My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband - Chapter 28

On the last day of September, Yan Hong Hall was engulfed in a great fire.

Officials and civilians in Lin’an City all ran toward the place where flames shot into the sky. Two carriages parked nearby silently lowered their curtains and went their separate ways, traveling in different directions.

Just after passing through Lin’an City’s gate, one moving carriage stopped near a forest. The driver jumped down and spoke softly through the curtain, “Daren…”

“Go. Remember, leave Lin’an Prefecture.”

Yan Hongyin’s voice came from inside the carriage.

The driver hesitated for a moment, glanced at the man slowly walking out of the forest, and finally bowed respectfully before turning to leave.

The carriage was still the same one that had once carried the delicate and sickly Ah Yu, spacious and comfortable.

This time, not only was it lined with soft cushions and furnished with a small table, but the boxes in the corner contained many medicine cases, and behind the carriage compartment were many everyday travel necessities.

When Yan Hong Hall burned, the only bodies inside belonged to various spies, while the carriage heading toward another destination carried the nanny along with Lianqiao and Zisu.

The driver cracked his whip on the horse’s rump, and the carriage that had stopped by the roadside rejoined the official road.

“Wife, do you really plan to travel all the way to Jinling letting your frail husband drive?” Yu Luocha’s lazy voice drifted in from outside.

Yan Hongyin lifted her eyelids slightly, glancing through the swaying gap in the curtains at Yu Luocha dressed all in black with a conical hat. “That thief’s outfit of yours blocks the wind. Suitable for driving.”

Yu Luocha’s mouth twitched. “Who was it who wrote on the plan ‘must not attract attention, must not attract attention, must not attract attention’?”

And wrote it three times!

Yan Hongyin said blandly, “Not attracting attention and skulking about are two different things.”

It wasn’t her being prejudiced; Yu Luocha’s outfit simply didn’t look like something a decent person would wear.

Yu Luocha: “…”

He sighed softly.

Today’s Ah Yin was particularly cold.

Two hours later.

Yu Luocha noticed the alfalfa growing nicely on the hillside, so he pulled the reins, letting the horse find its own food while he lifted the carriage curtain and climbed inside.

As soon as he entered, before he could sit down, he first saw a carp wagging its tail in a porcelain jar nearby.

Yu Luocha expressionlessly lowered his head to examine this lucky fat carp.

The fat carp slowly blew a bubble.

Yu Luocha: “…”

It wasn’t his imagination—was there mockery in those tiny fish eyes?!

This Lord will roast this beast sooner or later!

Yan Hongyin: “You can’t even eat it. Why keep fixating on it?”

Yu Luocha snickered coldly, radiating murderous intent toward a fish, and justified himself. “I hold grudges!”

Yan Hongyin raised her hand to press her brow, beginning to doubt whether she had been blinded by stupidity when choosing such a cooperative partner.

Yu Luocha took off his conical hat and placed it aside, sitting against the carriage wall, maintaining a safe distance from the fat carp contentedly staying in its porcelain jar, then turned to Yan Hongyin. “Want to go look?”

“Look at what?”

“Pear blossoms.”

Yu Luocha slightly narrowed his eyes, placing both hands behind his head. “There are several large pear trees. They’re blooming beautifully.”

Yan Hongyin’s movements paused. “Pear blossoms in September?”

“Mm-hmm, so we should go see them, shouldn’t we?” Yu Luocha smiled teasingly. “This isn’t your Jinyiwei outpost. Why restrain yourself like an old-fashioned stick-in-the-mud?”

Yan Hongyin raised her hand to lift the gauze curtain of the carriage window and looked out, her gaze indifferent. “Blooming in September is because the pear trees suffered from pests in spring, weakening them and causing early leaf drop. Such blooming has no meaning; it won’t result in fruit.”

“Not all flowers in this world bloom for the purpose of bearing fruit.” Yu Luocha glanced at Yan Hongyin looking out the window and extended a hand toward her, his fingers long and slender. “She’s trying so hard to bloom beautifully. Can the Zhenfushi really bear not to compliment her?”

Yan Hongyin lowered the curtain, looking down at Yu Luocha’s outstretched hand for quite some time. Surprisingly, she truly stood up and bent over to walk out of the carriage.

