The Duke's Pampered Darling is So Scheming

Chapter 139: Chapter 139: Meeting

Ye Chutang stepped forward and offered a polite bow.

”Officers, I would like to see an old friend off. Might you be able to oblige?”

Seeing she was just a young girl, the government officer waved his hand impatiently. ”Can’t you see we’re on the move? We don’t have time for this!”

Ye Chutang said gently, ”This is very important to me. I implore you, officers, please make an exception.”

As she spoke, she offered him a heavy purse.

The government officer glanced at it, and his expression softened considerably.

But before he could reach for it, another officer cut in with a cold rebuke. ”Do you have any idea who these people are? Every last one of them is a major criminal! This isn’t a place where you can do as you please!”

At these words, the first officer’s expression tightened. He scowled, ”That’s right! Get out of here! If you delay our progress, can you bear the consequences!?”

He even made a show of raising the whip in his hand, as if he would strike if Ye Chutang didn’t move aside.

”She can’t? Well then, I suppose I can, can’t I?”

A teasing male voice drifted over. The two government officers looked up, their eyes focusing, and only then did they recognize the newcomer.

”M-Mr. Xie?”

Their attitudes did a complete one-eighty. Plastering on fawning smiles, they asked, ”Mr. Xie, what brings you here?”

Xie Anbai was of noble birth and was a notorious troublemaker throughout the Capital City, so the officers naturally wouldn’t dare to offend him.

Xie Anbai strolled over with a lazy air, fanning himself as he smiled.

”How I got here isn’t important. What’s important is that Miss Ye is asking for a small favor. What, is that so difficult?”

The two officers froze. They exchanged a look, and when they turned back to Ye Chutang, their expressions had completely changed.

Miss Ye?

”This... this is—”

’There’s a Miss Ye in the Capital City who’s become quite famous recently. Could this be her?’

They didn’t recognize Ye Chutang, but they knew she now had the Eldest Princess for a backer. She was not someone they could afford to provoke, to say nothing of the fact that Xie Anbai himself had now stepped forward.

One officer broke into a fawning smile, bowing and scraping. ”My eyes are dim! I failed to recognize you, Miss Ye! I hope you can forgive my ignorance!”

Xie Anbai cut him off impatiently. ”Enough. Can you do it or not? Just a simple yes or no.”

With him standing right there, how could the officers possibly refuse?

”Of course, of course! We just don’t know... who is it that Miss Ye wishes to see?”

It wasn’t just them; even a few of the bound prisoners couldn’t help but raise their heads to look.

Most of them had already seen their families ruined and scattered to the winds. Even if they had any acquaintances left, no one would be willing to be associated with them now.

’Someone actually came all the way to the city gate just to see one of us off?’

Xie Anbai shot Ye Chutang a meaningful glance.

Ye Chutang gave a slight nod in thanks, then looked ahead. Her gaze finally settled on a figure at the very end of the line, who had kept his back turned to her the entire time.

”I’d like to have a few words with him.”

The officer followed her gaze and seemed a little surprised, but he called out the name anyway.

”Sun Lian’an!”

The man’s body stiffened before he slowly turned around.

An officer rubbed his hands together and said in a low voice, ”Miss Ye, all these prisoners are chained together. If you wish to speak with him alone...”

”There’s no need to trouble yourselves.” Ye Chutang shook her head. ”I only need to say a few words.”

The officer breathed a sigh of relief.

’Good. This saves us a lot of trouble.’

”Well then—Miss Ye, please proceed.”

...

Ye Chutang walked to the end of the line and stopped before Sun Lian’an.

Sun Lian’an’s head was bowed, his messy hair obscuring most of his eyes and his expression.

Ye Chutang was the first to speak. ”Uncle Sun,” she said softly, ”it’s been a long time.”

Sun Lian’an’s body trembled. As if he could no longer avoid it, he forced himself to raise his head and look at Ye Chutang.

He was so thin he was almost unrecognizable, and his face was utterly haggard.

Ye Chutang had indeed seen him before.

Three years ago, at this very same city gate, she had glanced at him from behind the curtains of a carriage.

Sun Lian’an was silent for a long moment before speaking, his voice hoarse. ”...Are you here to laugh at my misfortune, too?”

His current despair was as deep as his former glory was brilliant.

Ye Chutang was quiet for a moment.

”Actually, I came today to relay a message from my father.”

Sun Lian’an was stunned. ”...What?”

Ye Chutang said, ”My father once said that what happened back then wasn’t entirely your fault. He was also to blame.”

Sun Lian’an seemed frozen. After a long while, his lips trembled slightly, his eyes filled with disbelief.

Although Ye Chutang had spoken vaguely, he understood her meaning immediately.

He had once been Ye Zheng’s subordinate. Born into poverty and with no powerful connections, he had faced difficulties at every turn in his official career, but Ye Zheng had looked out for him.

Because of this, he had always regarded his superior, Ye Zheng, as an elder brother, holding him in the highest esteem.

But later, a disagreement over a case drove a wedge between them.

The perpetrator was a dandy who had raped and murdered a thirteen-year-old girl. His family used their connections to find Sun Lian’an, hoping he would be lenient. Sun Lian’an, in a difficult position, ultimately chose to compromise.

The dandy spent only a few days in jail before being released.

When Ye Zheng later found out, he believed Sun Lian’an had been derelict in his duty, cowering before the powerful while bullying the weak. He sought him out and gave him a harsh reprimand.

No one knew what was said between them, only that after the argument, the two had a complete falling out and went their separate ways.

Ye Chutang continued, ”My father saw you as his own brother. He always felt he had been too impulsive that year and spoken too harshly, especially since you had your own difficulties. He regretted it every time he thought of it afterward. But by a twist of fate, there was never another chance to clear the air.”

No one could have predicted everything that would happen afterward.

Sun Lian’an’s gaze lost focus as he muttered guiltily, ”No, he was right. It was my failure, my own...”

He clutched his head in anguish.

When he saw Ye Chutang, he had imagined many possibilities, but he never expected she would come to tell him this.

Ye Chutang paused, then said softly, ”My father can no longer say these words himself. I came today to help resolve this regret for him. If he knows of this in the great beyond, he can finally be at peace, with nothing more weighing on his heart.”

Sun Lian’an’s eyes were rimmed with red, and his whole body trembled slightly.

Ye Chutang glanced up.

”It is the height of summer now. Lingnan is humid and sweltering, full of miasmic vapors. You have a journey of a thousand li ahead of you, and who knows when we might meet again. Please, take good care of yourself.”

A strange expression flickered across Sun Lian’an’s face, as if he wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.

”I don’t deserve this... A man like me, I don’t deserve it... It was my fault... All my fault!”

His voice broke, choked with emotion.

Ye Chutang watched him, a gentle smile gracing her lips as she slowly shook her head.

”No.”

”Three years ago, when my father incurred the Emperor’s wrath and was demoted to Wuzhou, you were the only one who came to see him off. The Ye Family has never forgotten that kindness.”