Chapter 209 - Did You do it?

The boat gradually slowed down and stopped in front of the Ding Family"s boat.

Two guys and a girl stood at the bow. They were all about the same age, they were all wearing turquoise, and they were all in the Harmonization Realm.

Seeing Ye Zhenfan, one of the guys burst out into laughter. "Hahahaha, Ninth Brother, what have you done? Haha."

The other guy and girl didn"t laugh as loud as him, but they were trying to hide their laughter so hard that they were shaking.

Ye Zhenfan was totally wet, and his hair was still dripping with water like a drowned rat. For Ye Family disciples, before one even learned how to crawl, they would already learn how to swim. With a leaf in their hands, they could go anywhere in the world as long as there was water. Merely chasing a water beast caused him to be in such state? It was really… embarra.s.sing.

Being mocked by his younger siblings, Ye Zhenfan turned black and snorted. Steam surrounded him, and he was soon dry.

"Why are you following me around instead of hunting beasts?"

The guy who was laughing like mad stopped and answered, "We were just worried for you, Ninth Brother. Ye Mingguang has already killed a centipus (an octopus with one hundred tentacles), so if Ninth Brother didn"t get that water beast, you"re now losing to him."

Seeing Ye Zhenfan"s expression, he cautiously asked, "You really lost it?"

Ye Zhenfan hmphed, face as red as a tomato.

The three disciples exchanged glances before putting their attention on the next boat.

This boat was the same as the ones they were always stepping on; a common boat that all Jianghu people owned. However, the young lady on the boat was obviously not a Jianghu person.

Looking at her clothes, she"s not from Beiming. And her cultivation… Harmonization Realm? She"s definitely from a sect or an aristocratic family.

They were from the same family, so they knew Ye Zhenfan"s ability well; the water beast and the Jianghu people in front of them couldn"t cause him to be in his current state. The only anomaly was the girl in front of them.

Perhaps she just taught Ninth Brother a lesson?

Impossible. Even though this is a remote place, it"s still part of White Heron State. Who would dare to act against a Ye Family disciple here?

"Ninth Brother…"

Before he could ask, Ye Zhenfan shut him up. "The water beast is already gone, so why are you still standing here? Go and hunt if you don"t wanna lose to Ye Mingguang!"

"Hey, Ninth Brother!"

Ye Zhenfan ignored their calls. He stepped on the silver leaf and dashed away.

"Tenth Brother, let"s go," the girl said.

"No rush."

The guy turned. He smiled and bowed to Lu Mingshu. "I"m a Ye Family disciple - Ye Zhenxing. How should I address Miss?"

Seeing him being courteous, Lu Mingshu returned it. "Lu Mingshu from Nine Jade Palace."

Ye Zhenxing thought for a moment; he had never heard this name before. Even so, he replied with, "So it"s Miss Lu. It"s an honor to meet you at last."

Lu Mingshu was too lazy to say anything, so she just nodded.

Ye Zhenxing added on, "Elder brother is hot-tempered, so I apologize if he has offended you in any way. I hope you will not take it too hard."

Lu Mingshu gave him a half-hearted smile.

Seeing that Lu Mingshu didn"t want to talk much, Ye Zhenxing got directly to the point. "Did Ninth Brother get into a fight with Miss?"

Seeing Lu Mingshu nod, Ye Zhenxing looked at her oddly.

Based on Ye Zhenfan"s state, it was obvious that he suffered a great loss. This Miss Lu wasn"t a famous person, yet she was so young. Did she really do that to Ye Zhenfan?

Nine Jade Palace… this clan had never nurtured a person worth mentioning.

"Tenth Brother, what are you talking about? Let"s go!" the girl called impatiently. What"s there to talk about with a disciple from a small faraway clan? So what if she did it? Think about Ninth Brother"s character; it"s nothing surprising even if he fell into a drain.

After that, she instructed the boatman, "Reverse! Back to the Green Hills Bank!"

"Eh…."

"Come on!"

Unable to change his cousin"s mind, Ye Zhenxing bowed. "Until we meet again."

Just as he finished, the boat set sail and sped off.

After the Ye Family members left, Ah Ling heaved a sigh of relief and looked at Lu Mingshu with admiration. "Miss, you"re so good! That Ye Family gentleman was defeated by you!"

Lu Mingshu smiled. "Let"s get going too."

