A personal guard hurriedly handed over water, while another moved a chair over for Shao Mingyuan to sit.

Shao Mingyuan didn’t sit down. He took the water gourd and leaned against the mountain wall, tilting his head back to drink several large gulps, not caring that the water spilling out flowed down his neck into his collar.

He drank it all in one go, then looked around, his gaze settling on a certain spot.

“Marquis.” Jiang Yuanchao stood there with a smile at the corner of his mouth, greeting him.

Shao Mingyuan threw the water gourd to a nearby personal guard and said indifferently, “Lord Jiang.”

Jiang Yuanchao walked toward Shao Mingyuan, and the personal guards immediately blocked him.

“What does the Marquis mean by this?”

“Don’t be rude. Please invite Lord Jiang over.”

The personal guards immediately dispersed. Jiang Yuanchao walked over with an unchanged expression, looked Shao Mingyuan up and down, and smiled: “I heard the Marquis went up the mountain yesterday. I truly admire the Marquis’s excellent skills.”

“Lord Jiang flatters me.” Shao Mingyuan silently adjusted his breathing.

“The Marquis went to Dafu Temple, didn’t you? His Majesty and the Empress Dowager are both very concerned about the situation of Dafu Temple’s eminent monks and the masters of Shuying Nunnery.” Jiang Yuanchao stated his purpose.

What Shao Mingyuan was wearing was indeed the everyday clothes that Dafu Temple prepared for pilgrims.

At this moment, several officials also ran over, sweating profusely. After paying their respects, they asked Shao Mingyuan the same question: “Marquis, how are Dafu Temple and Shuying Nunnery?”

“Dafu Temple had one side hall collapse, with more than ten monks injured, but fortunately, there were no casualties. Currently, the eminent monks’ lives are not greatly affected. Shuying Nunnery is perfectly fine.”

“That’s good, that’s good.” Several officials wiped away their sweat.

When news of the Luoxia Mountain landslide reached the palace, the Empress Dowager had already sent three urgent inquiries. If something happened to those eminent monks, even though they were just doing their jobs, they would definitely be blamed without thanks, and might even be charged with some crime and sent somewhere unknown.

“Thank you for informing us, Marquis. You’ve worked hard. Please go rest under the canopy over there.” Several officials spoke sincerely.

This mountain road would take at least ten more days to clear. Without the Marquis Guanjun, who knew when they would get news from inside.

After several officials finished thanking him and went back to their busy work, Jiang Yuanchao stood in place and smiled at Shao Mingyuan: “I extremely admire the Marquis’s capabilities.”

Shao Mingyuan’s expression remained unchanged, but he felt somewhat puzzled in his heart.

He had never really dealt with this Lord Shisan of the Jinlin Guards, much less had any grudges, so why did he vaguely feel that Jiang Yuanchao always harbored some kind of inexplicable hostility toward him?

“I don’t deserve it. If Lord Jiang has nothing else, I’ll go rest over there.”

“Uh, please go ahead, Marquis.” Jiang Yuanchao smiled and stepped aside. Seeing Shao Mingyuan stride away, he suddenly added another sentence: “I wonder how Miss Li from Xingzi Alley is doing?”

Shao Mingyuan’s steps paused, and then he turned around.

Jiang Yuanchao still had a smile at the corner of his mouth, showing no signs of anything unusual.

“I didn’t see Miss Li, but the nuns from Shuying Nunnery sent word to Dafu Temple saying Miss Li is at Shuying Nunnery.” Shao Mingyuan smiled at Jiang Yuanchao. “Miss Li should be fine.”

“Ah, I see. It seems Miss Li’s family can be at ease.”

Shao Mingyuan said nothing more, nodded to Jiang Yuanchao, and walked away.

Chi Can and the other two immediately surrounded Shao Mingyuan and pulled him to a secluded spot.

“How is she?” Chi Can asked impatiently.

Shao Mingyuan hesitated for a moment.

