A farmer has a shrewish wife; he's busy making money every day.

Pei Shao, who had reached the bottleneck of Qi Refining and commanded dozens of underlings, and was the secret guard of the young master of the Duke's mansion, suddenly felt his legs go weak.

You could feel the force pressing down on him, a force you couldn't resist.

Pei Shao gave a dry laugh: "Miss Ye."

Ye Qingxue withdrew her hand, watched him turn around, and then leaned leisurely against the tree trunk that Pei Shao had leaned against before, uttering two words softly.

"Go ahead."

Pei Shao shuddered.

He seems to have no ambition.

"say what?"

"Your relationship with Lu Chuci."

Pei Shao still wanted to play dumb: "What? Who is Lu Chuci? I..."

"Keep pretending." Ye Qingxue glanced at him. "When your young master dies, you can pretend like this at his grave too."

Pei Shao remained silent.

He realized that this Miss Ye seemed to really know a lot of things.

"What is Lu Chuci going to do next? Break into the Duke's mansion and steal things from Lu Ying's room?"

Ye Qingxue went straight to the point.

Pei Shao stared wide-eyed in surprise, opened his mouth but didn't say anything.

In Ye Qingxue's eyes, this was tacit agreement.

"Does he know how dangerous this is?" Ye Qingxue's tone turned cold, and she clicked her tongue. "Never mind, he definitely knows."

Pei Shao shivered again from the cold.

"Um, Miss Ye..." He wanted to tell her not to ask anymore; there was no way he could tell her.

Ye Qingxue kicked the tree trunk behind him, causing branches and leaves to fall to the ground.

"explain."

“Okay,” Pei Shao replied spinelessly.

From him, Ye Qingxue learned about Lu Chuci's life.

Lu Chuci is the legitimate son and only child of the second master of the Duke's mansion. He was pampered by his parents from a young age and grew up surrounded by love.

The man in black is named Pei Shao. He was a child picked up on the road by Lu Chuci's mother, Lin Qingyu, and grew up with Lu Chuci.

He has practiced martial arts since childhood and was assigned by Lu Cheng and Lin Qingyu to be Lu Chuci's personal bodyguard.

Before the incident at the Minister's residence occurred, Lin Qingyu heard rumors in advance, gave him a fake death drug, sent him out of the residence, and ordered Pei Shao to protect him.

Then, on the road, he encountered the real Xiao Ci, took his identity, hid in a deserted village, and at the same time avenged the real Xiao Ci.

During his years in the deserted village, Lu Chuci secretly practiced martial arts and sent Pei Shao to establish a force called Shadow Pavilion. Pei Shao was in charge of gathering information for Lu Chuci from various sources.

Even in a remote village, one can learn about the actions of high-ranking officials in the capital and find the right opportunity to take revenge.

Recently, the court has been in turmoil, with Prime Minister Li Xiangzhong starting to deal with the Duke's mansion, giving Lu Chuci a good opportunity to make her move.

After lying dormant in the shadows for ten years, once he makes his move, he will never stop.

Ye Qingxue was aware of this as well.

After speaking, Pei Shao paused and looked at Ye Qingxue. Seeing her nod, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright." Ye Qingxue gave the order, "Next, I'll ask you questions and you'll answer them."

"No problem." This readily agreed-upon attitude, without hesitation, was one that would infuriate Lu Chuci if she knew.

What was his original plan?

"Disseminate some misleading evidence to throw Lu Ying into disarray, plant spies to find out where the evidence of Lu Ying's treason is hidden, and then work together from the inside to slowly break him down."

"But the plan changed?"

"Yes, the undercover agent was discovered and arrested to lure the young master out."

Ye Qingxue paused for a moment: "Is this why Lu Chuci was being chased that day?"

"Hmm." Pei Shao's tone became more serious.

Ye Qingxue suddenly had a bad feeling: "That undercover agent who was captured..."

