someone with dirt on you." Chen Yuan turned around. "Miss Qin, you've been operating in the capital for many years. Do you have anyone within the Eastern Depot you can bribe?"

Qin Xiang thought for a moment and said, "There is one. There's a junior officer in the Eastern Depot named Ma Liu, who's a gambler and has racked up a huge debt. I helped him pay off some money once, so he owes me a favor."

"Is that enough to make him let us into the dungeon?"

Qin Xiang shook her head. "He doesn't have that authority. But he can provide the dungeon guard schedule and shift change times."

"That's enough," Chen Yuan said. "Give me the map and the timetable, and I'll figure out the rest myself."

Looking into his determined eyes, Qin Xiang knew she couldn't persuade him otherwise.

She sighed and pulled a piece of paper from her bosom: "This is a sketch that Ma Liu drew for me. The dungeon entrance is here, down from the woodshed in the back office of the Eastern Depot. The first level is for ordinary prisoners, the second level for important prisoners, and the third level... for those who are destined to die."

Chen Yuan carefully studied the map, memorizing every passage and every corner.

This is the basic skill of a night watchman—a photographic memory.

"Uncle Zhao is on the third floor, cell number seven (C1)." Qin Xiang pointed to a location on the map. "This floor is the most heavily guarded, with four people stationed here permanently: two at the entrance and two patrolling the corridor."

"Shift change time?"

"Midnight and early morning," Qin Xiang said. "But during the change of guard on the third level, there will be six guards present at the same time, and the handover takes about 15 minutes. This period is actually the most stringent."

Chen Yuan frowned.

This is a difficult situation.

If there are many people during shift changes, then you can only do things while you are on duty.

"Do the guards have a fixed pattern of action?" he asked.

"Yes," Qin Xiang said. "Every quarter of an hour, the patrolling guards would walk to the end of the corridor, where there's a small window. They would sit there, smoke a pipe, and chat for a bit. It wouldn't last long, about twenty breaths."

Twenty breaths are enough for him to unlock the door and save the person, but not enough to leave.

"Someone needs to distract the guards," Chen Yuan said.

"I'll go." Chen Jin's voice came from the doorway. He was standing there at some point, his face was a little pale, but his eyes were firm.

"Nonsense!" Qin Xiang snapped. "Are you going to your death?"

"I won't go to my death." Chen Jin walked in. "Brother Yuan taught me that if you can't win a fight, you run. I can pretend to be a food delivery boy and create chaos at the dungeon entrance to distract the guards. Brother Yuan can rescue them in just 15 minutes."

Chen Yuan looked at his younger brother.

In just a few days, Chen Jin seemed like a completely different person.

He is no longer the pampered young master of a noble family, but a responsible man.

"Too dangerous," Chen Yuan said. "The people from the Eastern Depot aren't stupid; they can see through it at a glance."

"What if... I don't go alone?" Chen Jin asked.

"What do you mean?"

Chen Jin pulled out a token from his pocket: "This is a waist token from Yongshou Palace that I got from Eunuch Li. I can pretend to be someone sent by the Grand Princess and say that I have urgent business to interrogate a prisoner. Even if the guards are suspicious, they won't dare to stop me directly."

Qin Xiang's eyes lit up: "This method... is feasible. But it requires acting skills."

"I can act," Chen Jin said. "The day the Chen family was killed, I watched my parents being murdered, and my younger sister... From then on, I knew that sometimes, I had no choice but to act."

He spoke calmly, but Chen Yuan could hear the pain in his voice.

This little brother has really grown up.

"Okay." Chen Yuan patted his shoulder. "But remember, if things go wrong, run immediately. Don't worry about me, and don't look back."

"But..."

"No buts."

Chen Yuan stared at him. "If anything happens to you, I will never forgive myself for the rest of my life."