At first, Wen Puchang didn’t react and didn’t understand what Xie Xiaonan meant.
He smiled warmly and asked, “Why would the Young Master say such a thing?”
Xie Xiaonan tilted his chin slightly, pointing toward the group of mourners. “Take a closer look, Prefect. Do you recognize anyone there?”
Wen Puchang only glanced briefly, thinking it was rather inauspicious for a family to be mourning by the roadside in broad daylight. He didn’t look closely and simply replied, “I’m afraid I don’t quite understand.”
Xie Xiaonan didn’t want to spell it out too clearly, but seeing that Wen Puchang couldn’t grasp the hint, he said, “The one leaning against the coffin, wearing two bells in her hair—she bears a striking resemblance to your daughter.”
Wen Puchang’s heart skipped a beat. He looked again and saw the girl burying her face, her hair accessories indeed resembling Little Pear’s. He suddenly felt the situation was rather unlucky and fell silent for a moment.
Seeing that Wen Puchang still hadn’t caught on, Xie Xiaonan turned to Qiao Ling beside him and said, “Go bring her over.”
Qiao Ling obeyed immediately, abruptly walking into the group of mourners and interrupting their wails. He called out, “Miss Wen.”
Wen Lisheng seemed to hear someone calling her and looked up in confusion. To her surprise, she saw Qiao Ling standing nearby and was dumbfounded. “What are you doing here?”
Qiao Ling didn’t answer but shifted slightly to gesture behind him.
Puzzled, Wen Lisheng turned her head, thinking that if Qiao Ling was here, Xie Xiaonan might be nearby too. As she searched, her eyes met those of her own father.
Wen Puchang was utterly stunned, his eyes widening in disbelief. He rubbed them vigorously, thinking his vision might be failing him, but no matter how he looked, the person sitting by the coffin, who had just been weeping bitterly, was indeed his daughter.
He immediately gasped, feeling a chill run through his heart, lungs, and entire body. His eyes rolled back as if he were about to faint from anger. Xie Xiaonan, who was closest to him, had to reach out to support him. Just then, Wen Puchang gasped out, “Quick…quick, pinch my philtrum!”
The two subordinates accompanying Wen Puchang were terrified and rushed to help support him. One of them pinched his philtrum hard and cried out, “Prefect! You’re in the prime of your life—it’s not yet time to be angered to death by your daughter!”
Wen Puchang managed to gasp out, “I don’t think it’s far off…”
Xie Xiaonan glanced at Prefect Wen, who was now surrounded by people, then looked at Wen Lisheng’s stunned expression. He quietly stepped back and moved a few paces away.
Wen Lisheng belatedly realized she had caused another major disaster. She tore off the mourning cloth she was wearing, stood up, and rushed toward Wen Puchang. “Dad—!”
Just then, Wen Puchang, who had seemed on the verge of collapse moments earlier, lifted his head and shouted, “Don’t call me Dad! If you’re so eager to mourn, I won’t stand in your way. I’ll do my best to die tonight!”
His subordinates and attendants were so frightened they all rushed to console him.
Wen Lisheng pushed the others aside and knelt beside Wen Puchang, crying out, “Dad, I can explain everything! This is all a huge misunderstanding!”
Wen Puchang closed his eyes, looking as weak as if he were about to die at any moment. “You’ve mistaken me for someone else. I couldn’t possibly have a daughter as disgraceful as you. I, Wen Puchang, have a lifetime of honor, but ever since you were born, I’ve been losing face everywhere…”
“If you don’t acknowledge me, who will take care of you in your old age and mourn you when you’re gone?” Wen Lisheng wept pitifully.
Wen Puchang couldn’t bear to listen any longer. He sat up abruptly and gave Wen Lisheng a sharp knock on the head. “Still cursing me, are you?”
Wen Lisheng cried out in pain, covering her head and not daring to say another word.One feigned death, the other pretended to cry. Xie Xiaonan felt he had truly witnessed something extraordinary; if the situation weren’t so inappropriate, he would have applauded this father-daughter pair.
Qiao Ling escorted two burly men forward and kicked the backs of their knees, forcing them to kneel before Xie Xiaonan. Their arms hung limply, clearly dislocated.
Wen Lisheng continued whispering to her father, “Dad, please get up. There are so many people watching on the street.”
Wen Puchang, supported by others, slowly rose and brushed the dust from his clothes. “It’s all because you nearly made me faint from anger. We’ll settle this when we get home!”
Seeing the commotion subside, Xie Xiaonan finally spoke. “Prefect Wen, the arsonist who escaped from prison today has been found.”
As soon as he spoke, the subordinates gathered around Wen Puchang automatically dispersed, allowing Wen Lisheng to catch sight of Xie Xiaonan.