"Young Master said that he was skinned alive right under his nose." Pei Shao's voice was a little hoarse.

Ye Qingxue's pupils suddenly contracted.

Those who could be sent out as undercover agents must be Lu Chuci's confidants, someone like a brother.

Being brutally murdered before his eyes was undoubtedly a huge shock.

However, during the few days she spent with Lu Chuci, she did not notice anything unusual about him.

Is it all over, or is it something you're hiding and don't want to think about?

A slight pang of sadness welled up in Ye Qingxue's heart, causing her to frown.

"Did he have a plan when he broke into Lu Ying's residence?" Ye Qingxue asked.

"Yes, what you are doing now is trying to find a way to lure away some of the people in the manor, so that it will be easier to break in."

Ye Qingxue's lips twitched: "Is this even a plan?"

"Do you have the key evidence, the route map, the location map of the agencies?"

Pei Shao pursed his lips and shook his head: "After Lu Ying realized his intentions, he hid them very well, leaving no loopholes. Young Master has done everything he could."

"Now that he's being hunted down, Lu Ying will soon be able to fabricate that so-called evidence into a perfect misunderstanding. He doesn't have time."

Ye Qingxue lowered her eyes: "So you're going to gamble with your own life?"

Pei Shao paused, his voice slightly hoarse: "Not really. Young Master has already reached the Foundation Establishment stage, he's very powerful, and ordinary people can't hurt him."

Ye Qingxue lowered her arms from her chest: "If no one could really hurt him, why would he go to the trouble of luring away that small group of people?"

Pei Shao lowered his head.

"Lu Ying must have some highly skilled cultivators by his side, right?"

"um, yes."

Ye Qingxue was not surprised to receive an affirmative answer.

Not to mention that some wealthy families already have children who are practitioners.

Even if you hire them with money, as long as you pay enough and adopt a humble attitude, you can get a group of cultivators to protect you.

Although practitioners are forbidden from leaving the mountains, everyone has selfish desires. If they can use their status as practitioners to gain fame and fortune, isn't that much better than being locked up in the mountains?

Therefore, there are also practitioners who escaped and were taken in by wealthy families as offerings.

As long as the people are not harmed indiscriminately, most cases are overlooked and the matter is left unresolved.

"What is the cultivation level of the cultivators around Lu Ying?" Ye Qingxue asked, her brows furrowed.

Pei Shao waved his hand, seemingly unconcerned: "He's only at the Qi Refining level, no match for our young master."

"But this level is enough to keep your young master from escaping the trap he set."

Ye Qingxue ruthlessly exposed him.

Pei Shao's expression froze, and he remained silent for a long time before finally sighing, "How can I change what Young Master has decided?"

As he spoke, Pei Shao looked up and secretly glanced at Ye Qingxue.

Ye Qingxue glanced at him: "Get to the point."

Pei Shao pursed his lips: "However, Young Master will try his best to return alive."

"Ok?"

"He promised me that he would come back alive for Miss Ye's sake."

Pei Shao's voice was firm: "Young Master never goes back on his word."

Ye Qingxue was stunned, lowered her head, and after a long while murmured, "Who cares about you?"

"Miss Ye, what did you say?"

"No, when will your young master make his move?"

"About three days later."

Ye Qingxue nodded slightly: "Give me a map of the Duke's mansion."

Pei Shao was stunned: "Huh?"

"When the undercover agent wasn't discovered, the first thing he should have done was send out a map of the Duke's mansion." Ye Qingxue was impatient.

Pei Shao gave an "oh," then became nervous again: "Miss Ye, are you going too?"

"Ah."

Pei Shao's expression became somewhat flustered: "Miss Ye, the young master asked me to keep an eye on you. If you go, he will definitely blame me."

Ye Qingxue said coldly, "It's alright. If this trip succeeds, he will definitely not blame you. If it fails, he will have no chance to blame you."

Pei Shao was speechless: "Fine... alright."