Heavenly Star

Returning to the Ye residence around midday, he was deep in thought the entire journey back, unintentionally bumping into several passers-by. Arriving at Ye Shuiyao’s study, he was met with the figure of a woman who was concentrating on painting an emerald green lotus leaf, not noticing his arrival. Ning Xue was seated quietly on a soft chair, swaying her legs to and fro in boredom. Upon seeing his return, she immediately threw herself on him excitedly, hanging onto his body and refusing to let go.

Ye Wuchen slapped her bottom a few times before he carried her up and turned to face Ye Shuiyao, speaking a little loudly, “Sister, are you hungry?”

“Not hungry.”

“......what would you like to eat, sister?”

“Anything.”

While he spoke, Ye Wuchen’s kept his eyes on the movement of Ye Shuiyao’s hands. Placing Ning Xue down, he moved to stand beside Ye Shuiyao, reaching out for the hand in which she held the brush.

Ye Shuiyao’s whole body trembled, momentarily forgetting the need to berate him or to break free.

“Sister, your painting technique is quite meticulous, doing so excessively would make the painting more stiff. To best portray a lotus, like the one that you have in mind, you would need to be more natural and smooth which would be easier to achieve by using just one stroke. Or else, it would not be a flower, but a simple painting……”

Ye Wuchen lightly covered Ye Shuiyao’s hand, guiding her in gracefully painting the outline.

From the closeness of his breath and the warmth from his hand, her heart and mind grew chaotic until she blanked out. She could no longer hear what he was saying, nor see what he was doing. Eventually, he left, taking Ning Xue along with him, and only then did she slowly regain her consciousness. The paper in front of her already had a beautiful and glistening lotus flower.

She absent-mindedly sat on a nearby chair. He could not restore the tranquility of her mental state for a very long time.

“What’s going on with me?” she faintly asked herself, trying to comfort her heart.

At this moment, the marriage between Lin Xiao of Lin Family and Hua Shuirou of Hua Family had become a common topic throughout the entire city. Enthusiasm of this level made it seem as if there was going to be a nationwide celebration. Ye Wuchen brought Leng Ya along, and while passing through a crowd of people, they heard many discussions. However, the more effort the Lin Family put into this wedding, the more they appeared to be in disarray in Ye Wuchen’s eyes. He secretly laughed, thinking he might just have overestimated Lin Xiao.

Leng Ya’s face remained cold, as if he were wearing a mask made out of dead flesh. Their current journey was still in the direction of the black forest, but this time the only thing that Ye Wuchen had told him was, “Dig a hole, and put in some knives.”

When they returned, it was almost dusk. This time, the look he gave Ye Wuchen was full of wonder, having no idea what this young master of Ye was up to. Having nothing to do in broad daylight except head towards that lifeless black forest to dig holes, using the excuse of needing the exercise to strengthen his body and cultivate his mind.

The next day, Leng Ya almost spat out blood.

“Go, take two buckets of manure, the more the merrier.”

If this person had not rescued him and his mother, as well as healed her eyes, he might have had strong intentions to stab him. Ultimately, he only gritted his teeth as he carried the two buckets, expression dark, and followed Ye Wuchen once more. The entire way, passers-by avoided their path once the smell assailed their nostrils. He wished very much he could squeeze himself into a crack in the ground, or at least cover his face while on the road.

By the afternoon, at long last Ye Wuchen did not torment Leng Ya any more, but instead put on mediocre clothing before heading towards Tian Long’s Hua family discreetly.

The residence of the Hua Family is much smaller than that of the Ye Family, the number of people in the household is also relatively less. The current master is the one and only Hua Zhentian. Compared to the Ye Family, the Hua Family did not particularly flourish, as the most apt description one could give the household was miserable. Hua ZhenTian is the only son from his generation and by the age of thirty was when he finally had a daughter. The main reason for the Hua Family’s decline was his parents had passed away very early on, followed ny his wife who had died young due to an accident.

Hua Shuirou was Hua Zhentian’s only daughter, only family, and also the one and only person he entrusted everything to. He loved her dearly and had spoiled her immensely.

“Where can I enter?” Ye Wuchen was stroking his chin in contemplation while circling the vicinity of the Hua residence.

For families like the Ye and the Hua, aristocratic families of great authority employed the services of great military forces whose achievements in battle numbered greatly. However, they had one obvious flaw. Though aristocratic officials have a lot of experts, they were never the best in the field. Even with the influence of the Ye Family, they only had one Heaven-Level Master Secret Guard. Generally, real experts would only be interested in honing their martial skills, refusing to have any connections with politics.

Contrary to them, some influential families have those experienced in magical arts scattered around every region in the Tian Long Nation. Even though they did not have military training, only pursuing the magical aspects, every single one of them could easily beat a hundred opponents. Their existence caused both awe and fear among the ordinary people. Families with such experts were few, not even the imperial family would want to provoke them, and they in turn would not provoke the royal family. The Ye Family could easily use their amassed forces to eliminate any families with magical martial arts, but the losses would be too great. The military power of the Hua Family was lesser than that of the Ye Family, but there were rumors of the Hua Family possessing mysterious troops called the “Heavenly Mines and Earth Flame”, although not even a thousand men strong, each member had explosive strength and tremendous powers of destruction.

Ye Wuchen was able to leap onto a roof and vault over the walls of the Ye residence without being detected, sneaking into the Hua residence was not a very difficult task, else he would not have come today.

“.......My second young mistress really likes that painting, could you please let me meet with master Hua.”

Before the gate of the Hua residence stood a person dressed in servant's garb, risking his life by bowing to the guards of the Hua residence. It looked as if he would be faced with punishment should he not be able to fulfill his task.

“Our master is not here! He has already stated before to anyone who wishes to buy it, it is not for sale. Please leave.” the guard said waving his hand.

“Brother, please just let me see master Hua.” His tone was begging while simultaneously squeezing a shiny piece of silver into the guard’s hands.

The guard accepted it discreetly and the face of the servant expressed happiness, but instead he heard a serious tone, “Our master really isn’t here. Even if he is here, he would not meet with any who wishes to buy that painting.”

The servant opens his mouth, scowling miserably, “Brother, please tell master Hua that my young mistress would like to buy the painting for a hundred thousand pieces of silver.”

A hundred thousand!? The amount caused Ye Wuchen to flinch, thinking of how little these young masters valued their money. Even going as far as a hundred thousand pieces silver to buy a single painting…… there is much profit in this.