My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband-Chapter 20 - Day of Wearing a Disguise

Yan Hongyin shuddered with goosebumps at these blunt words, but quickly, that feeling of guilt and remorse once again overshadowed her previous suspicions.

—— She had only known before that the ladies of the harem could be terrifying when they became resentful. The imperial concubines in the palace appeared delicate and weak on the surface, but were ruthless when fighting for favor behind the scenes. She never expected that men… could also be so frightening when faced with harem rivalries?

Ah Yu, who usually appeared so gentle and warm, could actually have such an expression…

Hiss.

Yan Hongyin’s forehead throbbed as she realized that if there really was a “new love” in existence, this person at home wouldn’t just talk about separation – they might actually kill that completely non-existent outside lover.

Yu Luocha waited quietly for several breaths, and when he didn’t see the person come in, he threw the bedding he had been pretending to hold onto the bed. Turning around, he glared at Yan Hongyin who was standing stiffly by the window. “You’re still not coming in? Have you become unwilling to even speak with me?”

Yan Hongyin quickly snapped out of her thoughts, inexplicably feeling as guilty and flustered as a man with an outside lover. She shrunk her neck and said softly, “Then… husband, could you remove the door bolt?”

The term of address that she usually couldn’t bring herself to say slipped out unconsciously under Yu Luocha’s dramatic performance.

Yu Luocha was also stunned for a moment by the address, but quickly understood that, at least for now, he had successfully fooled Yan Hongyin.

With a cold snort, Yu Luocha’s face remained unfriendly as he went to open the door that was bolted from the inside. Standing by the doorway, he coldly watched Yan Hongyin, continuing to act proud.

The essence of turning the tables lay in one party being completely self-righteous and taking the initiative – as long as this was done before the other party could react, they would absolutely gain the upper hand.

Yan Hongyin lowered her head and sheepishly followed Yu Luocha into the room.

As she walked, she pondered, feeling that something wasn’t quite right.

Yu Luocha led her to sit at the table, and seeing Yan Hongyin’s contemplative expression, he reached out to flip over a cup and placed it in front of her. The crisp sound interrupted Yan Hongyin’s thoughts.

“Did Ah Yin come to tell me something?” The beauty’s lips turned downward, his cold demeanor appearing both alluring and intimidating.

Yan Hongyin, who was genuinely appreciative of beauty, couldn’t help but admire him for a few glances, then remembered the old nanny’s words and quickly waved her hands. “Ah Yu, I didn’t mean to before, I just… remembered some urgent matters that needed immediate attention, and before I knew it, three days had passed. I really didn’t mean to abandon you…”

As she spoke, Yan Hongyin felt these words were somewhat despicable, and her voice grew increasingly lower.

Yu Luocha’s lips curled up as he said sarcastically, “It must have been extremely urgent indeed, to make Ah Yin forget to come back for even a single look for three days.”

Yan Hongyin felt herself shrink another inch, but this time quickly caught something.

What did Ah Yu just call her?

Ah Yin?

She blinked. “You used to only call me by my name…”

Then in the next moment, she watched as the beauty who had been angry just moments ago turned his head aside with slightly reddened cheeks, giving her somewhat of an annoyed glance.

Yan Hongyin immediately understood, but she couldn’t think of any sweet words to coax him, so she could only say humbly, “How could I ever want to separate from Ah Yu? If Ah Yu doesn’t believe me, these next few days when I go out, I can take Ah Yu along, what do you think? His Majesty’s birthday is approaching, and there are lantern festivals being prepared everywhere, it’s quite lively.”

Yu Luocha’s eyes flashed.

There were still two days left of taking medicine, but having recovered his martial arts, he had no intention of remaining confined in this courtyard. Not to mention that so-called portrait of his – whether real or fake, it had to be retrieved.

Moreover, Yu Luocha was not particularly forgiving, and the matter of the sarira couldn’t be resolved so simply.

Someone had stolen from him, Yu Luocha, and after such a long time, it was time he paid a visit to Lin’an Prefecture’s Jinyiwei.

After turning these thoughts over in his mind, Yu Luocha well understood the principle of knowing when to stop, and his attitude and expression visibly softened. Looking down, he asked, “Really?”

Yan Hongyin let out a sigh of relief. “Really!”

Yu Luocha maintained his persona, curved his lips into a gentle smile, and said softly, “Alright.”

It wasn’t until she was pushed out the door with Ah Yu saying he didn’t want to see her for now that Yan Hongyin stood in the courtyard frowning in thought for a good while before realizing–she hadn’t actually kept an outside lover, so why was she acting so guilty and humble trying to coax the person inside?!

