Chapter 8.1 Secret

After Su Su and the doctor had walked far away, Tantai Jin opened his eyes.

Not long after, a servant in grey brought food and water over. When he saw that Tantai Jin was awake, he was startled.

“Hostage prince, please eat.” The servant placed the meal box in his hand.

Tantai Jin supported himself with his arms and ate the food.

The servant stood aside and indifferently said, “For the next few days, this servant will be regularly delivering food to the hostage prince, so please don’t leave the east garden.”

Tantai Jin said, “Thank you very much.”

When the boy saw the modest attitude and clear voice of the young man in front of him, he felt a little guilty for a moment.

Sometimes, the servants purposely treated Tantai Jin this way as he had a unique identity, and bullying him gave them a different kind of satisfaction. However, once he thought about it, the person in front of him might’ve not lived as well as them.

The servant couldn’t help but say, “Hostage prince, the windows of the east garden are broken. This servant will bring someone to fix them this afternoon.”

Tantai Jin gave an embarrassed smile and said, “Don’t trouble yourself.”

The servant knew that the hostage prince had a good heart. He was deliberately mistreated, but he didn’t hate them. He didn’t mention the Third Miss as she had told him not to mention her. Fortunately, the hostage prince did not ask about her either. Otherwise, the servant would not know how to respond.

After the servant took the meal box and left, the east garden returned to silence.

A black crow flew through the snow and hovered above the east garden.

The General’s residence was heavily guarded, so they were extremely sensitive towards messenger birds. If it was a pigeon, it would be shot to death once spotted. However, it was just a wretched crow, so the most they would do was only curse at it.

Tantai Jin pushed the window open. He extended his hand, and the crow landed steadily on his arm.

The young man’s eyes still looked calm. He gently stroked its pitch-black feathers and the crow cawed. Tantai Jin raised his pale fingers and crushed the crow’s neck.

Its head hung limply.

Tantai Jin slowly tore the crow’s stomach open and took out a wax pill. After crushing it, he took out a folded note inside.

After reading ten lines at a glance, he threw the crow’s carcass out the window. The young man looked down thoughtfully as a shadow was cast upon his face.

The dark bird fell on the snow. Soon, the heavy snow covered the crow’s carcass.

*

On her way back, Su Su met a man in brown clothing. It took her a moment to remember his identity. “Second brother, please wait.”

Ye Chufeng turned back in surprise and hurriedly greeted, “Third sister.”

“Second brother, are you going out?”

Ye Chufeng looked at his boots uneasily and said, “The brushes, inks, papers, and inkstones have been used up so I am going out to buy some.”

Su Su looked him down from head to toe.

The man in front of her had a fresh and elegant countenance, making him look gentle and frail. Among all the young masters in the General’s family, the Second Young Master had the least presence. He was brought back by General Ye from the countryside when he was three years old.

At that time, Ye Xiao passed the child directly to the butler. “In the future, his name will be Ye Chufeng.”

Everyone in the residence had a mother except the Third Miss, Ye Xi Wu, and the Second Young Master, Ye Chufeng.

Ye Xi Wu’s mother passed away early. As for Ye Chufeng, it had been during the days when Ye Xiao fought on the battlefield. He had taken refuge in one of the manors. While his injuries were recovering, after a few nights of intimacy, a widow had then given birth to Ye Chufeng. The people in the General’s residence were well aware of the Second Young Master’s origin and especially looked down on him.

Ye Chufeng knew that his identity was embarrassing, so he lived in the residence as if he was invisible. Even the six-year-old Fourth Young Master knew that his Second Brother was timid and weak.

Ye Chufeng had an antisocial personality, so only Ye Bing Shang had a slightly better relationship with him.

Su Su muttered in her heart, Ye Bing Shang really has a good relationship with other people.

Aside from King Xuan and Pang Yi Zhi, even an introvert like Ye Chufeng unexpectedly got along with Ye Bing Shang too.

Su Su became more curious about this illegitimate sister of hers.

