Yang Ming had paid the Silver, carefully placed the exquisite box containing the two rings on his person, and then left the Silver Pavilion to return to the Academy to continue his classes.
In the afternoon, after classes were over, he went to the Xuntian Escort Agency. Since Wang Kui had become an escort, Yang Ming visited daily to handle the trivial matters of the agency.
As soon as he arrived at the entrance, he heard the Escort Head saying, "Shopkeeper Yang, you’ve arrived. Our Head Escort Master is back."
Upon hearing that Wang Kui had returned, Yang Ming quickened his pace and entered the house.
"Can you not call me that? It’s one thing for them to call me that, but you should call me by my name," Yang Ming felt somewhat helpless; he was just a nominal figure, why should the Head Escort Master address him like that.
Seeing Yang Ming’s reluctance to the title, Wang Kui had no choice but to agree, "Alright then, Brother Yang."
"How did the escort mission go?" Yang Ming was still very concerned about the affairs of the escort agency since the continuity of the agency could provide hope in finding his sister.
"Don’t worry, there wasn’t a single issue, only that obtaining information about Xiatian isn’t easy."
This time the escort mission wasn’t supposed to come back so late, but Wang Kui thought since he was already in that place, he might as well look around, which is why the return was delayed until now.
"Right, I know not to rush things. When there’s time, I’ll bring you the portrait," Yang Ming mentioned, knowing that finding people isn’t easy, prepared for a long-term search.
"Brother Yang, since there are many people here today, let’s celebrate the first successful mission of the Xuntian Escort Agency by drinking a little," Wang Kui suggested.
"..." Drinking? His mood wasn’t very good right now, and he felt like drinking, "Sure, let’s celebrate your successful escorting, let’s drink."
Straightaway, the kitchen began preparing, and it wasn’t long before everything was ready.
Since it was his first time drinking with the escorts, many people came to toast him, which Yang Ming accepted one by one; he really wanted to drink till he passed out.
"Brother Yang, come on, let’s play a drinking game, it’s been such a long time," one of the escorts encouraged.
Yang Ming didn’t know what was wrong with him today; he kept losing and drinking repeatedly, yet he couldn’t get drunk. He ended up knocking many escorts under the table.
One of the escorts, utterly drunk, blurted out, "Shopkeeper Yang, I didn’t expect you could hold your liquor so well, no one can outdrink you."
Yang Ming forced a smile. He wanted to get drunk, yet the more he drank, the more sober he became.
He stood up and addressed everyone, "It’s getting late, I’ll be heading back first. You all should rest up too."
"Why don’t you stay here instead of going back?" Wang Kui tried to persuade him to stay.
Yang Ming waved his hand in refusal and headed straight out of the Xuntian Escort Agency’s main gate, walking on the street, feeling the chill wind. He reached into his coat pocket for the box of rings.
Touching the box, he took a deep breath, realizing he still couldn’t give up.
He wanted to give this ring to his wife, to tell her about the symbolism of the ring, to make one more effort to express his feelings, to tell her that he wanted to be her husband.
With this thought, he quickened his steps, rapidly returning to his residence at the Academy.
In the Academy, he shared a room with Chu Lian, but Chu Lian’s family was wealthy and had properties everywhere. They didn’t enroll in the Academy purely for study and often didn’t stay there, which was common.
After returning to his residence and not seeing Chu Lian, Yang Ming didn’t mind; even if he had met him, he wouldn’t know how to interact, which was for the best.
Once back in his room, he heated the kang and stuffed all the corn cobs into the stove, lit the fire, climbed onto the kang, and lay down. It seemed the alcohol finally hit him, and he fell asleep swiftly and soundly.