Shen Li glanced backward. When she saw that it was Xuanyuan Jue, she withdrew her gaze.
"Not bad!"
Xuanyuan Jue showed no sign of discontent at her words. Still twirling a folding fan, he walked gracefully up to Shen Li and said, "I wonder if this young master intends to present this bracelet to his sweetheart?"
Shen Li covered her mouth and gave a soft cough. Still with her back to him, she faced the counter full of goods and replied, "No!"
"Oh? What does the young master mean by 'no'?" Xuanyuan Jue refused to give up. Turning to face the counter just like Shen Li, he tilted his head to look at her face. "Does the young master mean he doesn't choose this bracelet or that he's not presenting it to his sweetheart?"
Shen Li replied gruffly, "Neither!"
Xuanyuan Jue moved his face even closer to Shen Li. Reacting instinctively, Shen Li leaned her head backward to avoid his encroaching face. "What are you doing?"
"Don't be impatient, young master!" Xuanyuan Jue stared directly into Shen Li's eyes. As he spoke, his gaze shifted downward to a spot just above her right lip.
"Why are you staring at me? Stay away from me!" Shen Li nervously tried to push Xuanyuan Jue away with her hand. But unexpectedly, he suddenly reached out his hand straight towards her face. Shen Li immediately closed her eyes in panic.
Just as Shen Li closed her eyes, wondering what on earth Xuanyuan Jue was up to, she suddenly felt a tearing pain on her lip.
"Your fake beard has fallen off!"
Xuanyuan Jue held up two fingers with a small black fake beard pinched between them, showing it to Shen Li.
Hearing this, Shen Li opened her eyes in surprise. Sure enough, she saw the fake beard in Xuanyuan Jue's hand. Instantly annoyed, she snatched it back. "Give it back to me!"
As Shen Li was still wondering how the beard had suddenly fallen off since she was sure she had stuck it on firmly before leaving home, she heard Xuanyuan Jue's hearty laughter resonating from his chest.
"You recognized me a long time ago?" Shen Li stopped her hand that was still trying to stick on the beard and looked at him with displeasure.
Xuanyuan Jue pinched the fake beard again and managed to hold back his laughter. "With such a clumsy disguise, only a blind man wouldn't recognize you!"
Then he looked at Xuanshu standing beside them. "Right, Xuanshu?"
Xuanshu also nodded with a smile on his lips. "Yes, Your Highness."
Shen Li was so angry that she didn't want to talk to the master - servant pair. Then she suddenly remembered their disguises in Pangu Zhai that night. Indeed, even she hadn't recognized them.
"I haven't had the chance to ask you yet. How did you and Xuanshu disguise yourselves in Pangu Zhai last time? Not only did your faces change, but your voices were also different from before."
Shen Li knew there was a kind of face - changing technique that could be as real as human skin and achieve a realistic effect. But how could a person's voice be changed?
Next, Xuanyuan Jue asked Xuanshu to fetch something. Just as Shen Li had guessed, it was a fake face for disguise. This one was different from the one she had seen on Xuanyuan Jue and Xuanshu last time. It was a brand - new face.
Holding the fake skin in his hand, Xuanyuan Jue explained to Shen Li, "Just apply a special ointment on your face and then stick it on. It will adhere to your face seamlessly. Even if you get close and touch it with your hand, you won't be able to detect any traces. Most importantly, without the special potion, you can't take it off at all. Unless you tear it off along with your original face."
Hearing this, Shen Li unconsciously touched her own face. When she saw the gloating look on Xuanyuan Jue's face, she knew he was just scaring her on purpose.
Xuanyuan Jue stopped smiling and asked Shen Li, "Well, isn't this a great thing?"
Shen Li took the fake face for disguise and felt it in her hand. It was indeed very thin. "Then what about your voice last time? Is there something to change your voice?"
"No, there isn't! Changing my voice is just a petty skill I practiced out of boredom. It's not something to be proud of."
Then, Xuanyuan Jue demonstrated for Shen Li. He imitated voices from that of a seventy - year - old man to a babbling baby. Every voice sounded so real.
Shen Li was a bit confused. How could such a useful skill be considered unworthy in Xuanyuan Jue's mouth? Even someone with as sensitive ears as hers couldn't recognize a person just by their voice when encountering someone with this skill.
"What did you ask me to come here for today?" Shen Li got back to the main topic. She had received a message from Xuanyuan Jue in the morning saying that he had found an opportunity to get into Pangu Zhai.
"I received information that Zhuang Yusheng, the second in command of Pangu Zhai, has led a large number of men out to escort Wu Sixi, the big boss of their bandit group, back."
"Moreover, the buyer for their big deal will also show up in Pangu Zhai at that time. I thought this was a good opportunity, so I came to tell you and ask for your opinion."
After a brief moment of thought, Shen Li agreed. "Let's follow the plan we made last time."
...
In the past few days, Pangu Zhai had been on high alert. The original rule of having a secret sentry every three miles and a post every house had been changed to having a secret sentry every mile to keep watch and a sentry post every three miles to pass on information.
That afternoon, two bandits who were on sentry duty outside Pangu Zhai spotted two suspicious travelers ten miles away from their stronghold. One of them stayed to keep an eye on them, while the other rushed back to report.
It was a traveling couple. The man was dressed in a gray fine - cloth robe, while the woman wore a white dress with red flowers. She had a large red headscarf around her head with a wooden hairpin stuck in it.
In addition, both of them carried a bulging bag on their backs.
By this time, the woman, who had been traveling for half a day, couldn't help complaining to her husband beside her. "Ah! It's all your fault! You insisted on lending money to your second younger brother. Now look! His whole family has become rich and moved to the capital. They live in a big mansion and are served by maids and servants. Do they even remember your kindness? Now they won't even pay you back the money!"
"We've been on the road for half a month to go to the capital to ask for the money. Before we even got there, they pretended not to recognize you. They probably thought you were just a down - and - out beggar!"
This was a woman in her early twenties. She had an ordinary appearance and the slightly dark complexion of most ordinary women. Wearing a baggy dress, it was hard to tell her figure. But her words and actions were rather vulgar. In just the short time she was speaking, she had already punched and pinched the man beside her several times.
The man beside her didn't dare to resist her violence at all. He just cowered behind her and mumbled softly, "My second younger brother isn't such a person!"