Chapter 43: A Phoenix Seeks a Mate

  After leaving the mill, Mo asked to return quickly to Dongcheng. Within one day, he would cure the patients designated by Yuling and still have three days to stay in Ye City after deducting the day of his return. Time was sufficient.

  On the way back, don't ask if he walked fast or not. He was looking for something to change into along the way. The Taoist robe he wore had yin and yang eight trigrams embroidered on it, which must be covered with ordinary clothes.

  Along the way, I saw a few cloth shops, but they only sold fabrics and no ready-made clothes. It was also impossible to find someone else's clothes drying outside, as the fabric was expensive at that time, ordinary families lacked cloth and hemp, and clothes were precious, so no one would dry them outside. Under duress, I had to wear my Taoist robe inside out, dismantle my Taoist hair bun and change it to a simple hairstyle.

  It was already the second watch of the night outside General's Mansion. There were no buildings around General's Mansion that were taller than it, and the two big trees had also shed all their leaves, making it impossible to hide anyone or observe what was happening inside the mansion from outside the courtyard.

  Lao Wu had said that there were many guards in the General's mansion, and since they could serve as guards, they must have some martial arts skills. Mo didn't ask if he was confident of defeating these guards, but he wasn't sure if he could avoid being discovered. If it was late at night when people were quiet, the guards would definitely be on high alert. At this time, it was only two watches into the night, and the guards probably hadn't made their rounds yet. Even if they had, they wouldn't be too tense, because ordinary thieves usually struck after the third watch, and few acted at the second watch.

  Thinking of this, don't ask to decide now to climb the wall and enter the courtyard. Such a large mansion must have a backyard, and entering from the backyard can take advantage of the plants in the garden to hide one's figure. Besides, it's cold in winter, so probably no one will go to the garden.

  The wall was eight feet high, which couldn't stop him naturally. Without asking, he wiped his face with a handkerchief and stepped on the ground to borrow strength and climbed over the courtyard wall to look inside. As expected, the northwest direction where he was located was indeed the location of the garden, and the garden was quiet and silent, probably because there was no one.

  Don't ask if I had ever done such a thing before, my heart couldn't help but feel tense. After taking a deep breath to calm myself down, I jumped into the courtyard and quietly headed south from the shadows.

  At this time, the structure of the mansion is basically similar. The front hall of the large courtyard is where the master receives guests, and the middle courtyard is where the master and his children live. Children usually live on the east side, while servants live on the west side. Behind the middle courtyard is the back courtyard, which is usually inhabited by the master's female relatives. To the north of the back courtyard is the garden, where the women in the mansion rarely go out, and after tea and dinner, they will come to the garden to relax.

  The garden of this mansion is not very large, only about 100 square meters. There is a wall between the garden and the backyard. When Mo asked arrived at the wall, he found that three feet away from the wall in the garden, there was an invisible thin thread. On the thread, every few steps, there was a copper bell. If thieves came through this place at night, they would inevitably touch the thread and make a sound. At that time, the guard would follow the sound to come and catch them.

  However, this method only prevents ordinary thieves. For cultivators who can see at night, it has no effect. Don't ask how quietly they avoid the silk threads and climb over the wall, quietly entering the backyard where the women live.

  The buildings in the backyard are relatively scattered, with two pavilions standing on either side of a distance of over ten zhang, and five small courtyards scattered around, not adjacent to each other. At this time, wealthy families usually had multiple wives and concubines, and these pavilions and courtyards must have been inhabited by the master's wives and concubines.

  At this moment, all seven buildings had lights on, and occasionally there were women's voices coming out. Mo didn't ask, looked around and saw no one, and quietly flashed towards the nearest courtyard. The walls of these small courtyards were very low, and it was easy to see inside by tiptoeing, but at this time it was winter, the doors were closed, and the window paper was pasted very thickly, so nothing could be seen from outside the house.

