After leaving the estate, the three mounted their horses and rode farther and farther away from the estate at the fastest speed they could manage.
Since Jiang Wan did not know how to ride a horse, Ye Yurong took her with her.
The three returned to the dock before the sun had completely set, and only then did they finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The lingering glow of dusk fell upon them, stretching their shadows long and intertwining them together.
After dismounting, all three gasped for breath. Lin Yuan raised his hand and wiped his forehead, despite there not being a drop of sweat there.
“Phew, that was close. We almost got discovered and wouldn’t have made it back.”
The jolting ride had made Jiang Wan feel a little nauseous. Her stomach felt heavy and bloated, and she was also somewhat dizzy.
“Mm.”
The outer corners of Ye Yurong’s eyes were sharp and relaxed, with a slight upward curve. Her voice was clear yet slightly low, neither delicate nor soft.
“You need to practice more. You’re already out of breath after such a short distance. You’re dragging us down.”
Lin Yuan crossed his arms and tilted his head in protest.
“Are you indirectly saying I’m physically weak?”
Ye Yurong stared back at him, her meaning obvious: Aren’t you?
“I’m weak? This is what we call power-saving mode, understand? If I really went all out, I’m afraid I’d scare you.”
“……”
Jiang Wan watched the two bicker and secretly laughed to herself, while outwardly maintaining her dizzy, nauseous expression.
“At least I’m your partner, right? Saying things like that really hurts my feelings…” After saying this, Lin Yuan clutched his chest dramatically and even wiped at his eyes with his sleeve, as though he had genuinely been brought to tears by her words.
Ye Yurong showed him no mercy and immediately exposed him.
“Hmph. Partner? You went to the auction and spent several million taels of silver on things, put my name down, and nearly drained half of the Merchant Ship Association’s general account. And you still have the nerve to say that?”
“And last time, I personally went to deliver the goods, only to have them try to rob me. And what did you do? You kept provoking them like crazy. Are you trying to die faster?”
“You even told them to surrender?”
Lin Yuan discovered that he was completely unable to argue back.
“……”
The air fell silent for several seconds.
Ye Yurong turned toward Jiang Wan, her tone softening slightly.
“You’ve seen it yourself. We didn’t gain much from this trip, nor did we find any particularly valuable clues. You… what do you plan to do next?”
Hearing this, Jiang Wan lowered her head and recalled what had happened inside the estate. Everyone who had been standing there had a vacant expression, maintaining the exact same posture no matter how much time passed. They seemed more like puppets than people.
“It’s not as though we gained nothing. At least we’ve figured out some of the paths. And the size of the estate isn’t fixed. The farther inward we went, the larger it seemed to become.”
After hearing this, Ye Yurong and Lin Yuan nodded in unison.
“But even so, it’ll be difficult for us to take you inside again now. I estimate Guixu has probably returned by this point, and it won’t be leaving again for quite some time.”
During the short rest just now, Jiang Wan’s dizziness and nausea had already improved. She supported herself against the horse’s back and walked a few steps toward them.
She said firmly, “You don’t need to take me inside. All you need is for someone to go in and investigate the situation and record everything.”
Ye Yurong and Lin Yuan exchanged glances.
They looked at each other, subtly shifting their eyes as if asking the other what they should do.
Naturally, this did not escape Jiang Wan’s notice. She did not urge them, simply waiting patiently.
Ye Yurong had been desperately scrambling to raise money for her mother’s heart transplant when Guixu approached her. It told her that as long as she accompanied it on missions, she would immediately receive a large sum of money.
Ye Yurong had hesitated and struggled for only a few seconds before nodding in agreement.
At that moment, a bank card appeared in her hand.
Guixu’s cold, mechanical voice rang in her ears.
“I have fulfilled my promise. The rest is up to you.”
Thus, she first paid her mother’s surgical expenses and entrusted other relatives with taking care of her mother. She then claimed that she was going to work in another province.
In reality, she had followed Guixu to carry out missions.
After she arrived in this transmigrated world, the mission Guixu assigned her was to make the Merchant Ship Association the largest organization of its kind in this world.
At first, Ye Yurong thought this was simply an impossible task. But after she found a way to accomplish it, all the difficulties gradually began to loosen and crumble. The organization expanded in scale, and its influence grew alongside it.
Of course, if she did not have a partner who constantly dragged her down, things might have been even easier—and she could probably save a little money, too.
