Chapter 3516: Leading Ye Chen by the Nose

When the situation in Syria subsided, Tawana's concert was held as scheduled in Paris.

The Empress's appeal was unparalleled, making fans across Europe rejoice like it was New Year.

In the blink of an eye, it was already the Lantern Festival.

In Ye Chen's personal view, the Lantern Festival was the liveliest of traditional festivals and also the one with the best visual effects.

The entire banks of the Qinhuai River were decorated with lanterns and banners, even hosting an ancient-style boat parade; although the weather remained damp and cold, it could not stop the enthusiasm of Jin Ling citizens for nightly lantern viewing.

Tonight, the Calligraphy and Painting Association held a calligraphy and lantern riddle competition in a bookstore by the Qinhuai River; Xiao Changkun, as a member of the association, naturally went to show support, Ma Lan always loved joining the fun, so she also arranged to go together, even inviting Ye Chen and Xiao Churan to come along.

At this moment, the Qinhuai River was not only filled with colorful and dazzling lanterns, but many children watching the lanterns also held various lanterns in their hands, multicolored and extraordinarily lively.

All the trees on both banks were wrapped with colored lanterns, fire trees and silver flowers making a splendid sight; people pressed shoulder to shoulder, yet did not mind the crowding and noise, no matter what unhappiness, difficulties, or dissatisfaction they usually faced in life, stepping out tonight to feel this rich festive atmosphere allowed negative emotions to be temporarily forgotten, so everyone's faces bore smiles of happiness and joy.

Ye Chen and Xiao Churan walked hand in hand, strolling leisurely along the bank of the Qinhuai River; seeing this lively scene, Xiao Churan felt her suppressed sadness ease somewhat, and she asked Ye Chen beside her: "Do you still remember how you spent the Lantern Festival as a child?"

After saying that, she added: "I mean when your parents were still alive."

Ye Chen thought for a moment, then smiled: "When my parents were alive, we would come out to view lanterns and enjoy the park every Lantern Festival, and I would hold a small red lantern in my hand, though the lantern did not contain batteries but a burning candle; back then fireworks were not banned, so every fifteenth night of the first lunar month we would go to the lakeside to set off fireworks, some units even specially allocated a budget to massively set off fireworks on Lantern Festival night, sometimes units would compete with each other, seeing who set off more, bigger, and longer fireworks; we kids thought it was incredibly lively, looking from all directions, we couldn't possibly see it all."

Xiao Churan lightly nodded and said: "When I was young, it was pretty much the same; I remember that every fifteenth night of the first lunar month, the whole city was filled with fireworks shooting into the sky, and my grandfather would also buy many fireworks for us kids, but I didn't dare to set them off; basically Xiao Hailong was responsible for setting them off, while we watched from the side."

Speaking of this, she suddenly recalled something and said: "Oh right, I saw Weiwei yesterday."

"Weiwei?" Ye Chen asked curiously: "Xiao Weiwei?"

"Yes." Xiao Churan nodded: "Yesterday I went to the Emperor's Glory Group for a meeting to report project progress, and coincidentally the group held a Lantern Festival banquet a day early, Vice Chairman Wang Dongxue invited me to attend; the group banquet had many people, and many etiquette ladies were busy attending to guests, Weiwei came over to toast Vice Chairman Wang, and that's how we met."

Ye Chen asked, feigning ignorance: "Did Xiao Weiwei go to work at the Emperor's Glory Group?"

"No." Xiao Churan said: "Weiwei started her own business; you should have heard about it, my mother mentioned it recently, she set up her own etiquette company, specializing in etiquette services, and she seems to be doing quite well; many big companies in Jin Ling have long-term cooperation with her, and the Emperor's Glory Group is her biggest client."

Ye Chen naturally knew Xiao Weiwei's situation; back then, he had also helped her solve the problem of the etiquette company being harmed by a dishonest merchant, enabling her to start her own business, and he had also secretly instructed his subordinates to take better care of her company.

However, he felt he definitely had to appear less knowledgeable than she knew in front of Xiao Churan, so he deliberately feigned astonishment and said: "I never thought Xiao Weiwei would have a day of walking the right path."

Xiao Churan nodded slightly and smiled lightly: "I think she's just like me, probably had a benefactor's help; otherwise, with our situation, how could we cooperate with the Emperor's Glory Group, and even have face-to-face communication with Vice Chairman Wang Dongxue?"

Ye Chen felt embarrassed inside, but kept a neutral expression and smiled: "Perhaps you two just have good luck."

Xiao Churan did not expose him, merely nodded slightly, smiling and letting it pass.

At this moment, the Qinhuai River was like a busy waterway, with constant traffic of imitation ancient-style small boats and pleasure boats; one small boat, together with other boats, slowly proceeded to the right, passing by Ye Chen and Xiao Churan.

At the bow and stern, two boatmen controlled the boat's speed and direction with bamboo poles; inside the cabin, curtains were hung at the entrance and side windows, so from outside one could not see inside, but from inside one could vaguely see outside.

