Chapter 74: The Dashing and Elegant Little Marquis (7)
Huo Yuan was giving Huo Xian ideas.
“How about you say an immortal appeared in your dream, saying a minor immortal from heaven came down to undergo a trial and troubles you to look after him?”
Huo Xian: “…”
“Or, you can say we hit it off at first sight? No, I’m a little beggar; hitting it off at first sight isn’t very likely.” Huo Yuan continued weaving stories, but negated himself halfway through.
Huo Xian: “…”
Huo Yuan continued: “Or else you don’t take me back, buy a house outside for me to live in?”
Huo Xian: “…”
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “Buying a house for you to live in, do you know what that implies?”
“What?”
“Keeping. A. Mistress. In. A. Golden. House,” Huo Xian dropped the words unhurriedly.
Huo Yuan: “…”
Huo Yuan chose to shut up and let Huo Xian have the headache.
After some thought, Huo Xian decided to mix truth and falsehood.
The false part was Huo Yuan‘s real alien consciousness identity; the true part was Huo Yuan‘s beggar identity.
The original host had a wide range of acquaintances in the capital. Noble disciples, poor scholars, and foreign merchants were all among his friends. Making friends with one or two beggars was also reasonable.
After hearing Huo Xian explain that Huo Yuan made a huge contribution to suppressing the rumors, the Princess suddenly realized the truth. At the same time, she felt faintly relieved; as long as it wasn’t a conspiracy against Huo Xian, all was well.
In Huo Xian’s introduction, bringing Huo Yuan back to the manor this time was also because he knew who was spreading rumors unfavorable to him and worried Huo Yuan would be retaliated against. The Princess understood this very well and even treated him with the courtesy of a guest, not looking down on him because he was a beggar.
However, Huo Xian felt a large part of the reason was that Huo Yuan‘s face was too exquisite and his eyes were clear and bright, making it hard for people to feel aversion. Moreover, the Princess herself was someone who appreciated good looks.
Anyway, Huo Yuan was now living in the Princess’s Manor.
For Huo Yuan, everything in ancient times was still very fresh. In the last world, Huo Xian took him to visit scenic spots and historical sites, and he had visited many preserved ancient buildings. But because he was a cat, he could only stay in the cat bag. Later, when he returned to Huo Xian’s consciousness sea, he could only look through Huo Xian’s eyes.
Without seeing it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t know how cheap the sets in web dramas were.
“…Huo Yuan, what are you doing?” Huo Xian personally cooked a bowl of hodgepodge noodles that Huo Yuan specifically asked for. When he came back, he saw Huo Yuan sticking his butt out, staring at the carvings on the bedpost.
Huo Yuan turned back and waved at him, sighing with emotion, “Huo Xian, the pattern on this bed is so exquisite, and the carving is detailed. I thought of those costume dramas I watched before. No, costume dramas are okay, but those web dramas just randomly put two strips of wood and draped two pieces of cloth. It was so perfunctory.”
“Web dramas have limited budgets. If the bed you’re sleeping on now were placed in later generations, it might be enough to film ten web dramas,” Huo Xian laughed. “The noodles are ready, come and taste.”
Huo Yuan immediately threw the exquisite bed to the back of his mind and happily went straight for the noodles.
Ingredients in ancient times were limited. Farming helpers like cattle weren’t allowed to be slaughtered recklessly. Luckily, this was the Princess’s Manor; compared to ordinary commoner households, they could at least eat it. The hand-rolled noodles were also chewy.
Huo Yuan ate with immense satisfaction.
“Next time I want to eat tomato and egg noodles.” Seeing the bottom of the bowl, Huo Yuan rubbed his full belly and made a new request.
Huo Xian propped his cheek with one hand watching him, and shook his head upon hearing this: “That probably won’t work.”
“Why?”
“No tomatoes,” Huo Xian said helplessly.
Huo Yuan had been with Huo Xian for over a hundred years. Even if he hadn’t learned everything about the world, he learned what interested him. For example, in the last world, tomatoes were called “foreign eggplants” (fanqie) because they were introduced from foreign countries. Perhaps in this spacetime, tomatoes hadn’t been introduced yet.
