When He Yuan reached the spot where the carriage was parked, he met an attendant and a bodyguard. It turns out Cao Luomei had taken the carriage and left without him. That didn't dampen his good mood though.
He took the attendant and bodyguard with him and went straight to the food court. He promised Cao Xiwang lots of good stuff and he was also feeling a little hungry from all that 'saving a life.'
After eating to his fill and stuffing the arms of the attendant and bodyguard with comfort food for Cao Xiwang, He Yuan rented a carriage and went back to the Cao mansion.
When he arrived, he found Cao Xiwang squatting by the gate. Immediately the kid saw him, he rushed over and almost knocked him out of breath with a hug.
The Wu sisters were right behind him. "Second miss are you alright?" Wu Bai asked as they inspected He Yuan.
He Yuan was confused. Why wouldn't he be? He looked at Cao Xiwang properly to see that his face was streaked with tear marks. "Xiwang, what happened? Why were you crying?"
The kid sniffled and burst into tears again as he explained through hiccups. "Wu Bai had gone to the market and realized there was a stampede in the capital. *hiccup*
-We found out from the carriage driver that the carriage was blocked and you and Cao Luomei got out but Cao Luomei came back and you didn't." *hiccup* "I begged father to let me go look for you but he..." *hiccup* "He..." *hiccup*
He Yuan patted his head and hugged him tighter. "It's okay, stop crying. I went to get you some treats." He pointed at the arms of the attendant and bodyguard. "See?"
Cao Xiwang sniffled and wiped his tears with his sleeves. "Oh."
He Yuan laughed. "Come on. Let's go inside so you can have your treats." He looked at Wu Bai. "You should be careful what you say around him so you don't raise a false alarm."
Wu Bai scratched her nose and nodded sheepishly.
As they got closer to Cao Yuemei's courtyard, they ran into a red faced Cao Long. The left prime minister came to a stop and eyed He Yuan disdainfully. "Come with me," He threw out and walked in the direction of Cao Luomei's courtyard.
Cao Xiwang held the helm of He Yuan's sleeve and looked up at him. "Big sis~"
He Yuan smiled at the kid. "It's fine. Go and have your treats, I'll be back soon." He said and walked after Cao Long when Cao Xiwang nodded.
Once they reached Cao Luomei's courtyard, Cao Long led He Yuan to where Cao Luomei was resting. There were three physicians and some maids watching over the girl who was peacefully asleep.
He Yuan resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Cao Long's overreaction. The wound itself was just a scratch. Cao Luomei should even be grateful to him. In the original storyline, that arrow had struck her chest, dangerously close to her heart. It had taken her months to fully recover.
After a while, Cao Long led him out of the room "Did you see the state your elder sister is in?" The man asked suddenly.
'...' He Yuan remained silent and furrowed his brows in confusion. Of course he saw the state she was in, he wasn't blind. But why was Cao Long asking him?.
"Did you not hear me? Why are you silent?" Cao Long's voice was raising in repressed anger.
He Yuan spread his arms. "I'm waiting for you to tell me how this has anything to do with me?"
"Cao. Yuemei. Don't think I don't know what happened today. Your sister was in danger but instead of saving her, you chose to save a man instead. How could you be so heartless?"
He Yuan raised his brows at Cao Long. "Who put her in danger? What kind of idiot hops in the trajectory of an arrow? She clearly doesn't value her own life, why should I do it for her? Instead of blaming me for Cao Luomei's stupidity, you should hire more tutors to educate the idiocy out of her!"
Cao Long's eyes widened. "You! Is that how you speak to your father? You don't behave like a noble lady at all! How could you be so unfilial?"
He Yuan curtsied. "I beg to take my leave." And then he directly walked out. Any misfortune that happens to Cao Luomei would always be the fault of others in Cao Long's eyes. Trying to get into the man's thick skull was a waste of time.
"CAO YUEMEI!"
There was no response so Cao Long went back to check up on Cao Luomei in anger. As he stared at his first daughter, his eyes reddened. She was so pitiful.
