The Duke's Pampered Darling is So Scheming

Chapter 125: Chapter 125: A Dream About Him

Shen Yanchuan paused, then shook his head.

”He’s hardly capable of making the Eldest Princess angry. It’s not necessary.”

Lian Zhou was a little surprised. ”So you... really aren’t going?”

Shen Yanchuan set down his brush. The candlelight illuminated the rows of vigorous, powerful script on the paper, written with such force they seemed to pierce right through it.

He seemed to offer a faint smile.

”It’s too late. Why cause a disturbance?”

...

That night, Ye Chutang and Xiao Wu stayed at the Long Princess Mansion.

Xiao Wu nestled in her arms and soon fell into a deep sleep.

Ye Chutang closed her eyes. Exhausted from the long day, a wave of fatigue washed over her, and it wasn’t long before she, too, fell asleep.

Moonlight flowed like water, silent and serene. In the courtyard, a gentle evening breeze stirred, making the shadows of the trees sway.

...

Everything before her was a vast expanse of white, obscuring the path ahead.

All she could hear was the rustling of leaves, and faintly, the sound of a flowing creek.

Ye Chutang stood still for a moment before heading upward. The ground was blanketed with fallen leaves.

The mountain mist drifted away on the wind, and what had been veiled in haze was gradually revealed.

Halfway up the mountain, an octagonal pavilion stood quietly. Inside, two figures sat facing each other as the fragrant aroma of tea wafted into the air.

One of them had his back to her. His posture was tall and straight, and he looked remarkably familiar.

Ye Chutang recognized him in an instant.

’Shen Yanchuan?’

’What’s he doing here?’

”Regarding our previous discussion, has the Princely Heir come to a decision?”

The man sitting across from Shen Yanchuan spoke.

It was a man, and his voice sounded rather familiar. But the distance was too great for her to hear clearly.

’Who in the world...?’

Just as Ye Chutang was pondering this, she suddenly heard an unusual sound.

WHOOSH—!

A sharp dart suddenly shot out from the nearby woods!

Shen Yanchuan seemed to sense something. He turned his head just as the dart closed in!

THUD—!

Ye Chutang’s eyes flew open.

The room was exceptionally quiet. By the moonlight, she could vaguely discern that this was not her familiar home at the Ye Family estate.

’Right, this is the Long Princess Mansion.’

Ye Chutang sat up, closed her eyes, and pressed the bridge of her nose, trying to recall every scene from the dream.

She didn’t know why she had such a dream tonight, or even where the dream had taken place.

It seemed to be a mountain, but she had no memory of ever going there.

Everything in the dream had seemed exceptionally peaceful, except for that final dart...

’But that was aimed at Shen Yanchuan. What does it have to do with me?’

Xiao Wu, seeming to sense the empty space, shuffled closer. Only when she felt Ye Chutang’s hand did she nuzzle her cheek against it and fall back into a peaceful sleep.

Ye Chutang looked down at her, gently pulling the girl’s arm out from under her head to arrange her in a more comfortable position.

After sitting in silence for a long time and making sure no other scenes from the dream were forthcoming, Ye Chutang reluctantly lay back down.

’What in the world was that about?’

’Before, when I had these dreams, at least Shen Yanchuan and I were facing danger together. Now, he’s the one in peril while I’m perfectly safe, and I get a crystal-clear view of the whole thing.’

Ye Chutang rolled over, sighing silently.

’It would be one thing if I couldn’t foresee these events, but of course, I had to dream again. And more importantly, every prophetic dream I’d had before had, in the end, proven to be related to me.’

’So, even though this dream came out of nowhere, I can’t just ignore it.’

’At the very least, I have to figure out which mountain that was.’

’Maybe... I should ask Shen Yanchuan?’

...

Early the next morning, a crowd had already gathered outside the Ye Family’s gates. They pointed excitedly and curiously at the servants bustling in and out of the residence.

”What’s the Ye Family up to?”

”Who knows? They’ve been at it all night!”

”I just saw them loading things from the mansion onto carriages. Word is they’re sending everything back to their old house on Fengling Lane. Are they moving?”

”Really? They’ve lived here for three years. That old house has been vacant for ages. Why would they suddenly go back?”

”Shh— I heard Ye Heng went to the Long Princess Mansion yesterday, and things have been like this ever since he returned! It’s probably because of Han Yao, right?”

The crowd buzzed with speculation.

Everyone knew about the scene Han Yao had caused yesterday. Given how much the Eldest Princess favored Ye Chutang, how could she possibly tolerate it?

”If you ask me, the Ye Family deserves this! Others might not know what a piece of trash Han Yao is, but the Ye Family is quite friendly with them. Don’t tell me they didn’t know? They were obviously trying to push Ye Chutang into a fiery pit!”

The speaker punctuated his words by spitting on the ground.

”Pah! What kind of uncle finds a husband like that for his own niece? I’d say he’s been crooked from the very beginning!”

...

Ye Heng felt like he was being fried in hot oil, an absolute, frantic mess.

He knew, of course, that the people outside were saying awful things, but he had no other choice now.

Who was the Eldest Princess? Who would dare defy her command?

Ye Heng had no doubt that if he didn’t do as he was told and move out within the day, he would meet a terrible end!

He might not even be able to hold on to his official post as the Junior Minister of the Ministry of Justice!

Mrs. Gao was wailing and making a scene, while Ye Mingze sulked, both stubbornly refusing to go. A servant accidentally dropped something, scattering its contents all over the floor, adding to the mess...

The entire Ye household was in a state of chaos.

But at that moment, Ye Heng couldn’t be bothered with any of it.

He went to his study and stared at the several chests he had packed through the night, his brow tightly furrowed.

Inside were many of the precious paintings and calligraphies he had collected over the years, as well as—

Ye Heng stepped forward and opened an inconspicuous Pear Wood Box.

...

After accompanying the Eldest Princess for breakfast with Xiao Wu, Ye Chutang mentioned that she wanted to go back for a bit.

”Why go back so early?” the Eldest Princess asked, a little puzzled. ”It must be a chaotic, noisy mess over there right now.”

She had originally planned to send Ye Chutang back after noon. She would send some people over then to help clean and organize so that Chutang could move in comfortably.

Ye Chutang smiled faintly. ”It’s nothing terribly important, really. It’s just that when we came back to the capital from Jiangling, we brought some things with us—some books for Yan, some medicine for A Feng, and some of Xiao Wu’s own little trinkets. I’m worried they might take them by mistake while they’re packing. It would be a hassle to try and get them back later.”

The Eldest Princess understood. ”That does make sense.”

’What wouldn’t that family do? They wouldn’t just ’accidentally’ take her things; they were capable of outright robbery.’

”In that case, I will send people to guard your quarters. Let’s see who dares to touch your belongings then.”

After all that had happened recently, the Eldest Princess genuinely detested Ye Heng and his family and couldn’t bear to even look at them.

’It was a wonder Ye Chutang had managed to endure it all until now.’

Ye Chutang smiled and shook her head. ”Thank you, Your Highness, but there’s no need to go to such trouble. I’ll just go back and check on things myself. Besides what I just mentioned, there’s also an umbrella that Mr. Xu gave me. It would be a shame if they took that by mistake.”

She kept Xu Rongqing’s umbrella with her parents’ belongings, which Xu Fengchi had returned.

’There was no way she could let Ye Heng’s family know she still had these items. She had to go back.’

Shen Yanchuan, who was just arriving at the door, stopped in his tracks, one eyebrow raised slightly.