Huo Yuan couldn’t help but regret: “If I knew, I would have collected some seeds.”
“Hmm?” Huo Xian raised an eyebrow, suddenly remembering that Huo Yuan seemed to have harvested some things when robbing You Zi’an‘s system before. He asked curiously, “Yuan Yuan, do you also have storage space?”
“The manager comes with a very small emergency space that can be used for storage. I can also open up a magnetic field space myself,” Huo Yuan replied. He paused after speaking, then added, “I can open up an independent magnetic field space like You Zi’an‘s system that can be used for storage.”
Huo Xian knew without asking that opening space consumed his consciousness energy, so he didn’t ask further. “What is emergency space?”
Emergency space was for the Administration’s mission takers to hide and avoid risks. Mission takers weren’t immortal; if their consciousness suffered heavy damage, they would also disappear. The emergency space could protect the mission taker inside when they received fatal damage. Unless the attacker was a god, they couldn’t continue to inflict damage, and the mission taker could be saved.
Now Huo Yuan‘s emergency space was being used by him as storage space.
Huo Xian was a bit dissatisfied. Seeing this, Huo Yuan explained, “It doesn’t matter. The emergency space is quite big. Just putting a tiny bit of stuff doesn’t take up space. Putting some seeds in won’t affect it.”
But Huo Xian didn’t want him to joke with the emergency space. Emergency space was equivalent to a safety exit. If there was a fire and the safety exit was blocked, what would the people trapped in the building do?
Before he could seriously “educate” him, someone came to invite him, saying the Marquis had returned to the manor and invited him over to discuss matters. He had to put the “education” issue aside temporarily.
“Walk around the manor by yourself. I’ll find you later,” Huo Xian said to Huo Yuan.
Huo Yuan nodded obediently.
Main Courtyard.
When Huo Xian arrived, Marquis Huo had just changed clothes and re-groomed his hair. However, the dark circles under his eyes and the red blood streaks in them showed his rushing about and fatigue over the past few days, though his spirits were still okay.
Marquis Huo didn’t waste words. After taking a sip of tea, he said, “Scabby Head doesn’t know who bought him off, but from his description of the person who contacted him, one person has been locked onto.”
“Who?” the Princess asked urgently, looking as if she would chop the person into pieces as soon as the Marquis said the name.
Huo Xian didn’t ask, waiting quietly for the answer.
Marquis Huo spat out a name with an unfathomable expression: “Zhang Yong.”
Hearing this unfamiliar name, a question mark slowly appeared above the Princess’s head. She asked in confusion, “Who is Zhang Yong?”
Huo Xian searched the original host’s memories, but regrettably, there was no impression of a person named “Zhang Yong.”
“Zhang Yong is Qiu Chenghan‘s long-time attendant, and Qiu Chenghan is an inconspicuous guest advisor in Prince Ji‘s manor.” Marquis Huo slowly cleared up the confusion for the two.
The Princess frowned: “Prince Ji? Framing Yi’er is related to Prince Ji?”
Prince Ji, Xiao Rongbai, was one of the only two Princes of the Blood in the imperial clan. In terms of blood relations, he was the Princess’s cousin and Huo Xian’s cousin-uncle.
But neither the Princess nor Marquis Huo had much interaction with Prince Ji. Huo Xian, however, had some discord with Prince Ji‘s heir. Could it be that because of that small discord, Prince Ji plotted to frame Huo Xian?
Huo Xian knew very well that the person who set the trap wasn’t Prince Ji, but Xiao Jinli. Yet tracing it to Prince Ji only indicated one problem—Xiao Jinli‘s shrewdness was even deeper than he imagined.
“Whether it is Prince Ji is not yet concluded,” Marquis Huo added.
The Princess had an impatient temper. Hearing this, she glared at her husband unhappily: “Can you finish speaking all at once?”
