OFTLHFRO C107

Chapter 107: The Hidden Jade Pendant

“For the General’s Mansion as it is today, this should be simple enough, should it not?”

Huo Yan looked at Huo Yuntao with a half-smile.

“You are the Huo family’s eldest son. In my condition now, if you can establish merit on the battlefield, then one day the entire Huo clan will be yours.”

After hearing this, Luo Mingchen only wanted to laugh.

They had been inside for so long—no tea served, not even a seat offered—yet here was this grandiose promise being painted before them. Did he really take them for fools?

Huo Yan raised his brows slightly. “My vision is narrow. I also know well enough not to take what does not belong to me. So long as Father returns my mother’s dowry, I will ask for nothing more. If Father insists on pressing other things upon me, then perhaps I could consider.”

Huo Yuntao narrowed his eyes. “So your meaning is, you do not wish to go to the drill ground?”

Huo Yan met his gaze without flinching. “And Father’s meaning is that you have no wish to return the dowry?”

The two locked eyes. After a long silence, Huo Yuntao finally said: “Give me the inventory.”

Without hesitation, Huo Yan drew from his robe a copy of the dowry list, prepared in advance, and handed it over. “This is one I transcribed. Father may verify it with the yamen’s records, to see if anything is missing.”

Tight-lipped, Huo Yuntao took the list.

At the side, Liu Lanyun’s face shifted faintly.

“If there is nothing else,” Huo Yan continued, “I will take my spouse and children to inspect our quarters for tonight. If anything is lacking, I may inform Father in time to have it prepared.”

Then, as though remembering, he added, “By the way, whenever the dowry is returned, that is when I will go to the drill ground. I heard from the General’s Madam that Qiuyue Courtyard has been readied; our meals will be taken there. It is cold, and with children in tow, it is inconvenient to go back and forth. I ask Father’s pardon. Whatever ingredients are needed, I will notify the steward.”

Ignoring Huo Yuntao’s frosty stare, Huo Yan then led Luo Mingchen and the three children away toward Qiuyue Courtyard.

Within her sleeve, Liu Lanyun’s hand clenched slightly. When she felt Huo Yuntao’s eyes on her, she turned and offered a smile, her voice soft and pliant: “Master, I thought Eldest would be familiar with Qiuyue Courtyard, having lived there as a child. So I had it made ready, and chose a few servants to attend him.”

“Remember what I told you yesterday. Always.”

“Yes,” Liu Lanyun bowed her head meekly.

Standing nearby, Huo Xu and Huo Yi exchanged glances but dared not breathe too loud.

Toward this father who had long been absent, they felt more fear than anything else.

No matter how much resentment they bore Huo Yan, before their father, neither dared say a word.

The General’s Mansion was vast, equal to four times their own estate.

And this was only the residence itself, not counting the gardens and scenic grounds.

In a place where land was worth its weight in gold, to possess such a sprawling manor was proof of immense wealth.

All the more, it made Luo Mingchen think Huo Yuntao was not human.

Such a grand General’s Mansion could not even tolerate a child, insisting instead on casting him out.

And now calling him back—only because they needed Huo Yan’s life.

Qiuyue Courtyard lay in a rather remote corner of the mansion, barely a step above the servants’ quarters.

The yard had clearly been repaired long before: swept clean, windows patched, and supplied with three maidservants and two matrons to serve.

When the five saw them arrive, they saluted. “Greetings, Eldest Young Master.”

At this, Luo Mingchen glanced at Huo Yan. “We don’t need attendants here.”

The five froze. The head maid looked at Huo Yan. “Eldest Young Master, we were sent by Madam to serve you.”

Truth be told, none of them regarded Luo Mingchen or the three spindly children in the least.

They had already heard from the steward: the three were not even Huo Yan’s own flesh and blood, and as for this man, he was only someone Huo Yan had taken up with in poverty, forced to live with another man to get by. Such people needn’t be considered—so long as Eldest was placated.

Huo Yan looked at the three maids, their beauty conspicuously above the usual. It was not hard to guess Liu Lanyun’s intention.

“Didn’t you hear? Leave.”

The five looked troubled.

The head maid asked, “What offense have we committed, Eldest Young Master? Please tell us.”

“We have no use for servants who cannot listen.”

The five: “…”

If they obeyed and left, then they failed their mistress’s orders. If they stayed, then they were disobedient. Either way, it was impossible.

So the head maid dropped to her knees, face pitiful, voice plaintive. “I beg Eldest Young Master, do not cast us out. If Madam learns of this, she will surely sell us off!”

These were clearly girls specially trained—not only attractive, but practiced in appearing delicate and coaxing, a subtle touch of coyness meant to stir sympathy.

But such tricks were useless here.

Seeing they would not go, Huo Yan called a guard. “Bind them and deliver them to the General’s Madam’s quarters. Tell her, if she dares send more filthy trinkets here, I will beat the gongs and drums and announce to all that the General’s Madam is running a brothel from her own estate.”

The guard dared not disobey.

After Huo Yan had left yesterday, Liu Lanyun’s attempt at humiliation had already drawn Huo Yuntao’s fury, and the gatekeepers were punished. So the guard obeyed, fetched rope, and tied the five up, leading them off to Liu Lanyun’s residence.

The five trembled, no longer daring to speak, and meekly followed.

Once the courtyard was quiet again, Huo Yan took Luo Mingchen’s hand and led him into the house.

Qiuyue Courtyard was little changed from before, save that in winter it had braziers burning, and the windows and tiles had been repaired.

The room that had been Huo Yan’s as a child had new bedding laid. But his mother’s room remained choked with dust.

“…She must have wanted to provoke you with this,” Luo Mingchen muttered, staring at the cobwebbed chamber with a headache.

Huo Yan paid it no mind. From beneath the bed, he pulled out a small box from a hidden compartment.

“What’s that?”

Curious, Luo Mingchen leaned closer.

Huo Xiang and Huo Xinyue also crowded near, while Huo Yuhui, though he stayed still, stared intently.

“A jade pendant I hid as a child.”

Opening the box, Huo Yan revealed a jade carving of Maitreya Buddha, its quality superb.

“They didn’t find it?”

Luo Mingchen picked it up, examined it a moment, then carefully set it back.

“This was given to my mother when she was pregnant, a gift from the Empress Dowager herself. She said the pendant could be used to make one request of her. At first, Mother wanted to use it to beg the Empress Dowager to permit a divorce. But the Empress Dowager said Huo Yuntao was a trusted minister by the Emperor’s side; if a wife sought separation, it would disgrace her husband’s family.”

Here, Huo Yan glanced at Luo Mingchen. “Later, when my maternal grandfather’s family suffered calamity, and all were to be exiled and conscripted, Mother took this jade pendant to plead with the Empress Dowager. Only then was their lives spared.”

Luo Mingchen frowned. “But if a wish was already used, why is the pendant still here?”

“I asked Mother. She said she would tell me when I grew up.”

Huo Yan lowered his eyes, staring at the pendant. But his mother had not lived to see him grown…