After the death of the previous emperor, the Empress Dowager became arrogant

Yuan Yi came back and reported that the entire Shang Mansion was being monitored by people in secret.

The spy's martial arts skills were very high, almost on par with his.

Fortunately, Shang Ming is no pushover. Even without leaving the house, he has a way to investigate the case.

Yuan Qing had long known that this matter was related to a certain official, but she had no way of telling Shang Ming.

Should she just say directly that so-and-so is the key to this case?

What you get then is not a surprise, but a shock.

Therefore, if we want to successfully help Shang Ming solve this case, we still have to think of a more reliable method.

With Yuan Yi's martial arts skills, he could quietly leave the house by himself without alerting the spies.

But if I bring her with me, it will be difficult to hide from those people.

She had to find another way to leave the house openly without arousing suspicion.

A man in plain clothes appeared at the back door of the Shang Mansion and knocked a few times with his fingers.

The gatekeeper leaned over and asked him in a rather rude tone, "Who are you looking for?"

He hadn't left the house for several days and was feeling a little irritable.

The man stuffed some silver coins into his hand as if to please him, and said with a wry smile: "I am here to take my sister home to visit relatives. My grandmother passed away, and I wanted to see her before I left.

Please be flexible and let her go home to see the old man for the last time."

The servant weighed the silver in the cloth bag and finally felt relieved. "What's your sister's name?"

"Xiao Yun, call Xiao Yun." The man said hurriedly.

The servant boy searched his memory and looked through the names of the maids in the backyard, but he couldn't think of any one called Xiaoyun.

"Which one is Xiaoyun? Why can't I remember?"

The man thought he was playing dumb in order to get more money, so he gritted his teeth and gave him all the remaining silver in his arms. "He just came here a few days ago and served in the East Courtyard."

Speaking of the East Courtyard, the servant remembered it.

Isn’t that where the distinguished guests of the Shang Mansion live? Anyone who can serve in the East Courtyard may become rich and powerful in the future along with the distinguished guests.

This is serious, he needs to be nicer.

In a blink of an eye, the servant put on a smile that was even more flattering than the man's, and stuffed all the silver in his arms back into the man's hands, "Wait, I'll go get Miss Xiaoyun for you!"

The man couldn't help but smile as he looked at the silver that was back in his hands.

What a fool! He won't take the money even if he has it.

The servant boy excitedly ran to the east courtyard to look for Miss Xiaoyun, but there was no one in the huge courtyard.

He looked inside, not knowing what the distinguished guest was doing. If he went in rashly, he might not only fail to curry favor with the distinguished guest, but also offend him first.

After thinking it over again and again, he slowly approached the door and asked softly, "Excuse me... Is Miss Xiaoyun here?"

The door was opened and a pretty little maid came out.

She frowned and asked, "It's me. What do you want from me?"

Not knowing what was going on inside, the servant did not dare to disturb her any further. He simply told her what was happening outside the door: "There is a man outside who claims to be your brother and is looking for you."

Xiaoyun was very happy to hear that. She quickly grabbed the servant's arm and asked, "Is it really my brother who is here?"

It was the first time for the boy to be so close to a beautiful girl, and he immediately answered dazedly, "Probably."

"Wait a minute, I'll talk to the Master first."

As soon as she turned around, Yuan Qing's calm voice came from inside: "Go, family matters are more important, you don't have to worry about me here."

Xiaoyun bowed happily towards the house.

Because she was always thinking about her family, Xiaoyun walked a little faster, and even the servant had to jog to keep up with her.

He was wondering why such a skinny little girl could walk so fast? Even a grown man like him couldn't keep up.

The man outside the door was still waiting anxiously.

As soon as they opened the door, they were both stunned.

The brother and sister hadn't seen each other for a long time and didn't know what to say for a moment.

The man raised his hand and touched her hair. "Why, you don't recognize your brother after not seeing him for a few months?"

Xiaoyun suddenly threw herself into the man's arms, calling him brother over and over again.

The scene made the servant behind the door almost cry and he started crying too.

It seems like it's time for him to go back and visit his mother and sister.

"Wait a moment, I came here to tell you something bad." The man hesitated for a moment and choked up, "Grandma is seriously ill and doesn't have much time left..."

Xiaoyun immediately raised her slightly red eyes and looked at him, and the tears that had just stopped immediately surged into her heart again.

She tried to hold back the tears that were welling up in her eyes.

This is the back door of the Shang Mansion, and many people pass by here on weekdays. Such behavior will have a bad influence on the masters.

She stopped crying, wiped her tears with her brother's sleeve, turned to the servant and said, "Thank you very much, I..."

The servant waved his hands with red eyes, "Go ahead, go ahead, I'll go talk to the master and the mistress for you."

Xiaoyun bowed to him solemnly again, "Thank you very much."

The man also thanked him.

Looking at the brother and sister's receding backs, the servant rubbed the red corners of his eyes before carefully closing the door.

The brother and sister kept walking, their pace sometimes fast and sometimes slow.

"How is it? Do you feel how many people are following you?"

The man shook his head slightly, "I can only sense two nearby, I don't know about those further away."

These two siblings pretending to be returning home to visit their relatives are Yuan Yi and Yuan Qing in disguise.

Yuan Qing had no other choice but to come up with this idea.

Who told her martial arts skills weren't as good as Yuan Yi's? Otherwise, why would she have to hide her identity like this?

She had already informed Shang Ming: she had to prepare for the exam, so there was no need to look for her if she had nothing else.

Shang Ming has his own methods, and she also has her own strategies.

In order to resolve the case as quickly as possible, and so that she can prepare for the next exam with peace of mind, the matter of the Shang Mansion must not be delayed.

Yuan Yi rented an ox cart in advance to facilitate their journey.

We were already out of the city and the road was wide and open. If someone was following us, they would be able to see us clearly.

Perhaps he was afraid that they would notice him, so he didn't follow too closely, which made it easier for them to talk in the car.

From such a distance, I couldn't hear what they were saying.

"How's the matter I asked you to investigate a few days ago?"

Yuan Yi swung the whip suddenly, and the big yellow ox was stimulated to quickly jump forward for a distance with the flatbed cart.

Yuan Qing was caught off guard and fell backwards onto the cart.

Fortunately, the car was covered with a thick quilt, so there was no bumps.

She had no intention of getting up. She just lay there and stared at the young guard, as if she wanted to stare him to death.

Yuan Yi didn't hear any movement behind him, so he slowed down the ox cart and continued driving at the usual speed.