After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

The slender worm, somewhat resembling a horsehair worm, was pinched by Lu Zhiyuan and held in front of the fake Xie San's nostrils. The fake Xie San was stunned, never expecting such a thing. His breathing quickened, and he stared wide-eyed at Lu Zhiyuan.

The breath fell on the dying insect, which began to struggle, heading towards the fake Xie San's nostrils. Knowing how dangerous this insect was, the fake Xie San's face showed a look of terror, and he tried to escape, but was held down by Lu Yun and Captain Ma together.

"Are you scared?" He moved the insect closer. "Well, I have a bad temper, an even worse temper, and I have very little patience. Think carefully, is there anything else you want to say?"

“I’ve said everything I need to say. I swear, I really don’t know what this bug is called.” Fake Xie San stared intently at Lu Zhiyuan’s arm.

How could there be such a terrifying little girl in the world? After witnessing the horrific scene on the street, she could still calmly pick up an insect and force him to submit. Is this the granddaughter of the Pillar General of Northern Liang, a descendant of the Xie family? Fortunately, she was born with an illness and did not live to adulthood; otherwise, Southern Chu would be in grave danger.

The fake Xie San tilted his head back, and Lu Yun held him down with her knee, making him unable to move: "Miss Lu, what I just said is true."

"Next question." Lu Zhiyuan gestured for Lu Yun to press the fake Xie San to the ground, then sat cross-legged, holding an insect in her hand: "What was your purpose in impersonating Xie San and infiltrating my uncle's residence?"

Unable to move, the fake Xie San, in order to survive, told the truth.

He was a spy planted by Southern Chu in the capital of Northern Liang, tasked with monitoring the activities of officials in the Six Ministries to identify those who could be used by Southern Chu. After three years of infiltration, he bribed four high-ranking officials for Southern Chu: one in the Ministry of Works, one in the Ministry of Revenue, and two in the Ministry of Personnel. The one in the Ministry of Works orchestrated a notorious building collapse case that shook the capital, eliminating a thorn in Southern Chu's side. He was later reported and executed.

Not long after, the official in the Ministry of Revenue was dismissed for dereliction of duty, and the two officials in the Ministry of Personnel were also imprisoned for being involved in other cases.

The fake Xie San lowered his head and said, "My merits and demerits cancel each other out, so I've been assigned to the Xie family mansion."

"What did you do during your six months at the Xie residence?" A hint of coldness crept into Lu Zhiyuan's eyes.

The fake Xie San shuddered and said that he had done nothing but impersonate Xie San; it wasn't that he didn't want to, but that he hadn't had the opportunity. The fake Xie San told Lu Zhiyuan that he was only allowed to approach the main courtyard in his third month at the Xie family, and there were people watching him when he transported and trimmed flowers and plants. It's no exaggeration to say that in the six months he had been in the mansion, apart from when he was disguised as Xie San, he had only seen Xie Yu'an once from afar.

The secret order to kill Xie San was hidden inside a flowerpot and delivered. The fake Xie San only knew him as a clerk at Grain Shop No. 8, who would come to the mansion every now and then to deliver account books. As a low-ranking spy, he had neither the right nor the status to inquire about the issuer's purpose; he could only obey orders. From the day he received the secret order, he waited every day, looking for an opportunity.

Fate seemed to be on his side. On the day Zhen Xiesan entered the mansion to deliver the account books, he happened to be pruning flowers and plants in the backyard. Zhen Xiesan was suffering from severe stomach pain and urgently needed to use the latrine. Worried that the account books might be damaged, he entrusted them to him for safekeeping. He recognized Zhen Xiesan's identity, and seeing that no one was around, he strangled him with the rope used to tie the flower branches and dragged him into the nearby shed where miscellaneous items were stored.

He stayed by the cottage all afternoon, and because of his identity as a gardener, no one questioned why he was loitering near the cottage.

