Who said the eldest daughter is crazy? She's clearly a woman of high rank and influence in the

The maid covered her face and froze, as did everyone in the courtyard. Qingdai, who was usually a quiet and reserved person, had actually made a move today.

But Qingdai didn't have time to think much. She rushed forward to try to untie the hemp rope on Xi Yueli's wrist, but was grabbed by the waist by another old woman and dragged away.

With her hands bound and pressed to the ground, Xi Yueli saw Qingdai rushing up with bloodshot eyes, desperately trying to escape. Behind her handkerchief, she slightly curved the corners of her mouth.

When Qingdai saw that slight curve of her lips, she froze for a moment, then suddenly realized something, stopped struggling, and was half-pushed and half-pulled out of the courtyard by the old woman.

Standing at the entrance of the main room, Fang looked down at her stepdaughter who was tied to the ground. Her face was covered with makeup, but the venomous light in her eyes was already burning.

She turned to Xi Mingyuan, who had followed her in, and said, "Master, you saw it too. Li'er has had another episode. This time she's made a scene in my courtyard, talking nonsense. If we don't send her to the estate soon, she'll hurt someone sooner or later."

Xi Mingyuan stood at the end of the corridor, clutching his sleeves, his face ashen. He had just been promoted last night, and this morning Fang had tied Xi Yueli up.

But he had just witnessed Xi Yueli rushing in, banging on the door, shouting, and talking nonsense. She looked exactly like someone suffering from dissociative identity disorder.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but when he met Fang's gaze, he swallowed his words. He was now a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue, and his official hat was brought back from the palace by Fang; he couldn't refuse her at this moment.

"...Send her to Beizhuang and have someone keep a close watch on her, don't let her run away."

Fang's lips twitched slightly. She turned her head and gave a wink to the newly arrived Zhang Mama behind her. Zhang Mama nodded in understanding and turned to go out to prepare the carriage.

That afternoon, Xi Yueli was stuffed into a closed mule cart and sent out through the back gate of the Xi residence.

The moment the carriage curtain fell, she lay on her back on the straw mat, her hands still bound with hemp rope, but through the gaps in the carriage floor, she could see a dark red figure crouching on the roof at the alley entrance.

Liu San Niang is waiting for her signal.

Zhuangzi's house was located thirty li north of the city. It was an old house that had been abandoned for several years. It was surrounded by walls, the gate was locked, and even the windows that let in air were only the size of a palm.

As Xi Yueli was pushed into the innermost room filled with firewood, she tripped over a thick wooden stick and fell onto the pile of firewood, hearing the door behind her lock.

After night fell, she heard the sound of oil being poured outside. It was poured three times, soaking the base of the wall outside the woodshed. Then she heard the sound of a tinderbox being struck.

Xi Yueli lay on the pile of firewood and turned on the bamboo tube in her sleeve that served as an emergency contact device.

A cluster of extremely thin fireworks silently shot out from the top of the bamboo tube, slipped through the crack in the door and into the night sky, like a spark scattered by the wind, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Fang stood outside the courtyard gate, clutching the used tinderbox in her hand, watching the first wisp of smoke rise from the corner of the woodshed.

Flames licked the dry wooden planks. She took two steps back and watched as the fire spread from the corner of the wall to the windowsill, and from the windowsill to the roof beams. In a moment, the entire woodshed was engulfed in orange flames.

She stood in front of the firelight, her well-maintained face distorted by the flickering flames.

"Keep a close eye on it, and make sure it's completely burned before you leave," she instructed the people behind her, then turned and got into the carriage.

As flames shot into the sky from the manor, Liu San Niang had already led two people over the courtyard wall. She split open a wooden plank that had been half burned through from the back wall of the woodshed and reached out to pull Xi Yue Li up from the pile of firewood.

