Chapter 240: Deep as the Sea

Eyelashes fluttered slightly, and Jiang Yuan slowly opened her eyes.

A carved wooden bed, red gauze curtains, and a sweet, intoxicating fragrance permeated the air.

She sat up abruptly, her chest heaving violently as she gasped for air, fine beads of cold sweat breaking out on her forehead.

Looking around in lingering fear, the candlelight was dim and yellow. Through the hazy gauze curtains, she could vaguely see a dressing table placed not far away, with a few exquisite cosmetics and hair accessories scattered on it.

In front of the dressing table, a woman with a graceful figure sat with her back to her, leisurely grooming her waterfall-like black hair.

The woman must have heard the movement on the bed, for she didn’t even turn her head and said, “Awake?”

Jiang Yuan was very familiar with this voice.

She hurriedly got up, pushed aside the bed curtains, and stepped barefoot onto the cold floor, her voice trembling with the aftermath of survival, “Headmaster, was it you who saved me?”

Xu Jiuxi’s hand grooming her hair paused slightly, and she turned around to look, “Saved you? After classes ended today, I kept you back to check your schoolwork, and you fell asleep yourself. What’saving’ are you talking about?”

“…”

Jiang Yuan’s small mouth opened slightly, filled with confusion.

‘Headmaster kept her back to check schoolwork’—wasn’t that the excuse she used to deceive her classmate, Xue Yunwan?

Evening, Qiyan Forest.

Could it be that it was just a suffocating, desperate nightmare?

Jiang Yuan subconsciously touched her neck; it was already wrapped in gauze. When her fingers pressed lightly, the pain from the wound beneath the gauze was exceptionally clear.

Her bewildered expression immediately turned into terror.

Xu Jiuxi, who was half-turned, saw this and her expression remained indifferent, but her soft tone carried an unquestionable authority, “You will stay at the Qingjiao Pavilion for detention tonight! Shu Yao has already gone to your house to inform your mother that you are staying at the Law Academy.”

“Headmaster…”

Jiang Yuan was both confused and grateful.

Currently, other than being certain that she had been saved by her teacher, she knew nothing else and had many questions she wanted to ask.

But Xu Jiuxi clearly had little patience, or perhaps she didn’t want to tell her that much. She slowly stood up, turned her back to Jiang Yuan, and said, “Rest here obediently, I am going out for a while. If anyone asks tomorrow, you only need to remember that you didn’t go anywhere tonight and didn’t see anyone.”

Jiang Yuan’s heart tightened.

The words ‘didn’t see anyone’ faintly revealed something unusual.

She wanted to ask, ‘What happened to Yu Ruiyan?’, but in the end, she didn’t ask.

9:00 PM.

“Prince, let us part here, we shall gather another day.”

“Duke of Chu County, take care.”

In front of the Zhangtai Willow, several people clasped their hands in farewell.

Everyone’s face was flushed with wine, looking very satisfied and harmonious.

Li Meimei and Gao Gan were together, the two abandoned their horses and walked side by side along the long street, with attendants leading the horses far behind.

“Hoo~”

Li Meimei let out a long sigh, sounding both sentimental and weary.

“Old Fifth, what are you sighing about? Third Brother and Old Sixth got along quite well tonight, didn’t they?”

Gao Gan asked. Li Meimei, with his hands behind his back and eyes fixed forward, abandoned his usual devil-may-care attitude and sighed, “Well, my ass. Didn’t you notice that the way they addressed each other changed?”

Hearing him say this, Gao Gan recalled, and it was indeed the case.

Throughout the banquet, the two drank together several times and seemed very close, but they had always addressed each other as ‘Prince’ and ‘Duke of Chu County’.

Gao Gan was a bit worried and whispered, “They… they wouldn’t have really fallen out, would they?”

“That’s not quite it, but I’m afraid it’s hard to go back to how things were.”

“Meimei, who do you think is to blame for this?”

“We’re all adults, how can there be who is right or wrong? As for them, the Prince is a royal heir, so he inevitably thinks about interests and trade-offs when encountering things, unable to let go of the airs of’sovereign and subject’; Old Sixth is round on the outside but square on the inside, unwilling to be bossed around for the sake of wealth.”

“Then what if they become estranged in the future?”

“How would I know?”

Li Meimei seemed annoyed by this question and retorted sharply.

The two fell silent.

After walking for dozens of steps, Li Meimei sighed softly, as if talking to himself, or perhaps to Gao Gan, “In any case, I, Li Meimei, owe Ding Suian a life. No matter what happens in the future, I must repay it.”

A moment later, Gao Gan also whispered, “Me too.”

Over there.

Ding Suian could have left the City directly to go to the Estate, but because Lin Dafu was also there, he specifically returned to Suimian Street with him.

“Did the Duke of Chu County have a big argument with the Prince in front of the Prince Yinyang’s Estate a few days ago?”

“Who did Uncle hear that from?”

Compared to the address of ‘Lord Lin’ at the banquet, Ding Suian changed it to ‘Uncle’ in private.

“Many people are saying it today.”

“That’s not true. It wasn’t even a dispute, let alone a big argument. It must be that someone with ulterior motives deliberately embellished and spread it.”

Someone with ulterior motives. It was nothing more than the faction of the Prince of Linping.

They were eager for Chen Yi’s side to have internal strife, so naturally, they would take the opportunity to spread rumors.

Based on Ding Suian’s understanding, he could even guess that the one fueling the fire and spreading the public opinion behind the scenes was Prince Leyang’s heir, Han Jingru.

