On the carriage heading to Nocturnal Heaven City, Ying Rushi flipped through her notes, ensuring no information was missed.
After Yellow Dog solved the problem of opening the gold vault, the thieves' plan had only one hurdle left: shutting the temple doors.
No one could offer a solid plan for this.
An Guo Temple was huge, with more than one exit, and importantly, it had a second and even a third floor. Even if the four of them immediately controlled the large main entrance, the monks inside An Guo Temple would definitely know to escape from the side or back doors, or jump directly from the second floor.
So should they secure all the exits first?
Leaving aside the fact that there are only four of them, making manpower extremely tight, the larger issue is that the main hall of An Guo Temple is also not small. The time taken to shut the hall doors and regroup at the vault would be significant.
If Yellow Dog's method proves feasible, the four of them must cooperate in the vault, unable to divide their actions.
However, with four days still to go, 'Black Wolf' suggested they end the meeting for today and think over the 'closing the temple doors' task. They would regroup at the Thief's House tomorrow at the usual time to continue discussions.
Ying Rushi understood in her heart that Black Wolf and Red Snake were surely verifying the method provided by 'Yellow Dog' right now.
They probably don't believe that such mundane tools paired with an undemanding technique could achieve destruction far beyond the reach of the third-turn or even fourth-turn tokens. But before proving it, they have nothing to refute, so they simply suspended the meeting, intending to use the verification results to put 'Yellow Dog' in his place tomorrow.
They all wanted to suppress 'Yellow Dog's' arrogance.
Yes, even though Black Wolf chaired the meeting and Red Snake often participated in discussions, the truly dominant figure this time was the reticent 'Yellow Dog.'
The others were clueless about the Thief's House, but he knew how to manipulate the sandbox;
Among the three big challenges, he solved the most troublesome 'opening the gold vault.'
No one could refute his plans; when he spoke, everyone listened. If this continued, he could easily seize leadership of this four-person team.
As Black Wolf, who had attempted to vie for leadership from the start, realized that continuing on this path would reduce him to a subordinate, he decisively suspended the meeting.
If Black Wolf desired to prove Yellow Dog's method infeasible, she might be disappointed, Ying Rushi thought.
Though it hadn't been verified yet, Ying Rushi was confident Yellow Dog wouldn't speak thoughtlessly. This confidence came from her observations of Yellow Dog and also from... that White Iron Straight Saber.
The straight saber Yan San used to slay Wuwan Liu was nowhere to be found after his death.
Clearly, this new token had never appeared in "Token Records," yet it showed up in Yellow Dog's hands.
Ying Rushi found it difficult not to associate Yan San with Yellow Dog, even suspecting the saber in Yellow Dog's hand was indeed Yan San's.
Before leaving Ping City, she specially asked Baibao who entered the Secret Realm today, confirming Yan San hadn't taken a straight saber before entering the realm, and didn't use one while fighting the Demon King.
Some suggested the straight saber resembled the Demon King's weapon, but today the two sabers the Demon King dropped were both in the loot and lacked token effects.
It was as if Yan San borrowed the White Iron Straight Saber from someone before the killing and automatically returned it after.
It was as if there was someone behind the curtain who coldly observed the world, occasionally dropping a pawn to change some people's fate.
As if...
"Yellow Dog..."
Ying Rushi pondered this codename, burying these baseless suspicions deep in her heart.
For some reason, she started to look forward to the heist action four days later.
...
...
"Miss, all the wooden cabinet doors are pulled out, how impressive!"
Wuqiu was very excited, and the other three maids felt similarly. They were ordinary people, so even though they often worked laboriously, they weren't very strong. Yet the four broken wooden cabinets in front of them were their handiwork—turns out we can be this strong!
However, Pharmacist's Wish's face didn't look good.
"Go buy four iron cabinets and try again," she instructed.
At this moment, a servant came to report that the Duke had finally finished his official duties and had time to see her. Pharmacist's Wish immediately rushed to Changqiu Studio, closed the door, and said, "Father, we can now deploy ambush forces on Vermilion Bird Avenue. Once we descend, you can capture those three thieves!"
