Chapter 804

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

The news of Yan Ying's departure was delivered to Lu Yan the very moment they left the city.

At that time, Lu Yan was at Shen Yao's bedside, being directed by her to peel fruit skins.

Shen Yao wanted to eat some fruit, but didn't like messing up her newly dyed nails, so this task fell on Lu Yan's head.

Lu Yan was also doting; no matter how excessive Shen Yao's requests were, he would complete them seriously, causing Shen Yao to be even more outrageous next time. There was no helping it; Shen Yao just had some malicious tastes, purely wanting to find some trouble to give him.

Lu Yan: ……

"Yan Ying and them have left; we don't need to secretly send people to follow?"

Shen Yao felt Lu Yan and Yan Ying were really interesting, mutually putting on a fake show for each other to watch, clearly knowing the other party wouldn't believe it at all, but that didn't stop them from embodying drama queens.

"No need. Yan Niang has managed for so many years; if Huaiqing City could lose control the moment it changes hands, that would be too incompetent." Lu Yan didn't put the peeled fruit into the fruit platter, but picked it up and brought it before Shen Yao. "Perhaps the other party is still waiting for me to move; why bother with this unnecessary action?"

Shen Yao rested her chin on her hand. "But if you don't go along with the scheme, how would Yan Ying believe the Maple Bridge Mountain Range you deduced before?"

Although saying it was the Maple Bridge Mountain Range, Lu Yan gave the reason he didn't want to go there in the past, but who is Yan Ying? A big shot who managed Huaiqing City for decades plus an Array Master; once she calms down later, she will definitely detect the problem, then what Lu Yan did would have no meaning.

A plan that cannot proceed smoothly, no matter how much effort is spent, is useless work.

"Yan Ying has never believed my words. This person is arrogant at heart; compared to what she hears from me, she will believe her own judgments more."

Lu Yan indicated the Maple Bridge Mountain Range was merely a lure; Yan Ying would definitely arrange manpower to go there, but this person absolutely would not be her herself.

The shadow Lu Yan's mother left on Yan Ying is large enough; Yan Ying fundamentally doesn't believe it's that simple to dig something up. More likely, the Fengshu Mountain Range is a decoy, used to catch all those with ulterior motives in one net.

"Yan Ying will definitely follow the paper's raw material origin to investigate; the Maple Bridge Mountain Range is only one of them.

The greatest possibility is Yan Ying selling out her own people; she hides in the dark observing.

Regardless of whether the Maple Bridge Mountain Range is the true clue left by Mother, she will not miss it."

After Lu Yan finished speaking, he took out a handkerchief and wiped his palm, waiting until both hands became clean, then he began to review Huaiqing City's internal major and minor affairs.

Mm

Fruit Platter

There aren't many major problems, but a pile of trivial matters.

Just having taken over Huaiqing City, no matter what Lu Yan says, he must get it on the right track before he can take Shen Yao away. And this time delayed in Huaiqing City happened to give Yan Ying the opportunity to investigate the clues left by Mother.

So it was planned from the very beginning? Yan Niang ah Yan Niang, Mother was right; even the best friends cannot withstand the test of enormous interests. Back then, he didn't choose to leave with Yan Ying, but by a twist of fate, it gave himself some opportunities to accumulate strength.

It's not that Yan Ying getting Mother's things would definitely move to kill Lu Yan; it's just that back then Lu Yan was too young. In the Lu Family, his status was noble yet he wasn't valued by Lu Yan. Yan Ying taking him away, and not fearing the Lu Family causing trouble, naturally meant she could manipulate him however she wanted. Wait until Lu Yan grows up, then add a layer of kinship on top of kinship; fear Lu Yan won't be able to escape Yan Ying's palm for his whole life.

The corner of his lips faintly revealed a trace of a smile. Lu Yan closed the opened affairs documents again.

Hm?

Shen Yao was very confused about this. Weren't they in a hurry to get on the road before? The Spirit Resources the Flaming Lion needs are in Jin Jue City, and the Floating City is a place they must go. Even if this journey is delayed for a long time, they still have to go find the location where Lu Yan's mother truly left clues.

If not the Maple Bridge Mountain Range, then it's the Yeting Shui Po. It can't be that the white paper in Lu Yan's mother's wooden box is really just a sheet of white paper.

"It really is just white paper, no hidden meaning." Or rather, the meaningful part was already told to him in advance when Lu Yan was young.

It's just that at that time Mother was critically ill, Lu Yan was too small to understand the meaning in the words. But now that Lu Yan has grown up, as long as he recalls and connects the two, he understands Mother's true intent.

Shen Yao: ……??

Feeling a forehead full of question marks pop out, Shen Yao was really curious just how special and miraculous this woman named Mu Rong was, to actually leave behind such a backhand. She was definitely not a stupid person. Why did she pass away so early?