Ye Chufeng was stopped by Su Su, so his face looked extremely uneasy.

He lowered his head. “Third Sister, what’s the matter?”

Su Su nodded. “Previously, Xi Wu accidentally caused the Eldest Sister to fall into the water, so I feel uneasy. It is said that King Xuan will move out of the palace in a few days and live in a mansion outside the palace. I want to prepare an apology gift for Eldest Sister. I heard that you used to have a good relationship with the Eldest Sister. Would you happen to know what she likes?”

Ye Chufeng hurriedly waved his hand and said, “Third Sister, you have misunderstood. Sister Bing Shang and I only chat once in a while so I don’t really know what she likes.”

Judging by his expression, Su Su knew that he felt that she was here to find fault with him.

The whole residence of the General knew that the Eldest Miss was married to the Third Miss’s beloved and that she was a vicious and vengeful person.

Su Su felt powerless. She said, “In that case, I better not hold up Second Brother anymore.”

Ye Chufeng cupped his fists and was about to leave, but Su Su sniffed her nose.

“What’s that smell on your body?”

Ye Chufeng’s expression immediately changed and pushed Su Su, who was smelling him up and down like a little animal, away with discomfort. “Third Sister……”

Seeing his face blush with embarrassment, Su Su didn’t want to embarrass him even more, so she could only say, “I’m sorry, maybe I smelt wrongly.”

Su Su felt suspicious. This smell was very familiar, so where had she smelt it before?

Ye Chufeng was already out of sight.

Su Su wanted to ask the spirit in the jade bracelet about it, but it was still in a deep slumber, so Su Su could only give up.

Chun Tao ran over with a red face. “Miss!”

She carefully asked, “I heard Xi Xi said that Miss no longer lets Bi Liu serve you?”

Su Su nodded her head.

Chun Tao couldn’t help but smile.

Su Su tilted her head, and Chun Tao hurriedly waved her hands. “Chun Tao d-didn’t mean to speak ill of Sister Bi Liu and I’m not jealous of her either. It’s because……because……”

Chun Tao’s face turned even redder. After a while, she said, “Chun Tao and Xi Xi felt that Miss had changed a lot when Sister Bi Liu wasn’t around these days. We were afraid that the Miss would change back to your previous state.”

After she finished talking, she realised that she had said something wrong, so she frantically explained once again, “This maidservant didn’t mean that the Miss was bad in the past…… I…… I……”

Looking at her stuttering and almost crying in panic, Su Su couldn’t help but say, “It’s alright. I’m not angry.”

Although her changes had nothing to do with Bi Liu, it was still true that Bi Liu instigated the original owner in doing a lot of bad things. Chun Tao and Xi Xi didn’t worry for nothing.

“Do you have news about the whereabouts of the Second Young Master and Third Young Master?”

Regarding this, Chun Tao hurriedly answered, “Replying to Miss, this maidservant asked the butler. He said that the Second Young Master and Third Young Master have frequently gone out. Especially the Second Young Master, he sometimes goes out early and comes back late at night.”

Su Su was shocked. “He goes out for the whole day?”

Chun Tao nodded. “But this maidservant doesn’t know what the two young masters were doing.”

Su Su felt that her instincts weren’t wrong. Ye Chufeng definitely had a problem. Today, he went out to buy brushes and ink. What about in the past? It was impossible to be short of brushes, ink, papers and inkstones every day.

After thinking for some time, she asked the butler to find a few beggars and gave each of them a silver ingot.

“You guys help me to watch over Second Young Master and Third Young Master. Where they go, what they do and if there is anything weird, no matter what, report it all to me.” Her small hand waved boldly. “If you do well, I will reward you with another gold ingot.”

The beggars’ eyes shone brightly and repeatedly thanked her. “Rest assured, Third Miss. We will pay attention to their slightest moves.”

Su Su inwardly thought, what the martial uncles said was right. All three realms are the same. If you have money, you can make the devil push milestones for you. Look at this instance, not to mention the devil pushing milestones, even the milestones can move the devil.

Edited by: Gaze