On the other hand, Ah Lang looked at the floor gloomily. "I hope the Ye Family forgets about this, or else… hais.h.!.+" Miss Lu is a disciple, so she doesn"t need to be afraid of them, but we are just n.o.bodies. We still need to earn a living!

"It will be fine," Captain Ding said. "That gentleman from the Ye Family won"t bother with us. Miss Lu should be cautious though, the previous Ye gentleman might have taken note of you."

Lu Mingshu nodded. "Thank you for your advice."

She wouldn"t take a Ye Family disciple to heart, but if they found trouble with her because of him, then that was another matter.

After putting up the sail, Captain Ding turned toward Lu Mingshu. "Miss, should we go to the Green Hills Bank too? There"s a market there."

"Sure."

Ah Ling looked worried. "What if we meet Ye Family members?"

"It"s the Ye Family"s territory all the way down; we can"t avoid it. Just don"t worry about," Captain Ding replied.

Lu Mingshu nodded, agreeing with him.

After half a day pa.s.sed, they finally reached the Ming River.

There was intense wind and undulating waves. Looking downward, you couldn"t even see the riverbed. It was unknown how many beasts were hidden in the river.

Beiming had a huge area, and the river took up more than half of it. There were beasts lurking around, and there weren"t many areas suitable for living. There were only a few pieces of land - the states. Each state was only as big as one region of Zhongzhou. Other than that, there were only islands and banks.

Green Hills Bank was situated in the east of Beiming, nearest to Zhongzhou. Even though it wasn"t big, it was crowded with merchants and bustling with activity.

The Ding Family were merchants too. They went back and forth between Zhongzhou and Beiming, bringing along special local products in exchange for cultivation materials.

The boat reached the harbor. "Miss, we are going to clear out our goods. You can spend a few days at the hotels here," Captain Ding said.

Lu Mingshu nodded and asked a few questions on what Green Hills Bank was like before going off with Little Daze.

Green Hills Bank was extremely small. Other than the harbor, there were only two streets.

Along the way, Lu Mingshu saw numerous Ye Family disciples.

She remembered the conversation between the disciples she met previously. Are they having a hunting compet.i.tion nearby?

She then walked into a small shop.

The shop was very small, and it sold the usual medicines that martial artists used. There was n.o.body in the shop other than an old man lazily trying to chase some flies away.

Seeing Lu Mingshu enter, the old man immediately looked up and smiled professionally. "Miss. Here to buy medicine?"

Lu Mingshu looked around and nodded. "Are there any good items?"

The old man wasn"t even in the Inner Breath Realm, but he had good foresight. Seeing her, he guessed that she was from a good sect, so he introduced her to the best in his shop. "Look at…"

Lu Mingshu picked a few of Beiming"s special local products and paid him. She then asked, "Why are there so many Ye Family disciples here at Green Hills Bank?"

Chapter 210 - Gentleman Ye

"Huh?" The old man looked at her oddly. "Miss isn"t the Ye Family"s…?"

Lu Mingshu stared at him.

The old man laughed awkwardly and apologized. "I"m sorry, I thought you were a Ye Family disciple without doubt. The Ye Family"s annual spring hunt is held in Green Hills Bank this year, and the younger disciples are all here."

"Spring hunt?"

The old man looked at her in shock. "Haven"t you heard of it?"

Lu Mingshu shook her head. "The Ye Family is isolated here, I haven"t had much of a chance to hear about them."

Such a powerful family is considered isolated to her? Where does this Miss come from?

The old man became more respectful to her. "The spring hunt is the tradition of the Ye Family. Once every year, anyone in the Harmonization Realm or below is ent.i.tled to partic.i.p.ate. Every year, they will distribute resources according to the position achieved in the spring hunt, so it"s an important event for every Ye Family disciple."

"I see."

Lu Mingshu took the bag of medicine and proceeded to the door. Suddenly, someone rushed in and nearly banged into her.

It was a teenager who looked scholarly and weak, with skin as white as a sheet of paper. He was wearing the turquoise clothes of a Ye Family disciple and looked gloomy.

He threw her a cold glance, not apologetic at all for banging into her. "Do you have any medicine for injuries?" he asked the old man.

The smile on the old man"s face disappeared, and he hung his head. "Customer, I"m so sorry, the injury medicine is all sold out."

Lu Mingshu furrowed her eyebrows. She saw a pack on the table a moment ago.

The teenager"s expression changed, and he grabbed the man"s collar. The weak and scholarly side was gone, replaced with a sinister expression. "Sold out? You don"t even have any business here. Are you purposely not selling it to me?"

