Chapter 84 Leave Early and Return Early

Chapter 84: Leave Early, Return Early

Shen Huixue stayed with A Chan until evening. Before leaving, A Chan packed some chicken jerky made by Chen Hui for her.

Escorting Shen Huixue to the door, she held A Chan’s hand reluctantly and said, "In a couple of days, once I’ve convinced the Heir Apparent, I’ll come find you again."

"Alright, make sure to come before the Mid-Autumn Festival so you can taste the mooncakes Hui Niang makes herself."

"Understood."

After seeing her off onto the carriage and watching it gradually disappear into the distance, A Chan turned around, her pink skirt billowing in a graceful arc like a blossoming flower.

She walked back into the shop with light steps and said to Chen Hui, "Hui Niang, let’s go on a trip."

"Where to?" Chen Hui showed some interest in her suggestion.

"Xiling. The Heir Apparent to the Duke of Liguo is going to Xiling, and Hui Xue wants to go with him. I thought, since we have nothing else to do, why not go for a change?"

"Sure, I haven't left the capital in years," Chen Hui agreed without much hesitation. "I’ve heard Xiling borders Yongzhou, and the Ji River flows through both places. If we take a boat from Yongzhou, we should reach Xiling quickly."

"Hui Niang, you're so knowledgeable!" A Chan praised sincerely.

"If you spent less time reading storybooks and more time reading travelogues, you’d know just as much."

Since they lived next to a bookstore, A Chan loved buying books. Whenever Boss Xu recommended something interesting, she’d buy it to read.

She adored storybooks, clinging to them all day, but travelogues put her to sleep after just a few pages—one might think the books were laced with a sleeping potion.

A Chan shook her head. "A home only needs one scholar. No need for me to try. It’s a shame the recent storybooks aren’t any good."

She had already begun to miss the once-popular tales of Justice Yan—at least those cases were interesting.

Some people were bound to be discussed. Two days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, rumors suddenly spread through the streets that the former Justice Yan, Lord Yan, had been bedridden for days and died in his residence two days prior.

Yan Liru’s reputation as an official had been decent, and he had indeed helped many people. Upon hearing the news, numerous commoners set up spontaneous memorials for him on the day of his funeral.

A Chan learned all this from Boss Xu next door. He had gone to pay his respects to Yan Liru that morning and mentioned that only the Yan family’s servants attended the funeral. For some reason, not a single friend or relative showed up, making it a rather lonely affair.

After sharing this, Boss Xu sighed to A Chan, saying that Yan Liru had first lost his wife, then his only son, and now even himself. Perhaps Lord Yan had unknowingly offended some evil spirit.

A Chan thought to herself, *They didn’t offend anything unknowingly—they knew precisely what they were doing.*

She stayed in the bookstore until noon when the "evil spirit" the Yan family had provoked came to call her home to eat.

Only after leaving the bookstore did A Chan say to Chen Hui, "Boss Xu said Yan Liru is dead."

A flash of surprise crossed Chen Hui’s face. "Dead?"

"What’s wrong? Is something off?" Her reaction confused A Chan.

"He died earlier than I expected. I thought he’d last at least another month."

"Could it be that he couldn’t bear watching his body rot bit by bit and took his own life?" A Chan guessed.

Chen Hui shook her head. "A man like him would cling to life until his last breath, searching for any way to survive rather than choosing death."

Yan Liru was an incredibly tenacious man. Once he set his mind on a goal, he would crawl on his hands and knees if needed to achieve it. His life was too valuable to him—how could he willingly give it up?

"Then was there some accident?"

The same question also intrigued King Ming.

King Ming hadn’t attended court these past few days, spending his leisure time painting in his manor. Hearing a knock at the door, he didn’t look up. "Enter."

The door creaked open, revealing a man in a sky-blue, wide-sleeved round-collared robe, wearing a jade crown—the epitome of refinement.

