Xiao Fang warned her. "We can go there if you want, but you need my presence there, so the guards won't feel suspicious. Don't attract their attention, okay?"

Yao Ling nodded and grinned happily. "I won't attract their attention..." She just wanted to take a look at the symbol --- that was it!

Just like what she promised, Xiao Fang brought them there. She already asked Han Yi to search for the beast tamer's whereabouts. By luck, the man was going to examine the sacred pet and invited Xiao Fang to join him. The quartet quickly went to the pet's cage.

Before they reached the pet's cage, they would pa.s.s by the forbidden place's gate. Yao Ling somehow felt nervous and both of her hands became sweaty. She didn't know why but she had a gut feeling that something would happen. Bad or good... she didn't know, but she knew that it must be something big.

Yao Ling sighed, knowing that they really had no time to rest! Troubles kept looking for them one by one.

Yao Ying, who had paid close attention to Yao Ling's behavior, felt worried because she didn't look like her usual self. He quickly gripped her hand tightly, trying to give her his support and also to calm her down. He could feel how cold her hands were and he was confused about what made her behave so strangely. She insisted to go near the forbidden place, so there must be something there that sparked her interest.

He felt confused and tried to make a guess what made her behave this way, but he couldn't find a reasonable explanation.

The closer they were to the gate, the more agitated Yao Ling was. She forgot that she held Yao Ying's hand and due to her nervousness, she almost crushed Yao Ying's hand because she used too much strength. However, the latter only flinched a little while and chose not to stop her from doing it.

Lin Jian and Xiao Fang didn't notice Yao Ling's reactions because they were too busy at talking and whispering to each other. It seemed like ever since the romantic twirling fiasco, they became closer and could overcome their shyness. Thus, they finally had a little bit of progress.

Yao Ling tried not to look suspicious when they pa.s.sed by the guard, she tried to see if she could take a look at it clearly with a glance! If she couldn't, she knew that she needed to do something to distract the guards. However, there would be a greater chance that she attracted the guards' attention and she would avoid that scenario if possible.

Fortunately, the symbol was quite big. Probably because of the Cresent Lake name, but the symbol was actually also the shape of Crescent Moon. The symbol was a thin, curved shape that's thicker in the middle and tapers to thin points at each end, like the little sliver of the moon in the sky. However, this symbol was being climbed and twined around by green vines. Not only that, there were a few weird written symbols that Yao Ling couldn't comprehend. She tried to recall those weird symbols, but she couldn't remember where she had seen it before.

How could such weird symbols be familiar to her?

Yao Ling couldn't see it clearly and she wanted to copy that symbol, but how?

Yao Ying, who held her hand, tugged it for a little while. With his finger, he wrote a few words on her palm, "Do you want the drawing of that symbol?" He was able to see that Yao Ling was fully intrigued by those symbols.

Yao Ling looked at him in surprise and asked, "How...?" She wanted to ask how did he know what she wanted to do, but from one look on his face, she already knew how. Just like him, they were used to reading each other's expression and deciphering what they were thinking about.

"I will help you later," Yao Ying said. They couldn't do it at this moment because it would be too conspicuous with the guards around. Besides, he didn't want to let Lin Jian and Xiao Fang know about this matter too. After all, Yao Ying could see that the symbol was similar to the birthmark on the back of Yao Ling's neck. He had a gut feeling that this symbol was connected to Yao Ling's real family.

He didn't know Yao Ling's real background and it was better to be safe by not telling the others. The symbol appeared on a forbidden place and it must hold some secrets or important meanings that even the Han royal family had guarded for so long.

He wondered... what kind of family that Yao Ling had? Why did they send her away? Was she actually being abandoned or her family was actually trying to save her life? There were so many unanswered questions revolving around this.

Yao Ying really wanted to hug her and s.h.i.+eld her from the darkness of the world, but he knew, she was just like him. Both of them wanted to uncover the truth of their past, no matter what the cost was. They just wanted to make sure that nothing from the past would bite them and ruin everything that they had at the moment.

After she was rea.s.sured that Yao Ying would help her, Yao Ling became calmer and she didn't try to take a peek at the gate more intently anymore. The guards already looked at them in an unfriendly way, so it was better if they didn't provoke them at the moment.

They pa.s.sed through the gate and they saw a big cage with beautiful decoration. It seemed like the Han Emperor quite put importance to the animal, because the cage was made of gold and the design was quite luxurious. They couldn't see clearly what kind of animal it was unless they went closer to the front part of the cage.

Xiao Fang was greeted by a middle-aged man who looked at her warmly. It seemed like they were indeed in a good relations.h.i.+p. "Xiao Fang, you visit us again!"

Xiao Fang laughed. "Of course! This is my favorite place ah~! Besides, you are here! I miss you!" She said in a spoiled tone.

Lin Jian asked in a whisper, "What's your relations.h.i.+p with the man?" He knew he was being unreasonable, but Xiao Fang looked that she was quite close with the middle-aged man. He whispered in a low voice and the middle-aged man might not hear him, but Yao Ying and Yao Ling were right behind him, so his words were as clear as day to them.

Yao Ling rolled her eyes, knowing that Lin Jian must have been feeling a bit jealous. On the other hand, Yao Ying snickered at Lin Jian's panicked look.

Xiao Fang glanced briefly at Lin Jian but she didn't think that there was anything wrong with his question, thus, she introduced the man to them, "This is my father's best friend. You can call him, Uncle Qiu. They hit it off when father visited this Crescent Lake and he's my G.o.dfather."

Lin Jian looked embarra.s.sed because of his unreasonable jealousy, luckily, Xiao Fang didn't notice it. However, when his eyes accidentally met Yao Ying and Yao Ling, his face turned red. This time, the couple paid him back by looking at him tauntingly.

The trio greeted Uncle Qiu politely.

"Are they your new friends?" Uncle Qiu asked curiously. Xiao Fang might look like a cheery girl, but it was hard for her to have new friends. Not because she was arrogant, but she honestly told Uncle Qiu that she hated pretentious people. The only friend she had that Uncle Qiu knew was Princess Han Xiang, thus, he felt quite a bit surprised when she brought them to meet him.

Xiao Fang knew her G.o.dfather was quite eccentric and he rarely treated other people as nice as now. He was probably kind to them just for Xiao Fang's sake.

Xiao Fang nodded happily, "Yes ah~, G.o.dfather..."