"Hmm, it's all right now. The danger of being targeted by an assassin has been eliminated, and there is no longer any need to go to such lengths to protect you all, making you all sleep together."
Mu Jinyu said with a smile.
"When we eat later, we don't need to have food brought into the room. Everyone can go to the dining hall together. After dinner, you can sleep through the night, and tomorrow you can return to River City to take care of business."
After Mu Jinyu finished speaking, he steeled himself and said to himself, "Hmm... They are just tools for making money for me. It's right to treat them well normally, but I shouldn't cross the line."
Now that the danger is gone, it's time for them to go back and continue making money for him.
As for his upcoming marriage, ah, it's a bit of a headache. When the time comes, he'll see how to inform them.
"Ah, okay..."
Lin Qiaoxia and the two other ladies felt somewhat disappointed upon hearing Mu Jinyu's words.
Not just because Mu Jinyu had returned without showing much concern for them, but because they were sent back to work as soon as the danger was over, and more so because they detected a sense of alienation in his words.
Mu Jinyu seemed to want to keep a distance from them now.
Originally, when the three of them were brought to the Su Family Courtyard by Mu Jinyu, they were treated just like Gu Xiyan and everyone else, and Su Zijin was also kind to them, which made them believe that they might be accepted by Mu Jinyu like Wen Rou and Mei Yinxue.
It seems now that perhaps they were thinking too much.
Lin Qiaoxia suppressed the irritation and disappointment in her heart, and forced a smile as she started talking with Mu Jinyu.
After chatting for a while, someone came to call them for dinner.
Mu Jinyu responded, then turned to them and said, "Come on, let's go eat."
"Hmm."
Yu Linglong and the other two ladies had managed to compose themselves; no trace of forced emotion could be seen on their faces as they followed Mu Jinyu out of the courtyard towards the dining hall.
Once everyone was seated, Mu Jinyu remembered something and quickly pulled Su Zijin aside.
"What's wrong?" Su Zijin followed Mu Jinyu outside, asking with a puzzled expression.
She had been about to suggest to Lin Qiaoxia and the others that Mu Jinyu should marry them all into the family when Mu Jinyu dragged her out.
"Mom, please don't talk nonsense, okay?"
Mu Jinyu pleaded in his tone.
"I'm not talking nonsense," Su Zijin felt bewildered.
"I know what you're up to. You want to announce the marriage at the dinner table, don't you? But you should think about it, can this really be said outright?" Mu Jinyu said.
"Why not? It's good news!" Su Zijin asserted confidently.
Mu Jinyu sighed and said helplessly, "Do you think they can accept it? I'm worried that Xiyan and the other two might not accept marrying me together, and you want to add a few more? If you blurt it out later and it becomes a mess, even if they had no objections before, this will create objections. Aren't you just adding chaos?"
Su Zijin, upon hearing Mu Jinyu put it that way, realized it made sense.
Originally, as a mother, she was so pleased with how Mu Jinyu had become the new Tiance True Dragon in the Dragon King Hall, she felt no woman in the world could match him. Naturally, she thought it was right for Gu Xiyan and the others to agree to marry Mu Jinyu together.
Now, she realized she might have been presumptuous.
The three ladies might not match Mu Jinyu, but everyone has their pride. Having this topic broached in public, even if they could have accepted it, might turn into non-acceptance.
Let it be, children have their own fortunes; she should stop causing trouble.
Originally, Su Zijin had thought Mu Jinyu was too foolish and needed her help to marry them all into the family, but now she felt disheartened and gave up on the idea.
Su Zijin apologized with a smile, "Alright, alright, don't be upset. It was my fault; I won't talk anymore. Just do as you please from now on."
"I'm not upset, just a reminder," Mu Jinyu said while looking at Su Zijin, whose mood seemed to have wilted. Feeling somewhat guilty, he wanted to say something, his lips moved a few times, but he didn't speak in the end and finally sighed, "Let's go, let's go in for dinner."
"Hmm."
Su Zijin lowered her head and followed Mu Jinyu back into the dining hall.
"Jinyu, what were you whispering about with mom?"
Seeing them come in, Gu Xiyan, while serving everyone rice, asked curiously.
"It's nothing, let's eat," Mu Jinyu sat down and took the bowl of rice that Gu Xiyan handed him.
"Oh," seeing Mu Jinyu did not want to discuss it, Gu Xiyan did not ask further.
…
The hotel where Slaughter Redemption was located.
Xiang Mantang was reviewing some internal documents, searching for the employer who had issued the assassination mission against Mu Jinyu.
"Ding!"
At that moment, his phone notification sounded.
Xiang Mantang took out his phone and saw the message from Jian Ruyan, his expression suddenly blank.
The message from Jian Ruyan was disregarded by him; he just stared blankly at the attached photo. It was as if a nuclear bomb had exploded in his mind.
The photo was just a portrait of a girl in her twenties, radiant with youth and beauty, captured as she turned her head back.
And this girl bore a striking resemblance to the sister he had been searching for, advised by Dragon King Hall, Xiang Yinxui…
If one considered the changes a girl undergoes up to adulthood, it was highly possible, without any surprise, that she was the sister he had been desperately searching for!
Xiang Mantang, with trembling hands, took out a wallet from his pocket, and then pulled out a family photo.
This photo, he rarely took out to look at because the guilt in his heart was suffocating.
However, due to the ravages of time, the photo had become somewhat faded; the parents standing to the side were a bit blurry.
But he and his sister, squatting below, were still clear.
With shaking hands, Xiang Mantang held this photo and began to compare it with the picture of the girl on his phone sent by Jian Ruyan.
The family photo in his hands showed his sister when she was just three or four years old, making her a bit difficult to recognize.
But after a careful look, he could see that their eyes and mouths were very similar, especially both having a mole below the corner of their mouth, quite subtle.
"It should be Ah-Xiu, even if it's not her, I need to find her and ask!"
Xiang Mantang forced himself to calm down before he started reading the text that came with the photo from Jian Ruyan.
"This girl resembles your sister. The photo was taken near Kunlun Mountain, just now, but the subject has wandered off. We are also searching; you can come and take a look…"
Xiang Mantang hurriedly replied to the message, "Thank you, I'm coming back right away!"
After sending the message, Xiang Mantang carefully put away the family photo and his phone, then could hardly wait any longer to continue tracking Withered Tree Quest for Spring's clues. He immediately booked a flight back to his country.
He was no longer in the mood to do anything else, eager to return to his country, to Kunlun Mountain, to find this girl who might be Xiang Yinxui!