Chapter 3574

After a long seclusion of more than ten days, Ye Chen finally walked out of the half-mountain villa of Xiangxieli Hot Spring.

The more than ten days of seclusion were, for Ye Chen, like sleepless nights, because he kept thinking of Xiao Churan and could never calm his mind to cultivate.

It was now the end of March in the Gregorian calendar and the end of February in the lunar calendar, and Jin Ling had entered the season of warm spring and blooming flowers.

As Qingming drew nearer, the Ye family had already begun preparing this year's ancestral worship ceremony, but now everything was decided by Ye Chen, so the old master Ye Zhongquan came forward to ask Ye Chen about the specific plans for this year's ancestral worship grand ceremony, such as whether to hold it on a large scale and whether to notify the collateral family members to participate.

But the old master had sent Ye Chen many messages and WeChats without receiving any reply, so he left a message for Ye Chen, saying that if Ye Chen continued not to reply, he would come to take charge of the arrangements for the ancestral worship grand ceremony.

For Ye Chen, the first thing he considered was whether the ancestral worship grand ceremony possessed the necessary conditions.

Naturally, paying respects to ancestors and parents during Qingming is the duty of a junior generation, but it seemed unnecessary to make a big fuss about it.

Therefore, ancestral worship is necessary, but the grand ceremony is not.

Secondly, he felt that he himself had become somewhat decadent, and in such a state, he was even less suitable to take charge of the grand ceremony.

Thus, after consideration, Ye Chen decided that this year's ancestral worship would be simplified, no longer extravagant and wasteful, and he would no longer allow collateral family members to go to Ye Ling Mountain, allowing only the direct members of the Ye family to worship sincerely on Ye Ling Mountain.

At this time, Ye Zhongquan had already been busy for several days over the ancestral worship grand ceremony.

Ye Zhongquan was old, and the older he got, the more he cared about the etiquette of worshipping ancestors, because he would unconsciously think of himself, and the more sincere his heart was when worshipping ancestors now, the more he naturally hoped that his descendants would also worship him with the same sincerity in the future.

But when he suddenly received Ye Chen's message and saw that Ye Chen did not intend to hold a grand ceremony, although he felt unwilling, he could not overstep his bounds, so he could only call off all the preparations.

Ye Chen stood on the mountain ridge, gazing at the vast scenery, and for a moment fell into confusion.

He did not know where he should go next or what he should do.

He did not want to go home, because home was no longer home.

He also did not want to go elsewhere, because he could not muster the spirit to go anywhere.

Should he go back to continue secluded cultivation?

That seemed not a good idea either, for he was like a severe insomnia patient; forcibly lying in bed would not let him sleep, but would only make him more anxious the longer he lay there.

So he called Ya Lin Li to inquire about the investigation progress these days, and Ya Lin Li answered truthfully: "Young Master Ye, these days we have preliminarily tracked the clues of those vehicles, and the movement trajectory of each vehicle has been deliberately concealed, so even with preliminary elimination, it is very difficult to immediately narrow down the range; currently it is still hard to find a breakthrough point, and we estimate that at least another two months are needed to conduct the first round of screening on these vehicles, by which time we will at least be able to eliminate 60% of the vehicles, and then proceed to a second round of screening on the remaining 40%."

Ye Chen felt his scalp go numb upon hearing this.

The first round of screening alone would take two months; after several rounds, a year would have passed.

But he was not an unreasonable person; in the field of criminal investigation, aside from cases solved quickly due to stupid criminals leaving clues, the remaining cases committed by individuals or small gangs with some wit have investigation timelines that are often stretched very long, many exceeding a year.

Solving a case has never been a simple matter.

He very much wanted to ask Lin Waner again, but thinking that the other party was a remarkable woman who had experienced four hundred years of world turmoil, and although he himself did not have such a colorful life experience, he was at least a man of integrity, and it was not fitting to constantly bother her over matters of love and affection, for on one hand it would disturb her tranquility, and on the other hand it would lose him face.

During the seclusion, the friends who received the messages all tacitly did not disturb him, but Menoko still could not help leaving him a message, which read: "Ye Chen-kun, after you finish your seclusion, please kindly inform Menoko."

So Ye Chen replied to her with a message, telling her that he had just finished his seclusion.

Menoko quickly replied: "Ye Chen-kun, if there is nothing else, let's have dinner together tonight; I brought back some wine and ingredients from Japan, and Otosan has always said he wants to wait until you have time to enjoy them together."

Ye Chen thought of Menoko, who lived in Tang Chen Yi Pin, and he did not want to go back to face the sight of objects that reminded him of people, so he subconsciously wanted to refuse.

But before he could finish composing the refusal message, Menoko sent another message: "Forgot to tell Ye Chen-kun, I and Otosan have moved house; we now live in Shanhe Yue on the east side of Zijin Mountain, and Otosan also said he wants to find an opportunity to invite Ye Chen-kun to come to our new home for a visit."

Ito Menoko, in her age group, is absolutely an exceptionally intelligent girl.

Since she helped Ye Chen look around his home and discovered Xiao Churan's farewell letter, she immediately decided to find a house and move out of Tang Chen Yi Pin as soon as possible.

Because she knew that Tang Chen Yi Pin would become a thorn in Ye Chen's heart; previously she lived there simply to be closer to him, but now this place had become a place Ye Chen could not let go of, and if she and her father continued to live there, it would only be counterproductive.

So she immediately entrusted her father to look for other residences in Jin Ling, and it must be a move-in-ready finished property, so as to move out as soon as possible.

Ito Yuehiko, this veteran entrepreneur, is also a super man of action; he immediately found the sales champion in the brokerage field and had him introduce some primary and secondary luxury residences in Jin Ling; after viewing the properties in person, he lavishly spent nine figures and bought a luxurious villa with private gate and courtyard in Shanhe Yue beside Zijin Mountain.

Ye Chen did not expect that Menoko had actually moved house, and being not very sensitive to male-female matters, he subconsciously asked: "You and Uncle Ito, how did you suddenly move house?"

Menoko said: "Otosan has always complained that living in high-rise residences is not very convenient, and the privacy is not as good as that of a detached villa, so he went and bought a house himself; I could not go against him, so I had to agree to move."

What Menoko said is half true and half false.

The true part is that Ito Yuehiko really is not used to living in apartment buildings, and his willingness to live in the high-rise of Tang Chen Yi Pin is entirely out of deference to his daughter.

The false part is that Ito Yuehiko actually had no intention of changing houses; the desire to change houses came from her herself.

Ye Chen also did not think much about it at this time; Ito Yuehiko himself is a top-tier rich man in Japan, and Ye Chen himself has visited his residence in Kyoto, which is so large that one could almost hang a sign selling tickets there; letting such a tycoon live in a high-rise building, he would certainly not be accustomed to it, and wanting to change to a detached villa is only human nature.

Thinking that Ito Yuehiko also hoped he would go to their new home for a visit, Ye Chen, who was troubled by having nowhere to go, simply agreed and said: "Menoko, send me the address, and I will come over later."

"Great!" Menoko exclaimed excitedly: "Ye Chen-kun, remember to come early, keep Otosan company for a chat; he has been constantly mentioning you."

"Good." Ye Chen agreed, saying: "I will come over in a while."