Lin Xiao didn’t know what the Emperor was thinking about as they waited for Ruo An. The leader of the White Swan didn’t make them wait for long. Soon, he came out of the rest house and approached the group. “Alright. We will first go to the Li family residence. Brother Lin, since this is your first time in the outer district, stay close. The streets can be confusing,” Ruo An said to Lin Xiao.
“Lin Xiao understands, Brother Ruo. We’ll stay close,” Lin Xiao replied before turning to Qin Yijun. “You also stay close. Don’t stray too far,” he said before adding in his mind: ‘Or else, it’ll be harder to protect you.’
The walk to the Li family residence was uneventful. Along the way, they had also asked several questions to the locals, hoping to get as much clue as possible. But alas, they came up with nothing new.
The information they got are always three key things.
‘The missing children appear to be between ten years of age until fifteen years of age.’
‘They either play alone or in pair when they went missing.’
‘There are more boys who went missing the past few days.’
When they arrived at the Li family residence, Lin Xiao looked up at the gate, staring at the wooden plaque. There were characters written on it and Lin Xiao narrowed his eyes as he read them.
“I thought the patriarch of the Li family was conferred the title, Yinjing Hou. Why is the residence called ‘Manor of the Xinglan Wang’?” Lin Xiao asked.
His questions seemed to make the member of White Swan uncomfortable. Some even shifts away from him, creating a small distance. Lin Xiao truly cannot understand. He also remembered when this particular person was mentioned, that shop owner Mo also began to speak in a hushed tone, as if not wanting others to hear.
“Xinglan Wang, was a dear friend of the Emperor. About two years ago, there was an accident and he went missing. The Emperor sent people to look for him for months but it didn’t bear any fruit. That plaque was given by the late Emperor to Xinglan Wang,” Qin Yijun explained.
“After the accident, they tried to get rid of it, saying that they don’t want to have anything with him. But Zh-The Emperor found out and almost cut off the hands who dared to remove them,” he added.
“Lord Bai, you’re speaking about this matter calmly… but I would advise to not mention it like this out in the open,” Ruo An said as he shook his head. “Everyone knows the crime that Xinglan Wang did. Kuanshe Wang had also sent people to find Xinglan Wang to help the Emperor so that they could bring justice to—!”
Ruo An was forced to stop when he saw Qin Yijun’s glare. It was the same gaze that he was subjected to earlier. ‘No! This is way worse!’ he thought and he instinctively took a step backwards.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Earlier, you say… Kuanshe Wang had also sent people to look for him?” Qin Yijun asked, tone laced with frost. If look could kill, Ruo An would probably have died a hundred times over. “I see. So that’s how it is…” the next sentence that came out from Qin Yijun’s lips were just a mere whisper, but Lin Xiao who was standing close to him could hear it clearly.
Thinking that the situation might get dangerous, Lin Xiao tried to think of a way to placate the situation. ‘Even those four shadow guards are already taking out their blades! Your Majesty, I’ve made a huge effort trying to get you this many ‘bodyguards’, are you trying to kill them instead?’ Lin Xiao thought in his mind.
“Jun-ge, you seem to know much about this person. But now is not the time. Since we’re already here, let’s first meet the client. The case should be a priority, we can talk more about that… Xinglan Wang at later time,” Lin Xiao said to Qin Yijun.
Ktf wbwfca tf tfjgv Olc Wljb mjii tlw, tlr jcufg reyrlvfv mbcrlvfgjyis. Lf ralii atgfk j mbiv ujhf ja Eeb Cc, yea atf xliilcu lcafca ogbw yfobgf tjv mbwqifafis vlrjqqfjgfv. “Cigluta. P klii ilrafc ab sbe,” Hlc Tlpec gfqilfv. Ktf abcf tf erfv kjr j abaji bqqbrlaf bo ktja kjr jlwfv ja Eeb Cc. Pa kjr ufcaif, jcv oeii bo joofmalbc.
Yun Hua, who was worried about the situation earlier felt a slight suspicion when he heard the tone that Qin Yijun used. Paired with that adoring gaze, she knew that she was on to something. She then glanced at Lin Xiao, who appeared to be oblivious to the look Qin Yijun was giving him.
‘It seems that this Lord Bai… is infatuated with Brother Lin. But, Brother Lin didn’t seem to notice it,’ Yun Hua thought to herself.
“Let’s go on in,” Yun Hua said out loud as she then went to the gate and knocked on the door. It did not take long before someone answered from inside.
“May I know who is coming to this… Wangfu?”
“We are the White Swan mercenary group. I believe Yinjing Houye is expecting us,” Ruo An, who has finally recovered from fear, spoke out.
The gate remained close, but a smaller side door was soon opened, revealing a servant in a simple clothes. “Please come in. Houye is currently in the training hall, training the younger generation,” the servant informed them. “He has already given an instruction to this servant to bring all of you to him.”
The servant then welcomed them inside and then, led them to the training hall. Despite being called a ‘King’s Manor’, the residence is in a very simple. Unfit to be the residence of a noble family.