Tonight, Chen Yi specifically invited Ding Suian to the banquet, which was likely intended to prove to outsiders that they were still united.

“Uncle, how did you meet the Old Man?”

This was the key reason he was walking with Lin Dafu.

“Old Man?”

Lin Dafu looked confused. Ding Suian said, “Great-grandfather, ATai.”

“Oh, that old gentleman? This world is really small. It was only the day before yesterday that I learned you actually knew him.”

“When did Uncle get to know the Old Man?”

“It’s been quite a few years.”

“What is his background?”

“He…”

Lin Dafu looked left and right, lowered his voice and said, “He might be a person from the previous dynasty.”

“Might be? You even lent him your residence, and you don’t know his background?”

“Do I have to know his background to lend him my residence?”

Lin Dafu asked back, then added, “You also know that my family were royal merchants of the previous dynasty. When I was young, I heard my father mention that he had done a great favor for our family, and he instructed me to treat him like a father or brother. As for his specific background, I don’t know.”

“…”

Saying that was equivalent to saying nothing. He had already guessed that the Old Man might be from the previous dynasty back when he was in Southern Zhao.

Ding Suian turned his head to look at Old Lin, judging whether he really didn’t know the Old Man’s background, or if he was deliberately releasing some insignificant information to fool him.

“Why are you looking at me like that? You don’t trust others, but you don’t trust me either?”

Old Lin looked candid, then seemed to think of something, “Oh, right, the saber you use, Kunwu, is the object that the Old Man gifted to my father.”

“!”

A bolt of lightning flashed through Ding Suian’s mind.

He remembered that when Lin Hansu gave him this precious saber the year before last, she mentioned, ‘It is said that it once belonged to Emperor Ning of the previous dynasty.’

The Old Man… could he be a descendant of Emperor Ning?

“We’re home. Duke of Chu County, sleep well, haha.”

While speaking, the two had already walked to the gate of the mansion. Lin Dafu bowed with a chuckle and turned to his own home first.

“Master~”

“Hmm.”

Steward Lin greeted his master at the mansion gate, bowed to Ding Suian, and then let the servants slowly close the main gate.

After Lin Dafu entered the mansion gate, his body softened without warning, and he sat down on the threshold.

“Master!”

Steward Lin was startled, but Lin Dafu waved his hand, indicating he was fine.

But his hands were clearly shaking violently, and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his fat face.

In fact, he only learned this morning that Ding Suian had already known the Crown Prince back in Southern Zhao.

Consequently, he vaguely guessed Ding Suian’s background in his heart, and then vaguely saw the grand plan that the Crown Prince had been plotting for decades—what the Crown Prince was plotting was not just to take back the world lost by the previous dynasty, but also to settle scores with the enemies of that year one by one.

Among them, naturally, included the six kings of different surnames.

The Prince of Lanyang’s faction seemed to have perished under the court’s intention to ‘abolish titles’, but in reality, it was very likely that the Crown Prince was the one pushing it behind the scenes.

At the very least, he was the one who pushed the Prince Lanyang’s Estate to the forefront of being ‘abolished’.

When Lin Hansu resisted the funeral sacrifice and Ding Suian lent a helping hand, it seemed like an independent choice.

But they were all serving the Crown Prince’s grand plan.

Borrowing a knife to kill, perfectly hidden behind the scenes.

But the enemies of the previous dynasty were not just the six kings of different surnames; there was also the State Religion, and the current Emperor.

The Prince Lanyang’s Estate was just the first to perish.

His Lin family was a chess piece in the Crown Prince’s hand, Lin Hansu was too, and even the Crown Prince’s own descendants were the same.

Shopkeeper Wu, who had disappeared from the Lanyang Southern and Northern Goods Store, and Uncle Zhang and Nanny Zhang, who were left in the Lin mansion by the Crown Prince in their early years.

Over the decades, throughout this Great Wu, who knows how many similar dark pieces were buried in various places.

Midnight.

Ding Suian changed his clothes and went out again.

It was late at night, and the people cooling off on Suimian Street had long since returned to their homes; the long street was silent.

The identities of the Old Man and Zhao Ning were sensitive, so Ding Suian was very cautious when going to the Estate, looking around from time to time.

This ‘looking around’ really helped him ‘look around’ an uninvited guest~

At the entrance of Suimian Street, Xu Jiuxi, dressed in a cyan-grey gown, came towards him.

It seemed like a chance encounter on a summer night, and it also seemed like she came specifically to find him.

After the two saw each other, Xu Jiuxi stopped first, leaned against an old willow tree by the street, crossed her arms, and smiled with amusement.

When the distance between the two was about ten steps, he saw her, like a hooligan blocking a young lady from a good family, lift her chin and blow a frivolous whistle at Ding Suian, “Yo, Young Master, where are you going? Are you afraid of walking at night? Do you need this sister to accompany you?”

“…”

Ding Suian laughed dumbfoundedly and cooperated, “Please have some self-respect, sister. I am a decent man.”

“Pfft~”

Xu Jiuxi scoffed, walked out from under the willow tree, stretched out her arm, and wrapped it around Ding Suian’s waist like a domineering CEO.

Headmaster Xu, have you been watching too many short dramas?

Following that, she tiptoed close to Ding Suian’s ear, breathing like an orchid, “What decent man wanders outside in the middle of the night? You’re here to seduce this sister, aren’t you?”

Tsk tsk tsk, rogue!