A pure heart in a jade pot

Chapter 33

"Just hire a sedan chair."

"I didn't bring any money." Her face looked even more miserable.

“I brought it.” He turned to Ning Jin. “I thank Your Highness for your hospitality. I will take my leave now.”

"Zhan Zhao!" Ning Jin called out to him, a half-smile on his face, "In a few days, the new Suzhou Textile Commissioner will take office. If you have taken anything, put it back immediately, so that it won't be difficult to handle when the accounts are checked during the handover."

Zhan Zhao did not answer, but gave a slight bow and turned to go downstairs. Mo Yan, who was behind him, wrapped her robe tightly, hastily bid farewell to Ning Jin and his servant, and followed him downstairs.

Zhan Zhao indeed hired a sedan chair, let Mo Yan sit inside, and simply walked alongside her.

"Why don't you come in too? I'll move around a bit and there'll be room for me," Mo Yan said, feeling quite apologetic as she lifted the sedan curtain to invite him in. She hadn't considered the implications of a relationship between men and women; she just thought that Zhan Zhao probably couldn't bear to hire another sedan chair.

"No need to trouble yourself, I'm not used to sitting in that position."

Zhan Zhao was telling the truth. He really disliked being cooped up in a sedan chair. His few experiences with it had left him feeling short of breath and feeling suffocated, unlike the exhilarating feeling of riding a horse.

Mo Yan said no more, withdrew her head, and offered no polite formalities. This made Zhan Zhao slightly uncomfortable, but then he thought that it would be more comfortable if everyone acted this way.

Changsheng Tower is located by the lake, quite a distance from Ziyun Inn. Mo Yan had been swimming in the lake for a long time and was quite tired. The sedan chair swayed and rocked, and after yawning a few times, she finally fell into a light sleep. Zhan Zhao woke her up when they arrived at the inn.

Because it was the Mid-Autumn Festival, there were still quite a few people downstairs at the inn who had just returned from moon-viewing and were having a few drinks. The innkeeper was naturally delighted with this extra business.

When Zhan Zhao and his companion entered the inn, they attracted the attention of many people.

After all, Mo Yan was clearly dressed as a girl, yet she was wearing Zhan Zhao's coat, and she looked listless and sleepy, which easily led to speculation. Zhan Zhao was well aware of this, but he was powerless to do anything about it, only hoping to quickly return to his room and avoid the crowd. Unfortunately, Mo Yan was still half asleep and couldn't tell east from west, only knowing to follow Zhan Zhao. The rooms in the inn were all similar, and she followed Zhan Zhao into his room in full view of everyone, habitually turning around to close the door, then collapsing onto the bed, hugging the blankets, and remaining motionless.

Zhan Zhao was dumbfounded; this was the first time he had ever encountered something like this.

After a while, he finally reacted and tried to wake Mo Yan. She mumbled a few words and hugged the quilt even tighter.

Zhan Zhao sighed helplessly, opened the door and called the waiter, asking him to call a few old women to help Mo Yan change out of her wet clothes and prepare hot soup for her to bathe.

"Take a bath?" The waiter looked at Zhan Zhao with some suspicion.

He tried to suppress his sigh: "She accidentally fell into the lake."

The waiter suddenly realized: "Oh, it fell into the lake. You'll need to drink some more ginger soup."

Zhan Zhao nodded: "Thank you, brother." He tidied up a bit and moved into the room next door that originally belonged to Mo Yan.

Nothing happened that night.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking and Zhan Zhao was still asleep, someone hurriedly knocked on Mo Yan's door.

"Xiao Qi, Xiao Qi! Your senior sister..."

Han Zhang's loud voice fell silent upon seeing Zhan Zhao, who was dressed only in a dark robe, open the door. He turned his head to look around and exclaimed in surprise, "This is Xiao Qi's room, right?"

Before Zhan Zhao could explain, Han Zhang stared at him in astonishment, mouth agape: "I always thought you were a person of propriety, but I never expected you to be like this..."

“I’ve switched rooms with Miss Mo,” Zhan Zhao interrupted him with a stern face.

"..." Fortunately, Han Zhang was quick-witted and immediately feigned deep regret, "...I never expected you to go out to greet guests wearing only a dark robe, it's really too impolite."

"Brother Han is right," Zhan Zhao said expressionlessly.

After saying that, he went back into the house and slammed the door shut, almost bumping into Han Zhang's nose.

Inside the door, Zhan Zhao sighed. During the time he had spent with Mo Yan, he had sighed so much that he felt like he was going to collapse a mountain.

Outside the door, Han Zhang touched his nose, breathed a sigh of relief, and thought to himself, "That was close: the cat has quite a temper."

He turned to the room next door and, as usual, raised his voice: "Xiao Qi, Xiao Qi! Xiao Qi!..."

After calling for a while, Mo Yan finally dragged her feet to open the door, squinting at him: "Second Brother Han, what is it?"

"Your senior sister hasn't returned all night, has something happened to her?" Han Zhang asked anxiously. He had been asked to go find Ning Wangshu early last night, but he hadn't expected that she hadn't returned at all.

"It's alright, she went to look for someone overnight."

Do you know where she went?

Mo Yan nodded: "I can probably guess."

“After you left last night, that young master Nangong asked me to look for her. You couldn’t have seen how anxious he was. I was worried someone might die.” Han Zhang shook his head and sighed.

"It's alright, it's alright, no one will die." Mo Yan stretched. "My senior sister must have gone to find him."

Han Zhang was taken aback, then smiled and said, "That's good. By the way, why did you switch rooms with Cat?"

Mo Yan froze, then peeked out the door again, only to realize that she was in Zhan Zhao's room. She remembered that she seemed to have gone to the wrong room last night. All the rooms in the inn were exactly the same, so she couldn't really be blamed.

"...This room has good feng shui." Explaining it would be too troublesome, so she just made it up on the spot.

Han Zhang knew she was lying, but then he remembered that he still needed her help. He quickly put on a smile, pushed her into the house, and closed the door behind him before whispering, "That matter, have you remembered it or not?"

"What's up?"

"Third Brother's hammer!" He was so anxious he wanted to jump up and down. Half a year ago, when Mo Yan came to Trap Island, he made a bet with her for fun, saying that there was nothing on Trap Island he couldn't find. The betting tool was Third Brother's hammer. Mo Yan hadn't even left the manor at the time, but he had searched everywhere and still couldn't find it.

"It's been so long, how could I possibly remember?" Mo Yan poured herself a cup of tea, but when she touched her lips, she realized it was cold. She then went out to call the waiter to refill her tea.

“Little Aunt, you must remember that the third brother is so fierce that I don’t dare to go back.”

"But I really can't remember where I put it."

Mo Yan looked at him with sympathy, but the words Ning Jin had said before leaving last night suddenly came to mind: "If you took anything, put it back quickly, so that it won't be difficult to check the accounts during the handover."