Chapter 655: Thank goodness you like me too (1/2)

Could Duanmu Yao win?

Bai Yanqing didn’t seem to hear Jun Yixie’s question. He grasped a chess piece in one hand while stroking his beard with the other as he puzzled over the board. Jun Yixie was a mad and unruly type filled with overweening arrogance, but before his master he was nothing but obedient and docile like a child. Since master didn’t answer, he only stopped asking and buried his curiosity to wait for master’s next move.

His junior sister Bai Yuqiao watched him from the side and only felt a trace of inexorable pity in her heart. As she saw it, Jun Yixie had fully submitted himself to master and trusted him absolutely. However, master hid many things from her senior brother. She didn’t understand why master would choose to do such a thing. Silently, she felt that the entire arrangement was unfair, but she never dared to tell him about the truth. She had seen from senior brother’s experiences just how horrifying it was to betray their master.

After a while, Bai Yanqing spoke without setting down his piece, “Whether or not she wins or loses will depend on how and what they’re setting to compete in.”

Jun Yixie was thrilled and said quickly, “Then this time, with Empress Xue’s matters!”

“The matter of victory doesn’t lie with this trivial detail, but what comes at the very end. Just wait. Duanmu Yao will win,” Bai Yanqing said lightly.

“The end? Could it be, master…you’ve longed made your own arrangements?” Jun Yixie muttered in a low voice.

As he saw it, master had kept him away from Han Yunxi and Long Feiye, not because he didn’t want him to cause trouble, but because he had his own plans in place. Bai Yanqing didn’t reveal a thing, but only said, “Keep waiting. How long until the gaps in South City’s horse farms are filled again?”

Jun Yixie grew gloomy. Master was like this every time, always telling him things by halves before changing the topic. It only left his heart itching for more. When he didn’t answer, Bai Yanqing only gave him an unhappy glare. Immediately, he moved to speak. “It’ll take at least a year and a half to fill in the reserves. I’ve already contacted Cloud Realm Trade Consortium’s horse merchants to discuss the matter. If our business deal goes through, then the gap will grow smaller.”

“And the cultivation of Snow Mountain for medicinal plants, have you started on that yet?” Bai Yanqing asked next.

“We’re still working out a few details. Heheh, Ning Jing that girl…she’s hard and unreasonable to deal with! Because she’s been preparing for her upcoming wedding, the matters of Snow Mountain have been delayed.” Jun Yixie had been busy bustling about as well. Bai Yanqing only nodded without judgment before continuing their chess game…

—

Days passed. News of Empress Xue’s true murderer grew more and more widespread, but Han Yunxi and Long Feiye remained unmoved. They neither expressed their stance nor publicized any views on the controversy. That only made people more curious to find out the truth.

Two days from her appointed faceoff with Duanmu Yao, Han Yunxi was still sitting in the courtyard and grinning foolishly over a pile of letters on the table. All of them had been written to her. There was one from General Mu’s estate in Tianan, another from the Commander-in-Chief’s estate down in the south central regions, one more from Pill Fiend Pharmacy, then Medical City, Medicine City, and even the black markets. All of them expressed their concerns and reminded her to be careful of Duanmu Yao. By no means should she confront the woman in person.

Third Elder Shen had written the letter from Medical City. In it he said that he was willing to recommend Cloud Realm Continent’s coroner most gifted in the way of public speaking to her assistance–should she wish it–or even appear in person to assist with an autopsy.

Pill King had written the letter from Medicine City. Though the old man rarely paid attention to worldly affairs, he’d gotten wind of Han Yunxi’s predicament. In the letter he’d said that if Han Yunxi was willing, they could send Empress Xue’s body directly to the Medicine Hut for him to conduct a personal examination of the corpse. In addition, the eccentric old man from the Medicine Requesting Cave had even sent his respects via the same missive.

Han Yunxi had only known herself to be unpopular and offend a whole host of people, earning their hatred and grudges. Looking at the pile of letters now, she suddenly realized she actually had a lot of friends. She smiled at Long Feiye and said, “My popularity…seems pretty good. Does this count as having friends in every corner?”

“These are called social connections,” Long Feiye remarked. Even he had to admit that Han Yunxi had gathered an impressive share of contacts over her past few years across Cloud Realm Continent.

“Esteemed wangfei was popular to begin with…” Gu Beiyue didn’t finish before a dark shadow suddenly descended from the skies. This was none other than Gu Qishao!

His dark hood and cape revealed nothing but a pair of bewitching eyes. Technically speaking, he had appeared before them as Gu Qi Sha, the Pill Fiend. Gu Qi Sha rushed towards Han Yunxi as soon as he landed, but Long Feiye soon stuck out a foot to trip him. Fortunately, he backed away before that could happen. In a rush, he ignored the man and asked, “Poison lass, Duanmu Yao’s really coming to challenge you to battle at your doorstep?”

Han Yunxi didn’t speak, but slowly looked inside the building. Gu Beiyue maintained his gentle smile, while Long Feiye drank his tea. He didn’t care to get involved as long as Gu Qi Sha kept his distance from Han Yunxi.

“Poison la–”

“Your Excellency Pill Fiend!” Mu Linger exclaimed as she rushed out of the building. Aside from her and her own fancies, everyone else in the courtyard knew that Gu Qi Sha had been missing for the past few days precisely because he was trying to avoid Mu Linger! Now they all remained silent, waiting for Gu Qi Sha to run away again. But instead, he ignored Mu Linger altogether to ask after Han Yunxi.

“Poison lass, are the rumors true?”

Seeing this, Mu Linger halted her steps, her joyful expression turning stiff on her face. She was stunned by how anxious Gu Qi Sha was acting. Although she should be happy that he’d finally appeared without fleeing at the first instance, she still…felt pained at heart. Why?

“It’s true!” Han Yunxi replied before pulling Mu Linger over. “This girl’s been waiting for you for days. You certainly put on airs, old man!”