Being a reborn legitimate daughter is not easy

Chapter 197 Chapter 197 Secret Letter

Chapter 197 Chapter 197 Secret Letter

A pigeon suddenly fell from the sky, startling Ye Pianran and Ye Lingyue. Ye Yankang, however, widened his eyes in surprise and excitedly reached out to pluck the feathers from the pigeon's rump.

Ye Yankang: "Gurgle~ Gurgle~"

Half of the pigeon's wing was stained red with blood, indicating that it was seriously injured. Ye Pianran quickly lifted the pigeon up to prevent Ye Yankang from touching it, but inadvertently, she noticed a letter tube tied to the pigeon's leg.

Is this a carrier pigeon?

Ye Pianran was stunned for a moment, then frowned in confusion.

The problem is, the Marquis's residence doesn't have a pigeon loft. How did this pigeon end up there? Logically, even an injured, well-trained homing pigeon wouldn't fly to the wrong place. Or perhaps the person it's looking for is inside the Marquis's residence?

Ye Pianran and Ye Lingyue exchanged a glance, looked around to make sure no one had noticed what was happening, and then quickly headed toward Lanxin Courtyard with the pigeons.

Upon entering Lanxin Courtyard and returning to her room, before Lingyi could even express her surprise, Ye Pianran quickly said, "Lingyi, go and fetch the gauze and wound medicine."

"Yes, yes..." Lingyi came to her senses and quickly turned around to rummage through Ye Pianran's medicine box.

Ye Pianran placed the injured carrier pigeon on a soft cushion. First, she removed the message tube from its leg, then used spiritual spring water to wash away the bloodstains and wounds on its wings. The bloodstains were cleaned, revealing its wounds. The wounds were not large, but the reason it bled so much was because it had been hit by two hidden weapons in its wings.

Ye Pianran carefully removed the two hidden weapons from its body. After clearly seeing the shape of the hidden weapons, Ye Lingyue exclaimed "Eh!" and said to Ye Pianran:

"Miss, this hidden weapon seems to belong to a subordinate of my senior brother named Mei Zhuang."

"Are you sure?" Ye Pianran asked in surprise, looking up at Ye Lingyue. Ye Cangqiong was Chunyu Yang's man, so why would a hidden weapon belonging to Ye Cangqiong's subordinate be on a carrier pigeon? And why would this carrier pigeon come to the Marquis's residence?

“I once heard my senior brother mention that he came from Meiying Manor in Langzhou, so it must be him.”

Ye Pianran frowned deeply as she looked at the two plum blossom-shaped darts in her palm.

Lingyi quickly brought the gauze and wound medicine, so Ye Pianran had to put down her hidden weapon and apply the medicine to the pigeon.

While Ye Pianran was treating its wounds, the pigeon kept making weak "coo, coo" sounds, and its eyes were dull and lifeless, as if it were about to die at any moment.

After bandaging its wound, Ye Pianran gently stroked the carrier pigeon's feathers and sighed, "It lost too much blood. If it weren't for the mission of delivering messages, it probably wouldn't have been able to fly here at all."

Lingyi felt a pang of sympathy for the pigeon and asked, "Who is it trying to deliver a message to?"

Ye Pianran turned her gaze to the letter tube placed to the side. She looked at the raised nine-petaled lotus pattern on the letter tube and a thoughtful expression appeared on her face.

If this pigeon were just an ordinary carrier pigeon, that would be fine. She could let it recover from its injuries at her place and then release it back to continue delivering its messages, which would be more than enough.

But the pigeon was hit by Mei Zhuang's hidden weapon, which means Mei Zhuang didn't want it to deliver the letter smoothly. And this recipient is very likely in the Marquis's residence...

Ye Lingyue observed her expression and said, "Miss, when I was in my sect, I learned how to unseal the secret letter. If you are really worried, I can open the letter and let you take a look."

Lingyi hesitated and said, "That's not a good idea..."

Ye Pianran gritted her teeth, raised her head, and ordered, "Tear it down!"