  At this time, the gate was open and there was no one in the yard. Mo didn't dare to ask, plucked up his courage and slipped to the outside of the house with lamp light, so as not to make a sound when poking at the window paper, he used the thief's method to moisten the window paper with his saliva-covered fingers, peeked inside with a sideways glance, and found that there was a woman inside staring blankly at the candle. The woman was about thirty years old, quite beautiful, and occasionally let out sighs indicating that she had worries on her mind.

  There is no Lin Ruocheng in this courtyard, don't ask and immediately withdraw, then explore other courtyards. The women in these courtyards are all Han people, wearing silk, satin and velvet, with maids serving them, extremely comfortable and luxurious.

  After searching five courtyards, there was no sign of Lin Ruochuan. At this time, only the east and west buildings were left, both of which had two floors up and down, and should be inhabited by wives and concubines of higher status.

  Don't ask, at this time located in the west side of the backyard, he went to the west wing first, the door of the wing was slightly ajar, and as soon as he approached the door, he heard footsteps and voices coming from inside, "My wife has gone to see the madam, when she comes back, I will tell her."

  "Thanks, sister, I'll head back first."

  Then came the sound of the door opening, Mo Wu quickly hid in the shadows, at the same time frowning and staring at the doorway. The voice that had spoken earlier was somewhat familiar to him, but he couldn't think of where he had heard it before.

  After the door opened, two maidservants walked out one after another. The first maid carried a lantern and the second maid saw her off at the gate. When they reached the gate, the maid carrying the lantern left, while the other maid turned around and went back.

  That maid had been facing away from him earlier, so he hadn't seen her appearance yet. It wasn't until she turned around that he got a clear look at her. The girl was none other than Lin Ruochen's personal maid who had accompanied her to the wedding.

  Upon seeing this person, Mo didn't ask about his mental state. The maid is here, so Lin Ruochen must also be here. It turns out that Old Five hadn't misheard after all; the one who played half a tune of "Phoenix Seeking Phoenix" earlier was indeed Lin Ruochen.

  "Where is your young lady now?" Mo Xiang excitedly emerged from his hiding place and grabbed the maid's arm.

  What Mo didn't expect was that the maid, upon seeing him, did not show a joyful expression, but instead looked shocked and frightened, with her eyes wide open and tongue-tied.

  "Where is your daughter?" Mo asked anxiously.

  The maid heard the words but did not respond, instead taking a deep breath and wanting to scream. Mo Xun saw her state and hastily covered her mouth with his hand. The maid's mouth was sealed and she couldn't scream, but she hummed endlessly and struggled with all her might. At this time, the maid holding the lantern had not yet walked far away, and Mo Xun feared that she would hear the sound and return, so he quickly sealed her acupoints, and the maid immediately fainted and went limp.

  He didn't understand why she was shouting until now, and it suddenly occurred to him that he had a mask on his face, so the maid took him for a bad guy.

  On a cold winter night, he carried the maid into the house and put her on the warm bed. The warm bed was located inside the sunny window, which was the maid's resting place. Sleeping here could also serve as a door for the master and make it convenient to get up and attend at any time.

  After putting down the luggage, Mo didn't ask and quickly went upstairs. He found that Lin Ruochen was not there. On the east side of the upper floor, a large number of silk fabrics were placed in piles. In the middle area, there was a huge bed, but it wasn't quite right to call it a bed, because there was only a beautiful, soft quilt with no bed frame. On the west side near the window, fruits and pastries were placed. A wooden guqin was placed beside the wooden table where the fruits and pastries were placed. The strings of the guqin were loose, obviously having not been played for a long time.

  He didn't even have the heart to look around the room, and after a quick glance, he turned around and went downstairs. He had wanted to ask the maid about the seal, but it was impossible. The Wind Ghost Hand that Sima Feng had taught him was extremely ruthless, and sealing the acupoint was easy, but unsealing it was very difficult. It required releasing his spiritual energy externally to take effect immediately, but at this moment, he couldn't do that yet.

  In his anxiety, he suddenly remembered the conversation between the two maidservants and realized that Lin Ruochen must have gone to another pavilion.

