Saying it was "on the way back to the manor," and asking carefully, he learned that Xiao Jinghong had just set off from Guangyuan in northern Shuzhou and was expected to arrive in five days.
As for the birthday gift she prepared, it actually surprised Chen Yi, as he had not expected her to be as thoughtful as Xiao Wan'er.
Yan Hong handled the servants moving the boxes into Chunhe Garden with extreme caution, introducing them as he spoke:
"Carved from a giant tortoise shell specially found and brought from Guangyue Prefecture, it is named 'Fu Lu Shou San Yuan Qi Hui'."
Only to see three figures with distinct expressions carved in openwork on the back of the nearly ten-foot-long tortoise shell: one holding a peach, one holding a gold ingot, and one holding a slip of paper with the character for fortune.
And the interior of the tortoise shell was filled with some kind of crystal substance resembling resin.
At a glance, one could tell it was of incalculable value and could not be carved overnight; it must have been a generous gift that Xiao Jinghong prepared months or even a year or two in advance.
After looking at it, Chen Yi closed the box again.
After a moment of thought, he instructed Xiao Die to find the previous mounting artisan and ask about the progress of that birthday ode.
Seeing that ten days had already passed, it should have been finished even with gold and jade inlaid.
Then Chen Yi brought Xiao Wuge back to the pavilion, took out his fishing rod, and began his daily fishing enterprise.
He simply refused to believe that not a single fish in this pond could be caught; were they truly at odds by nature?
Watching his back, Yan Hong paused slightly, and asked Wang Lixing in a low voice beside him:
"Has the son-in-law always been like this?"
Wang Lixing did not answer immediately, waving his hand to signal that they should speak outside.
Arriving outside Chunhe Garden and joining Ge Laosan and the others, Wang Lixing swept his gaze around, asking, "Where is Fourth Brother?"
Ge Laosan said, "Fourth Brother said he had something to attend to and went back for a bit; I reckon he should be back soon."
Wang Lixing frowned slightly, smoothing it out almost immediately, and said to Yan Hong beside him:
"The son-in-law has been much more settled during this period. At first, he spent whole days reading books and copying the family rules in the side chamber."
"Later, after the eldest miss let him stay in the garden, the son-in-law spent his days fishing and drinking tea, occasionally practicing calligraphy and reading books, until the second miss's letter arrived, which finally allowed him to leave the manor."
Mentioning Chen Yi leaving the manor twice, Wang Lixing wore a slightly unnatural expression, and what followed was truly difficult to voice.
The first time he went to Yanhuaxiang south of the city, because he brought the young marquis along, it drew a reprimand from the second master.
The second time was even more bizarre, said to have been to watch the Tanhua parade.
As a result, in order to help Li Huaigu and Yunniang, he actually disguised himself as a villain to forcibly seize a woman, and almost got beaten with planks by the people in the manor's disciplinary hall.
Hearing this, Yan Hong said thoughtfully, "The son-in-law seems to have changed a lot compared to before."
"Oh?" Wang Lixing recalled for a moment. "I quite forgot, but you were the one responsible for escorting the son-in-law when he first arrived in Shuzhou."
Yan Hong nodded, a trace of emotion surfacing on his face. "The son-in-law's escape from marriage that time almost ruined me."
Wang Lixing wore a sympathetic expression. "When I heard the news of his escape, Fourth Brother and I were on guard duty within the manor. It was indeed unexpected."
Yan Hong smiled bitterly. "Strange to say, that day the bridal procession set out from Fengchun Tower in the north of the city, and not far away it ran into another wedding procession. As they yielded the way back and forth, the son-in-law ran off."
"Fortunately, the second miss later led us to find him and allowed us to redeem ourselves with merit, otherwise my head and the heads of several other brothers would have rolled."
Wang Lixing patted his shoulder, offered a few words of comfort, and asked, "Did the second miss make any discoveries during her inspection of the three towns this time?"
Yan Hong glanced at him and shook his head. "Not for now."
Seeing that he was keeping it close to his chest, Wang Lixing did not ask further; many matters involving military affairs were confidential.
Being able to get a "nothing happened" was already enough.
The front courtyard of the Xiao Manor.
Liu Si'er was clad in armor, with his helmet buckled tight and neck guard pulled down, covering almost half his face.
Without haste, he came to the inverted seat room on the right side of the main gate, and knocked on the door of the innermost room.
Before the person inside could speak, he flicked his hand to toss in a yellowish strip of paper, saying in a low voice, "Urgent matters require expedient measures; do not blame me for breaking the rules."
"This is the last one for the near time. The second miss will soon return to the manor."
With those words, Liu Si'er reached out to take the ladle hanging inside the door, and while loudly saying a word of thanks, he headed back along the way he had come.
Uncle Gui inside the door watched him walk away with a blank expression, only then opening the secret letter in his hand to take a look.
