Chapter 1261: Prince Ning's Instructions Before His Death

Guan Fangyi did not offer to help. She simply watched as Shang Shuqing did the work herself.

Because she came so often to clear the place, the weeds never had a chance to spread. A few casual pulls were enough to leave the burial mound clean again.

When Shang Shuqing returned to stand before the gravestone, Guan Fangyi suddenly turned and snapped, "Look at her, then look at yourself. What are you standing there for? Can't you read the situation at all?"

Old Six Xu stared blankly, having no idea why he was being scolded. He looked around and only then noticed that the guards who had accompanied them were all standing far away on watch.

The guards always kept their distance because every time Shang Shuqing came, she would remain before the grave for a while. Sometimes she would even murmur a few words to it. Shang Shuqing clearly wanted everyone to give her some privacy, and so they did.

Since he had already been scolded, Old Six Xu could only imitate the others. Before withdrawing, however, he first walked up to the gravestone, cupped his hands, and bowed.

"Old Six pays his respects. Master Dao, rest in peace."

Was he cursing Niu Youdao to stay dead?

Guan Fangyi's eyes widened. "Rest in peace, my ass. Get lost."

Old Six Xu scratched the back of his head and flashed away, obediently putting more distance between himself and the grave.

The people from Fufang Garden all listened closely to Guan Fangyi. If she had not taken them in years ago, most of them would still have been scraping out lives as independent cultivators.

It was not merely gratitude for that kindness.

Back when their group first established itself in the Qi capital, they had relied on Guan Fangyi's beauty to do it.

In a sense, although these grown men now risked their lives for her, they still carried guilt toward her.

How had they all managed to live without worrying about food and clothing in the Qi capital?

Guan Fangyi, one woman, had sold her beauty to earn enough money to support all of them. Even after her looks began to fade, it had still been Guan Fangyi smiling at other men to keep food in everyone's bowls.

That was how a whole group of grown men had survived in the cultivation world.

Was there anything in that to be proud of?

And over all these years, Guan Fangyi had genuinely treated them well. She had never shortchanged any of them.

A grown man with even a little conscience did not need to be taught how he should repay that.

Other people could mock Guan Fangyi as a courtesan who sold her beauty.

Old Six Xu and the others had no right whatsoever to despise her for it.

As for those without conscience, the group had driven them out of Fufang Garden long ago.

Those who remained were truly loyal. They had accepted Guan Fangyi as their leader and willingly placed their lives in her hands.

What were a kick or two, or a few curses?

They were long accustomed to it.

They knew their elder sister meant no harm when she scolded or struck them.

Turning back, Guan Fangyi saw Shang Shuqing looking at her with a faint smile. Slightly embarrassed, she said, "Little Sister, don't mind them. These rough fellows are all like this. They've been around me so long their skins have grown thick. Unless you curse at them, nothing gets through."

Shang Shuqing shook her head slightly. "No. Qing'er only finds something strange."

Guan Fangyi looked surprised. "Strange? What?"

Shang Shuqing said, "Sister Hong was one of Master Dao's trusted subordinates. Given the bond between you and Master Dao, Qing'er doesn't quite understand something. Since Master Dao died, I don't seem to have seen Sister Hong show any grief or sorrow."

"..."

Guan Fangyi was speechless.

The man wasn't dead. What was she supposed to grieve about?

She had already put on enough of a performance at Zijin Cave. How could she keep acting forever?

If she really did that, how was this old woman supposed to live her life?

Those were only her private thoughts.

Outwardly, she still had to explain.

A melancholy look appeared on her face. "Commandery Princess, you know what kind of background this old sister of yours comes from. A woman who made her living smiling in the world of dust is used to smiling on the outside while keeping all the bitterness where no one can see it."

She tapped her chest with one finger.

"It's not as though I have no heart. Master Dao died. How could I not feel pain?"

"I may not hurt any less than you do. But there are still all those people at Maolu Annex. If I walk around looking miserable every day, what are they supposed to do when they see me?"

"This old sister smiles on the outside, but all the grief and bitterness are hidden right here."

"Commandery Princess, what you just said truly stabbed me in the heart. Ah..."

The moment Shang Shuqing heard that, she panicked and looked at a loss. "Sister Hong, Qing'er was presumptuous. I spoke recklessly. I shouldn't have said such a thing."

