Chapter 190: Chapter 189: ’Yin Yin Yin’ is Qing Lan
"They teamed up with the white-haired assassin and ambushed Lan Yan!"
That afternoon, at the front gate stone street, in the "Luan Ji Ba’s Storystand," Leyu and Qing Lan sat below, snacking while listening to the storyteller.
"White Night is full of losers!" Qing Lan grumbled, "They could kill the governor, so how come they can’t take out just one little Lan Yan? And the white-haired assassin was helping them too!"
"Yeah, exactly, White Night’s just a bunch of losers," Leyu chimed in.
The rumor that the Heyang Army had gotten beaten up and the Linhai Army was watching for an opportunity had spread all across Xuanzhu County, leaving the common folks anxious and uneasy.
Even though Heyang Army wasn’t so great, it was still the army that protected Dongyang, at least it wouldn’t invade Xuanzhu County. But now, with Linhai Army trampling them, of course everyone feared Linhai would ravage Xuanzhu. After all, the Heyang Army at worst wanted money, but a foreign army could rob and kill!
Entertainment also had to follow the trends, so suddenly everyone gossiped about Chenfeng and the Linhai Army, and the man in front, this storyteller, certainly knew how to ride the wave, choosing to tell the story of the night White Night took Star Engraving County.
It had been two months already; even though Star Engraving County locked down the news, White Night survivors spread word themselves, clearing the names of the undercover agents, letting the world know there was a group silently striving to overthrow the glorious Imperial Court.
The storyteller, Luan Ji Ba, said, "...There was a sudden flash of swords and blades, Lan Yan effortlessly dodged back and released a wave of light to dissolve their attack, then struck down the white-haired assassin with his palm. In that moment his subordinate, Qian Yuliu, suddenly drew her sword to stab him from behind, but she couldn’t pierce his Victory Armor at all and was flung away with a slap..."
"I don’t use swords, and Lan Yan doesn’t use palm techniques!"
"Adaptation isn’t random invention, playful stories aren’t wild lies—get on your knees and apologize to me and Qian Yuliu!"
Leyu listened to the retelling of the White Night story, feeling nothing but embarrassed and confused. But everyone else in the crowd clearly felt differently, letting out sighs—"so close to success," "what a shame about White Night," "go White Night big brother!"...
Even Qing Lan got excited, "White Night always falls short at the key moment!"
"Well, I guess you got that much right..." Bored as hell, Leyu studied the development of Qing Lan’s hand, waist, and leg muscles, until she blushed madly. "Stop touching!"
"Relax, I’m being careful, nobody can see us."
"But I don’t want to go home so early yet." Qing Lan twisted shyly.
"Huh? What’s that got to do with going home?"
Leyu blinked at her, staring into Qing Lan’s soft, watery eyes, that delicate face practically squeezing out juice, and suddenly he understood. He quietly returned to sipping on his goji flower tea.
But listening to someone else mangle the White Night story was just too dull; Leyu even wanted to jump up and say, "Let me tell it."
But after thinking it over, Leyu just felt weird—he had always done exactly what he wanted before, but now he even had to watch Qing Lan’s mood? Right now, he was the notorious Jing Zhengwei; Qing Lan should be trembling behind him too scared to say a word!
Leyu glanced over at Qing Lan, finding her listening intently to the part where Qian Yuliu, the traitor, got thrashed by Lan Yan, munching on coconut crisps and shrimp sticks. Noticing Leyu watching her, she fed him a shrimp stick, sucking the crumbs off her finger at the end—really cute.
Never mind, just keep drinking tea.
Bored out of his mind, Leyu let his eyes wander, when suddenly he spotted a familiar silhouette standing up, heading out of the storystand.
It was Wen Hong!
The female Medical Officer from White Night!
"She was here the whole time? How did I not see her!?"
"Did she see me? Did she recognize me?"
But then Leyu thought, she didn’t know he was "Yin Yin Yin," so it wasn’t even weird to run into her here. Why should he be nervous!
But as Leyu looked over at Wen Hong’s seat, he noticed a conspicuous red mark on the black-gray wall beside it!
This mark...was the signal for "Yin Yin Yin" to contact White Night!
Next to the mark was a stray looking scrawl, but this meant a route map!
"Leyu felt like he was sinking into a bottomless pit."
"She recognized me!"
"She realized Jing Zhengwei is actually ’Yin Yin Yin’!"
"She wants to meet me!"
"I’m so screwed!"
"I’m really gonna get iron-wolfed this time!"
"Leyu could never have imagined that just coming out shopping with Qing Lan would end up exposing his own identity."
"This is all Qing Lan’s fault!"
"Open your mouth."
"Ah~"
Munching shrimp sticks and sipping flower tea, Leyu mulled it over and felt like there was no point running—he could only go and meet Wen Hong.
"Even though Leyu actually didn’t mind White Night finding out his true identity, this step totally wasn’t part of his plan. Leyu had no idea what direction his relationship with White Night was about to take, so he could only just wing it."
Leyu stood up and said, "I’m going to go buy some oranges. Stay here and don’t go wandering off."
Qing Lan shot Leyu a weird look, "That’s not how you usually talk. Are you trying to insult me in a roundabout way?"
Leyu was startled, "How can you doubt me like that, would I sneak around insulting you?"
"You would." Qing Lan giggled, "Now you’re my man, don’t think you can con me anymore."
"So what, the Combat Technique your Xiangxue Sea crew taught you—can that technique steal my heart too?"
Before Qing Lan could figure out the dirty joke in that, Leyu glanced over at Mi Die, who signaled she understood.
He followed the marks, weaving left and right through the stone street, and soon spotted Wen Hong waiting in a deserted alley. He thought it over, then just climbed over a wall to the other side, keeping a wall between them, and knocked on it.
"Even if he was about to get exposed, Leyu still didn’t want to face White Night directly, not yet."
"He just wasn’t ready for this."
Wen Hong heard the knocking on the wall behind her and immediately asked, "Yin Yin Yin, is that you?"
"No, nope, not me."
"Leyu was figuring out how to explain the real relationship between ’Yin Yin Yin’ and Jing Zhengwei when Wen Hong continued," "You showing up like this, is that really safe? Hasn’t Jing Zhengwei started to suspect you?"
Huh?
Leyu made a strange face.
Wen Hong said angrily, "I saw Jing Zhengwei grabbing at you back there—I almost couldn’t hold back from rushing in to save you! I left the signal for you because I wanted to ask if you wanted to leave the Jing family. White Night will take you in and protect you, you don’t have to put yourself through this!"
"At this point, Leyu had a wild guess. He used his joint-force Combat Technique to tweak his voice into Qing Lan’s tone," "You... already know the real identity of ’Yin Yin Yin’?"
"You’re still going to keep hiding it now?" Wen Hong shook her head, voice full of sorrow, "We actually figured out long ago that ’Yin Yin Yin’ is someone close to Jing Zhengwei, someone with power over the newspaper, leaking all those secrets."
"And she has to know for sure that ’Yin Yin Yin’ has died, or say, she has to personally witness that death."
"So the only possibility for ’Yin Yin Yin,’ is you."
"Isn’t that right, Qing Lan?"
Leyu leaned against the wall, staying silent, turning over all the new information Wen Hong had let slip.
After a long moment, he finally replied,
"Yes, ’Yin Yin Yin’ is Qing Lan."