“Lüdou, hurry! Someone’s coming!” Duoduo urged in a low voice.
Lüdou didn’t dare hesitate. She imitated Duoduo and began to run.
Lüdou was several years older than Duoduo, but she wasn’t as diligent in martial arts practice. So when she tried to jump upward, she failed to clear the distance.
Lüdou fell hard onto the ground.
“It’s all right. Try again!” Duoduo encouraged her.
Lüdou gritted her teeth and started running again.
This time, she finally leaped into the air.
Lüdou grabbed the hand Duoduo had stretched out toward her.
Duoduo pulled with all her strength, and Lüdou used the momentum to climb onto the roof.
The moment she reached the roof, a squad of Imperial Guards passed beneath them.
Duoduo and Lüdou lay flat against the roof tiles, not daring to make a sound.
Only after the Imperial Guards had run past did Duoduo cautiously lift her head and look toward Prince Ling’s carriage.
The carriage had been stopped by the Imperial Guards, and someone had climbed inside to search it thoroughly.
The coachman had been dragged down and was now held at knifepoint.
Duoduo’s expression turned solemn.
It seemed the situation was even more serious than she had imagined.
“Let’s go!”
Duoduo grabbed Lüdou and, keeping low, moved carefully along the roof ridge.
At first, Lüdou was extremely nervous, terrified that her foot might slip and send her tumbling down.
But after following Duoduo across several rooftops, she gradually grew bolder.
“Princess, is this the legendary art of running across rooftops and scaling walls?”
Lüdou’s face was filled with excitement.
The two of them looked just like the wandering heroes described in storybooks!
Duoduo cautiously watched the situation below while stealing a glance at Lüdou.
“Now do you understand the benefits of practicing martial arts?”
Lüdou nodded enthusiastically, then realized Duoduo might not be able to see her.
“Princess, our carriage has been stopped. What should we do?”
Lüdou had spotted the carriage from Prince Ling’s manor surrounded by guards.
Duoduo quickly glanced in its direction.
Ever since the first time something had happened to her, her father had ordered people to modify her carriage.
At first glance, it looked completely ordinary.
But anyone who examined it closely would immediately notice that something was unusual.
Prince Ling had lost both his son and daughter. Naturally, he wouldn’t overlook the slightest anomaly.
“Lüdou, didn’t you just say that we can run across rooftops and scale walls?” Duoduo replied with a sly smile.
Lüdou’s eyes lit up.
“Princess, do you mean we should return from above?”
Duoduo nodded and crouched lower.
Duoduo and Lüdou leaped from roof to roof like two enormous rats.
From their high vantage point, they had a clear view of everything happening below.
“Oh no! There’s no way forward.”
In the bustling part of the city, the houses stood close together, so the two of them had been able to move along easily.
But as they reached the edge of the busy district, the gaps between the buildings grew wider.
Now there was no path at all.
Duoduo and Lüdou lay flat on the roof, watching the Imperial Guards patrol back and forth below.
“What do we do?” Lüdou whispered into Duoduo’s ear.
Duoduo gently shook her head. “Wait.”
Lüdou opened her mouth. She really wanted to ask what they were waiting for.
But when she saw the grim expression on Duoduo’s face, she ultimately kept quiet.
She was older than Duoduo. She should have been the one coming up with a solution.
With that thought, Lüdou looked at the Imperial Guards below and came up with an idea.
“Princess, I’ll go down and draw them away.”
“You’re faster than me. When the opportunity comes, you can use it to get away!”
As she spoke, Lüdou prepared to rise.
“Not yet!”
Duoduo hurriedly pushed Lüdou’s head back down.
At that moment, one of the Imperial Guards below swept his gaze rapidly across the place where Duoduo and Lüdou were hiding.
Huh?
Could he have seen something?
Only after a long while did Duoduo cautiously raise her head a little and look down.
There were more and more Imperial Guards below.
Many of them kicked open the doors of ordinary citizens’ homes and barged inside to search.
Whenever anyone resisted, they slit their throats without hesitation.
For a time, the cries of children, the screams of women, and the barking of dogs rang out without end.
This wasn’t a search for someone.
It was a home invasion and a robbery!
Duoduo clenched her fists in secret.
If she had known this would happen, she would have had Shitou tie up the siblings Xiao Yun'an and Xiao Yun'an’s sister.
Now, it was the innocent common people who were suffering in the end.
Duoduo looked toward Prince Pingyang’s manor.
That was her home!
Her family was there, waiting for her to return!
Suddenly, Duoduo saw a faint wisp of smoke rising above Prince Pingyang’s manor.
Duoduo froze.
But the next second, she understood.
Prince Pingyang’s manor had come under attack.
Duoduo quickly surveyed the residences of several other imperial uncles.
She had marked these places on her map countless times before and knew them by heart.
Sure enough, the other residences were also in turmoil.
“Come on, Lüdou. Let’s go find the Teacher!” Duoduo’s gaze accidentally fell on a certain rooftop.
That was the location of Xiao Yi’s antique shop.
Lüdou nodded.
The two of them carefully backed away, then crawled cautiously along the roof ridge.
There were too many Imperial Guards below. They could no longer move as freely as they had before.
Several times, Duoduo and Lüdou nearly exposed themselves to the guards below.
Fortunately, both of them were slender. Lying flat along the roof ridge made them difficult to see from the ground.
After finally passing through the area with the greatest concentration of Imperial Guards, Duoduo grabbed Lüdou’s hand and ran swiftly across the rooftops.
Inside the antique shop, Li Jin wore a broad smile as he pressed a heavy purse into the hands of the commander before him.
“Officer, this is just a little tea money for all your hard work!”
“It’s terribly hot today, and you still have to protect our safety. You must be exhausted!”
“Oh, we also have some watermelon here to help you beat the heat.”
“Someone, bring the watermelons over so the officers can refresh themselves!”
The Imperial Guard slipped the purse into his sleeve without hesitation.
His gaze swept across the various pieces of jade displayed around the shop.
A greedy look appeared on his face.
However, he knew that the owner behind a shop like this was certainly no ordinary person.
He was somewhat reluctant to leave, but when he heard Li Jin order someone to bring out watermelon, he felt a little more satisfied.
Just then, his men returned from searching the shop and reported that no one was inside.
“Take them away!” he ordered, gesturing for his men to carry off the watermelons.
Li Jin bent at the waist and respectfully escorted the Imperial Guards out.
After watching them proceed to the next shop, Li Jin secretly wiped the sweat from his forehead.
He quickly closed the shop doors.
It seemed there would be no way to do business today.
But what had happened? Why was the entire city being searched?
Li Jin turned back inside and instructed the shop assistants and craftsmen to go home early.
He also changed his clothes, preparing to leave.
Just then, he suddenly heard a loud thud from the back courtyard.
Li Jin pricked up his ears. A moment later, he heard another sound.
This was bad. Someone was in the back courtyard!
Li Jin quietly drew a sword from beneath the counter and advanced cautiously toward the back courtyard.