And after three days, she had originally wanted to check Ah Yu’s pulse, but had completely forgotten about it.

Even without the full diagnosis of observing, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking, just by looking at Ah Yu’s complexion, vitality, and spirit, Yan Hongyin could roughly tell that Ah Yu’s body had basically recovered. After taking the remaining two pills and following up with some nutritious foods, it definitely wouldn’t affect his future longevity.

Having just come out of seclusion, Yan Hongyin indeed had some matters to handle. The urgent priority was to visit the Jinyiwei station to ask about Chu Liuxiang’s whereabouts these past few days.

She walked towards the courtyard entrance while calculating.

This sarira was indeed remarkably potent in medicinal power, so perhaps…

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

Should she go back to Dali to request a couple more to keep in reserve?

Although it wasn’t very appropriate to ask, the Dali royal family’s power had been declining in recent years, and the Duan clan would likely completely submit to the Central Plains within these few generations. Being a bit forceful in tone, there wasn’t much they couldn’t obtain.

****

Yan Hongyin changed clothes, put on a mask, and arrived at the Jinyiwei station where Ji Qing had already been waiting for some time.

Yan Hongyin’s identity as Zhenfushi wasn’t particularly concealed. Any careful person with ulterior motives wouldn’t find it difficult to suspect that Yan Hongyin, the head physician of Yan Hong Hall, had some unclear connection with the Jinyiwei.

This served both as a form of protection for Yan Hong Hall and as one of the methods to conceal Yan Hongyin’s true identity.

The fourth-rank Zhenfushi, while a moderately important official position in the Jiangnan Lin’an Prefecture area, wouldn’t count for much in the capital where officials and nobles were everywhere. Although the various forces involved in the crown prince succession struggle were wary of the Jinyiwei, not every Jinyiwei member could make them extremely cautious, especially since this Zhenfushi’s main activities were related to jianghu forces and clearly investigating jianghu matters, with no connection to court affairs.

Under these circumstances, they wouldn’t deliberately make things difficult for the Jinyiwei, and would even lend a helping hand when necessary, letting more Jinyiwei be entangled with jianghu forces and unable to pay attention to court upheavals.

“Daren, these are Chu Liuxiang’s whereabouts these past few days.”

Yan Hongyin took the book Ji Qing handed over and opened it, scanning through it quickly, her eyebrows moving slightly and her gaze flickering.

Chu Liuxiang’s past few days could be described as quite eventful.

But if he hadn’t stirred up the still waters like a mud eel entering a river, how would Yan Hongyin have known that Lin’an Prefecture had been quietly infiltrated by so many Western Demonic Sect agents over these years?

The Jiangnan area, located at a strategic transportation hub with flourishing merchant trade, should have been heavily guarded by the imperial court. But because of the gathering of jianghu people and the widespread martial arts forces, along with officials who collected bribes while neglecting their duties, the imperial court’s control over Jiangnan had become increasingly unlike before in recent years.

This indeed gave the Western Demonic Sect an opportunity to infiltrate.

As the saying goes, those not of our kind must have different hearts.

This saying was particularly fitting when applied to the Western Demonic Sect.

Ordinary Central Plains jianghu forces, although they would have various outer disciples running shops to support their sects and would train some spies to gather intelligence, even the Sun Moon Holy Sect of Blackwood Cliff wouldn’t send agents to lurk beside imperial officials, or use beauty schemes, or poison and martial threats, using various methods frequently trying to thoroughly corrupt the imperial officials in the Jiangnan area.

As for the rest, not to mention the shops and escort agencies further down, the Western Demonic Sect’s shadow was almost ubiquitous across all industries, the only difference being that some had already succeeded while others were still lurking.

But their wolfish ambitions were clear as day.

Yan Hongyin put down the book with a stern face and took out Chu Liuxiang’s letter from her sleeve, breaking the seal to remove the paper.

[Yu Luocha’s ambitions are great, but his sect followers are not of one mind.

The Luocha Sect has three elders: Gu Song, Ku Zhu, and Han Mei, who jointly manage internal affairs after Yu Luocha left the sect.

However, Elder Han Mei harbored rebellious thoughts, received news that Yu Luocha had qi deviation and was severely injured, needing the sarira to sustain life and heal injuries, and personally came to Lin’an Prefecture intending to kill Yu Luocha. The recent disturbances in Lin’an Prefecture were all Han Mei’s doing behind the scenes.

