166, mask

The sun had sunk below the horizon, the fire-clouds at the edge of the sky blazed like flames in the firmament, eventually dying down bit by bit.

Chen Ji, wearing a conical bamboo hat, stood beside a snack shop just outside Cuiyun Lane, pretending to pick out pastries while surreptitiously scanning the alley from the corner of his eye.

The housekeeper of Chen Mansion was standing at the entrance, shouting loudly, "Hurry, hurry, hurry, get that chest onto the carriage! There's no telling when the Liu Family's troops might arrive—we absolutely can't let them have it!"

Two servants carried out a large chest, and as they crossed the threshold, one of them tripped by accident, causing the chest to fall and spill gold and silver across the ground, among which a 'Phoenix Crown Blue Flower Head' was particularly eye-catching.