Had he sought a better post elsewhere?
"How did he know you?"
"Eldest Young Master, he knows my past quite well, and he knows it was you who rescued me from that den of monsters." Zhu Xiu'er gazed at He Lingchuan. "The intersection between Sun Hongye and me is you!"
He Lingchuan rubbed his nose.
"I know Sun Hongye pretty well. He's not one to visit without a purpose. Why would he go out of his way out of the goodness of his heart to help you?"
"He proposed a collaboration." Zhu Xiu'er pursed her lips in a smile. "Each taking what we needed."
"How so?"
"My enemies are related by marriage to the current Censor-in-Chief, He Liwen. Sun Hongye just happened to want to teach the He family's second son, He Su, and third son, He Jing, a lesson."
He Lingchuan recalled that before Sun Hongye had sought refuge under him, he had served as a study companion to the He family's third son.
Back then, when Generals Wu Di and Ke Jihai breached Woling Pass, the tactics used were contributed by He Jing, the third son of Censor-in-Chief He Liwen, and He Jing was richly rewarded for it. But in truth, that strategy had come from Sun Hongye. He Liwen had falsely attributed the achievement, bestowing the credit upon his own third son, dismissing Sun Hongye with a mere dozen-odd taels of silver, and casting him out of the house.
Later at Luming Garden, the second son He Su had people tamper with Sun Hongye's carriage, almost getting him beaten to death by a ghost ape as he descended the mountain, saved only by He Lingchuan's timely intervention.
He Lingchuan had once told Sun Hongye that one should avenge one's own grudges, leaving the He family to him.
It seemed Sun Hongye had taken that to heart and never forgotten it, plotting the moment he returned to the Yuan capital.
Born of humble origins, he had few allies in the Yuan capital, and He Chunhua was even less likely to bother with such squabbles. Teaming up with Zhu Xiu'er was indeed a sound approach.
"The plan he proposed was quite good, and we carried it out smoothly," Zhu Xiu'er said softly. "I won't go into the details; I don't want such filthy business to sully your ears. In any case, both my enemies and his suffered terrible misfortune."
"I was overjoyed and invited him to Yuefu Restaurant to celebrate. My husband came along with me that day." Zhu Xiu'er sighed. "Though Sun Hongye showed up, his gaze was shifting and unsettled, as if something weighed on his mind, and he was absentminded throughout our conversation. I noticed he had brought traveling bags with him. Before he'd even finished two cups of wine, he said he was leaving the Yuan capital."
"Going where?"
"He said east, to Beijia," Zhu Xiu'er replied. "We asked what had happened, but he only shook his head and handed me a book. He told me that if you returned, I was to give the book to you; if you never showed up, I could dispose of it as I saw fit."
"Left for me?" Those last words caught He Lingchuan completely by surprise. "Where is the book?"
"That's the strange part." Zhu Xiu'er gave a wry smile. "The very next day after I took it home, the book vanished."
"Vanished?" He Lingchuan kicked away a small pebble beside his foot. "Where did you put it?"
"In a hidden compartment in the bedroom," Zhu Xiu'er said. "I checked before leaving home that morning, and it was still there. When I returned home in the evening, it was gone."
"Who saw you hide it?"
"My husband," Zhu Xiu'er said solemnly. "He went with me to Yuefu Restaurant and met with Sun Hongye, so he also knew I'd stashed the book in the hidden compartment by the bed. But he is a man of open and upright character, fair and honorable in all he does. If he says he didn't take it, he didn't take it. I believe him."
"Anyone else?"
"I questioned the maidservants in my courtyard too, and they all swore to heaven." Zhu Xiu'er let out a long sigh. "It's my fault. What Sun Hongye entrusted to me was lost in my hands."
He Lingchuan shook his head. "A calculated plot strikes where no guard is kept. Someone must have been watching Sun Hongye, which is why he wanted to pass the book to you. In the end, they were one step ahead."
He looked serious. "Sun Hongye was thoughtless. Acting like that could easily bring disaster upon you."
Zhu Xiu'er bit her lip. "Perhaps he had no one else to turn to, so he could only ask me for help?"
"What was the book's title?"
"Collected Annotations on Jade Blossoms," Zhu Xiu'er answered. "It was a handwritten original manuscript. I flipped through a few pages and saw marks where things had been crossed out and edited. It seemed to have been written thirty years ago by a scholar here in the Yuan capital. It's extremely obscure; I had never heard of it before."
He Lingchuan nodded. "All right, I understand."
Zhu Xiu'er paused and stopped walking. "Coming back this time, you seem very different from before."
"Oh?" He Lingchuan smiled. "Different how?"
"It's as if..." Zhu Xiu'er studied him, weighing her words, "you've become far more dependable and steady, and..."
This dependability and steadiness had been washed and settled by time; it was not something anyone could imitate or perform.
After just one year apart, what had happened to him?
Zhu Xiu'er pursed her lips in a smile. "And you're more charming to girls."
The youth's eyes were too bright, too spirited, looking as if they could see right through to the deepest corners of one's heart. What young maiden could withstand him looking at her like that?
He Lingchuan was thick-skinned and always accepted praise with ease. "Does Sister Xiu'er plan to introduce me to some refined ladies of the Yuan capital?"
"The Yuan capital? What young lady here could possibly be worthy of you?" Zhu Xiu'er said with a touch of faint disdain. "You deserve better!"
"Where would that be?"
"Not here, in any case." In contrast to his nonchalance, Zhu Xiu'er was dead serious. "When I returned to Grandfather from Xianling Lake, I thought of just marrying anyone. But only after getting married did I realize how important the right person is."
She looked at He Lingchuan and said earnestly, "The same goes for you. A man must marry a virtuous wife; you must never let your family assign you a match at will!"
"I'll take that to heart." He Lingchuan cupped his fists toward her. "Sister Xiu'er speaks with true insight."
"I must head back. I have to accompany Grandfather out this afternoon." With the main business concluded, Zhu Xiu'er curtsied to him and took her leave.
Toward He Lingchuan, her courtesy had always been impeccable.
He Lingchuan called for servants to fetch some specialty goods from Xiazhou and pressed them into her hands before watching her depart the manor and board her carriage.
"Just like your younger brother, she was entrusted with something by Sun Hongye as well," the soul-snatching mirror in his breast pocket exclaimed with an "Aiyo." "Yet the book he entrusted to her has already been stolen. Can those sets of cipher numbers still be solved?"
"Until the book is found, they cannot be cracked." He Lingchuan's expression darkened. "Sun Hongye's departure must be inextricably tied to the message he intended to convey to me."
He took a few turns around the manor and went to find Housekeeper Wu.
The man was busy assigning household duties for the He Manor, and blinked in surprise when He Lingchuan brought up Sun Hongye.
"Sun Hongye?" Housekeeper Wu was taken aback. "Right, Mr. Sun submitted his resignation to the master three days ago. He withdrew fifteen taels of silver from me and left."
"Did he give a reason?" Resigning usually required one, didn't it?
"His reason was poor health and an intention to head east. I told him the manor could hire a physician for him, but Mr. Sun repeatedly said there was no need. The master even offered him a raise, but he wouldn't stay." Housekeeper Wu scratched his head. "On the journey from Xiazhou to the Yuan capital, Mr. Sun indeed fell ill twice. His constitution isn't great to begin with, and when he came to collect his silver, his complexion didn't look good either."
"How did he perform in the manor over the past year?"
Chapter 783