Guan Fangyi waved it away, then stepped forward and took her hand. "We're our own people. I'd rather hear the truth than have everyone speaking in circles."

Then she suddenly began staring at Shang Shuqing's face.

Shang Shuqing grew uncomfortable under the scrutiny. "Sister Hong, what is it?"

Guan Fangyi said, "I'm thinking about something."

Shang Shuqing looked puzzled. "What?"

Guan Fangyi said, "I once heard that the reason the Commandery Princess's face became like this wasn't something you were born with. It was caused by Master Dao's master from Shangqing Sect, Dong Guo Haoran."

"If someone could place such a thing on your face, then logically there should be some way to remove it."

"What father could simply ignore something like that?"

"Didn't Prince Ning ever tell you how it could be undone?"

Shang Shuqing nodded. "He did tell me a method."

Guan Fangyi's eyes lit up. "What method?"

Shang Shuqing said, "Father said the reason he had the ugly mark placed on my face was because I suffered from a strange illness when I was little. He was afraid that removing it rashly might harm me."

"Once it was certain there would be no problem, I was to find Mr. Dong Guo and have him remove it."

"Who would have imagined Mr. Dong Guo would also meet with disaster..."

"Master Dao once helped me ask around as well, but none of the others in Shangqing Sect knew how to remove it."

Guan Fangyi asked suspiciously, "That was all? He only said Mr. Dong Guo could remove it? He never gave you any other method?"

Shang Shuqing shook her head. "No."

Guan Fangyi asked, "You're certain?"

Shang Shuqing nodded. "Certain."

Guan Fangyi said, "Think carefully again. Is it possible you overlooked anything in what your father told you back then?"

Shang Shuqing smiled bitterly. "Everyone says women love beauty. If there had been some other way to restore my face, how could I possibly forget something like that?"

"I remember Father's instructions very clearly. Find Mr. Dong Guo, and he could remove it."

"Sister Hong, what's gotten into you today? Why did you suddenly start worrying about this?"

Guan Fangyi sighed. "Because I feel sorry for you."

"Look at that smooth skin of yours, and then that figure that even I envy, yet everything is spoiled by this face."

"This elder sister of yours simply hopes there might still be some way to cure it."

Shang Shuqing said, "Qing'er appreciates Sister Hong's kindness. But if there is no way, then let it be."

"So many years have already passed. I've long grown used to it."

Guan Fangyi said, "If it can be cured, we should still find a way. Think it over carefully again. Maybe you'll remember something."

Shang Shuqing looked rather helpless. "Sister Hong, Father's instruction truly was only to find Mr. Dong Guo. He truly never mentioned any other method."

Seeing that there was genuinely nothing more to get out of her, and unable to press too hard, Guan Fangyi had no choice but to give up.

She could only sigh theatrically. "What a pity."

"Perhaps this is simply fate." Shang Shuqing smiled faintly.

Then she suddenly asked, "It seems I haven't seen Sister Yun Ji for quite a long time."

Guan Fangyi said, "That old demon? You know what she's like. She's always kept a low profile and doesn't mix much with people. It's perfectly normal not to see her."

Shang Shuqing tried another question. "And that Wang Xiao who stays with Sister Yun? It seems I haven't seen him in quite some time either."

The moment she said it, Guan Fangyi became alert. "Commandery Princess, why are you suddenly asking about Wang Xiao?"

Shang Shuqing fell silent for a moment, then slowly said, "I won't hide it from Sister Hong. I don't know why, but I always feel there's something of Master Dao about him."

Guan Fangyi immediately said, "A mistaken impression isn't something you can take as truth."

Shang Shuqing slowly walked back to the gravestone and ran her hand over the inscription.

Melancholy entered her voice.

"Perhaps it is only a mistaken impression."

"Qing'er simply always feels Master Dao isn't dead. I always feel he's still alive. Sometimes I even feel he's somewhere around us."

"That's why I come here so often."

"Sister Hong, don't laugh at this strange feeling of mine."

"Back when we were at Maolu Villa, whenever Master Dao went out and then returned, even if no one told me, I could faintly sense that he had come back. I would step outside and ask, and Master Dao truly had returned."

"Was that feeling only an illusion?"

"I can't explain it myself."

"It's all my fault."

"Back then, I should never have asked Master Dao to come out of seclusion."

"If he had never come out, none of this would have happened..."

