Chapter 49: Thousand Paths's Provocation
In the main hall, after Yao Mowan and Ye Junqing sat down, Ben Lei immediately had the servants bring up tea. The tea leaves were naturally of the best quality.
"How are the preparations for The Remote Springs going?" Yao Mowan lifted the teacup and took a light sip. The fragrance of the tea instantly filled her mouth, leaving a lingering sweetness on her tongue. Since they had rushed here for The Remote Springs, they naturally had to carry out the act fully.
"Reporting, Master, Ben Lei had immediately bought all of Phoenix Mountain as soon as Ben Lei had gotten the order, so you can use it as you please. Ben Lei guarantees that no one will disturb you." As Ben Lei cupped his fist and replied, the Elements had already appeared with the account books of the respective areas that they managed.
"You guys have worked hard." Yao Mowan was sincerely grateful.
"As hidden guards, it's natural for us to do everything we can for our master." As of now, the Elements each had their own names that they used to interact with the outside world. Their names were Feng Lin, Yu Er, Lei Ting, and Dian Shan. Of the four, Yu Er was the only girl. However, when it came to martial arts, Yu Er was also the strongest.
"Ting Yue, bring the books into my room." Yao Mowan nodded slightly. Just as Ting Yue was taking the account books, the manager, Uncle Tian, suddenly jogged in to pass something to Ben Lei.
"Sir, a child placed this message at the door just now." Uncle Tian was past his sixties and most of his long beard was already white, but he still seemed very healthy and full of vigor. His voice rung strongly like a bell. It was obvious with one look that he was someone who practiced martial arts, and the fact that Ben Lei had picked him meant that he was probably also quite skilled.
Ben Lei took the letter with a serious expression, then immediately walked to Yao Mowan's side to offer her the letter. Yao Mowan lifted her brows as she took the letter, only to find that 'To Proprietor Yao' was written on it in large font.
"Master, this is Thousand Paths's main shopkeeper, Baili Haoran's writing. You've only arrived in Mangyuan, but they had immediately sent this letter. Could it be that they've already guessed your identity?" Ben Lei looked towards Yao Mowan worriedly.
"Since this empress had decided to come, this empress naturally had no intentions of continuing to hide. However, it doesn't necessarily mean they've found anything. It's nothing but a bluff." Yao Mowan slowly tore open the envelop, unconcerned, to pull out a land contract.
"This… This is Phoenix Manor's land contract? That's not possible! This subordinate has already bought Phoenix Mountain! The land contract is in this subordinate's possession!" Ben Lei's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Go get your land contract." Yao Mowan set down the letter to focus on examining the land contract in her hand, but she couldn't find any flaws on it. Ben Lei didn't dare to be slow and immediately turned to have Uncle Tian get the land contract.
Ye Junqing was standing at the side, completely baffled by the conversation. He didn't even understand what Yao Mowan was talking about and could only slowly get up to walk out of the hall.
Yao Mowan saw Ye Junqing leave out of the corner of her eye, a trace of sadness flashed through her eyes. Ben Lei was just about to speak, but Yao Mowan stopped him. When Ben Lei saw Yao Mowan shake her head, although he was a bit torn by this decision, he didn't move to catch up with Ye Junqing.
Once Uncle Tian brought over the land deed, Yao Mowan rolled each of the deeds up with a jade stone. When she opened them again, the stamp on Ben Lei's contract was faded while the other one was perfectly intact.
"Your contract is fake. You were probably swindled." Yao Mowan didn't criticize Ben Lei. She had forced a blade-welding vanguard to suddenly become a pen-welding shopkeeper. It had definitely not been easy for Ben Lei, so it was hard to avoid having small errors occur occasionally.
"This subordinate was slow-witted! Master, please give a punishment!" Although Yao Mowan didn't say anything, Ben Lei blamed himself a lot and immediately knelt on the ground guiltily.
"The other party was skilled and was clearly targeting you, so it's not a surprise that you were tricked. Rise." Yao Mowan looked at the land contract on the table contemplatively.
"Master, Ben Lei doesn't understand. Since they tricked this subordinate out of the contract, why did they send the real contract now?" Ben Lei looked towards Yao Mowan in confusion.