As they got closer to the training hall, they could hear the voices of children doing their training. Qin Yijun turned to Lin Xiao again, wondering if there would be any reaction. But seeing the impassive expression, he felt a mix of both relief and disappointment.
“Lin Xiao… later, just stay close. Alright?”
Lin Xiao heard Qin Yijun speak and he realized the worry in the other’s voice. ‘Is he worried for me? Why? If anything, I’m the one who should be worried. What if the people in this family bears grudge? Though…’ as Lin Xiao looks around the residence, he began to shook his head, realizing his own stupidity. ‘I think I’m just overreacting. I doubt they would risk harming the Emperor at their current state.’
“Don’t worry. Nothing dangerous will happen,” Lin Xiao said Qin Yijun, assuring the other.
But how could he have known, that later, just a few moments after entering the training hall, things had gone awry?
When they arrived, Li Sunxun who saw their arrival quickly dismissed the children. “All of you can go and rest early today! Remember not to play outside. Stay within the walls of the residence!” Li Sunxun said out loud.
There were series of answers coming from the children, some calling him master, some calling him uncle and few had called him grandfather. Lin Xiao was inwardly surprised. Li Sunxun had appeared young, no less than Xia Yuanfeng’s age. Or at least, that is what he thought when he looked at the other’s appearance.
“Li Sunxun’s eldest son had been married since seven years ago,” Qin Yijun who noticed the look that Lin Xiao was having, informed him. Though Li Fangming knew this information, Lin Xiao who had amnesia didn’t.
“Oh, okay,” Lin Xiao was confused. He didn’t understand why Qin Yijun would suddenly told him that. Then, he glanced up at the male and crossed his arm. “The Lord General Bai, sure knows a lot of Qin Empire, huh?” Lin Xiao said with a raised eyebrow.
He already knew the other’s identity, he’s only waiting for the Emperor to admit it. But Qin Yijun have a very thick face and merely coughed twice before answering: “This are all the things I heard from Minghai.”
“Bai Minghai likes to gossip?” Lin Xiao asked.
“En. Living in the north, protecting Fort Beifang, Minghai’s life is usually mundane. It was only when he get home did he have this chance to hear many interesting things, and then he would share it with his comrade when he returns to the north,” Qin Yijun explained, throwing the pot over to Bai Minghai.
Lin Xiao continued to gaze at Qin Yijun, eyes calculating before finally turning away. “Alright,” he said curtly.
As they conversed, Li Sunxun had already explained the situation to Ruo An and Yun Hua. He told them about the two children, Li Anyi and Li Anrui. He also gave them the painted portraits of the two children so that they knew how the two looked like.
“Please help find these two children. They are the grandchildren of one of our elder. Their parents had already passed away about two years ago and now that they too have gone missing, the elder are devastated,” Li Sunxun explain.
Ruo An glanced at the painted picture that Li SunXun gave him. After making sure to take in the children’s feature, he passed it around to his group. The picture is passed around until it reached Lin Xiao’s hand. Both Lin Xiao and Qin Yijun stared at it for a while.
Lin Xiao’s finger unconsciously traced the face of Li Anyi’s portrait. The movement was gentle, that even he himself didn’t realize what he did. But Qin Yijun who had been observing him noticed that small movement.
Then, he looked over at Li Anrui’s portrait and frowned. He would be lying if he said that there was no similarity between him and the boy. The boy was three points out of seven, similar to him. That would mean that they are somehow related.
After that, he looked over at Li Sunxun again. This time, focusing on the other’s face. Though due to the harsh years, Li Sunxun’s face has aged a lot, Lin Xiao also noticed the similarity between them. And unlike with Li Anrui, this similarity is five to six points out of seven!
Suddenly, his heart became restless at finding out that he might’ve encountered his family. While he was musing, he didn’t realize that Li Sunxun had already stopped speaking and Ruo An had also nods his head.
“We will begin our search now. If we ever find any clues, we will immediately send a report to you, Houye. Now, please excuse us,” Ruo An said as he gave Li Sunxun a salute. The rest of the White Swan followed suit, except for Lin Xiao and Qin Yijun.
As the White Swan members were leaving, Lin Xiao was contemplating about something. In the end, he decided to stay in order to talk to Li Sunxun. After all, once he was curious, it was impossible for him to not want to find out. With the exception of one person.
If it was the Emperor, he would rather not find out at all or else, he would implicate his Shizun.
Ruo An noticed that Lin Xiao wasn’t moving. Thinking that there is something else that Lin Xiao wanted to ask, he decided to just wait for them outside. After all, he had already asked all that he wanted to ask related to the case.
The White Swan left, leaving only Lin Xiao and Qin Yijun. Seeing the two who had stayed behind, Li Sunxun couldn’t help but ask. “Are you not going to leave with your group?”
“No. I have something to ask Houye. Two years ago… did anyone else from this family went missing?”
A/N:
Since joining Nanowrimo, I have more chapters being stockpiled. So I decided to open ko-fi goals for extra chapters. I’m putting it as $30 for extra chapters because I don’t want my stockpiles to be burned out too soon!
Link to my ko-fi is here or you can click the button near the author’s profile! Thank you!
Thank u sooo much author for this chapter 😍