Chapter 213 Senior Sister, a Little Vigilant
Snow fell on the umbrella’s tip as Ye Anping walked along Yun Manor’s corridors, his eyes scanning left and right, trying to find some clues. He was a bit unsure how Zhuang Yan’s people would enter Yun Manor to kidnap Yun Yiyi. In the game, if a player chose Yun Yiyi’s route, they would also encounter the plot of Yun Yiyi being kidnapped, but the description in the plot was very vague.
— After a night’s sleep, a maidservant would knock on the player’s door and inform them of Yun Yiyi’s disappearance. However, when Yun Yiyi was kidnapped, she cleverly left a mark with her perfume. As long as the player followed the quest prompt, they would go to a cave on Snow-capped Peak and find a dying Yun Yiyi.
But this wasn’t a game. In the game, players couldn’t be as close to Yun Yiyi as he was. Moreover, he, his junior sister, and Feng Yu Die were on three separate timelines, something that also couldn’t happen in the game. The plot must have changed, and Feng Yu Die’s words last night confirmed the change. If one were on Yun Jiujiu’s route, the player wouldn’t encounter the ambush by Zhuang Yan’s subordinates in the game, yet Feng Yu Die said she encountered an ambush by a group of Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators. In other words, if he did nothing, Yun Yiyi would indeed be kidnapped, but it was also highly likely that those people would take him out along the way.
Ye Anping circled Yun Manor to the side wall, when he suddenly heard hurried footsteps behind him. The maidservant who had come to knock on his door this morning ran over. Huang Quan watched as Ye Anping turned around before she had even arrived, pursed her lips for a moment, and said somewhat awkwardly, “Greetings, son-in-law.”
Ye Anping narrowed his eyes, thinking, could this girl be problematic? She was called Huang Quan, wasn’t she? In the game, she was Yun Yiyi’s hanger-on, never speaking, and only responding with “Yes” or “Understood” during interactions. She also survived the Moon Shadow Sword Sect incident, so she shouldn’t be a problem. However, her current nervous expression made Ye Anping uneasy. Ye Anping, with a hint of vigilance, asked, “Miss Huang Quan, is there something?”
“Ah…” Huang Quan was somewhat nervous, not daring to look Ye Anping in the face, and stammered, “Son-in-law, this servant saw you alone and wanted to help you hold the umbrella…”
“No need for that. Don’t you have anything else to do?”
“No… This servant is the Eldest Miss’s personal maidservant and is usually only responsible for the Eldest Miss’s daily life. After the son-in-law marries in, this servant will also be responsible for your daily life… Also… also… things like being a concubine…” Huang Quan’s voice grew quieter and quieter, and by the last few words, she was only mouthing them without sound.
Ye Anping frowned and asked, “What?”
“Ah… nothing, nothing,” Huang Quan said, waving her hands. “Taking care of the son-in-law is this servant’s duty. Let me hold the umbrella for you.”
“…” Ye Anping looked at her suspiciously and, after thinking for a moment, simply agreed. Regardless of whether this maidservant had problems or not, she wouldn’t dare to act now. Moreover, this little maidservant only had the cultivation of Qi Refining Stage two or three, so he was confident he could handle any surprise attack or anything else.
After handing over the umbrella handle, Huang Quan’s eyes lit up. She quickly took the paper umbrella with both hands and extended her arms, holding the umbrella over Ye Anping’s head, but standing outside the umbrella herself.
“You’re holding the umbrella like this? Won’t you get rained on yourself?”
“It’s the rules…” Huang Quan explained. “This servant cannot share an umbrella with her master. When holding an umbrella, I must stand outside. Did you not have servants before, son-in-law?”
Ye Anping was slightly stunned. He really didn’t know about this rule. He remembered when he was helping his junior sister cultivate diligently at Hundred Lotus Sect, he and Xiao Die would share an umbrella and stand nearby, watching his junior sister practice her punches in the rain…
“Come in. I don’t have these rules here.”
“Ah… no, no,” Huang Quan shook her head. “If the Eldest Miss sees, this servant will be scolded. I’ll be fine like this… I’m not cold.”
Ye Anping paused, and looking at her body, which was clearly enduring the cold intentionally, he sighed. He had intended to give her his cloak, but considering the cloak was given by Yun Yiyi, it wasn’t appropriate. So, he simply took out another cloak from his Storage Bag and draped it over her shoulders.
“Don’t refuse.”
“Ah…” Huang Quan was somewhat overwhelmed with emotion. She hunched her head and nodded, “Thank you, son-in-law…”
Ye Anping took the opportunity to look at her sleeves, ensuring there were no knives or other things hidden there, and then turned to continue walking along the path. Huang Quan immediately followed, holding the umbrella. After walking about five hundred steps and passing through a moon-shaped archway, they arrived at a lotus pond. Due to the snow, a thick layer of ice had already formed on the surface of the lotus pond, with some snow accumulated on top. The large artificial rockery in the pond was now frozen into it.
Ye Anping looked around but found nothing unusual, so he prepared to turn and investigate the next area. “Son-in-law… are you sightseeing? Would you like this servant to tell you about these places?”
“Hmm? Then tell me.”
“Mm-hmm…” Huang Quan blinked. She didn’t actually know what to talk about, but she wanted to talk to Ye Anping more and make a good impression. This way, if she were called to be a concubine by the son-in-law in the future, her chances would be higher. Looking at the frozen rockery in the pond, she said, “Son-in-law, this is Drunken Lotus Pond. It’s the Eldest Miss’s favorite place. The lotus flowers in the pond were all planted by the Eldest Miss herself. They seem to be Seven Star Snow Lotuses, which are very valuable, and they seem to be an Earthly Treasure.”
“Mm… Water-attribute Earthly Treasures, I’ve heard of them.” Ye Anping walked along the edge of the pond, replying indifferently. Seeing Ye Anping’s expression, Huang Quan thought he wasn’t interested in what she was saying. After thinking for a moment, she said again, “Oh, right. That rockery in the pond used to have a very, very deep hole. It seemed to be a naturally formed underground valley that led directly to a small cave on the mountainside of Yi Shui Peak. This servant heard that the Eldest Miss often liked to explore inside when she was young.”
Upon hearing this, Ye Anping’s brows furrowed, and he asked, “What?”
Seeing Ye Anping’s interest, Huang Quan quickly continued, “However, it has now been sealed up, and the small cave on the mountainside has also been blocked with stones, so it cannot be entered. The Eldest Miss said it was very unsafe.”
There was such a thing… Ye Anping raised his eyebrows, squatted down, and looked back at the rockery on the pond’s surface. “Where exactly is on the mountainside?”
“Hmm… it seems to be deep within a bamboo forest. This servant has never been there, so I can’t take you there, son-in-law. However, Senior Liu in the treasury might know. He is very old and watched the Eldest Miss grow up.”
“I see… Let’s go, let’s look around somewhere else.” Ye Anping glanced at the rockery one last time, making a note in his mental notebook. It seemed that Zhuang Yan’s people might infiltrate Yun Manor through this place to kidnap Yun Yiyi. He would place some Talisman Scripts here later, just in case.
… …
