Xiao Fang wondered why such a strong woman was able to leave and abandon her all alone while deciding to run away. However, she could accept and even wholeheartedly bring Yao Ling up all alone... At this point, she really envied Yao Ling ah~! From the story, she could even feel Jiu Lan's love for Yao Ling.

Xiao Fang tried to erase that thought away because she knew how hard Yao Ling would be if her mother didn't pick her up at that time --- she most probably would be dead. At least, Xiao Fang had a loving family and she never once had to do hard work. If she was still unsatisfied with this, it would show how greedy she was.

Thus, she was able to calm her mind down.

Jiu Lan did that actually because she also felt guilty towards her real daughter --- that was the reason why she poured her love solely to Yao Ling. When she ran away from the Han Kingdom, her mind was still full of depression and she didn't feel guilty for leaving Xiao Fang behind.

The further away Jiu Lan was from the d.a.m.ned place, the lighter her heart had become and her depression turned for the better. This was when the guilt started to gnaw inside her heart, after all, she left her little baby inside the hand of a beast and she started to think with a clear mind how cruel she was back them. She blamed herself to the point that she wanted to kill herself by jumping into the river --- that was when she met baby Yao Ling for the first time. In the end, they were actually saving each other's life.

If she met Yao Ling earlier, there was no guarantee that she would save Yao Ling and bring her up on her own. After all, she was also in a bad condition previously.

It was just because of fate that they found each other...

Lin Jian could also feel the pain in his heart when he heard this story. His mother really lived a hard life, however, at least, she was smiling before she was dead --- it meant that she lived a happy life with Yao Ling. For this, he was also feeling grateful to Yao Ling. She made his mother have the will to live. Lin Jian had no time to feel envy because, for the past few years, he just wanted to know whether his mother was living a good life or not.

When the atmosphere turned heavy again, they decided to change the topic and chat cheerfully with a lighter topic. Yao Ying and Yao Ling hadn't told Rong Qiu about w.a.n.g Fu's condition because they thought this kind of private talk shouldn't be talked in front of Lin Jian and Xiao Fang. They still had a lot of time to tell Rong Qiu about it.

Yao Ling planned to bring Rong Qiu along with her to An Yang and prepared a house for him. After all, Rong Qiu couldn't live in w.a.n.g Fu. However, Yao Ying wasn't so sure that Rong Qiu would agree because he knew that Rong Qiu would want to search for Su Wan. How could he be tied down in one place?

However, Yao Ying didn't tell Yao Ling this just in case the latter would feel sad.

Rong Qiu would start the act the next morning because the maidservants had guaranteed that the esteemed guest wouldn't find out about the jade easily. Zhuo Li had also guaranteed that they could trust her, thus, they had nothing to fear.

Even if the esteemed guest found about it first, it wouldn't do any harm to them. Rong Qiu believed that the esteemed guest wouldn't destroy or throw away the jade pendant because it could be said as a clue. No matter what, it would still be found inside the esteemed guest's courtyard.

They promised to meet each other at the next city before going to the capital together. It was only a small city that connected the capital with the other cities --- the city was called Neihuang. Because the distance between the capital and the other cities were too far and the desert's temperature was very high at noon and low at night, travelers needed a place to spend the night. Otherwise, people wouldn't be able to survive the wilderness.

Thus, this small city was specially designed for that purpose. That was the reason why there were a lot of inns and small stalls inside the city. Seeing people from another kingdom was also quite usual there, however, if their articles of clothing were too different, it would gain too much attention. Thus, people would generally change their clothing --- unless they were special envoys from another kingdom.

After reaching an agreement, they dispersed and slept. After all, they had a lot of things to do the next day.

When Yao Ling's party went out the next morning, they deliberately did it loud and clear so that people knew that they did nothing wrong and also, they didn't run away. They even let the guards checked on their belongings one by one just to ensure that the guards would tell that they were clear to Hong Wen when the latter asked the reason why Uncle Qiu let them go. Fortunately, Yao Ling had put the scrolls safely away.

Rong Qiu didn't let people know that he was close to them, except for Xiao Fang like usual. It would attract attention if they behaved out of character. Besides, the guards knew that Xiao Fang didn't really have any relations.h.i.+p with Aunt Yue, so they didn't think too much when Xiao Fang planned to go back to the capital --- not only that, Aunt Yue's existence was practically a secret and they believed in Uncle Qiu's honest character. The latter wouldn't tell Xiao Fang about it, because if Xiao Fang knew, they knew that the Han Emperor wouldn't let Xiao Fang go easily.

This also happened to them --- they weren't allowed to divulge about Aunt Yue's existence or else, their family would be killed!

Their movement didn't escape the eyes and ears of the esteemed guest. He had planted his own people everywhere and he also knew that Rong Qiu had stayed inside Yao Ling's courtyard for a long time. However, his subordinate couldn't hear what they were talking about clearly.

At first, he wanted to let his most superb subordinate to tail and spy on them, but he changed his mind at the last minute because he didn't think that they would do something harmful to him. His best subordinate would be able to listen to their conversations --- unlike the ordinary subordinate that he had planted before. This decision made Yao Ling's party become safe ah~! Otherwise, their plan would certainly fail.

The esteemed guest made this decision because he needed to find Aunt Yue's whereabouts as soon as possible... Rong Qiu made the right decision to let people think that his mother was still alive --- if this esteemed guest knew that the power belonged to Yao Ling, he would use all his power to gain the beauty! Killing two birds with one stone ah~!

The esteemed guest heard that Yao Ling's party was going to set off and he was sighing in disappointment. He asked his subordinates, "Have you inquired about their background carefully?" It had been some times and yet, he forgot to ask about this to his subordinate.

The subordinate answered him, "We found that they were Xiao Fang Gu Niang's new friends. They met at the border and it seems like they aren't Han people."

"Hmm... not Han people? Then, I guess they must be Shu people. Otherwise, I would know if such a beautiful and lovely girl exists in the Qin Kingdom," the handsome esteemed guest said with a smile.

'Interesting... really interesting...' He thought to himself.

"But now... if I want to have her, it will be a bit difficult..." His ident.i.ty didn't approve him to have a woman from another kingdom as a wife. He could see the stubborn streak on the woman's eyes and he believed that she wouldn't settle as a concubine.

He talked like Yao Ling would be willing to become his woman ah~!