Chapter 530: Suddenly Leaving the Palace and the City
Dean Chen was speechless, his mind reeling. He was vastly experienced, having traveled the four nations, yet he had never met anyone who dared to speak or act this way.
’For a child, she has such incredible audacity.’
"Master, I want to establish a sect. I’ll need a mountain for it. Do you have any places you’d recommend?"
It took Dean Chen a long moment to process her words. "Establish a sect? A martial arts sect?"
"Something like that."
"I know of some places, but establishing a sect is no easy feat."
"Paths are forged by those who dare to walk them. I want to try."
"I will give the matter of a mountain location some serious thought." Dean Chen needed to collect his thoughts.
"Alright. It’s getting late. You should get some rest, Master." Ye Qianning rose to her feet.
"Mm."
Ye Qianning walked out the door.
"Two days. Give me two days," his voice called out from the room.
Ye Qianning turned to see her master standing in the doorway. She gave a slight nod. ’If he’s helping, I won’t have to worry about finding a location for the sect. After all, he knows Beili better than anyone.’
—
「Late May, the start of summer.」
Ye Qianning received a letter from her father, dated seven days prior. He had eliminated a large number of mountain bandits, and now only their leader was still at large. As soon as the man was captured, they could set out for the capital at once.
He could make it back in July to celebrate her birthday.
A birthday. ’In her past life, she’d never once celebrated a birthday. She didn’t even know what month she was born in. Hearing her father mention it, she felt an unexpected flicker of anticipation.’
Pangtuan’s birthday was on the sixteenth of July. Since her father said he could make it back, there shouldn’t be any issues.
Over the past few days, the matter of the sect had been settled. The location was decided: a mountain range outside of Su Zhou City. There had originally been an academy on the mountain, but after an incident over a decade ago, it fell into ruin, and its vast complex was abandoned.
Her master wrote a letter, pulled some strings, and bought the mountain range. Everything was already there, which saved a great deal of work.
Ye Qianning had all the pills she had recently refined sent to Du Ying and Luo Xuan, along with a large sum of money. She left it up to them to decide how to distribute it.
She also sent the extra guards from the manor to Su Zhou, since Du Ying and Luo Xuan couldn’t handle everything by themselves.
Her master also had some old friends in the Su Zhou area, so he had tokens sent to them so they could provide assistance if needed.
The Beili Emperor had been keeping a close eye on the imperial merchants lately. Gu Shuo had completed the handover of his business a few days ago and was now technically unemployed. Word from Nanyuan was that it would be at least two months or so.
In the meantime, Gu Shuo was researching which cities to build future taverns in; he needed to send people to scout the locations.
The Gu family had been much quieter recently. Since the family assets had been divided, the fourth Gu master’s family had moved out of the old Gu residence with a sum of money.
The eldest Gu master was busy expanding Qian Guangjin’s pawnshop and had no time to bother with the Gu family’s internal affairs. He sold several of the treasures he had acquired the very next day, recouping tens of thousands of taels.
By his calculations, if he sold everything, he stood to make a profit of at least fifty to sixty thousand taels on this deal.
The eldest Gu master’s family was deeply grateful for the young miss of the Xiang family’s generosity and thought they should foster a closer relationship in the future.
As for the fourth Gu master, his Yu Min Pawnshop had been closed for several days due to Gu Yuan’s negligence. When the fourth master found out what his son had done at the pawnshop, he gave him a furious scolding.
He was filled with hatred and anger as he watched the eldest master rake in a huge profit. ’She clearly came to Yu Min Pawnshop first! Even if their offer was low, Eldest Brother was completely out of line. To snatch business from his own nephew, completely disregarding family ties...’
In the second branch of the Gu family, the second master had also heard about the incident at Yu Min Pawnshop. He still disliked Ye Qianning, thinking her a troublemaking brat. ’She goes to pawn something at Yu Min Pawnshop, then turns right around and gives the items to Eldest Brother...’
’Isn’t that just deliberately trying to sow discord among the brothers!’
