After leaving the Liu Manor, a thin man in bck, carrying a single-edged rge bde, unknowingly followed beside the man in the red robe, Lu Chuan. After walking a while, he stepped closer to Lu Chuan and asked:

  "Mr. Lu, that Liu Jinshi seems to love money as his life and is timid as a mouse. What if he refuses to cooperate tonight and escapes?"

  Lu Chuan stopped, turned around, and gnced gently at the Man Carrying a Bde, speaking calmly:

  "Where would he escape to?"

  "His son is only eight years old, where could he run?"

  "Moreover, the people from Wangchuan have arrived. If he doesn't cooperate, let them help him cooperate."

  Mentioning Wangchuan, Lu Chuan thought of another matter and asked:

  "I heard... the top spot on Wangchuan's bounty list has changed?"

  The Man Carrying a Bde did not avoid the question.

  Outside the Liu Manor, there were generally no civilians passing by, and the street was very clean.

  He said to Lu Chuan:

  "It has changed. I don't know who posted it, but the bounty is a hundred thousand taels."

  Lu Chuan was startled:

  "A hundred thousand? Silver?"

  Man Carrying a Bde:

  "Gold."

  This time, it was Lu Chuan's turn to be silent. His eyes sparkled, and he ughed incredulously:

  "A person, a hundred thousand gold?"

  "Which family has so much money to spare to create such a scene?"

  The Man Carrying a Bde shook his head.

  "I don't know either."

  "Wangchuan always keeps the employer's information absolutely confidential."

  "But this time, countless experts have come from Wangchuan, it must be an extremely tough nut to crack."

  Lu Chuan pondered carefully and said:

  "Coming to Kuhai County... why come to this godforsaken pce..."

  "What is the name of the wanted person?"

  Man Carrying a Bde:

  "No name, just said to be a woman, about eight feet tall, with many scars on her body."

  Lu Chuan frowned:

  "That's it?"

  Man Carrying a Bde:

  "That's it."

  Lu Chuan scrutinized the Man Carrying a Bde for a while, his gaze filled with suspicion. He wondered if this subordinate, who had been following him, had betrayed him or was hiding something from him. But seeing the straightforward and clear eyes of the other, Lu Chuan knew that the Man Carrying a Bde was not deceiving him.

  He was very good at observing a person's eyes.

  They are the windows to the soul.

  If someone harbors something dirty in their heart, their eyes would give it away.

  "Interesting... really interesting."

  "Without any specific information, aren't they afraid someone might just bring a counterfeit to cheat that hundred thousand gold?"

  "The person who posted the bounty seems to be in a hurry."

  The Man Carrying a Bde asked:

  "Mr. Lu, what do you think?"

  Lu Chuan stroked the small mustache on his chin, thought for a moment, and said:

  "That woman is hiding a secret."

  The Man Carrying a Bde was quite surprised:

  "A secret worth a hundred thousand gold?"

  Lu Chuan gently patted his shoulder and said with certainty:

  "If someone is willing to spend a hundred thousand gold to buy the life of someone with incomplete information, then the secret that the wanted person is hiding... is worth far more than a hundred thousand gold!"

  "Keep a close watch, and inform me if there are any clues."

  With that, he headed towards the end of the street, while the Man Carrying a Bde stood in pce, staring at Lu Chuan's back and said:

  "Mr. Lu wants that hundred thousand gold?"

  Lu Chuan did not turn back, his voice lingering:

  "I'm not interested in gold, but I am very interested in that secret."

  ...

  North of the county city, gallery bridge.

  A Big Bck Dog, dressed in strange deerskin clothes, carried an iron box in its mouth, leaving a long trail of plum blossom footprints in the green moss alley. It stopped at the eighth small courtyard in the alley, tilted its head to look at the courtyard gate, as if confirming whether it had come to the right pce, then knocked on the tightly closed door with the iron box.

  After a short while, the door opened, and a gray-haired Man in Green Robe appeared. He opened the door, let the bck dog into the courtyard, and then led it all the way to the kitchen. First, he carefully washed the iron box that the bck dog was carrying, then filled it with some warm porridge, covered the box, and handed it back to the bck dog.

  Watching the bck dog leave with the iron box, the Man in Green Robe closed the door, and a white-haired woman appeared behind him.

  The woman had a graceful figure, wearing a velvet dress, with traces of time that could not be hidden on her face. Crow's feet could still be seen at the corners of her eyes, but time had not concealed her beauty; instead, it added a unique charm of a mature woman.

  "Zhiming, is that young man still alive?"

  The Man in Green Robe took out a broom from behind the door, preparing to clear the snow in the courtyard.

  "Old Hei is getting on in years and can't finish the porridge by himself. A few days ago, the porridge was all eaten, but these days there's always some left. The wind and snow outside are harsh; perhaps the young man has frozen to death."

  The white-haired woman sighed:

  "In these times, people die every day. That young man had nothing and couldn't enter the county. No one expected he could survive for three years."

  The Man in Green Robe looked at her and smiled:

  "Want to save him?"

  The white-haired woman looked at the Man in Green Robe tenderly, her tone carrying a hint of obscure guilt:

  "Zhiming, you've been married to me for thirty years, and due to my health, I haven't given you a child. I've always felt a sense of guilt in my heart."

  "That young man's disposition is far from ordinary. If he's not dead, why not pay the magistrate some money, take him in as an adopted son, and you can teach him some swordsmanship. In the future, when I'm gone, at least you won't be alone."

  The Man in Green Robe stepped forward, embraced the white-haired woman, exhaled white breath by her ear, and ughed:

  "You, always worrying about this and that... When you're gone, I'll break a branch from the pipa tree in the courtyard and return to the Sword Pavilion in Yan Kingdom. Am I afraid of having nowhere to go?"

  "Having a child or not is all fate; what do you owe me?"

  As he spoke, he gnced at the distant sky and gently patted his wife's back:

  "But since you have the heart, on the third day of the month, I'll take some money and go to the Liu Manor. If he's not dead, I'll give him the identity of a person of Qi Kingdom, hire him to chop wood and cook for us, how about that?"

  The white-haired woman felt the warmth enveloping her, exhaled deeply, and said:

  "I'll leave it to you."