This scoundrel is a bit of a swordsman.

Ye Yunfeng was shocked. The Northern Region was doing well, and the War Commander had returned to the capital. Why would such a strong word be used?

However, the two elders never fabricated stories, so Ye Yunfeng didn't dare to ask further. He simply kept the question to himself. Something must have happened in the Northern Region, but what happened was not something he could inquire about at this time.

After meeting the Fourth Prince, Xiao Xingchen felt at ease being placed in the Zheng family. Zheng Youqian often drank tea with him, taking the opportunity to probe his background, but under Lan Beitang's cover, he didn't get any useful information.

However, the Zheng family was quite welcoming of the scholar swordsman and the young swordsman moving into their home. The arrival of two young sword immortals was a great honor, and instead of keeping a low profile, the Zheng family went out in a grand manner to announce to everyone that two young sword immortals had come to their home.

During his two days in the city, Xiao Xingchen was quite busy. The first person to visit him was the Quasi-Sage, who personally confirmed his ascension to the Sword Immortal Path. Far from being happy, the Quasi-Sage sighed repeatedly, finally leaving only the words, "The Poet Immortal Gathering is imminent; do not wander off in the near future," before disappearing.

The eldest princess also came to inquire about his relationship with the late empress, as his presence directly impacted her plans.

On this point, Xiao Xingchen remained adamant, insisting it was unrelated; he was merely acting as a liaison for a friend. As for which friend, he told them to find out for themselves in the Tang Dynasty of the East.

In the end, it all ended on a sour note. Zheng Youqian watched the whole thing from the sidelines, and only after everyone had left did he ask his question.

"Where exactly do you come from? In the past few days, the people investigating you could circle Yong'an City hand in hand several times, but no one has found out anything about you. I even suspect that you sprang from a rock."

“Brother Zheng, I have already told you that I come from the Tang Dynasty, but you just don’t believe me.”

"Tch, you're really not being sincere. If it weren't for your status, I wouldn't want to mess with you. Look at all the people you've messed with, none of them are simple."

"Yes, how did we get involved with so many people?"

Xiao Xingchen privately reviewed everything that had happened to her and was surprised to discover a fact.

Since his rebirth, from the moment he chose to go to the Silent Temple and enter Cangshan Mountain, his life has completely deviated from Xiao Jianren's original trajectory.

His current experience is completely unrelated to Xiao Jianren's; they are entirely different lives. In a sense, history has been completely altered.

So these past few days he has been thinking, since his life has been changed, will the upcoming Poet Immortal Gathering also be different from his previous life?

Moreover, he had been asking Zheng Youqian to gather information about Zhan Aotian for the past few days. It wasn't that he was worried about national affairs, but rather that he knew that if his suspicions came true, he would eventually become the target of those people's wrath.

He didn't want to cause trouble, but trouble kept coming to him. He just hadn't expected that trouble would find its way to Daji instead.

When he saw the message Zheng Youqian sent back, he knew that since they couldn't find out his background, someone had targeted the people around him.

Lan Beitang has an upright background and is even known as the Scholar-Sword, so he wouldn't be used as bait. Therefore, besides Lan Beitang, the only other candidate is the mute girl beside him.

The fact that a young swordsman couldn't figure it out, and that the mute girl appeared out of nowhere, was undoubtedly a slap in the face to those in the shadows. There's no shortage of clever people in this world; since they couldn't find out, they set a trap and waited for them to fall into it.

With Chen Miao's arrival, the bait was finally laid out.

"You shouldn't have come to me,"

This was the first thing Xiao Xingchen said to her after seeing her. Anyone could come to him, but Chen Miao coming to him? That was a big problem.

Since his appearance, he has had no interaction with Chen Miaochan, and their chance encounter in Cangshan is unknown to anyone. Now that Chen Miaochan has come to his door, it's hard not to speculate.

Chen Miao, however, did not have so many concerns. She had lost some of her former dashing spirit, but gained more of the air of a well-bred young lady. Every smile and gesture exuded the demeanor of a scion of a noble family.

"I'm here to invite you to my father's birthday banquet. My father is in Beijing to report on his work, and many people will come to congratulate him. This is the invitation. I'm sure this reason is acceptable, right?"

Chen Miao stopped pretending in front of him, directly tossing out an invitation, then throwing her cloak aside, and vigorously stretching her shoulders while complaining incessantly.

"It's so tiring. I have to act like a lady every day and walk so slowly. It's exhausting. I can finally rest here. I hope no one is watching you."

"I thought you'd stay like that, young lady,"

"It's not that there's no other way. It's not easy to see you. I thought about it for a long time before I came up with this reason. Although my father is only a vice minister, you are a sword immortal. Inviting you is reasonable. But you..."

Chen Miao stood up and walked up to Xiao Xingchen, staring straight at him with a curious and inquisitive look.

What exactly happened to you after we broke up? And who was that mute girl?

"This is not your question. Although we both have something on each other, I advise you that it's best to keep to ourselves. My business is troublesome, and your business is troublesome, so let's not make things difficult for each other, okay?"

Xiao Xingchen quickly took a step back. This woman was already tall and slender, with curves in all the right places. Being so close together made it easy for him to have all sorts of fantasies.

Moreover, the delicate fragrance emanating from her body is fatally alluring to men.

"Oh my, you're shy now? Haha, that's funny,"

"Stop messing around, get to the point, and leave quickly. If you stay here too long, people will be watching you."

"Who's messing with you? Tell me quickly, who is that mute girl? She couldn't have been picked up from Cangshan Mountain, could she? But her appearance doesn't seem like that of someone from the mountains. And also, how did you become a sword immortal?"

Faced with Chen Miao's barrage of questions, Xiao Xingchen simply chose to ignore them.

Seeing that her question was being ignored, Chen Miao could only continue speaking.

"Someone has targeted your mute daughter. Although the methods are somewhat underhanded, they are effective."

"I know, this is an open conspiracy. Everyone knows what they want to do, and they know that everyone knows what they are going to do, but they still did it so shamelessly. This is the first time I have ever seen such shameless people. By the way, do you know who came up with this vicious plan?"

Xiao Xingchen was absolutely right. In order to find a suitable reason to take Daji away from him, someone outside created a mute female thief.

Notices are plastered all over the streets; the government is going door-to-door searching for mute girls, and any mute girl found will be taken away.

Many people know that they haven't come to the Zheng family yet because they haven't captured enough mute girls. Once all the mute girls in Yong'an have been captured, they will naturally come looking for Daji.

Once Daji is taken away, they will have ways to find out Xiao Xingchen's background.

This open scheme is truly shameless, and it's exactly the problem that Xiao Xingchen was having a headache about.