First, she lost her mother as a baby and then, she was almost sold off by his second wife. As if that wasn't enough, she was harmed this way. His Luomei was such a lovable child, why did these things keep happening to her?
He Yuan accompanied Cao Xiwang as soon as he returned and when it was late at night, he sent the kid off with his personal servants to prepare for bed.
Now that he was finally alone, he pulled out the martial arts manual from one of the pouch that he'd brought back earlier.
[Strongest Martial Arts] The name was very crude. He Yuan frowned. He remembered that the name of the martial arts Cao Luomei practised in the original storyline... seemed to be different?
"888, what do you think?"
The system materialized and flipped through the book. A lot of the pages were empty. The both of them stared at each other and He Yuan's frown deepened.
Did he get scammed by Shang Wu?
"Why don't you give it a try first?" 888 said.
He Yuan nodded and took the book from 888. After looking over the instructions, he sat crossed legged on his bed and tried to cultivate.
He spent hours trying to draw qi into his body but there was no success. He couldn't even feel the qi in the atmosphere. He looked to 888.
888 shook his head. "Cao Yuemei's body does not have a core so it would be harder to fully harness qi. You can practice the martial art moves instead to temper her body. Then it would be easier to become sensitive to the qi in the surroundings."
He Yuan sighed. "Fine." And then he got under the quilt and said under his breath, "That general better not have scammed me." He was so tired that he fell asleep immediately.
888 cocked his head to the side and contemplated for a while before he dematerialized.
The next day, He Yuan tried to practice the [Strongest Martial Arts] moves. He didn't get past the second move but he wasn't discouraged. Rather, he settled on repeatedly practising the two he managed to learn.
It was noon by the time he finished and his body was aching all over. After freshening up, he decided to head over to the store room. He wanted to supplement his practice with medicinal herbs that nourished the meridians.
When he got to the store room, he noticed some servants carrying in some boxes. Gifts. He was curious.
"Where did those come from?"
One of the servants bowed and said excitedly, "Second miss. These are from the general to the eldest miss! He brought them himself!"
He Yuan massaged his brows and rushed over to the main hall. It was understandable that the general would send those gifts to Cao Luomei. After all, it was hard not to be moved when someone attempted to take an arrow on your behalf. Whether or not it was a smart move.
His only fear was the general and Cao Luomei falling in love because of this.
When he entered the main hall, he found Cao Long eyeing the general with dissatisfaction whilst Cao Luomei was blushing furiously next to Cao Long. Shang Wu even had the guts to look amused.
He Yuan was very unhappy. He had tried his best to dissolve the attraction between them and yet this was happening.
"Father," He called out as he walked into the hall and curtsied.
Cao Long eyed He Yuan distrustfully. This second daughter of his hardly came to the main hall and he wouldn't believe it if anyone told him she was here just to greet him. He looked over to the general that was staring at her back with a thoughtful look and raised his brows.
"Why are you here?"
He Yuan smiled. "I needed access to the library and was looking for you to take permission." He turned to face Shang Wu. "Who knew I'd run into the general here?" And then he greeted with a curtsey, "General."
Shang Wu gave a gentlemanly bow. "This general had no idea miss was also from the Cao household. If not, there would've been more gifts."
Cao Luomei scoffed and raised her chin. "What did she do to deserve your gifts?"
He Yuan smiled at Cao Luomei. "Cao Luomei, if I remember correctly, the first prince has already expressed interest to be engaged with you. Don't you think it's inappropriate to accept gifts from other men?
-How do you think the first prince would feel when he finds out?" He looked at Cao Long. "Father, I can't believe you allowed this. What will people think of our Cao family ladies now?"
If Cao Luomei was the one who had indeed saved the general, then the gifts would have been fairly acceptable but she wasn't. So the general sending those gifts and she accepting them was bound to send off the wrong signal.
He Yuan was pretty sure the first prince was already dissatisfied with the idea of his woman putting her life on the line in order to save another man.
The prince might have been more accepting of the situation in the original storyline but that was because he absolutely adored Cao Luomei.
In this lifetime though, Yu Mings affections had already been split between 'Cao Yuemei', which was himself, and Cao Luomei so the man might not be so accepting.
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