Another two days passed in the blink of an eye. Now it was just past noon.

  The sun was gradually tilting towards the west. The last hour of the five days was about to arrive.

  Cang Baicao didn't pace around in Tang Doudou's room this time and went to the door to wait instead. He even went to the outskirts of the valley several times, but no matter how much he waited, Baili Yu didn't arrive.

  He was so anxious that he started cursing Baili Yu for not keeping his word.

  The other hidden guards and Ye Chuan felt very uncomfortable hearing this. At the same time, they were worried as well. Master has always kept strictly to his words. The fact that he was so late definitely meant that something had happened.

  Meanwhile, Tang Doudou was very calm. Regardless of whether Baili Yu made it back or not, she would get better by today. Once she got better, she definitely wouldn't listen to Cang Baicao's arrangements and stay home to prepare for birth. Qing Yin hadn't come back and no news on Jun Xin and Baili Yiling's whereabouts had come either. Little Gray also hasn't returned since he left last time……

  There were a lot of things she had to deal with. There was so much on her mind that she didn't even know what to worry about first, so her heart was abnormally calm. All she could do now was wait for night to arrive.

  The setting sun hung at the horizon, plating the house in a layer of hazy orange.

  Cang Baicao walked into the room and looked towards Tang Doudou before heaving a heavy sigh. As he blew at his beard, he sat down in a huff. "I'm about to be angered to death!"

  Tang Doudou yawned, then glanced outside. "Ah! It's almost night. Senior Cang, why don't you stop waiting and just use the rootless grass's flower to cure me?"

  Her only thought was that she was no different from an invalid since she spent so much time on the bed.

  Of course, the difference was that she couldn't feel anything from her limbs, which was worse in some ways.

  Cang Baicao shot her a glare. "It's not time yet. Even I'm not anxious, what are you getting anxious about?"

  Tang Doudou looked towards the ceiling. He had already paced around the entire valley for an whole day from anxiousness. Who exactly was the one anxious?

  Cang Baicao then said, "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you, so don't worry about those things and just rest."

  After saying that, he stood up to walk out.

  Tang Doudou hastily called out to stop him. "Senior Cang, I still have something to discuss with you!"

  "Enough! What business could you possibly have?" Cang Baicao then left without turning back.

  Tang Doudou didn't know whether she should laugh at this. It seemed that in Cang Baicao's eyes, she was just a cripple that was solely eating for the purpose of waiting for death. That wasn't right, this was probably how most people saw her, right?

  Tang Doudou didn't mind how the public saw her, but she minded how her friends viewed her. She couldn't help but recall Ye Chuan's attitude as he came in to report to her every day. She furrowed her brows. Ye Chuan didn't seem to be just unhappy with her. He seemed to be hiding something else from her.

  What could Ye Chuan possibly be hiding from her?

  Ye Chuan was one of Baili Yu's trusted subordinates. It could be said that with the exception of Jun Xin, Feng Long, and Yun Hai, he was Baili Yu's most trusted subordinate. She used to have quite a lot of faith in Baili Yu's eye for people, but after what happened with Yun Hai, she could only say that everyone that was human had shortcomings. And Baili Yu's shortcoming was clearly that he wasn't a good judge of people!

  Ahem, but then again, the human heart was impossible to read. Hadn't she also been tricked by Bai Feiyun?

  Bai Feiyun also hadn't made any moves lately. She had no idea what he was planning.

  As she was thinking about these random things, the sky gradually darkned. This time, it wasn't just Cang Baicao. Ye Chuan and Meng Yu also came.

  They stood at the door and walked a little forward to look outside every once in a while. Meng Yu peeked inside the room. When she saw Tang Doudou blink towards her, she quickly jogged inside. Although she was just jogging lightly, the vibrations it still caused made Tang Doudou speechless.

  "All…… Big Madame, are you looking for me for something?" Meng Yu ran over and twisted her apron awkwardly. She hesitated over what to call Tang Doudou and the title she finally settled on made Tang Doudou even more speechless.

  Big Madame?

  Could it be that she was preparing for there to be a Second Madame, Third Madame…… a Small Madame too?

  Tang Doudou became unhappy.

  However, she suddenly recalled that men in the ancient era always had multiple wives. It really was possible for a chain of madames to appear……

  Tang Doudou quickly slapped away these irrelevant thoughts and looked towards Meng Yu. "That's enough, you should just call me Doudou. What do you mean by Big Madame? I'm not even that old."

  Call her Doudou? That wouldn't do!

  Meng Yu shook her head. "How about Young Madame?"

  Tang Doudou rolled her eyes and feigned displeasure. "Fine, just call me whatever."

  When Meng Yu heard how displeased she was, there was no way she could miss what Tang Doudou meant. She laughed and said, "Doudou, are you looking for me for something? What is it?"

  Tang Doudou glanced outside. "I wanted to ask what Ye Chuan has been doing lately."

  She had figured out a long time ago that Meng Yu had a crush on Ye Chuan. She also heard from Qing Yin that Meng Yu liked to visit Ye Chuan whenever she had free time. Perhaps she would be able to tell why Ye Chuan seemed off lately.

  She had been meaning to ask Meng Yu about this, but she never had the chance.

  Cang Baicao had very high requirements for the medicinal dishes, so she hadn't seen Meng Yu even once since she had woken up.

  When Meng Yu heard her question, she was stunned for a moment. She was confused as to why Tang Doudou had looked for her to ask about this.

  Then she abruptly flushed. Why would Doudou ask her about Ye Chuan? Could it be that Doudou already knows about the fact that she had a crush on Ye Chuan?

  When Tang Doudou saw how her expression was changing so much, she was speechless again. The entire Heng Xuan Chamber of Commerce knew of this matter now. If she was really bashful, she should just be a little more reserved the next time she went to see Ye Chuan!

