"Very well, I will take you inside now," the guard nodded repeatedly, not daring to look back as he headed straight for the inner mansion. However, he did not dare to walk too fast, fearing that the person behind him might become suspicious and stab him with a sword.
As a result, it was obvious that he could not avoid the watchful eyes of the other hidden sentinels. Yet, seeing Mu Hanyan with a longsword pressed against the guard’s back as they walked towards the inner mansion, the hidden sentinels showed no reaction, nor did anyone sound an alarm.
It seemed the guard was not lying; Yan Yuchu must have given orders in advance. Otherwise, the sight before them would have surely sounded the alarm bells.
Mu Hanyan grew even more puzzled, but he knew he could not get any information from the guard, so he suppressed his curiosity and continued to the inner mansion.
After traversing a long cloister, the two arrived at the inner mansion.
Despite it being the middle of the night, a large red lantern hung in the pavilion, illuminating two figures sitting opposite each other at a stone table, drinking wine. One was a young man around twenty-five or twenty-six years of age, his brow furrowed in worry while holding a wine cup. He was Mu Ziqing, the Fourth Son of the Third Elder’s family. The other, a youth with a cool appearance, looking to be sixteen or seventeen years old, must be Yan Yuchu, the Young Master of the Yan Family.
Hearing footsteps, both turned their heads simultaneously.
"What are you doing here?" Mu Ziqing exclaimed in surprise upon seeing Mu Hanyan.
Yan Yuchu, however, regarded Mu Hanyan with a mock-smile, as if he had been expecting him for a long time.
"Lord City Master, the man from the Mu Family has arrived. Per your instruction, I have led him in," the guard reported to Yan Yuchu, bowing respectfully.
"That will be all. Go back and claim your reward. By my order, from now on, no one is to come within half a step of the inner mansion," Yan Yuchu waved his hand, dismissing the guard, then looked towards Mu Hanyan.
"Are you Mu Hanfeng, or Mu Feng?" Yan Yuchu asked.
"Mu Hanyan," Mu Hanyan replied.
"Mu Hanyan? Never heard of you," Yan Yuchu shook his head, his voice tinged with disappointment and disdain.
It seemed that not only to Jiang Yuzhe, but in the eyes of Yan Yuchu as well, the only ones among all the younger generation of the Mu Family worth noticing were Mu Hanfeng and Mu Feng.
All these years, the notoriety of being the playboy had indeed blinded everyone. Being overlooked in such a way, Mu Hanyan wasn’t sure whether to feel fortunate or unfortunate.
"Now I remember, the number one playboy and good-for-nothing of Heishi City, Mu Hanyan, that’s you, isn’t it?" Yan Yuchu recalled Mu Hanyan’s reputation after some thought and said.
Suddenly, Mu Hanyan felt that perhaps being ignored was slightly better.
"Hanyan, why are you here? This is not the place for you, quickly go back," Mu Ziqing, having regained his composure, anxiously said to Mu Hanyan.
Mu Hanyan saw the genuine concern in Mu Ziqing’s eyes and was somewhat moved. Growing up with a poor reputation in the family, the other brothers and sisters kept their distance from him, as if avoiding plague, even hoping for his misfortune. Yet, the anxious concern Mu Ziqing was now showing was without pretense; he was truly worried about Mu Hanyan’s safety, which was indeed rare among the Mu Family’s disciples.
"Uncle Four, I came to Xiushui City on the family’s orders to assist you in returning home. How can I go back if I leave ?" Mu Hanyan spread his hands, speaking to Mu Ziqing.
"Hahaha, you want to take him back? If it were Mu Hanfeng or Mu Feng, that might be possible, but with you, I’m afraid there’s not the slightest chance," laughed Yan Yuchu, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, his contempt for Mu Hanyan was unmistakable. Follow current novels on novel[f]ire.net