General, you should rest now; the lady is even more ruthless.

Jiang Qiqi now wants to verify her conjecture.

She put the list away in her sleeve, looked around, picked up a book, and flipped through it.

Sure enough, on the top of one of the pages in this book, there was a stamp symbol that was the same as the one on the back of the list.

She called Xiang'er over and pointed out the symbol to her: "Find these three hundred-plus items and see which ones have this symbol on them."

"It's Miss."

So, for the next day, the master and servant squatted on the ground and began to look for symbols.

Sometimes things are just that amazing. If I don't tell you, you might never discover that such a symbol exists, but once I tell you, you'll find it everywhere.

As darkness fell, the two finally finished their search.

"Miss, I have three items with symbols here."

Jiang Qiqi has five items here, plus the book from before, making a total of nine items with symbols.

Jiang Qiqi stood up and stretched her back, which had been bent over all day: "Bring these nine items inside, and put the rest away."

"Yes, ma'am."

Nine items were placed on the table. Jiang Qiqi took out a list and matched them one by one, copying their names and order onto a piece of paper.

The fourth item is the Flying Waterfall String Flute;

The nineteenth item is white turquoise.

The sixty-first item is a silver cup with plum blossom design.

The 110th item, a jade burial suit;

Item 189: A unique copy of the famous ancient Chinese text, "The Record of Lanshan".

Item 203, "Mountain Stream and Singing Spring";

Item 277: Blue and white porcelain vase with elephant-ear handles;

Item 293, a gold-inlaid jade thumb ring;

Item 322: Jade Parrot Pendant.

The items have been found, but they are completely unrelated. Where do we even begin to find the information?

Jiang Qiqi was completely baffled and could only look at the list, booklet and other things over and over again.

This is the scene that Shen Luo saw when he entered.

The girl leaned against the table, which was cluttered with various items. She rested her chin on one hand and played with a white jade flute in the other. Sometimes she frowned, sometimes she pouted, and sometimes she sighed heavily.

Jiang Qiqi was lost in thought and didn't notice anyone coming in.

"Cough cough," Shen Luo coughed lightly twice, covering her mouth with her fist, and then she seemed to wake up from her dream.

"Shen Luo?" Jiang Qiqi was puzzled. It seemed that the two of them had not made plans to have dinner together today. Why did he come over?

However, since the entire general's mansion was their territory, she quickly composed herself and asked, "What brings you here today? Is there something you need?"

Shen Luolai did indeed have something to attend to. He took out an invitation from his pocket: "The invitation to the flower-viewing banquet that the Second Prince mentioned at yesterday's banquet has arrived this afternoon."

However, he wasn't originally supposed to do this kind of thing, but when Nineteen asked if he should send it to the lady, he declined by mistake, saying he had other plans.

Who knows what his plans are?

The invitation sat in the study all afternoon until it was time for him to go to bed that night, when he could no longer delay and personally wheeled himself over to deliver it.

"Oh, is that so?" Jiang Qiqi remembered. "Let me take a look."

Shen Luo handed over the invitation and noticed that the things on the table looked unfamiliar, as if they didn't belong to the manor: "Are you looking at the things you brought back from your mother's time last time?"

Jiang Qiqi didn't hide anything and readily admitted, "Yes. I've been taking some time these past few days to sort through my mother's belongings."

Shen Luo thought for a moment and said, "If you need, I can arrange for a special storeroom to be allocated to you to store your mother's belongings."

Jiang Qiqi thought for a moment and replied, "That's great, thank you." These things were indeed very important. She couldn't be sure if the information was hidden in the items she had found. If she could keep them separate, that would be the best outcome.

“By the way,” Jiang Qiqi felt there was something she needed to tell him, even though he might already know, she still wanted to say it to him in person.

"This morning, the Fourth Princess sent some things, saying it was to thank me for saving her at yesterday's banquet, but I refused."

Shen Luo nodded. Nineteen had already discussed this matter, so he offered no comment. He always left Jiang Qiqi's affairs to her to decide.

Last night, on the carriage back to the manor, Jiang Qiqi explained to Shen Luo why she had saved the Fourth Princess, albeit in a simplified version.

She only said that when she went out for a walk, she noticed that the fourth princess was not in good condition, as if she was drunk. Out of concern, she followed her and then discovered the empress's conspiracy. So, when no one was paying attention, she woke up the princess and helped her escape.

As for the matter of the palace maid and the man lying in bed, Jiang Qiqi attributed it all to the princess, saying that the princess arranged it to take revenge on the empress.

Although she had spent some time with Shen Luo and even helped him catch a traitor in the manor once, Jiang Qiqi did not intend to fully reveal her strength.

It's not for any other reason than it's an occupational hazard. As a spy, you can't completely expose your survival skills to others.

Shen Luo was naturally able to sense that his wife was hiding something from him.

He always felt that there was a hazy veil between them, something he couldn't see through or pierce.

He takes a step forward, and the person opposite him takes a step back.

As for the matter of the Fourth Princess, Shen Luo wasn't foolish enough to completely believe Jiang Qiqi's words.

It's worth noting that he had quite a few people planted in the palace, but not a single word got out this time, which shows how thoroughly the Empress and the others kept things a secret.

Such a comprehensive plan was easily thwarted by Jiang Qiqi alone?

Even the Empress and others who orchestrated all of this had no idea that Jiang Qiqi had participated in the matter, and they did not know where they had failed.

Shen Luo didn't sleep a wink last night.

He spent the whole night thinking about who this Jiang Qiqi really was, and which faction she came from.

Everything she showed revealed how terrifyingly intelligent she was. Shen Luo firmly believed that such a clever person would not be content to spend her life confined to the inner quarters and accomplish nothing.

But for so long, Jiang Qiqi has neither shown any intention to surrender to him nor done anything that could be considered an enemy.

Oh, it's possible she did it but he didn't notice.

Who cares? If you didn't find it, you didn't do it.

He couldn't figure this person out.

Besides that, Shen Luo thought more about himself.

What happened to him?

Jiang Qiqi's origins are unknown, but she is unfathomable. Logically, he should keep his distance from such a strange and dangerous person and be on high alert, but he can't help but want to get closer to her.

He remembered earlier at the spring banquet in the palace, when she pitifully told him that she was lost.

He was initially furious, but seeing her like that suddenly extinguished all his anger, leaving him only with self-blame, heartache, pity, and regret.

Even after he found out that she had lied to him and actually gone to rescue the Fourth Princess, he was not angry. He was just glad that she hadn't gotten lost and hadn't experienced that feeling of fear and helplessness.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

If you ask Jiang Qiqi about her impression of Shen Luo, it's actually not bad.

Although she always kept many things from him, Jiang Qiqi actually admired him very much.

A fifteen-year-old boy won a great victory against overwhelming odds on his first battlefield, bringing a great triumph to the once-defeated Nanyue. He later became invincible in battle and rose to become the God of War of Nanyue. When he turned twenty, the emperor appointed him as the General Who Protects the Nation.

Later, something happened, and they won another great victory, even forcing the Northern Ming to surrender and pay reparations. However, Shen Luo injured both legs in that battle and could no longer walk.

Even though he could no longer walk, he showed no signs of weakness and remained firmly seated in the first row of military officials in the court, as immovable as a mountain, which shows how strong his heart was.

Jiang Qiqi thought that if there were no future conflicts of interest, she would be very willing to become friends with such an upright and resolute person.