Chapter 181: Chapter 178: Small Wins Over Big_2
Tushere understood and said, "Miss, does this mean preserving strength for future plans?"
She thought for a moment and then said, "So, does the Duke understand Miss’s painstaking efforts?"
Shang Ruyi looked at her with a smile at the corner of her eyes, "What do you think?"
Meanwhile, in the dining hall, the kitchen staff had cleared the table of cups, bowls, and dishes. Yu Wencheng had finally eaten his fill, burped, and said, "I just don’t understand why the second sister-in-law went to such great lengths to have someone flogged forty times in the courtyard, confessing everything, and yet still went through the questioning?"
Yu Wenye looked at him with a slight frown.
After a moment, he said somewhat helplessly, "Yan Jie, you can’t rely solely on brute strength; you still need to use your brain when it’s necessary."
Yu Wencheng said, "Hmph, I just don’t like it."
"..."
"I just think fists and swords are more effective than brains. Otherwise, if you had let me beat that Hu Weilin up earlier, he would have confessed faster than he could spit."
Yu Wenye shook his head.
Likely finding the conversation unsatisfying, Yu Wencheng stepped down from the table and left.
In the dining hall, only Yu Wenye remained sitting, watching the night grow darker outside the window. After an indeterminable amount of time, he finally saw Mu Xian hurry in from the darkness, holding a brocade box in his hands. He opened it to reveal the stolen Yue Kiln Cup.
Mu Xian smiled and said, "Young Master, the complete piece has returned to its rightful owner."
Yu Wenye looked down at the cup, its gentle luster and flowing lines reminiscent of the aura that surrounded his mother when she was alive, always providing a sense of reassurance. Tonight, someone had safeguarded that reassurance, adding a bit more to his own peace of mind.
He said, "Send it to the teahouse, instruct them to keep it well and ensure there are no more mishaps."
"Yes."
Mu Xian picked up the box to leave, and after taking a couple of steps, he heard Yu Wenye call out to him again, stopping him hastily: "Young Master, is there anything else you require?"
Yu Wenye said, "How did you know to go to Dengfeng to retrieve these items?"
"It was the Young Madam’s instruction."
"She instructed? She’s been working at home these days; how could she have the insight to know it was Dengfeng? At the very least, one would expect you to inquire throughout the city."
"This matter puzzled me as well, but when I visited Dengfeng, I specifically asked the owner if anyone had inquired about the cup before. That owner said indeed, a young man had come to inquire."
"Who?"
"The individual didn’t leave a name, but from the owner’s description, he was in his twenties, of similar build to me, with a southern accent, resembling the Shen Family guard sent with the Young Madam."
Yu Wenye’s eyebrows furrowed, "Gao Feng?"
Mu Xian said, "That’s him."
"..."
"Speaking of which... that day the Young Madam found me, asking us to handle tasks, presumably this was it."
"Did you go?"
"..."
Mu Xian immediately bowed his head, unable to speak out of shame.
Yu Wenye looked at him with a frown, his face seeming to hold a hint of anger, but after thinking it over, it did not manifest. He remained silent for a long time and then said, "You, listen to me carefully, and pass the word down for them to hear clearly — in the future, you must heed her every word, and fulfill them precisely!"
"..."
"It doesn’t matter, no matter the situation between her and me."
Mu Xian immediately understood, quickly saying, "Young Master, rest assured, we are determined to fulfill the Young Madam’s assignments diligently."
Only then did Yu Wenye wave him away, and Mu Xian left immediately.
When the last candle in the dining hall went out, and he got up to leave, the night was already late.
The wind was cold, but when Yu Wenye pushed the door open and stepped into the warm room, he didn’t feel much heat. Instead, seeing the familiar, slender figure on the bed, his palms grew even more clammy with sweat.
He closed the door with a backhand motion, walked over softly, and stopped by the bedside.
Shang Ruyi lay there peacefully asleep, her eyes closed, covered with a soft quilt that barely reached her shoulders. It was meant to reveal a part of her neck, but her jet-black hair, either because of a previous turn of the body or from being mislaid when she lay down, was half-wrapped and half-covering around her neck, conveniently protecting it.
Yu Wenye looked at her fair face, her unconscious expression while asleep somehow made him a bit angry.
He despised her unconscious demeanor the most.
Every time she appeared unconscious, it always seemed to be when she was most righteous and every seemingly harmless word always struck at people’s hearts, even more detestable than when she was scheming.
Merely thinking of this, Yu Wenye couldn’t help but grit his teeth.
Somehow, whether it was due to what she dreamt of or her natural sensitivity to stares, even in her slumber, Shang Ruyi seemed to feel a bit uneasy from his gritting teeth, frowning slightly and shifting her body unconsciously.
This movement made the hair around her neck tighten.
The sleeping person immediately felt a slight difficulty in breathing, not to the point of suffocation, but she couldn’t help but open her mouth, uttering two soft gasps.
"Hmph!"
Yu Wenye sneered, as if watching a joke, but after watching for a while, seeing her genuinely uncomfortable, he didn’t know what prompted him, leaned down, and gently raised the strands of black hair from her neck, finding her hair thick and heavy in hand.
As he lifted the black hair, it revealed the snow-white span of her neck beneath.
Yu Wenye suddenly found his breath caught.
In truth, during summer when clothing was thin, he had seen her neck before, but never like this, delicate and snow-white, accentuated by the black hair in his hand, appearing translucent like jade, even emitting a faint fragrance...
Just then, perhaps sensing something, Shang Ruyi murmured and shifted again, and the quilt slipped away, revealing her slender shoulders and a sharp collarbone.
Yu Wenye’s breath grew gradually heavy and hot.