Hours later, Chu Yun found himself in a narrow barge in one of Haolin's many canals, in the company of Xiao Ziyi, Ru Yumei, and the boater sailing them past other barges and through the busy water traffic.
The three of them sat on the barge's simple wooden benches, Xiao Ziyi and Ru Yumei in front, Chu Yun behind them, and the boater behind him steering the barge.
Behind them, Xiao Zai and Han Guilan followed on another barge, not close enough to hear them perhaps, but close enough to see everything happening in theirs.
That was as much as Chu Yun had gotten the Queen Consort to compromise to.
For his role as "chaperone" to be believable he had to seem uninterested in what Xiao Ziyi and Ru Yumei were discussing, while seemingly keeping an eye on their behaviour.
He had told Xiao Ziyi beforehand that it fell to her to steer the conversation towards what they wanted to know.
