Love Under the Distant Stars

Chapter 31

"Did you remember what I told you yesterday?" Seeing her relaxed demeanor, Ouyang Tianyu became somewhat nervous. After all, being an undercover agent was no easy task; accidentally exposing one's identity could lead to death. Shen Jie was new here and unfamiliar with everything. If anything went wrong, he… he really didn't want to imagine what would happen.

“I remember, I remember. From now on, my name is Li Lian’er, I am sixteen years old, I am from Li Family Village, my parents are dead, and I was almost sold into a brothel…” Shen Jie repeated Ouyang Tianyu’s words from yesterday without missing a single one. It’s just going to be an undercover agent, is it necessary to be so nervous?

"How about we cancel this plan and think of another way?" Leng Yixuan suggested from the side. He had opposed Shen Jie going to Lei Family Fort as an undercover agent from the beginning, believing that she was not up to the task of such a dangerous mission. Later, when Shen Jie revealed her true identity, he was very surprised, but he still believed her. Shen Jie once asked him why he believed her so easily, and his answer was: because Tian Yu believed it, so he believed it too. Even so, he was still worried about her going into the danger zone alone.

"Please! It would be such a waste to give up such a good opportunity! Besides, this isn't my first time going undercover, so don't worry about me." Shen Jie was very touched by their concern, but she would not give up this mission, absolutely not!

"Then you must be careful. Don't force yourself to do things you can't do. If your identity is exposed, you must find a way to get out of here no matter what, understand?" Ouyang Tianyu knew that Shen Jie would not give up because this matter was dangerous, and this was all he could do now.

"I understand," Shen Jie replied. Why did she feel that the two young masters in front of her were even more nervous than she was?

"It's getting late, we should go," Leng Yixuan reminded him.

"Okay, let's go," Shen Jie said, picking up a coat she had worn a few days ago and draping it over her shoulders to cover her tattered clothes. She grabbed a bundle from the table and left the restaurant with Ouyang Tianyu.

They arrived at a secluded spot near Lei Family Fort. Ouyang Tianyu gazed intently at Shen Jie and said, "I can only take you this far. Walk this way in a bit, and Lei Family Fort will be just around the corner. Be careful and stay safe, okay?" He added again.

"Okay!" Shen Jie nodded, took off the coat she was wearing and handed it to Ouyang Tianyu, then turned and left. "I'm leaving now!"

“Shen Jie…” Ouyang Tianyu called out to her.

Shen Jie turned around and asked him with her eyes what was wrong.

"Never mind, let's talk about it when you get back." Ouyang Tianyu sighed. He wasn't sure what his feelings for her were yet; he needed to think it over carefully...

Shen Jie successfully entered Lei Family Fort as a maid. She was assigned to clean several courtyards. Perhaps because she was new, her workload was particularly heavy. Every day, she had to run back and forth between several courtyards, and she and another young girl were responsible for cleaning about ten rooms. Good heavens! Was this some kind of physical training for her?

"Xiaomin, let me help you." Shen Jie saw Xiaomin, who worked with her, struggling to carry a large bucket of water towards her, and quickly went over to help her.

"Sister Lian'er, thank you!" Xiao Min said gratefully.

"You're welcome." Shen Jie deftly carried the bucket into the house and got busy with Xiao Min. This was the last house they cleaned today. The sooner they finished, the sooner they could go home and "take care of business."

"Xiaomin, why did you come to Lei Family Fort to work as a maid?"

"Xiaomin's family was poor and couldn't afford to send her younger brother to school, so my father sold me to Leijiabao to be a maid." Xiaomin said it calmly, without any resentment towards her miserable fate, as if she felt that selling her to support her brother's education was a matter of course.

Shen Jie glanced back at her but didn't say anything. She knew that in this patriarchal society, women's fates were decided the moment they were born, and even if they were unwilling, they had no power to change anything.

"I heard that the second young lady is getting married?" Shen Jie changed the subject, thinking to herself that when she left this place, she must take her with her. She knew that freedom was something everyone longed for, and the young girl in front of her would be no exception.

“That’s right!” Xiaomin smiled at Shen Jie. “The new son-in-law is Ouyang Tianyun, the eldest son of Green Jade Manor. The wedding date is set for the seventh day of next month.”

This is just a man's nature—he can't stand being alone! Shen Jie sneered inwardly.

"I've also heard that the Second Miss is as beautiful as a fairy. Have you seen her?" Like Su Yuyin?

Xiaomin nodded: "I've seen her. A year ago, when the Lord of the Fortress brought the Second Miss back, I hid behind a pillar and secretly watched her. The Second Miss's beauty is truly rare in this world. No wonder Young Master Ouyang fell in love with her at first sight!"

