The Reason

A closer look at the map told her that this was the complete map of the Capital City. Yu Feng quickly looked away from it as she was worried that knowing too much would someday get her into trouble.

"Xiao Feng," Officer Zhou Ming called out her name. "Tell me, to get to the City Square from this Bureau, which way do you think would be the easiest?"

Yu Feng looked at the officer with a blank stare. "Officer Zhou, have you forgotten? I did not know how to read maps."

"Even without looking at the maps, you can tell me which route is the easiest, can't you?" Officer Zhou raised a brow at her.

The two of them stared at each other for a while and Yu Feng spoke, "The easiest way to get to the City Square is naturally through the fifth street, enter the second Camellia street and then, get to the main road."

Officer Zhou lowered her gaze, and Yu Feng saw the disappointed look in his eyes. Then she continued, "Of course, that is the easiest way. But, if you wanted to get there the fastest way, you get off the fifth street and enter the eleventh Camellia street, turned to the seventh Azalea street, and get into the main road to the City Square."

"What are you talking about?" Officer Zhou looked at her with a deep frown on his face. "How do you turn to the seventh Azalea Street from Camellia Street? There is a dead end."

He had been looking at the map as Yu Feng gave the direction and saw that there was a residential area at the end of the eleventh Camellia street that separated the street from Azalea Street. Unless if someone entered one of the houses through the back door and go out from the front door in the seventh Azalea street.

However, the people who resided around Azalea Street was mostly the high ranking officer. To enter their house just to get through this short cut… only those who were crazy would try them.

"Officer Zhou, don't you know?" there was a smile on Yu Feng's face. "Between Minister An and Minister Jiang's residence, there was a gap that is wide enough for one person to go through."

Of course, to use this shortcut, it would also depend on the size of the person who goes through the gap.

Yu Feng accidentally found this shortcut when she was following Orange. Fortunately, she was thin enough to pass through. Yu Feng could still remember the disapproving look on Orange's face when he watched the way she had to walk sideways to pass through.

Her lips tilted up into a small smile as she watched Officer Zhou check on the information she had given him.

It might seem that Yu Feng was generous enough to tell the officer about this shortcut. However, Yu Feng did not tell the man the whole truth. There is another quick way to get through to City Square, but she was not going to speak to him about it.

Officer Zhou continued to rub at his chin as he was in deep thought. After a while, he looked at the young girl again, and a look of displeased crossed his eyes upon seeing that Yu Feng was casually touching some stuff in his office without his permission.

"Stop touching my stuff." Officer Zhou pointed towards the chair in front of him. "Sit down and I will tell you what you will need to do."

Yu Feng raised both shoulders into a shrug and sat down as instructed.

"Xiao Feng, you know about the Lantern Festival next week," Officer Zhou spoke and watched as the girl nodded. "On that day, the Emperor and the imperial family members will enter the tower in the city center and the Emperor was scheduled to release the biggest lantern around midnight."

"I know about this," Yu Feng said. "Almost everyone in the city was talking about this matter. We were curious about this big lantern. The commoners were talking about peeking at the Emperor and the imperial family members."

Officer Zhou scoffed. "Do you think that it was going to be easy for someone like you to take a look at them?"

"It will not hurt to try," Yu Feng shrugged lazily.

"Try that and see whether you can still keep your life. When you see the Emperor and the imperial family's procession, you best keep your head down and your gaze low, understand?"

Yu Feng heaved a long sigh. "Officer Zhou, you are such a party-pooper."

An angry look glinted in his eyes upon hearing the girl's words, but Officer Zhou quickly discovered that he has digressed. Officer Zhou cleared his throat and thought that it was best for him to focus on what he should do.

"On that day," Officer Zhou's voice was a whisper. "Someone is planning something to ruin the festival."

"What do you mean?" Yu Feng asked. A second later, she brought her hand to cover both ears. "Wait. I don't want to know. I don't want to listen. Knowing too much about such matter will only get me killed."

Officer Zhou chuckled at her expression. "Look at you getting so scared."

"Shut up. I may be a street thief, but I know that the more you know, the faster you will die."

He stared at the girl's face for a long time and a long helpless sigh escaped, "Xiao Feng, the only reason why we wanted your help to be our runner was to prevent this bad thing from happening. On that day, you will help us to deliver messages and prevent a tragedy from happening. You see how the runners work. You should know what we want you to do. You can run fast, and you are quick with your mind. This is why we decided to hire you."

The corner of her lips twitched.

What hire? She was blackmailed to come over and work for them!

"There are many soldiers and runners in this bureau for this work. I don't want to get myself into something dangerous."

"There might be a few more runners at this bureau, but during the festival, we might be shorthanded," Officer Zhou lied. "We would not be asking for your help if this was not an emergency, Xiao Feng, at this time, only you can help us."

The two of them stayed in the room for a while as Officer Zhou convinced Yu Feng to work for them and explained to her what she will have to do on that day as well as the reason why Lord Yi had chosen her instead of someone else.

"Xiao Feng, don't forget that you have been marked by my men," Officer Zhou spoke at the end of their conversation. "If you dare to speak a word to others about this, if you dare to escape, or do anything unnecessary, you will never see your cat again."

Her body shivered at his threat. However, Yu Feng knew that the reason she might never see Orange again was that she might die if spoke a word to others about this matter.