Before long, squad after squad of Imperial Guards ran out of the palace.
At that moment, Xiao Yun’an was hiding in a narrow alley with Xiao Yunming, neither of them daring to go out.
“Big Brother, how much longer do we have to hide?” Xiao Yunming swatted at the flying insects circling around her.
“Wait a little longer!” Xiao Yun’an carefully poked his head out to look.
Xiao Yunming rubbed the soles of her feet in disgust after stepping in something filthy.
“Big Brother, I don’t want to stay here anymore!”
“I want to leave!”
For the sake of safety, Xiao Yun’an had hidden with Xiao Yunming in a place where broken odds and ends were piled up.
Not only was filthy water flowing everywhere and mosquitoes buzzing about, but small animals also darted out from time to time.
“Ah!”
When Xiao Yunming saw a rat scurry across her embroidered shoe, she screamed in fright.
Xiao Yun’an hurriedly raised a hand to cover his sister’s mouth.
But Xiao Yunming moved faster than ever.
She leaped up and ran straight out of the alley.
“Little Sister!” Xiao Yun’an hurried after her.
When Xiao Yun’an saw his sister run out of the alley, he grew anxious and quickened his pace.
But when he emerged from the alley, he could no longer see her anywhere.
He was just about to search for her when everything suddenly went black, and he knew nothing more.
In the private room of the Fudoduo Pastry Shop, Shitou and Liqing were kneeling before Duoduo.
“Commandery Princess, please forgive me. I acted on my own initiative. Liqing had nothing to do with it.”
“It was my suggestion. Shitou had nothing to do with it.”
Shitou and Liqing both tried to take the blame upon themselves.
Duoduo stared at the two of them with a stern little face.
“Do you think you helped me by doing this?”
Shitou and Liqing froze.
Had they made a mistake?
Duoduo shook her head.
“Fortunately, you reported it to me in time, so it didn’t lead to a major disaster.”
“Shitou, go and instruct the coachman. No matter who asks, just say that they got off the carriage on their own halfway there.”
“And whatever you do, don’t say that you went with them!”
After giving her orders, Duoduo turned to Lüdou.
“Come on, we need to hurry back to the manor!”
Once she had finished speaking, Duoduo hurried away with Lüdou.
Shitou and Liqing climbed to their feet uneasily.
Was that all?
The Commandery Princess hadn’t punished them. Did that mean the matter was over?
“Liqing, stay here and keep watch over the shop. I’m going out for a while,” Shitou said.
Liqing nodded. “Then I’ll inform the shopkeeper and the assistants.”
Shitou nodded, and the two split up to carry out their tasks.
Meanwhile, Duoduo pulled Lüdou into the carriage and ordered the coachman to return to the manor at once.
“Quickly! The faster, the better!”
After Duoduo gave the order, the carriage began speeding along.
Xiao Yi had originally opposed Duoduo coming to the shop on its opening day.
But Duoduo had secretly come anyway.
She felt that it would be a pity if she and Lüdou couldn’t witness such an important occasion with their own eyes.
Duoduo had never expected Xiao Yun’an and his sister to be chased by masked men all the way to her shop!
What a small world!
Lüdou still looked as if she hadn’t fully grasped what was happening.
“Commandery Princess, Shitou and the others didn’t do anything to Commandery Princess Anning or the Heir Apparent, did they? Why are we in such a hurry to return to the manor?”
“Besides, even if the Crown Prince wants revenge, shouldn’t he be looking for those masked men?”
“What does this have to do with us?”
Duoduo glanced at the streets outside.
Everything still looked peaceful.
The cries of street vendors, the chatter of passersby, and the sound of musical instruments were no different from any other day.
Duoduo began to wonder if she had been overly sensitive.
Even so, her sixth sense told her that she needed to get home immediately!
Duoduo glanced into the empty air. The golden words had not moved at all since the last time.
She couldn’t help missing the way things had been before.
In the past, whenever danger approached, the golden words would appear and warn her.
But she didn’t know when it had started—those golden words appeared less and less often.
“Commandery Princess?” Lüdou called worriedly.
“Hm?” Duoduo came back to herself and looked at Lüdou.
“Commandery Princess, there are a lot of Imperial Guards ahead.” Lüdou pointed out the window.
Duoduo’s heart tightened. She immediately slapped the carriage wall.
“Take a detour! Use the nearest route back to the manor!”
“Yes, Commandery Princess. Hold on tight!” replied the coachman, who was actually a guard in disguise.
Duoduo grabbed the carriage wall, while Lüdou clung tightly to the seat.
The carriage made a sharp turn and swung onto another road.
Since they were still some distance from the Imperial Guards, they did not attract any attention.
Duoduo’s mind raced.
According to Shitou’s account, Xiao Yun’an and his sister had encountered the masked men on their way to the Imperial Academy.
If Prince Ling wanted to investigate, the greatest possibility was that he would search this road.
If they didn’t want to run into Prince Ling’s men, they had no choice but to avoid it.
But to return to the manor, they had to pass through that road!
Duoduo frowned.
It was a dead end!
Sure enough, after the carriage took a shortcut and emerged onto another street, they saw the Imperial Guards again.
The Imperial Guards were searching the area.
The frightened commoners hurried back into their homes and shut their doors.
The bustling street soon became completely deserted.
“Commandery Princess, what should we do?” the guard asked.
Duoduo lifted the carriage curtain and jumped down with Lüdou.
“Take the carriage straight ahead!”
“We’ll meet you at the next intersection!”
After speaking, Duoduo pulled Lüdou and began running back the way they had come.
Just now, Duoduo had noticed that another intersection on this street could be used to reach the next road by a detour.
That next intersection would take them around the Imperial Guards’ search.
“Giddy-up!” The carriage moved slowly forward.
Using the carriage as cover, Duoduo and Lüdou soon reached the fork in the road.
“Commandery Princess, there are Imperial Guards ahead!” Lüdou anxiously stepped in front of Duoduo to shield her.
Duoduo looked up.
“Lüdou, we’re going onto the rooftops!”
Lüdou tilted her head back to look and immediately felt her legs go weak.
“Commandery Princess, it’s so high!”
Duoduo quickly crouched down and removed the sandbags strapped to her legs.
“Lüdou, take yours off too.”
Without bothering about anything else, Duoduo stored the sandbags away.
Lüdou lowered her head to remove hers, so she didn’t notice how the sandbags in Duoduo’s hands disappeared.
Duoduo moved around on the spot to loosen up.
She remembered Li Jin telling her that regularly training with weights could help one become as light as a swallow.
“Lüdou, warm up first. Then we’ll get a running start here, kick off the wall, and flip up!”
Duoduo explained her plan to Lüdou.
Lüdou nodded reluctantly.
“Watch how I do it!”
Duoduo took a running start and swiftly reached the wall. She kicked against it several times in rapid succession, then pushed off hard and leaped upward.
Duoduo felt as though she were flying.
She stretched out both hands, successfully caught hold of the eaves, and pulled herself onto the roof.
Duoduo lay on her stomach at the edge of the roof and reached a hand down toward Lüdou.
“Lüdou, come on!”
Lüdou stared at Duoduo, completely dumbfounded by the series of movements she had just performed.
She had not been practicing martial arts as long as Duoduo.
Nor had her training been as intense.
She wasn’t confident she could do it.