After a second glance to confirm it was indeed his son and not an imposter, King Ming set down his brush and asked casually, "When did you get here? Why wasn’t I informed?"

"I climbed over the wall. The staff doesn’t know," Bai Xiuming replied, lifting his robe as he sat in the chair opposite the desk. "Yan Liru’s funeral was this morning. Were you aware, Father?"

King Ming leaned back in his chair. "I heard. How did he die?"

"Two days ago, the Marquis of the North left his residence to visit Yan Liru. After he left, Yan Liru died." Bai Xiuming’s words were succinct, but the meaning was clear to anyone.

"It seems the father-in-law and son-in-law had a conflict?" King Ming asked with interest.

"A few days prior, Yan Liru tried to contact Bai Yichen, but Bai Yichen refused to see him. Presumably, he wanted to use the Demon Seal to bargain for his life."

King Ming sighed. "Desperation drives men to folly. Had he given the Demon Seal directly to the Marquis of the North, he might have lived a few more days."

Yan Liru had attempted to bypass the Marquis of the North and appeal directly to the Prince of Xiling. That he deduced the prince’s involvement showed his years as an official hadn't been for nothing.

But he failed to recognize his own worth. What the Prince of Xiling valued was the Marquis of the North, a Fourth Realm Powerhouse.

The prince sought to tie the marquis securely to his cause through this transaction—a deal he would only make with the marquis himself.

"When facing death, men always clutch at straws."

"By now, the Demon Seal must have fallen into your brother’s hands?" King Ming asked.

"Yes. Bai Yichen traded a Nine Yuan Pill to the Marquis of the North in exchange for the Demon Seal." Bai Xiuming smirked. "They say the Nine Yuan Pill was created by the late Demon Emperor and can help one break through to the Fifth Realm. The demons possess only a few remaining—it seems they’re truly desperate to reclaim the seal. Are they planning to restore their kingdom?"

King Ming shook his head. "Establishing a kingdom is no easy feat. Demons are naturally unruly. Even when the Demon Emperor rose to power and subdued them, he couldn’t found a nation."

"Then how was the demon kingdom eventually built?" Bai Xiuming asked curiously.

"Later, he befriended a fox spirit from Qingyu Mountain. That fox spirit helped him unite the demons, and only then was the demon kingdom established, with the demons acknowledging him as emperor."

"How does Father know these details?"

King Ming was not one to lie, yet no historical records—not even those of the demons—mentioned this fox spirit. Bai Xiuming had perused them all and found no trace of such a tale.

"Because... I was acquainted with that fox spirit."

"I see." Bai Xiuming didn’t press further.

Noticing his son's withdrawal, King Ming sighed inwardly. He bore no particular hostility toward demons and never hid his past associations with them. His opposition arose from conflicting allegiances.

But Bai Xiuming’s hatred of demons was rooted in childhood trauma—a wound too deep to ever heal.

Perhaps the Prince of Xiling had never taken Bai Xiuming’s past to heart, which was why he now dared to summon him back.

Or perhaps he simply didn’t see the current Bai Xiuming as a threat.

Some people just loved to overrate their own cunning.

King Ming pushed aside his thoughts and sighed. "Once you leave, who knows when you’ll return?"

The hardworking son had departed, leaving only Qin Heng in the capital—a man who'd rather collect his paycheck than lift a finger. King Ming was getting more and more frustrated. At his advanced age, must he personally oversee the Bright Mirror Bureau?

Bai Xiuming said calmly, "The winters in Xiling are damp and cold, with harsh winds. I'll wrap things up before winter arrives."

Hearing this, King Ming finally seemed satisfied. "Then make it quick."

"Understood." Bai Xiuming rose and left.

On the eve of Mid-Autumn Festival, A Chan hadn’t seen Shen Huixue for several days and assumed she had failed to persuade the Heir Apparent to the Duke of Liguo. But just past noon, Shen Huixue arrived at the shop in a carriage.