Marquis Huo felt a bit guilty being glared at. He coughed lightly and continued, “Zhang Yong is currently missing, and Qiu Chenghan has reported sick at home, not going out for many days. I cannot assert whether it was Prince Ji‘s instruction.”
“One moment not concluded, one moment cannot assert. Just say what is certain!” the Princess said huffily.
Marquis Huo, having been scolded to his face, shrank his neck. At least she didn’t do the unrefined act of twisting his ear in front of their son. He pondered for a moment and said, “I have sent people to search the whole city for Zhang Yong. Once caught, we will confront Qiu Chenghan face to face.”
“If not guilty, why dare not see people?” the Princess mocked.
Huo Xian’s brows furrowed slightly. Putting himself in Xiao Jinli‘s shoes: the framing didn’t succeed smoothly, followed by Wang Yunshi‘s “suicide note” as a remedy; the rumors were also suppressed by Huo Yuan in another way. Then, to prevent the investigation from reaching himself, he would definitely pin Prince Ji as the mastermind. Thus, the only way to nail Prince Ji to death was to completely cut off the clues that might lead to himself.
—Qiu Chenghan and Zhang Yong were likely in grave danger.
Even so, Huo Xian said, “Dad, keep looking for Zhang Yong, but send people to watch Qiu Chenghan to ensure his safety.”
“You are worried he will be silenced?” Marquis Huo guessed his thought immediately.
Huo Xian nodded and added, ” Although I have conflicts with Xiao Jingming, it hasn’t escalated to a life-or-death situation. Prince Ji wanting to vent anger for him doesn’t justify killing someone to frame me.”
The Princess frowned: “Yi’er, do you mean Prince Ji is also being framed?”
Huo Xian said ambiguously, “I just feel the hatred I hold with Prince Ji isn’t that deep yet.”
Marquis Huo and the Princess were silent for a moment. After a while, Marquis Huo summoned a long-time attendant and ordered the men watching Qiu Chenghan‘s house to find a way to confirm Qiu Chenghan‘s situation and report immediately if there were anomalies.
After the subordinate left with the order, Marquis Huo asked about Huo Yuan. At the time, it was determined there were two groups spreading rumors. One group clearly aimed to ruin Huo Xian’s reputation. Although the other group’s words seemed to exonerate Huo Xian, their true intent was unknown, so Marquis Huo wanted to catch and question everyone. Unexpectedly, the “group” consisting of only one person ran faster than a rabbit and was lost in the blink of an eye.
On the way back, Marquis Huo had already heard that the beggar who ran faster than a rabbit was actually Huo Xian’s friend. Usually, Marquis Huo wouldn’t question his son’s friendships, but given the special circumstances, he had to ask.
Huo Xian repeated what he had told the Princess, then remembering something, said, “Dad, Huo Yuan has had no parents since childhood, nor household registration. I want to get him a household registration.”
“That is not difficult.” Marquis Huo was open-minded, and he knew people in the marketplace had more news. This time, Huo Yuan deserved the primary credit for Huo Xian not being suspected. As a benefactor, Marquis Huo was naturally happy to help repay him. “His name is Huo Yuan?”
“Mn, he is called Huo Yuan.” Huo Xian nodded.
The Princess didn’t think much of the name at first, but reciting it twice, she suddenly felt something was off: “‘Whose stock (Huo Yuan) is this’?”
Seeing she finally reacted, Huo Xian explained with a smile, “This is the code I agreed upon with him. I thought that since I was arrested into the Court of Judicial Review for the Wang Yunshi case, if it was really aimed at me, they would inevitably incite the common people. I wanted Huo Yuan to pay more attention.” He paused, then continued, “But Huo Yuan has no fixed abode, and I didn’t know where he was, so I could only use the code to find him.”
With his explanation, the couple suddenly understood and expressed their intention to host a banquet for Huo Yuan to thank him for his help.
Huo Xian knew Huo Yuan hadn’t formally interacted with anyone other than him. To prevent unnecessary misunderstandings, he gave the couple a heads-up: “Huo Yuan was raised by a beggar. His manners might not be perfect. If he offends Dad and Mom, please do not blame him.”
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