Su Mingyu snorted. "Think it over before you speak. Since I've managed to find this place, it means I must know something. If you try to deceive me, it won't be that easy to get away with it."
Yan Guan was so nervous that cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He nodded frantically. "I know, I know! I won't lie to you!"
Then Yan Guan quickly began. "Actually, Yan Shiqi is not a daughter of our Yan family. She... she was the child brought by a woman when my father, Yan Liping, abducted her back then."
"Later... later that woman couldn't bear the humiliation and wanted to jump into the well with Yan Shiqi. But then Yan Shiqi was rescued. Although this incident didn't cause a huge stir at that time, it was still a bad thing. So my father suppressed it."
"At first, my father didn't intend to recognize Yan Shiqi. He just kept her in the yard as a servant. But as time passed, Yan Shiqi grew up and became more and more charming. My father started to have some improper thoughts. But my mother disagreed. So she simply announced to the public that Yan Shiqi was a daughter of our Yan family."
"To get my father out of the idea, the Yan family sent Yan Shiqi to the draft when it was time for selecting concubines."
At this point, Yan Guan sighed. "Who would have thought that Yan Shiqi was so capable that she even became a concubine. After my father heard about this, he sent someone to the capital with a cheeky request for Yan Shiqi to help our family out."
Su Mingyu frowned tightly. "You treated her like that. Why would she still help Yan Liping get transferred to the capital?"
Yan Shiqi wasn't stupid. She had finally escaped from this den of evil. Why would she voluntarily bring Yan Liping back into her life?
Yan Guan curled his lips. "That's because Yan Shiqi lost her memory after she was rescued. So she didn't know about the things between her mother and my father."
"But it still doesn't make sense. Why are all your family servants missing?" Su Mingyu still didn't let go of Yan Guan.
"Our family servants aren't missing." Yan Guan looked rather confused at Su Mingyu's words.
It seemed that there were still some things about Yan Liping that Yan Guan didn't know, such as who Yan Shiqi's real father was.
Moreover, Yan Shiqi definitely didn't help him just because she didn't know. She had lived in the Yan Mansion for so many years. Even if she didn't really know about the incident back then, she must have heard some rumors.
Besides, if Su Mingyu were Yan Shiqi, she would definitely pretend not to know anything and continue to hide it until she had enough strength to fight against Yan Liping.
If this assumption was true, it meant that Yan Shiqi must have had some scheme when she let Yan Liping come under her nose.
"I'd like to stay in your mansion for a while longer. Can you act as if today's incident never happened?"
Su Mingyu squinted at Yan Guan. Yan Guan immediately held up his finger and swore. "I promise I won't tell anyone!"
Seeing this, Su Mingyu took out a medicine bottle from her bosom and kicked Yan Guan. "Open your mouth!"
Yan Guan immediately obediently opened his mouth.
Su Mingyu shook a pill into his mouth and said coldly, "This is the Soul - Breaking Powder. It can be activated with just a little internal energy. If you're obedient, I'll give you the antidote when I leave. If you say something you shouldn't..."
Su Mingyu gave Yan Guan a look, scaring him so much that he nodded like a pounding garlic. "I definitely won't talk nonsense."
Su Mingyu snorted and then let go of Yan Guan. "Let's go. Take us to look at the land."
"Are you really going to build a factory?" Yan Guan got up from the ground, still a bit wobbly on his legs.
Su Mingyu rolled her eyes at him. "Don't you know you have to go all the way when acting?"
"I... I understand. I'll take you there right away." With that, Yan Guan climbed onto the carriage and sensibly sat outside it.
Seeing this, Su Mingyu gave Gu Ruobai a look and then squinted her eyes and got into the carriage.
Looking at Su Mingyu's haughty look, Gu Ruobai sighed helplessly and amusedly.
Yan Guan pretended to show Su Mingyu around. But Su Mingyu and Gu Ruobai didn't really care about looking at the land.
On the way, Su Mingyu was thinking about Concubine Chen. "Do you think someone has been helping Concubine Chen in the palace to make things go so smoothly for her?"
"Maybe there is someone, or maybe she is just very scheming." Gu Ruobai lowered his eyes. "It's hard to say about people who grew up in such an environment."
Su Mingyu pursed her lips. "Judging from Yan Guan's reaction, Yan Liping didn't tell him everything."
Gu Ruobai nodded. "Mu Yi has sent a message. Let's go back to the mansion and have a look."
Fortunately, the county town wasn't very big. Su Mingyu and Gu Ruobai returned to the Yan Mansion before lunch.
It was a small place with nothing much going on all day. So Yan Liping basically just went to work for a formality and then returned to the mansion to rest.
Seeing Su Mingyu coming back, he immediately came over. "How was it? Miss Sinan, have you found a place you like?"
Su Mingyu frowned. "The county town looks quite flat, but I didn't expect there to be mountains around it. If I were to use that land, I'd have to find someone to level it, which would be a bit troublesome. So I'd like to look around some more."
Hearing this, Yan Liping said, "You're right! In that case, Miss Sinan, take your time to choose. Lunch is almost ready. Have lunch first."
Su Mingyu nodded. "Thank you, Prefect Yan."
After lunch, Su Mingyu and Gu Ruobai returned to their room, but they didn't find the message left by Mu Yi.
Su Mingyu was a bit nervous. "Why hasn't Mu Yi come?"
"Something must have come up to hold him back." Gu Ruobai wasn't as worried as Su Mingyu.
It wasn't that he was arrogant. Not to mention in such a small place, even in the talented capital city, Mu Yi had few opponents.
He rarely saw Mu Yi being held back by anyone. Of course, except for the unpredictable Su Mingyu in front of him.
Seeing Gu Ruobai so confident, Su Mingyu curled her lips. "In that case, let's go. Let's stroll around. Maybe we'll have some unexpected discoveries."
After leaving a message for Mu Yi, Su Mingyu and Gu Ruobai left the Yan Mansion.
As soon as they walked out, they received many strange looks.
Most of them were full of disgust.
Seeing this, Su Mingyu frowned a bit. "It seems that Yan Liping has a very bad reputation here."
"Maybe it's precisely because his reputation is so bad that we can find out more." With that, Gu Ruobai pulled Su Mingyu into a relatively large teahouse in the town.
They went inside and ordered the best tea.
Su Mingyu was a bit confused by his series of actions. Before she could ask, she heard Gu Ruobai asking the waiter kindly, "Waiter, is there anything special in your county that can't be found elsewhere?"