He had changed out of his Thousand Peaks Academy uniform and now wore a long robe of smoky blue brocade. Standing tall and straight, the pale color almost made his skin appear as white as jade, casting a cool, almost ethereal glow even under the harsh sunlight, like a blank canvas untouched by ink.
Perhaps amused by the lively scene before him, the corners of his eyes crinkled slightly, and a faint smile graced his face.
Even without expression, his appearance was striking, but now, with a hint of a smile, he was utterly captivating. Xie Xiaonan was not stingy with his smiles, but when facing unfamiliar people, his emotions rarely showed so clearly.
Wen Lisheng’s gaze lingered briefly on his eyes before she lowered her voice and said, “I know where it is.”
Guided by memory, Wen Lisheng led the group back to the house she had just escaped from. The door was closed, and the surroundings were eerily quiet.
Guards with drawn swords stepped forward cautiously and pushed the door open. Wen Puchang turned to Wen Lisheng and said, “Go back first. There’s nothing more for you to do here.”
Wen Lisheng quickly glanced at Xie Xiaonan standing under a nearby tree and was more than eager to leave the place. She nodded and turned to go, only to find Qiao Ling blocking her path, standing firmly in the middle of the road as if to prevent her from passing.
The smile on his face felt oddly familiar, and a sense of foreboding washed over her.
Turning her head, she indeed met Xie Xiaonan’s gaze under the tree. His eyes were light and calm, the dappled shadows of the tree falling softly on his robe.
Then, Qiao Ling delivered the all-too-familiar line: “Miss Wen, the young master requests your presence.”
Wen Lisheng didn’t move immediately. Instead, she asked, “Can’t you change your lines?”
Qiao Ling shook his head slightly.
“But I need to go back,” Wen Lisheng said reluctantly, fearing Xie Xiaonan might give her a hard time.
Qiao Ling continued to smile gently, offering no response.
Seeing this, Wen Lisheng tried to inch forward, but Qiao Ling suddenly spoke up. “Miss Wen, our young master has very little patience.”
Gritting her teeth, she lowered her voice and snapped at Qiao Ling, “What does his lack of patience have to do with me?”
With that, she turned and walked toward Xie Xiaonan. In just a dozen steps, she reached the tree. Wen Lisheng curved her eyes into a smile, rubbing her hands together as she said, “Young Master, I heard you were looking for me?”
Xie Xiaonan was tall and stood straight, so when he looked at Wen Lisheng, his eyes were half-lidded, giving off an air of casual indifference. His hearing was exceptionally sharp, and he had clearly overheard her earlier reluctance and the hushed, angry remark she had directed at Qiao Ling.Looking at Wen Lisheng before him, smiling brightly and practically wearing the word “flattery” on her face, he asked, “Is your ancestral home in Shu?”
Wen Lisheng was taken aback for a moment, finding the question rather abrupt. She replied, “I’m a native of Yiguan. My family has lived in Yiguan County for three generations.”
Xie Xiaonan didn’t press further. Instead, he shifted his gaze to the dilapidated house. “Why are you here?”
Wen Lisheng answered truthfully, “I was cooling off in the pavilion by the lake when I was captured.”
“They’re after what was lost that day.” Earlier, when he heard Wen Lisheng say she could lead the way in the southern suburbs, he had already guessed that these escaped prisoners had sought her out for that very reason.
“You know?” Wen Lisheng blurted out in surprise, then quickly realized her tone lacked respect and tried to make amends. “The Young Master is indeed clever and perceptive, able to see through the intentions of those villains at once. But… what exactly is that thing?”
Clearly, Xie Xiaonan was not swayed by flattery, nor did he intend to let Wen Lisheng fish for information. He simply ignored her question.
Wen Lisheng gritted her teeth in frustration. She had been targeted more than once because of this wretched thing, yet she still didn’t even know what it was. Recalling the trouble she had caused after wandering around after her meal at Laoshutang that day, she was filled with regret. She wished she had poked her own eyes out on the spot when she saw the thief rushing out the door, so she wouldn’t have seen anything at all.
Snapping back to reality, she instinctively touched her eyes, startled by how dangerous her thoughts had been. After all, eyeballs were precious things.
Xie Xiaonan watched as her expression shifted rapidly, from panic to touching her eyes, fidgeting restlessly and muttering to herself.
Just as he was about to step into the house to take a look, Wen Lisheng suddenly spoke up, her tone slow and deliberate. “Young Master, do you have a very tall, plain-faced but fair-skinned… bodyguard or subordinate by your side?”
Xie Xiaonan showed a hint of confusion.
Wen Lisheng added, “He carries a purple jade pendant engraved with the character ‘Xie.'”
Xie Xiaonan’s expression suddenly turned peculiar. “Why are you looking for him?”