Phoenix's Requiem

Chapter 138: Clues

Actually, Yun Moxiao had suspected Zhuo Yifeng a little after hearing what Yun Lan had to say, but Lin Qingchen’s assertion that there were suspicious men seemed to affirm his words.

As for why the Farsighted King would renounce the throne and then scheme to take it back, who knew?

“Call the Zhuo siblings over. We need to talk about this as a team,” Yun Moxiao said.

When Zhuo Yifeng heard about the news, his face became solemn. “I’m sure these men were sent for me and Lin’er. Will this bring the Lin family trouble?”

The Farsighted King was part of the Li kingdom. If the Lin family were to guard the Zhuo siblings, they would be going against a powerful member of royalty. Zhuo Yifeng was worried that his presence would cause an inordinate amount of trouble to the Lins.

But Lin Qingchen shook her head. “You don’t have to worry about this. Even among the noble families of the capital, the Lin family is above average.”

Although they were in decline, their centuries-old reputation wasn’t so easily tarnished. Without sufficient evidence, no one would dare take action against the Lin family.

“Those men don’t dare to ask for the Zhuo siblings directly, so all they can do is loiter around the area and hope to investigate the matter by spying on members of the Lin family,” Yun Moxiao guessed. “However, members of the Lin family don’t tend to head out all that much, so they’re all congregating around the manor and the apothecary.”

Yun Ruoyan nodded. “I bet they’ve got people tailing Qingxue as well, but Qingchen was the only one who noticed.”

“No.” Zhuo Yifeng stood up all of a sudden. “We can’t stay here any longer.”

Zhuo Yifeng had seen how devious the Farsighted King was with his own eyes. After all, he had managed to hide such an ambitious, lofty goal for twenty long years under the guise of a sagacious king! To make an enemy of such a man would be to invite disaster.

Zhuo Yifeng worried that his presence would ruin the Lin family.

“Brother Zhuo, don’t be worried.” Yun Moxiao stood up and patted Zhuo Yifeng’s shoulders, motioning for him to sit back down. “There’s another reason why the Farsighted King doesn’t dare make a move,” he analyzed. “He’s not sure whether Zhuo Yifeng has really discovered his secret. All he knows is that Zhuo Yifeng disappeared all of a sudden, so we don’t have to make a big deal of things.”

“Brother, do you have a plan?”

“Let’s wait and see. Since the Farsighted King isn’t sure of Zhuo Yifeng’s allegiance, then we might as well pretend that nothing’s going on. That should temporarily stop the Farsighted King from acting.”

Yun Moxiao’s suggestion wasn’t too different from Li Mo’s.

“But I don’t think the Zhuo siblings should leave the manor for the foreseeable future. The Farsighted King’s men might not be willing to make a big deal of things by forcibly entering the Lin manor, but they’ll easily abduct you if they catch you outside.”

After this discussion, the Zhuo siblings went back to take care of the beasts in the bamboo garden, while the others went to pay respects to their grandfather.

They didn’t find him in his study, so they headed to the pillmaking chambers instead. Surprisingly, Lin Zainan wasn’t there either.

Even the Lin sisters had no idea where he could possibly have gone. Lin Zainan rarely headed out, and they’d just checked the two places in the Lin manor where he had spent most of his time. Just as they were planning to leave, however, they saw Lin Bo limping out of a side path.

“Young Master, Young Misses,” Lin Bo greeted them.

“Lin Bo, have you seen Grandfather?” Lin Qingxue asked.

“The old master’s in the peach blossom glade, Young Miss. He bade me bring him some alcohol, saying that he wanted to be alone for a little.”

“What’s wrong with Grandfather today?” Lin Qingxue asked curiously.

Lin Zainan had loved alcohol in his youth and adulthood, so the Lin family cellar was stocked with all sorts of good alcohol. In recent years, however, he had begun restraining himself. The last time he’d imbibed wine was to celebrate Yun Moxiao’s return.

Today didn’t seem like a particularly momentous occasion, so why was he drinking so early in the day? Based on Lin Bo’s tone, Lin Zainan didn’t seem to be feeling very well, so was there something on his mind?

Everyone was flummoxed.

“I’ve obtained some information that the old master was looking for,” Lin Bo volunteered. “I passed him the documents this morning.”

“Is… is it related to my mother’s passing?” Yun Ruoyan asked after a short silence.

Lin Bo nodded solemnly. “Perhaps you can make the old master feel a little better with your presence?”

The others followed the path all the way to the peach blossom glade. The glade was located on a land fortified with spiritual energy, so the peach blossoms bloomed for a far longer period than was usual: from early March all the way to late fall. When the spiritual energy was particularly dense, the flowers wouldn’t even wilt until winter.

Yun Ruoyan didn’t like going to the glade, because both the sight and smell of the peach blossoms reminded Yun Ruoyan of that terrible memory of Lin Yuemei dancing among the falling petals until she vomited blood.