Can't say Mother didn't love her children. At least from Lu Yan's narration, one can see Lu Yan's mother still had genuine affection for Lu Yan.

But from Mother's perspective, her arrangements for Lu Yan were somewhat casual. Shen Yao occasionally heard from Lu Yan's mouth some trivialities of him growing up in the Lu Family, and could feel Lu Yan's unhappiness in the Lu Family.

Could there be something else inside this? What exactly is the relationship between Lu Yan and the Lu Family? Don't tell me there's still a melodramatic plot hidden in here.

Shen Yao had to admire her own brain-supplementing ability. Without Lu Yan even opening his mouth, she had already automatically thought of many plots that would only appear in novels.

Similar to what: the protagonist's cannon fodder stepping stone, the tool person who delivers experience treasures to the protagonist, the Passerby A occasionally mentioned in the protagonist's mouth... These years Shen Yao has read countless picture books. Previous Mission Worlds also had plot kills. For these tropes, Shen Yao is familiar with the route.

After eating the fruit, her fingers were a bit dirty. Lu Yan carefully and seriously used a handkerchief to wipe them clean, and by the way, maliciously pinched Shen Yao's back of hand.

Shen Yao: ……

Lifting her head to glare at Lu Yan, Shen Yao was about to pull her hand back from between his fingers. She didn't expect this person not only wouldn't let go, but also seriously praised a few sentences about her slender soft hands.

Shen Yao widened her eyes. This Lu Yan, could it be he ate something bad and ruined his brain?

Lu Yan was made to burst into loud laughter by Shen Yao's little expression. It took a good long while before he slowly stopped. He was originally not old in years; before, he deliberately put on a front only because the burden on his body was too heavy, not daring to relax.

Now having received Mother's hint, the burden was unloaded by more than half. Lu Yan could finally breathe a sigh of relief and be his true self.

"Mother actually isn't as complicated as they think. Even some things, as long as you open your mouth to ask, Mother would tell them the truth.

Pity they believed in themselves too much, and held the same suspicion toward Mother."

Lu Yan revealed a mocking smile. The memories in his mind flashed back to when he was three years old, the time he ran to Mother's room to question and accuse.

What does a child understand? Only knew that Mother's absence led to him being coldly treated. Same-generation brothers and sisters all had father's doting love; only he had nothing.

Lu Yan naturally was unconvinced and sad. He shook off the servants and ran to Mother's residence to complain of grievance. He didn't expect that this accidental intrusion would benefit him for life.

Lu Yan's gaze was somewhat dazed. Shen Yao felt this was him already falling into memory. Is it related to Lu Yan's mother?

"At that time I was only three years old. Because cultivation never gained entry, I was scolded by Father. Other brothers and sisters' malicious mockery followed like a shadow. The servants around me were mostly those who fawn on the high and trample the low."

At that time, Lu Yan could only grit his teeth and persist in cultivation every day. Wait until returning to his room, lock himself up, and secretly wipe tears in grievance.

Such a small person, ah. The most in his head was not understanding. Why would Father be so cold? Why would he have no Mother?

Later, learning from the servants' mouths that Mother was critically ill, Lu Yan sneakily found an opportunity and walked all the way into that Small Courtyard he had never set foot in before.

The Small Courtyard was very desolate. Compared to the Lu Mansion's splendor, that place was more like a place of quiet cultivation. There was no popularity.

Lu Yan entered relying on his longing for and confusion about Mother. Therefore, when he saw that woman lying on the bed, face pale as paper, Lu Yan had a moment of fear, even wanting to flee.

"Fortunately I didn't run away, or maybe I was scared stupid at the time and didn't know to run."

"In any case, that was the first time I saw Mother, and communicated with Mother."

After Lu Yan finished speaking, he raised his eyes and smiled; the memories of the past were too long ago, the former feelings had faded, and Lu Yan had long since lost the sentiments of his childhood.

Now telling it to Shen Yao was merely a matter of the timing having arrived and being willing to speak."

Shen Yao: ……

Shen Yao felt some heartache for Lu Yan; she hadn't expected this person to be so unlucky and pitiful — originally one could have comforted him that his father didn't dote on him, but who would have thought that upon meeting his mother he would thoroughly lose hope.

"It's merely recognizing reality a bit earlier; otherwise being coaxed and deceived into devoting everything to the Lu Family, becoming an emotionless tool, would be the greatest sorrow."

For a three-year-old child, the truth at that time was nothing short of the sky falling."

Lu Yan even fell seriously ill after returning, remaining faint and unconscious for a long time; after recovering he became even more taciturn and emotionally restrained, yet in cultivation he advanced by leaps and bounds, progressing a thousand li in a single day."

Others didn't know what was going on; only Lu Yan's small body still held his mother's worry and urging for him — his life had been predetermined from the very beginning; to change this cruel ending, he had to strive and advance on his own, not easily trust anyone, and always leave himself enough retreat."