But Han Mei seems unable to mobilize all of the Luocha Sect’s secret agents and strongholds in Lin’an Prefecture. Only the Divine Water Palace disciples who submitted to the Luocha Sect two years ago have formed an alliance with her, and the Tianyi Divine Water came from this source.

That day, the staff at Hefang Shop accidentally saw Yu Luocha’s face in Lin’an Prefecture and drew a portrait, but it was stolen by Divine Water Palace disciples who assassinated him first.

Tomorrow at the hour of Xu, in Xunfang Pavilion, will be the day Divine Water Palace disciples trade the portrait with Han Mei.]

(TL: the period of the day from 7 pm to 9 pm)

The wording of this letter…

Yan Hongyin’s fingers brushed over it, bringing the paper to her nose to smell. Under the strong scent of iris was an extremely faint trace of rouge, and she immediately understood.

“Daren?” Ji Qing saw Yan Hongyin’s action and stepped forward, “Is there something wrong with this letter?”

Instead of answering, Yan Hongyin asked, “Has Chu Liuxiang already left Lin’an Prefecture?”

Ji Qing was stunned for a moment, then said, “He should still be here, though his three beauty companions weighed anchor and sailed away yesterday.”

Yan Hongyin shook her head and smiled wryly. “The people around Chu Liuxiang are each more remarkable than the last, but he is indeed truly a clear-headed person.”

Chu Liuxiang clearly didn’t want to get involved in court politics or wade into these muddy waters. She still owed him a favor, so it was fine to grant him this.

“Chu Liuxiang’s letters are always very elegant, but this letter was written by someone close to him. The real Chu Liuxiang has probably already left with that ship.”

Yan Hongyin paused, then continued, “No need to investigate Chu Liuxiang’s matters further. Tomorrow, send a few more people to wait at Xunfang Pavilion.”

“Yes!”

****

Chu Liuxiang closed his eyes, feeling the familiar rocking sensation of the deck beneath him, while the fragrant smell of delicious seafood porridge reached his nose.

The young woman holding the tray put the porridge aside and, hands on her hips, coquettishly scolded the lazily lying Chu Liuxiang. “Not getting up yet?”

Chu Liuxiang raised his hand to cover his eyes from the sunlight, and couldn’t help but laugh. “Finally getting such a sound sleep, how could I not get my money’s worth from the knockout drug you all put in my food?”

Li Hongxiu heard this and sat down beside him, stretching her legs and laughing coquettishly. “If you didn’t want to, who could make you eat food laced with knockout drugs?”

Chu Liuxiang sighed and said, “I wonder who wrote the letter sent to the Jinyiwei. If Rongrong wrote it, it should be able to fool them for a few more days.”

“Then you’ve guessed wrong! Sister Rong had to disguise the person replacing you sleeping in Lin’an Prefecture, so of course she had no time to write that letter.” Li Hongxiu was a very striking beauty, and carried a kind of casual, unrestrained beauty about her. When she smiled, she was like sweet charm incarnate, her eyes full of loving starlight. “The letter sent to the Jinyiwei was written by me, and the letter sent to Sect Leader Yu was written by Tian’er.”

Chu Liuxiang turned over and smiled bitterly. “She probably won’t mind, but that Sect Leader Yu is not someone easy to deal with.”

“Isn’t he just a Western Region demonic sect leader? Why are you so afraid of him?”

“Do you remember what Wu Hua said about the only person Stone Guanyin feared and dreaded when we went deep into the desert to find Stone Guanyin that year?”

“You mean…”

“Stone Guanyin had been carefully building power in the desert for years but didn’t dare to overstep the bounds, precisely because she feared the Luocha Sect entrenched in the Western Regions. It’s said that at that time, Yu Luocha’s martial arts were already enough to defeat Stone Guanyin in one move, let alone now? If we’re really talking about it, this Sect Leader Yu should be the most powerful and wealthy person in the martial arts world today.”

“Power? The martial arts world is still just the martial arts world no matter what. Could it be that he’s not just content with being the uncrowned king of the Western Regions, but wants to go a step further and rebel against the imperial court?” Li Hongxiu said dismissively.

A strange look flashed through Chu Liuxiang’s eyes, and he closed them again to enjoy the warm, gentle sunlight, saying slowly, “Who knows?”

He, Chu Liuxiang, was a pure jianghu wanderer, and couldn’t get involved in matters connected to the imperial court.

The handsome man stretched lazily, comfortably sunbathing.

A free and unfettered life, enjoying the jianghu – that was the life he wanted to live~