Chapter 292 - 283: Mother and Child Qingfu, Xie Mingzhi

Chapter 292: Chapter 283: Mother and Child Qingfu, Xie Mingzhi

Not many people alighted from the first-class carriage. Most were well-dressed and carried themselves with an air of distinction, clearly a cut above the passengers in the other cars.

The train’s passengers gradually disembarked. Before long, a figure in blue appeared unhurriedly at the carriage door.

He was a slender young man, dressed in a fine, lake-blue satin long gown. A thin gold chain with a top-grade jadeite pendant hung on his chest.

He wore a flat-brimmed hat, white with a black band, and a pair of light-brown Western World sunglasses rested on his nose. He was handsome and bore himself with a carefree elegance—the very picture of a nobleman from the Republic era.

Two people followed the man. One was a scruffy young man with messy hair who looked like a scholar, clutching an Oil Paper Umbrella tightly to his chest. He walked with his head down, apparently muttering to himself.

The other, carrying and shouldering several large and small bags, had a calm demeanor and the bearing of an attendant.

Upon seeing the three of them, the beautiful woman’s eyes lit up. A smile bloomed on her face, and she quickly rushed toward the man in the long gown at the head of the group.

"Brother Lingjun!"

Fu Juemin had only taken a couple of steps after getting off the train when he heard the call, followed by a figure flinging herself into his arms like a swallow returning to its nest.

Her slender arms wrapped tightly around his waist, and she nuzzled her head against his chest, as if trying to merge her entire body into his.

"Have you been waiting long?"

Fu Juemin playfully flicked his finger across Xu Xinyi’s upturned cheek.

Xu Xinyi’s eyes fluttered shut. Having not seen him for a few days, she seemed to be thoroughly enjoying this form of affection.

"Not long."

Xu Xinyi hummed softly and whispered, "Brother Lingjun, are you wearing perfume? It smells so good..."

Fu Juemin smiled without a word, simply reaching out to pull Xu Xinyi closer and give her a light peck on the lips.

Xu Xinyi, however, seized the opportunity to kiss him properly.

People came and went on the platform. The couple’s intimate behavior drew frequent sidelong glances from passersby, along with hushed whispers.

But Xu Xinyi didn’t care in the slightest, and Fu Juemin cared even less.

After a brief, tender moment, Fu Juemin released her, but Xu Xinyi still clung tightly to his arm, looking as if she couldn’t bear to be parted from him for even a second.

"Young Master."

The few men in black standing by Xu Xinyi’s side greeted Fu Juemin.

These men were not old members of the Ghost Camp, but rather former confidants of Madam Ding, and had been with him for nearly half a year. After Aunt Ding’s death, only these six had been willing to leave with him, which spoke to their loyalty and reliability.

Fu Juemin gave a slight nod, had someone take the luggage from Cao Tian’s hands, and then led the group forward.

Soon, they saw one of his men standing guard over several suitcases. Beside him stood a young man and woman dressed as students, both looking a little awkward.

"Young Madam, your things have been packed up. It would be best to check if anything is missing."

Seeing the group approach, the man hurriedly reported to Xu Xinyi.

Xu Xinyi quietly explained to Fu Juemin what had happened earlier.

She saw her own exquisite leather jewelry box sitting perfectly fine on the ground. In contrast, the other couple’s suitcases were still open, and she could even see the girl’s undergarments inside. She quickly waved her hand. "Alright, alright, just let them go."

After speaking, she gave the girl in the student couple a gentle smile. The girl lowered her head, said, "Thank you," gathered her luggage, and hurried away.

Fu Juemin watched the two of them retreat into the distance, then glanced at the small leather case in Xu Xinyi’s hands. He said casually, "You’re really not going to open it and check? What if something’s actually missing?"

"If it’s gone, it’s gone."

Xu Xinyi shook her head, a look of indifference on her face. "A young woman having her underwear rummaged through in broad daylight...

"If she really did take a piece or two of my jewelry, I’d actually feel better about it.

"Besides..."

Xu Xinyi hugged Fu Juemin’s arm tightly and said sweetly, "Jewelry and all that... if it’s gone, you’ll just buy me more, won’t you?"

Hearing this, Fu Juemin couldn’t help but chuckle.

The group left the station, where a horse-drawn carriage prepared by their men was already waiting.

Longqiu was considered a wealthy county in Jiadong, but as the carriage left the station, the view that met their eyes was one of utter desolation.

"Due to the disasters and unrest in the Southwest, a lot of refugees have fled here. And the Xin Republic, short on funds for suppressing the rebellions, keeps raising taxes every month. Life is just too hard for the common people.

"It wasn’t until I left Shenghai that I realized how bad things have gotten out here..."

Fu Juemin sat in the carriage, lifting the curtain to look outside as he listened to Xu Xinyi, who was nestled beside him, sigh. "I’ve even heard that Horse Bandits are active again in many places, and quite a few people are secretly gathering to rebel..."

"While you were waiting for me in Longqiu these past few days, you specifically went and found all this out?"

Fu Juemin turned to look at Xu Xinyi, a strange light in his eyes.

Xu Xinyi muttered softly, "Well, we are going to Aunt Ding’s and your old hometown, Brother Lingjun. I had nothing better to do, so I did some route planning.

"I just happened to learn about these things along the way..."

"So it seems you’ve already planned out our next steps?" Fu Juemin asked.

Xu Xinyi nodded eagerly. "Mhm," she replied. "First, we’ll take the carriage to the Longqiu ferry, then a half-day boat ride to Yingchuan County, where we’ll switch to another carriage. All in all, it should take about three days to reach Taimei County.

