"What's the next step?" Mu Anxiao muttered, slowly turning to look at Feng Qishi, who was eagerly awaiting her reply. "Proceed as planned."
"Don't you not trust me?" Feng Qishi teased Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao knew that if the dirty-faced thief didn't show up, Feng Qishi would surely use words like this to 'provoke' her. As expected, he did. Similarly, Mu Anxiao had a comeback in that instant, "This has nothing to do with trust or not."
"Silly Mu..."
"Our time has already been delayed by that guy. If we waste any more time, it'll be dawn," Mu Anxiao couldn't be bothered to banter with Feng Qishi any longer.
Feng Qishi thought Mu Anxiao made sense, so he paused and retracted his retort, "Follow me." Saying this, he looked left and right, then turned his back.
Mu Anxiao was confused, "What are you going to do?"
"Follow me, less nonsense." With that, Feng Qishi walked deeper into the alley.
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao immediately stopped asking unnecessary questions. Just as she was about to step forward, a gust of wind suddenly blew. She and Feng Qishi stopped simultaneously, turned around, and looked behind them. "..." They remained silent.
Immediately after, a black figure appeared at the mouth of the alley.
"I'm late," the person said breathlessly.
"You are..." Mu Anxiao found the person's voice familiar. After a few seconds of hesitation, she realized, "It's you." Having said that, she clearly saw that the person was the dirty-faced man.
The next second, the dirty-faced man began to approach them gracefully. "It's me."
"Why are you so late?" Mu Anxiao was a little annoyed and was about to step forward.
Seeing this, Feng Qishi casually grabbed Mu Anxiao's arm. "..." He was looking sternly at the dirty-faced man over there.
"..." Mu Anxiao's body stiffened. She helplessly retracted her gaze, which was fixed on the dirty-faced man, and turned to look at Feng Qishi.
At that moment, the dirty-faced man had stopped in front of Mu Anxiao. Then, like Mu Anxiao, he shifted his gaze to Feng Qishi's face. "You look very nervous." He could see Feng Qishi's face clearly in the lantern light from the back door.
Mu Anxiao frowned tightly.
"Why are you so late?" Feng Qishi asked, pulling Mu Anxiao protectively behind him.
Mu Anxiao's body stiffened, and she tilted her head to stare at the back of Feng Qishi's head.
"The streets tonight are also strange. Midway, thick fog suddenly rose. I was worried I might get lost, so I stood still all the way..."
"Why didn't we see it?" Feng Qishi interrupted, his suspicion towards the dirty-faced man piqued.
Seeing Feng Qishi like this, the dirty-faced man could only smile wryly, "On that road over there, the fog hasn't cleared yet. If you don't believe me, I'll take you to see it." He tried to turn.
"No," Feng Qishi refused outright.
"Don't you not trust me?" the dirty-faced man said with a wronged expression.
Feng Qishi was momentarily speechless seeing the dirty-faced man like this. He said, "Your appearance is too suspicious. Also," he said, noticing that the dirty-faced man was wearing completely different clothes than before, and frowned, "When did you change your clothes?"
"Just now," the dirty-faced man said, looking down at his clothes.
"When was 'just now'?" Feng Qishi retorted.
"It was after she threatened me," the dirty-faced man said, pointing at Mu Anxiao, who was peeking at him. "I changed my clothes."
"Why did you change?" Feng Qishi pressed.
Mu Anxiao knew that Feng Qishi was very vigilant, but now, as time was ticking away, if this continued, all their time would be wasted. Unable to help herself, in order to find the coachman as soon as possible, her nerves tightened, and she casually grabbed Feng Qishi's arm, "It's good enough that he could come. It's not good to question him like this."
Hearing this, Feng Qishi's expression stiffened, and he turned his gaze directly to Mu Anxiao's face. "What do you mean?"
"It takes time for him to change clothes, and it takes time to break through the fog. Calculating the normal time," Mu Anxiao said seriously, "The time is sufficient."
"You believe him," Feng Qishi frowned.
Mu Anxiao nodded slightly. "I believe him. I'm already very happy that he could come."
"You still don't trust me." Feng Qishi thought of the tunnel incident, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
"I didn't."
"If you trust him, it means you don't trust me." Feng Qishi didn't know what was wrong with him. In any case, there were some things he just wanted to say; if he didn't, he felt uncomfortable.
"I didn't," Mu Anxiao stated firmly. She was finally pushed to her limit by Feng Qishi.
Feng Qishi: "If not, then let him..."
"I won't let him leave," Mu Anxiao interrupted, guessing Feng Qishi's next words.
Feng Qishi was speechless when he heard this.
Subsequently, the dirty-faced man glanced at Feng Qishi, who clearly refused and didn't trust him, and said, "He can protect you like that, which shows you are very good friends. Since," he met Mu Anxiao's eyes with a look of helplessness, "he doesn't trust me, I won't do it."
"You..."
"I know the General's Mansion better than anyone. Moreover, I am a person with a stain," the dirty-faced man said, glancing at Feng Qishi, and continued, "I can understand why this brother doesn't trust me."
"This is not for you to decide," Mu Anxiao said abruptly.
The dirty-faced man gave a bitter smile. "I know it's not for me to decide. I..."
"Actually, the person the General wants is someone with your experience," Mu Anxiao interrupted.
The dirty-faced man: "..." He was so scared he froze.
At the same time, Feng Qishi also completely shifted his gaze to Mu Anxiao's face. "..." As the real general, he was speechless at Mu Anxiao's words.
Mu Anxiao knew they would react like this, so she continued to speak nonsense with a serious face, "I asked you to come here, actually, for a reason." As she spoke, her eyes lit up, she let go of Feng Qishi's arm, and took a step forward.
This time, Feng Qishi did not stop Mu Anxiao. Instead, he was startled by her words and her actions.
The dirty-faced man: "What do you mean?" He didn't understand Mu Anxiao's intentions for a moment.
"Let's do the mission," Mu Anxiao said, suddenly turning her head to fix her gaze on Feng Qishi's face.
Feng Qishi didn't understand Mu Anxiao's meaning and was stunned.
Conversely, Mu Anxiao was completely unfazed by Feng Qishi's demeanor and said, "Give me the coachman's portrait." She extended her hand.
"What?" Feng Qishi was truly quite startled by Mu Anxiao's sudden move.
"I said, give me the portrait the General gave you. I want to test him." Mu Anxiao knew that Feng Qishi must have brought the coachman's portrait, so she became resolute.