Wait a minute! "Doesn't the Second Miss usually live in the fort? Why haven't I seen her in all these days?" She felt something was off. She had been in Lei Family Fort for over twenty days and had seen almost everyone who lived there, except for Lei Shuangxue.

“The Second Miss lives in the West Garden and doesn’t come out much, so of course my sister hasn’t seen her,” Xiaomin explained to her. Then she nervously looked around and, after making sure no one was there, lowered her voice and said to Shen Jie, “I heard that the Second Miss was born outside the Fortress and was only brought back to Lei Family Fortress a year ago. She was arranged to live in the West Garden. The First Madam and the other young ladies don’t like her. Sometimes they even bring people to make a scene in the West Garden. That’s why the Fortress Master ordered that no one is allowed to enter the West Garden without permission. Anyone who disobeys will not be let off lightly. Since then, the West Garden has become a forbidden area, and the Second Miss rarely leaves the West Garden.”

"I see!" Shen Jie said to herself. Is that so?

"Sister Lian'er, Sister Lian'er, what's wrong?" Xiaomin saw Shen Jie was in a daze, so she reached out and nudged her.

"It's nothing." Shen Jie snapped out of her reverie and smiled at Xiao Min. She continued working, her mind racing with plans to investigate that evening. Lei Family Fortress was truly strange. In the past twenty days, she hadn't been able to find any clues related to the official silver, making her almost doubt whether her investigative abilities had declined. Normally, this time would have been enough for her to uncover the entire case.

As night fell, while everyone else slept soundly, Shen Jie tiptoed out of bed and left the house. She decided to first check out the West Garden; perhaps she'd find something unexpected. As she walked through the garden behind the main house, two voices emanating from the house caught her attention. Shen Jie recognized the aged voice—it belonged to Lei Batian, the lord of Lei Family Fortress—and the younger voice belonged to Lei Batian's adopted son, Lei Jun…

"Father, what brings you here?"

"Has the matter of that government silver been clarified?"

"We've found out that it was the government that colluded with the people from the Demon Palace to do it, and then framed our Lei Family Fortress."

"Very good, from now on you don't need to worry about this matter. I have a new task for you."

"Please give your orders, Godfather!"

"You should know very well why Shuangxue is marrying into Green Jade Manor on the seventh of next month, right?"

"yes!"

"I need you to secretly assist her so that she can get what I want as soon as possible. Then I can dominate the entire martial arts world, hahaha..."

"Yes, I will do my best to help my godfather become the leader of the martial arts world as soon as possible."

"Alright, you can go and rest now."

"Yes, I take my leave!"

Watching the two leave without noticing the third person nearby, Shen Jie abandoned her original plan and returned to her room. What was going on? No wonder she hadn't been able to find out anything after so many days here; it turned out they hadn't done anything at all. How did Leng Yixuan even investigate cases? He had enslaved her here for over twenty days. But it wasn't all for nothing; at least she had a good haul tonight. But what did the Ouyang family possess that could make Lei Batian the leader of the martial arts alliance? If they really had such a thing, why didn't Ouyang Tianyun become the leader of the martial arts alliance with his martial arts skills?

Unable to contact Ouyang Tianyu and the others, she had to solve everything on her own. Therefore, she decided to find a way to infiltrate the dowry procession that day and accompany Miss Lei to Green Jade Manor, since that was the "main battlefield." There was no need for her to stay here any longer…

Chapter Nineteen

As luck would have it, just as Shen Jie was pondering how to sneak into the dowry procession, one of the two maids who had originally been "selected" had gone to a funeral because someone in her family had died, and the other had contracted pneumonia and was unable to go. This was a perfect opportunity for Shen Jie, so she immediately pulled Xiao Min aside and volunteered to talk to the head steward. Perhaps because of the sudden shortage of people, the head steward quickly agreed to let them replace the two maids who could not go.

The matter of being part of the dowry has been successfully resolved. Now, what troubles Shen Jie is how to inform Ouyang Tianyu, lest she find herself already at his house while he foolishly waits there. Sigh... what to do? She is now a maidservant at Lei Family Fort and cannot openly leave the fort to "meet" with Ouyang Tianyu. If they are discovered, all her efforts will be in vain.

Sigh! The Song Dynasty was the Song Dynasty after all. They didn't even have any communication devices. If this were the 21st century, a simple phone call would solve everything. Why would she need to rack her brains like this? So troublesome! Shen Jie complained inwardly as she unconsciously wiped the table with a rag.

"Sister Lian'er, is something on your mind?" Xiao Min waved her little hand in front of Shen Jie's eyes. What's going on? Sister Lian'er has already wiped the same table back and forth more than ten times.