Chapter 719: A Gathering of Three at the Door

Xiang Minghou walked to the door and reached out to push it open, but his hand trembled to a halt. He was afraid.

Afraid that the person on the other side wouldn’t be his daughter...

After a long moment of trembling, he pulled his hand back and stood rigidly before the door.

"Xiang Minghou?"

A voice called out, and Zhan Chi, clad in military armor, hurried over.

Xiang Minghou glanced up at him before looking away.

"Is the little girl in this room?" Zhan Chi asked urgently.

"Mhm."

Zhan Chi reached out to push the door open but was stopped by Xiang Minghou.

"Xiang Minghou, what are you doing?"

"She’s resting."

Zhan Chi froze for a moment, then retracted his hand. He turned and stood guard at the door as well, like a sentry.

It was already past midnight; knocking now would disturb her rest. ’She was always a heavy sleeper as a child, and she gets grumpy when woken up.’

Zhan Chi looked at Xiang Minghou. This was the first time he’d seen him since he left the Capital City. His menacing aura was heavier than before, and there were several new scars on his face.

"I heard you’ve been working as an assassin all these years?" he asked, lowering his voice, afraid of disturbing the person in the room.

"Mhm."

"And that you’ve made quite a few enemies."

"They’ve been dealt with." His deep voice was laced with killing intent.

Zhan Chi’s brows furrowed slightly. He couldn’t deny it—the murderous aura clinging to Xiang Minghou was very similar to the one Ye Qianning had on Four-direction Mountain.

"So you became a General of the Grand Military Camp. Sworn to protect Beili to the death?" The words were cold and laced with mockery.

Zhan Chi smiled but didn’t say anything.

The two fell silent, standing like sentries on either side of the door. About two hours later, a figure in white appeared before them.

Qian Fanji walked up to them, glanced at the closed door, and casually took up a spot beside them.

"What are you doing here?" Zhan Chi couldn’t help but ask.

"Shouldn’t you be in Beili, playing general? What are you doing in Dayu City?" Qian Fanji countered, ignoring the question.

"The Four-Nation Commerce Conference is in half a month. Li Mu is in charge of imperial trade, so he had to attend. The Emperor assigned men from the Grand Military Camp to escort him."

"A minor official in charge of imperial trade is worth an escort from a general like you? It seems the Emperor truly holds this Lord Li in high regard," Qian Fanji said coldly.

"I don’t care if he’s important or not. I wanted to come."

Qian Fanji scoffed. He folded his hands into his sleeves and stood shoulder to shoulder with Xiang Minghou. No one spoke another word.

"Ahem, my good sirs, you should have at least let me finish what I was saying..." The Shopkeeper finally managed to persuade the attendants at the top of the stairs to let him come up.

All three men turned to look.

"The Miss Ye you’re looking for... she went out around nightfall. She’s not in the inn."

"What did you say?"

Zhan Chi exclaimed in shock.

"Miss Ye is staying with us, but she’s rarely here. Even when she is, she leaves early and comes back late every day," the Shopkeeper said, surreptitiously watching their expressions.

’None of them look like the friendly sort,’ he thought. ’I wonder what business they have with a young lady.’

Xiang Minghou’s fingers tightened into fists. ’She’s not here. My daughter isn’t here.’

"Perhaps you gentlemen should come back another day?" the Shopkeeper suggested.

"No, we’ll wait here."

"Well... all right. But Miss Ye’s room has been paid for, so you can’t just barge in." The Shopkeeper was a good judge of character, but business had its principles.

Xiang Minghou gave a low grunt of assent.

Seeing them nod in agreement, the Shopkeeper relaxed a little. They seemed to have some sense of propriety after all.

Just then, a young woman appeared at the top of the stairs. She was clad in a goose-yellow, wide-sleeved dress. Corpulent, with a round face, she stood about five-foot-six and looked to weigh a good two hundred and twenty pounds.