No matter how weak he looked, he was still a Harmonization Realm disciple. The old man stammered.

Lu Mingshu glanced over and unleashed her imposing aura.

He was already wounded, and his power wasn"t as strong as Lu Mingshu"s. He let go of the old man suddenly as he stumbled and banged into the door.

The teenager looked up and gave her a death stare. "Who are you? How dare you meddle in the Ye Family"s business?"

Lu Mingshu pointed outside the shop. "Green Hills Bank belongs to the Ye Family, right? Since they collect taxes, they have to care about the orderliness of this place. If this incident is reported to the Ye Family"s elders, you"ll be at fault for messing things up."

"You…!"

He gave her another death stare, but seeing that she wasn"t giving in, he stood up and stumbled out.

Seeing that he left, the old man heaved a sigh of relief and bowed to Lu Mingshu in grat.i.tude. "Thank you, Miss. This old man would have been in trouble today if not for your help."

Lu Mingshu remain unmoved. "Why did you lie to him?"

Seeing her staring at him like a hawk, the old man smiled bitterly. "Miss, it"s not that I do not want to, but the Ye Family came earlier and told me not to."

Lu Mingshu stared at him weirdly. "Isn"t he a Ye Family member?"

The old man sighed. "Miss, it"s something that you are unaware of. He may be from the Ye Family, but his background is different from the rest."

"Oh?"

If it was someone else, the old man would have already stopped there, but since Lu Mingshu helped him just now, he couldn"t possibly reject her, so he told her everything.

The gentleman who came in previously was called Ye Mingguang. His father was the third master of the Ye Family, but because his mother had a low status, she couldn"t get into the Ye Family. In other words, he was an illegitimate child.

Last year, the third master pa.s.sed away, leaving no other descendants, so the Ye Family took Ye Mingguang back.

He didn"t have a brilliant family background, and he didn"t get many resources. He was basically being ostracized by everyone else.

During this spring hunt, the Ye Family disciples around his age ganged up against him; they knew he was injured, so they came over earlier and instructed the old man not to sell him any injury medicines.

The old man shook his head. "Miss, you can see how much business I have. Why would I not want to sell him medicine? But if those who came earlier knew I did, I"ll lose this shop…."

"No wonder."

"That Gentleman Ye, he"s such a poor thing. It"s said that his mother died early, and he lived under another"s roof. Now, he"s entered the Ye Family, but he"s still having a tough life." The old man sighed, but he suddenly smiled after being reminded of something. "But no matter what, he is still a Ye Family disciple, so how bad can his life be? My fears are groundless."

Lu Mingshu never expected to meet him again, but she saw a familiar figure near the window of her hotel.

There were three guys and one girl, all wearing the turquoise s.h.i.+rt representing the Ye Family.

The guy being surrounded by them was the one she saw half an hour ago.

Ye Mingguang rubbed away the blood stain at the corner of his mouth. He stood up abruptly, giving them a death glare. "Are you all trying to have a private fight with me?"

"Che!" Ye Zhenxing looked at him, "Twelfth Brother, how do you see this as us coming for a fight? We are just practicing, practicing. Even if you tell Second Uncle, it"s just practice."

"You…!"

"Oops, I"m so sorry, I forgot that you"ve only just come back to the Ye Family a while ago, so I doubt you"ve memorized the rules. Let me tell you; we are allowed to practice as long as we don"t hurt the other party. See, I didn"t hurt you, right?" Ye Zhenxing looked unbothered.

Ye Mingguang bit his lips.

They indeed didn"t. They only forced him to use his mystic force. He was injured internally earlier when he was going after the centipus, and he didn"t have enough injury medicine, especially since they stopped him from getting more. Now, he was forced to use his mystic force. If he couldn"t get any injury medicine soon, there was no chance of him getting a good position in this spring hunt.

"Twelfth Brother, you"re still injured. Elder brother will get going now, see you tomorrow!"

The footsteps got further away, and Ye Mingguang felt his blood boiling as his eyesight became blurry.

Fatigued from fighting the beast, the pain from his internal injury, and the humiliation, he could no longer take it and leaned against some bamboo. Plop! He slid down to the floor.

As a Ye Family disciple, he finally had a powerful family name. Many envied him, but all he saw was a dark future.

So what if his surname was Ye? The whole Ye Family took him as an enemy, and he had no relatives!

