Jiang Xingyan and Yun Chunfeng looked at each other and sighed.
Watching Shangguan Hanshan, who stood nearby as dumb as a wooden chicken, Jiang Xingyan felt that if she didn’t give him a little of the truth soon, he might go crazy. Even though he was already pretty crazy right now.
“If you want to see her as soon as possible, don’t interfere with what I’m doing. That’s not a threat. It’s advice.”
Shangguan Hanshan turned his head stiffly. He couldn’t understand any of it.
“I’m not listening, I’m not listening! That’s just nonsense! With this time, I’d rather go ask Yanyan myself!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he vanished into thin air.
Jiang Xingyan thought to herself: How did he find out her childhood name?
“Hey, pay up!”
The familiar thud sounded, and a heavy money pouch landed on the top of her foot.
Jiang Xingyan had a good reason to suspect he had actually meant to hit “Huo Ci” on the head. Well, it didn’t hurt her, so whatever. Thump away.
Hiss!
Far away, inside the carriage heading towards the palace, Huo Ci bent over in pain, his eyes welling up with tears.
Jiang Xingyan picked up the money pouch. Inside was the usual setup: two gold ingots wrapped around ten banknotes worth a million taels each.
Jackpot!
She handed the gold to Wang Qi. “This should be enough to upgrade the carriage to a two-horse one. It’ll be more spacious from now on.”
Wang Qi immediately stopped crying, took the gold respectfully, and grinned.
“Awesome! I was worried that young guy might default on his debt!”
The look on Jiang Xingyan’s face was complicated.
Young guy? Just because he shaved his beard, how much younger could he look? Come to think of it, he must be nearly forty, right?
Wait a minute. Why the sudden rejuvenation? What was he up to?
Jiang Xingyan narrowed her eyes.
Yun Chunfeng smiled faintly.
The young lady obviously cared about Shangguan Hanshan. She just hadn’t gotten over that hurdle in her heart yet.
“He went to pay respects at the Old Master’s grave.”
Jiang Xingyan was startled.
Yun Chunfeng took the little girl from her arms and walked beside her.
“Back when he left, he wasn’t even twenty yet, and he didn’t have a beard. So today, he shaved his face clean and knelt in front of the Old Master’s grave from the hour of the Rabbit until noon. If he hadn’t heard that the Empress had summoned you, the young lady, to the palace, he would have knelt there the entire day.”
Jiang Xingyan’s eyes deepened. “Hah. Where was he all that time before?”
She pressed her thin lips together tightly. Even if he had known that her mother had passed away young, wouldn’t he have tried to find out where her grandfather had gone? After her mother died, didn’t he think to support her grandfather? And now he puts on this hypocritical show.
Hmph! Unbelievable.
Yun Chunfeng gazed at Jiang Xingyan’s angry, stomping back and felt he could see the charming, spirited soul inside her. Having tasted sweetness last night, he only wanted to rub shoulders with the young lady every moment, wishing he could just hang onto her. And now, with their souls still not back in their rightful bodies, he was the one suffering the most!
The little girl tilted her head and looked at Yun Chunfeng’s suddenly flushed cheeks, then called out to Jiang Xingyan who was walking ahead:
“Mama, Uncle Shu has a fever!”
Yun Chunfeng frantically stuffed another candy into her mouth.
“Shh, Yaya, keep your voice down.”
Jiang Xingyan came back anyway. Seeing Yun Chunfeng’s flustered, red face, she quickly took the little girl and asked with concern:
“Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
Yun Chunfeng softly bit his lower lip, pressed his long, slender fingers over his heart, and looked up at Jiang Xingyan with a pitiful expression.
Understanding dawned on Jiang Xingyan. She suddenly grasped what was on his mind and blushed bright red up to her ears.
The little girl suddenly covered her face. “Uncle Shu gave it to Mama, and now Mama turned red too. Yaya doesn’t want to turn red.”
Jiang Xingyan gently patted her little bottom. “Don’t learn bad habits from your Uncle Shu.”
