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Technically, A-Qing is not Jiang Yanli's spy. She's her personal maid, and in training to become her bodyguard. (Her teachers despair of her ever forming a golden core, but her quick hands and fast reflexes give her the makings of a decent fighter.) It's just that her mistress was confined to bed rest in the last month of her pregnancy, and A-Qing started bringing her news of Golden Carp Tower.
Even after Jin Ling is born, Jiang Yanli doesn't get out much. A-Qing keeps an ear out for news. No one thinks much of the plain little servant girl who can't yet manage a sword. People still see her eyes and assume she's blind. A-Qing hasn't kept up her act, but there's no need to correct people if they're determined to be stupid. Especially if it gives her an advantage.
She stays out of Jin Guangshan's way for obvious reasons, and out of Jin Zixun's way because he's obnoxious. She has no reason to avoid Jin Guangyao, except that he's a dog everyone else likes to kick. Sooner or later, those dogs bite.
So when she overhears Jin Guangyao tell Jin Zixuan to follow his horrible cousin to Qiongqi Path, A-Qing runs off to find Jiang Yanli. Her mistress loves the Yiling Patriarch, even though he's supposed to be a dreadful ghoul who commands an army of corpses. She'll cry if Jin Zixun kills him.
(A-Qing doesn't care whether the rumors about Wei Wuxian are true or not. If he makes JIang Yanli happy, he can have every hungry ghost roaming the countryside.)
The more properly trained servants give her scandalized looks when she bursts into the banquet hall, interrupting a conversation between Jiang Yanli, Jiang-zongzhu, and Hanguang-jun himself. She blurts out the whole story before anyone can scold her.
Jiang-zongzhu swears at such length that A-Qing momentarily forgets her panic. If she spends more time following him around, will she be able to learn to curse like that?
Hanguang-jun grips his sword. "We must warn Wei Ying."
"Yes, both of you, go to him." Jiang Yanli's tone is one that A-Qing has never heard before, as hard as winter ice. "A-Qing, please come with me. We're going to visit the Yunmeng Jiang disciples until my husband and my brothers return. If anyone asks, you would like to train with a whip."
"Whips are great!" A-Qing says immediately. Jin Ling whimpers in his mother's arms, echoing her own inner state. Things must be even worse than she thought, if Jiang Yanli is preparing for a potential flight to Lotus Pier with an infant. Why did A-Qing ever decide to get involved in gentry affairs?
Hanguang-jun and Jiang-zongzhu exit the banquet hall, moving as fast as possible without technically running. Jiang Yanli lowers her face to kiss Jin Ling's head, her eyes too bright.
"I'll hold the baby if you want," A-Qing says, out of the wild desire to do something useful. She barely knows anything about babies, other than how loud they are.
"That won't be necessary, A-Qing." And Jiang Yanli smiles, so warm and gentle that you could miss the strength built into her bones. "Let's go. You can tell me any other interesting things you've heard along the way."