Old City, Lion Lane.

A long-abandoned mansion, its stone lions at the entrance stained with mottled dust.

Song Ci, in his slippers, squatted in front of the stone lions, happily munching on his boxed lunch.

"It's been so long without any movement… Is Madam asleep?"

He finished his lunch and cautiously pushed open the mansion's gate. The courtyard was silent, and the厢房 (xiāngfáng, wing rooms) were so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

After a moment's thought, Song Ci withdrew his hand from knocking. He didn't want to disturb Lu Nanzhi. Instead, he returned to the mansion gate and stood guard with the stone lions in front of the old residence.

Behind a redwood door.

Lu Nanzhi slowly opened her eyes, leaning against the head of the bed.

She felt exhausted… After the alternate councilor election, she came here—or rather, hid here.

This was the house Lao Lu had bought in the old city, where he secretly conducted interesting experiments. Before Nan Jin was born, it was her and Lao Lu's "base." Later, Nan Jin left Da Du, and she became the famous Madam of Da Du, burdened with琐事 (suǒshì, trivial matters). Whenever she felt pain, frustration, depression, or anxiety, she would return to this mansion.

Time stood still in this mansion, where her childhood was buried.

After completing the urgent meeting of the Guwen Association.

She could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Hiding here… was because she didn't want to see anyone.

She could roughly guess the reaction from Hua Zhi's side. Directly stating her position in the alternate councilor election was tantamount to delivering a heavy blow to Hua Zhi's "New World" project… The largest shareholders should already be clamoring to withdraw their investments.

"073 is a member of the Lin family…"

Lu Nanzhi recalled the scenes from the meeting. "Being able to use the Lin family's influence to force the East Continent's laws to be delayed must be something only a direct descendant of the Lin family from the Northern Fortress could do…"

073's identity suddenly went from vague to clear.

"But who is that 031?"

Lu Nanzhi rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. Just as 031 had said, everyone treated each meeting in the deep-sea area as if it were their last.

The establishment and independent operation of this deep-sea conference room.

Was due to the "Red Door" that Lao Lu had left her, granting her unique access in the deep-sea area.

But the deep sea was undergoing round after round of self-renewal.

No one knew… how long the Red Door could last with this kind of evolution.

Once the conference room was discovered, it might be possible for the deep sea's computing power to reconstruct everything that happened inside… Because of this consideration, everyone was hiding their identity.

073 was a high-ranking figure from the Northern Causal Fortress.

957 was most likely a rookie fresh out of the gate.

And 031… gave her a conflicting feeling. He appeared to be a young man, and seemed unreliable and out of tune, but he was a regular at every meeting, almost never absent, and his words gave off a sense of "unfathomable depth."

It was a poor disguise.

But it was also the most brilliant disguise.

"I can't figure out 031's identity…"

Lu Nanzhi tried to sift through the prominent figures of the East Continent in her mind, but from a standpoint perspective, none of those who opposed the passage of the bill matched 031's image.

"Looks like he's already locked onto my identity…"

Madam was a little distraught, muttering as she rubbed her forehead, "Are you sure there's no mistake? I've already been in contact with the key?"

Just then.

A commotion came from outside the courtyard.

…

…

There weren't many people coming and going in front of the old mansion in Lion Lane.

Because of the blood案 (àn, case, but implying tragedy) from years ago, Lion Lane had been emptied. No one lived in the entire alley, so it was particularly deserted on normal days, not to mention the bleak and chilly late autumn.

Withered leaves swirled in the wind in front of the stone lions.

Song Ci, squatting at the entrance in flip-flops and picking his teeth, frowned and looked up at the dark mass of figures in front of him.

"Sorry… Did you guys come to the wrong place?"

Song Ci regretted his words as soon as he said them.

He regretted not wearing a well-tailored suit, because surrounded by such a group of suited brutes, his floral shirt looked so shabby and poor. Especially when he went from squatting to standing, he was a head shorter.

Song Ci couldn't remember where he had heard it, but the quieter side was when two sides were confronting each other, the more imposing it would be.