  With this in mind, he didn't ask about leaving quickly. He used his agility to arrive at the east wing of the building. His ears and eyes were clear, and he heard a sound coming from the second floor of the east wing. Concentrating and listening carefully, he discovered that one of the people inside was Lin Ruochen, whom he had been searching for with great difficulty.

  Although he was anxious in his heart, he didn't dare to rush in. If he startled her, it would be difficult for him to take Lin Ruochen away. The most appropriate method was to wait until Lin Ruochen left this place and then appear to meet her and take her away. By now, it had already passed the second watch, and soon Lin Ruochen should return to her room to rest.

  He hid himself in a dark place and anxiously waited.

  As his qigong skills had made some progress, Mo asked without thinking and was able to hear the hushed conversation of the two people upstairs. What he didn't expect was that the content of their conversation turned out to be pillow talk.

  "The general is hard to please, and all kinds of flattery are not to his liking. However, the young lady is clever and has won his favor. We are like sisters, can I tell my sister about it? What can be done to win his heart?" These were the words of the great madam.

  "Sister has been accompanying the general for nearly ten years, deeply loved by her husband. Little sister just arrived, and the general's novelty is hard to avoid going too much, apart from this there is no other reason." Lin Ruochen said.

  "You and I know each other's hearts, sisterly affection is stronger than twin brothers, how can you hide secrets from me?" Madam said with a smile.

  "Sister, what are you talking about? It's not that I'm hiding anything from you, but rather that General is a man of great power and prestige. I'm already overwhelmed by his favors and can't even muster the energy to be polite and courteous." Lin Ruochen said.

  "I'm already old and faded, even if my sister tells me about it, I can hardly get the general's favor, just hoping not to be abandoned by the general is enough for me to feel content, please pity me, sister." The madam begged.

  The room fell silent, and after a moment, Lin Ruochen spoke in a low voice, "General, you prefer men, but boys are young and will grow old, they can't last long. Women are better, just eat more fragrant oil to keep their bodies clean, if there's no filth, General will naturally be delighted."

  Madam heard this and was overjoyed, thanking her a thousand times. Just then, from the central courtyard came the sound of a man shouting drunkenly. Lin Ruochen hastily stood up to take his leave.

  Mo Wen did not appear when Lin Ruochen returned to the Western Building. At this time, he was stiff all over, his heart as cold as ice. He had never thought that his wife would become like this today. The vows of that day had long been thrown out of his mind, and she had degenerated into a barbarian who did not know shame.

  After a moment, a tall and sturdy bearded man walked into the backyard from the central yard, walking straight towards the western pavilion where Lin Ruocheng was, and the sound of scolding came again. "Why doesn't this servant girl get up to serve?"

  "She's already fast asleep, calling her won't wake her up. I'll help General Shang upstairs." Lin Ruochen's voice was very faint from a distance.

  Mo Wen still stood motionless, unable to comprehend the drastic change in Lin Ruoxuan. What had caused her to become like this? Was it the glory of wealth and nobility, or was it the struggle to survive?

  After standing still for a long time, Mo asked himself to walk out of the dark place, but he did not leave. Instead, he trembled and walked towards the west wing, his heart still had a thread of luck. Since ancient times, there have been many who endured humiliation and then plotted, he hoped that Lin Ruocheng was also one of them.

  However, after going upstairs and seeing all sorts of ugly scenes, he felt a chill run down his spine, and the urge to kill arose, almost rushing into the room to take action. But in the end, he still endured it, feeling that Lin Ruochen had become what she was today, he couldn't shirk his responsibility, if only he could have protected her completely back then, she wouldn't have ended up like this today.

  After the turmoil, the sound of waves and the cry for help stopped, Muo left without asking. He took out his bamboo flute from behind the high wall, calmed his mind, closed his eyes, and blew a clear sound. A man should have a beginning and an end to what he does. Even though there was no longer any zither accompaniment, he still wanted to finish that song of the male phoenix seeking the female phoenix...