The group made their way west and soon crossed Lian Province, located in the east, and entered the territory of Chu Province in the centre, together with the refugees. On this journey, Murong Yunshu learnt that the Daye Dynasty had undergone radical changes in just three months. The late Emperor had died suddenly, and Crown Prince Hua Lingtian had ascended to the throne as Emperor, titled Emperor Shenwu. Moreover, five of the eight vassal kings had openly risen in revolt against the Imperial Court, attacking the capital from all directions under the banner of 'getting rid the emperor of “evil” ministers'. The remaining three kings――King Liang, King Chu and King Sheng――were holding back their troops without moving.
Since King Chu was sitting on the mountain top and watching the tigers fight, there was no gunpowder smoke in the Chu Province capital for the time being. At the same time, refugees from neighbouring cities all flocked to the capital city of Chu Province to take refuge. This made the already densely populated city particularly crowded.
But even in crowded places, as long as there was silver, there would always be a place to stay. What was more, the Murong Mansion's power had spread worldwide, that it had its courtyard in every state except the remote Yan Province, so there was no worry about having a place to stay.
Iron Strokes and Silver Hooks Handwriting
Image Credit | It's rightful owner via KKnews (书法小常识：谁了解什么是“铁划银钩”吗？下面就告诉您原文網址, Apr 26th, 2018)
Image Credit | It's rightful owner via KKnews (书法小常识：谁了解什么是“铁划银钩”吗？下面就告诉您原文網址, Apr 26th, 2018)
Murong Yunshu responded, "It will be easy to report to the government if our home had been robbed."
"......" Even if one spent a lot of money, one would not be able to hire thieves to rob a home situated just across the street from a royal residence.
*
Vermilion Door
Image Credit | 山西晚报 (朱红或黄色：古代普通人能随便用么？, May 17th, 2016)
Image Credit | 山西晚报 (朱红或黄色：古代普通人能随便用么？, May 17th, 2016)
Murong Yunshu frowned slightly and asked unhappily, "Why closed the door in the middle of the day?"
The young male servant rolled his eyes, yawned and said impatiently, "If we want to close it, what does it have to do with you?"
Murong Yunshu did not bother with the young male servant and asked indifferently, "Where is Steward Wu?"
The young male servant's spirit soared at her words, and his tone was not as arrogant as it had been before. "Are you here to see Steward Wu?" He asked.
Murong Yunshu said, "No."
"Then what are you doing here?"
"To sleep."
The young male servant was stunned for a moment, then waved his hand as if to expel her, saying, "I can see that you are wearing silk and satin, so you must be a young lady from a wealthy family. Since you want to sleep, just go to an inn. Although many inns have closed down, and rooms are in extremely short supply right now because of the turmoil and chaos of war, if you can afford the high price, there will always be rooms available. There is an inn if you turn left out of here."
Murong Yunshu looked pensive at his words while pondering on how to answer him. Only after a long moment did she raise her eyes to look into the young male servant's eyes and ask in an unusually calm manner, "Is this the Murong Mansion?"
The young male servant met her eyes with a look, telling her that she was an idiot and said naturally, "Where else could it be if not Murong Mansion?" After that, he pointed to the plaque above his head and said proudly, "Who else in the Daye Dynasty would dare to build a courtyard opposite the royal residence except for our Murong Mansion?"
"Very well." Murong Yunshu murmured, then asked, "Is Murong Yunshu still in charge of Murong Mansion right now?"
"Hey, why are you calling Young Mistress by her name?" cried the young male servant indignantly, as if she had been calling his mother by her maiden name. He longed to roll up his sleeves and strangle her.
"Names are supposed to be called out. Besides, is there a problem with calling my own name?" Murong Yunshu questioned indifferently.
"Young Mistress's name is not something that just anyone can call! What's more, you're not the Young Mistress......" Suddenly, the young male servant immediately shut his mouth and stared at Murong Yunshu in disbelief. His pair of beady eyes nearly popped out. "You, you......you're the Young Mistress?!"
Murong Yunshu curled her lips into a faint smile and nodded slowly.
The young male servant was instantly petrified. For the first time in his life, he saw the god-like Young Mistress, and he even treated her like a passerby......not only did he speak with a poor attitude, he also waved his hand to drive this person away......
He was finished. He was completely finished. [+]
The young male servant's facial muscles stiffened for a long time before he pulled out a 'just let me go to hell' expression as he spoke in fear and trepidation, "I deserve to die. I deserve to die. I was blind just now and failed to recognise the Young Mistress......"
"Never mind." Murong Yunshu cut him off and said lightly, "I don't recognise you either."
The young male servant was startled again, then bowed down with tears of gratitude. "Thank you, Young Mistress Daren, for being kind towards me." Boo-hoo, the Young Mistress is indeed a Bodhisattva. [+]
Murong Yunshu said nothing. She stepped slowly into the courtyard as she asked, "Why are you closing the gate tightly during the day?"
The young male servant told her, "Miss, you don't know. Many people in Chu Province have food that does not fill their stomachs, and clothes not covering their body. They rely on the congee that Murong Mansion gives them every month. The war between the kings and the Imperial Court happened everywhere, which increased the number of refugees in the city. Our mansion couldn't afford this huge expense, so Steward Wu limited the amount of porridge every month. As a result, when the refugees heard that the amount was limited, they all ran to the door to line up, from the first row to the fifteenth. They kept close to each other until not one drop could trickle through and blocked the entryway. Steward Wu had no choice but to instruct us not to open the gate until porridge day."
Murong Yunshu said, "But when we came here, we didn't see any refugees along the way." On the contrary, the main streets and inside broken temples were full of refugees.
