Reincarnation and Rebirth

Xiao Yunting glanced at Ding Chouqin, who was being escorted in, and his eyes flashed. This man didn't seem to know martial arts and his eyes showed fear. He didn't look like a spy at all.

"I heard you've been investigating me?"

Ding Chouqin was so frightened that he knelt down on the ground, "Young Master Xiao, spare my life, I dare not."

"Don't dare? I think you're quite bold. Who sent you?"

"No, no one sent me." Ding Chouqin was unsure of Su Wan'er's relationship with him and dared not rashly reveal her identity.

"Not telling the truth?"

Ding Chouqin was so frightened that his forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat. "I...I just admire the Second Young Master, that's why I inquired about him." This wasn't exactly a lie, as Su Wan'er had only asked him to inquire about the Second Young Master Xiao's recent situation.

"Ha, you admire me?"

"Yes, my name is Ding Chouqin. I live in Dingjia Village, Shili Town, Meizhou City. I also have an elderly mother at home..."

"I didn't ask you any of that." In fact, after Ding Chouqin was arrested, the people sent to investigate him had already sent back a message by carrier pigeon, explaining his situation in detail, except that they hadn't found Su Wan'er.

"Speak, why are you inquiring about me?" Xiao Yunting didn't believe he said it was because he admired him. To avoid causing more trouble for the Xiao family, he had always kept a low profile. Moreover, he knew very well that the reason the emperor kept him in the capital was to control his elder brother. To put it nicely, he was the second young master of the Xiao family and the crown prince's companion; to put it bluntly, he was a hostage. In this world, probably no one would bother to investigate him unless they were betrayed by their own people.

A moment later, the butler came in and whispered in Xiao Yunting's ear, "Young Master, there's nothing unusual over there."

"Okay, let's go down."

Since our own people haven't betrayed us at Black Tiger Stronghold, could it be that what Ding Chouqin said is true?

"Then what do you want to know about me?"

Ding Chouqin was taken aback and said blankly, "No, no need. It's enough to know that the young master is safe and sound."

Xiao Yunting's face darkened. These words sounded strange no matter how he looked at them. He waved his hand, signaling the person to leave.

"Young master, are we just going to let him go like this?"

"Send someone to keep an eye on him. I'd like to know who it is that would be interested in someone who has no power, no influence, and no achievements."

The steward hurriedly said, "Young master, you must not underestimate yourself."

"Heh, go down."

When Ding Chouqin left the general's mansion, his back was soaked with sweat. He touched his chest and felt his heartbeat before he murmured, "Miss Su, you almost made my life miserable. The capital city is really not a good place to stay."

Frightened, Ding Chouqin rented a carriage overnight and rushed back to Meizhou, completely unaware that several tails were following behind him.

When Su Wan'er arrived in town, she went to Baicao Hall first, where she was greeted by Xiao Ma, just like before.

"Oh, Miss Su is here to sell herbs again."

Su Wan'er glanced behind her subtly and asked, "Yes, young man, is the shopkeeper still here today?"

"Yes, yes, please come in, young lady. I'll go and call the manager."

Zhu Hongqi did not tell his subordinates that Su Wan'er was his apprentice; only Lin Nanxing and Zhu Zeyang knew this.

Su Wan'er looked towards the hall and said, "Oh, your young master isn't here today."

"Oh, the young master has returned to the capital. He said that the New Year is coming soon and he wants to go back to the capital to celebrate it."

Su Wan'er nodded, clearly feeling the gazes behind her withdraw.

When the shopkeeper saw that it was Su Wan'er, he was happy and invited her to the backyard. "Miss Su, this is a letter that the old master left for you before he passed away."

"Oh? Your grandfather really returned to the capital?"

The shopkeeper nodded, and Su Wan'er didn't say anything more. She sold the herbs in her basket, took the money, and left.

Today she had planned to check on her master and Zhu Zeyang's recovery, but it seems they are avoiding her, afraid of causing her trouble.

After leaving the pharmacy, Su Wan'er headed towards the Chen family's general store, where, as expected, it was noisy and bustling.

"Father, how could there be a problem with this perfume?"

"Am I stupid? Look at this yourself, is it balm? Or a stone?"

"Impossible, I followed the recipe exactly!"

"Hmph, as expected of my good daughter, she actually conspired with her husband's family to try to harm your own parents. Smell this for yourself."

Chen leaned closer and smelled it. "Father, this is right, it smells very good."

Old Man Chen got even angrier and cursed the Chen family as ungrateful wretches, demanding compensation from the Su family.

Su Wan'er curled her lips. Ha, so you schemed against me.

After strolling around the town, it was obvious that most of the grain stores were closed, and there were only a few people on the streets, walking in a hurry. Su Wan'er casually found a teahouse, sat down, ordered a pot of tea, and began to listen to the gossip.

“Sigh, what a world this is like. I went to the grain store today, but I couldn’t buy any grain. If this continues, my family will run out of food.”

"No way, didn't the magistrate just issue a notice saying that grain would be transferred from other counties soon?"

"Hmph, I don't believe it. There's a family in my wife's village whose daughter works as a maid in the county magistrate's mansion. I heard that the county magistrate's family is eating nothing but porridge these days."

"Yes, yes, I heard that too. Many wealthy people in town have moved away with their families."

"What? Then, what do we do?"

"What else can we do? We've been rooted in this place for generations. Where else can we go if we leave here?"

"Could it be from the Purple Flame Kingdom?"

Someone suddenly lowered their voice and said, "Our family is planning to leave tomorrow too. I heard that Qingzhou has lost two cities in a row, and the Thunder Army is now out of food. The one up there," he said, gesturing with his finger to indicate the meaning, "is completely ignoring the Thunder Army and telling General Xiao to figure it out himself."

"What? This is absurd."

"Hmph, ridiculous. Has our sir done far more ridiculous things than this?"

"What do you mean? Tell me."

Su Wan'er immediately pricked up her ears and openly eavesdropped.

However, after hearing it, she regretted it; it was simply an insult to her ears.

It turns out that the current Imperial Noble Consort, who is also Zi Xinghe's biological mother, is actually the current emperor's sister-in-law. It was because when his brother got married, the emperor took a liking to his sister-in-law at first sight, so he tried every means to find a fabricated crime to imprison his brother in the imperial prison, and in the end, he fell seriously ill and died.

Then, the princess died mysteriously. A year later, when the emperor took a new concubine, everyone was surprised to find that the new imperial concubine looked exactly like the former princess. However, everyone only dared to speculate and no one dared to say it out loud.

Even more shameless, in order to please the Imperial Noble Consort, the Emperor wanted to give her family a legitimate status, so he fabricated a huge lie, saying that they were originally twins, but because a fortune teller said that twins were incompatible and could not be raised together, the Imperial Noble Consort was sent to be raised elsewhere from a young age. Now that one of her daughters had died, the Imperial Noble Consort could return to her family openly. The Emperor even bestowed upon them the title of Marquis of Anguo.

He had originally intended to appoint him to an official position, but the plan was abandoned because all the ministers in the court opposed it.

That's some serious urban fun.