They moved fast.
Lan Yue stuffed their belongings into bags while Liu Ruyan and Chen Mei scrambled to gather anything they couldn't leave behind. There wasn't much. A few changes of clothes. Zhao Lingxi's cultivation notes. The jar of healing salve that Lan Yue kept refilling from her personal dimension.
"The east gate," Zhao Lingxi said quietly. "The guards change shift at midnight. There's a five minute window where only one man stands watch."
"How do you know that?" Lan Yue asked.
"I lived here for ten years before my banishment. I memorized every patrol route, every shift change, every blind spot in the walls." Zhao Lingxi tied her hair back with a simple ribbon, keeping the pearl pin secure above her left ear. "I may have been a child, but I was never stupid."
"Nobody has ever accused you of being stupid, Young Miss."
"My father has. Several times, actually."
"Your father is an idiot."
Liu Ruyan gasped. Chen Mei covered her mouth.