In the latter half of the night, after everyone in the mansion had fallen asleep, he moved the body from the hut to the pond. To prevent it from being discovered, he deliberately dug the muddy water deeper into the pond.

Stepping into the first rays of dawn, he left the Xie residence as a gardener and transformed into Xie San of the No. 8 Grain Shop.

"There's a problem." Commander Ma stroked his chin. "Xie San is dead, and you've become Xie San. But what about the gardener? The Xie family's gardener disappeared without a trace, and none of the Xie family members are looking for him?"

The gaze fell on Xie Yubai, who turned his back and coughed: "I rarely see my brother and know nothing about his household. There are no gardeners in my household."

The fake Xie San chuckled sheepishly, "It's not that the Xie family didn't want to find me, it's that I made arrangements beforehand. I was also afraid that the Xie family would send someone to investigate and expose me, the fake one, before the mission was completed."

"I am a spy, a spy from Southern Chu. There is only one outcome if I fail a mission. I value my life, I don't want to die, I want to live, and to live is to complete the mission." The fake Xie San took a deep breath. "Long before that Xie San delivered the account books, I told the steward I was going home for a few days. By the time they remembered me, the capital was already in this state. No, if it weren't for you, the situation would have been even worse. Once the capital was in chaos, my Southern Chu army would have marched straight in. Unfortunately, heaven did not favor Southern Chu."

Lu Zhiyuan tilted her head to look at him, then placed the motionless insect on his shoulder. From the fake Xie San's angle, he couldn't see whether the insect was dead or alive; he only knew that Lu Zhiyuan had placed it on his body.

He had witnessed the miserable state of those beggars and knew that live insects could crawl into people's ears. His whole body tensed, and he stammered, "Miss Lu, I've told you everything I can and can't say. Please spare my life."

"Spare your life? Did you spare those beggars? Didn't they beg you like that when they were locked up?" Placing the insect against his neck, a visibly desperate look appeared on the fake Xie San's face. "What about the people on the street? Did you spare them?"

"Lord Lu is in our hands!" the fake Xie San shouted. "And the grain, I can tell you where it is. I can save Beiliang from more disasters, as long as you let me live, even if I am imprisoned."

"My father? My father was doing well in the Marquis's mansion, how did he end up in your hands?"

“We tricked Lord Lu out of his village. The grain that was moved from the ghost village was brought into the city through Lord Lu’s connections. Miss Lu, you can’t kill me. If I die, Lord Lu and that grain will become a secret.”

Lu Zhiyuan gave Lu Yun a wink, and Lu Yun let go. The fake Xie San hurriedly swatted the insect away. Seeing the insect was dead, he breathed a sigh of relief and pointed towards the direction of Grain Shop No. 8.

“I used the identity of Xie San to hide some of the grain in the No. 8 grain shop. The rope was a different color, so you can tell at a glance. Another part was hidden in Xie San’s house. And another part was transported into the city using the identity of Lord Lu. If the manager of the porridge shop at the city gate is still alive, the grain should be in his porridge shop. That manager, like me, is a spy planted in Beiliang by Southern Chu.”

Commander Ma led his men to investigate and found eight bags of problematic millet in the No. 8 grain shop, five bags in Xie San's house, and more than ten bags in the porridge shop owner's house. The bags were not full and contained mixed grains.

This amounted to only a tiny fraction of the grain they had stolen from the neighboring county. After repeated questioning, the fake Xie Sanfang finally revealed the truth: they had distributed the grain to villagers in the surrounding towns and villages, instructing those villagers to bring items that could spread disease into the city.

Among those items were copper coins, which the villagers transferred to shops in the city through buying and selling, or circulated among others. There were incense and offerings, which the villagers took to temples in the city. There were trinkets, which were sold at stalls. There were velvet flowers, bronze mirrors, rouge and face powder, which entered people's homes through various channels.

With strange people in front and a plague behind, the capital of Beiliang could be turned into a dead city without a single soldier.