The third Gu master had handed his shops over to his son to manage, wanting to be a hands-off owner himself. He still hadn’t decided whether to take the money or move out of the old residence.
The old master of the Gu family had the most leisure time. He was either at Gu Shuo’s estate helping him analyze different cities or staying at the General’s manor. Cheerful and with no business to worry about, he could hardly be bothered to go back to the Gu residence anymore.
As for the Zhan family, Zhan Chi had been in close contact with Gu Shuo lately, intent on learning the ways of business. Zhan Yi was very supportive of this. Ever since tasting the seafood sent from the General’s manor, Zhan Yi had been craving more.
He was also extremely supportive of the Nanyuan business venture. While the Zhan family couldn’t help with the management side, they had plenty of capital and manpower to offer.
A few days ago, Noble Princess Consort Zhan was diagnosed as pregnant by the Imperial Physician. Lady Zhan had recently been summoned to the palace to keep her company.
The Beili Emperor, who had been troubled for days, was delighted by Noble Princess Consort Zhan’s pregnancy. It had been many years since a prince or princess was born into the imperial family. How could he not dote on the prospect of a new child in his later years?
For days on end, crate after crate of nourishing tonics and rewards were carried into Noble Princess Consort Zhan’s chambers, making Consort Yuan burn with envy.
Consort Yuan grew more anxious and irritable by the day, to the point where she often gave the Emperor the cold shoulder. No ruler could tolerate such disrespect time and again. Lately, the Emperor had stopped visiting Consort Yuan’s chambers altogether.
Consort Yuan, however, didn’t seem to care. She was far more concerned about the lost Token from the Medicine King Sect and the pills passed down from her master. The pills from the Medicine King Sect were unique; if anyone used one, the sect would surely be able to sense it.
The Medicine King’s Sect Leader had already notified disciples throughout Beili to be on the lookout. If anyone was discovered using or selling pills from the Medicine King Sect, they were to immediately contact their brethren and apprehend the thief.
As for the Qian family, Qian Fu spent his days in meditation and rarely left his residence. On the rare occasion he went out, it was to visit the General’s manor.
Qian Fanji took the matter of child trafficking that Ye Qianning had mentioned to heart. He contacted officials in various regions to gather evidence against the traffickers. For more serious offenses, anyone involved in kidnapping and trafficking was sentenced to death by beheading.
This served as a stark warning to all child abductors.
Ye Qianning hadn’t left the manor for the past few days either, spending all her time in her pocket dimension. Although the two plots of land inside were small, seeds matured incredibly fast, allowing for a large harvest each day.
The longer the pills were refined, the purer they became. With nothing else urgent to attend to, she meticulously monitored the refining process, never stepping away, to ensure the highest quality.
Old Master Gu, Zhan Yi, and the other elders enjoyed tea, so she had to prepare plenty more for them. Drinking it was nourishing and good for their health.
The sun rose and set, and a few days passed in a flash.
「In the blink of an eye, it was the fifth day of the sixth month.」
Early in the morning, before Ye Qianning was even up, someone from the palace arrived.
The butler waited at her door for ages. When Ye Qianning still didn’t emerge, he grew anxious and started craning his neck, searching for any sign of Luo Wen.
"Guard Luo? Are you there?"
He was met with complete silence.
"Guard Luo, the person from the palace is waiting! If you don’t come out, I’ll have to knock and enter the room myself!" the butler said, tentatively pushing the door.
"The Young Miss isn’t awake yet. Tell them to wait," a voice replied.
The butler withdrew his hand and stepped back. He looked all around but still couldn’t see Luo Wen. "They’re from Consort Yuan’s chambers! How can I dare give them a reply like that? Guard Luo, I’m begging you, please wake the Young Miss."
"I don’t care whose people they are. They can wait," Luo Wen’s voice replied coldly.
A worried expression on his face, the butler paced back and forth anxiously.
Ye Qianning was, in fact, already awake. For the past two days, she had felt inexplicably exhausted and weak. ’Perhaps my body is under some kind of strain,’ she thought. Her sleep had also been much heavier than usual.
