CHAPTER 523: CHAPTER 523: MERIT

Su Chong leapt onto the tree and took down the silk.

"It’s Cloud Brocade," Prince NanAn’s voice trembled.

Though they had never seen what Su Jin was wearing the day she disappeared, they all knew.

Xingxing had provided a detailed description of Su Jin’s attire to assist in the search.

She was indeed wearing the Cloud Brocade.

Jue Ying led them to the edge of the cliff.

There was more Cloud Brocade at the bottom of the cliff.

Just after coming down from the cliff, they noticed the marks where a dagger had scraped along the cliff.

All these signs indicated they had fallen off the cliff.

Falling from such a high cliff, Prince NanAn and the others couldn’t imagine the outcome.

But if they did fall off the cliff, there was nothing at the bottom at all.

Prince NanAn and the others warned themselves not to let their imaginations run wild.

Brother Jingchen had survived six years of poisoning, it made no sense for him to lose his life after the poison was cured.

He wasn’t that easy to kill.

The eldest sister-in-law even less so.

Whenever someone provoked her, wasn’t it always the others who got into trouble?

Someone who burned incense in bundles for the Bodhisattva wasn’t going to die so easily?

Absolutely, not, possible!

Su Chong wasn’t overthinking it; he searched in all directions.

Not finding anyone, he continued to search further away.

Prince NanAn and the others followed closely behind.

They completely forgot about the Eldest Young Master of Duke Dingguo Mansion waiting back on the cliff.

The Eldest Young Master of Duke Dingguo Mansion felt anxious.

If Jue Ying weren’t with him, he would have been scared facing the cliff alone.

He called out towards the cliff a few times, but nobody responded.

The Eldest Young Master of Duke Dingguo Mansion was getting restless.

Could something have gone wrong?

He waited and waited.

He couldn’t wait any longer and grabbed the rope, jumping down the cliff.

Looking at the empty cliff bottom.

The Eldest Young Master of Duke Dingguo Mansion, "....".

Truly.

Even more daunting than staying on the cliff.

Su Chong and the others were looking for Xie Jingchen and Su Jin.

The Eldest Young Master of Duke Dingguo Mansion was looking for them.

Xie Jingchen was driving a carriage back to the capital, though there were guards at the city gate, no one searched him or recognized him.

He entered the city unimpeded and headed straight to Dongxiang Marquis Mansion.

On the way, a servant watching the carriage pass by thought he was seeing things, thinking it looked like the son-in-law?

He wasn’t sure, and asked another servant, "Look quickly, isn’t that the son-in-law?"

By the time the other servant turned his head, all he could see was the back of the carriage.

He said, "How could that be the son-in-law? Are you seeing things?"

The servant hesitated.

Could he really have been seeing things?

Dongxiang Marquis Mansion.

The carriage came to a slow stop.

Xie Jingchen got off the carriage and then helped Su Jin down.

The carriage was cramped, and with the Eldest Prince inside, it was truly uncomfortable.

The two of them stepped up the stairs.

The usually open Dongxiang Marquis Mansion was sealed up tightly today.

Xie Jingchen knocked on the door, but no one responded.

Su Jin tried to push the door, but it wouldn’t budge.

"Where did everyone go?" Su Jin knocked on the door.

"Could they all have gone out looking for us?"

"Is anyone there!" Su Jin called loudly.

Inside the mansion.

Little Black heard the commotion and quickly ran to the door, barking at the outside.

Su Jin’s mouth twitched.

Thank goodness.

Little Black was still there.

Otherwise, she would have truly worried Dongxiang Marquis Mansion was empty.

Young Master Su and the others, seeing Little Black suddenly acting strange, followed him and heard Su Jin calling Little Black.

"It’s my sister’s voice!" Young Master Su said joyfully.

He ran quickly to the door, peering through the crack, "Sister, sister, is that you?"

"It’s me," Su Jin said weakly.

"I can’t open the door," Young Master Su said anxiously.

