“Madam.”
The six of them who guard outside the grand door hastily saluted the red-dressed woman, as it was rare that she was outside.
She was moving very quickly and came to Du Shaofu’s side. Her pupils were fluctuating while her gaze was fixed entirely on Du Shaofu.
When his eyes met hers, he didn’t know why, but there was a sense of familiarity that was suddenly stirred up in his heart. He could feel the warmth from her eyes.
Her eyes became wet as she stared. She gently pinched Du Shaofu’s cheek and said. “Good boy, you have suffered quite a lot. We are going home.”
She was slightly choked with sobs as she spoke, but her face was full of smiles. Then, she pulled him back into the compound.
Du Shaofu was slightly stunned when he was pulled by the woman into the prefecture, but when he saw her wet eyes, he unknowingly felt sad. It was a feeling that he had never felt before.
The six brawny guards were stunned when they saw that Du Shaofu was pulled by the madam. It seemed like he wasn’t just a simple relative, his connection with them must be beyond a relative.
‘Luckily, I didn’t chase him off, otherwise…’
Huang San was stupefied as he wiped the bead of cold sweats off at the corner of his forehead. He felt fortunate that he didn’t ignorantly chase that brat off, otherwise he would really meet his misfortune.
“I made the right decision this time!” A smile appeared on Huang San’s face as he imagined that his pleasant days were going to come.
“Huang San, you piece of trash. You dared to block the young master’s path outside the prefecture. I will take care of you later.”
A wet blanket suddenly pulled him out of his imagination. A middle-aged man in chief uniform glared fiercely at Huang San before he quickly followed behind the madam into the prefecture with the female servants.
“I…”
Huang San was speechless. He didn’t know what to say. He was sending the token to the lord, but was stopped by this vice chief.
Now, this guy wanted to make him a scapegoat. He knew that all he could do was to bear it, even though he wished that he could beat the hell out of him. The position of vice chief was a lot higher than him in Lan Ling Prefecture.
There were verdant trees and flowers that were blooming in Lan Ling Prefecture. In the man-made hill, a stream was flowing in between the rocks and trees.
As Du Shaofu was still being pulled by the red-dressed woman, he had already passed through many courtyards. The pavement was wide, with two tall ornate-decorated buildings that touched the sky on two sides. Its stairs that were built with railings were made from white stones that pierced through the clouds. They were surrounded by ponds that connected to three bridges. They were truly gorgeous and majestic.
“Greet madam!”
Along the way, a lot of people in armor with strong Qi paid their respects to the woman.
“All of you listen, this is young master Shaofu. If he suffers any unpleasantness here, all of you would be held responsible.”
The red-dressed woman passed down the orders to the guard and servants. She looked to be in a very good mood as her face kept on smiling while introducing Du Shaofu to her subordinates.
Everyone in Lan Ling Prefecture, especially the female servants were doubtful about this. No one knew the background of this young master Shaofu, but judging by the madam’s happy expression, she looked to be much closer to Shaofu than her own son.
In the silent hall, the red-dressed woman was still checking on Du Shaofu. The extra moisture in her eyes had faded and was replaced with happiness. She then said softly. “You have grown quite muscular, and handsome too. Nearly similar to that fellow.”
“Madam…”
Du Shaofu finally had the chance to converse. He didn’t have the chance to say anything along the way as she was happily introducing him to the others and everything about the Lan Ling Prefecture.
“I have forgotten. See, when I am happy, I would forget things.”
The red-dressed woman interrupted Du Shaofu. She smiled and said. “You should call me aunt. I am Yuan Shan Shan, your dad’s friend and also your mum’s great sister.”
“Aunt Shan.” Du Shaofu shivered lightly before he nodded. He wanted to inquire something regarding his parents but was interrupted again.
“Good boy, very good.”
Yuan Shan Shan cut his chance to speak again and said with a smile. “Since you have come, this will be your home from now on. You would live well in this place. Aunt Shan will take care of you well.”
“Thank you Aunt Shan, but I have come this time to find the lord of Lan Ling Prefecture.”
Du Shaofu didn’t forget his main intention of coming to the Lan Ling Prefecture. Now, not only did he knew of the good connection between his drunken dad and the lord of the prefecture, but also how close his mother was with aunt Shan. He could feel it in her eyes.
Yuan Shan Shan wiped away all the previous excitement in her eyes before showing a smile to Du Shaofu and said. “Your uncle Ling has been in seclusion these few days. As soon as he gets out, you would be able to meet him.”
