Descendants (3)
Hearing Xie Xuanchen’s words, the little Taoist started considering their suggestion.
“Furthermore, you have no power to protect yourself now. Once someone finds out who you are, all you can do is wait for your death. Your master is already dead, so even if you track down the culprits, what can you even do? If you die now, who else will remember your master and you?” Xie Xuanchen observed the changes in the expressions of the little Taoist, “In this vast world, only I can guarantee your life. Follow me. As long as I live, no one will harm you.”
The little Taoist was a little moved by Xie Xuanchen’s words. He wanted to live peacefully, but he was afraid of death, and had lived the past few years cowering in fear and always finding places to hide. His current situation was terrible enough to stop him from doing the only thing he was best at, which was practising medicine, but now he didn’t even dare to do that, and could not make a living as before.
‘The prince can protect me now, but if one day he were to meet some mishap and cannot survive, then…’ The little Taosit became a bundle of nerves.
Mu Mingtang saw that the little Taoist was hesitating. “Taoist master, the money you earn for living by fortune-telling is probably not enough to have three good meals a day. You will get to eat at the palace. Why are you still hesitating?”
The little Taoist was finally enlightened by those words, ‘Yes, what she said is absolutely right. Even if I work hard the whole day, I am afraid it is not enough for three good meals a day, much less parable to ones at the palace. Then why should I work hard like this? Why not go to the palace to eat and drink? Maybe if I worked for a month there, I might even be able to earn money for a lifetime.’
The little Taoist was thoroughly convinced by Mu Mingtang and started to count the money he could earn in his mind. “As you said, food and housing are included, salary should be paid every month. One medicine is one hundred yuan, and you have to buy the ingredients yourself to prepare medicine.”
Mu Mingtang was really excited: “Okay, let’s make a deal.”
…
When the prince and princess had disappeared in broad daylight, people in the entire Qiyang Palace were frightened enough that their souls would leave their body any moment. Xiang Nanchun, the head maid, followed the crowd to the back gate and found the gate wide open with its chains broken. Prince An and Princess An were nowhere to be seen.
Seeing the situation, Xiang Nanchun was on the verge of passing out, while even the chief guard was alarmed by the ruckus. As a result, he sent back Xiang Nanchun and other servants back to the palace while he, with most of the guards, went to search the street for the prince and princess.
Xiang Nanchun went to the palace and sent people to search. The maid, who followed behind Xiang Nanchun, asked in a low voice: “Aunt Xiang, the disappearance of the prince and the princess…do you want to report it to the palace?”
Xiang Nanchun’s face turned extremely unsightly, as she thought for a while, then slowly shook her head. “Wait a little while longer. If the Emperor and the Empress know about it, we will all be punished. Let the guards go out to look for them first. Maybe the prince and princess just went out on a whim and they might e back soon.”
After the maid went away, leaving Xiang Nanchun alone, she immersed in her own thoughts. She was on the horns of a dilemma. One side was Xie Xuanchen, who had always kept his guard up against her, and the other side was the Emperor and the Empress, who expected her to do her job as they wanted. She had taken a lot of painstaking efforts to please both sides, but in the end, it seemed she could not please either side. Now she had to think about how to keep her position.
‘Should I report to the palace or not?’ Xiang Nanchun asked herself, trying to find an answer to the question she wasn’t sure of.
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