"The seventy-year cicadas had become spirits, devouring anything they came across—vegetation, living humans, pigs, dogs, everything. While falling back, I ran into disciples from Mount Rong and fought side by side with them. Seeing that I was valiant and had nowhere else to go, they invited me to stay. After all those days of fierce fighting, my memory finally returned, so I... I came back!"
He Chunhua echoed, "They invited you to stay?"
He Yue was curious as well. "Did they accept you into the sect?"
"More or less."
"Brother, you really turned misfortune into a blessing!" Though He Yue sensed something was off, he was genuinely happy for his brother at this moment. "In the past, Mr. Mozhe and I suggested you apprentice under Chuanyun Pavilion. Yet Mount Rong Sect is a great, prominent sect, several times stronger than Chuanyun Pavilion. What a wonderful opportunity!"
Not seeing him for a few months, and this boy had actually latched onto Mount Rong Sect? He Chunhua looked at him inquisitively. "Under which renowned master's tutelage did you study?"
He Lingchuan grinned broadly. "Sect Master Xue said he and I share an affinity."
The phrasing was vague, leading anyone who heard it to assume he had apprenticed directly under Sect Master Xue. Yet the "affinity" He Lingchuan spoke of was nothing more than being kindred spirits.
Sect Master Xue would certainly not have done him such a massive favor simply because of a passing acquaintance, nor was it solely because he had resolved the seventy-year cicada plague.
The three listeners could hardly believe their ears. Madam Ying's beautiful eyes went wide in an instant. "The Sect Master... The Sect Master of a Daoist order took you as his personal disciple?"
He Lingchuan roared with laughter and slapped the table. "I knew Mother would react like this! Rushing back day and night was well worth it!"
Madam Ying was furious and gave his ear a sharp tug. "You scoundrel, gone for a few months and you've grown bold enough to poke fun at your own mother!"
He Lingchuan winced, crying out in mock pain, then smugly turned to He Yue. "Do you want to enter Mount Rong Sect too? I can introduce you. When Sect Master Xue passes on someday, who knows—maybe this Daoist order will belong to us!"
He Yue was caught between laughter and tears. His elder brother was obviously spouting nonsense, yet somehow his heart fluttered with temptation. "Well..."
Madam Ying scoffed at her elder son. "What 'yours' and 'ours'? Is that how succession in a Daoist order works?"
He Lingchuan picked up a few slices of spiced beef with his chopsticks, completely unfazed. "The lineage of a Daoist order—how is it any different from a family or a state?"
Pondering those words carefully, there was indeed some truth to them.
The cloud of suspicion in He Chunhua's mind grew thicker and thicker. He simply asked, "Did you return along with the Mount Rong envoys?"
"I didn't come back along with the Mount Rong envoys." He Lingchuan set down his chopsticks, unhurriedly drew a medallion from his robe, waved it before the three of them, and smiled even more radiantly. "I am the Mount Rong envoy!"
With that, he slapped the medallion face-down onto the table.
The dining room fell dead silent; a pin drop could have been heard.
Only the sound of He Lingchuan slurping his hot and sour noodle soup broke the quiet, standing out jarringly.
"You are what?" Madam Ying's voice grew hushed instead. "Say that again."
He Chunhua snatched the medallion off the table, examining it minutely several times for fear of misreading a single character.
He Lingchuan wiped his mouth with a napkin and enunciated each word with crystal clarity. "I said Mount Rong dispatched me back to negotiate the loan!"
He Yue gathered his wits. "Then the one who met with Lord Wang, Director of Reception, yesterday afternoon was...?"
"Yes, that was me." He Lingchuan smiled comfortably. "He had no idea who I was. He even tried to play up connections, saying there was a high-ranking official with the surname He in the current court and that two or three hundred years ago, our families might have been kin."
"Utter nonsense!" He Chunhua slammed the table and stood up. "How could you toy with Lord Wang like that!"
