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Chapter 67: So Something Did Go Wrong
The person in charge of the Zi Family’s banquet paid particular attention to making sure things smelled, looked, and even tasted great. The people in charge of the dining hall arrangements prepared a grand feast. The gates of the front courtyard were arranged with so many chairs and tables that even the road in the front was covered.
“Truly wealthy!” Xuanyuan Meng, who sat next to Gu Yunlan, spoke with praise, “Not to mention our Xuanyuan Family’s small birthdays, even grandpa and grandma’s special celebration aren’t as extravagant as this.”
Gu Yunlan flashed a smile at Zi Luolan, who was taking care of guests, and said in a low voice, “You don’t get the feeling of an upstart wealthy person?”
“It’s probably not one of Luolan’s works. It’s probably Uncle Zi’s work!” Xuanyuan Meng giggled into her sleeve. With such a high profile guest list, they aren’t afraid of catching the attention of thieves at all. One must keep in mind that we are in the middle of a war.
“Mengmeng!” Gu Yunlan looked around, and put her arm on Xuanyuan Meng’s shoulder, saying softly as she inched closer, “In the afternoon, Yi Ran and I thought of a way to hold up Zi Luolan. You and Zhangyu will go to the fish pond to take a look. If there’s any anomalies, don’t let anyone find out, okay?.”
Xuanyuan nodded her head slightly. She eyed Zi Luolan carefully from the corner of her eyes. She immediately hugged Gu Yunlan by the neck and said through gritted teeth, “Just now, you actually said that I am Zhangyu’s fiance! Say it! How did you know about this?! Did my big brother tell you?!”
“Cough cough!” Gu Yunlan patted her hand, then pinched her. She choked, “Let go, idiot! That was a lucky guess. Zhangyu is watching you!”
Xuan Yuanmeng immediately let go of her hand and turned around to look at Zhangyu. She lightly coughed twice. “Geez! You saw too, it wasn’t me who said it. It was Yunlan who guessed right!”
“What happened to you two just now? Why are you bickering?” Zi Luolan, dressed in a pure white outfit, approached leisurely.
Gu Yunlan hinted for her to come closer and whispered, “She says she didn’t want me to announce their relationship. And now she wants compensation!”
“Haha! I’ll help Yunlan make up for it!” Zi Luolan laughed. She stood up and said to the group of people, “That’s right! After lunch, everyone should stay behind and play in the mansion for the afternoon. There will be a dance at night!”
“There will be a dance too?” To the country bumpkin Bai Nightspring. who has never left the mountains before, this was very exciting. She’s only ever heard about dances, this would be her first time participating! She glanced at her clothing, and thought it was rather fitting.
“Luolan! Look at Mengmeng and I’s clothes! Unfortunately, it seems they aren’t suitable for a dance.” Gu Yunlan pointed at her clothes.
Zi Luolan glared at Gu Yunlan, how can she be so depressing? “What are you talking about? We have plenty of clothing. I’ll take you to pick out some dresses later. Nobody is allowed to decline. It’s almost time for the banquet. You guys enjoy the meal, and I’ll go greet the guests.”
Gu Yunlan rubbed her nose, she only wanted to say that she didn’t know how to dance. Simply thinking about a dance reminded her of Bai Linlong. Seeing Zi Luoluan’s leaving figure, she hesitated. Should she tell her about the things regarding Bai Linlong?
“No problem!” Seeing Zi Luoluan leave, Xuan Yuanmeng turned around to comfort her. “We’re here! Don’t forget, you have Diandian too!”
Gu Yunlan nodded her head, that’s also true.
After the events of the clamoring and bustling banquet, few people stayed behind.. They were all young men and women, each group filed into the back courtyard, saying they wanted to look at Zi Luolan’s collection.
Zin Luoan looked smugly at the crowd that gathered around her collection. Little Cui stood to the side, introducing each piece.