Xi Yueli had already cut the hemp rope on her wrist with the broken porcelain. When she stood up, she patted the grass clippings off her body, glanced back at the fire that had engulfed most of the house, and a strange feeling suddenly welled up in her heart.

"Let's go," she said.

Liu San Niang handed her a coarse cloth cloak, which she put on before following the three people as they climbed over the back wall.

Outside the manor, an inconspicuous blue carriage was parked in the shadows, with the driver holding the reins and waiting. Before getting into the carriage, Xi Yueli glanced back at the manor.

The woodshed was completely burned down, and the roof beams collapsed and crashed into the fire, sending up a spray of sparks.

She withdrew her gaze and boarded the carriage. The curtain fell, and the wheels rolled over the muddy road, heading north.

The next day at dawn, the news that "the eldest daughter of the Xi family had gone mad and set fire to the estate, burning herself to death" spread like wildfire throughout the capital.

The Xi residence closed its doors to visitors, and no one asked any further questions.

The people in the market talked about it for two days and then dispersed. A madman burning himself to death was not a big deal in the capital.

At the same time, a blue horse-drawn carriage had been traveling north along the official road for a day and a night.

Xi Yueli leaned against the carriage wall, closing her eyes to rest. The diary was open on her lap, and the two characters "Beishuo" were clearly visible in the sunlight streaming in from the window.

All the information pointed to Beishuo. Although she didn't know where to find the "fragment" after arriving in Beishuo, she felt incredibly at ease.

When the carriage stopped at a post station on the outskirts of the city to change horses, the curtain was suddenly lifted from the outside.

Xi Yueli suddenly opened her eyes, and a figure had already flashed into the carriage, wearing a dark blue brocade robe and with her hair tied up with a plain silver hairpin.

He was covered in dust and dirt, his clothes splattered with mud from his journey. He had taken a long detour from another direction to catch up with the carriage.

Helian Jing sat down in the carriage, raised his eyelids to look at Xi Yueli, his eyes shining brightly in the darkness, and a smile that revealed no emotion on his lips.

"Xi Yueli," he said, "you faked your death and left the city without even telling me?"

Xi Yueli opened his mouth, but before he could utter a sound, he added another sentence—

"I heard this from the secret service: Liu San Niang had just sent the carriage out of the city when the secret agents of the Tian Shu Division reported the news."

He took off the Tian Shu Si iron plaque from his waist, twirled it between his fingers and then put it back into his sleeve. Then he leaned against the carriage wall, bent one leg and put it on his knee, his posture as relaxed as if he were sitting in his own study.

"I happen to be going to Beishuo on my own, so let's ride together."

Xi Yueli looked at him, the candlelight flickering in the tin lamp between the two of them.

She remained silent for three breaths, then finally closed the diary on her lap and tucked it back into her bosom. Without saying a word, she leaned back against the car wall, closed her eyes, and a very thin curve appeared at the corner of her mouth before she flattened it again.

The night was as dark as ink, and even the chirping of insects in the desolate woods on both sides of the official road was sparse.

Xi Yueli leaned against the carriage wall, her eyes closed, her breathing shallow and long. The days of traveling had exhausted her already meager strength, but she couldn't sleep. Fragments of images kept floating in the darkness of her mind.

Helian Jing sat opposite him, his long legs bent, his back against the carriage wall. He pulled out a short blade from somewhere and was testing the edge with his fingertips.

He tested the blade slowly, as if he were doing something that didn't require much effort, but his ears were always pointed towards the outside of the car.

Suddenly, his hand stopped, and Xi Yueli opened her eyes at the same moment. The two looked at each other, but neither of them said a word.

The sound of horses' hooves, from more than one horse, came simultaneously from the woods on both sides of the official road, deliberately lowering their voices as they approached.

Helian Jing sheathed the short blade in his sleeve, pressed the hidden clasp on the side of the carriage curtain, his fingers did not move, but he listened for three breaths.

"Thirty horses, fifteen on each side, forming an arc to encircle them."