I traveled back to the Southern Song Dynasty and was actually outmaneuvered by Yue Fei.

Chapter 068: Xiao Jinluo

"Let's go," Xiao Bieli said. "Let's find an inn first, and then we'll go to that shop tomorrow."

"Going to the shop tomorrow?"

"I'll buy you osmanthus cake."

Xiao Jinluo paused for a moment, then happily skipped a couple of steps, the ears of the plush rabbit in her arms bouncing with her. But after a few steps, she turned back.

"Brother, is there something you haven't told me?"

Xiao Bieli looked at her face; there were two shallow dimples on her round face.

His sister was always like that; she could smell something was off about everyone, but she would always ask the question in the simplest of terms.

"Yes," he said.

"What is it?"

I'll tell you later.

Xiao Jinlu tilted her head and looked at him for a couple of moments, then nodded without asking any further questions.

This is the tacit understanding between the siblings. She never asks when he doesn't want to talk about it; she knows he will, it's just not the right time yet.

The inn inside Houchao Gate is called "Yong'an Inn," and the innkeeper is an old man in his sixties surnamed Shen.

When Manager Shen first saw the brother and sister, he felt something was off.

The man was lean and muscular, his steps heavy as if he were stuck in mud; the woman's smile was as sweet as osmanthus cake, but she had calluses on her hands and feet.

This is not the kind of calluses a child from a fishing or woodcutter's family should have.

But he didn't ask any more questions. Having run an inn in Lin'an for twenty years, the first rule he learned was to never ask too many questions.

"One room, two beds." Xiao Bieli placed thirty coins on the counter.

"That's enough, how many nights?"

"Stay for two nights first."

Just as Manager Shen was about to take the key, he suddenly heard a series of hurried footsteps outside the inn.

It wasn't just one person's footsteps; it was at least six or seven people. The sound of their boots hitting the bluestone slabs was uniform and synchronized—it was soldiers.

Xiao Bieli's hand was already on his waist.

But the footsteps outside the door did not stop at the inn's entrance.

They passed by the inn, headed east, and went further and further away until they disappeared at the end of the alley.

Manager Shen breathed a sigh of relief and handed the key to Xiao Bieli.

"Don't worry, sir. There are more soldiers patrolling Lin'an City recently. They say they want to strengthen security after the Empress Dowager returned to the palace. But as long as you don't commit any crimes, the soldiers won't check the inn."

Xiao Bieli took the key and nodded.

He settled Xiao Jinluo in the innermost room on the second floor, and sat on the threshold without going in.

"Brother, aren't you coming in?"

"It's cool outside."

Xiao Jinlu leaned out of the door frame and looked out the window.

The night wind in December made the window paper rattle loudly, offering no relief from the heat.

But she didn't say anything, pulled her head back, placed the plush rabbit next to her pillow, wrapped herself in the blanket, and closed her eyes.

She falls asleep very quickly; she has learned this skill over the past six months.

She could sleep anywhere she could—in a stable, a dilapidated temple, the bottom of a ship's hold, or a haystack—as long as her brother was nearby.

Xiao Bieli sat on the threshold, listening to his sister's breathing in the room gradually become even.

Then he took a cloth bag out of his pocket and opened it.

Inside the cloth bag was a piece of paper with dozens of names and place names written on it.

Some names were followed by detailed addresses and occupations, some only had a vague direction written on them, and some names had been scratched off with fingernails, the scratches were very deep, as if the hand had used force when scratching.

This is a record he made over the past two years of documenting the whereabouts of all the former members of Yue Fei's army.

Hunter, dock porter, outlaw, old captain who ran a small tavern incognito, sentry who escaped from Yancheng after being captured and helped people row boats at Guazhou Ferry.

He found each name one by one; some were still alive, some were gone, and some were still waiting—waiting for a command that would never come.

He folded the list again and tucked it into his pocket.

Then he looked up at the window at the end of the inn's corridor. Outside the window was the night sky of Lin'an City. In the twelfth lunar month, there was no moon, only a few stars hanging high and cold.

He sat under this sky for a long time, so long that the lights in the inn went out and the patrolmen's clappers struck past midnight.