"Nonsense?" He Lingchuan's smile did not waver. When he dragged Cen Boqing down into the mud, no one had scolded him for nonsense. When he helped throw National Preceptor Qingyang into the Heavenly Palace's dungeon, no one had scolded him for nonsense either.
And when he wreaked havoc in the Heavenly Palace and blew up Zhaixing Tower, still no one had scolded him for nonsense.
He drawled lazily, "I used strictly official protocol. I didn't say a single out-of-line word. Father, you're taking sides."
He Chunhua glared fixedly at him. "This afternoon, you will come with me to apologize!"
He Lingchuan pointed at the medallion in He Chunhua's hand. "Father, you want Mount Rong's special envoy to apologize to the Director of Reception? On what grounds?"
"You..."
He Yue intervened at once. "Father, quell your anger. Now that Eldest Brother holds this status, his return to the Yuan capital must be handled strictly as official business. A loan of seven million taels is a matter of paramount importance!"
It was strange. Their father was ordinarily so calm and shrewd, standing resolute against the undercurrents in court. Why did he lose his composure the moment his elder brother returned?
He Yue could only attribute it to their father being overwhelmed with joy at his brother's sudden return, losing control of his emotions for a fleeting moment.
He Chunhua gripped the envoy medallion so tightly his knuckles turned pale. He truly did look agitated.
He Lingchuan thought to himself: *Why on earth is he so agitated?*
A hundred thoughts raced through He Chunhua's mind. Striving to smooth over his emotions, he slowly unclenched his hand and returned the medallion to He Lingchuan. "I was mistaken in my thinking, quite mistaken. Chuan'er, do not blame me. In the eyes of parents under heaven, a child will always be a child."
He Lingchuan took the medallion and put it away, acting entirely unbothered. "I have thick skin. What does getting reprimanded by Father matter? It used to be daily routine anyway. Come, come, drink, drink!"
Was he the only one who could sense just how complicated He Chunhua's mindset and emotions were right now?
He grabbed the wine vessel and filled the cups for He Chunhua, Madam Ying, and himself. After a brief hesitation, he poured a cup for He Yue as well.
The lad was fifteen now; he ought to be allowed to touch wine.
Sure enough, Madam Ying glanced at him but said nothing.
He Chunhua was truly a master of emotional control. Within a few breaths, he had smoothed his composure, looking at him with an amiable countenance once more. "Chuan'er, tell us about your official business as Mount Rong's special envoy."
"Oh, it's actually quite simple. I rendered great service during the campaign to eradicate the cicada plague, so Sect Master Xue asked what reward I wanted. I said our homeland was suffering calamity and in dire need of funds, so why not—cough. Sect Master Xue had refused Great Yuan's loan requests three times and felt somewhat guilty about it, so he seized the opportunity to step down gracefully and agreed."
The He couple exchanged glances, finding the whole thing absurd.
Funds that the Yuan Kingdom could not borrow after sending envoys three times had been secured by this boy relying purely on his own merit and face?
Was the Mount Rong Sect such a frivolous place? It defied all reason.
Madam Ying scoffed, "Just how great a merit did you achieve that it could offset a loan of seven million?"
"The seventy-year cicada plague had Mount Rong Sect thoroughly overwhelmed. If it wasn't dealt with before spring, it would have brought utter devastation and endless turmoil thereafter." He Lingchuan spread his hands. "So your son's merit was greater than the heavens themselves."
Madam Ying was still skeptical. "How exactly did you pull it off?"
"I came up with a method to lure and kill the seventy-year strange cicadas, and it worked every single time. Ah, I can go into detail about that later when there's time." He Lingchuan sat there, completely self-assured. "If you don't believe me, well, there are more than a dozen Mount Rong disciples outside who escorted me home. You're welcome to ask them."
Those Mount Rong disciples were now his subordinates. They had rehearsed their story thoroughly on the road and memorized it inside and out; pick any one of them to question, and they would not slip up even if dead drunk.
Chapter 771