Chapter 95: Theories Concerning The Ledger

Clutching the leather-bound book tightly against her chest, Han Lin hurriedly smoothed down her robes and hurried out of her room, her leather boots tapping a quick rhythm against the wooden floorboards of the corridor. She made a sharp turn toward the main courtyard hall, calling out for the others as soon as she crossed the threshold.

"Lu Feng! Chenxue! You need to see this right now!"

Lu Feng, who had just finished checking the perimeter runes along the central courtyard, turned around with an arched eyebrow. Ye Chenxue emerged from her own chamber a moment later, her expression calm as her gaze settled on the heavy, cloth-wrapped object in Han Lin’s hands.

"What is it?" Lu Feng asked, stepping closer.

Ye Chenxue also stepped in closer, paying full attention to what Han Lin was about to reveal to them even though she had no clue what it could be.

"I completely forgot," Han Lin admitted, her cheeks flushing slightly with embarrassment as she set the ledger down on the low tea table in the center of the hall. "With everything that happened today—the market, the mercenary, the shopping, and the meal at Lin Laifu’s estate—it totally slipped my mind. I found this hidden away while I was cleaning the study room yesterday."

She paused for a while before sighing as though she was both regretful and embarrassed at the fact that she had somehow forgotten to show it to them even though they had spoken and dined together. "You were asleep and Ye Chenxue was meditating. Because of that, I decided to wait until you were both available to present it so I tucked it into my wardrobe for safekeeping and forgot to pull it back out. I am sorry, Young Master."

Lu Feng nodded, comforting her that it wasn’t a big deal. "At the very least, you remembered now, didn’t you? I don’t see any reason to be mad at you or hold anything against you for it." He even went ahead to place both hands on her shoulders which caused them to automatically relax.

Ye Chenxue also chose this exact moment to add her own sentence to alleviate any more worries or regret Han Lin still felt for having forgotten to show what she was about to show them now.

"Besides, if it wasn’t for you discovering it, we still would be left in the dark right now, would we? Hold your head high for having discovered it. We’re very proud of you." As Ye Chenxue spoke, she placed her left palm on Han Lin’s back to make her relax even more.

"Thank you both, really. I feel better now after the statements you just made." She smiled slightly and presented the wrapped ledger.

She carefully unfolded the protective cloth, exposing the dark leather cover. The spine was reinforced with beaten brass, and stamped directly into the center of the leather was a faded, intricate crest depicting a coiled viper wrapping around a broken anvil.

Lu Feng sat down at the table, leaning in to examine the mark closely. Ye Chenxue knelt quietly beside him, her sharp eyes tracing the faded lines of the emblem.

"That’s a weird looking crest," Lu Feng noted, running a fingertip over the raised leather impressions. "I’m guessing it belongs to the previous handlers of this estate or at least someone related to the estate. Curiously enough, none of us paid close enough attention to the subtle markings on the outer gates or the storage crates when we first arrived to notice this emblem. Although I doubt it’s located anywhere on them."

"Is it a local faction in Crimson Vale?" Han Lin asked, leaning over his shoulder.

"It could be a sub-branch of a larger trade group or a covert black-market guild," Ye Chenxue offered, her tone measured. "Many secondary strongholds use modified emblems to hide their true affiliations from the major groups."

Lu Feng opened the ledger, flipping through the yellowed pages. Inside were neat columns of names, inventory lists, and dates tracking significant transactions of raw spirit minerals and restricted talismans.

"There is no point in blindly guessing its origins right now," Lu Feng said, closing the book with a firm snap. "We will verify the identity of this crest soon enough. Lin Laifu’s network covers nearly every official and unofficial mark operating within three hundred miles. When his scouts and our new estate hands arrive tomorrow, we can have them look into it discreetly without drawing attention. Or we’ll do it ourselves since we can’t fully trust him just yet."

Han Lin let out a sigh of relief. "As long as it isn’t something we can’t handle. I felt terrible holding onto it for so long without saying anything."

"It changes nothing for today," Lu Feng reassured her, standing up from the table. "We still have chores to complete before nightfall. Go finish setting up your quarters. We will handle the verification process once our staff is settled."

With their immediate plan set, the three of them split up once more to attend to their respective duties. Lu Feng walked the outer boundary to see if there were any complications or issue regarding the defensive array he’d set the previous night. He also went round the estate to make sure the energy flow remained stable through the night that was slowly approaching. He couldn’t risk another group infiltrating them while they slept.

They would probably be able to deal with them but what if they sneaked in just to rescue their captured men?

Lu Feng heavily doubted that was possible though. The defensive array he got was precisely to fight off such attempts and he trusted the system enough to know that its items were worth every single coin he spent.

Ye Chenxue spent the next two hours organizing their newly purchased spiritual seeds in the dry storage room, categorizing them by element and planting requirements. They would probably start planting them tomorrow.

Han Lin finished arranging her wardrobe, meticulously hanging her new dresses alongside her practical traveling gear.

By the time the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in deep shades of crimson and violet, the estate had settled into a quiet, peaceful tone.

Gathering in the newly equipped kitchen, the group of three featuring Lu Feng, Han Lin, and Ye Chenxue, set to work preparing dinner together. The room was warm, filled with the comforting crackle of spirit-stones igniting within the hearth of their new obsidian iron stove.

Han Lin took charge of the main preparations, marveling at how evenly the heat distributed across the reinforced copper pots. Ye Chenxue washed and sliced the fresh vegetables with rapid, precise sword-blade technique, while Lu Feng prepped the seasoned meats and monitored the broth.

As the savory aroma of stewed herbs and rice filled the air, Han Lin suddenly burst out laughing, leaning against the wooden counter with a wooden spoon in hand.

"Oh! Speaking of prisoners and chores," Han Lin said, turning toward Lu Feng with a bright grin, "I completely forgot to tell you what happened when I went down to feed our captured friends in the underground holding cell earlier!"

Lu Feng looked up from the stove, amused. "Did they give you trouble?"

"Trouble? They were behaving like terrified rabbits!" Han Lin giggled, waving her spoon for emphasis. "When I first opened the iron door to drop off their rations, those two mercenaries were glaring at me like they wanted to tear the bars down. They refused to answer any questions and kept spitting curses about how their guild would track us down and torture us."

"And how did you handle them?" Lu Feng asked.

"I didn’t have to do much at all!" Han Lin gestured toward Ye Chenxue, who was calmly dicing ginger on the cutting board without missing a beat. "Sister Chenxue simply followed me back after I reported it to her. She didn’t even do a thing! She just stood in the doorway, crossed her arms, and stared at them like she wanted to devour their souls. The temperature dropped so fast their breath turned to ice in mid-air!"

Han Lin shook her head, chuckling at the memory. "You should have seen their faces! Their teeth started chattering instantly, and the moment Chenxue gave them another cold, sharp glance, they shut their mouths, dropped to their knees, and took the food bowls with both hands like polite little schoolboys. They didn’t utter another peep the entire time!"

Ye Chenxue offered only a faint, subtle curl of her lips, placing the neatly sliced ginger into a porcelain bowl. "Captives who suffer from cold temperatures are far less likely to attempt an escape," she remarked simply.

Lu Feng chuckled softly as he stirred the bubbling pot. "That sounds like a strategy you would definitely use. It seems our estate is in very capable hands."

Together, they finished cooking the meal, filling their bowls with steaming hot rice and rich herb-infused stew. Sitting together around the kitchen table under the warm glow of the lantern light, they enjoyed their dinner in comfortable camaraderie, fully prepared for whatever answers the morning would bring.