The rear courtyard of the Mo Residence was a spacious garden, planted with many rare herbs. Though the fading light made them impossible to see clearly, the rich fragrance still seeped straight into his lungs, prompting Han Li to take a deep breath.
"Hm!" Han Li let out a soft exclamation. Despite the overwhelming bouquet, he managed to pick out the familiar scent of medicinal herbs.
"Someone is growing herbs here." Han Li chuckled quietly. The intensely familiar aroma filled him with curiosity about the gardener — it seemed someone in the Mo Residence had inherited Doctor Mo's medical expertise.
He couldn't afford to delay any longer. Following the small path through the garden, Han Li crept steadily toward the areas that still had lights burning.
Along the way, he spotted several concealed sentries hidden deep among the foliage. Had his perception not been far beyond an ordinary person's, he never would have noticed them. The security of the Mo Residence was clearly tight.
But now that he had identified them, slipping past these watchpoints was child's play.
Han Li came to a stop before a two-story pavilion.
He had chosen this building specifically because the guard detail around it was noticeably heavier than elsewhere — twenty or thirty men were stationed in the vicinity.
Seeing that the second floor was still brightly lit, he concluded that important members of the Mo household had not yet gone to sleep — a perfect opportunity for some reconnaissance.
Seizing the cover of darkness, his figure blurred like lightning. In the span of a breath he had closed the distance to the building, and with a light push of his feet he flipped neatly onto the second floor. The entire sequence took less than a second. The sentries, both visible and hidden, never noticed his intrusion.
Han Li pressed himself flat against the outer wall of a room on the second floor, letting his body melt entirely into the shadows, then pricked up his ears to listen.
With his extraordinary hearing, he made out the voices of women inside — there was more than one person in the room.
"Changping Town secret branch — seven thousand three hundred taels of silver delivered."
"Luogu Town secret branch — five thousand eight hundred taels of silver delivered."
"Lanyue Town secret branch — ten thousand five hundred taels of silver delivered."
"Wuling Town..."
"And so on..."
"These are the funds the secret branches sent last month. In total, they're more than a quarter less than the same period in previous years."
A pleasant female voice reached Han Li's ears — bright, lively, unmistakably that of a young woman. The note of displeasure in her final sentence was unmistakable.
"Mother, those people in charge of the secret branches are getting bolder by the day! The silver they deliver shrinks month after month!" the girl said angrily.
"I know. I have it all under control." A second voice answered — lower in pitch, rich and magnetic.
*Could this be one of the three Mo beauties?* Han Li perked up, feeling his luck was holding. The other person in the room was apparently one of Doctor Mo's wives.
"You always say you have it under control. Can't you do something to bring them in line? At this rate, those secret branches will stop taking our headquarters seriously before long!" the young woman complained.
"I genuinely have no good solution at the moment. You should know that the secret branches have always been under your Fifth Mother's sole management. No one else in the Mo Residence has the authority to intervene!" the woman replied helplessly.
The moment these words landed, the room fell silent for a beat.
After a long pause, the young girl's reluctant voice returned: "Mother, are you really going to let Fifth Mother keep monopolizing the power of the secret branches? Ever since Uncle Ma and the others attempted to split off a few years ago — on top of pressure from other factions — the secret branches have become the single greatest pillar of our Fearful Flood Dragon Association. As acting head of the Association, that power should naturally be in your hands!"
"What you say is true. But when your father left, he handed those secret branches to your Fifth Mother specifically. I truly have no pretext to interfere. On top of that, your Fifth Mother turns over the greater part of the branches' monthly profits to the headquarters as a matter of course — it would be even more unseemly for me to pry further," the woman said evenly.
"But our Fearful Flood Dragon Association is already so weak! If we don't consolidate our strength, how can we ever hope to rise again? Honestly, Father — if he was going to hand the Association over to you, Mother, why did he have to give the secret branches to Fifth Mother separately!" The girl's voice was laced with resentment, and her displeasure toward the father she had been speaking of was plain to hear.
"Watch your tongue! Your father had his reasons for doing what he did. Who are you to pass judgment on his decisions?" The woman reprimanded her sharply.
"Fine, fine — I admit my mistake, all right? It seems Mother's devotion to Father is as unwavering as ever!" The girl sounded as though she were quite accustomed to this kind of scolding. Rather than being contrite, she even took the opportunity to tease her mother.
"Oh, you child..." The woman doted on the girl utterly and could only let the matter pass with a helpless smile.
Han Li was now certain. The woman in the room was Yan Shi — the person he had been looking for — and the girl was almost certainly Mo Caihuan, her daughter by Doctor Mo. He truly was fortunate; he had found the right place on his first attempt.
Reaching inside his clothing, Han Li felt the letter written in Doctor Mo's own hand and the accompanying token hidden against his skin. He was about to reveal himself and meet the two women.
"Mother, that impostor is so insufferable! He ran into me in the rear garden today and actually started fawning over me, showing off that pathetic bit of literary skill of his — acting as though he were some great scholar and warrior all in one. Truly revolting!" The girl blurted out this remark with a petulant tone, and the words startled Han Li so badly that the foot he had been about to step forward drew back involuntarily.
"You will be courteous to that man surnamed Wu. After all, he is nominally your future brother-in-law. Don't let him see through anything!" Yan Shi's voice turned serious, carrying a note of severity.
"Sigh! Poor Elder Sister — she's hounded by that man all day long, and she has to pretend to be charmed by him, to act like she's smitten. What an ordeal! If it were me, I'd have cut him down with a single stroke of my sword long ago," the girl sighed.
"There's no other way. Although we know the man surnamed Wu is a fraud, and we've already dug up his true background, we need to buy more time. The only option is to sacrifice your Elder Sister's reputation and keep this charade going. After all, the enemy's forces are overwhelming — if they realize they can't take us by trickery, they'll launch an all-out assault, and we would stand no chance whatsoever." Yan Shi's voice was heavy with exhaustion, and her words carried the unmistakable ring of a person stretched to the breaking point.