Such boats were not uncommon, and lowering the curtains was not just one or two; after all, some young couples come out to boat along, after viewing the riverside scenery, they would lower the curtains to enjoy private moments in their own little world, so Ye Chen did not pay attention to it.

Inside the cabin, a beautiful lady held her teacup, gazing distantly at Ye Chen through the window, lost in thought.

Opposite her, an old man and an old woman sat cross-legged, perfectly still.

The beautiful lady was Ye Chen's mother, An Chengxi; opposite her, the two elders were one, Sister Sun, who followed her left and right, and the other, Tang Sihai, who had recently been on standby at Qixia Temple.

At this moment, the two also dared not even breathe loudly, because they had not expected to encounter Ye Chen here, and so close by; recently, Ye Chen and Xiao Churan had been walking along the long stone path on the riverbank, while their boat was sailing close to the shore, and the distance between Ye Chen's toes and their boat was less than half a meter.

After the boat had traveled one or two hundred meters, An Chengxi put down her teacup, her expression dim with sorrow: "Just now, I even somewhat hoped that Chen'er could have some telepathic connection with me..."

Sister Sun quickly whispered: "Madam, watch your words! The young master has great supernatural powers; he might possibly hear our conversation!"

An Chengxi smiled bitterly: "Don't worry, although cultivators have sensitive senses, they are not constantly monitoring everything around them; here there are so many people and so many conversations, even if they all reached Chen'er's ears, he would find it hard to process them all, unless he suspected our boat and deliberately focused on us, otherwise there's no need to worry too much."

Tang Sihai then spoke: "Madam, why have you come to Jin Ling again this time? If you have business with me, I can go to Putuo Mountain to see you!"

An Chengxi smiled: "Over these many years, I have always wanted to come to Jin Ling more often, after all, this is where Chen'er grew up and settled down; but every time I come, I come and leave quietly, even dare not go see Chen'er; this time I came, I also wanted to look around more, but I never expected to meet Chen'er here."

After speaking, she waved her hand and said self-mockingly: "Forget it, I won't indulge in these groundless complaints anymore; Sihai, I came to find you today because I have a very important matter to discuss with you."

Tang Sihai respectfully clasped his fists and said: "Madam, please speak!"

An Chengxi said: "I see that the Xiao family young lady has indeed been recently preparing to leave Jin Ling; many projects that can be finished are being rushed with overtime, and those that cannot be finished, she has proactively proposed compensation plans to Party A; I suppose after February 2nd, when Chen'er's birthday passes, she and her parents will be able to leave."

Tang Sihai nodded and said: "I also think this matter will not encounter any changes."

An Chengxi reminded him: "Chen'er is very strong, and he has many informants under him; if the Xiao family young lady disappears directly from beside him, I fear he will immediately start searching for her; if his reaction speed is fast enough, with our abilities, we might not be able to escape his pursuit."

Tang Sihai looked at her and respectfully asked: "Then what do you mean, Madam?"

An Chengxi said lightly: "I think that on the day the Xiao family young lady and her parents leave China, Chen'er must not be in the country; we must find a way to draw him away, the farther the better, so that he might need a day to realize the Xiao family young lady is missing, and then at least ten hours to rush back; by then, the Xiao family young lady would already be on the vast ocean."

Tang Sihai nodded: "Madam's consideration is that if we can draw the young master away, that would be best; but…… but nowadays, there are few people who can influence the young master's schedule, and it's hard for us to make him develop as we wish; moreover, if we find someone to draw him away, once the young master realizes he's been tricked, he will certainly start from that person, and in that case, we might expose ourselves."

An Chengxi smiled: "What you said is correct; we cannot possibly let Chen'er decide his schedule according to our wishes."

After saying that, she suddenly shifted her tone and said: "However, we can think of a way, to lead Chen'er by the nose."

Tang Sihai hurriedly asked: "Madam, do you have any good ideas?"

An Chengxi looked at Tang Sihai and said calmly: "Sihai, when you initially vanished from the human world under my command, Chen'er must have realized that you these many years were not actually serving the Ye family, but someone else behind the scenes; though he surely cannot guess it's me, so you are certainly one of the people Chen'er most wants to find; on your body are many mysteries he wants to solve; if you appear suddenly in some country on the eve of February 2nd, and he happens to learn of it unintentionally, I think he will definitely fly over to find you."

Tang Sihai's eyes suddenly lit up, and he hurriedly said: "Madam's wisdom is clear; if the young master learns of my appearance in some place, he will surely come to find me; as long as he boards the plane, we will arrange for the Xiao family young lady to leave, I will arrange the domestic transfer routes, and when the young master disembarks, we will ensure the Xiao family young lady has already left the country, and left no trace!"

An Chengxi asked him: "Then where do you think it's suitable to go, and what method should we use to make it seem like you were accidentally discovered by Chen'er?"

Tang Sihai pondered for a moment, then suddenly blurted out: "Got it, Madam! I'll go to Australia!"