Chapter 288: The Long Clan’s prize for capture (1/2)

Chapter 288: The Long Clan’s prize for capture

Long Feiye’s reward offer caused unrest in Medical City as well as the rest of Cloud Realm Continent. Near twilight, Han Yunxi and Gu Qishao arrived at Medicine City’s south gates, where they spotted a large crowd gathered by the entrance.

“Did something big happen in Medicine City?” Gu Qishao said curiously as he went forward. But instead, he saw a huge bounty poster plastered to the wall! All it had was a single portrait and some text. The portrait itself was very big and took up two-thirds of the poster. The person in the portrait had exceedingly fine features and a tender, charming face, but even that couldn’t conceal the innate regality between her brows. Gu Qishao recognized the painting as Han Yunxi with a glance! Two lines of text were written below the portrait.

The first line read: Return quickly, or bear the consequences.

The second line read: Anyone who sees this person should report it to the Duke of Qin’s estate. Reward will be 10,000 taels of gold.

There were no details on how Han Yunxi had disappeared. The poster didn’t even have the word “Missing” on it anywhere. The Duke of Qin posting rewards to find Qin Wangfei had already created a sensation across the continent, much less his hefty bounty. It’d be strange if it wasn’t Cloud Realm Continent’s lead story of the moment. The crowd around them was making guesses as to what happened. Some said that Han Yunxi had been kidnapped, while others speculated that she’d wandered off and gotten lost. Still others wondered whether the Duke of Qin was simply putting on a farce for Emperor Tianhui, since he didn’t want this woman anymore…

Of all the guesses present, none of them imagined that Han Yunxi was the one who ran away herself. All the women in the world were wracking their brains to get close to His Highness Duke of Qin. How could there be one who ran away from him on her own? Gu Qishao studied the poster until his smile grew bigger and bigger, almost to the point he laughed out loud. He never thought that Han Yunxi would run off on her own one day!

No wonder she never answered his questions regarding Long Feiye, such as where he went or whether he knew what she was doing. Gu Qishao rubbed his chin and admired the poster with interest. The longer he enjoyed it, the better his mood became! What to do now? He was liking this Poison lass more and more. Han Yunxi, even though you’ve already married into the Duke of Qin’s estate, I’ll still take you away as long as you want to leave!

Long Feiye’s prominent poster could only mean that he hadn’t found the person he was looking for. In fact, he probably didn’t have a clue as to her whereabouts! Gu Qishao was smiling so widely that his eyes had curved into crescents. He was about to turn and find Han Yunxi when he saw her standing behind him with a white veil to mask her face. In a flash, Gu Qishao’s long, bewitching eyes subconsciously softened like water. Even his expression turned warm and gentle as he murmured, “Yunxi, I’ll go with you to the ends of the Earth from now on. Let’s never part ways, all right?”

Unfortunately, Han Yunxi wasn’t even looking at him, much less listening to his words. She raised her head to stared at the wanted poster, her expression extremely solemn! After a while, she shifted her gaze to Gu Qishao, who still looked as gentle as before. It was a pity that Han Yunxi didn’t take him seriously. All she said was, “Still not leaving?”

Gu Qishao gestured at the poster and teased, “10,000 taels of gold. How about I bring you back to claim the prize?”

Han Yunxi still wore an expression of severity. “Fine.”

“I wouldn’t trade you even if he gave me Tianning’s entire national treasury!” Gu Qishao said easily.

Only then did Han Yunxi give a start. Gu Qishao’s words were very nostalgic. Hadn’t she heard similarly touching things from someone else in the past? But reality proved that she couldn’t take such words seriously.

Gu Qishao purposely put on a face mask as well before entering the city with Han Yunxi. Once inside, they saw more of the same posters plastered all over the place. If it was like this in Medicine City, one could well imagine the situation in other places.

Long Feiye, that lunatic! What did he want her back for? To keep using her without any explanations? If he was in a good mood, he’d lead her along by the hand, but if he was in a bad mood, he’d be rude and take advantage of her? In the beginning, Han Yunxi would glance at the various posters they saw along the way, but soon enough she pretended they didn’t even exist.

Long Feiye, you want to force me onto a dead end? I’m not falling for it!

By the time night fell, Gu Qishao and Han Yunxi settled down at an inn near the Mu Family. They asked for two rooms side by side. Gu Qishao assumed that Han Yunxi would be restless since her face looked so gloomy the entire way, but she wasn’t anxious at all. After washing up and changing her clothes, she had dinner before coming over to ask him about the Mu Clan’s affairs. There wasn’t a single mention of the bounty posters. Gu Qishao wasn’t a gossipy type, so he didn’t ask what Han Yunxi didn’t mention. He was always a person who paid more attention to results than the process it took to get there. It was enough if Poison lass was by his side now. Everything else could go die!

“How can you be sure that Mu Xin’s my mother based on what she sewed?” Han Yunxi came straight to the point.

Gu Qishao had discovered by chance that the Xin (心) on her medical pouch was identical to the Xin (心) on Mu Xin’s personal effects. Making a connection from both words, he followed the clues until he discovered that Lady Tianxin was the Mu Xin who’d abruptly vanished years ago. Gu Qishao had only given her a general summary on the way here, not the details. He said that he’d explain everything once they reached Medicine City.

“Based on what you asked Third Elder. That year, it was Lady Tianxin who had Lady Lianxin help her find Department Head Lin to have Han Congan skip the examinations and become an elected director. The reason that Lady Lianxin helped was because Lady Tianxin was her older sister and the Mu Clan’s fourth young miss, Mu Xin,” Gu Qishao had no intentions of hiding anything, now that he was explaining things to her.