Chapter 52: Feelings Evoked in the Dark (3)

After returning to the Mu Residence, Mu Qing instructed two maids to take care of Mu Ting’er but he stopped looking at her. This daughter had disgraced him, so how could he still love her as much as before?

The only reason he wasn’t abandoning her now was out of consideration for her father, who sacrificed his life to save his mother.

“How did that Mu Ruyue suddenly change so much?” Mu Qing’s brows furrowed. At first, when Mu Ruyue displayed the strength of a third-ranked warrior, he just secretly hated that damned girl for duping him, but now that he understood her true strength, Mu Qing really regretted it.

Had he known, he wouldn’t have banished her from the house, but there was no use regretting it now.

Just then, loud voices came from outside the Mu Residence, and before he could get someone to go and see what was going on, a group of officials and their wives walked in one after the other from outside the hall.

“Lord Mu, congratulations.”

The first to speak was Zhang Lin, the Minister of Revenue, who was grinning from ear to ear the moment he entered.

Mu Qing smiled bitterly. “What do I have to be happy about?”

“Your family’s eldest, Miss Mu Ruyue, has won the tournament and obtained the attention of Qingyun School. Isn’t that worth celebrating?” Zhang Lin said as he looked at Mu Qing strangely.

Mu Qing sighed helplessly and shook his head. “I guess Lord Zhang doesn’t know that I already banished that rebellious girl from the house and is no longer a member of the Mu family.”

But when he heard this, instead of turning around and leaving, Zhang Lin laughed and said, “Lord Mu, as the saying goes, blood is thicker than water. How could Miss Mu Ruyue really leave the Mu family? As Miss Mu Ruyue’s biological father, so long as you kindly persuade her to rejoin the family, I’m sure she won’t refuse.”

Thinking that Zhang Lin made sense, Mu Qing let go of his apprehension and accepted congratulations from the others. He figured that as long as he kept his head down and tried to persuade her kindly, Mu Ruyue would eventually return to the Mu family.

And for some time thereafter, in addition to a few dignitaries in Feng City, even members of Qingyun School dropped by to visit. Some of them even expressed their willingness to take on a disciple. But even Mu Qing didn’t know where Mu Ruyue was right now, so he could only send people to search for her whereabouts.

As the protagonist of this incident, Mu Ruyue hadn’t gone out since she left the royal palace. Naturally, she didn’t know that the Mu family had turned the place upside down in search of her.

One day, soon after she stored a refined elixir into her spatial ring, she realized it had been a long time since she had gone to see Wu Yu, so she tidied her alchemy tools and left the Mu Mansion.

The shopkeeper of Baicao Hall had already become familiar with Mu Ruyue, so he directly led her to an alchemy room upon her arrival.

Wu Yu was in the alchemy room at the moment and his eyes lit up the instant he saw Mu Ruyue walking in. He quickly stood up and strode towards her.

“Girl, what brings you here?”

“I came to take a look.” Mu Ruyue blinked and looked around. “Master, what are you doing now?”

“Haha, it’s nothing. It’s just that one of the medicinal herbs in Baicao Hall is dying. I was wondering if there’s any way I could save it.”

As he spoke, Wu Yu’s eyes fell on the medicinal herb on the table.

Mu Ruyue followed his gaze and she saw an herb with eight petals resembling a lotus flower on the table. Its pea-sized yellow core had a dull sheen while the other petals were drooping and apparently dying.

“Eight-leafed Snow Lotus?” Mu Ruyue’s heart skipped a beat. This Eight-leafed Snow Lotus was a medicinal ingredient used to refine Earth rank, middle-grade Marrow Cleansing Pills. She didn’t expect to see it here.