"I also prepared some food, just in case there are no inns or restaurants on the way. It should be enough for all of us for a day or two..."

Fu Juemin stared intently at the eloquently speaking Xu Xinyi before him. He watched until her voice trailed off and she lowered her face, her eyes shy and embarrassed.

Fu Juemin suddenly realized that Xu Xinyi, whom he had always treated as little more than a beautiful ornament by his side, was actually quite capable—she just never had the opportunity to show it before.

Compared to her sister, Xu Leyi—a girl who had all but faded from his memory—Xu Xinyi was perhaps the smarter of the two Xu Family flowers.

Fu Juemin stroked Xu Xinyi’s hair, then after a moment’s thought, he gave an order to Cao Tian, who was walking beside the carriage. "Go look around nearby, see if there are any newspapers, and buy me a few copies."

"Yes, sir."

Cao Tian acknowledged the order and departed swiftly.

Fu Juemin, in turn, wrapped his arm around Xu Xinyi and conveniently lowered the carriage curtain.

....

Outside the Longqiu train station, the young man and woman dressed as students stood under an old telephone pole, staring fixedly as the carriage carrying Fu Juemin’s party gradually disappeared into the distance.

If Xu Xinyi had been there, she would have surely recognized them as the young couple whose luggage had bumped into hers earlier.

Now, the pretty face of the girl was stern, showing none of her earlier shy and awkward demeanor.

"How is it, Xiangniang? Can you sense it?"

The handsome young man asked quietly from the side.

"I can."

The girl nodded and pulled her hand from her sleeve. A small, bluish-brown insect, shaped like a cicada but much smaller—only the size of a pinky fingernail—was crawling on her fair forearm.

"Back then, Aunt Lan was a White Lotus Guardian of the Divine Extraction Sect, and she was an expert at tracking things. She obtained this Refining Method for the Mother and Child Qingfu from a Witchcraft and Gu Village in the Southern Border during one of the Sect’s uprisings.

"The Mother and Child Qingfu come in a pair. I hid the item with the ’child’ bug on it in that woman’s case. As long as it’s not too far away, I can sense where they are within a certain range.

"Unfortunately..."

The girl’s expression suddenly turned sorrowful. Looking at the little insect crawling on her hand, she said softly, "With Aunt Lan’s death, this is probably the last pair of Mother and Child Qingfu left in the world."

"If they can help us hold onto that item, then their value will have been maximized. Besides, the Divine Extraction Sect was destroyed ages ago..."

The young man comforted her, then added worriedly, "What I’m worried about now is, eloping is one thing, but we also stole from Marshal Ming before we left..."

"You still call him Marshal Ming?!"

The girl’s voice suddenly became shrill, her delicate brows shooting up in anger.

"Xie Mingzhi! It’s Xie Mingzhi!"

It seemed this small, slender, and pretty girl was the one who truly held the dominant position in the relationship.

The young man seemed a little afraid of her and quickly corrected himself. "The Fire Cloud Army’s Momentum is unstoppable now; they’ve already occupied seven entire provinces in the south.

"Xie Mingzhi’s power is at its zenith. Within the Fire Cloud Army, the reputations of all the other banner marshals combined can’t compare to the name ’Marshal Ming.’

"We burned down his granary in Yangping and ran off with his most prized possession. If he catches us, he will never let us go..."

"And you think you would have survived if you’d just kept following him obediently?"

The girl sneered, but a tear suddenly rolled from the corner of her eye. Her voice choked with emotion. "Aunt Lan, Sister Su... which one of them didn’t follow him with absolute devotion? They gave him their all!

"All they did was take a tiny portion of the rations he was supposed to distribute to his subordinates, which caused him to lose one small battle.

"And for that, he fed Aunt Lan and the others, one by one, to that ’Ba’ of his in front of everyone!

"To hell with ’Marshal Ming’! To hell with ’Marshal Huo’!"

The girl cursed through gritted teeth, "Without us supporting him, propping him up, that Xie Mingzhi would be nothing more than a stinking teacher from some village private school!

"He loves his grain, doesn’t he? Then I’ll just burn it all down!

"He keeps that thing by his side every single day, so I’ll just steal it so he can never see it again..."

The young man stood timidly to the side, listening to the girl’s incessant cursing.

When the girl finished her tirade, she wiped away her tears and broke into a smile. "Actually, I didn’t do it just to vent my anger. I was also thinking about our future.

"That thing is so important to Xie Mingzhi, it must have some extraordinary properties. We’ve run away, so we need some assets to think about our future life.

"It’s not safe to carry it with us now, so we’ll let someone else hold onto it for a while. If Xie Mingzhi left some kind of trick on it and uses it to track us down, they’ll be the unlucky ones, not us.

"If there’s no problem, that’s even better. We’ll just find a chance to get it back later."

The girl took the young man’s arm, her tone softening. "Didn’t you always say your ancestors were from the royal family of the former dynasty’s Upper Three Banners? Once we get to Yingjing, I’ll figure out a way for you to be formally recognized by your clan.

"If we can settle down because of that, what can Xie Mingzhi do even if he finds out where we are? Would he dare to come knocking on our door himself?"

The young man nodded meekly, looking completely without opinion, as if he let the girl make all the decisions.

The girl nestled against the young man, speaking in a soft, low voice.

Suddenly, her expression changed, and she hastily pulled the young man away.

Not long after they left, several figures emerged from the station. They all had cold demeanors and a hint of malice in their eyes.

The group lingered for a moment where the couple had just been standing, then chose a direction and gave chase.

...