Who in the world does not know you?

Chapter 61 Wishful Thinking

The Chuning Lantern Festival only starts at night.

After having breakfast outside with Ye Zi, Yun Luobai took a walk and then went home. At noon, he personally cooked two bowls of noodles before returning to his room.

When the door was wide open, Ye Zi looked up and went in to peek, only to find him lying on his side on the bed in broad daylight, preparing to take a nap.

Hearing footsteps, Yun Luobai opened her eyes and looked over, just in time to meet Ye Zi, who was looking up and entering the room.

"Are you going to take a nap?"

"Hmm. Didn't we already eat noodles?"

"I'm not talking about whether you've eaten or not. Sleeping right after eating is bad for your stomach."

"You seem to know a lot about health and wellness."

"That's common sense."

"Do you even know that I bought you with my money? According to common sense, you should be the one cooking noodles for me."

"But you didn't ask me to cook for you."

"Because I know you're not the kind of person who can do this kind of thing."

Yun Luobai crossed her arms and lay on her side, looking at Ye Zi.

Yunping went to work at the yamen, leaving only the two of them in the huge mansion. If Yun Luobai were to fall asleep, Ye Zi would definitely feel bored.

She knew this would happen, so she wanted to stop Yun Luobai from falling asleep, but couldn't find a suitable reason.

Just as she couldn't find a reason to stay by Yun Luobai's side, she should have left long ago. She didn't need to stay, and she didn't even need to come to Ningzhou Prefecture.

She knew that Yun Luobai knew she wasn't the real Ye Zi. Although he always seemed to think he was clever, he was actually quite intelligent.

"What, you want to sleep with me?"

Yun Luobai made a nonsensical joke, which earned him a roll of his eyes from Ye Zi.

"frivolous."

She turned and left. Yun Luobai didn't know what she was going to do, nor did he care much.

He reached under the pillow and picked up the blue book, flipping through it.

This book feels quite substantial to the touch, even a bit heavy.

Yun Luobai's gaze swept over the lines of text; he already knew these contents by heart.

But he just wanted to take another look.

The book is divided into two parts. He has read the first half many times. Even though he already knows it clearly, he still reads it repeatedly.

He only read the second half once, and didn't remember much of it.

He instinctively resisted; he didn't want to remember.

He wouldn't even want to look at the second half of the book unless it was absolutely necessary.

Yun Luobai flipped through the book a few times, then put the blue book back under her pillow. Just as she was about to take a nap, she heard noisy laughter coming from outside the door.

He couldn't help but sigh as he lay in bed.

He was all too familiar with that laughter.

"Young Master Yun, Constable Ning and Young Master Qing have arrived."

Ye Zi's voice rang out in the courtyard, and the next moment Ning Qi and Qing Chuan entered Yun Luo Bai's room together.

Qingchuan glanced at Yun Luobai lying on the bed and let out a soft hum.

"Wow, sleeping in the middle of the day, living such a comfortable life?"

"What are you doing here?"

"This morning, my older brother took me to your fortune-telling stall, but we didn't find it. It's only past noon, and he insisted on dragging me here to see what happened. I don't know what's there to worry about. You're not some virgin, you wouldn't have been kidnapped by a flower thief, would you?"

Qingchuan's tone sounded somewhat stiff. Ning Qi knew that Qingchuan always adopted this attitude whenever he saw Yun Luobai, and he was already used to it.

Seeing Yun Luobai get out of bed, Ning Qi sat down at the table and grinned.

"Second brother, I just brought Qingchuan here to familiarize myself with the place."

Ning Qi knew Qingchuan well, knowing that the latter was stubborn but soft-hearted. Even though Yun Luobai had been back in Ningzhou Prefecture for some time, this guy refused to come and check on the situation. He was clearly worried to death, but he still had to put on a perfunctory attitude that it was none of his business even if Yun Luobai died far from home.

"Recognize the place? I'm a native of Ningzhou Prefecture, born and raised here. Wasn't this the Liu residence before? You even led us to climb over the wall to pick apricots when we were kids. That old bastard surnamed Liu even wanted his servants to beat us up, but when he found out that I, the young master of the General's Mansion, was among them, he practically wanted to cut down that apricot tree and give it to us. His arrogant and obsequious manner makes me feel disgusted just thinking about it..."

"Alright, alright, you're the most amazing young master, now sit down."

Ning Qi pulled Qing Chuan to sit down at the table. Yun Luobai's gaze swept over Ning Qi's square face with his bushy beard, and he knew that the latter must have something on his mind.

Ning Qi is not the kind of person who can keep things to himself.

"Brother, you brought him here to see me, there must be something else going on, right?"

"Hehe, as expected of the second brother, you're really smart. Second brother, let me tell you, this morning I was checking for criminals with the other constables in the yamen, and at noon when I was looking for a place to eat with the third brother, we ran into the yamen runners and asked them about it. Guess what? Ma Ben didn't come today."

Ning Qi's mysterious, low-voiced manner only amused Yun Luobai and Qingchuan. Including Ye Zi, who was idly lounging in the courtyard, there were only four of them in the entire mansion, so there was no need to worry about eavesdroppers...

"What's so strange about that? Maybe he was on night shift. Aren't the prison guards on two shifts? He's not popular, so it's normal for him to be assigned to the night shift."

As Yun Luobai spoke, he walked to the table, turned over the teacups one by one, poured tea into them, and pushed them in front of Ning Qi and Qing Chuan.

Since we're all so familiar with each other, there's no need to be so hospitable as to serve a pot of hot tea. It's good enough that we have something to drink.

Ning Qi picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip. To be honest, he was quite thirsty after walking all this way.

"That's true, but Uncle Yun isn't the kind of person to hold a grudge; he certainly wouldn't target him on purpose. Besides, think about it, I hinted at it to him yesterday, and he didn't come to work today. He must be feeling guilty. In my opinion, he's the one who killed Mu Li!"

Ning Qi spoke with absolute certainty, but he didn't forget to look back at Qing Chuan's reaction.

However, Qingchuan didn't react at all; he was acting as if it were none of his business.

It's common knowledge throughout Xichuan Prefecture that Young Master Qing enjoys visiting brothels and seeking out the most beautiful courtesans. The problem is, Mu Li isn't the only courtesan in Xichuan Prefecture.

If he were truly so heartbroken over Mu Li's death, he should have set up a mourning hall in the government office; it's not like he couldn't do that.

"By the way, what happened to those 'Two Hearts in Harmony' hairpins?"

Yun Luobai suddenly picked up the valuable hairpin.

"Didn't we put it back on Mu Li's corpse? Third brother, do you still want it?"

The disgust and aversion on Qingchuan's face were palpable.

"How unlucky..."

"Ten thousand taels of silver! I couldn't save that much money even if I worked as a constable my whole life. You said she took the hairpin you gave her, why didn't she find an expert to exchange it for silver to redeem herself?"

Ning Qi sighed, but he was also puzzled by it.

Even if Mu Li is the most beautiful courtesan in the Rouge Pavilion and has a considerable fortune, her indenture certainly wouldn't be worth 100,000 taels of silver.

Just then, Ye Zi's voice drifted from the doorway.

"That must be because she's delusional, waiting to become the young master's wife in the general's mansion."