She sat up and pressed her temples, saying drowsily, "Butler, tell them to wait a moment."
"Young Miss, you’re up?" The butler was delighted.
"Mm."
"Good, I’ll go inform the eunuch right away."
Ye Qianning sat without moving, her head feeling a bit dizzy.
"If the Young Miss is not feeling well, we can just send them back," Luo Wen said, standing at the door.
"If I don’t go today, they will come back tomorrow."
’The slow-acting poison Consort Yuan gave me... it must be about time for another dose. The interval can’t be more than two months, and it’s been about that long.’
’If I stubbornly refuse to go, Consort Yuan will probably find an excuse to come to the General’s manor herself.’
Besides, Ye Qianning hadn’t seen Sang Zhi in a while. ’Without a summons, I can’t enter the palace, so it’s quite difficult to see him.’
’Even though I get daily messages from his little honeyeater, I still feel a bit uneasy.’
She shook her head, slowly scooted to the edge of the bed, and hopped down. She walked to the wardrobe, selected a set of light-colored clothes, and tied an embroidered sash around her waist.
Standing before the bronze mirror, she casually tied her hair into a ponytail and coiled it into a bun, which made her look a bit like a young Daoist priestess.
Luo Wen entered carrying a basin of water and set it on the washstand. He picked up the towel from the rack, dipped it into the water, and then turned to prepare a cup for her to rinse her mouth.
"From now on, let Ying Yuan and Ying Ge do these things," Ye Qianning said, taking the cup from his hand.
Luo Wen froze, then immediately dropped to his knees, his voice laced with panic. "Young Miss, did I do something wrong?"
"No, I just feel it’s a bit inappropriate for a grown man like you to be doing these things." ’A handsome young man, nearly six feet tall, spending his days waiting on me as I wash up... it’s a complete waste of his talents.’
"I am willing to serve you, Young Miss," Luo Wen insisted, seeing nothing inappropriate about it at all.
"Get up."
"Young Miss, please don’t send me away. I’ve sworn to follow you for the rest of my life." Luo Wen stood up, his handsome face creased with worry.
"You can’t follow me for a lifetime."
"Young Miss?" Luo Wen panicked again.
"You’re eighteen this year, aren’t you? That’s marrying age. If you take a liking to a young lady in the future, just tell me. As long as the feelings are mutual, I can help you marry her, even if she’s a princess."
"I have never thought about taking a wife."
"You only say that because you haven’t met her yet. When you do, you’ll be the one in a hurry," Ye Qianning chuckled.
Luo Wen had no concept of marriage. ’As long as I can serve the Young Miss as a Hidden Guard in the General’s manor for the rest of my life,’ he thought, ’my life will have been worth living.’
Ye Qianning rinsed her mouth, brushed her teeth, and spat out the water. She took the towel from Luo Wen to wipe her face and, with a yawn, finished getting ready, though she still felt sluggish.
Luo Wen bent down and picked her up. He was long accustomed to her habits; a single glance was all he needed to know what to do.
「At the main gate of the General’s manor.」
The young eunuch sent to escort her was pacing back and forth anxiously, glancing into the manor from time to time.
He had come at the crack of dawn, and now he had been waiting for over two hours with no sign of anyone. At this rate, it would be noon before he returned to the palace.
"Why isn’t she out yet?" the eunuch snapped, his expression foul.
"Eunuch, please don’t be anxious. It takes time to wash up and dress for a trip to the palace. Our Young Miss doesn’t have any maids to attend to her, and since she’s so little, it’s only natural she’d be a bit slow." The butler had been burning with anxiety himself, but seeing the eunuch’s impatient face, he suddenly found that his own sense of urgency had vanished...
"A grand place like the General’s manor can’t even afford a single maid?" the young eunuch asked, both irritated and surprised.
"That’s right, we can’t. How about you put in a good word with the Consort, Eunuch, and ask her to bestow a bit of money on our Young Miss?"