Chi Can’s expression changed slightly: “How is she exactly?”

Shao Mingyuan looked at him deeply and smiled calmly: “Miss Li is quite well. Don’t worry.”

“Really?”

“Really. How could I lie to you?”

“That’s good.” Chi Can smiled.

Shao Mingyuan was silent for a moment, then said to the three of them: “I’ll go up the mountain again tomorrow.”

“Going up again?” Yang Houcheng glanced at the steep mountain wall and asked in confusion: “Since everyone’s fine, wouldn’t it be better to just wait for the mountain road to be cleared? What’s the point of going up again?”

Chi Can suddenly said: “Is it because you need Li Third to—”

Shao Mingyuan nodded: “Mm.”

This morning, he had brought Miss Li to Dafu Temple, where she used the temple monks’ silver needles to help him expel the poison, giving him the ability to come down the mountain.

After experiencing these two days, he truly felt the importance of acupuncture for poison removal.

Miss Li hadn’t exaggerated—once the needle treatment was interrupted for a day, he was practically half dead.

Thinking about how he did not know what happened last night, yet his intuition told him it must have been something very important, Shao Mingyuan’s heart felt shrouded in a layer of gloom, inexplicably uneasy.

“I came down today just to report the situation and put everyone at ease. After going up again tomorrow, I’ll wait for the mountain road to be cleared before coming down.”

“That’s good too. In case there’s any situation in the temple, the outside won’t be completely ignorant.” Zhu Yàn said.

Yang Houcheng shook his head: “What good does knowing do? Right now, only Tingquan can get in there. Once something happens inside, won’t the people outside still be helpless?”

“Tingquan, I don’t care about others, but you must take good care of Li Third for me.”

Shao Mingyuan looked at him and smiled: “I will.”

“Li Third’s father and brother are both here. I’ll go tell them.” Chi Can turned and walked toward the pavilion.

Shao Mingyuan withdrew his gaze and began talking with Yang Houcheng and the other.

Miss Li had asked him to report her safety to her family, but now it seemed he wouldn’t need to.

“Uncle Li, my good friend just came down from the mountain and said Third Miss is currently staying temporarily at Shuying Nunnery and is perfectly fine.”

Li Guangwen was overjoyed. The more he looked at Chi Can, the more pleased he became, nodding repeatedly: “That’s good, that’s good.”

At this moment, there was suddenly quite a commotion: “Make way, make way.”

An enticing aroma wafted over, and everyone involuntarily stopped and looked around. They saw several uncovered horse carts coming along the official road, piled high with goods. That enticing smell was floating from the horse carts.

Several soldiers blocked the carts: “Vehicles can’t pass here. Go back quickly.”

Facing a group of burly officers, He Shi was completely unafraid and patted the cart shaft: “This little woman has come to bring food for the officials.”

“Food?” The soldiers kept sniffing.

This aroma, tsk tsk—

“That’s right. There’s roasted chicken, braised beef, sauced pork knuckle, braised pig’s feet, and oh yes, liquor too!” He Shi had people lift the oilcloth covering the goods, making the aroma even richer.

The sounds of swallowing saliva and stomachs gurgling immediately rose and fell.

“Don’t be polite, officials. You’ll only have the strength to work when you’re full.”

This commotion attracted quite a few people. Li Hui craned his neck to look and was directly stunned: “Father, Madam has come.”

“What’s Madam doing here?” Li Guangwen had injured his foot and could only sit, unable to see the situation outside.

“She seems to have brought a lot of food, driving several horse carts.”

“I’m not a rice bucket—wouldn’t a small basket be enough?”

“No, Madam is delivering food to those officers so they’ll have the strength to work when they’re full.”

Li Guangwen: “…” Though his wife was a spendthrift, she was still quite clever.

“Quickly go tell Madam that your Third Sister is fine, so she can be at ease!”

“Alright.” Li Hui responded, gradually sensing something different.

Father seemed to treat his stepmother differently now.