Yu Shu and her group settled down at the Gui Gui Residence. Zhao Xiaozhu's sworn brother was away from home, so there were three empty stone houses, enough for each of them.
Mister Yanye, who was suspected to be Yun Hua, was a mute. Yu Shu was scratching her heart to find out if he was the other disciple of Taoist Qing Zheng. She could not say it out loud, but she did not give up trying to get closer to him.
Xue Rui called Jing Chen to help Zhao Xiaozhu chop firewood, fetch water, pluck chicken feathers, and prepare dinner. Yu Shu strolled around the fence and came to the door of Mister Yanye's room. She glanced inside and pretended to knock on the wide open wooden door.
The stone house was not big, and the walls were slightly uneven. The light green bricks with polished edges were all the same size, as if someone had cut them out like tofu. There were no calligraphy or paintings on the walls, but there were a few tapestries made of animal fur, decorated with brightly colored bird feathers, which gave the house a rustic feel.
There was a wooden couch in the middle of the room, and a stone table and a stone bench under the bright window. Mister Yanye was sitting on the low stone bench, his hands rubbing something.
When he heard the sound, he turned his head and saw Yu Shu outside the door. He smiled and waved at her with a kind expression, asking her to come in.
Yu Shu was stunned by his smile. This kind of handsome middle-aged man was really lethal, he could practically kill anyone from eighty to eight years old.
Mister Yanye did not know how to speak, but there was no harm in him communicating with Yu Shu. There was a pen and paper on the stone table, he invited Yu Shu to sit on the other stone bench, put the things in his hands into a box, and picked up the pen and paper to write for her.
Yu Shu stared at his handwriting, but she could not find any clues. She had seen one of the exam papers that Yun Hua had participated in twenty years ago, but for someone like her, who had only held a brush for a year, to be able to distinguish different handwriting was not reliable at all.
Fortunately, what he wrote was in plain language – 'Why did you come to An Xian from the capital?'
Yu Shu glanced at the paper and asked in surprise, "How did you know that we are from the capital?"
As soon as Zhao Xiaozhu returned, he went into the kitchen and did not have the chance to introduce them to his godfather.
Mr. Yano unhurriedly continued to write — — 'I can hear your accents.'
Yu Shu laughed dryly. She thought to herself, 'Keep pretending.' She purposely said, "It's the day of my Brother Jing's mother's death. We're here to accompany him in paying our respects."
In fact, tomorrow was the wedding day of Princess Lu Yue and Yun Hua Yi Zi. It was also the day when a woman would lose her lifelong love.
Mr. Yan Ye did not expect that she would be so 'blabbermouth', a layer of mist appeared in his deep eyes. Yu Shu observed his expression, it was clear that he did not hide it, but she could not decipher whether it was sadness or pain.
'You are all good children. 'He looked down and slowly wrote on the paper.
This made Yu Shu, who was waiting for him to give himself away, feel a little embarrassed. She inexplicably felt that she was gauging the heart of a gentleman with her own mean measure. She touched the tip of her nose and pointed to the wooden box on the table, changing the topic:
"What were you doing just now?"
The wooden box was wide and shallow, the color of the edges was worn off. The lid was half open, but Yu Shu could still recognize that there were a few clay figurines inside. They should be human figures. Unfortunately, the lid just happened to block the upper half, so she could not see whose face it was.
"This, is this a clay figurine?"
She looked up at him. Mr. Yan Ye had already recovered from his momentary loss of composure. He did not cover the wooden box and picked up the brush. The thin joints on the back of his hand could be seen.
'It's my family.'
Yu Shu's heart inexplicably skipped a beat. She could not grasp the clue, so she stared at the words on the paper in a daze. When she recovered from her stupor, she found that he was looking at her.
That kind of penetrating and probing gaze almost made her mistakenly think that he knew everything about her.
How could it be?
Zhao Xiaozhu's shout of "dinner is ready" came from outside the door. Yu Shu could not find out anything from Zhenren Yan Ye, but her intuition was telling her that this was Yun Hua.
Dinner was a feast of wild mushrooms. Zhao Xiaozhu cooked a good dish. Unfortunately, everyone at the table had their own worries and did not have much appetite. He was the only one who ate happily.
.....
At night, the forest quickly became cold. Zhao Xiaozhu chopped firewood to boil a large vat of hot water and sent a bucket of hot water to each of their rooms. The three of them were travel-worn, especially Yu Shu. It was inconvenient for her to go out, so this was really considerate.
Yu Shu closed the door and windows and simply washed her head and feet with warm water. Just as she changed into clean clothes, someone called from outside.
"Shu, when you're done packing, come next door. We have something to discuss."
It was Xue Rui.
"Okay, I'm coming." Yu Shu quickly responded. She tidied up her underwear and put it into her luggage. She tied up her hair again before she pushed the door open and went out.
Next door, Xue Rui and Jing Chen were both there. Zhao Xiaozhu was there as well.
"Big brother, what's the matter?"
"It's like this," Zhao Xiaozhu interrupted, "Brother Xiao Yu, I heard from Brother Jing and Brother Xue that you'll be heading to the area near the princess' tomb tomorrow to pay your respects. But that place is close to a valley, the terrain is remote, and there are many beasts in autumn. You don't go there often, so I'm afraid you'll get lost. I'd like to go with you."
"This … Won't it be too much trouble for you?" Yu Shu looked at Xue Rui and Jing Chen, seeking their opinion.