But this time the effect was terrible.

The contrast in clothing and height made Song Ci feel like a coward.

He straightened his clothes, saw that the suit-clad tough guys didn't intend to back down at all, sighed softly, and began to twist his wrist.

"Don't move."

An old voice came from behind the crowd.

"It's me… I just want to see Nanzhi."

Song Ci was stunned.

These suit-clad thugs, who stood like an impenetrable wall, all stepped aside to clear a path.

Cui Zhongcheng pushed his wheelchair slowly towards Song Ci.

Zhao Xilai looked sincerely at the crow guarding the mansion. He knew that this young man was very good at fighting… If he started a fight here today, the people he had brought with him wouldn't be enough to fill Song Ci's teeth.

Song Ci's expression was strange.

He thought to himself, could this old guy be a dog… with such a keen sense of smell? He could pounce so quickly even when she was hiding in the old city?

"Sorry."

Song Ci shook his head and said, "Madam said she's not seeing anyone."

"Regarding the matter of the councilor election… she needs to give me an explanation." The old man sighed softly and said, "I don't want to make things difficult for you, and I don't want to make things difficult for her. It shouldn't be a problem to just meet and talk, right?"

Song Ci hesitated.

Lu Nanzhi's voice sounded from inside the mansion.

"Since you've chased me to this mansion, then you should understand that there's nothing left for us to talk about, is there?"

Song Ci heard this voice, understood Madam's meaning, his expression was calm, and he stood in front of the door, simply folding his arms, and said nothing more.

"…"

Zhao Xilai was silent for a long time, and said softly, "Open the door, it's not convenient to talk here."

"No… Mr. Councilor, there's nothing inconvenient about talking here."

Lu Nanzhi corrected, "This is the former residence of my deceased father, and outside the door is where he fell. It is said that he was your best partner. What can't be said in front of him?"

Zhao Xilai was silent.

"Today is the tenth anniversary of his death… If you want to persuade me to give up my councilor seat, then please give up. I don't want to see anyone this week, and I won't leave here."

After Lu Nanzhi said these words, she didn't speak again.

This wasn't an eviction order.

But it was more effective than an eviction order.

"The Free Dance is in a week…" Cui Zhongcheng leaned over and whispered in Zhao Xilai's ear, "There's still time. Do you need to talk more?"

The old man lowered his eyes and looked at the ground at his feet.

The pool of blood in front of Lion Lane had long since dried up, washed away and drained by the wind and rain for three thousand nights. Nothing remained here, only the empty wind, like a wandering soul groaning.

"See you in a week."

A soft sigh.

The crowd in front of Lion Lane dispersed, and it became deserted and quiet again.

Lu Nanzhi leaned against the wooden door of the old mansion, the whole world returned to silence, and she slowly walked towards the厢房 (xiāngfáng, wing room).

Song Ci, guarding the mansion, asked with a stiff face, "Madam… are you really not leaving the yard for a week and not seeing anyone?"

Lu Nanzhi was about to speak.

"Ding-dong—"

An email came, the sender's mailbox was newly registered, and the displayed name was 031.

Lu Nanzhi's pupils contracted.

Mad… is he mad?

031 dared to send her an email under the supervision of the deep sea?

After the email was delivered, a countdown began to appear on the icon…

"5…4…3…"

In the last second, Lu Nanzhi stiffly clicked on the email… This email was unusually short, so short that it could be read in just one second.

Because this email only had four words.

"The key, Gu Shen."

Five seconds later, the email was automatically deleted. No matter how Lu Nanzhi tried to find and search, there were no clues.

All records and related information about this email had disappeared.

Like a pebble falling into the deep sea.

From above the sea, thousands of ripples rose and fell, and the fall of a pebble never appeared.

"…Madam?"

Song Ci, outside the mansion, waited for a long time without getting a response, and he spoke again.

Lu Nanzhi came back to her senses as if from another world.

She said softly, "I want to see someone, immediately."