"He's still busy with yesterday's matter," Lin Jian explained. "I think he has the highest authority here, thus, the hidden guards reported to him."

"Oh..." Yao Ling nodded her head in agreement. That explained everything, but she wondered how he felt about the missing Aunt Yue... would he feel something weird or different?

Yao Ling sighed when she thought that way, so she decided to ask something else to ease her mind a little bit. "What about Bao Bei? Is she fine?" She remembered that Bao Bei was her mother's favorite pet.

The trio was dumbfounded by her sudden question --- why did she ask about Bao Bei out of nowhere? Was that really necessary?

"Er... she should be fine," Xiu answered when Yao Ying's gaze landed on him. "The fire only burned the inner courtyard of the forbidden place, while Bao Bei's cage is outside." He didn't check on Bao Bei ah~! Who knew that the sacred pet was important for the young mistress.

Yao Ling nodded in satisfaction and felt relieved when she knew that Bao Bei was fine. Yao Ying was surprised by Yao Ling's behavior and he guessed something about it. He wondered if she still wanted to become Bao Bei's mother-in-law ah~! Was this really the right time to think about Bao Bao's matter ah~?!

"How do you plan to break the news to G.o.dfather?" Xiao Fang asked curiously.

Yao Ling sighed. "I'm not so sure either..." If she directly told him everything, could he accept it? If she directly undid the magic, would it mean that she enforced her own belief to him? No matter what... this was his life. Shouldn't he be the one who made the decision? Even though she was his daughter... She didn't have the right to make a decision for him because she was afraid that he would feel betrayed...

Yao Ling ma.s.saged her forehead and suddenly this matter didn't seem to look as simple as before. 'Father... Mother ah~! What should I do?' She thought to herself. No matter what, Yao Ling was only fifteen and she didn't have that many experiences regarding this matter.

When she was going to ask the others one again, there was a ruckus outside of their courtyard. "What happened?" Yao Ling asked in confusion and she could only swallow her questions back down once again.

Yao Ying furrowed his eyebrows. "It seems like they are searching for Aunt Yue everywhere," he explained. They had seen this coming, thus, the trio didn't feel surprised anymore --- unlike, Yao Ling who slept through the whole night and oblivious to everything at that time.

True enough, Xiao Yu knocked on the door and reported from the outside of the room that there were several people coming to inspect their room. She had tried to hold them back by saying that Yao Ling was sick, but they still insisted to come in. The quartet realized that they had never tried to search their rooms before, were they suspicious of something? Before this, they only searched on their outer courtyards.

Luckily, the trio had changed their clothes once they went back and they didn't forget to burn the clothes that they had worn the previous night. It was better to be safe than sorry later.

Yao Ling said to Yao Ying, "Let me make myself look presentable first!" She still wore last night's clothing and felt sticky all over her body. It seemed like she had been having a long dream and kept sweating the whole night, making her feel uncomfortable.

Yao Ying understood what she meant, so he went out first with the others, leaving Yao Ling alone with Xiao Yu. Lin Jian and Xiao Fang decided to go back to their own room secretly through the back door. No matter how free the Han people were, it wouldn't be good for a man to enter another man's wife bedroom. It was just that the quartet usually did it in secret.

Yao Ying mouthed, "Don't forget to pretend!"

Yao Ling looked at him in confusion, but oh well... when she fainted, they told people that she was sick --- maybe that was what he was talking about.

By the time she went out, she heard Yao Ying's angry voice, "I told you to wait for a little while! My wife is unwell!"

"This... we are not being difficult! But, it's a mandatory thing. After all, we need to clear up that you are not involved with last night's matter!" The guards' leader said politely because they knew the couple was Xiao Fang's special guest. No matter what, the latter was the daughter of high-rank official ah~! They didn't dare to offend her.

"Can't you wait for one incense stick of time?! I told you that she has laid in bed for several days! She needs to clean herself up before going out," Yao Ying answered in displeasure.

When Yao Ying was going to erupt, Yao Ling walked out from her bedroom while being helped by Xiao Yu. Her face looked paler than before while panting heavily. She looked like she was already out of breath, even though she only walked a short distance. Yao Ying jumped up in surprise when he saw Yao Ling's condition.

"Ling-er, are you okay?" He quickly helped Yao Ling and told Xiao Yu to let her go, so he would be the one who helped her to sit down.

The guards' leader saw Yao Ling's condition and they felt really bad for her. Suddenly, he felt really guilty for barging in like this. They were just doing their job, but still... looking at the woman's pitiful face... it could evoke men's protective side. If he honestly said, he had thought that they were only trying to prolong the time by saying that the lady was sick. However, it didn't seem so.

Yao Ling nodded. "I'm fine. I'm sorry for waiting. You can search our room now!" She gave a slight smile towards the guards' leader and the latter blushed in embarra.s.sment due to her lovely blinding smile. He had no dirty thought, but the woman was simply too beautiful! The man who married her was really a lucky man!

The guards' leader's movement didn't escape Yao Ying's eyes and it made Yao Ying really want to throttle the man. His jealousy flared up once again, but he was better at covering up his jealousy than before. Thus, only Yao Ling was able to see his anger.

Yao Ling didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She had made herself pale until this point, who knew that she could still attract another man's attention? She really felt wronged ah~!

The guards' leader nodded his head in acknowledgment and gave her his grat.i.tude. After that, he searched for Aunt Yue carefully along with his subordinates. Indeed, no one was inside their room. He could only apologize and leave with empty hands. There were still a lot of courtyards that needed to be searched thoroughly by them.

Yao Ling thought that she could finally rest, after all, her whole body still felt numb because she had slept for a long time. However, people seemed to like knocking on her door when she didn't feel like meeting anyone. She had wanted to reject the guest when she knew who the guest was, but she changed her mind.

This time, the one who came was Uncle Qiu. So, how could she reject him ah~?

'Oh man! I'm not ready for this..." Yao Ling thought to herself. She wanted to give herself more time to ponder over the matter, but... she couldn't. She felt nervous all of a sudden and she looked at Yao Ying, asking for help because she felt helpless.

Yao Ying naturally understood her wife's anxiousness and he squeezed her hand, trying to comfort her. He told Xiu to let him in and they received him at the receiving room.

When Yao Ling saw Uncle Qiu coming in, she suddenly felt like crying. She really wanted to jump on him and called him, 'Daddy!' However, she couldn't. She had to remind herself that he didn't know that she was his daughter.

She should be patient!

Yao Ying was the one who started the conversation when he saw Uncle Qiu's distracted look. He wondered why did he suddenly come here out of the blue?