Jing Chen did not say anything, but Xue Rui patted Zhao Xiaozhu's shoulder and said, "Xiaozhu has good intentions. It's indeed difficult to find the way in the deep forest. I've discussed it with Jing Chen, and we've decided to ask him to be our guide. Xiaozhu's archery skills are excellent, so if we encounter beasts, we'll be safer."
Seeing that Jing Chen did not object, Yu Shu nodded in agreement after some thought. She thought that Zhao Xiaozhu's actions might be Mister Yanye's idea. It was fine for him to follow them, but she did not understand what they were trying to do. They couldn't just say it directly, but had to beat around the bush to make others suspicious.
The four of them agreed to set off at dawn the next day. Zhao Xiaozhu returned to her room, leaving Yu Shu and the other two to look at each other.
Yu Shu glanced outside the door. She wanted to say something, but stopped herself. Jing Chen understood and walked a few steps to the door. He leaned against the door frame, and when he heard Zhao Xiaozhu's light footsteps walking away, he signaled to the other two.
Xue Rui sat down and said, "Shu, how likely do you think this Mister Yanye is Yunhua Yi's son?"
Jing Chen also looked at her without blinking.
Yu Shu glanced at him and said hesitantly, "Before we ate, I chatted with him for a while. Based on his bearing and appearance, if Yunhua Yi's son is still alive, it might not be impossible. Also —"
"Also what?" Jing Chen's voice was a little nervous.
"I mentioned your mother in front of him, and I saw that he seemed to be very sad. He did not look like he was indifferent," Yu Shu said truthfully.
Jing Chen's crossed arms clenched tightly. He turned around and said in a low voice, "I'll go ask him."
"What do you want to ask?" Xue Rui said coldly behind his back, "Ask him if he is your father who should have died twenty years ago?"
Jing Chen froze.
Xue Rui continued mercilessly, "Do you think he will admit it, and then happily reunite with you as father and son? Do you know why Yunhua faked his death, and why he hid for twenty years for no reason? Do you think he refused to reunite with you because he has a heart of steel, or because he has his own difficulties? "
It was rare for Jing Chen to be impulsive. After being ridiculed, he calmed down and returned to the house with a gloomy look.
Yu Shu saw that the two of them were a little awkward, and she did not know what to say. She could only look at Xue Rui. Seeing him shake his head at her, she thought about it and understood that he did not want to say it in front of Jing Chen, so she said,
"Are we going to the princess' tomb tomorrow?"
The purpose of their trip was to find the whereabouts of Yunhua. Now that the person suspected to be Yunhua had appeared, was there still a need to go to the princess' tomb? It was just that Zhao Xiaozhu would follow them, and Mr. Yanye would not go with them.
"Whether he is or not, I have to pay my respects to my mother." Jing Chen said, then turned around and left.
Yu Shu felt that she had said the wrong thing just now, and she looked embarrassed. How could she forget that Jing Chen was different from them? His mother was buried in the princess' tomb, and he had to pay his respects.
"What should I do?" She looked at Xue Rui gloomily.
Xue Rui looked at the empty space outside the door. He slowed down his voice and said to her, "Have you forgotten that someone wants your life?"
Yu Shu did not know what to say.
When she arrived here, she was only concerned with excitement and did not think about her family's life for a moment. Xue Rui's words reminded her — if Sir Yanye was Yun Hua, then not only was he Jing Chen's father, he was also most likely the mastermind behind the murders in Taishi Library.
Once he found out that she was the one who had lost her life, wouldn't her little life be in danger?
"Zhao Xiaozhu may seem to be straightforward, but he is not stupid. When we were preparing dinner, I asked him about what he said, but there is no way to know if they have figured out your background. So, you have to be careful when you bring him with you tomorrow, in case he attacks you."
When Xue Rui spoke like this, he'd obviously guessed the worst, and he'd taken Zhao Xiaozhu's willingness to travel with them as an opportunity to kill her.
"… No." Yu Shu moved to sit next to Xue Rui and directly denied his guess. She moved closer to his ear and secretly told him,
"Even if he is Yunhua's son and has no mistakes, he does not have the ability to predict that I am the killer."
Xue Rui gave her a questioning look.
Yu Shu smiled and extended her left hand in front of him, "I have this."
Xue Rui's gaze moved towards her hand, and he saw that her fingers were well-proportioned and slender, and there was an inconspicuous wide silver ring on the end of her index finger. He knew that there was a black colored ring beneath the ring, and it was something passed down by that expert Master of hers that he'd only heard of but never met. However, she didn't know exactly what use this ring had earlier.
"I forgot to tell you." She whispered to him mysteriously, "This ring is the same as the treasure in Fifth Uncle Xin's hand, 'Zhuge Tong'. It can be used to deceive and block people's sight and hearing. If you wear it close to your body, no one can predict it."
Hearing the details, Xue Rui was quite surprised. But after listening to Yu Shu's detailed explanation of the ring's function, it was the same as the legendary treasure worn by the Emperor!
"So you can rest assured. Zhao Xiaozhu following us to the Princess' Tomb should not be to target me."
Xue Rui believed that Yu Shu would not joke around with her life, so he was relieved. As for what Mister Yanye's intention was, they could only take one step at a time.
After the exchange, Yu Shu went back to rest. She still had to ride the horse early in the morning. She was also tired. She sat on the edge of the wooden bed and was about to turn off the light to sleep when she found a piece of white paper under the oil lamp at the bedside.
She had seen Mister Yanye write before dinner, so she recognized that the ink color was the same as the handwriting. She hurriedly pulled it out and saw that there were only four lines written on it.
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