Guan Fangyi's face twitched as she listened.

What kind of joke was this?

Could there truly be some kind of sense between two people?

She wondered whether this woman had become obsessed to the point of delusion.

Shang Shuqing's hand remained on the gravestone.

Her voice gradually lowered, became a murmur, then finally faded into silence.

She simply stood there, lost in a daze, as though sinking into memories of the past.

Guan Fangyi watched her without interrupting.

Perhaps she saw something of her younger self in Shang Shuqing.

Slowly, she turned and looked toward the horizon flooded with evening clouds, melancholy filling her face.

Had she not once waited in exactly this way?

Waiting bitterly.

Hoping that man would return.

Without realizing it, Guan Fangyi began softly humming the melody Shang Shuqing had sung so many times before:

The mountain speaks not, beside the boundless sea.
Who sees the one who wanders?

Wind wears at stone; rain yearns for the eaves.
Who sees the one who wanders?

Green grass knows the wind's whisper;
the blue lake ripples beneath the rain.
Graceful is the maiden,
year by year her flowering youth slips away.

In empty hills, faint and secluded,
within Dragon Abyss—who sees?...

She had heard Shang Shuqing sing it again and again and thought it beautiful, so she had remembered it.

Sometimes, whether she was in a good mood or a bad one, she would find herself humming it unconsciously.

It was the same now.

When she reached the lines—

Graceful is the maiden,
year by year her flowering youth slips away.

—the words seemed to touch something particularly deep within her.

By the time she continued singing, it was as though she herself had become the woman inside the song.

Her eyes grew moist.

And so the two women stood there.

One facing the gravestone.

The other facing the evening sky.

The wind tossed their sleeves and robes, yet neither moved.

Only the wild grass rolled around them in waves.

They remained there until darkness had settled over the land.

Only when one of the guards finally came over to remind them did the two women come back to themselves and leave.

After returning to the Prince's residence, each went her own way.

Guan Fangyi found Niu Youdao and reported everything she had learned.

Niu Youdao pinched his chin with one hand and paced back and forth, muttering, "Logically, with something this important, there is no way Prince Ning would have left no fallback arrangement. What if something unexpected happened?"

Guan Fangyi sighed. "I asked her again and again."

"She said Prince Ning told her to find Dong Guo Haoran."

"She was certain. She repeatedly confirmed that Prince Ning gave her only that one method."

Niu Youdao understood that much even without her saying it.

Zhao Xiongge had already explained things very clearly.

Dong Guo Haoran was the man who had received the secret method for refining Crow Generals.

He had plainly been the one who actually handled the matter.

He was also the one who planted the military tally on Shang Shuqing's face.

Dong Guo Haoran definitely knew the truth.

"Could Shang Shuqing be hiding something?" Niu Youdao muttered.

"Impossible!" Guan Fangyi said.

"I'm a woman. I understand women better than you do."

"Given the way she feels about you... heh."

"I can guarantee that no matter what kind of secret it was, if she truly knew how to do it, she would have restored her real face long ago just to appear before you."

Niu Youdao had no interest in getting dragged into that subject with her.

This woman thought of nothing but romance.

Once she started, she would never stop.

He continued thinking aloud instead.

"Other than that old fellow Dong Guo, there was no other method?"

"If that's truly the case, then Old Dong Guo is already dead. Dead so thoroughly that not even a ghostly shadow remains."

"If he reincarnated, he'd already be half-grown by now. Where the hell am I supposed to find him?"

"Does that mean the secret simply vanished from the world together with Old Dong Guo?"

His expression turned thoroughly disgusted.

If that truly was the case, then did they really have no choice but to do as Zhao Xiongge had said?

Wait until the Crow Generals accumulated enough power for Shang Shuqing to sense them herself?

How long would that take?

Guan Fangyi asked suspiciously, "What secret exactly is hidden on Shang Shuqing's face?"

Niu Youdao had only told her there was a secret and instructed her what to do. He had never explained the truth.

"When the opportunity comes, you'll naturally know."

Niu Youdao dismissed the question with one casual sentence.

"Tch! A bellyful of dark little schemes and secrets."

Guan Fangyi rolled her eyes.

She hated this kind of answer most.

It was infuriating to hear.

Knowing any further questions would be wasted, she could not be bothered with him and turned away.

[End of Chapter 1261]