Although she had only seen the scene in her dreams, it was a scene which had truly occurred in the past. As a result, whenever she was reminded of it, Yun Royan couldn’t help but tremble all over. The moment they entered the glade, Yun Ruoyan clenched her fists tightly. Yun Moxiao placed a comforting hand on Yun Ruoyan’s shoulder, as if feeling his sister’s anxiety.

As soon as they walked into the glade, they saw Lin Zainan sitting by a stone table imbibing wine alone. Underneath the peach blossoms, he sat silently in a white robe, his expression dejected.

“Grandfather.”

“Grandfather!”

When everyone saw this sight, they couldn’t help but run to him.

Lin Zainan raised his head to see his grandchildren surrounding him. His face, momentarily dazed, transformed into a blissful smile. “Xiao’er, Ruoyan, Qingchen, Qingxue… What’s everyone doing here?”

Lin Zainan’s grandchildren sat down at the stone table.

“Grandfather, let me drink with you.” Yun Moxiao poured himself a cup of wine from Lin Zainan’s flask and downed it in a single gulp.

“Haha, alright!” Lin Zainan poured himself a cup and drained it similarly.

“Refreshing!” Yun Moxiao laughed and downed another cup.

The two were drinking so vigorously that Lin Qingchen was worried that they would get horribly drunk, but Yun Ruoyan tugged on her hand and motioned to let them be. She knew that the reason Yun Moxiao was drinking with his grandfather was to help him purge his negative emotions.

Drinking alone and drinking with someone else felt entirely different. Lin Zainan had been drinking to drown out his memories, but now he was drinking in a carefree, exuberant manner. After a few more rounds of drinking, Lin Zainan’s face had turned ruddy, but he was feeling a lot better.

“Grandfather, I can’t handle any more.” Seeing that his grandfather looked slightly tipsy, Yun Moxiao knew that it was time to stop. “Grandfather, you really have an impressive tolerance.”

“Of course! There’s no match for my grandfather within the capital, no, the entire Chenyuan continent!” Lin Qingxue added, causing Lin Zainan to erupt in laughter.

“Xiao’er, Ruoyan,” Lin Zainan put down his cup and began, “I have some new information regarding that shamanic tribe that I had Lin Bo search for.”

Yun Ruoyan and Yun Moxiao glanced at each other. Although Lin Qingchen and Lin Qingxue weren’t aware of this matter, they could guess how important it was based on how serious all three of their faces were. As a result, they too held their breath and listened closely.

“Lin Bo dispatched a few servants to inspect all the temples surrounding the capital, and they really did find one, the Yinling Temple, dedicated to the deity of reincarnation. After further investigation, it was determined that that was indeed the temple hosting a remnant of the splintered tribe.”

“Grandfather, does it mean that Mother’s poison came from that temple?” Yun Moxiao clenched his fists tightly.

Lin Zainan nodded.

There were few remnants of the tribe to begin with, and they’d only found this one temple surrounding the capital. Even if the poison didn’t come directly from the temple, the priests within surely had some strong connection with it.

“Did Lin Bo figure out who in the temple would possess this poison, and who might have sold it to outsiders ten years ago?”

“Lin Bo tried, but the remaining members of the shamanic tribe are so cautious that he was worried of alerting them to his intentions,” Lin Zainan responded. “We’ll have to come up with a better plan to strike at them further.”

No one could come up with a better suggestion that wouldn’t reveal their interest in the matter, so Lin Zainan temporarily had Lin Bo station people around the temple. They would have to pay a visit to the temple and investigate themselves before they could decide on a better plan of action.

Lin Zainan and Yun Moxiao had drunk so much wine that, by the time they were finished and were walking away, Lin Zainan looked a little unsteady on his feet. Yun Moxiao stooped down and carried Lin Zainan on his back all the way to his quarters. Yun Ruoyan and Lin Qingchen helped him lie down and settle in bed before quietly leaving.

After informing Lin Bo of Lin Zainan’s drunken condition, they left the Lin household. As usual, Lin Qingxue headed to the teahouse to hear another story from her good friend, the storyteller, whereas Lin Qingchen went to the apothecary.

Yun Ruoyan had a few low-grade spiritual pills that she wanted to sell. Not knowing their price, however, she intended on following Lin Qingchen, browsing a few other apothecaries nearby, and buying some spiritual herbs to continue her pill refining.

Having nothing better to do, Yun Moxiao decided to tag along.

“Brother, you look a little drunk as well. Do you want to return to the Yun manor?” After getting into the carriage, Yun Moxiao had just been staring out the window, his eyes a little glassy.

“No, no, it’s fine.” He waved his hands. “A little wind will clear my head up.”

As the carriage trundled along, Yun Moxiao reached into his robes and pulled out a scented sachet. Yun Ruoyan saw it out of the corner of her eye, blinked, and turned to have a closer look. The pink sachet was clearly of feminine make: did her brother have a girl of his dreams?