Zi Luolan approached Gu Yunlan and led her to a pile of colored glass. She glanced at Gu Yunlan and asked puzzledly, “Where’s Mengmeng?”
Gu Yunlan covered her mouth as she leaned into her ear, “That fiance of her’s just got here from his hometown yesterday, the two had a small fight, so they went to go settle it.”
“Ai! An interesting tidbit!” Zi Luolan laughed out loud, then pointed at the neatly-laid ceramics, “That’s right, these were just randomly made by me, if you like it, everyone can take one piece home!”
Gu Yunlan looked over attentively. All the ceramics were finely made; falcons, rooms, and cats looked almost as if they were real. She couldn’t help but say, “Excellent craftsmanship. You really have great skills!”
“Thank you! These creations were crafted out of boredom, it’s good as long as you like it! I’ll give all of them to you.” Zi Luolan pointed at the pile of transparent things.
Yi? Gu Yunlan’s pupils flashed. Picking up the item furthest in the pile, she noticed how it’s completely transparent. It was shaped like a coiled snake with gold and silver streaks of color. It looked somewhat familiar, she’d definitely seen it somewhere before, but she couldn’t recall where…
Zi Luolan glanced at the item in her hands before reaching out her own hands to grasp it in a flash, “Yunlan! Did you forget? This is something we played with when we were little! Although I don’t remember where we saw it, I coincidentally saw its shape made from clay, so I just made this!”
Gu Yunlan paused, something they played with as a child? How come she didn’t remember? Suddenly something flashed in her mind, right! This thing was on her father’s screen. As a kid, she brought Zi Luolan and they snuck into father’s study room. In the past she often made things out of clay!”
“Luolan! Were all of these ceramics personally made by you?” Bai Nightspring, holding up a translucent goblet, asked excitedly.
Zi Luolan put the item back into Gu Yunlan hand’s, then turned her head to nod at Bai Nightspring with a smile. That’s right. All these were personally made by her, all from her imagination.
“Then I’ll take this home!” Bai Nightspring happily hugged it. It was only later at the dance did she come to regret this…
Gu Yunlan tilted the item in the light, “Luolan, I’ll have this one then.”
Bai Yiran randomly took another one and exited the room. Gu Yunlan said to Zi Luolan with a smile, “Luolan, I’ll go take a look. How come they’re not back yet? They shouldn’t be fighting!”
Zi Luolan nodded smiling then busied herself to greet other people.
Gu Yunlan left the room. She flashed it around in her hands, light glinted on the surface.
“Isn’t this the thing drawn on the screen in your father’s study room?” Bai Yiran asked curiously.
Gu Yunlan nodded her head, not saying a word. She creased her brows as she headed toward the orchid garden with the ceramic in hand. The object in her hand was shaped just as expected, yet was a little different than what was on her father’s screen. However she seems to really have seen it somewhere.
From a distance, Xuanyuan Meng and Zhangyu’s voices drift, “I don’t care! It’s your responsibility!”
“Then let’s get married tomorrow.” Zhangyu’s cold voice said.
“Don’t change the topic! You touched me, and so, you should take responsibility!” Xuanyuan Meng seemed to be stamping her feet.
Gu Yunlan and Bai Yiran looked at each other, then looked for a place to hide. There’s some kind of drama between those two!
“That’s why I’m willing to marry you.” Zhangyu’s voice sounded slowly from around the corner. His expression looked rather innocent, compared to that of the group, in front of Xuanyuan Meng, his expression was rich.
“You! Who said you would marry me? I didn’t even fall into the water! Yet you still hugged onto me! You must pay compensation for this!” Xuanyuan stubbornly stood before him and pouted. .
“Then what do you want? How should I take responsibility?” Zhangyu was rather helpless before her pestering and could only look for some kind of compromise by asking.
“Our situation must not reach the Xuanyuan Family’s ears. You must concede to me in the future! Otherwise, I’ll tell my brother you bullied me!” Xuanyuan Meng pouted her lips, and turned her head to look at Zhangyu.