In a delicate atmosphere, the two adults and one child made their way to Xinchase’s tent.
After using the medicine Yun Chunfeng had given him, Xinchase was already out of danger. Imperial Physician Sun wanted him to stay in the Imperial Hospital for a few more days, but he insisted on moving back to the military camp. When asked why, he wouldn’t say.
As soon as Jiang Xingyan lifted the tent flap, Cui Yu and Liu Suwu came up to greet her from both sides.
“General Huo, you’re finally back.”
“Deputy General Xin said he would only tell the truth once you arrived!”
Seeing the cold sweat on their foreheads, Jiang Xingyan felt a bit embarrassed.
“Xinchase, tell us carefully what exactly happened that night.”
Hearing Jiang Xingyan’s voice, Xinchase’s heart was already pounding like a drum. Would Axing take those delirious things he said while unconscious seriously? Now that he was awake, Axing wouldn’t go looking for a new deputy general, would he?
“Re-reporting to the General. The ones who carried out the punishment that night were indeed not eunuchs from the palace. Two men, one tall and one short. The short one had a very long knife scar on the back of his hand.”
Jiang Xingyan’s eyes sharpened.
Eunuchs and maids serving in the palace went through rigorous screening. Let alone a knife scar – even a scratch would disqualify someone from entering, for fear of offending the imperial family.
“Speaking of the palace, the place we know best is the Punishment Bureau, isn’t it? Getting beaten on the Emperor’s orders happens often. But I’ve never seen those two before.”
Jiang Xingyan had known for a long time who was behind it. But what was that person’s motive? She thought it over and over, but couldn’t figure it out. Still, that didn’t stop her from making a move to catch them.
“Minister Liu, Minister Cui, if you want to catch a thief, you just need to—”
——-
Shangguan Hanshan traveled with his lightness skill and happened to catch up just as Huo Ci was coming out of the Kunning Palace. He carefully tailed him, waiting until “she” stepped out of the Kunning Palace gate and the matron sent off by the Empress had turned away to leave before appearing mysteriously in front of “her.”
Huo Ci sensed a flash of white in the corner of his eye. When he focused, the person was already standing behind him. He had never seen a portrait of Shangguan Hanshan, so his instinct was to be wary.
“Who are you? Why are you blocking my way?”
The moment Huo Ci spoke, Shangguan Hanshan’s suspicion reached its peak.
Her tone was dull and boring. How could this be Wanwan’s daughter?
Shua!
Without a word, he reached out and ripped off Huo Ci’s veiled hat. Xia Feng and Dong Yang, who were following beside him, had no chance to stop him.
“How dare you!”
“Where did this rude man come from!”
The moment the veiled hat fell, Shangguan Hanshan froze.
The woman before him, though still wearing a veil over her face, had eyes that were unmistakably the combination of his and Wanwan’s. It had to be Yanyan, no doubt!
But the spirit in those eyes wasn’t even half of Wanwan’s. In fact, she was even a bit less spirited than Shangguan Luoyue. There was almost none of the usual brightness or liveliness of a young woman – just wariness and depth. It was as if a man’s soul were trapped inside a woman’s body.
Huo Ci picked up his veiled hat and put it back on. He had already guessed who this person was. He didn’t curtsy to Shangguan Hanshan. He knew that A Yan hadn’t fully accepted this man yet. Still, out of respect for an elder, he remained polite and composed.
“Senior, please be patient for a while longer. The day he comes before you to accept death will be the day you and your daughter are reunited.”
Shangguan Hanshan’s eagle-like gaze bored straight into Huo Ci.
“Will he come? He won’t run away, will he?”
Huo Ci gave him a slight nod. “Definitely.”
With that, supported by Xia Feng, the three of them walked around Shangguan Hanshan and left.
Shangguan Hanshan watched Huo Ci’s retreating figure. A highly unlikely yet strangely reasonable conclusion suddenly surfaced in his mind.
Before he could think it through, he heard someone exclaim behind him, “Adoptive Father?”
