A low-profile luxury car stopped at the entrance of the old residence. A man and a woman in suits stepped out of the car.
Qin Feimo straightened his clothes for the third time, feeling extremely guilty inside. Although Qin Feichang was his younger cousin, she was much steadier than him, full of elite temperament. Seeing the Shinu waiting at the entrance of the old residence, she gave the other party a nod, “Thank you for your trouble, Shinu.”
Minghuang held a red lantern, her expression stern and unsmiling, leading the two inside. The moment they entered the antique, imposing residence, Qin Feimo — whose hairline showed a noticeable receding trend — felt his legs go weak. He might be considered a leading figure among the younger generation of the Qin family, but he had one flaw he could never overcome — he was afraid of ghosts.
Since childhood, every time the family wanted to bring him to the old residence, he would instantly turn into a little terror, lying on the ground crying and throwing tantrums, refusing to come. And when he had no choice but to come, he was always on edge, unconsciously wanting to shake his legs.
“Stop shaking your legs. If you act like that later when seeing the Clan Deity and Madam, it will be far too disrespectful.”
His younger cousin Qin Feichang whispered a severe reminder. Normally, Qin Feimo would definitely argue back with her, but right now he truly had no strength to resist — this fully grown man nearly shrank into a quivering ball.
The two passed through the solemn and mysterious old residence and arrived at the sacred hall. The hall still carried the scent of incense burned from the incense sticks, but there were now many red camellias placed as offerings. The Madam, who rarely appeared before others, sat alone at the center of the shrine like a classical oil painting.
Qin Feimo quickly swept his eyes over the shrine. Seeing nothing strange, he relaxed a little, finally able to barely hold himself together to complete this task.
The cousins had complicated and busy responsibilities within the Qin clan. Usually, even their own family members had to make appointments to see them. But since the Clan Deity’s Madam required them, of course they immediately changed clothes, grabbed the documents, and rushed to the old residence.
Qin Feimo did not waste a second. He pulled out the documents and began, “Madam, regarding the situation of your family, we have already investigated thoroughly. The specific files have just been transferred from Yulin District. Here, please take a look.”
He wanted to say more, but suddenly noticed the Madam turn her head sharply to stare at the air beside her. It was as if something invisible existed there! His whole body stiffened, his tongue knotted — he instantly became a useless coward afraid of ghosts.
Qin Feichang knew this state of his all too well. She let out a silent sigh and stepped forward to smooth things over, continuing from where he left off:
“According to our investigation, Madam’s father and his parents moved to Yuzhou forty years ago, and after marrying and building a family, they settled in Yulin District. We found the immigration documents from that time. They came from Yanzhou. Their original place of household registration is in Suyun District, Yanzhou. We have already initiated preliminary communication with them and received confirmation.”
She put down the documents in her hand and took out another stack.
“As for the Luo family of Yanzhou, we also conducted an investigation. Because time is tight and too many years have passed, we were unable to investigate thoroughly. Yanzhou once had two Clan Deity families. One, the Lin family, still exists today, though their scale is no longer what it once was and their clansmen are few. The other, the Luo family, according to records, vanished more than two hundred years ago. The remaining clansmen were very few and had mostly left Yanzhou one after another. We have not yet been able to find all of their current whereabouts. Now, the Luo family only has one ancestral residence remaining in Suyun District…”
Luo Yuan listened quietly, slightly distracted. She couldn’t help glancing at the Clan Deity floating beside her.
Yesterday the Clan Deity suddenly told her that she came from the family of the Luo clan’s deity. Today two Qin clansmen were summoned to sort this matter out clearly and completely. She hadn’t even known that her family had moved from Yanzhou before — there must be some unspeakable reason behind this, otherwise her parents and elders would not have hidden it without mentioning a single word.
Luo Yuan was not unable to accept this. She just didn’t understand why Er-ge suddenly cared about this matter.
The Clan Deity placed a hand on her shoulder, his brows and eyes filled with a comforting smile. “An, go to Yanzhou. Go take a look at the Luo clan’s ancestral land.”
Luo Yuan asked earnestly, “Er-ge wants me to go there for what?”
Seeing the Madam inexplicably speaking to thin air, Qin Feimo turned utterly pale. If his cousin had not quietly reached out to support him, he might have fainted on the spot. Even now, the glasses on the bridge of his nose were still trembling.
Madam should be talking to the Clan Deity. Even in the ancestral hall, the Clan Deity was not someone everyone could see. Qin Feichang was far more capable than her cousin; she sat still, listening to the Madam speak seemingly to herself: “Alright, I’ll go.”
