IHOEAYSTTTIW Chapter 75

Chapter 75 Slipping Away

Chapter 75 Slipping Away

As soon as Lin Yan arrived at the Prince’s mansion, the steward rushed up to greet him, eagerly looking behind Lin Yan, “Your Highness, you’re back! Where’s the Prince?”

Lin Yan coldly snorted and brushed off the steward’s hand, “Your Prince is fine. He’ll be back before long.”

The steward didn’t notice Lin Yan’s changed form of address. He relaxed visibly, his voice full of relief, “That’s good, that’s good.”

The light in Lin Yan’s eyes dimmed, and he walked straight towards the Back Yard.

The people in this Prince’s mansion only care about Yun Qi; what happens to him doesn’t matter.

Lin Yan silently walked to the front of his room. He waved his hand to the steward and Qing He who followed him, “Alright, I’m tired. You can all leave.”

Qing He hesitated, but the steward was as if granted amnesty, pulling the person and directly retreating.

The outside quickly quieted down. Lin Yan in the room opened the window, leaning out to look around.

The courtyard was empty, without a single person.

Lin Yan couldn’t say whether he was relieved or sad, but he felt very awkward. He closed the window, opened the secret compartment under the bed, and began to count his belongings: “Gold and silver, valuables, cell phone, power bank…”

White meowed from the corner.

Lin Yan hesitated for a moment, walked to the corner, picked up the cat, and put it with the luggage, “Bring the cat too.”

When he came to the Capital City, he had one bag; now that he was leaving, it was just a slightly heavier bag… and a fatter cat.

Lin Yan wrapped the bag in cloth and rummaged through the room again.

There was a box in the drawer of the dressing table that looked familiar to Lin Yan. He took out the box, opened it, and picked up two strands of intertwined hair with two fingers: “This is… two strands of hair?”

The wedding scene inappropriately appeared in Lin Yan’s mind. Yun Qi’s action of twisting the hair together seemed to be right in front of him.

Lin Yan wiped his slightly moist eyes and muttered to himself as he separated the two strands of hair. He looked at them against the light, left and right, but couldn’t tell the difference between the two strands of hair. He randomly took one strand and stuffed it into his chest, muttering, “I’ll take this one, who knows if anyone in this world can use this for black magic.”

Lin Yan took off the Prince’s Consort robes, put on his usual disguise, carried the increasingly fat cat, and slipped out of the Prince’s mansion’s back door with practiced ease.

It wasn’t yet lunchtime, and the waiter at the River Sister restaurant was dozing behind the counter.

Lin Yan, who had the whim to inspect the store, stood at the door for a long time without anyone greeting him. He reluctantly went in himself and casually pulled out a chair.

The waiter mumbled something in his sleep, rubbing his eyes as he looked toward the door.

The doorway was empty, without a single person.

Maybe he was just confused from sleep?

The waiter changed to a comfortable position and re-entered his dream.

The customer had been sitting for a long time without even a cup of tea, and there was no one in the store to clear the table or serve food. Lin Yan took a deep breath, feeling that this store would be finished sooner or later.

Lin Yan tapped on the table. Finally, someone came out from the back Kitchen. Lin Yan gathered his energy, about to erupt, when he discovered it was an acquaintance.

Luo Mu shook the water off his hands, quickly walking over to greet him, “Boss, you’re here.”

Lin Yan coldly snorted, his tone strange, “This store is great, there’s not even anyone to serve customers.”

Wait, why is it Luo Mu? Did he go to the wrong place?

Lin Yan looked at the sign outside, then looked at Luo Mu in front of him, somewhat surprised, “What are you doing here?”

Luo Mu scratched the back of his head, chuckled innocently, and led Lin Yan upstairs, “Boss is right to criticize. It’s usually not like this, but today Madam Gu has gone to a banquet, so she asked me to watch the store for a day.”

Lin Yan hummed in acknowledgement, no longer dwelling on it.

He just wanted to take one last look at the River Sister restaurant; as for anything else… let them be.

Was there anything else he needed to explain?

The door of the private room opened and closed again. Lin Yan was surprised to find that his mind was as clean as the private room.

Spotless, empty.

Lin Yan coughed awkwardly, patted Luo Mu’s shoulder, and said profoundly and earnestly, “I’m going out for a trip, so I’m leaving the store to you and Madam Gu to manage.”

“Yes, I will definitely learn well. But…” Luo Mu hesitated for a long time, finally stammering out, “I don’t know how long you’ll be gone, and I’m afraid they’ll get tired of these dishes sooner or later, and then…”

Round and round, winding and winding.

Lin Yan only understood after listening for a while: Luo Mu was just asking for the recipes.

If you want the recipes, just say you want the recipes, why go through so many twists and turns?

Lin Yan patted his chest, extremely generous, “That’s a small matter. I’ll write them down for you.”