"This empress isn't clear on this either. Since they're publicly opposing Yao Manifest Trade, there shouldn't be any need for them to do this empress a favor." For the time being, Yao Mowan also couldn't really figure out what the other party was trying to do.
"Then should we return the deed?" suggested Ben Lei worriedly.
"Are you joking? Isn't this money? They were the ones that gave the contract back, it's not like we snatched it. Why should we give it back? Put it away properly and don't lose it!"
Yao Mowan found it very strange that Ben Lei would have such a thought. She couldn't help but sigh internally. If she had personally managed the business in Mangyuan, the numbers on the ledgers would be at least three times higher. If only it was possible to clone oneself! And there was no one by her side that was more reliable than Ben Lei, so she could only make do.
Yao Mowan only walked out of the main hall once she fully came to understand the current situation in Mangyuan after talking with Ben Lei and the others. She found that azure figure in the back courtyard. Beneath the sunlight, that figure stood like a towering mountain. Just the side profile of that handsome face was enough to captivate all hearts. As the autumn breeze swept up the hair that had fallen slightly over his forehead, it drew a beautiful arc through the air. In this current moment, Ye Junqing seemed like a celestial who had just walked out of an antique painting, beautiful to the point of being unreal.
"Why are you here? Ben Lei has been looking for you for a long time." Yao Mowan was lying. Ben Lei had wanted to look for him, but she had sent him away.
"Say… Is this prince useless?" Ye Junqing's words were shocking. Yao Mowan abruptly looked over and stared at Ye Junqing as her heart pulsed with pain.
Just two years ago, she had still been able to see the sight of Ye Junqing cutting his way fearlessly through the battlefield. In that battle, Ye Junqing had been able to rescue Ye Hongyi safely with only three thousand elite soldiers facing an enemy army of a hundred thousand! A genius like this was actually now calling himself useless.
"Prince, why would you think this?" Yao Mowan restrained the sorrow in her eyes. Suddenly, her mood improved. This was a good sign. This meant that Ye Junqing was already starting to shift his attention from the matter of Yao Moxin's death to his own self. That was why he would end up having this kind of thought.
"It's nothing, just a momentary thought. If you're busy, you should go handle whatever you need to do. There's no need to mind this prince." Ye Junqing seemed to catch himself being melancholic so he quickly changed the topic. Yao Mowan didn't want to make Ye Junqing feel awkward, so she didn't press him and just left.
Inside Thousand Paths's silk store, Baili Haoran was currently in the grip of a pestilence demon. His heart was filled with incessant grievances.
"Talk! Have you sent the land contract over yet? Did you do it or not!?" Chu Moxin held Baili Haoran's collar with one hand while waving his other fist in front of Baili Haoran's eyes threateningly.
"How could this humble subject ever dare to trick you, Little Prince? The land contract had been sent over three days ago." Baili Haoran suddenly felt severe regret! He shouldn't have told Chu Moxin about his plan without holding anything back. Now things were just great. He had barely gotten to hold the land contract for Phoenix Mountain that he had worked so hard to swindle for a few moments before it was returned to Ben Lei.
"This prince doesn't believe you! If you had really sent it over, Yao Mowan would definitely give a return present! Why is there nothing at all? Do you have anything else that's valuable? Send another one over!" said Chu Moxin in complete seriousness.
"Little Prince, who's side are you on exactly?" If it was someone else, Baili Haoran would definitely think that this person was a traitor, but this person just had to be Chu Moxin. He couldn't yell at him, hit him, hate him, or hurt him.
"Who cares which side you're on! In any case, this prince wants to see Yao Mowan! Either let this prince out, or continue to send presents until she steps inside this door! If you don't want to do that, just tell Yao Mowan that this prince is here!" said Chu Moxin impatiently.
"The crown prince gave orders that we can't reveal our identities. This humble subject can't…"
"Forget it! This prince is going out! This prince is able to die from being cooped up here all day!" Chu Moxin flung Baili Haoran aside, but just was he was about to rush out, the door was suddenly opened from outside. Chu Moxin abruptly came to a halt. When he looked over, he saw that Huangfu Junxiu was walking in with a meaningful wink.
__________
Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
[Chiyomira's Corner]
C: A rough translations of the names that the Elements are using are: Feng Lin – Wind Beast; Yu Er – Rain Child; Lei Ting – Thunderclap; Dian Shan – Lightning Flash.