Later Mother died of illness, and Lu Yan's status and position in the Lu Family became even more awkward; fortunately by then Lu Yan was already used to it, blocking out everyone's malice every day and single-mindedly focusing on his own affairs."

There were certainly unspeakable troubles in all this, but because Lu Yan acted uninteresting and no longer begged for the Lu Family's or even his father's affection, others also stopped placing their gaze on him."

Still that same sentence: Lu Yan's fate was long since predestined!"

"Nonsense; the fact that you ran into me means your fate has already changed," Shen Yao felt Lu Yan harboring this kind of thinking was really not good — what did he mean fate was already set? The fate of anyone connected to her would change, because she was not a person of this world."

Lu Yan: ……

"That's right, I am different from you," he didn't need to guard against Shen Yao; their souls were bound, they were the best allies."

"Don't think so much; we haven't returned to the Floating City yet," even if they ultimately faced off against the Lu Family, worst case she would take action — Lu Yan's life would be safe."

…………

After Yan Ying and the others left Huaiqing City they split up and rushed in all directions; the one heading to the Maple Bridge Mountain Range was naturally Yan Ying's husband, also the most formidable person under Yan Ying besides herself."

"Tsk tsk tsk, Host, do you think this Yan Ying wants to take the opportunity to get rid of her husband?"

The System had thought at most she would arrange for a subordinate to go; after all, Yan Ying's own biological children all moved with her and never had plans to separate."

"Can't rule out this possibility; didn't you say before that this person and Yan Ying had political differences?" Perhaps Yan Ying also resented the other party overstepping too much; it's just that before there was never a suitable opportunity, and moreover they had children, so she couldn't leave a handle."

Right now the Maple Bridge Mountain Range is the proper business, and this place has always been dangerous; Yan Ying sending her husband there could both hold down the situation and throw the person away from her side — crucially, the others including the children wouldn't suspect anything."

"This is humans for you, so many schemes," they haven't even found the thing yet and internal strife has already started."

But it's precisely because of this that the System has gotten to watch so many big shows."

Why does the System want to become human, to possess the Seven Emotions and Six Desires? It's because a bystander is far less interesting than a participant; one can only say the System is also a fun-loving System, even willing to make itself the entertainment for the sake of entertainment."

"No need to pay attention to them; wanting to explore the Maple Bridge Mountain Range thoroughly, the time cost is destined to be not small," Yan Ying temporarily could no longer interfere with them."

Currently Lu Yan was resolving Huaiqing City's troubles on one side while waiting for Lian Tang City and Yuan City to send people to take over; Shen Yao had nothing to do so she would go out and stroll the streets — because of the precedent of her previously taking action to save people, Shen Yao's reputation in Huaiqing City was even better than Lu Yan's; she was either called Immortal Aunt or Immortal Maiden, and even buying things she could get discounts."

Shen Yao: ……

Being too popular is also a kind of sweet trouble."

On the day the people from Lian Tang City and Yuan City arrived at Huaiqing City one after another, Shen Yao saw an old acquaintance in the crowd."

"Don't you need to keep an eye on Yuan City's affairs at all times?" When Lu Yan left, Fan Gui Qi was still saying Yuan City's matters were mixed; he couldn't even return to Lian Tang City."

How long has it been, yet Fan Gui Qi actually brought manpower from Yuan City — those who didn't know would think Yuan City had already gotten on track."

"Before I was thinking somewhat one-sidedly, believing that as long as I watched over it there would be peace and safety."

The result was exactly the opposite; because of Fan Gui Qi's existence, Yuan City's internal situation had never been very peaceful — this actually taught Fan Gui Qi a lesson."

There had always been Fan Family elders helping by his side; Fan Gui Qi took advantage of this trip to Huaiqing City to clear the stage for internal strife in Yuan City, letting those forces compete to appear, and finally he would make a move to kill the chicken to warn the monkey."

The previous peace could only be said to be because Fan Gui Qi didn't understand human nature and knew even less about struggle; otherwise if he had struck earlier to grind down certain forces' sharpness, there wouldn't be so many troubles now."

"People teaching people won't teach them; events teaching people once and they'll learn."

Lu Yan raised his hand and patted Fan Gui Qi's shoulder, smiling as he soothed him not to mind — as long as he could control the overall situation, when he made a move was never a problem."

Fan Gui Qi shook his head, "Lu Sir, never mind Yuan City's matters for now, on Huaiqing City's side"

He thought to himself that Lu Yan really could do it — silently letting Huaiqing City change hands; although Huaiqing City couldn't compare to Yuan City, it was still a city with a population of several hundred thousand, and there was a jade mine in the city — acquiring it was no loss."

"It was just an accident; Huaiqing City is related to the family elders, I'm merely helping manage it for now," not saying too much, Lu Yan led Fan Gui Qi and the others to settle in the City Lord's Mansion."