"That's because, early this morning, the Wang Residence had sent soldiers to settle the refugees in a sheltered tent on the outskirts of the city." After explaining the reason, the young male servant looked at the opposite gate door and saw that no one was paying attention to them, so he whispered, "I have a fellow villager who works in the Wang Residence. I heard from him that King Chu would invite the rich merchants in the city to a banquet tomorrow, asking them to contribute to the refugees. But no invitation has been sent to our mansion yet."
"Donate to the refugees?" Murong Yunshu slightly raised her dark eyebrows as she thought to herself, maybe their donations are actually for your Chu Wang Residence.
The young male servant added, "If King Chu knew that you had come to Chu Province, he might have come to invite you personally." His voice was full of arrogance and pride.
Murong Yunshu smiled gently and said, "Go and call Steward Wu to the study."
"Yes," answered the young male servant, as he took his leave at once. However, just after a few steps, he turned around and asked, "Do you know how to get to the study?"
Murong Yunshu nodded her head. "I know." Although she had never been to the Chu Province courtyard, each of the Murong Mansion's yards around the world was similar in structure to the one in Jinling, and she could find the study even with her eyes closed.
*
Chu Changge had endured for a long time, from dawn to dark, and finally, when Murong Yunshu planned to have dinner with Steward Wu, he broke out.
"Madam," said Chu Changge, drawing attention from Murong Yunshu with this word said between his teeth.
Sure enough, Murong Yunshu heard his call and stopped. She raised her eyebrows and looked at him while asking with her eyes: something wrong?
Chu Changge's face was instantly filled with black lines as he pondered how to quickly and accurately express the grievance in his heart, but after thinking for a long time, he couldn't come up with a decent reason. When he finally saw that Murong Yunshu didn't seem to be planning to wait any longer, he urgently said, "You haven't introduced me to them yet." What he really wanted to say was――you've been ignoring me all day――in a very mournful, aggrieved tone.
Murong Yunshu questioned, "Do you still need an introduction?"
"Don't you need to?" Chu Changge asked rhetorically. He didn't care at all about the introduction. However, since he had already spoken the words, he had to take them on.
Murong Yunshu gave him a strange look for a few moments before turning to Steward Wu and said, "Chu Changge, the Sect Leader of the Mojiao Sect, my fiancé."
Steward Wu's thin, white whiskers shook as he said in a trembling voice, "Greetings, Guye." The Young Mistress had neglected her future husband to such an extent that he thought he was one of the Young Mistress's handsome male companions, like the other nine beautiful men. So from the moment he walked into the study, he did not dare to say a word more for fear of saying something he should not.
While feeling surprised, Steward Wu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He just said to himself that the Young Mistress was already betrothed to the Sect Leader of the Mojiao Sect. How could she still have the courage to raise a bunch of young men outside?
Amitabha, fortunately, he had been overthinking. He was genuinely overthinking.
But the remaining nine, who were they? How did so many handsome young men suddenly appear around the Young Mistress......
Seeing Steward Wu's puzzled look, Murong Yunshu glanced at the nine people sitting by eating melon seeds and said, "They are not important." But, of course, the implication was, they are just passers-by, so I won't explain.
The nine people, who were excited to eat melon seeds, were almost choked by their shells when they heard these words. They were at least legendary figures of the jianghu. How could she use the words 'not important' to dismiss them? Even if it was not convenient to reveal their true identities to outsiders, she could use the words 'people from the Mojiao Sect' instead.
Despite their discontent, the nine men still didn't stop talking and continued to eat the melon seeds. [+]
Steward Wu's whiskers shook again. This was recklessly waste god's good gifts for such an elegant and smart carriage to concentrate on eating melon seeds. As a man, as a good-looking man, even if one couldn't resist the temptation of melon seeds, you shouldn't eat them excitedly in public. At best, you could wait until late at night when no one was around and then do it secretly......
Murong Yunshu, on the other hand, looked at Chu Changge with a speechless expression, how stingy you are! You didn't even give them melon seeds for them to eat.
Chu Changge had his heart set solely on Murong Yunshu, hoping that she would look up from her work and discover his existence, so he ignored how the nine of them were spending their time. After Murong Yunshu's eyes reminded him of this, he suddenly realised they were getting too excited about melon seeds. Thus, he immediately held his forehead speechlessly as he blamed himself, "It's my fault for not raising you all as human beings."
"......" The corners of the nine men's mouths twitched wildly.
Chu Changge spoke again with unparalleled kindness, "From now on, I will give you melon seeds every day so that you can eat until you are full and die."
Nine of them immediately dropped the melon seeds in their hands. No good food was worth dying for. Besides, when they were bored, they could only eat melon seeds to kill time.
Murong Yunshu suddenly felt that the only difference between the nine people in front of her and the uncivilised people was that they were good-looking.
Where on earth did Chu Changge find these nine exotic flowers?
As everyone was preoccupied, Mister Shi Er, who was also ignored by Murong Yunshu and bored to death by drinking tea, ground his teeth, watched the sky, and finally spoke up. "What's with your hair?" He asked as he looked at Chu Changge.
Steward Wu immediately pricked up his ears. Mister Shi Er's question precisely was what he wanted to ask but didn't dare to. How could Guye have white hair at such a young age?
When Chu Changge looked at Murong Yunshu, he saw that her face was looking indifferent. He knew that she had already guessed that he had lied to her, so he confessed without any fear, "It was caused by a sudden inner heat attacked my heart when I was practising." He did not want to spoil the fun at that time, so he lied about the medicine. She must have made a guess when his hair had not been black for the past few days, and she had not asked him about it.
Mister Shi Er suddenly realised. "No wonder you want to go to Kunlun Mountain." If you wanted to turn white hair into black hair, there was no other way than the thousand-year-old fleeceflower root on Kunlun Mountain.
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