Screech!

Ye Mingguang sat up suddenly as something fell from the bamboo. He instinctively moved away. He looked around and saw there was a bamboo viper on the ground in two parts. It wiggled for a while and stopped.

He broke out in cold sweat.

The bamboo vipers of Green Hills Bank were very venomous. If he was bitten by one, he would be in big trouble. Who would save him then?

He looked up, and what he saw shocked him.

A girl in spring clothes stood ten feet away from him, staring at him with a poker face as she sheathed her sword.

He wanted to thank her, but he didn"t. Half an hour earlier, she was the one that caused him to not get any injury medicine.

The other party didn"t seem to want his grat.i.tude either. She left immediately afterward.

I"m indeed a bearer of bad luck, huh? Everyone runs away when they see me.

Ye Mingguang smirked and laughed at himself.

Suddenly, something was thrown at him. Out of instinct, he grabbed it. Ye Mingguang was extremely shocked to see what was in his hands.

It was a porcelain bottle used to hold medicine. He trembled while opening it up, and the familiar smell of medicine came out from it.

He looked up to see the girl again, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Chapter 211 - Can"t let her Return

Lu Mingshu went back to her room and sat down.

She didn"t want to poke her nose into someone else"s business. It was just that, seeing Ye Mingguang reminded her of herself and what she experienced. It was also partly her fault that Ye Mingguang didn"t get his injury medicine, so she gave him the medicine to make it even. No matter what the Ye Family was like, it had nothing to do with her from now on.

After resting for a night, she decided to go search for the Fairy Gravel and Yellow Mystic Stone the next day.

Like this, she sat cross-legged, ready to cultivate and refine her mystic force.

In the blink of an eye, the group sent to Zhongzhou had left for three months.

After handling Zhou Yinru"s marriage, Zhou Miaoru was totally exhausted.

Stewardess Tao ma.s.saged her temples and asked softly, "Yesterday, the Jin family sent some calming incense here, and it"s top-notch quality. Does Madame want to try it?"

Zhou Miaoru closed her eyes and waved. "It"s okay. No matter what incense is used, I will still be mentally tired."

Since her father stepped down, she carried all of the Zhou Family"s matters on her shoulders. Second Uncle, who cares about nothing… I should already be happy if he"s not causing me any trouble. Younger sister is a moron. Luckily, she"s not capable, so I could marry her off, expanding the family connections. Husband… Zhou Miaoru smirked.

Luckily, she had a pair of children. Mingtang didn"t fall short of her expectations; he reached the Harmonization Realm successfully. As for Mingxi, she"d need to teach her some more so she could try to marry her to the Dengwen Xue family. Their Seventh Master is not bad….

"Isn"t Elder Yin back yet?"

Stewardess Tao knew that she was referring to Yin Hong. She smiled, "She sent a letter earlier saying that she will arrive in the next few days."

"Okay."

A servant girl walked in at this moment. "Madame, Elder Yin wishes to see you."

"Let her in," Zhou Miaoru answered lazily.

Yin Hong came in, and she was all smiles. "Madame, your subordinate finished the task you gave." As she finished, she placed many mustard seed pouches on the table. It filled up half of the table.

Zhou Miaoru glanced over at her. "Oh, did you get the marriage certificate?"

"This… no, but the queen said that she"ll send someone over to meet Madame." Yin Hong emphasized.

"She already did," Zhou Miaoru said coldly.

Yin Hong stared at her blankly. They got here earlier than me? Which means that they sent people over right after I left. That"s so rushed!

She smiled. "The queen seems to value this marriage a lot!"

Zhou Miaoru smiled too.

But this smile sent a chill down Yin Hong"s spine. "Madame…?"

"The queen indeed admires her. She even said that Lu Mingshu"s still young, so it"s better for her to go out and take a look at the world." It was hard to tell what Zhou Miaoru"s smile meant. "You"ve really done great for this task!"

"Madame!" Of course Yin Hong could tell how unhappy Zhou Miaoru was.

"You"re tired. Go and have a rest," Zhou Miaoru replied coldly.

"Madame!" Yin Hong immediately called out. "This subordinate…"

"Go." Zhou Miaoru remained unmoved.

Stewardess Tao stood up. "Elder Yin, Madame is exhausted from Second Miss"s wedding."

Yin Hong could do nothing more. "Then I"ll visit Madame tomorrow."

"Please."