Madam would go to Yanzhou. Qin Feimo and Qin Feichang, the Qin clan siblings, would accompany her as attendants. Their department was responsible for coordinating relations and information exchange between Yuzhou and other states. This was the first time these two department leaders acted as escorts on a trip.
The two elites quickly slipped into their new roles. They first sent an official entry request to Yanzhou, then contacted the Lin family where the Lin clan’s deity resided — because even though the Lin family could no longer compare to the Qin family, such thousand-year-old etiquette must still be followed. After that, they began arranging all aspects of the Madam’s trip — food, clothing, accommodations, travel, entertainment — they must ensure she would be satisfied.
Although rumors in the jianghu said this Madam had a very good temper, Qin Feichang carefully studied her file several times and certainly did not overlook the record of her previous act of killing someone.
“Although she looks harmless, based on this crime scene report, she is definitely not a simple person. We must treat her with caution.”
Listening to his cousin, Qin Feimo showed a numb smile. “Do we even need this analysis? Just from how she managed to deal with our Clan Deity in such a short time, it’s obvious she is absolutely not a simple character… Anyway, I feel like I’m not even close to her level.”
The two were cautious the entire time, practically holding Luo Yuan up with both hands to keep her safe. Luo Yuan had been coaxed by Er-ge with a “Just think of it as a relaxing trip to Yanzhou” onto the plane, full of doubt in her heart. But seeing these two Qin family members wearing identical glasses acting like they were facing a deadly enemy, she couldn’t help finding it both funny and ridiculous.
“I don’t have any demands. You don’t need to busy yourselves. Sit down and rest.”
Only then did the two of them sit down as instructed. On this plane departing from Yuzhou, other than Luo Yuan, there was Shinu Ming Huang and a group of tall bodyguards, chefs, and others, as well as Qin Feimo, Qin Feichang, and their assistants. Almost everyone revolved around her. From the old residence, she had been escorted into a car to the Qin family’s private airport, where a flight was arranged immediately. The trip to Yanzhou took less than two hours.
When the plane landed, she was again escorted off the plane, dizzy from all the movement, and was guided into a spacious and comfortable lounge to rest for a while. Standing in the room, through the large glass windows, she could see the words “Yanzhou Entry Station.” From this angle, the people entering the state looked like a black torrent under her gaze.
Every state had both an entry station and an exit station. Citizens had to go through these to verify their identities when entering or exiting a state. Because Luo Yuan had a special identity, there was no exit procedure when she left Yuzhou earlier. But now that she had arrived in Yanzhou, she needed to undergo checks. And due to her different identity, it was even more troublesome.
“Madam, we will be leaving shortly. You may rest for now.” Qin Feichang followed her dutifully, introducing like a tour guide, talking nonstop. “If you don’t want to rest, you may also choose to visit the high tower. Yanzhou’s entry tower is the third largest tower in East Continent…”
Seeing her worried Luo Yuan might grow impatient because of the entry procedures, Luo Yuan felt helpless and casually chatted a bit.
“Who are those people? In our Yuzhou entry station, I don’t think I’ve seen them before.”
Seeing she was pointing at a team of black-clothed individuals with red badges carrying guns, Qin Feichang understood. “They are inspectors. Every state’s entry and exit stations are equipped with them. They are under the Eastern Continent Military Department. However, Yuzhou does not have such inspectors.”
Luo Yuan was puzzled. She had never paid attention to such matters before, so she knew nothing of this.
Qin Feichang continued, “Madam should know, among the thirty-six states in the Eastern Continent, besides the two border states, our Yuzhou is the only autonomous state.”
“Although the common people don’t know, nearly all institutions within the state are supported by our Qin clan. Since the Eastern Continent’s political authority was established two hundred years ago, Yuzhou has always remained independent of the other states. The Military Department once tried to station inspectors in Yuzhou, but they were blocked outside the state.”
Luo Yuan asked, “Why?”
A natural look of pride emerged on Qin Feichang’s usually serious face. “Because our Clan Deity does not permit it.”
She cleared her throat. “It is said that due to a certain incident in the past, the Eastern Continent Military Department offended our Clan Deity. The Clan Deity became angry and taught them a lesson. So as long as the Clan Deity is still here, they do not dare interfere with Yuzhou’s internal affairs.”
Luo Yuan instantly understood — probably the matter with General Qin more than two hundred years ago. Second Brother must have felt that his good child went out once and came back wanting to overthrow the family, so afterward he wasn’t very friendly to ‘intruders.’
However… would Er-ge still get angry? Thinking about it, even if he did get angry, he would probably smile while saying “I’m angry,” not frightening at all.
Thinking of this, she suddenly missed the Clan Deity. She picked up her phone and dialed a video call. Minghui connected quickly, walked straight into the ancestral hall without a word, placed the phone facing the altar, and then quickly backed out.
