Chapter 261 - 230: Chen Zunming is Going Down
Snow fell outside the house last night.
The plaque reading "Min Mansion" dripped with snowmelt, the flagstone path washed clean of some mud. Leaning against the doorframe, a spirited young hero clad in a flying fish robe idly watched droplets fall.
The streets and alleys bustled with morning’s arrival. It was yet another day of holiday rest, coupled with the year’s end drawing near, filling the air with lively festivity. Nobles and officials seemed to crowd the streets, flocking to Chunhe Restaurant for steaming lamb stew, or perfuming themselves aboard painted pleasure boats with the scents of rouge and powder. The colorful official robes coming and going made the Capital City resemble the Emperor’s Shanglin Garden, teeming with birds and beasts at a single glance.
Min Ning exhaled deeply. Over the past few days, she’d been meaning to visit Chen Yi’s residence to see him, but after days of repeated efforts, she only met with disappointment. She couldn’t help but muse—if her life were a novel, she had already been absent from the story for dozens of Chapters.
No amount of thinking could change her situation. Despite inquiring everywhere, Min Ning still couldn’t determine Chen Yi’s whereabouts and had no choice but to temporarily give up. Thoughts of recent events weighed heavily on her heart, her unease not only tied to her sister, but to herself as well.
Her grandfather, Min He, was nearing the end of his life and had been urging her to leave the Capital City while she still could. Min Ning had once seen glorifying the Min family’s name as her duty; if anyone else had urged her, she would surely have ignored them. But now that Min He himself had spoken plainly, asking her to relinquish this responsibility, she couldn’t defy him—especially as she had long harbored a desire to leave the Capital City.
Min Ning’s heart had never belonged to this city. In her youth, learning martial arts and practicing swordsmanship had been dictated by family tradition. No one had ever desired for her, a woman disguised as a man, to shoulder such burdens. Even she had awaited the birth of a younger brother to inherit the hereditary military rank so that she could escape the constraints and travel the world.
But the twists of fate were cruel. To prevent the military position from slipping away, she had no choice but to disguise herself as a man.
"If I hadn’t disguised as a man... would things have turned out differently?"
Min Ning sighed and asked herself.
The treacherous scheming in the Capital ultimately wasn’t suited for her. She already felt stifled here, and her grandfather’s words stirred her thoughts even further. Should she follow the cryptic prophecy and make her way to Mount Shu?
Traveling through Jianghu with sword in hand and wine in tow—eastward with one strike, westward with another, closing the journey with song.