A pure heart in a jade pot

Chapter 179

"So that's how it is. My brother was so foolish. If he had told me the truth, maybe I could have helped him." She murmured softly, her heart aching.

Su Zui smiled slightly and said, "Do you think this is a fight between gangs in the martial arts world, where the more people the better?"

"you……"

"The fewer people who know about this, the better. Zhan Zhao doesn't want to involve you, firstly because he's afraid you'll cause trouble, and secondly because he's afraid you'll be in danger."

"What trouble?" Mo Yan glared at him. "You don't need to speak up for my brother. I understand his thoughts perfectly well, and you don't need to chime in. ...By the way, you don't have any martial arts skills at all. Why would Hai Dongqing send you to protect the princess?"

"Does having kung fu necessarily mean it's useful?" Su Zui tapped his forehead with his finger, his smile wicked. "If you're going to rely on this, you little brat, you certainly have some brute strength. Where were you yesterday when the princess got lost?"

Mo Yan was speechless at his question, so she could only roll her eyes at him and change the subject in a shameless manner: "It's one thing to pretend to be an old man, but why pretend to be hard of hearing? It's so difficult for you to speak."

"If you're hard of hearing, you can pretend you can't hear anything I don't want to hear," Su Zui said with a smile.

Mo Yan was speechless, but had to admit that it was indeed a good method.

Zhao Yu hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Are you very familiar with the gyrfalcon?"

Su Zui nodded.

"Did he say anything else when he asked you to come?" Zhao Yu regretted asking the question as soon as it left her mouth.

"No."

Su Zui answered very decisively, as if he had been prepared for this all along.

Seemingly to hide her disappointment and embarrassment, Zhao Yu even forced a smile and said in a casual tone, "Please thank him for me."

Su Zuishen glanced at her but did not answer. Instead, he said, "I cannot stay here any longer and I need to change my clothes. I must take my leave now. Please forgive me, Princess."

"Please be careful in everything you do," Zhao Yu whispered.

Su Zui nodded almost imperceptibly, then turned and led his horse away.

Watching the direction he disappeared in, Mo Yan crossed her arms, frowning in thought. At first glance, Su Zui's words seemed very logical, and since the princess recognized the gyrfalcon, there was nothing to question about them. But for some reason, she felt that there seemed to be something he hadn't made clear.

Why did he live in that small courtyard before?

How did he break his leg?

Why did he become Zhao Yu's groom? Mo Yan wasn't foolish enough to actually believe that Hai Dongqing would send a crippled man with no martial arts skills to protect Zhao Yu.

Thinking back, it's likely that Yelü Pusa Nu was preparing medicine for Su Zui that night, and the reason she hadn't noticed the scent of Green Jade Ointment on him was because the last time she saw him, although they were very close, it was by a roasting fire, and the aroma of meat and smoke masked the smell. Another time, he was leading Zhao Yu's horse while she was still on horseback, and she didn't smell it then either.

As she was lost in thought, she suddenly heard Zhao Yu say, "Xiao Qi, don't you think this person..."

"Princess, do you also think this person is dishonest?"

"No, how could that be... I just feel like he looks familiar, like I've seen him somewhere before."

Upon hearing her words, Mo Yan immediately recalled that she had also had a fleeting feeling when they first met in Yanxie Town, but she couldn't remember who he was. The more she tried to remember, the more her mind became a complete mess. Suddenly, she remembered something else and, without bothering to explain to Zhao Yu, quickly dashed off in the direction Su Zui had gone.

"Xiao Qi..."

Zhao Yu was about to ask her a question, but before she could speak, she had already disappeared into the bushes with a few light leaps.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Mo Yan caught up with Su Zui and said hurriedly, "I have something to ask you."

Su Zui stopped, stroked the horse's long mane twice, and slowly asked, "What do you want now?"

"What time did you return to the stables last night? Did you see anything?"

Hearing that this was the question she was asking, Su Zui smiled mischievously, glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, and then said, "You want to ask if I saw you sleeping in the haystack, right?"

"You saw it." Mo Yan bit her lip. "Then, was it you who carried me back to the tent?" She felt uneasy. Could it be that last night was not a dream, but something really happened? Then, could the person she mistook for her elder brother be him?

“It wasn’t me.” Su Zui answered crisply, which relieved Mo Yan, but his next sentence immediately made her nervous again. “However, I know who it is.” He smiled.

"who?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Of course, who exactly is it?"

Su Zui smiled mysteriously: "Unfortunately, I can't tell you yet."

Mo Yan was furious with him. She stepped forward, grabbed his neck, and forced him to say, "Speak now! Otherwise I'll..."

"Cough cough...so what?"

Su Zui pulled her hand away, coughed a few times, but still remained calm and unhurried.

"I'll..." Mo Yan gritted her teeth and said fiercely, "I'll break your other leg!"

Su Zui was not afraid at all, and even chuckled: "Alright, take my arm or my leg, it's up to you, I'm happy to oblige."

"You..." Mo Yanran realized he had no way to deal with the person in front of him, and stamped his foot in frustration, "Why can't you tell me?"

Su Zui smiled slightly: "Why do you need to ask me? Don't you already know who he is?"

Having said that, he ignored her and led his horse away, leaving Mo Yan alone in the same spot, lost in thought and puzzlement, as if she had fallen into a fog.

That day, as soon as she returned to camp, Mo Yan didn't even eat. She went into her tent and tried to find some clues to deduce who the person was.

Unfortunately, this morning, disliking the lingering smell of wine on the bedding, and seeing that the weather had cleared up outside, she took all the bedding and mattresses outside, patted and beat them, and left them to dry in the sun. After all that fuss, it was difficult to find any trace of the previous night. She then searched along the path from her tent to the stables, but the guards had just shoveled the snow, so naturally, not a single footprint from last night was left.

"What an idiot!" she said, slapping her head in frustration. "How could I have thought it was a dream? If only I had checked it out first thing this morning."