Chapter 442

"Little Yuanzhi hasn't seen it either, does your brother-in-law not even know this?" Gu Rongjin smiled.

Mu Chengcheng froze for a moment, realizing he had misspoken, and waved his hand somewhat flusteredly: "No, sister, I'm sorry, I brought up your painful memories; I was overcome by emotion for a moment and forgot that you were also just born not long ago, and your parents are already gone..."

Exactly the same as Pei Yunxi! Mu Yuanzhi felt as if she had seen Pei Yunxi again, and she constantly felt weary from being forced to contend with Pei Yunxi.

I just don't know whether Mu Chengcheng simply wants a background patron, or also intends to act against her.

"As for my parents' affairs, I can only hear about them from others."

"Your brother-in-law surely knows, I heard he once followed the army?" Mu Chengcheng turned his gaze to Gu Rongjin.

Gu Rongjin didn't want to say more, and casually replied: "I was still young back then; how could I know so much?"

"However..." Gu Rongjin changed the subject, "I still remember clearly the events when my mother-in-law was in labor."

He said that on purpose, and indeed one could see Mu Chengcheng's expression freeze for a moment.

But it quickly returned to normal, and just as Mu Chengcheng wanted to say something more, a servant entered.

After bowing to everyone, he entered and said to Mu Chengcheng: "Young Master, the Vice Director of the Directorate of Astronomy requests your presence."

"The Vice Director of the Directorate of Astronomy?" Mu Chengcheng asked dubiously.

Mu Yuanzhi: "It must be about the ancestral worship ceremony."

Upon hearing this, Mu Chengcheng immediately perked up and said: "Go back and tell them I know; I'll go right away."

"Yes!"

"Sister, I'm going to the Directorate of Astronomy first; I'll come back to find you later!" Mu Chengcheng looked eager.

Mu Yuanzhi gave a perfunctory smile.

Mu Chengcheng left, and Yun Jinglou arrived.

"You already have news so quickly, Master Yun?" Mu Yuanzhi still didn't let a servant attend, and personally brewed tea for Yun Jinglou.

Yun Jinglou: "It's not that it's fast; I had already investigated earlier, otherwise waiting for your husband's orders would have left the yellow flowers cold!"

"Impressive, little tower, what did you find?" Gu Rongjin asked without hesitation.

"Found nothing!"

Yun Jinglou's words made Gu Rongjin momentarily want to throw him out.

Finding nothing yet acting as if victory were in hand… I demand an explanation!

"Isn't this exactly the strange part?" Yun Jinglou, sipping Longjing tea, said slowly, "A person, a commoner, lived over twenty years and left not a trace—obviously it was deliberately erased."

Gu Rongjin: "What you say makes sense, but doesn't that mean we can't get any leverage?"

Mu Yuanzhi: "He came prepared, so naturally it's not easy for us to catch him on anything."

"When he arrived, I personally went to Huangli State and investigated for nearly three months with no result; the only thing I could find was that half a year ago, Mu Chengcheng met the Grand Princess of Huangli at a poetry gathering, and not long after they came to the Great Zhou." Yun Jinglou said.

He paused and then said: "Mu Chengcheng's martial arts are mediocre, yet he eyes the Grand General's position covetously, always wanting to be transferred to the frontier to earn military merit."

"In this era of peace and prosperity, where would he get military merit to polish?" Mu Yuanzhi scoffed.

"Even without merit, he just wants to show his loyalty; anyway, he covets the Grand General's position, and he might even regard little Mo as a thorn in his side." Yun Jinglou reminded.

"Little Mo is only three." Mu Yuanzhi said, "He will inherit my title in the future."

"But everyone knows little Mo is the future hope of the Grand General's manor; wouldn't Mu Chengcheng think about that?"

Gu Rongjin nodded: "Master Yun makes sense; we need to guard against this person."

Mu Yuanzhi: "I will tell the two children to stay away from that so-called uncle."

"Since he wants to polish military merit, he must also be trying to curry favor with Shi Huai, right?" Gu Rongjin speculated.

"You guessed right; my informant told me he goes to harass General Qi every few days, annoying General Qi to no end."

"If he weren't coveting the Grand Princess of Huangli, he might be chasing Xixi right now." Mu Yuanzhi chuckled.

"You also guessed right, no, you guessed wrong, Your Highness the Princess—Mu Chengcheng hasn't let go of Miss Xixi; he constantly, intentionally or not, flirts with her. I think he wants to have two boats, but one is just for show, the other is a lifeboat."

As for that casual boat, everyone knows exactly who it is.

Anyway, if it causes the two maidens to vie for his affection out of jealousy, he still comes out ahead.

Having finished his tea, Yun Jinglou also prepared to take his leave: "His Majesty still has business with me, so I won't stay long."

"No need to see me out."

Mu Yuanzhi: "Now we can only hope that the Si Ma side makes progress."

"Better not get your hopes up too high; Mu Chengcheng came prepared." Gu Rongjin was not optimistic.

Directorate of Astronomy.

Mu Chengcheng sat a bit uneasy in the room the shaman doctor had prepared for him.

The gloomy, strange room was filled with an eerie atmosphere; various mysterious implements hung on the walls—skulls, bronze vessels—and opposite his storage cabinet were densely packed severed bronze figurines, making one's scalp tingle.

The dripping sound of the clepsydra was especially chilling in the quiet, odd room.

It had already been two quarter-hours, and still no one had come; although Mu Chengcheng had heard that the Vice Director of the Directorate of Astronomy was eccentric and was mentally prepared, this scene still exceeded his expectations.

At that moment, the door was pushed open from outside, startling Mu Chengcheng.

"We've been waiting for Master Mu." The shaman doctor entered holding a bronze vessel, saying, "I'm really busy, so… please excuse me."

"General Si Ma flatters me; I haven't waited long either, and the tea here is quite good." Mu Chengcheng said.

"Really? This tea is a specialty of Lingdu; many people aren't used to it, saying it tastes like… corpse water." The shaman doctor covered his mouth and laughed, "Those with no taste think it's good; I mean drinking it feels odd, but it's still good."

Mu Chengcheng almost couldn't keep his smile; his mouth seemed to fill with a strange taste instantly, and for a moment he even wondered whether this person had really given him water that flowed from a corpse!

"Is that so, haha!"

"Master Mu, could you hold this for me?" The shaman doctor, without further ado, shoved the spiky bronze vessel into Mu Chengcheng's arms.

Mu Chengcheng found it hard to refuse; he tried not to prick himself, but in fact he had already deeply punctured the back of his hand without realizing it.

Because Tibetan incense was burning in the room, he felt no pain at all.

He probably never expected the shaman doctor to take a drop of his blood so bluntly upon arrival.

The tiny drop of blood was about to fall; the shaman, seeing this, hurriedly took back the bronze vessel: "I'll do it myself; if it pricks Young Master Mu, Your Majesty could blame me! His Majesty said Young Master Mu is the hope of the Grand General's mansion; the ancestral worship ceremony must be handled well!"