Chapter Ninety-One: Homeward Bound

Yang Xun knelt there for a full half hour.

Only then did the sound of hoofbeats rise from the street in the distance.

“Ha ha ha!”

“My dear nephew!”

Before the man arrived, his laughter came first.

With a hearty male voice ringing out, Li Yi rounded the corner at the far end of the street, dressed in a black-and-gold robe and riding hard on a white horse.

“Whoa!”

He drew the reins and brought the steed to a stop before Li Yunj i's carriage.

A towering frame paired with a rough, imposing face.

A presence that overawed all around him.

“My dear nephew, it’s been over ten years since we last met! You’ve grown so big!”

Li Yi’s signature mustache lifted slightly, and the scar that cut across his left eye added a sharp, ferocious edge to his already stern features.

Faced with such sudden warmth, Li Yunj i did not rush to respond.

He rose with graceful ease, his gaze keen as a blade, taking in Li Yi from head to toe.

Li Yi was somewhat puzzled by his behavior, his brow furrowing faintly. “What, you don’t miss me?”

After a brief silence, Li Yunj i suddenly laughed aloud. “Second Uncle! I’ve missed you terribly!”

The two men exchanged a smile, and the heavy atmosphere gradually dissolved.

“What’s going on here?” Li Yi asked, lowering his eyes to Yang Xun, who knelt on the ground.

Li Yunj i cast him a sidelong glance and said in a deep voice, “You tell my second uncle.”

Yang Xun slowly lifted his head, his eyes bloodshot. “This subordinate had blind eyes and offended the Young Marquis.”

Li Yi’s brow twitched, and he cursed him as a beast.

“The Young Marquis has returned home in honor, and you still dared to fail in your reception and offend him!”

“Go back and take another fifty strokes of the rod!”

“This subordinate obeys!” Yang Xun said sharply.

Having spoken, he rose in fury and strode off toward the military camp without looking back.

Li Yi once again donned a smile, spurring his horse forward a few steps until he came alongside Li Yunj i.

“Zichuan, back then you left for the capital without a word, all by yourself. Your second uncle searched high and low for you.”

As he spoke of those years, there was a trace of subtle mockery hidden in his tone.

“Didn’t your nephew return in one piece?” Li Yunj i said with a light laugh. “Did I frighten my second uncle?”

A complicated expression flashed across Li Yi’s face, but it was quickly concealed. “What a jest, my worthy nephew. Your second uncle is only delighted. How could I be frightened?”

Li Yunj i smiled faintly.

Li Yi shifted his gaze to Eleven. “Eleven, after all these years, how come you still look exactly the same? Not a bit has changed?”

Eleven had no desire to answer him and turned his head away in silence.

Li Yi pursed his lips, then looked at Su Qingmeng, sizing her up before smiling lightly. “I take it this must be Miss Su, the young lady of the Prime Minister’s residence?”

“It is,” Su Qingmeng replied.

“Miss Su and my worthy nephew are truly a match made in heaven.” Li Yi cupped his hands in praise.

Then he sighed. “I was truly unable to spare the time a few days ago and missed your wedding. I trust my worthy nephew won’t hold it against me?”

“Why would Second Uncle say such a thing?” Li Yunj i replied calmly. “You and I are bound by blood. How would I dare blame you?”

“Second Uncle is burdened with affairs day and night; your nephew understands.”

Li Yi laughed heartily, then changed the subject. “You’ve been gone so long that you’ve probably forgotten the way back to the manor, haven’t you?”

“Come, let your second uncle personally escort you home!”

Li Yunj i thanked him with clasped hands and said with a smile that did not reach his eyes, “Then I’ll have to trouble Second Uncle.”

As soon as the words fell, Li Yi took the lead and guided Li Yunj i’s party toward the manor.

Along the way, when Su Qingmeng saw the shopfronts on the street all tightly shut, she could not help asking, “With such a vast city as Northern Ridge, how can there not be a single shop open?”

“Not so.” Li Yi glanced back slightly from ahead. “It’s only that today is a market holiday, so the shops are closed.”

Su Qingmeng gave a soft laugh. “There’s such a custom?”

“Not a custom,” Li Yi answered. “It’s all the people’s own doing.”

“And why is that?” Su Qingmeng pressed.

Eleven tugged lightly at her sleeve, signaling her not to ask further.

Li Yi turned half around and shot Li Yunj i a meaningful look. “Worthy nephew, did you not tell Miss Su?”

Li Yunj i lazily straightened, yawned, and said with easy indifference, “Since you’re so interested, I may as well tell you.”

“After my father died that year, the people of the city blamed me.”

“They said I was a calamity sent from the heavens, that I cost my mother her life at one year old and my father at seven.”

“If I remained in Northern Ridge, one day I would bring ruin upon the entire city.”

“They treated me like a plague god and did not want to see me.”

Li Yunj i seemed unconcerned, yet a faint sorrow hid within his tone.

After hearing this, Su Qingmeng lowered her eyes. “So you left Northern Ridge?”

“What else could I do?” Li Yunj i sighed. “Stay here and endure their scorn?”

Su Qingmeng fell silent, slightly regretting that she had asked that question.

“What, are you afraid I’ll bring you bad luck too?” Li Yunj i teased.

“What is there to fear?” Su Qingmeng said with some irritation. “So-called calamity stars are nothing more than excuses used by the foolish to comfort themselves.”

Li Yunj i froze for a moment. Looking at the streetscape receding outside, his thoughts seemed to drift back sixteen years.

“Disaster star! Get out of Northern Ridge!”

“You killed the princess consort, and now you’ve killed the prince too! Give us back our prince!”

“It’s all his fault!”

“...”

Countless filthy things, reeking with stench, were hurled again and again at Li Yunj i.

A seven-year-old child, facing a storm of curses and abuse, could only clench his fists until they trembled, swallowing all that grievance and pain back down into his belly.

Tears spun in his eyes, yet he never dared let them fall.

Only because Li Jia had once told him: you are the Young Marquis of Northern Ridge; you must stand tall and upright!

When his mind returned, the carriage had stopped before the gates of the Northern Ridge Prince’s Manor.

In plain sight, the doors were covered in spiderwebs, and vines had overgrown the surrounding walls.

“Oh dear!” Li Yi slapped his forehead and put on an act of embarrassment. “Look at my memory!”

“I was only just thinking a few days ago that I should tidy up the manor, but then matters got busy and I forgot!”

“Just look at this ruin—how could it seem like a place fit for human habitation!”

His tone was full of contrition.

“How about this: Second Uncle will arrange an inn for you in the city. Stay there for a few days.”

“Once I’ve cleaned up the manor, you can move back. How does that sound?”

Li Yunj i watched his clumsy performance in silence, unmoved within.

He slowly walked up the stone steps, looking at the door corroded by wind and frost, and smiled faintly. “There’s no need to trouble Second Uncle.”

“It’s more comfortable to live at home.”

With that, he pushed the door open.

What lay before his eyes was a ground strewn with fallen leaves and overrun with weeds, bleak in every direction.

“That’s fine too. Life inside the manor is always more comfortable than out here.” Li Yi let out a soft sigh. “In that case, Second Uncle won’t insist.”

“You’ve traveled far and grown weary. I won’t disturb you today.”

With that, he rode away, calling back, “If my worthy nephew needs anything, come find me at any time!”

Eleven gave a cold snort. “What a show he’s putting on! Who is he trying to fool?”

“If he hadn’t spread those rumors back then, how would Young Master have been forced to leave his homeland?!”

As the words fell, a shadow suddenly flashed behind the courtyard...