"Brother-in-law, you help me open the door," Young Master Su looked at Xie Jingchen through the crack.

Xie Jingchen, "....".

He rubbed his forehead, then leapt over and into Dongxiang Marquis Mansion to unbolt the door.

Hmm.

The bolt on Dongxiang Marquis Mansion’s door was particularly difficult to open; even Xie Jingchen had a bit of trouble with it.

The servants had all been sent out to look for people, and to prevent Young Master Su from running out wildly, the door was tightly shut.

The hard-to-open bolt was to guard against him.

After the door was opened, Su Jin walked in and asked, "Where did everyone go?"

"Uncle Lin went to see the Old Duke, and everyone else went out to look for you," Young Master Su said.

"Unexpectedly, they went out and couldn’t find you, but we stayed home and found you."

Young Master Su looked extremely pleased.

This must be what’s called a gift from the heavens falling into one’s lap.

Su Jin, "....".

Xie Jingchen, "....".

Looking at Su Jin, Xie Jingchen said, "Since father-in-law and mother-in-law aren’t here, let’s head to the palace first."

"Sounds good," Su Jin agreed.

The two of them left the mansion the same way they came in.

Young Master Su didn’t make a fuss about going to the palace.

Instead, he eagerly wanted to tell Dongxiang Marquis and Mrs. Tang the good news of Su Jin and Xie Jingchen’s return.

He quickly ran back to the main hall and took out a signal flare used for communication from Qingyun Mountain.

With a swoosh.

The signal flare shot into the sky.

It was a signal for safety; anyone from Qingyun Mountain would recognize it.

Only Young Master Su was too excited and forgot about Young Master Shen and the Ninth Prince.

Seeing the flare, the two found it fascinating and each took one.

The Ninth Prince lightly pulled the other flare, sending it into the sky.

Young Master Su, "....".

"That’s a distress signal!" Young Master Su exclaimed urgently.

"My father will see it and think something happened to us."

The Ninth Prince panicked, "What do we do now?"

Young Master Su didn’t know how to remedy it either.

A fired distress signal couldn’t be unseen.

He thought for a moment, then went back inside to grab several more signal flares for safety and shot them into the sky.

He fired seven or eight in a row.

Uncle Lin ran over and said, "Young Master, those aren’t for play."

"I know, sister and brother-in-law are back," said Young Master Su.

"Where are they?" Uncle Lin asked.

"They went to the palace."

But—

Uncle Lin didn’t believe Young Master’s words.

"Young Master, be careful or the Marquis will thrash you when he gets back," Uncle Lin collected the remaining signal flares.

Indeed.

Marquis Dongxiang, seeing the signal flares, rode back immediately.

Just as Uncle Lin said, he gave Young Master Su a good thrashing.

Young Master Su’s eyes were filled with tears.

What gift from the heavens?

It was clearly a thrashing that fell from the sky!

"Father, I’m not lying to you; sister and brother-in-law really came back," Young Master Su insisted again.

"If I’m lying, then you’re not my father anymore."

Young Master Shen and the Ninth Prince shakily said, "We can testify; they really did come back."

Marquis Dongxiang looked toward Uncle Lin.

Uncle Lin shook his head, "I didn’t see the young lady or the son-in-law. Marquis, why not check the palace first?"

At this moment.

Xie Jingchen was driving the carriage to the palace.

The carriage was ordinary to the point of being plain.

The guards at the palace gate had never seen such an ordinary carriage entering through the main gate before.

As the carriage approached, the guards’ eyes widened.

This... is this not the Heir of Prince Zhenbei?

The guards stared at Xie Jingchen until he drove the carriage into the palace, and then they snapped back to their senses.

After the carriage stopped, two eunuchs approached.

Xie Jingchen helped Su Jin down, then ordered the eunuchs, "Help the Eldest Prince down."

The eunuchs, "....".

The Eldest Prince was inside the carriage?

The two eunuchs lifted the curtain and their eyes widened instantly.

If it wasn’t the Eldest Prince inside the carriage, then who was it?