“Seclusion…”
Du Shaofu was dumbfounded. This naturally gave him a clue of the relationship between aunt Shan and Ouyang Ling. After a moment of hesitation, he turned and looked at Yuan Shan Shan with a worried look.
“Foolish kid, say it out if you have any problems. This is your home now. Don’t keep things in your heart.” Yuan Shan Shan said with loving eyes.
“Aunt Shan, the reason my dad asked me to come was to inform uncle Ling of some things regarding Liu Yun County…”
“I have already known the matters regarding the incident. How big could this matter be? It was about your dad getting rid of some useless pricks. Don’t worry, there won’t be any problems. Aunt Shan would certainly arrange it, Stone City will no longer receive any troubles.” Yuan Shan Shan interrupted Du Shaofu.
He finally felt relieved after hearing her words, at least he no longer have to worry about Stone City.
In Lan Ling City, the guards, including Huang San had already gone back to their accommodation in the backyard after their shift. There were still some grievances in his heart. Today was a fine day for him to perform his skills and make a good impression to the higher-ups, but it was all in vain, he was made a scapegoat by the hateful vice chief in return.
“I’m feel infuriated. This is so infuriating!” He violently stamped his feet when he thought about what had happen.
“Huang San…”
Right at this moment, a melodious voice was heard before a delicate female servant came in.
“Chief Qiu, why did you come here?”
Huang San immediately paid his respect to her. He recognized and knew who this girl was. She was the favored servant of madam, the chief of the backyard. Her position was deemed to be high in Lan Ling Prefecture.
Some said that this Chief Qiu was a powerful cultivator. No ordinary guards would be her opponent. Many experts in the army would need to convey their reverence to her when they saw her.
She darted Huang San a glance and said. “Young master Shaofu is going out on an errand and wants you to accompany him. I have found you a few strong guards. Protect young master well. If there is even a tiny accident that would happen to the young master, you would be held accountable!”
“Wants me to accompany him…”
His initial shock was replaced with excitement. If he handle this task well, there wouldn’t be a problem in his promotion in the future. It really seemed like young master Shaofu wasn’t any ordinary relative of the lord.
Currently, he felt that he had seen a good omen. Depending on how this matter would develop, it wouldn’t take long before he gets promoted to the intermediate head and then the head afterwards. He could also marry a female servant as his personal assistant. At that time, he would have reached the peak of his career in Lan Ling Prefecture. This had in fact stirred up some of his excitement.
While thinking about this, Huang San curiously asked the pretty servant. “Chief Qiu, what is the background of young master Shaofu?”
“Knock off your nonsense off! Just remember that young master Shaofu is your master now.”
She turned and left. She too wanted to know the background of young master Du Shaofu. Everyone else was also trying to figure out who he was but none of them knew anything about him.
It was almost dusk when Du Shaofu came out of the prefecture. Before this, aunt Shan kept on prying on his personal life, especially the things regarding his dad and the stories of when he was still little.
He saw tears welling up in her eyes when she heard how his dad stayed drunken all these years and how he almost became a crippled person who couldn’t cultivate.
If Du Shaofu didn’t tell her that he had other matters that required his presence, he wouldn’t be able to get away from her. However, aunt Shan stated a condition before she let him go. The condition was to bring a few men along with him so that he wouldn’t get lost in the city since it was his first time here.
Consequently, he thought of Huang San, he was the only person that he knew there after all. It wouldn’t be very hard to get along with him if he followed him.
What he didn’t thought of was that aunt Shan had instructed four Maidong experts with one of them at the peak of Maidong realm to follow him.
A total of seven people were mounted on the Black Demonic Scale Horse and headed for the old house. Du Shaofu was worried about the safety of the two girls.
When he reached the old house, he only saw Dai Xingyu and the Demonic Scale Tiger.
The tiger showed a begging-for-help face as if it had been ill-treated.
“Brother Shaofu, who are they?”
Dai Xingyu was slightly frightened when she saw the rare Black Demonic Scale Horses and the fierce Qi from the people.
“They are my friends. Don’t be scared.” Du Shaofu swept across the house and asked. “Where’s your aunt?”
She suddenly thought of something and replied. “Brother Shaofu, my aunt left not long ago. She said that she would wait for your return in Story Garden.”
“Story Garden…”
He felt somewhat familiar about the name, as though he had heard of it before.
Note:
All name of skills will not be capitalized as they are considered common nouns. Some terms are subject to change when better suggestions are selected.