"Fourth Sister, after hearing what you said, that young man surnamed Han truly does have some ability!" Second Madam Li lightly frowned as she spoke.
"Putting everything else aside, his mental fortitude is far stronger than that impostor last time. I recall that young master surnamed Wu, after seeing me once, was completely bewitched by my Heavenly Fox Art for an entire day before recovering. But this Han fellow—he was only briefly disoriented at the beginning before immediately regaining clarity. His spiritual will is extraordinary, certainly no ordinary person!" Third Madam hesitated for a moment, then sighed and finally spoke her true thoughts.
As these words fell, the three women fell silent, each lost in thought, as though there were things none of them wished to voice aloud.
After a while, Yan Shi forced a bitter smile and finally took the initiative to speak first. "With such a formidable person, who knows whether this means fortune or calamity for our Mo Residence?"
"Let us retrieve the hidden letter, and we shall see everything clearly!" Before Yan Shi's voice had faded, the cold and beautiful Fifth Madam's voice drifted in from outside the room, and she slowly walked in.
"I have already inspected the surroundings. Within two hundred meters, there is not a single outsider, and the guard posts have been doubled!" Fifth Madam said, her expression blank.
Yan Shi lowered her head in thought for a moment before finally speaking.
"You all must remember what the Master said before he departed. After he left, if the letter he sent through someone was an open letter with no hidden message, it would mean he was safe and sound—we could rest easy. If the letter indicated that a hidden message was concealed within, then nine times out of ten, bad news would follow, and we should prepare ourselves mentally. As for this letter..."
"We all saw it. The letter does indeed indicate that a hidden message is concealed within. Whether it is good news or terrible tidings, this is something we must face sooner or later. We might as well retrieve the true letter and see for ourselves," Third Madam said, her voice no longer seductive but filled instead with pain.
"Very well! Since everyone has steeled themselves, let us reveal the hidden message!" Yan Shi said decisively.
She hesitated no longer, gently lifting a teacup from the nearby table and pouring half a cup of cold water into it from the kettle. She then twisted the dragon-shaped ring on her finger several times, splitting it in two to reveal the white powder concealed within its hidden compartment.
Yan Shi carefully poured the powder into the teacup, then turned her gaze to the others.
Under Yan Shi's watchful eye, Second Madam Li was the first to rise from her seat.
She walked gracefully to the table and, with a slight gesture, revealed an identical ring on her pale, slender finger.
From her own ring, Li also extracted a considerable amount of powder and poured it into the teacup. However, her powder was red in color, noticeably different from Yan Shi's.
Next came Third Madam and Fifth Madam in succession, each performing the same action. They, too, wore identical dragon-shaped rings, the powders within them yellow and black respectively.
Once everyone had completed their part, Yan Shi picked up the teacup and gently swirled it. The multicolored liquid within gradually became clear and transparent in the soft motion.
"There—the revealing solution is now prepared. Second Sister, you are the most skilled and nimble! It would be best for you to apply this solution to the letter," Yan Shi said deferentially to Second Madam Li.
Upon hearing Yan Shi's words, Li smiled faintly, offered no refusal, and took both the solution and the letter, bending her head to begin her work.
In the time that followed, aside from Li applying the solution to the letter, the others remained silent, causing the atmosphere in the room to grow ever more tense.
"It is finished. I have coated the entire letter. Next, Fifth Sister, I shall need your help—please dry it with your internal energy," Li straightened up, dabbing the sheen of perspiration from her brow, and said to Fifth Madam with a smile.
Cold and beautiful Fifth Madam nodded and deftly took the now-saturated letter.
She then extended her other hand, channeling a faint warmth into her palm, and held the letter two or three inches above her palm without moving, slowly drying it in this manner.
Before long, the letter was completely dry. The black ink upon it had vanished entirely, replaced by faint crimson characters—this was the hidden message Doctor Mo had painstakingly arranged for Han Li to deliver to his wife and daughters.
Han Li knew nothing of what transpired after his departure. At that very moment, he was thoroughly vexed by the little enchantress before him.
This Third Miss Mo had, right in the middle of their journey, brazenly demanded what she called a "meeting gift from senior brother."
"What gift does Junior Sister desire?" Han Li had no choice but to grit his teeth and prepare to satisfy her demands.
"Jewelry, trinkets—anything amusing or interesting, I am not very particular! If none of those, seven or eight thousand taels of silver will do. That would be acceptable, and you would have passed the test!" Mo Caihuan blinked her large, dark eyes and said with an air of innocence.
"Seven or eight thousand taels of silver?" Han Li nearly collapsed at the words. "This little enchantress certainly does not beat around the bush—she has absolutely no sense of restraint!"
"I don't have nearly that much silver on me. And even if I did, I certainly wouldn't give it to her—she really does see me as some easy mark!" Han Li thought to himself, his expression unchanged, but the look in his eyes conveyed precisely that sentiment.
Mo Caihuan was sharp enough to catch a hint of Han Li's thoughts at a glance.
She pouted her small mouth and deliberately cried out in mock surprise, "Senior Brother Han, you wouldn't really give nothing at all to the adorable junior sister you're meeting for the first time, would you? You should know—that young master Wu who came the year before last gave me a promissory note for over ten thousand taels just for spending money the moment we met!"
Hearing this, Han Li grew furious! That Wu fellow was after both the family's wealth and beauty! He himself harbored no such intentions, and to make matters worse, he now carried a hidden poison planted by her father, his life could be forfeit at any moment!
In his irritation, Han Li simply raised his eyes to gaze at the sky without a word, motionless. He wanted to see how this little enchantress would attempt to take advantage of him!
Mo Caihuan saw that this dark-skinned, country-looking fellow was playing dumb and ignoring her completely, and she grew somewhat anxious.
Ever since she had successfully extorted a large sum of private funds from that impostor the year before, she had dreamed nightly of another such windfall to exploit.
Now that opportunity had finally arrived again, yet this fellow—who appeared to be her father's true disciple—proved impervious to both soft and hard tactics. His skin was thicker than a city wall, playing the fool before such a lovely girl without the slightest sympathy! Hadn't she practically shed tears in her act? Yet he remained unmoved—infuriating beyond belief!