Chapter 90: Little Meat Bun
After a satisfying meal of chilli dumpling noodles and seeing the old Wang couple, Anji witnessed the results of an experienced regular. Her father must have also snuck out of the sect to the village many times to know what to do in order to leave a pouch of silver nuggets that the old couple would find too late to refuse. After sneakily leaving, Mingfeng brought his daughter around the town and chatted with a few regulars. He introduced Anji to these villagers, who piled freebies into her arms. With so many candies, Anji had no idea what to do with all the gifts. She could not finish this many sweets, although she wanted to keep all the dried persimmons her father bought for her.
"You can share them with your maids and the cooks or even the gardener," Mingfeng suggested. "I’m sure they’ll enjoy some souvenirs as long as you don’t tell them where you went today."
Giggling at how mischievous her father could be, Anji agreed. Unlike her father’s carefree personality, her mother had a stricter and more worrywart tendency. Anji, having experienced her mother’s overprotective nature first-hand, agreed that these types of little secrets were fine to keep from her mother.
For a little while, Mingfeng and Anji enjoyed touring the town. Her father ran a few errands with Anji in his arms. The town was as crowded as she remembered it to be. After about an hour of touring, it was time to return. Mingfeng had an important meeting with the elder that would start in an hour. Due to the short deadline, Anji was not allowed to climb the long-winded staircase back to the top of the mountain.
Using the same shortcut, Mingfeng arrived at the hollow of the tree and exited it with Anji in his arms. This time, he only took twenty minutes to travel through the secret tunnel. The rest of the way up the mountain, Mingfeng ditched the ordinary path and used his martial arts to travel by hopping in the sea of leaves.
In no time at all, the father and daughter duo reached a side entrance, which a regular outer disciple was guarding.
"Sect leader, you’re back! I was so worried when you did not return by the agreed time. The elders decided to shift the meeting up by half an hour, you’re already late. Lizi and Gu Ying could not stall for too long. They’ve already found out you were gone from the sect."
Hearing the bad news, Mingfeng groaned. Anji cleverly remained silent so she would not draw unnecessary attention to her. She was going to let her father take the fall this time.
"The Madam doesn’t know yet," reported the outer disciple, who gave Anji a wink and a knowing grin. "Lizi and Gu Ying claimed that you took Anji to the back of the mountain to observe the third young master’s training as part of the lesson. Sect Leader Bai is covering up for your absence."