Yan Zhan immediately gave the order the next day, leading the whole city to be on the lookout for a wanted thief, who had sustained an injury in his right hand.

After several days, all of the police officers in the city were dispatched. Any men, who were of the same height and build as well as had an injured right hand, were all arrested and thrown into prison first.

Chu Jiao was currently in a classroom, propping her head up while feeling drowsy.

Upon moving into the Yan Mansion, a certain man gradually grew more and more unscrupulous. Last night, the two of them even ‘accidentally’ set off a gun, causing her to lose a good night’s sleep. Now that she was getting some shut-eye to recuperate, she also pondered more about the plot.

The juncture, wherein the male lead sees through the female lead’s disguise, was during their fight under the moonlight. The female lead had gone to the Yan Mansion under her adoptive father’s command, to steal her master’s most valuable treasure, but her actions had inadvertently alarmed the male lead. The two people soon engaged in a duel, and amidst this battle, the male lead suddenly realized the female lead’s real identity. Yet, despite discovering that his opponent was a girl, he didn’t go easy on her.

The male lead wanted to seize the military power in the North East, but he was troubled about not having any opportunities to inquire about the foolish local tyrant Zhang Chong.

Coincidentally, Zhang Chong was a big fan of the female lead. So much so that he loved the young Lord Du very much and that he even lusted after him.

The female lead wanted to secure her master’s treasure, while the male protagonist wanted a woman who could help him gather data without getting his hands dirty, so the two reached an agreement.

Chu Jiao grimly lowered her eyes and sneered.

What master’s treasure? It was clearly a property of their Chu Family.

The female lead’s adoptive father, Du Shourong, was a concealed boss in the original book. On the surface, he was the proud owner of a theater, but in secret, he was actually an integral member of the underground Monarchy Party. His real surname was ‘Fu’ rather than ‘Du,’ which was the Han surname of the Manchurian Jurchen¹https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurchen_people tribe’s Fu Cha clan. He was also a real descendant of a Manchu bannerman family that came from nobility.

Du Shourong had been privately collecting intelligence and passing on news, using the theater as a cover and helping the underground party expand its hidden power, because his lifelong goal was to restore absolute power to the imperial members.

Du Shourong had a fortuitous encounter when he was young and had managed to gain excellent martial skills, which he later passed on to his adopted daughter, Du Xiruo. There were some things that he couldn’t do now due to his age, so nowadays, he could only persuade his adopted daughter with underhanded lies to carry his bidding on his behalf.

The so-called ‘Master’s Treasure’ that Du Shourong asked the female lead to steal was a jade dragon seal². He deceived the female lead by saying that this seal was related to his inheritance and was a property of the Fu Cha clan. After Commander Chu seized it, using his authority, the important item had ended up in the governor’s hand. Being graced by his kindness, the female lead believed him without any traces of doubt and decisively invaded the governor’s mansion in the dark of the night.

In truth, the seal was the emperor’s private seal. Back when the imperial city was overthrown and the emperor was murdered, the seal had become lost as if it were but a myth. But right before the emperor died, he told his trusted confidant that he had already ordered for subordinates to hide his piles of treasures early on. The key to this precious treasure was his jade seal.

That trusted confidant was Du Shourong’s grandfather, leading Du Shourong to make his lifelong mission to restore the monarchy.

Over time, the official seal was lost to the people, and after being passed around from person to person for so many years, it was finally obtained by Chu Jiao’s father when he was raiding a bandit’s lair. Commander Chu, who was a crude person, didn’t know the use of this particular thing but simply thought it looked good, so he strung it into a pendant and casually wore it on him. Commander Chu didn’t have any hobbies and only liked attending operas, so Du Shourong quickly noticed the seal he had hung on himself.

These were just a few sentences in the plot, but they were enough for Chu Jiao to quickly raise her vigilance. The original novel talked of a brainless yet spicy story, where the male and female leads were an invincible pair. But the era she was currently living in had danger lurking in every corner.

She suspected that the people from the underground party were involved with the death of Commander Chu, and if this were truly the case, her life was currently in danger.

She didn’t know why the original work said that the seal had fallen into Yan Zhan’s hands, but that very seal was currently hanging around her neck right now.

“Chu Jiao, come answer this question!”

Her chaotic train of thoughts was interrupted by the booming voice in her ears. Chu Jiao stood up in surprise and realized that the sharp-eyed teacher was already standing in front of her.

“The answer is three and two-thirds.”

Schools were now taught using a Western form of education, and currently, they were learning binary linear equations for mathematics. In any case, Chu Jiao had always been a high-achieving student, so she was naturally able to give an answer soon after taking a glance at the math problem.

After possessing the original owner’s body, Chu Jiao did not particularly perform very well in school, because she believed that there was no need to stand out.

She went to class quietly, and her temperament became much more restrained, which made her classmates’ perception of her gradually improve. Furthermore, the original owner was a pretty little girl, as such, her relationship with her classmates could be considered to have become harmonious.

“Classmate Chu, our class will be performing an event at the school anniversary this year, you should vote for it too.”

Once class had concluded, class committee member Wang Minyu pushed a piece of paper in front of her with a red face.

Chu Jiao gave a quick look and saw the list of choices such as choruses, group dances, dramas, and so on. She wasn’t interested in any of them and had intended to choose one at random.

However, in the next second, the teacher had suddenly led a girl with a long braid into the classroom.

“Students, be quiet,” Class Teacher Zhao tapped the ruler in her hand, “I’ll be introducing a new classmate to you all today.”

Chu Jiao rolled her eyes and immediately ticked a checkmark beside the ‘drama’ option.

—————-

Translator Little Potato: Guess who kek

[Completed]