I was indeed quite surprised.
Because sitting before me was Xu Qiuyan's mother.
She was looking at me with a gentle smile.
I caught the fragrance of tea.
Authentic Maojian tea, the taste of home.
"How are you here?" I asked her.
"Why can't I be here?" she countered.
I froze for a moment, then she added, "Would you believe me if I said I came here specifically to wait for you?"
I gave a bitter smile. "Who exactly are you?"
She countered, "Don't you already know who I am?"
I shook my head. Of course I didn't believe she was truly Xu Qiuyan's mother. After all, I knew her mother might be trapped somewhere.
"Do you think I wouldn't recognize you just because you changed your appearance?"
My heart jolted. She had exposed my disguise in a single sentence. Could she really be her?
She continued, "Or did you think I had disappeared?"
That made me even more unsettled.
"That's right. When you people suddenly vanished within Terrifying Ridge, of course I thought you'd been taken into some kind of space."
She poured me a cup of tea and said slowly, "My people did indeed hide in a certain space, but I was the one who had them hide first. I didn't want anything to happen to them. After all, Terrifying Ridge is King Yan's territory, especially around Yan Palace. At least for now, no one can shake him there."
She knew that too?
"Curious? Surprised? You must be wondering how I knew. It's because our people suffered there—suffered terribly. I lost nearly a hundred people near Yan Palace. The first group I brought was almost completely wiped out. I had no choice but to borrow people from that old guy. I just didn't expect him to mix you