Li Caiyi took in the view in front of her with a gaping mouth.

Written on the extravagant and heavily intricate plate name was 'Ye Wang', the name of this building. The main gate was made from a high wooden door, making it look like an impenetrable fortress.

Standing in front of the gate were two men with bulky bodies. Their sharp gaze glued onto her like they were trying to appraise her. She felt a little uncomfortable.

A tap on her shoulder prompted her to raise her head. Lin Xiang stood beside her with a reassuring smile. "Don't feel intimidated. They can't do anything to you as long as I'm here."

"Uncle Lin, are you the big boss here?"

Lin Xiang laughed hard. "You'll be surprised by how many monsters there are inside. I'm one of the bosses, but definitely not the big boss."

"I see. Then would I meet Zhiqiang inside?"

p "Yes. He should be inside around this time. But let me make this clear for you beforehand, Miss Li. There are rules to obey here, and you will be kicked out immediately if you make even one mistake. No one is exempted from this rule, so I hope you'll keep this in mind."

"Of course, Uncle. I promised you I won't let anyone know I'm here, especially not Zhiqiang. I will go as soon as I see nothing wrong with what he is doing."

Lin Xiang nodded. "Good. Another thing I want you to remember is that you must disguise yourself once inside. The rule said we can't bring an outsider inside without permission from the boss. So, please help me out on this."historical

"Will you get in trouble if I get found out, Uncle?"

"You can say that."

"Understood. I shall make myself as invisible as possible."

"Excellent. Then, shall we enter now?"

Li Caiyi nodded firmly, and both entered after Lin Xiang talked to the bodyguards waiting outside. Their gazes followed her even after she passed the gate, so she scooted closer to Lin Xiang for security.

"Did they scare you? Well, this place reeks of masculinity everywhere, so when they see a beautiful flower among hordes of muscled men, they can't help but want to look at it longer." Lin Xiang grinned teasingly.

"Uncle Lin, you must be joking."

"I'm not. You are a lovely young lady, and I expected this to happen. Don't worry; I have prepared everything for you inside."

Li Caiyi tilted her head in confusion but chose not to pry for now.

Lin Xiang led her to pass through a long corridor, and she hummed in awe whenever they went past an interesting item or relic on the wall. But what fascinated her the most was the wide lotus pond once they entered the inner yard.

She had attended a lot of banquets and parties in high-class society in her previous life. Each was more extravagant in one way or another than the others. However, this lotus pond exuded another kind of unspeakable extravagance she liked very much.

It felt like a goddess could appear from the water at any time. The scene was ethereal and stole your heart at first sight.

"We are here."

Lin Xiang's words shifted her attention back to her objective. This wasn't the time for admiring the pond.

Li Caiyi clenched her hold on her bag strap before she walked inside.

The room he led her into appeared to be a staff changing room or something. There were lines of the same outfit hung on one of the lockers, and Lin Xiang took one of them before swaying it in front of her.

"This is the outfit of the servants here. You will still need to cover your face and disguise yourself as the cleaning lady if you don't want anyone to notice your presence. Because this place was filled with men, the big boss never allowed young women to work here. Make sure no one will ever find out your identity."

Li Caiyi received the uniform hesitantly. "But what about the two bodyguards at the entrance? Wouldn't they report to the boss about my whereabouts?"

"I will take care of that thing. You just need to focus on your goal. I already said I will support you with what I can as my thanks, didn't I?"

A small smile spread on her face, listening to Lin Xiang's nice words. Sure enough, although he appeared rough and scary on the outside, Li Caiyi couldn't see him as a bad person.

It would be nice if she really just overthink about this.

"Then I will change my clothes first, Uncle."

"Sure. Just use one of the chambers inside. I'll be on guard outside."

Li Caiyi walked to the deeper part of the room, where lines of small chambers were positioned. She entered one of them, locked the door, and changed her clothes.

Contrary to her expectation, the simple mugwort-colored outfit consisted of a blank t-shirt and pants were comfortable to wear. It was very easy to move in it too.

After covering her face with a mask, she stepped out of the chamber and reunited with Lin Xiang. He told her to leave her clothes on one of the opened lockers before scrutinizing her appearance closely.

"Almost perfect. There is still one last thing missing."

Li Caiyi looked down on her outfit but found nothing out of place. "Is there something wrong with my appearance?"

"More accurately, your disguise has one excessive thing."

Lin Xiang pointed at her necklace, which was the first gift she received from Dai Zhiqiang. She had never once taken it off except when she was bathing. So she was reluctant to part with it.

"Do I have to take this off?" Li Caiyi held on to the pendant and asked in a pleading tone.

"Sorry, Miss Li. But no cleaning lady would wear such a thing when on duty. If you are afraid you will lose it, I can keep it for you."

Li Caiyi was troubled, but to increase this mission's success rate, she slowly took the necklace off and gave it to Lin Xiang. "Uncle, this is a very important thing to me. Please take good care of it for me, alright?"

The older man chuckled in amusement. "And here I thought my brother's feeling is too heavy for a boy his age, but it turns out you are as passionate as him. How nice."

Li Caiyi blushed in embarrassment at his teasing remark and quickly pointed to herself. "Anyway, how do I look now?"

"You look like any other cleaning lady working here. No one will ever realize you are not a worker here at a glance." Lin Xiang gave a thumb up. "I will take you to where Zhiqiang is now."