Then he found a scriptbook, rewrote a secret letter by comparison, destroyed the one provided by Liu Si'er, and then got up to slowly walk out of the Xiao Manor.
An hour later, a carrier pigeon flew out of the tailor shop in the east market of the east city.
A day later, the carrier pigeon landed at a certain courtyard in the small city named "Guangyuan" in northern Shuzhou.
Less than the time it took to burn a stick of incense, a harrier eagle much larger than the carrier pigeon spread its wings and flew out from this courtyard, soaring straight up into the clouds.
Another two days passed.
As the harrier eagle rose and fell, it crossed tens of thousands of lands, flying from Shuzhou to the Capital Prefecture.
The majestic and vast Capital Prefecture was like floating clouds in its eyes, and it flew swiftly and directly toward the imperial city in the north, landing on the roof of a five-story cloud tower named "Fengchun Tower" south of the imperial city.
It clearly was not the first time it had come; after landing, it pecked at the insects and snakes in the food box of its own accord, swallowing them whole like a ravenous beast.
Soon, a man dressed in black robes, wearing a plain white mask on his face that exposed only a pair of eyes, hurried over.
He untied the letter box on the harrier eagle's leg, hurried downstairs again, pushed open a red wooden door, and ignoring the person wearing a similar mask who sat quietly writing at a desk inside, walked straight to the side bookshelf to find a volume of the capital tune.
Carefully cross-checking and decrypting to ensure there were no omissions, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, and took the translation to a red-robed figure who had long been waiting outside the door.
"My lord, a letter from Shuzhou, Grade A-second."
"Wait here."
The person wearing the red robe also wore a mask on his face, except that mask had more patterns than the black-robed man's, resembling tiger stripes.
Holding the decrypted letter, he came to the deepest part of the third floor, and gently knocked twice on the wooden door with lattice panels.
"Pavilion Master, a letter from Shuzhou."
Seeing no sound from within, he did not speak again, still maintaining his slightly bowed posture, remaining motionless like a wooden figure.
About the time it took to burn a stick of incense later, a slightly hoarse voice came out: "Come in."
The red-robed person bowed again, gently pushed open the wooden door, closed it, and then knelt on the ground without raising his head.
This was an extremely spacious room, transparent from north to south, with sunlight and gentle breezes passing through the windows to strike the golden-red floorboards, illuminating everything within the room.
Yet the surroundings were empty, save for a desk, a chair, and a figure seated at the desk.
He wore a plain white robe, the oversized robe setting off his waist and back as broad and thick, and on his face he wore a white mask with black patterns, the character "wang" clearly visible between his brows, strikingly like a white tiger head pattern.
"Read."
The red-robed person gently opened the paper in his hand. "Xiao Jinghong will soon return to Shuzhou to celebrate Marquis Dingyuan's birthday. The cup bestowed upon Marquis Dingyuan by His Majesty has shattered, and the fledgling has already made the acquaintance of the Tanhua Li Huaigu."
After reading, he closed the paper and knelt down again.
The white-robed figure before the desk watched a piece of paper on the desk with his eyes; the right side was inscribed with the characters "Yongyu Le: Ode to Marquis Xiao", and the signature in the lower left corner was startlingly-Year 21 of Anhe, Chen Qingzhou celebrates the sixtieth birthday of Marquis Dingyuan.
Watching, the white-robed figure opened his mouth to ask softly, "Has it been investigated who helped the fledgling escape from marriage that day?"
The red-robed person paused. "No news has come back for the moment; the harrier eagle side only says someone plotted it."
The white-robed figure gave an affirmative hum, and said without haste, "Nothing more than those powerful aristocratic clans in Shuzhou who do not wish to see the Xiao Family rise once more."
"Does the Pavilion Master mean the Liu Family?"
"Who it is does not matter. Pass word to the harrier eagle, add a little bait for the fledgling; it is time to let him taste the flavor of power."
"In addition, order someone to report to the palace and inquire whether His Majesty has any intention of bestowing a seven-colored glass cup upon the old marquis as a birthday gift."
"Yes."
The red-robed person did not dare to say more, bowed as he backed out of the room and closed the door, only then straightening up and hurrying away.
After a long while.
The white-robed figure picked up the piece of Yunsong paper before him, scanning it carefully from start to finish.
"Strength piercing the back of the paper, strokes following the heart, an artistic conception drifting far... Good calligraphy, good calligraphy."
Following two successive "good calligraphies," he nevertheless sighed. "Pity that the ambition and hatred between the lines are gone."
Having spoken, he pinched the Yunsong paper with his fingers and lightly shook it twice.
Then he saw the entire piece of Yunsong paper transform into minute fragments, drifting out the window along with a wind blowing from an unknown source.
The white-robed figure pinched his fingers, faint ripples flashing in his untroubled eyes, and murmured to himself:
"Suppressed for you for five years, do you not hate?"
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