The Double

Before heading to Yanjing, I had to return to Xiangyang to retrieve the orders, and take the opportunity to explain the situation to the member of the Ye Family. The commoners were all cheerful; Jiang Li accompanied the mad Xue Huaiyuan in the carriage. Xue Huaiyuan didn’t even look at her and played happily with a little wooden figure, repeatedly calling out "Ah Li, Ah Li," and then saying, "I want to give it to Ah Li and Ah Zhao to play."

Jiang Li watched with a heavy heart. Ye Mingyu was outside, and during a rest break on the midway journey, he asked Jiang Li, "Ah Li, even though we initially told my mother it was me who had you come over to help me with work, now that things have escalated, how should we bring this to an end?"

So many Tongxiang commoners, when Ye Mingxuan and the others see them, will surely be shocked. Upon returning to Yanjing City, there’s still the entourage from Dali Temple, and even using the name of Jiang Yuanbai to have the Head of the Weaving Department come and handle matters, one can hardly know what Jiang Yuanbai will think or how he will blame Jiang Li when he finds out.

All these are no small matters; it all depends on how Jiang Li will smooth things over.

"Don’t worry." Jiang Li said, "I’ll explain to my maternal grandmother and the others." Indeed, Ye Mingyu could not explain these matters; he had no connection whatsoever to Xue Huaiyuan and had no reason to be involved in all this.

Jiang Li was different, though—even if she couldn’t explain, the Ye family wouldn’t press her for answers, and they might even think these were tasks given to her by Jiang Yuanbai, so they wouldn’t be overly concerned.

Ye Mingyu thought about it and felt that Jiang Li made sense, so he agreed to her suggestion.

The journey back to Xiangyang was faster than the trip to Tongxiang. Perhaps it was because the commoners were all eager to obtain the official orders from the Magistrate of Xiangyang to clear Xue Huaiyuan’s name; they traveled faster than usual, with no one lagging behind. Feng Yutang was confined within the prison carriage along with a few of his minions, moving listlessly along with the convoy.

They could neither run nor resist; deeply aware that the situation was beyond retrieval, all were disheartened and dejected. Jiang Li asked Ye Mingyu’s men to keep an eye on Feng Yutang and his group, fearing that Princess Yongning’s forces would get news and decide to silence them permanently by killing Feng Yutang and his group, leaving no evidence behind.