Gu Yunlan and Bai Yiran lifted the corners of their mouths, was this menacing enough? No matter how they saw this, she looks like a spoiled child. If that piece of wood Zhangyu disagreed, then he would really be like a log.
“Alright! I agree! Calm down, everyone’s watching!” Zhangyu reached out his hand and turned her around to see Gu Yunlan’s hiding place.
Gu Yunlan and Bai Yiran walked out, embarrassed to have been caught. .
Xuanyuan Meng glared at him menacingly, then walked towards Yunlan. She whispered cautiously, “The middle of that fish pond really does have warmer waters, but the water quality isn’t that of a hot spring: it has a fishy smell!”
“What else did you find?” Gu Yunlan rubbed the trinket in her hands as she asked.
“There seems to be people there. Since I wanted to avoid discovery, I nearly fell into the water amidst all the rush! No one found me, though!” Xuanyuan Meng’s face turned a bit red. But Gu Yunlan didn’t notice, she was deep in thought.
As expected, there was something weird about that pond. Her heart became more and more restless; the more she discoverd, the more she thought of Zi Luolan in a mysterious light. For example, the details on this ceramic didn’t appear in the previous life until two years later.
Seeing Gu Yunlan and Xuanyuan Meng whispering amongst each other, Bai Yiran smiled towards Zhangyu and asked, “Are you really her fiance?”
“Definitely!” Zhangyu smiled at him faintly.
“Tche tche! To think there’s actually someone who is willing to accept her, that little witch isn’t someone an ordinary person can handle!” Bai Yiran looked pityingly and patted Zhangyu’s shoulders.
“Bai Yiran! Who are you talking about?” Xuanyuan Meng’s voice sounded from behind him, followed by her devilish grip.
Though Bai Yiran immediately dodged to the side, she immediately gave chase. The two went one after another and ended up fighting.
Gu Yunlan snapped back to consciousness, and looked upon the scene with shock, what’s going on? Why are they fighting all of the sudden?
Zhangyu shrugged, he walked closer to speak to Gu Yulan in a low voice, “That fishy smell is the smell of human blood. I suspect someone is using corpses to raise the fish.”
Gu Yunlan once again went into a stupor. If someone is using corpses to raise fish in the Zi Household, does Zi Luolan know? This corpse situation and Jian Chen must have some connection and if it was her doing, would it be just one of the many schemes? However, she wasn’t willing to blame Zi Luolan like this, it could very well be Bai Linlong’s schemes!
“Why are they suddenly fighting?” Zi Luolan and a crowd of people walked out from the house, each person smiling happily with a ceramic in hand. .
Gu Yunlan shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know either. I came out to see them fighting while Zhangyu just stood there watching the drama. So I came to watch the drama too.”
Seeing people coming out, Bai Yiran’s body flashed as the two stopped fighting.
Xuanyuan Meng glared at him menacingly, then walked to Gu Yunlan’s side.
“Meng Meng! They’ve all finished choosing a piece. Do you two want one?” Zi Luolan asked them with a smile, pretending as if she didn’t just see the two fighting just now.
Xuanyuan Meng’s hair was a bit messy. She opened her mouth, meaning to say something but was cut short by a girl running towards them urgently.
“Young Miss! Young Miss! The second young miss was found dead in the west wing!” Little Cui looked very pale as she panted heavily.
Gu Yunlan was shocked, the west wing? That was where Bai Linlong was a year ago.
“What? Explain clearly!” Zi Luolan’s face color sharpened as she immediately asked.
The crowd behind her was also bewildered. Died in the west wing? Exactly on the day of the Zi Family lord’s birthday too, how interesting!
“She- her entire body’s naked and covered in claw marks. Her death state is quite terrible…” Little Cui’s body was visibly trembling, seeming to be terrified.
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