Chapter 26: The Old Mansion (Part 2)

  For Xia Yifei, the old house was an incredibly magical existence.

  Everything she learned to make a living was learned from here.

  Xia Yifei used to believe that what she saw with her own eyes was true, but the identical appearance of the yin-yang dragon jade and the dragon pattern made it impossible for her to simply explain it as a coincidence. She could no longer be certain that everything in this old mansion was real, just like she had always believed.

  She thought so and entered a state of trance, even the tea she drank didn't have any taste.

  It wasn't until Old Man Xia had drunk half a cup of tea that he finally spoke up —

  "Yanfei, was it you who created that piece of Qi Bai Shi which was recently sold at Old Chen's shop?"

  Xia Yifei seemed to be startled for a moment before reacting, and Ao Yuan slightly furrowed his brow without drawing attention to himself, apparently realizing that Xia Yifei had just thought of something.

  She pretended to take a sip of tea before slowly responding: "Ah, that's right. But come to think of it, the original painting was also brought over by him for me to help copy."

  "That painting of yours is quite clever, if I didn't know your hidden dragon pattern technique, I probably wouldn't have noticed." Old Man Xia chuckled twice before continuing, "What's this? You look like you need something from me?"

  "After all, isn't my skill still something you taught me, Grandfather?" Xia Yu Fei forced out a smile and said some polite words. If it were in the past, she might not have been so stiff and could have still joked around with Old Master or even acted spoiled, but now her heart felt like it was blocked by a stone, how could she relax?

  After a pause, Xiaoyan continued: "It's nothing important, I just want to go to the library."

  This sentence refers not to the study in the old mansion, but a small room that only the direct descendants of the Xia family can enter after the old master nods in agreement. However, the ancient books and paintings hidden inside are truly priceless treasures.

  When she mentioned the book pavilion, Old Master put down his teacup and looked at her carefully: "Yanfei, what's wrong with you? I heard that you seemed to have fallen into the underground with Fang Shenye of the Fang family."

  "It's nothing much, I just brought two night pearls and asked Lan Ruoxue to help me get rid of them." Xia Yunfei said with a mix of truth and falsehood, trying to sound casual. "I was just resting at home reading books and saw something, remembered that I had seen it in the book pavilion before, so I thought of coming over to take a look."

  After hearing this, the old man nodded and whispered a few words to Chen Yan. Chen Yan then took out an ancient key and handed it to Xia Yifei.

  Xia Yifei took it with both hands and thanked him, then stood up and was about to head straight to the library.

  But at this time, the old man calmly spoke: "Yan Fei is my Xia family's legitimate heir. Why don't you let this young friend stay here and have a cup of tea with me, an old man, to chat for a bit?"

  Originally, Ao Yuan was used to acting with Xia Yunfei, and when he felt that Xia Yunfei was about to leave, he also stood up with her. At this time, after hearing these words, his eyebrows furrowed.

  After all, there is no place in this world that he can't go to.

  Just as he was about to speak, Xiaoyan suddenly pulled his sleeve and whispered to him: "Bear with it for now, I don't want this matter to be exposed yet. I'll go and come back."

  Ao Yuan looked at her and finally nodded reluctantly.

  But they didn't know that their interactions had all fallen under the eyes of Old Man Xia, and neither of them saw the strange expression on the old man's face as he sat in the main seat, nor did they hear what Chen Yan said to him in his ear.

  After Ao Yuan was persuaded into the hall, Xia Yannuo took the key and slowly walked towards the book pavilion alone.

  When something that someone once firmly believed in, even to the point of being a creed, suddenly lifts its veil and reveals an unclear truth, Xia Yu Fei's reaction was actually quite calm.

  She seemed to have taken the key and subconsciously wanted to play out various tricks, the old key in her hand could also turn out a flower. She kept this posture while walking and thinking.

  Xia Yifei thought of the tomb where Ao Yuan was sealed for a moment, then thought of the dragon pattern that she was most familiar with, and soon her mind jumped to the domineering and unparalleled Wan Gui Tong Ku. Along the way, she felt like she had thought about many things, but after careful consideration, she realized that she hadn't actually thought about anything at all.

  She shook her head clear of those fanciful ideas and used the key in her hand to open the door of the bookcase.

  The small room, which was only visible when Chen Yan came to clean, had a small amount of dust flying around as soon as the door was pushed open. Xia Yu waved her hand to disperse the dust and began to examine the bookshelf.

  The layout here is still not much different from the last time she came in, everything is neatly arranged in its own position, and the sunlight coming through the carved window seems to be particularly quiet because of this.

  But Xiaoyan didn't have the heart to appreciate these, she walked straight to the bookshelf and started searching quickly for what she was looking for.

  Xia Yifei looks like a noble lady when she doesn't speak, but once she opens her mouth, her queen-like, poisonous and sharp-tongued personality is exposed. At first glance, outsiders can tell that this girl must have received modern education, as she often sneers at those trivial things with disdain.

  But Xiaoyanfei was not only extremely fast, but also had a profound understanding of classical Chinese. The books in the Xia family library were all written in obscure ancient language, yet she could lean against the bookshelf and study the book she had just opened, almost finishing an entire page with her fingers sliding from top to bottom.

  She was holding an ordinary "Li Ji" which is a rare book, and her first impression of yin-yang also originated from this.

  "It is said in the Book of Rites - Jiao Te Sheng: 'Music comes from yang, rites come from yin, when yin and yang are harmonious, all things are successful.'"

  She stared at this sentence and fell into deep thought.

  Yin and yang have too many meanings, heaven and earth, human relationships, life and death, movement and stillness can all be expressed with yin and yang. But in the end, yin and yang are after all mutually generating and opposing things, how could the yin-yang dragon jade on her hand represent a great calamity?

  Xia Yu Fei leaned against the bookshelf and let out a sigh, putting the book back in its original place after thinking for half a day without any results.

  Just as she put down her book and inadvertently raised her head, she happened to catch a glimpse of an inconspicuous book on the top shelf.

  That book may be because it was placed on the highest level, so few people noticed it. On the entire neat bookshelf, only this book lay alone.

  Xia Yifei muttered in her heart how could Yan Ge not find it, while stretching out her hand to take it down and prepare to put it away properly. However, when she saw the cover, she couldn't help but widen her eyes.

  The cover of the book had no name on it, only a silver pattern on a black background.

  And those dark patterns are exactly the yin-yang dragon jade, in the style of the four families' dragon embroidery.