Chapter 154: Threat

"A win-win?" Chu Junhan slightly raised an eyebrow, a mocking sneer curling at the corner of her lips. "My men have investigated Young Master Wei for over a decade, yet they only managed to uncover a single name. And you, Young Master Wei, have lied to me again and again. Now you sneak into a lady's boudoir in the dead of night and talk to me about a win-win? How is this a win-win?"

"Once you know the name, wouldn't my background be crystal clear? What else does the General wish to investigate?"

"Who is your father?" Chu Junhan lowered her chin slightly, her cold gaze locking onto the youth.

The smile froze on Wei Ziyuan's lips. A layer of frost coated his face, and his eyes dimmed. "My father? If I said I've never seen him, would you believe me?"

"Hmm?" Taken aback by the youth's sudden shift in demeanor and feeling somewhat uncertain, Chu Junhan merely uttered a soft response, lifting her sword slightly to signal him to continue.

Wei Ziyuan let out a soft sigh, turning away with a desolate air. With his back to Chu Junhan, he gazed at the moonlight and said flatly, "My father was a refugee who collapsed at the threshold of the Wei family estate. My mother kindly saved him, and they fell in love. My father was then adopted into the Wei family as a matrilocal husband."

"Who was your father?"

"Times were chaotic back then. Who does the General think my father was?" The youth glanced sideways, the smile entirely gone from his lips, replaced by an expression of utter indifference.

Chu Junhan stared at the youth, frowning in deep thought. "I don't believe that you alone possess the ability to pull the strings across the world and maintain eyes and ears everywhere."

Wei Ziyuan let out a dry laugh, slowly turning around to gaze leisurely at the young woman, a spring-breeze smile returning to the corners of his mouth. "And I don't believe that the General managed to slay the ruler of the Khitan, Afugan Tameng, at the age of eight."

"You investigated me?!" Chu Junhan took a step forward, gripping her sharp sword in agitation.

"This humble person did indeed investigate the General, but I found nothing at all. However, the General's intelligence agent in Pingzhou is quite amusing—clearly a young man, yet..." The youth raised his hand with his fingers curled into an orchid gesture, mimicking Mengmeng's mannerisms.

"You are threatening me!"

Wei Ziyuan smiled gracefully and bowed slightly. "This humble person wouldn't dare."

"Wouldn't dare?! You are audacious enough to break into the General's bedchamber. I refuse to believe there is anything you wouldn't dare to do."

With those words, Chu Junhan swung her sword at the youth. Since he had dared to threaten one of her people, then regardless of the terrifying forces standing behind him, he would not walk out of the General's Manor today!

The youth dodged left and right with nimble movements, evading attacks without kicking up a single speck of dust, moving as effortlessly as a gentle breeze brushing past. A wicked smile played on his lips. "This humble person broke into the General's bedchamber simply because the General is so strikingly handsome that I couldn't sleep at night. If I hadn't come to steal a glance, I might have fallen lovesick!"

"Lovesick! I'll make you truly lovesick!" Having made up her mind to personally detain the youth before her and use him as leverage against the Jiuling Trading House—making it utterly impossible for him to escape—Chu Junhan aimed every strike at a fatal point.

Intense sounds of combat echoing from within the Young General's Manor alarmed the estate's hidden guards.

Moments later, the entire manor was brightly lit. Tang Chen led a detachment of soldiers to encircle the building completely. A group of soldiers raised torches, shouting in a panic, "Assassins! Capture the assassins!"

Yun Yi hurried over as well, brandishing his wolf-head spear, and made to charge straight into the room.

"What do you think you're doing!" Unexpectedly, he was blocked by Tang Chen standing outside the door.

Yun Yi bared his small tiger teeth, his eyebrows locked in fury. "Brother Ziyun, can't you see? The General is fighting an assassin! Of course I'm going in to help!"

Tang Chen's brows were already twisted into a knot, the anxiety on his face no less than anyone else's, yet he could not rush in! Because he was the only one who knew that their young general was actually a woman!