Now that the mission was complete, Dong Rui could barely keep his eyes open.

Zhu Erniang spoke at just the right moment, “The little ones have already cleaned the two houses in the middle. Choose whichever one you like.”

She had arrived several days earlier and had nothing else to do.

He Lingchuan immediately bowed to her. “Lady Two, you truly are my good Lady Two!”

That night, the starry sky was like a painting.

He Lingchuan said to Dong Rui, “Tell me about Xunyang Sandbar.”

“Once you go past Rongshan[1] territory to the northwest, if you keep going for another fifteen kilometers or so, you’ll be there. For many years, it’s been a lawless no-man’s-land. Merchants buy and sell all sorts of strange things there, tax-free. I’ve been there many times.”

“I heard there are quite a few temples there too?”

“As I said, it’s a no-man’s-land.”

“No-man’s-land between whom?”

“Rongshan...