When Ye Lingyue arrived at the reception hall, she found that the not-so-large hall was already bustling with quite a few people. Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn ɴovelfire.net
Among them were her eldest maternal uncle, Ye Huangyun, her eldest cousin Ye Sheng, and the whole family of Ye Huangxuan, each of them looking apprehensive and cautious.
In Daxia, a governor is a third-grade official, and the steward of the governor’s mansion is the person the governor trusts the most, while the Ye Family is merely an ordinary local power in a small town, insignificant in front of the governor’s mansion.
Ye Lingyue’s fourth uncle and eldest uncle respectively stood at the lower seats, while at the head of the hall sat a refined scholar in his forties, dressed in a plain scholar’s robe and cap, which seemed to take on a different character when worn by him.
Ye Lingyue faintly sensed the fluctuations of Primordial Power emanating from him; upon a glance, it was impossible to discern what level of cultivation he possessed.
At that moment, the scholar was holding a teacup, taking a sip of tea, and chatting amiably with Ye Huangxuan. Hearing footsteps, the middle-aged steward looked up.
There stood a strikingly lovely young girl, who was there comfortably and gracefully, dressed in plain moon-white martial outfit with an overcoat draped around her, her face bare without make-up, an oval face, willow-leaf eyebrows, and a pair of New Moon Eyes shining brightly, making her entire being appear fresh and unaffected.
At a glance, Wen Ce felt that Ye Lingyue’s temperament was extraordinary, distinctly different from the servile Ye Family People, seeming more like the daughter of a prestigious family raised in the Imperial City.
Wen Ce thus asked her a few more questions, to which Ye Lingyue responded one by one, with words and demeanor neither humble nor pompous. This made Wen Ce quite satisfied, and gradually, his doubts dissipated.
"Is Sister Lan the daughter of Governor Lan?" Upon hearing Wen Ce’s words, Ye Lingyue suddenly realized with enlightenment.
No wonder the people at Juqi Tower were so evasive towards Lan Cai’er earlier, and no wonder she felt that the other party came from a distinguished background.
After a casual outing, Ye Lingyue had unexpectedly become handkerchief friends with the governor’s daughter, which shocked the Ye Residence from top to bottom when they found out.
After delivering the birthday banquet invitation to Ye Lingyue’s hand, Wen Ce then stood up and took his leave.
No sooner had the person left than Ye Lingyue was besieged by her two uncles from the left and the right.
"Ling Yue, since when did you know Eldest Miss Lan?"
"Such a significant matter, why didn’t you mention it to your uncle?"
"My dear uncles, I just happened to bump into Sister Lan while I was strolling around Juqi Tower. She didn’t reveal her status, and I didn’t ask," Ye Lingyue shrugged her shoulders, casually fobbing off her uncles before slipping away in a flash.
It was unforeseen for Ye Lingyue to establish a connection with the governor’s mansion.
However, she also understood that the other party was merely grateful to her for providing a jar of precious Monkey Wine, and whether or not she could forge a relationship with the governor’s mansion was a matter for the future.
Ye Lingyue didn’t take the turmoil of the governor’s mansion’s invitation too seriously. Before the birthday banquet, she continued her routine, practicing her needlework and cultivating her Primordial Power, as usual.
Except that, during this period, there was an additional small interlude—on the evening before heading to the banquet, the Little Golden Crane she had previously released actually flew back.
The "flapping" sound startled Ye Lingyue, and she was somewhat surprised when she looked up and saw the Little Golden Crane.
In just a few days, the Little Golden Crane had transformed completely.
Its golden plumage was covered in dust.
"Little fellow, why is it you again? Could it be that your sickly master has sent you?" Ye Lingyue found it rather amusing; out of curiosity, she let the Little Golden Crane land.
This Little Golden Crane could well be considered the most unfortunate Little Square Crane in history.
Generally, after refining a Square Crane from talisman paper, it would possess low-level memory, which allows it to locate any person as requested by its master.
However, this kind of memory is usually one-to-one; that is, a Square Crane in its lifetime can only identify one person specifically designated by its master.
It encountered Ye Lingyue by chance only once and had to rely on memory to find her.
These past few days, it had scoured the entire Li City, finally determining Ye Lingyue’s whereabouts, which indeed involved hardships.
If it weren’t for the fact that it was personally refined by the president of the Alchemist Association, it would have crashed halfway through its journey.
Upon unfolding the paper crane, that same beautiful handwriting was present. Only this time, the words had changed to:
"No illness to moan about, but how to cope with a terminal disease"
Ye Lingyue glanced at the letter. When she saw those lines, her hand trembled slightly.
Between the lines was a sense of desolation. Ye Lingyue immediately understood that the wealthy young master she had mocked for his feigned illness was actually suffering from a grave sickness.
His words were not unwarranted complaints but helplessness, perhaps.
What kind of illness was incurable?
Ye Lingyue grew somewhat curious. Since discovering that Cauldron Breath could heal, she had been eager to use it to treat people’s ailments.
But she also worried that such miraculous Cauldron Breath might be discovered, so she had been holding back.
Staring at the few words on the golden crane, Ye Lingyue suddenly had a daring thought. Why not try it with this golden crane?
Ye Lingyue’s idea was simple: to infuse a wisp of her Cauldron Breath into the golden crane. As long as that "mysterious patient" came into contact with the golden crane, the Cauldron Breath would enter his body.
Anyway, her Cauldron Breath was continuous. After a small loss, she only needed to rest for one night to recover completely.
No sooner said than done, Ye Lingyue wrote a few lines on the golden crane, but unlike usual, she also infused a part of her Cauldron Breath into the golden crane while writing.
Ye Lingyue didn’t notice that as she infused the Cauldron Breath into the Little Golden Crane, the crane, which seemed lifeless before, underwent a subtle change.
To prevent the Little Golden Crane from exhausting its spiritual power mid-flight, Ye Lingyue kindly infused a small amount of her own spiritual power into it.
After being infused with spiritual power, Little Golden Crane’s wingbeats became more vigorous, and it flew into the night sky, quickly turning into a golden point.
Inside the Feng Residence, Feng Xun was wrapped in a fox fur coat, with a greyish-green shadow under his eyes. He coughed a few times; his Cold Syndrome had flared up again in recent days.
"Young Master, the wind is strong outside. Shall I close the window for you?" suggested a servant.
Little Golden Crane had not returned. Feng Xun, who had been waiting for days, felt a trace of disappointment. The other party probably couldn’t be bothered to chat with a sick person.
Knock knock knock. In the middle of the night, a flapping sound came from the window.
"Quick, open the window!"
As the window was opened, a vibrant Little Golden Crane flew in.
Just as Feng Xun was about to catch the Little Golden Crane, an even more intense wave of cold hit him, and he felt darkness envelop him; he lost consciousness. As he fell into unconsciousness, his hand was still holding onto the Little Golden Crane.
"Someone, come quick! The Young Master has fainted."
Suddenly, the Feng Residence was ablaze with lights, thrown into chaos.