When Luo Yuan and Minghuang were not present, she didn’t dare stay in the ancestral hall for long.
She couldn’t see the Clan Deity, so she assumed he was on the altar. Luo Yuan looked at the empty altar for a long time without seeing anyone, and called out, “Er-ge?”
Hearing her call, the Clan Deity drifted to the front of the phone, lowering his sleeves as he sat on the altar, like a delicate exhibit.
An looked at him through the phone, smiling as she said, “Er-ge, I’ve arrived in Yanzhou. Look, the entry station.”
The Clan Deity sighed, “Mm, truly a strange place.”
Luo Yuan asked, “What’s strange about it? I heard it was designed by a famous designer. And look at that high tower. I heard it’s the third tallest tower in the Eastern Continent. Isn’t it tall?”
Watching all of this, hearing the Madam and the Clan Deity chatting casually over video call, Qin Feimo felt a baffling sense of disorientation. His professionally stern face was filled with a confusion he couldn’t dispel. The Clan Deity… why was he video chatting? And why could the camera capture the Clan Deity?! There was nothing mystical about this at all!
Just as Qin Feichang came over with the documents to inform them they could leave, she happened to see the Clan Deity on Luo Yuan’s phone screen. Her usually steady steps faltered, and she, completely defenseless, received an enormous shock, collapsing weakly onto the assistant beside her.
Assistant: “……” Boss, I’m a girl. I really can’t support all your muscles. Please be strong and stand on your own, okay.
Luo Yuan held her phone while walking, speaking as she went. Whenever she saw scenery different from Yuzhou, she had to tell the Clan Deity on the other side of the phone.
“The buildings here are different from Yuzhou. Look there, what kind of flowering tree was that earlier? It bloomed so beautifully. I don’t think Yuzhou has that. Does Er-ge like it? If you do, I’ll bring some back to plant.”
“Er-ge, where did you go again? Are you not interested in this scenery?”
“As long as not, then look at that—the river-crossing bridge…”
By now, Qin Feimo had already melted into a puddle in his seat, his soul floating away, completely useless. Qin Feichang still sat firmly beside the Madam, listening to her—so silent before—constantly talking to the Clan Deity.
What to say… earlier she thought the Madam was calm and composed, with the air of a virtuous wife. But now, listening to her chat with the Clan Deity, she felt like the Madam was a young child. Uh… she was indeed so—at just over twenty years old, even younger than her.
When Luo Yuan finally, reluctantly, hung up the video call, the solidified air in the car finally began to flow again. Qin Feimo struggled to return to human form, resuming his duties, his voice still slightly weak as he reported, “Madam, our schedule today is to visit the Lin family. Tomorrow we will officially go to the Luo ancestral land in Suyun District. What do you think?”
Once again, Luo Yuan showed how easygoing she was: “Alright.”
The Lin family residence was located in the urban area, surprisingly quiet amidst the bustle. A bridge stood before the entrance, and entering led into a small garden, the buildings exquisite and the scenery picturesque—though the land was not very large.
The people who came to welcome them were somewhat nervous. After leading them inside and seeing a petite young woman waiting there, they finally felt relieved enough to hand the guests over.
The young woman wore a long dress, her figure somewhat ethereal. She glanced coldly at Luo Yuan, a single snort fully conveying the three words “not very friendly.”
“I am the Lin clan deity’s wife. Welcome. Lodgings have been prepared for you all. Make yourselves at home.” She spoke without any emotion.
Luo Yuan felt slightly awkward. “Sorry to intrude. We are only here for a brief visit. We will leave soon.”
The young woman gave her another glance, looking slightly less displeased. “At least you understand manners. Not like that Qin clan deity of yours.”
After her cold remark, she floated away. Luo Yuan lifted her phone—she didn’t even know when the video call had connected again and the Clan Deity on the other side of the screen was smiling.
“Er-ge, Lin clan deity’s wife seems to have some opinion about you. Did you and the Lin clan deity have a misunderstanding before?”
“Hahaha, shameful, shameful. The Lin clan deity once came to ask me about the weakening period. But at the time, I had just been contaminated and couldn’t control it. I almost devoured him. Although I wasn’t able to devour him in the end and spat him back out, his wife still seems to mind.”
“Don’t worry, An. The Lin clan deity has a good temper and won’t trouble you.”
Luo Yuan: “……”
She turned to Qin Feichang and said, “Leave the visiting gifts. We’re leaving now.”
Thinking about it—if Er-ge had been devoured and spat out by another Clan Deity—she would probably hold a grudge for a lifetime. Compared to that, the attitude of the Lin clan deity’s wife just now was far too friendly. Truly shameful.
