Chapter 245

Chapter 245: He Simply Overthought It

In the previous life, she was not in the Capital at this time, but she also knew Du Zi Heng and Yu Jiao Jiao did not get along. By then, You Bing Yue had already entered the house. Du Manor quarreled big every three days and small every two. In that year’s Imperial Examinations, Du Zi Heng did not make the list, not even Third Place Laureate.

He became Top Scholar in a later round of the Imperial Examinations. After that, using it as his backing, he asked Chancellor Du for a mansion and brought You Bing Yue over to live a small life of their own. Of course Yu Jiao Jiao did not accept it and followed them there.

In short, Du Zi Heng’s past life had been quite “wonderful,” the kind of chaos people call chickens flying and dogs jumping. So what he dreamed had nothing to do with the previous life.

That left two explanations. Either the dream simply showed what he most desired now. He wanted a smooth marriage and a smooth career. Or some spirit had meddled.

Although yesterday she had not seen any yin energy on him or any trace of contact with spirits, that did not prove he met nothing after she left. Thinking it over, she said to Li Rou: “You and Zhang Xiang pack a few things. I’m going out and will be back soon.”

Li Rou agreed.

At Du Manor, Du Zi Heng had not gone out since returning. What if she came to see him? Even if Yu Zhi Yi did not come, he did not want to go out. He especially did not want to face You Bing Yue. Ever since that dream, he felt awkward and did not want to see her. Hearing that Yu Zhi Yi had come, his eyes lit up and he went to greet her himself.

The steward stayed as respectful as always. He did not treat Yu Zhi Yi like an enemy just because the marriage had been ended.

All the way in, Yu Zhi Yi studied Du Manor. She could not find any yin energy or marks of ghosts. On the contrary, the manor’s feng shui was very good. She had lived here for a time and would never be careless about her own place. Besides the defensive talismans she had buried, she had set a small feng shui array according to the manor’s layout. Living here would not guarantee instant wealth, but at least ordinary monsters and ghosts could not come in. Especially Windward Pavilion, where she had lived, had excellent feng shui.

When she left, she took back the defensive talismans, but she did not change the feng shui. Now, everything was still as it had been.

Before they reached Bright Radiance Courtyard, Du Zi Heng came out to meet her. He greeted her with a smile, eyes bright with a hint of expectation: “You’re here.”

Yu Zhi Yi said nothing about that, but the steward sighed inside. Ever since young madam left, young master’s mood had been poor. He had once scolded young master in his heart: If you were going to regret it, why did you act like that? Still, seeing young master happy today, he felt a bit comforted.

Yu Zhi Yi let her gaze rest on Du Zi Heng’s face a moment and found nothing unusual, then said: “Let’s go take a look at Bright Radiance Courtyard.”

The steward withdrew. The servants inside the courtyard were about to leave too. Yu Zhi Yi’s eyelid twitched and she said calmly: “They don’t need to leave.”

A man and a woman alone together would invite gossip. If You Bing Yue heard of it, it would be hard to explain. Du Zi Heng pressed his lips and said in a low tone: “Stay.”

With the servants remaining and doing their work, Yu Zhi Yi began a careful check.

Du Zi Heng watched her look around without speaking and grew nervous: “Did you find anything wrong?”

Yu Zhi Yi did not answer until she had walked the whole place. Then she said: “I’ve checked. There is no problem.”

Du Zi Heng paused: “No problem? Then I just had an ordinary dream?”

Yu Zhi Yi nodded: “Maybe it was day-thoughts turning into night-dreams.”

She did not bother to say more.

Du Zi Heng fell into thought. Then a hand reached out to him. Yu Zhi Yi said: “Fair price, ten taels of silver.”

He blinked: “That cheap?”

She replied, a little speechless: “It was only a simple check, so of course it’s cheap.”

She had never seen someone so eager to invite a slaughter.

He rubbed his nose. It was not his fault. Every time he bought something from Yu Zhi Yi, the cheapest was still in the hundreds of taels. Ten taels felt strange. Or maybe she had a guilty conscience and did not want to overcharge?

Yu Zhi Yi took the money and left. She did not care what he was thinking.

Back at her own place, Li Rou and Zhang Xiang had almost finished packing. Yu Zhi Yi checked for gaps, took out a few things they would not need, put in a few they might, and set the bundle aside.

On the second to last day of the holiday, she planned to buy a horse. After so many years, she still did not own her own ride. She had neither carriage nor horse. When she went to Cao South Village before, the horses were borrowed from the Ministry of Justice.

If she were traveling light, she would not need a carriage. But to be safe, the emperor insisted on assigning her twenty guards. Yes, the originally planned constables were all replaced with guards. One of them was even the Capital Halberd Guard Deputy Commander.

By chance, that deputy commander was the heir apparent of Marquis Wu’an Manor.

When Yu Zhi Yi had just been reborn, the young master of Marquis Wu’an Manor had almost been beaten to death by You Bing Yue. The whole Marquis Wu’an family wanted a life-and-death fight with her, but Yu Zhi Yi saw that the young master would fall in love with You Bing Yue and bring ruin to his home because of her. The Marchioness Wu’an was wise enough to listen. They did not pursue the matter and instead used it to pave a bright path for the heir apparent.

Now, that heir apparent, the Capital Halberd Guard Deputy Commander, had become her temporary subordinate.

She would be traveling with twenty men. She did not care about such things, but she had to think of Li Rou. So it was better to buy a carriage.

She knew the horse market well. Back when she lived at Yu Manor, she had gone out with Yu Meng Qin to broaden her knowledge. At the market, her eyes swept over the tall, strong horses. Soon she set her sights on one. She was about to walk over when a happy voice rose behind her: “Sister!”

Yu Zhi Yi looked back and saw Jiang Liu Yun, his dark eyes shining with joy: “Are you here to buy a horse?”

She nodded: “Yes, and a carriage to go with it.”

Jiang Liu Yun smiled: “Father was right. If we came to the horse market today, we would meet you.”

Since her true identity had been made public, she had only gained a father and brothers in name. Their relationship was not close. They had not met even once in these past days. She had been avoiding them on purpose. She had not expected Father Jiang to guess her movements and send Jiang Liu Yun to wait for her here.