Upon receiving a look from Jiang Yucheng, Feng Shanyuan wisely took his leave.
Mu Qinghe entered the room moments later.
Jiang Yucheng leaned back against the chair. “Spill it. What’s wrong?”
Mu Qinghe cupped one fist in the other hand. “Eldest Young Master, I’ve been secretly investigating Hundred Herbs Building, but I wasn’t able to find out much due to their tight security. The one thing I accidentally came to know about is that although Yue Ling is running Hundred Herbs Building, someone else is actually calling the shots behind the scene. That person must be Hundred Herbs Building’s real owner.”
“The real owner? Who’s that?” Jiang Yucheng knitted his brows. I only know that there must be someone backing Hundred Herbs Building for it to reach its current scale, but I don’t know who that person is. Besides, they have been running their business quietly all along and have never done anything to affect my interests. Hence, I didn’t send anyone to conduct a thorough investigation on them.
Mu Qinghe shook his head. “That person is very secretive, and there’s no clue leading to him. Although I did hear about him being very doting toward his wife—that’s all to it.”
Everything about Hundred Herbs Building’s real owner and his wife was just hearsay. When Mu Qinghe really tried looking into things, he realized that the other party was much more powerful than he thought.
They left no trails behind, thus leaving him with no clues to act on.
“If Chu Liuyue really has someone from Hundred Herbs Building backing her up, it’s likely to be that person.” Otherwise, there’s no way to explain the recent bout of events.
“Chu Liuyue came from an ordinary background and has never stepped foot into Xi Ling before, so how could she possibly know a bigwig like him?” Jiang Yucheng was skeptical about this though.
Mu Qinghe lowered his head slightly. “Word has it that Yue Ling treated Chu Liuyue with utmost respect and even personally served her during her last visit to Hundred Herbs Building. I believe only a handful of people in the whole of Xi Ling would receive such treatment.”
That caused a slight change in Jiang Yucheng’s expression. “…That makes more sense now… Did you really not manage to find anything about the so-called boss? Do you know if he’s from Xi Ling, or perhaps his age?”
Mu Qinghe shook his head once more before hesitantly saying, “We were discovered, actually. And… they even gave us a warning.”
Jiang Yucheng’s eyes widened in shock. “What?!”
Mu Qinghe spread his palm open, where a deep, bloody slit spanned across it. Seeing how his hand was almost sliced off, it was clear what the other party was warning them: Stick to your own business!
“You exchanged blows with them?” asked Jiang Yucheng coldly.
“Yes, with a masked man. His cultivation… isn’t inferior to mine.” What Mu Qinghe actually wanted to say was that the other party’s cultivation was very likely to be higher than his. Otherwise, it was impossible for that person to leave such a deep cut on his palm so easily.
Feeling immensely resentful, Jiang Yucheng fell silent for a long time. I have never met anyone as arrogant as the other party in the past two years, but I don’t even know who that person is. It’s clear from how they dealt with Yuzhi and Mu Qinghe that the other party has no intentions of letting things slide.
Given his usual personality, there was no way he would allow anyone to bully him, especially on his turf—Xi Ling. However, the current circumstances didn’t allow him to stir up any trouble.
As he stared at the cut on Mu Qinghe’s palm, he rubbed his temples and let out a long breath. “Forget it. Let’s put this matter aside for now. We’ll be going to Dahuang Swamp in a few days, so let’s just should prepare for it first.”
“Understood.” Mu Qinghe had already expected this outcome, so he nodded unsurprisingly. Given how vexed Jiang Yucheng is lately, there’s no way he would care about this matter now. We can only talk about it after we come back from Dahuang Swamp.
“If you have no other orders for me, I’ll take my leave now.”
Jiang Yucheng waved his hand, indicating to the other to leave.
But just as Mu Qinghe took a couple of steps, he called him to stop. “By the way… Were you the one who called a horse carriage for Rong Xiu the other day?”
“Yes,” answered Mu Qinghe with a nod, albeit feeling a little surprised that Jiang Yucheng knew about Rong Xiu.
Jiang Yucheng’s expression turned a little cold as he fell deep in thought. After a while, he asked, “What… is his background like?”
Mu Qinghe was even more surprised to hear this question. Why is he suddenly so curious about Rong Xiu? He’s actually wasting his time and energy on someone unrelated to him despite the many things he has to deal with right now?
He pushed his questions aside and briefly told Jiang Yucheng about Rong Xiu. He didn’t know much about Rong Xiu in the first place, so there was only so much he could tell him. While he spoke, he carefully studied Jiang Yucheng’s face. “…That’s about it. Are you suspecting him, Eldest Young Master?”
Jiang Yucheng parted his lips but didn’t say anything in the end. He only shook his head and told Mu Qinghe to leave.
It was only after Mu Qinghe closed the doors that he shut his eyes in irritation. Why am I thinking about these useless things at this juncture? I haven’t found the person who tried to assassinate me, nor uncovered the identity of Hundred Herbs Building’s real boss and found out if he’s a threat to me. Most importantly, I’ll be going to Dahuang Swamp soon. I have to stabilize my condition as soon as possible and prevent Shangguan Wan from pulling any tricks. I really shouldn’t be wasting my time and energy asking those questions, but for some reason… The scene from that day keeps appearing in my mind.
Snow was falling, and everything was blanketed in white. A man and a woman were snuggling against each other in the warm and spacious horse carriage.
The woman leaning against the man’s chest had disheveled hair, flushed cheeks, and a pair of sparkling and alluring eyes. Her body was wrapped in the man’s black cloak like how one would hold a precious treasure. Her shy smile was pure and clean, and it revealed a tinge of sweetness that couldn’t be hidden.
Jiang Yucheng closed his eyes tiredly once more, but as he did that, another scene flashed across his mind.
It was a hot, sunny day when another woman revealed the same bright and sunny smile to him outside the zither room and by Thousand View Garden’s lake. She shyly but honestly said to him, “Yucheng, I have someone I like. Let’s forget about the engagement.”
