I am the villain in the book

"Miss Li!"

The ambiguous atmosphere in the side tent vanished instantly at Zhang San's call.

Tang Chen breathed a sigh of relief, and said softly:

"Young Master Wei must have something urgent. Go quickly."

"Okay."

Li Zimu nodded, her face flushed: "Then I'll come find you later. I still have some things to say to you."

"Alright."

Tang Chen suddenly felt a little at a loss again, not knowing what Li Zimu wanted to say to him.

Fortunately, the latter quickly turned and walked out of the tent, which prevented him from showing his timidity again.

“. . . ”

Looking at the slowly swaying tent curtain, Tang Chen's heart was filled with excitement and apprehension. He sat for a while and then stood up, stood for a while and then sat down. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was restless.

As for Li Zimu outside the tent, she followed Zhang San towards Wei Changtian's main tent while silently counting her breaths.

One, two, three, four, five.

Soon, the number in her heart reached "five."

In the next moment, the blush on her face disappeared quickly like a receding tide, and her eyes almost instantly changed from the previous shyness to indifference.

If someone were carefully observing Li Zimu's expression at this time, they would definitely be very surprised.

Because in this short moment, she seemed to have completely changed.

Before, she was as gentle as a pool of spring water.

Now, she was as cold as a piece of ice.

"Miss Li, the Young Master is just ahead..."

Zhang San suddenly stopped and turned around, his tone pausing in the next moment.

He clearly felt Li Zimu's change, but he didn't ask any further questions, just finished his sentence.

"The Young Master is inside the tent. Just go in."

"Yes, thank you, Brother Zhang."

Although nominally they were both Wei family retainers, Zhang San's status was undoubtedly a little higher than Li Zimu's, so the latter had always addressed Zhang San as "Brother."

Li Zimu thanked him softly, then took a deep breath, lifted the tent curtain, and bowed to the man inside, saying:

"Young Master..."

"You've arrived?"

Wei Changtian looked up and winked at Zhang San.

The latter understood and immediately retreated from the tent, closing the curtain at the same time.

"You should be able to contact Chu Xianping, right?"

“. . . ”

"Crackling..."

The tent curtain swayed slightly, and the charcoal fire in the copper basin crackled.

Wei Changtian and Li Zimu were separated by a desk, one sitting and one standing.

One had a calm expression, and the other looked slightly surprised.

However, Li Zimu quickly recovered and answered truthfully:

"Yes, this servant has a pair of linked jade pendants with Young Master Chu."

"He gave them to you?" Wei Changtian asked again.

"No, this servant left them with Young Master Chu before."

"Where did the secret code come from?"

"It uses the Freemasonry's secret code."

"Have you exchanged messages in the days since he left?"

"Yes, Young Master Chu sends a message to this servant every two days to report that he is safe."

"Did he say anything else?"

"No."

"Then have you told him about the situation here?"

"Young Master Chu asked, and this servant... said a little."

"Hmm."

Nodding, Wei Changtian fell into thought after asking a series of questions.

As he had guessed, Chu Xianping was indeed using Li Zimu to understand the army's movements.

Of course, these things were not secrets. Even if he didn't go through Li Zimu, it would be very easy to find out through other means, but it would just be a little delayed.

As for whether Li Zimu would leak any secrets...

There was no need to worry about that.

After all, apart from those lists of spies, Li Zimu didn't know any secrets.

"Da da da! Da da da!"

The charcoal fire was burning brightly, and there was a constant sound of dense footsteps outside the tent, which should be the soldiers patrolling back and forth.

Wei Changtian didn't speak for a long time, and Li Zimu naturally wouldn't disturb his thoughts, so she just stood there silently.

However, although she didn't say a word, she was thinking quickly in her heart.

Why did the Young Master suddenly ask about this?

It shouldn't be against the rules for me to have linked jade pendants with Young Master Chu.

So, has something happened to Young Master Chu?

Thinking of this, Li Zimu couldn't help but feel a little anxious, and a sense of worry rose in her heart.

She didn't quite understand why Wei Changtian would suddenly send Chu Xianping out to handle matters at this critical moment. She had sent a message to Chu Xianping to ask, but the latter didn't say anything.

Therefore, Li Zimu could only assume that this matter must be very important, and Wei Changtian had no choice but to do so.

But now it seemed that things were not as simple as she had imagined.

"Young Master..."

The worry in her heart for Chu Xianping grew stronger and stronger. After about a hundred breaths, Li Zimu couldn't bear it anymore and finally asked softly:

"What happened?"

“. . . ”

Looking up at Li Zimu, who looked nervous, Wei Changtian didn't answer directly, but stood up expressionlessly and walked to her.

"What I am about to say is top secret, and very few people know about it."

"This matter may make you feel surprised, even unbelievable."

"But since I have chosen to tell you, I hope you can keep it a secret."

"Do you understand?"

“. . . ”

Her shoulders trembled. At this time, Li Zimu's worry reached its peak.

She nodded subconsciously, and her heart had already begun to guess what had happened to Chu Xianping that would make Wei Changtian so serious.

Was someone trying to harm Young Master Chu?

Or did Young Master Chu encounter some accident on the way to find the sword?

Her mind was filled with all kinds of bad guesses, which also made Li Zimu's breathing more and more rapid.

However, in the next moment, she only felt that her breathing and heartbeat had suddenly stopped.

Because Li Zimu never expected that she would hear such a sentence.

"Chu Xianping, he may have already betrayed us."

Three hours later, at Hai hour (9-11 PM).

The night was already deep, and the continuous camps stretching for several miles had become quiet, with only the sound of patrolling soldiers echoing under the night sky.

Tomorrow morning, the army would pull up camp and continue westward, cross the Python River, pass through the Western Desert Gobi, and would not rest again until they reached Huailing City.

So everyone went to bed early tonight to conserve their energy for the next few days of marching.

However, there were also many people who were still awake, or rather, found it difficult to fall asleep.

Such as Tang Chen.

“. . . ”

Hesitating outside a certain camp tent, he looked at the light in the gap of the tent curtain, his expression at this time was as tangled as it could be.

Li Zimu had said before going to find Wei Changtian that she would come to him later and had something to say to him.

So Tang Chen had been waiting nervously and uneasily, and even thought in advance about what he should say when facing various situations.

However, he had not waited for Li Zimu until now.

Tang Chen was worried, so he ran to Li Zimu's camp tent, only to find that the tent was lit.

This undoubtedly showed that Li Zimu was in the tent at this time.

So... had she forgotten?

Apart from this explanation, Tang Chen couldn't think of any other possibilities, so his eyes gradually became lonely.

He wanted to go in and ask Li Zimu, but he didn't have the courage, so he had to turn around silently and prepare to leave.

However, just at this moment, the tent curtain behind him slowly opened a corner.

"Miss Li!"

Tang Chen, who heard the movement, turned around abruptly. The depression he had just felt disappeared instantly, and he opened his mouth to say something.

However, before he could speak, Li Zimu's cold voice sounded first.

"Young Master Tang, I have extremely important things to do tonight. We'll talk about our affairs later."

"Please go back, I won't see you off."

"Sorry."