The smooth fabric of her robe’s hem brushed past Yu Luocha’s extended hand. The man unconsciously closed his fingers, savoring the sensation, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he followed her out of the carriage.

The carriage was parked at the foot of the hillside, where the horses, tired from the journey, were lowering their heads to graze.

Yan Hongyin walked up the hillside where seven or eight old trees bloomed with snow-white pear blossoms, trembling slightly in the wind, wafting a faint sweet fragrance.

While pear blossoms, like plum blossoms, have small petals, when they appear in clusters, unlike plum blossoms that exude cold, proud resistance to snow, pear blossoms always display a romantic charm—gentle and elegant, with a special lingering grace.

Yan Hongyin raised her hand to touch the trunk of an old tree, remembering the old tree in the imperial palace.

That was the only thing left by her mother whom she had never met and of whom she couldn’t find even the slightest trace in the palace servants’ accounts.

And the affection that her father, the diligent and benevolent emperor, bestowed upon the woman who had silently passed away in the palace, was nothing more than a single character: pear.

Yan Hongyin didn’t like pear blossoms.

These flowers always reminded her of the woman who had vanished from the imperial harem in the prime of her life.

—With only a delicate appearance and sweet fragrance, without thorns to defend against danger. Such an existence, throughout her life, had her fate determined by others, not herself.

“Ah Yin!”

Yu Luocha’s voice suddenly rang out from above. Yan Hongyin instinctively looked up toward the sound—

In the next moment, fluttering pear blossoms fell like snowflakes, kissing Yan Hongyin’s hair and cheeks before lightly landing on the ground, laying a layer of white petals.

An autumn breeze arose, lifting the fallen petals along with Yan Hongyin’s skirt and sleeves, blurring the image of the man hanging from the pear tree branch, swinging and smiling brilliantly.

“Ah… had I known this wind was coming, I wouldn’t have shaken the branch.”

Yu Luocha released the branch and landed on the ground, walking toward Yan Hongyin. His footsteps on the snow-white ground were light and soundless, like a predator with retracted claws approaching on soft pads.

“How is it? Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Yan Hongyin looked at Yu Luocha, whose expression was quite proud and pleased. The elegant fragrance filled her nostrils, and for a moment, it was as if she were in spring—warm spring with a gentle breeze.

Yu Luocha didn’t expect the increasingly somber Yan Hongyin to express any appreciation. He stretched lazily, then put one hand on his hip and smiled, drawing out his words. “Zhenfushi Daren, occasionally you should listen to advice. The carriage is small and stuffy; people get stupid sitting in there too long.”

“Only that stupid fish needs just a porcelain jar the size of two palms to live.”

Before his words ended, a twig adorned with two clusters of pear blossoms broke off with a crisp sound and fell, landing squarely on Yu Luocha’s head.

Yu Luocha, with a face full of pear blossoms, picked up a branch and looked up for a while, puzzled, “Ah Yin, honestly tell me, that carp at home hasn’t become a spirit… has it?”

Yan Hongyin raised an eyebrow and actually appeared to consider it for a moment before slowly saying, “Who knows? After all, a carp that has survived two years of drug testing and remains quite spirited is somewhat unusual.”

Yu Luocha froze: “…!”

Yan Hongyin hooked the corner of her mouth in a slight smile, brushed the fallen flowers from her shoulders, and stepped toward the carriage.

Yu Luocha pinched the pear blossom and chased after her, repeatedly asking, “Ah Yin, you were just joking with me, right? You were joking, right…”

“No.”

“You definitely were joking…”

“No.”

“Let’s wander around a bit more. We definitely won’t reach an inn today anyway…”

“You go by yourself.”

“But you throw hidden weapons better than I do. How about hunting a bird? Don’t they have beggar’s chicken in the Central Plains? How about beggar’s bird tonight! I’ve made it before—it’s really simple and tastes absolutely delicious. You’ll know once you try it~”

“Birds are fine, but no beggar’s bird. Where would we find lotus leaves in late autumn?”

“We can make do with other leaves—Oh, I see a bird! There, there, there—”

…..