When Yin Hong left, Zhou Miaoru looked extremely unhappy. "Such an idiot! What"s the use of sending her if this is the result?"

Stewardess Tao gave her a cup of tea and calmed her down. "Calm down, Madame. It isn"t Elder Yin"s fault. She did exactly as Madame said."

"Might as well have done nothing if this is the result."

Did she really think that I wanted to find Lu Mingshu a good partner? I really underestimated Lu Mingshu though. Zhou Miaoru originally thought that the chance of her getting into the New Generation Ranking was really slim. Who would have expected her to not only get into it, but actually get first? Now that the tiger was out of the cage, there was no way to suppress her anymore.

"I miscalculated!" Zhou Miaoru mumbled. "I cannot let that b.a.s.t.a.r.d come back."

Stewardess Tao"s eyes widened in shock, but she regained her calm expression immediately. "Madame…"

Zhou Miaoru put her cup down. "Get Ruying in here right now."

Crooked thus complete, grievance thus improvement, sunken thus filled, old thus able to change for the better, more thus confusing. This is a saint"s values, setting them as the world"s standard for himself. Being broad-minded makes the situation clearer, not thinking that oneself is always right makes the truth come to light, not flaunting gains you credit, not relying on yourself allows you to lead. Being uncompet.i.tive is what makes one never lose.

After the last word, Liu Jizhen sighed and look out of the window.

It was sunset, and by now, the Qilin Festival should have ended. Mingshu should have left Zhongzhou, but where would she go? Back to Dongyue, or travelling to Nanze or Beiming?

After a few moments, a tall figure appeared at the end of the trail.

A woman wearing sect clothes walked forward slowly.

That is…?

Liu Jizhen couldn"t tell. For the past seventeen years, he had rarely stepped out of Green Jade Valley, and he rarely went around the sects. He couldn"t recognize the younger generation.

After a few moments, Hui Niang brought the female disciple in, smiling widely. "Courtyard Leader, this miss here brought back a letter from Miss."

This female disciple was none other than Tan Yubing. She greeted Liu Jizhen, "I"m Tan Yubing from the line of the Golden Door, greeting Courtyard Leader Liu."

"No need for the courtesy." Liu Jizhen stood up. "You"re the fifteenth generation disciple, am I right? We are from the same generation, so there"s no need for courtesy."

Tan Yubing smiled. "Senior Brother Liu." She took out the letter. "During the trip to Zhongzhou, me and Junior Niece Lu got along well, but she is unable to come back now, so I am helping her give this to you."

Liu Jizhen took the letter, but he didn"t look at it immediately. "Junior Sister Tan, is Mingshu okay?"

Tan Yubing hesitated before answering, "Junior Niece Lu was injured…."

"Injured?" Hui Niang couldn"t be bothered about being formal as she asked worriedly, "Is Miss seriously injured? Is she okay?"

"Minor," Tan Yubing immediately said. "It was just an accident."

She summarized the whole story. Honestly, she wasn"t entirely sure what happened that day, but she knew that a trap was set in the Flying Imperial Palace, and because Lu Mingshu was with Xie Lianzhen, she was dragged down with him.

"Xie Lianzhen?" Liu Jizhen looked confused. "Didn"t Xie Zhanghe from the Seventh Truth Platform die in an accident twenty years ago?"

That accident caused a huge sensation, and they were from the same generation, so he could somehow remember.

"Xie Lianzhen is the Alioth Star Lord." Tan Yubing suddenly remembered that this Senior Brother had not gone out for years, so she elaborated, afraid that he might not know. "Xie Zhanghe"s posthumous child."

"Oh?" Liu Jizhen furrowed his eyebrows. "He took over the position?"

"Yes," Tan Yubing said cautiously. "And the queen seems to want Lu Mingshu as his wife…."

Liu Jizhen"s expression changed.

Tan Yubing sighed. He should know this, he"s her master. "Since Junior Niece Lu reached Tianyun city…"

Tan Yubing went off.

Liu Jizhen sat there in silence.

"Courtyard Leader!" Hui Niang called. "Please think of something! Miss can"t…"

She met him before and knew that he couldn"t walk, but even if he was still grateful to the sect, Miss couldn"t be exchanged as a gift of grat.i.tude!

"No big deal." Liu Jizhen looked at the letter. "Being ranked first on the New Generation Ranking isn"t so worthless."

"But Miss is alone…."

"That"s why I"m going to the Jasper Jade Palace."