Hua Qingying followed behind Chen Ye, her gaze discreetly sweeping over the surroundings.
At the entrance to Jingguo Mansion stood a white jade screen wall, carved with exquisite detail.
What was carved upon it was no ordinary floral design, but the Cui Clan Admonitions engraved in clerical script. The strokes were vigorous and powerful, clearly the work of a renowned master.
On either side of the screen wall were passageways paved with bluestone, each lined with century-old Chinese scholar trees, their crowns spreading like canopies, their emerald leaves so lush they seemed ready to drip.
The Taihu stones casually arranged in the center of the courtyard alone were probably worth as much as a year's income from her Jinxuan Tower.
Before entering the mansion, she had still harbored a few thoughts.
If this Chen Ye before her proved incorrigible or tried any tricks during the exchange, she would simply act and snatch the item back.
At this moment, those thoughts vanished like smoke in thin air.
Because, while she had been in Cui Mansion just now, she had clearly sensed several faintly fluctuating auras within it. Every one of them was no weaker than hers, and one was even unfathomably deep, far above her.
To make a move in a powerful household with such profound foundations was no different from courting death.
Hua Qingying drew a deep breath and suppressed her distracting thoughts, her face still calm and smiling.
She followed Chen Ye through two covered corridors and arrived at the lakeside pavilion near the Scripture Library.
The pavilion had been built over Nameless Lake.
Water surrounded it on three sides, leaving a wide-open view.
The lake breeze brushed past, the water glittered with ripples, and there was no one around. It was indeed a quiet, excellent place.
Chen Ye