In the woods not far from the hillside, the sound of startled birds caused leaves to rustle.

A moment later, Yan Hongyin returned with a water bag full of water, pouring some into her palm to feed the thirsty horses.

Thin wisps of smoke rose from the riverside not far away.

The woman in wide-sleeved plain clothes had her hair lightly pinned up. She lowered her eyelids, her expression indifferent, with a few pear blossoms subtly interwoven in her hair, unnoticed by their owner.

Pure and elegant, with a hidden fragrance.

****

Although both Jinling City and Lin’an Prefecture were in the Jiangnan region, they were quite far apart.

The two were in no hurry to reach their destination, so they traveled leisurely for seven or eight days before finally catching sight of the tall city gates of Jinling in the distance.

Inside the carriage, a few petals fell from the pear blossoms in the sky-blue porcelain vase onto the paper where Yan Hongyin was writing.

Yu Luocha, who had been called inside by Yan Hongyin, sat cross-legged, separated from her by a small table.

Yan Hongyin brushed away the pear blossoms from the paper, turned the still-wet inked paper around, and pushed it to Yu Luocha.

Yu Luocha had thought it was another plan, but looking down, four characters caught his eye.

—Three Rules of Agreement.

Yu Luocha: “…”

He said, thoroughly unimpressed. “Are you sure?”

Yan Hongyin glanced at Yu Luocha and nodded. “It’s necessary.”

So Yu Luocha lowered his head to continue reading.

1. When using false identities outside, unless absolutely necessary, do not use martial arts
2. Do not interfere with or investigate each other’s whereabouts or correspondence
3. Upon returning from outside, ensure all traces are clean before entering

Yu Luocha: “…”

He pondered for a while, then sincerely suggested, “…Is it possible that this thing could be called…house rules?”

Yan Hongyin didn’t care what it was called and took out an ink pad, asking Yu Luocha, “Sign, seal, or fingerprint?”

Yu Luocha inexplicably felt a desolate sense of having irrefutable evidence against him, being arrested, and soon to be executed after autumn.

Was Ah Yin’s technique of making people sign, seal, or fingerprint perhaps a bit too practiced?

After feeling around his person for a while, Yu Luocha took out a crystal-clear white jade tablet. One side was covered with dense Sanskrit characters, and the other side was carved with seventy-two heavenly demons and thirty-six earthly fiends. He gestured with it, then decisively pressed the side with the heavenly demons and earthly fiends into the ink pad before stamping the paper titled “Three Rules of Agreement” but actually Yan family house rules with the red mark.

The Luocha tablet was equivalent to Yu Luocha’s personal presence. The Luocha tablet’s seal could mobilize all the resources and money of the Luosha Sect, and even after Yu Luocha’s death, whoever possessed the Luocha tablet would become the next leader of the Western Demonic Sect.

—Not signing, sealing, or fingerprinting was the Luosha Sect Leader’s final act of defiance.

Yan Hongyin didn’t recognize what Yu Luocha had used to stamp with, but the jade tablet looked valuable and was probably some object representing his identity. She thought for a moment, then took out a jade pendant carved with pear blossoms on the front and a dragon-like serpent pattern on the back. She used the pear blossom side to stamp an elegant pear blossom image next to Yu Luocha’s vivid impression.

Apart from the current emperor and Yan Hongyin herself, no one could recognize this as the credential of the Jinyiwei Dark Division Commander.

Letters stamped with this mark, no matter who they passed through, could be delivered directly to the emperor at top speed without any obstruction.

Each with a handkerchief, they bowed their heads to carefully wipe the ink from their jade objects.

More pear blossom petals fluttered down from the vase, covering the thin, fragile paper that, in some sense, weighed as heavy as a thousand pounds.

“By the way, if one violates the rules…” Yu Luocha tentatively asked.

Yan Hongyin calmly replied, “I’ll cook, and everything must be eaten.”

Yu Luocha: “…”

Putting the Luocha tablet back into his clothes, Sect Leader Yu silently took the sealed Three Rules of Agreement, prepared to read the house rules from beginning to end, striving to memorize them perfectly and never make mistakes.

Mainly because…

Whether the food tasted good wasn’t important, but eating too much of it could be fatal.