Luo Mu, who was just annoyed by his lack of vocabulary, instantly perked up and went to get a pen and ink, placing them in front of Lin Yan.

Lin Yan confidently picked up the brush, soaked it in ink, and quickly deflated looking at the rice paper in front of him.

The recipes were simple, but the problem now was that he couldn’t write traditional characters, let alone use a brush to write traditional characters.

Lin Yan secretly glanced at Luo Mu, seeing Luo Mu waiting respectfully on the side. He instantly felt immense pressure, as if sitting on pins and needles.

Lin Yan coughed lightly, waving his hand with affected profundity, “You can go down first, I’ll send it down to you after I’ve written it.”

Luo Mu respectfully agreed and then retreated.

The footsteps at the door gradually faded, becoming inaudible.

The person was gone; now was the time to show off his skills. It was just traditional characters. They shared the same origin, so there was nothing he couldn’t learn. As long as he practiced a little…

Lin Yan thought it through very well.

The first sheet of paper was for practicing control of the brush, the second sheet for practicing simplified characters, the third sheet for writing traditional characters, and the fourth sheet for writing the recipes.

The reality was terrible.

The first sheet was a drawing of earthworms, the second sheet was ink blots, the third sheet was a smear of ink, and the fourth sheet…

Luo Mu had only brought five sheets of paper in total. He had already ruined three of them, and Lin Yan really couldn’t bring himself to use the remaining two.

But the recipes…

Lin Yan frowned in distress, biting on the brush, looking at the carvings on the brush handle, and suddenly had an inspiration.

A brush with ink was essentially a hard-tipped pen. Using a hard-tipped pen to write simplified characters was simple and easy.

The recipes were thus easily solved. Lin Yan looked at the newly made two recipe sheets, feeling very… passable.

The pen wasn’t smooth, he hadn’t written in too long, the ink wasn’t good… All sorts of reasons combined together, resulting in something that looked like a ghost’s scribbles. But ghost scribbles were still writing. As long as you tried hard to distinguish… you should still be able to see it, right?

Lin Yan took out the first three sheets of paper and compared them, quickly regaining confidence, nodding with satisfaction.

Good, very good, a peerless masterpiece.

The sound of a gong rang out on the street, gradually approaching, each echo clearer than the last.

Lin Yan paused for a moment, quickly remembering the imperial decree he had heard Tidespeak convey when he left the palace.

As long as he left the Capital City, he wouldn’t need to worry about anything else. Someone would pick him up at the back door of the River Sister restaurant. He didn’t need to do anything, just wait quietly.

In Lin Yan’s estimation, the new Emperor would at most send a small carriage to send him away, but this current display…

The street was crowded with people, the lanterns of the shops swaying in the wind. Constables in official uniforms held gongs and whips, the gong echoing, a large, intricately decorated eight-bearer sedan chair in the procession, several carriages following behind, guards in armor, their steps steady and imposing.

Lin Yan clicked his tongue, cursing the “sinful landlord class” in his heart.

Was this the posture of secretly slipping away? This was the Emperor going on a southern inspection, right?

Lin Yan closed the window, flashed back to the table to hide the practice paper, then slung his small bag over his shoulder, picked up the cat, and slipped out of the back door.

Lin Yan stood at the entrance of the alley, casually stroking the cat, preparing to greet the eight-bearer sedan chair.

Here it comes, here it comes.

…

There was no sedan chair, only an inconspicuous small carriage.

So the sedan chair was a decoy, and he was only worthy of sitting in the back car?

Lin Yan reluctantly looked behind the car, confirming that there was no eight-bearer sedan chair before he dejectedly walked toward the carriage.

The guard in front of the car door bowed and reached out to help Lin Yan.

Lin Yan dodged to the side, lifted the curtain, and dived into the car.

After Lin Yan sat down, the guard asked in a low voice, “Does the Young Master have anyone else he wants to see…”

The first person Lin Yan thought of was Yun Qi, but…

What was so good about seeing that big liar?

Lin Yan shook his head, shaking off the bitter memories, and listlessly ordered, “Let’s go.”

The carriage slowly started.

Lin Yan leaned wearily against the seat, just wanting to adjust his posture when he felt a package.

The guard’s voice came from outside the car: “The things His Majesty gave to the Young Master are all on the seat. The Young Master can check them.”

Treasures bestowed by the Emperor?

Lin Yan picked up the package and tossed it in his hand, with no interest in opening it.

The guard didn’t wait for a response, directly moving on to the next procedure: “This servant, An Tan, will be by the Young Master’s side to serve him personally from now on.”

An Tan? Personal service?

A spy for secret surveillance; the name was quite honest.

It was just a pity that he had no plans to rebel, and no intention of returning to the Capital City. The new Emperor’s arrangement was wasted.

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