As for Lin Yuan, he was an orphan. He had no family to worry about and nothing tying him down. However, because he was always so careless and irresponsible around the people he interacted with, they gradually distanced themselves from him.
When Guixu found him, he was sleeping on a bench under a piece of broken cardboard. When he heard that he could earn a large sum of money by accompanying it on missions, he agreed without hesitation.
The only thing Lin Yuan loved more than money was… more money.
After coming to this world and becoming Ye Yurong’s partner, he spent money extravagantly, taking it straight from Ye Yurong’s purse without the slightest restraint or shame. He did so openly and shamelessly.
After all, no matter how much he spent, Ye Yurong could earn it back within three days.
He never felt guilty about it.
He simply enjoyed the good life.
After exchanging meaningful looks and still failing to come up with a solution, the two could only resort to the classic tactic of stalling Jiang Wan.
Lin Yuan spoke first.
“Uh… We still need to discuss things and work out a plan for what comes next. We’ll give you an answer later.”
Jiang Wan nodded as though she understood.
“Mm. Thank you for today.”
Ye Yurong immediately followed up.
“No problem. It’s already time for dinner. We’ll need to eat our fill before we have the strength to think about what comes next. Come on.”
Ye Yurong walked alongside Jiang Wan, chatting with her seemingly casually.
“Jiang Wan, why did you come here?”
Jiang Wan pursed her lips.
“To find a relative. She’s been missing for a long time.”
After saying this, her fingertips tightened around her sleeve.
There were no clues at all right now. The only key to breaking through this situation was Sheng Zixu.
Ye Yurong’s heart tightened.
“I’m sorry. I brought up something painful.”
Jiang Wan shook her head and gave her a faint smile.
“It’s fine. I should also thank you for your help.”
The two continued chatting back and forth, completely ignoring Lin Yuan, who was walking far ahead of them.
Lin Yuan silently rolled his eyes.
“Could you two walk faster? I’m going to starve to death.”
Ye Yurong shot back, “Jiang Wan, ignore this starving ghost who was apparently reincarnated just to eat.”
“You eat so much every day and still say you’re hungry. Are you a pig?”
Lin Yuan’s eyes became perfunctory, clearly unwilling to argue with her any further. He strode away, quickly disappearing from their view.
“Fine, fine, fine. Whatever makes you happy.”
Ye Yurong said, “He’s always like that. Lazy and only interested in good food.”
Jiang Wan did not mind.
“Then let’s hurry too.”
On the three-foot-long old shipwood table sat a pot of assorted fish stew, stir-fried dried shrimp with water celery, steamed salted fish with cured meats, and a clear river-mussel and tofu soup.
Lin Yuan was sitting in the seat of honor, eating and drinking heartily. When the two women entered, this was the scene they were greeted with.
Neither said much. They simply took their seats in turn.
Jiang Wan lowered her eyes and leisurely picked the meat from the fish, her movements calm and quiet. She did not say a word.
The carefree one was leaning against the edge of the table, propping his chin up with one hand while casually poking at the dried shrimp with his chopsticks. Every now and then, he would toss in a few idle remarks, his posture relaxed and unrestrained.
The remaining person sat upright and quietly ate her meal.
The sea breeze entered through the window, carrying the salty fragrance of fish and shrimp as it spread around the three of them, adding to their appetites.
After they had finished their meal in relative silence, Ye Yurong instructed Chunxia to take Jiang Wan outside for a stroll.
Jiang Wan knew without even having to think that they wanted to discuss something.
“Thank you, Captain Ye. I won’t come back later.”
Ye Yurong nodded.
“All right. Have Chunxia take you to rest later.”
……
Night spread across the surface of the sea, and the ship remained quietly anchored near the shore.
A full moon hung in the ink-black night sky. Its clear radiance spilled over the surging waves, breaking into millions of shimmering silver fragments that swayed gently with the tide.
The salty, cool sea breeze carried a faint scent of the ocean as it brushed against the side of the ship, lifting the hair at her temples.
Jiang Wan’s thoughts gradually drifted into the distance.
Sheng Zixu.
Her younger sister, Jiang Nian.
Memories of her time with them continuously surfaced in her mind.
Inside the cabin, Ye Yurong and Lin Yuan were arguing heatedly.
One believed they should simply refuse.
The other believed they should lend a helping hand.
Lin Yuan said, “There’s no need to make things so complicated. We haven’t even finished our own mission. Just refuse directly.”