Whew.
Yao Shi Moke put down his long water pipe, exhaling pale smoke. He was silent for a long time, until Pharmacist's Wish grew somewhat impatient, then slowly said, "Compared to Bingzi Pepper Forest, the Thief's House is more important, and so are you. Instead of making a big fuss over Bingzi Pepper Forest, it's better if you steal it, and once you've mastered the Thief's House, you can return it later."
Pharmacist's Wish was stunned.
"Of course, I won't condone you stealing Bingzi Pepper Forest. If you provoke trouble, I can only ensure your safety. You'll have to rely on yourselves for stealing Bingzi Pepper Forest."
"Father," Pharmacist's Wish said word by word, "I don't understand."
Yao Shi Moke stood up, pacing back and forth in the room.
He hesitated for a long time, but eventually sat back down, took a deep puff of the water pipe, and sighed: "Wish, I won't hide it from you. I have many enemies in the court. The moment they get a chance, they want to deceive the Emperor and try to frame me... Bingzi Pepper Forest is the Ancestral Sword. Once it reappears, these arrogant ones might unite against me."
Arrogant?
Clearly loyal, right?
"Father, you have so many enemies because you're nepotistic and exclude dissidents," Pharmacist's Wish said. "Father, you think Bingzi Pepper Forest will remind many loyal ministers of the Ancestral and Imperial Family's grace, so you'd rather we steal it to undermine the Imperial Family's prestige!"
"Insolent!" Yao Shi Moke slammed the water pipe, smashing it, and glared angrily at Pharmacist's Wish: "Is that how you talk to your father!? Who do you think you are, the Emperor?"
"For the sake of monopolizing power, anything can be a bargaining chip."
Pharmacist's Wish waved away the smoke before her, shaking her head: "Father, you'll regret it."
"The Chang'an Twenty-four Mansions rest on my shoulders; it's not your place to decide state affairs," Yao Shi Moke coldly said: "Wish, I am the Grand Minister of the Imperial Secretariat!"
...
...
Jiangnan City, Shang Mansion.
"Back?" Shang Qia eagerly came to find his sister, "Are you okay?"
Then he saw Shang Xinlei sitting there eating osmanthus cake one bite after another, looking not only unharmed but also with a great appetite.
"What did you talk about in the Thief's House? How are you planning to steal Bingzi Pepper Forest?"
"Hmm..." Shang Xinlei tried to recall: "The sandbox in the Thief's House can enlarge and shrink, it's really fun."
"And what else?"
"And... Black Wolf is a bit presumptuous, always wanting to boss us around, but she was too obvious, it just comes off as clumsy. In contrast, White Fox is much more tactful, but strangely, she was super, super, super attentive to Yellow Dog today, but it seems Yellow Dog doesn't know her, could she have discovered Yellow Dog's real identity?"
"The most amusing one is Yellow Dog. He thought he was disguising himself well, yet he always drooled when looking at me!"
"What!" Shang Qia shot up: "He drooled looking at you?!"
"Yes, especially when I was eating osmanthus cake and licking the sticky rice flour off my fingers, I even saw him swallow!" Shang Xinlei giggled: "Even though he was wearing a mask, I could read his expression—he was definitely hoping I would share the pastries with him. Humph, unless he begs me, I won't give him any!"
"So he was drooling over pastries..." Shang Qia slowly sat back down, "And your theft plan?"
"Oh? They'll figure out the theft plan, I just need to go with them." Shang Xinlei rested her chin on her hands and said: "All in all, they are an interesting bunch. I'm already looking forward to the day when we all go to Chang'an."
Shang Qia felt it was odd.
The Thief's House should be a perilous secret realm where a group of thief kings scheme and compete for treasures. So how in his sister's words did it turn into a private gathering where friends discuss travel plans?
They're there to seek the secret realm or treasure, sister, what exactly are you going for?