Chapter 573: Chapter 573: Truly a Close Call

Ah Wang was carrying two buckets of water and caught Yin Le, who was trying to sneak away from him, to assign her the easy task of tailing someone.

Yin Le: "I haven’t finished chopping wood today, and I haven’t done my work in the cafeteria either."

Ah Wang: "I’ll do it for you."

Alright.

Yin Le immediately shouted to Liu Gong, who was about to drive the carriage into the city: "Brother Liu Gong! Could you give me a ride? I need to go buy some things in the city!"

Liu Gong, who was loading village folks to head into the city, stopped and waited for Yin Le to get on the carriage, then cracked the whip and set off. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Along the way, Yin Le stayed close to the woman who cooked for Zhen Yubai, chatting warmly with her. Naturally, she followed her to Manager Fan’s tavern in the city to deliver a letter to a guest inside.

The man looked ordinary but was very tall, and his gaze was quite intense. He glanced twice more at Yin Le when taking the letter.

Yin Le, pretending to be embarrassed, lowered her head and clearly heard the man gasp upon seeing the scar on her face.

"Thank you." Leng Bingbing said this coolly before taking the letter and turning to leave.

Thanks to Qin Yao, Yin Le, as her direct disciple, had become a familiar face at Manager Fan’s place. After the man went upstairs to his room and while the woman was using the washroom, Yin Le hurriedly inquired with Manager Fan.

Manager Fan said the man’s last name is Bai, and he’s been here for over half a month. He stays in his room most days and rarely goes out. His accent sounds like he’s from Capital City, claiming to be visiting relatives.

That’s all Manager Fan knew.

Yin Le nodded, taking note of it.

Suddenly, she remembered the investigation template her master had given her and asked another question: "Has he met anyone? Or has anyone come to find him?"

"I’ve only seen people from your village come twice, including this time, twice in total."

After saying this, Manager Fan apologized and went back to his work. With lunch approaching, customers were coming in waves, and he really had no time to entertain Yin Le.

Just as the woman came back from the washroom, Yin Le left the tavern with her.

The woman went shopping, but Yin Le didn’t go with her. Instead, she returned to the tavern to observe secretly.

It didn’t take long to see the man leave the tavern and head towards the cattle and horse market on the west side of town.

Yin Le quietly tailed him. After being trained by both Qin Yao and Ah Wang for some time, her stealth skills had improved significantly. The man didn’t notice her presence at all, and even the passersby didn’t notice her slipping by.

This situation, what was it called... Ah, her master called it a vision blind spot.

Yin Le conveniently bought a candied hawthorn, chewing as she stood in front of the official market for cattle, observing the small shop selling iron plows across the street.

After the man named Bai entered, he exchanged a few words with the shop owner, who then hung a "closed" sign, picked up the boards, and shut the shop doors.

Yin Le glanced around, chewing on the sugar pieces, and stealthily approached, squatting by the back window of the shop to listen.

She vaguely heard phrases like "Crown Prince," "the court situation is critical," and "we must invite the gentleman back to the Capital to take charge."

With a creak, the side door of the closed shop opened, and the man named Bai slipped out as if nothing had happened, strolling away from the cattle market.

Following her master’s investigation template, Yin Le quickly determined that the man named Bai couldn’t provide any more information.

So she continued to crouch under the window, watching to see what the iron plow shop owner would do next.

With another creak, the window above suddenly opened, nearly startling Yin Le to jump.

She quickly regulated her breathing, lying flat against the wall at ground level.

The person inside looked around, but didn’t look down. Seeing no one around, he took a pigeon from a cage nearby, attached a message tube to it, and released the pigeon.

Yin Le silently cursed: This is bad!

Patient enough to wait for the window to close and the footsteps to fade, she promptly leaped up and raced in the direction the pigeon flew.

Running out of the city gate and to the outskirts, she finally saw a speck of white in the sky, and after another mad dash for three miles, she climbed up a tall tree, threw three shurikens, and finally heard a "caw" as the pigeon screamed and fell.

Yin Le was overjoyed but couldn’t relax yet. She quickly slid down the tree and searched in the direction where the pigeon fell.

Luckily, she found the fluttering pigeon by the riverbank.

It was just a bit away from falling into the river and being swept away by the current.

Yin Le panted heavily, collapsing beside the pigeon, almost losing her life over it.

"No wonder Ah Wang asked me to come; he sure knows how to dodge such tiring tasks..." Yin Le muttered softly, finally regaining her strength. She then used a rock to kill the fluttering pigeon and took off the message tube tied to its claw.

With the letter secured, she checked it to ensure it was correct, then tucked it into her chest and immediately headed back to the city gate.

Just arriving at the city gate, she saw Liu Gong and the others approaching. Yin Le smiled and waved at them.

"Didn’t you say you came to buy things in the city? Where are the things?" Liu Gong asked curiously, seeing Yin Le empty-handed.

Yin Le secretly thought it was bad luck, but thankfully she still had half a stick of uneaten candied hawthorn in her chest. She took it out swiftly and gave everyone a silly grin, "Hehehe."

Liu Gong couldn’t help but shake his head, "Just for a stick of candied hawthorn? Was it worth the trip?"

"I don’t know what it is, but lately I’ve been craving it, craving it so much that if I don’t eat it, it feels like a fire is burning inside me." As she said this, even Yin Le was surprised at how seriously she could lie.

Feels like she’s been spending too much time with her grandmaster, picking up some of his bad habits. Yin Le felt a bit ashamed.

In the end, she begged everyone not to mention her trip to the city for candied hawthorn back in the village.

"If my master finds out, I’m done for." Yin Le pleaded pitifully.

Everyone looked at her amusedly, assuring her not to worry, they wouldn’t say anything.

"Everyone’s here, then let’s head back. If we delay any longer, it’ll be dark by the time we reach the village."

Everyone nodded, boarding Liu Gong’s carriage in turn, bantering as they left the city and headed back to the village.

"Ah Le!"

Yin Le perked up her ears and turned back in surprise.

The city gate had a few scattered commoners coming and going, each busy with their livelihood, walking briskly.

"Auntie, did you hear someone calling me?" Yin Le suspiciously patted the woman next to her. "I just thought I heard someone call me."

The woman looked puzzled, "No, I didn’t."

Turning back, she continued chatting with the others in the carriage about the new teacher’s gossip, "You guys say Mr. Zhen isn’t young anymore but still hasn’t married. Isn’t that strange? Could he have some hidden ailment?"

Yin Le looked back once more, was it an illusion?

But just now that voice sounded so much like her eldest brother... Perhaps she missed her family too much.

In the next instant, Yin Le was drawn into the village women’s gossip, eagerly asking, "What were you saying? Mr. Zhen has a hidden ailment? No way, he looks pretty healthy..."