Ye Yurong disagreed.
“I don’t agree. Don’t you have any relatives? If one of your relatives encountered something like this and you just stood by and did nothing, wouldn’t you…”
After saying this, she suddenly realized something.
She raised her head and looked at Lin Yuan.
His eyes were red, and he was doing his best to hold himself back.
“I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant. I just… I just…”
Lin Yuan stormed out of the door, ignoring Ye Yurong’s words behind him. Ye Yurong braced both hands against the table, regretting what she had just said.
Lin Yuan rushed all the way to the deck as though sparks were flying from his heels, letting the fierce sea wind lash against him and carry away his pain, along with those hurtful words.
By the time he finally noticed the chill, he had completely calmed down. After thinking things over quietly, he eventually gave in to his compassion. As he wandered aimlessly around the ship, he happened to see Jiang Wan staring blankly at the moon.
Lin Yuan walked over.
“Jiang Wan, I’ve decided to help you. Don’t get the wrong idea. I’m just taking pity on you.”
In truth, he was also taking pity on his former self—the one who had been abandoned and used.
Jiang Wan was baffled by his words.
“Then do I have to thank you, too?”
Lin Yuan replied as though it were only natural, “Of course. I don’t work for free.”
“Even if there’s no credit, there’s still the hard work, right?”
“……”
“Thank you.”
Lin Yuan was just about to say something when Ye Yurong, who had found them, interrupted him.
“Lin Yuan, about what happened just now, I apologize…”
With his back toward her, he said, “I know. To show your sincerity, you’ll have to give me three hundred taels of silver later as compensation.”
The corner of Ye Yurong’s mouth twitched. Her heart ached, but she agreed.
“Fine. I’ll have someone deliver it to you later.”
“That’s more like it. I’ve already agreed with Jiang Wan that we’ll help her.”
“Fine. I have no objections.”
And so, the three of them discussed their plans for what came next on the deck.
Since the two of them needed to report their mission progress to Guixu regularly, they planned to take advantage of this opportunity to investigate the situation.
With the assistance of their tools, they could accomplish twice as much with half the effort.
Before Ye Yurong and Lin Yuan went to report their mission, they activated their tools in advance.
Ye Yurong’s tool was the life-saving item Guixu had given her back when she had nearly been ambushed. It could detect the presence of living people.
Lin Yuan’s tool was somewhat useless—a real-time recording device. When he had first received it, he had complained about it for quite some time.
Now, however, it had finally come in handy.
When they went to report their mission, they also saw several other people there. Everyone dutifully reported their recent situation.
Guixu did not say much. It merely told them to be more cautious and not act recklessly. If anything unexpected happened, the consequences would be extremely serious.
As they walked toward the entrance of the estate, their pace gradually slowed until they were moving like turtles.
During this time, Ye Yurong turned her detection tool up to its maximum setting. She was not worried in the slightest about being discovered.
After they finally dragged their feet out of the estate’s main gate, they looked at the recorded results and all wore troubled expressions.
On the way back, they were already wondering how they were going to explain the situation to Jiang Wan.
The moment Jiang Wan saw them, she noticed that their expressions were somewhat off.
“What happened? Why do you both look so troubled?”
The two exchanged another glance, then took a deep breath and handed her the recorded results.
Jiang Wan took the enormous sheet of paper, which was roughly the size of a map, and carefully examined every location.
Her brows furrowed deeply.
“Sheng Zixu isn’t inside?”
Ye Yurong stepped forward and patted her shoulder.
“There can’t be a mistake. My tool can detect the presence of living people, while Lin Yuan’s records everything. So he’s probably somewhere else.”
Jiang Wan’s body swayed unsteadily, and Ye Yurong quickly reached out to support her.
Lin Yuan also stepped forward.
“I can’t shake the feeling that this is a trap specifically set for you. You need to be careful and figure out what’s real and what isn’t.”
“What Lin Yuan said isn’t unreasonable.”
Jiang Wan forced herself to straighten her back.
“But where could he be?”
A faint smile curved Ye Yurong’s lips as she comforted her.
“I’ll have my people go out and make inquiries as well. I’ll also use my tool to help.”
Lin Yuan said, “All right, enough. Don’t look at me like that. I’ll risk my life to accompany the gentleman.”
Jiang Wan was somewhat moved.
“There’s nothing I can give you in return. If you ever need my help in the future, just ask.”