"I thought you weren’t coming," A Chan greeted her, noticing as she drew closer that Shen Huixue looked unwell, she looked worn out.

"Are you sick?" A Chan asked.

Shen Huixue shook her head. "No, just exhausted these past few days."

The day after Zhang Jinghuai got engaged, she had found an excuse to summon him back to her residence. She had pulled out all the stops to finally make him agree.

But when she saw Zhang Jinghuai off, the moment the door opened, she ran straight into his fiancée.

Clearly someone in the Duke’s household had deliberately leaked the news to the girl, wanting her to know of Shen Huixue’s existence.

Shen Huixue didn’t want to recall the scene—only that the young lady from the Minister’s household had left without a word, with Zhang Jinghuai following after her before vanishing as well.

The news quickly reached the Duke’s residence. That same day, the Duchess sent two disciplinarians to "knock some manners into her."

For days, she had been drilled from morning till night by those two matrons, leaving her no time to step out.

Only today, when Zhang Jinghuai visited, did she finally get a break.

Seeing the concern in A Chan’s eyes, Shen Huixue gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. "It’s really nothing. It’s just that with the Heir Apparent’s engagement, some in the Duke’s household dislike me. Once we leave the capital, things will be fine."

A Chan pressed her lips together and didn’t press further.

Shen Huixue then said, "I’ve already spoken with the Heir Apparent. We’ll depart at the end of 7-9 am the day after tomorrow. I’ll come to pick you up and Hui Niang then."

"Alright, I’ll wait for you at home."

After a pause, Shen Huixue added, "Oh, the Heir Apparent mentioned that he’ll be traveling back to Xiling with the Second Young Master of the Prince of Xiling’s household. But he isn’t familiar with them, so there likely won’t be much interaction along the way."

A Chan just nodded, not thinking much of it.

Shen Huixue seemed to have other business to take care of and couldn’t stay long. After finishing her business, she hurried off with a bag of freshly baked mooncakes Chen Hui had prepared for her.

After she left, Chen Hui stood beside A Chan and said quietly, "Her life in the Duke’s household doesn’t seem easy."

She had heard everything but pretended not to hear to not embarrass Shen Huixue.

"People are hypocritical and greedy. They lust after demon women's beauty yet think they're beneath them," A Chan turned away. "Such arrogance will one day come back to bite them."

Chen Hui glanced at A Chan, sensing her words extended beyond just Shen Huixue.

The day before departure, A Chan and Chen Hui returned to Chongming Lane to leave their only pet—a horse—in Lin Sui’s care.

Upon hearing they were heading to Xiling, Lin Sui wanted to tag along. But she was at a critical stage in her cultivation and couldn’t leave the capital, so she reluctantly had to pass.

Early the next morning, just as dawn broke, A Chan was woken up by Chen Hui.

While she washed up in the backyard, Chen Hui had already moved their luggage to the entrance, along with a large bag of snacks.

At the beginning of 7-9 am, two carriages bearing the Duke’s insignia stopped outside the shop.

Chen Hui loaded their luggage onto the second carriage before they boarded the first.

The carriage was spacious, easily accommodating three people.

Shen Huixue pulled A Chan to sit by a low table, where a plate of meat buns lay.

Noticing A Chan’s glance, she smiled. "I figured you hadn’t eaten yet. I saw a stall selling delicious buns on the way, so I bought some for us to try."

Outside, two fine horses pulled the carriage toward the western gate. Inside, the two happily munched on the buns.

Only when the carriage passed through the city gates did Shen Huixue lift the curtain to peer outside at the coachman’s call.

Zhang Jinghuai had arrived at some point, speaking with another man on horseback not far away. When she saw who it was, a flicker of fear passed through Shen Huixue’s eyes.

"What’s wrong?" A Chan, noticing her expression, curiously leaned out to look.

And then she saw—Bai Xiuming?