A candle was lit inside the room. Ye Lingyue gently spun the letter tube sealed with beeswax over the flame twice. Then she took out a hairpin that she always wore from her hair, unscrewed the jade bead on the top of the hairpin, and took out a copper wire as thin as a hair from the jade bead. She then began to carefully break the wax seal on the letter tube.

Lingyi watched intently from the side, not daring to breathe too loudly, for fear that she might disturb Ye Lingyue and ruin everything.

Ye Lingyue moved with practiced ease, quickly opening the wax seal on the letter tube and pouring out a letter. However, she did not rush to hand the letter to Ye Pianran. Instead, she carefully examined it again, confirming that it had not been poisoned, before finally handing it to Ye Pianran.

Ye Pianran unfolded the letter and quickly scanned its contents, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper. The letter read:

"The branches in Yingzhou, Lanzhou, Xiangzhou, Cangzhou, and Bashu were destroyed one after another. However, the deputy head did not report this matter to the head of the building. Instead, he ordered the closure of all branches and stopped accepting any business. Now, only the branches in Fuzhou, where the deputy head is stationed, and Chenzhou, where Ji Linchuan is stationed, still exist in Ronghua Building."

The letter had no salutation or signature, but the information about the deputy head of the building, Ronghua Building, and Ji Linchuan in the content was enough for Ye Pianran to confirm the importance of the secret letter.

She immediately had Lingyi bring out paper and pen and rewrite the contents of the secret letter. Then she handed the letter to Ye Lingyue and had her seal it back into the letter tube intact. She then sealed the entrance tightly with wax and finally tied the letter tube back to the carrier pigeon's leg.

Ye Pianran then opened her spatial storage and moved the carrier pigeon inside to prevent outsiders from entering her courtyard and discovering its whereabouts.

666 discovered a new living creature in the space. It swayed and jumped down from the branch, where it was caught by the Spirit Abyss Vine and landed on Ye Pianran's head. It clung to the Spirit Abyss Vine, looked at the dying carrier pigeon in the soft cushion below, and made a puzzled call.

"Chirp? Chirp!"

"666, you stay here and keep a close eye on it. Make sure it doesn't die. This pigeon will be useful later," Ye Pianran said.

666 puffed out its chest and flapped its sparsely feathered wings: "Chirp!"

After leaving the space, Ye Pianran carefully put away the copied secret letter, changed out of the martial arts outfit she wore while practicing, returned to her usual attire, put on a veil and cloak, and said to Ye Lingyue:

"Come with me out of the manor and we'll go to the Northern Martial King's manor."

They had only parted not long ago, yet they were about to meet again. Although she knew the reason was not because of personal feelings, Ye Lingyue couldn't help but tease her: "Miss, why don't you have breakfast first, pay your respects to Madam, and then go?"

Lingyi keenly sensed that Ye Pianran was somewhat different from usual. Hearing Ye Lingyue's words, she understood immediately. She smiled knowingly and echoed, "Yes, Miss. At this time of day, you would usually have already gone to pay your respects to Madam. If you don't go today, Madam might ask about it."

Ye Pianran's cheeks gradually flushed as she was stared at by the two women. She felt both shy and awkward, and after a long while, she gritted her teeth and said, "Alright."

Afterwards, Ye Pianran, with her delicate red ears, had breakfast served by the two women, and then took Ye Yankang to pay her respects to Gongsun Yuan.

"Your child greets you, Mother. May you be blessed with good health and happiness, and may your smile last forever."

"Alright, get up." Gongsun Yuan smiled, her gaze sweeping over Ye Yankang's face before she reached out to Ye Pianran, "Ran'er, come here."

Ye Pianran placed her hand in Gongsun Yuan's hand, lifted her skirt, knelt down beside her, nestled close to her, and gave her a sweet smile: "Mother."

Gongsun Yuan subtly touched Ye Pianran's palm and asked, "Ran'er, how long has it been since you embroidered anything?"