"Ah Zhao... is there something wrong?" Rong Qiu could see that Ah Zhao was a bit hesitant to tell him something.

"Actually... I saw something weird by accident. One of the hidden guards didn't seem to follow the protocol," Ah Zhao said hesitantly.

"What do you mean?" Rong Qiu asked in a serious manner. What Ah Zhao just said piqued his interest. He knew that Ah Zhao wouldn't have mentioned it if it wasn't an important thing.

Ah Zhao sighed because he really saw it by accident. At first, he also helped the soldier to search around the perimeter. However, he needed to relieve himself and decided to go to a secluded corner to do that. When he almost finished relieving himself, he saw a guard who pa.s.sed by and the latter was behaving suspiciously.

He decided to follow the man slowly.

Ah Zhao wasn't only Rong Qiu's personal attendant --- he was also his personal bodyguard. He never divulged to other people that he knew some martial arts skills just to be safe, besides, Rong Qiu always wanted to appear low-key here and spend his days peacefully.

The hidden guard moved very fast, but Ah Zhao was able to follow his speed and found that he was going inside one of the courtyards in the Crescent Lake.

"What did he do?" Rong Qiu asked. It seemed like they accidentally found a traitor by luck, but how could a hidden guard be easily found like that? He wondered whether this was a trap or not.

"He went to the esteemed guest's place," Ah Zhao answered.

"Do you know why?" Rong Qiu asked curiously.

Ah Zhao shook his head. "I've tried to follow him, but there were a lot of experts in the guest's courtyard." Hence he couldn't follow him inside or it would be dangerous.

Rong Qiu more or less could guess that the guard was actually a spy... But for what? His heart thumped a bit, somehow he got a bad feeling about this. The Bei Yue people was quite sensitive towards the future --- sometimes, they would be able to have a hunch once in a while. That was the reason why Yao Ling's gut feelings were always correct previously.

The beautiful man who resided in that place wasn't a Han person but he actually could become an esteemed guest in this Crescent Lake, it seemed like his ident.i.ty also wasn't really low and the Han Emperor had to respect him. This was a first... because the Han Emperor never let anyone knew the existence of the forbidden place. How could he allow this outsider to know about it?

What was the relations.h.i.+p between this esteemed guest and the Han Emperor? No matter what it was, it must not be a simple one.

When he took the ident.i.ty of Uncle Qiu, he didn't pay too much attention to it. Now, he was Rong Qiu and this matter was related to the Bei Yue --- of course, he must be careful. He was frustrated because he didn't have much power and people here.

Uncle Qiu used to want a peaceful life and didn't have any preparation for these kind of things beforehand. After all, Crescent Lake was also very peaceful at that time. Everything started to go awry the moment his mother was dead --- the peacefulness was just an illusion. Now, he couldn't even find another person to help him inquire inside that guest's palace.

He felt so useless --- it was lucky that he brought Ah Zhao here. He knew that he couldn't let Ah Zhao personally go there because if he was caught, it would lead back to him right away. He needed to talk about this with his son-in-law. He naturally didn't know Yao Ying's power or information network because he had never inquired it before, and who knew... maybe he could help him deal with this matter.

After all, this person was a danger to Yao Ling. To protect Yao Ling, they needed to know this esteemed guest's exact ident.i.ty. Judging from the spy's current movement, it seemed like he knew about Aunt Yue's power... As long as no one knew that his mother was dead, they could cover up Yao Ling's track. It seemed like he needed to do something to make it look that way.

Once more, this power attracted greedy people. Rong Qiu didn't know whether leaving their clan back then was the best choice or not. However, there was no room for regret.

"Just do your usual work... I will handle this matter. Any news about what the Han Emperor do after knowing Aunt Yue's matter?" Rong Qiu asked.

Ah Zhao had just received the secret letter and said, "He was angry... beyond angry. He killed the bearer of the news on the spot." Ah Zhao flinched when he knew that the Han Emperor directly cut the bearer of the news' head on the spot!

The Han Emperor was cruel... they already knew that, thus, they weren't really surprised when he did such a move. However, they still thoroughly disgusted.

"Did he blame me?" Rong Qiu asked carefully. After all, Uncle Qiu was staying here to accompany Aunt Yue too and they had a good relations.h.i.+p. The most suspicious person must be him.

Ah Zhao hesitantly said, "He did. He wanted you to come back to the capital and personally make a report..."

Rong Qiu closed his eyes... he already guessed as much, but still, he had just met his daughter and he wasn't going to let himself get killed by that lousy emperor. Fortunately, even though he had decided to retire early, his influence in the capital was still good. He kept maintaining a relations.h.i.+p with his fellow officials, especially Xiao Fang's father.

Because of the blood letter, the Han Emperor must think twice before killing his own officials. Otherwise, he would lose the trust of his subordinates. He felt lucky that before this matter happened, the blood letter had appeared first.

"Who is the new representative?" Rong Qiu asked curiously. Such a big matter, he must have sent a big shot. Rong Qiu knew how important the reading that Aunt Yue had given to the Han Emperor.

"Hong Wen," Ah Zhao answered seriously.

Rong Qiu sighed when he heard that name.

"This is no good. He's the Right Prime Minister's minion," Rong Qiu said seriously. Rong Qiu had always supported Xiao Fang's father --- the Left Prime Minister and every official knew that. It meant they were basically enemies. It would be bad if he decided to throw the blame at him.

Hong Wen was a manipulative sly fox and it was hard to deal with him --- he was the Right Prime Minister He Li Wei's adopted son. This matter was getting more complicated.

Ah Zhao asked worriedly, "Will it be okay, Master?"

"When will he arrive?" Rong Qiu asked.

"It should be in two or three days," Ah Zhao said. Crescent Lake was pretty far from the capital, but it was possible to arrive here that fast --- after all, Hong Wen had high martial arts skills.

"I should deal with everything before then," Rong Qiu answered.

He gave Ah Zhao a few pointers and he wanted to plan the evidence that Aunt Yue was still alive and someone had taken her away.

Rong Qiu thought for a little while and he suddenly had a good idea!