  "Ye Chuan……" Meng Yu wrung her apron in embarrassment, then sat down. She glanced towards the door and saw Ye Chuan's tall back figure next to Cang Baicao, then rapidly shifted her gaze away as if she had been electrocuted. "He's been busy with the matters inside the valley. He hasn't been doing anything else."

  "He hadn't done anything strange?"

  "No?" Meng Yu looked towards Tang Doudou strangely. "What is it? Did Ye Chuan do something wrong?

  "Doudou ah, let me tell you, Ye Chuan just has a bad temper, but he isn't bad as a person. He just has a little too direct of a personality!

  "He faces outsiders with a certain attitude and faces his own people with a different attitude. Just look at how he treats me? He completely ignores me!"

  Tang Doudou felt like her head must've been kicked for her to think that asking Meng Yu about Ye Chuan was a good idea. Even the proverbs say that Xishi (a famous Chinese beauty) is always in the eyes of the lover. If Meng Yu could actually see something off about Ye Chuan, that was what would be truly strange.

  "Doudou, why aren't you saying anything? Could it be that Ye Chuan really has done something wrong?" When she didn't speak, Meng Yu became worried and pulled at her sleeve.

  Tang Doudou shook her head. "No, I just wanted to learn about their recent arrangements."

  She couldn't tell Meng Yu that she felt like something was off about Ye Chuan. Otherwise, based on how impulsive Meng Yu was, Meng Yu would definitely go to Ye Chuan to demand answers.

  "Oh, so it was like that!" Meng Yu grinned. "You're in luck! I really do know about these matters!"

  Tang Doudou immediately became interested and asked, "What do you mean?"

  Inwardly, she was mocking herself. When she asked about Ye Chuan in general, Meng Yu seriously had nothing to say, but now that she was asking in a different way, Meng Yu actually had answers!

  Meng Yu leaned closer with a mysterious expression. "I saw them capture a lot of people yesterday in the bamboo forest. Those people seemed to have been poisoned by the miasma!"

  "What?" Tang Doudou was alarmed. Could it be the Demonic Sect hidden guards?

  However, she didn't let this show on her face and asked calmly, "Do you know where Ye Chuan imprisoned those people?"

  "Why didn't Ye Chuan report this to you?" Meng Yu became puzzled.

  Tang Doudou said with smile, "He's probably worried that I'll be concerned. He's probably waiting for your master to come back to deal with this matter."

  "En, that's probably the case."

  "So do you know where he's placed those people?" Tang Doudou really wanted to know this. Then, once she was able to move again, she could go look for those people and see if they were the Demonic Sect hidden guards.

  If they were, then they had definitely come to the valley after getting the news. Then what about Little Gray? After delivering the letter, shouldn't he have come back with the Demonic Sect hidden guards?

  Why hadn't he returned even after two days? Could it be that he had been captured?

  "I don't know about this. I just happened to bump into them. They looked like they were operating in secret so I didn't dare to watch too much." Meng Yu sighed regretfully. "If I had known that you were going to ask about this, I would've watched for a while longer."

  Tang Doudou said, "It's fine. Since you're not sure where they're locked up, then let's just wait until your master comes back."

  "Alright. In any case, I don't understand your affairs much. Hehe…… If there's nothing else, I'll head back to the kitchen first." Meng Yu stood up, then twisted her apron as she glanced outside towards Cang Baicao. A bit of fear filled her eyes. "Doudou ah, if you have time, just tell Senior Cang that I'm seriously not good at making medicinal dishes! The steps are too meticulous and I'm not that smart either. I can't remember it at all. Just have him pick someone else?"

  Tang Doudou rolled her eyes at her. "Don't you know how hard it is to obtain a single medicinal dish prescription from Senior Cang? It's nearly priceless. You now have a chance to learn it while Senior Cang personally teaches you, but you're showing disdain?"

  "No no no, I'm not showing disdain……" Meng Yu hastily waved her hands as she explained, "I just feel like it's too heavy of a responsibility. If something goes wrong, I-I……"

  "Heaven's general places great burden on man for a purpose. (To be bestowed with great responsibility, one must be crucified with ordeal and tribulation so as to break one's will.) Since you have this chance, learn well. Don't entertain such strange thoughts." Tang Doudou knew that Meng Yu wasn't dumb. She just didn't like trouble and was afraid of being scolded by Cang Baicao when she made mistakes. That was why she wasn't willing to continue this task. However, Tang Doudou felt much more relieved knowing it was Meng Yu that was making the medicinal dishes for her, so she couldn't let Meng Yu pass it off to someone else.

  "Heaven's general places great burden on man for a purpose?" Meng Yu repeated this sentence, but couldn't figure out the meaning and could only ask Tang Doudou, "What does this mean?"

  Tang Doudou didn't explain and just told her to figure it out.

  After she sent Meng Yu off, the room quieted down again. Later, a maid came in to light the candles.

  "What time is it now?"

  "Replying Madame, it's near five."

  It was already near five? Time sure passed too fast. After a few hours, today would end. Would Baili Yu make it back in time?

  Just as she was thinking this, Cang Baicao's angry shouting came from outside, "What is going on? How exactly do you guys handle matters? Don't you know how important this thing is!?"

  What was going on now?

  Tang Doudou said, "Go take a look and tell me what happened."

  The maid ran out, then quickly came back, her expression filled with alarm. "M-madame……"

  Tang Doudou's heart dropped when she saw the maid like this. "Calm down and tell me slowly."

  "It's Big Sister Meng Yu! Big Sister Meng Yu ha-has…… she's burned the kitchen down!"

  __________

  Credits: Translated by Chiyomira

  [Chiyomira's Corner]

  Enjoy~