Then he heard footsteps.

It was outside the inn. Unlike the synchronized footsteps a few hours earlier, this time the footsteps were very light, almost inaudible, but Xiao Bieli heard them.

He stood up, silently walked into the room, and closed the door behind him.

Xiao Jinluo is still asleep.

Xiao Bieli walked to the window, poked a small hole in the window paper, and looked out.

Three people were standing in the alley behind the inn. They were not soldiers or officers, and they were not wearing uniforms, but they all had the same iron ruler hanging from their waists.

The iron ruler is the standard weapon of the Imperial City Guard.

The three people stood in the alley for a short while, and one of them looked up and glanced in the direction of the inn.

Xiao Bieli couldn't see the person's face in the darkness, but he could feel the gaze confirming something.

They're not looking for someone; they already know where the person is.

Xiao Bieli lowered the window paper, walked to the bedside, and gently patted Xiao Jinluo's shoulder.

Xiao Jinluo opened her eyes, not confused, not acting coquettishly, but simply looking at her brother's face and nodding.

She grabbed the plush rabbit from beside her pillow and got out of bed barefoot. Her movements were swift and silent.

"How many people?" she asked in a low voice.

"There are three in the back alleys, and there might be another one at the main entrance."

"Where to?"

Xiao Bieli did not answer. He walked to the corner of the room, squatted down, and tapped the floor with his fingers.

The floor was made of pine, and one plank was slightly warped. He felt along the gap and found the loose plank. It was a problem caused by the inn's long-term disrepair; such planks could be pried up easily.

He pried open the wooden planks, revealing the inn's ground floor storage room underneath.

The storage room was filled with old bedding and broken wooden barrels. It was dark, and an adult and a child could crawl down through it and silently make their way to the backyard.

"I'll get off first," Xiao Bieli said.

Xiao Jinluo nodded.

Xiao Bieli flipped over and squeezed into the gap, landing with her knees slightly bent, making almost no sound.

He looked up, reached out his hand, and Xiao Jinluo jumped down holding the plush rabbit. He caught her with one hand and gently placed her on the ground.

The two men walked through the darkness of the storage room and felt their way to the door leading to the backyard. The door was unlocked and made a slight creaking sound when it was pushed open.

There was no one in the backyard.

Xiao Bieli pulled his sister along quickly across the courtyard and walked to the wall in the backyard.

The wall wasn't high, less than ten feet, and it was covered with withered vines. He crouched down, and Xiao Jinluo stepped on his shoulders to climb over the wall. Then she turned around and reached out to pull him up.

Just as Xiao Bieli climbed over the wall, a loud crash came from the front door of the inn.

It was the sound of a door being broken down.

Then came Manager Shen's scream, which was interrupted by a muffled thud—as if someone had been thrown to the ground, or as if someone had been hit by a heavy object.

Xiao Bieli paused on the wall for a moment.

"Brother." Xiao Jinluo's voice trembled, but she did not turn around.

Xiao Bieli jumped off the wall, caught his sister, and the two disappeared into the alleys of Lin'an City late at night.

......

The 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, at the hour of Mao (5-7 AM).

Before dawn, the shops on Yujie Street had not yet opened. Only a few early-rising steamed bun shops were adding firewood to their stoves, the smoke from their cooking being suppressed by the cold wind.

The Xiao siblings spent the night squatting in an abandoned local temple.

The temple is located deep in a small alley outside Houchao Gate. Half of the gate has collapsed, the statue is missing an arm, and the ground is covered with straw left by someone.

Xiao Jinluo was curled up in the haystack, hugging her plush rabbit, sleeping soundly, unaware even of the wind blowing in through the collapsed door frame.

Xiao Bieli didn't sleep all night.

He spent the whole night watching the entrance to that alley.

He wasn't afraid of being chased; he could have dealt with anyone who did last night. What he was afraid of was something else entirely.

He heard the news of the Imperial Guard's deputy being arrested outside the city.

The message coming from Zhenjiang Wharf was just one sentence: "The net in Lin'an has been breached, don't go through the main gate."