Chapter Twenty: Not a Good Time

When Fang Yun and the others returned to their tent, they were surprised to find Li Wangcheng already there. Usually, they wouldn’t return until after dark, but today, they were back while the sky was still bright.

Seeing them, Fang Yun paused, though she said nothing. She went to the stove, noticed the water was already boiling, and busied herself preparing dinner. For the past two days, they had been using coal, keeping the tent comfortably warm. Li Wangcheng and his men tacitly avoided asking where the coal had come from. In these times, coal was a rare commodity—practically priceless and impossible to find. There was no point in questioning its origin; it was better to enjoy the warmth while it lasted.

The supplies Fang Yun had been obtaining through her daily check-ins were all of this nature. Her treehouse was now stocked with a significant amount of coal. Even if they burned it freely, she and the others—including Feng Li’s group—could easily last for half a year.

Li Wangcheng looked at Fang Yun’s slightly disheveled hair and clothing, then cast a deep, meaningful glance at Shang Xingbing. Feeling the pressure of his leader’s gaze, Shang Xingbing scratched his head, struggling with how to explain what had just transpired.

"Why are you back so early? Did you finish handling things with the military?" Fang Yun asked, inadvertently saving him.

Li Wangcheng looked away, turned to her, and softened his expression as he explained in a low voice, "It was resolved early. We spent the last two days discussing Ma Qibo with the military. They don't believe the day after tomorrow is the right time to strike."

"Oh?" Fang Yun looked up, confused as to why the timing was off. According to her plan, she and Li Wangcheng’s team would distract Ma Qibo while the military clashed with his men at the cliffside. She would then find an opening to slip in and secure the supplies. How could that not work?

Li Wangcheng’s eyes showed a hint of helplessness. "The military wants to be involved in the transport of the supplies as well."

As soon as he said this, Fang Yun understood the military's intentions. They didn't trust her—or rather, they didn't trust Li Wangcheng and his team—and wanted a hand in the heist to ensure they received their fair share of the spoils. It was a reasonable concern; they weren't familiar with her, and without guaranteed credibility on either side, the military wasn't going to just take their word for it.

"So what now? If we miss this opportunity, who knows when the next one will come," Fang Yun muttered, frowning despite understanding their logic. "This banquet of Ma Qibo's is a trap. If we fail to secure the supplies and he realizes his own plans haven't been disrupted, his vigilance will only increase, making it that much harder for us to act later."

"I know," Li Wangcheng sighed, rubbing his temples. He was well aware of everything she said, but because they needed the military's support, the operation was no longer theirs alone to command. Now that the information had been leaked to the military, acting independently could prove counterproductive. "I’ll go talk to He Gaolang again tomorrow to see if we can finalize the plan. If all else fails, we’ll have to do it ourselves, but the risks will be much higher."

Fang Yun fell silent. Among the five of them, aside from herself, the others were all Li Wangcheng’s subordinates. She couldn't make decisions for them regarding such a dangerous mission; it depended entirely on Li Wangcheng and his men.

Seeing she had nothing more to say, Li Wangcheng hesitated, then closed his mouth. He stayed in the tent for a moment before rising to leave, giving Shang Xingbing a subtle look on his way out. Shortly after, Shang Xingbing followed him out quietly.

Fang Yun acted as if she hadn't noticed, focusing on her cooking. Her mood was sour, and she had little interest in the movements of others. When dinner was ready and they still hadn't returned, she grew suspicious. Thinking they hadn't gone far, she stepped outside to call them, only to find the area completely deserted.

With a sigh, she returned to the tent, invited the other two men to eat, and left two portions warming by the stove. Luckily, she hadn't cooked anything that would turn mushy, though she worried the flavor might suffer if they stayed out too late.

They were halfway through their meal when Li Wangcheng walked in, his face dark, followed by a similarly grim-looking Shang Xingbing. Fang Yun was curious about what they had been doing to merit such gloomy expressions.

The next morning, Fang Yun was woken by a rustling sound. She sat up to find that Li Wangcheng and his team were already dressed.

"Why so early? Is there something going on today?" she asked, still groggy as she looked at the dark sky outside. She scrambled to get up, knowing she held all the supplies—if they were heading out, they needed to be fed.

"We have some business. Keep sleeping; we’ll be back before dawn," Li Wangcheng said, stopping her. With a brief instruction, he led the others out.

Fang Yun was even more bewildered as the tent flap opened, letting in a gust of icy wind that stung her face. Shivering, any remaining sleepiness vanished. Resigned, she got out of bed, dressed, folded her bedding, and began preparing breakfast.

With everyone gone, she took ingredients from her treehouse and decided to make hand-pulled noodles, suddenly craving them. She kneaded three pounds of dough, set it aside, and prepared tomatoes and eggs. After rolling the dough thin, dusting it with flour, and cutting it into strips, she parboiled them before rinsing them in cold water. She sautéed the tomatoes, added the eggs, and finished the soup with light soy sauce, sugar, and salt.

She divided the noodles into five portions, stored four in the villa’s storage space, and sat by the stove to enjoy her own bowl while watching the tent entrance.

As she savored her meal, she was unaware that Li Wangcheng and his men had made their way through the dark to a spot not far from the entrance to East Ming Mountain. They passed through a small, mostly cleared woods and arrived at the edge of a steep cliff. Helping the military maintain order on the platform over the past few days had led them to this discovery. If the survivors hadn't chopped down the trees in the woods, they never would have known about this cliff, which connected both to the sea and to the ridge where Ma Qibo stored his supplies.

The path across to that cliff was treacherous, but they hadn't come today to take that risk.