The snow fell on top of the umbrella while Ye Anping walked through the courtyard of the Cloud Mansion , looking around and trying to find some clues.
He wasn't sure how Zhuang Yan's people would enter the Cloud Mansion to kidnap Yun Yiyi.
In the game, players who followed Yun Yiyi's route also encountered the plot of her kidnapping, but the description was quite vague.
---'After a good night's sleep, the maid knocks on the door of the player's room and informs the player that Yun Yiyi is missing. However, when Yun Yiyi was kidnapped, she was witty enough to leave traces with the scented powder, and the player only had to follow the quest's hints that would take them to a cave on Jade Snow Peak . There, they'll find the dying Yun Yiyi.'
But this was not a game.
In the game, players could not get as close to Yun Yiyi as he did.
And the fact that he, his sister, and Feng Yu Die were now following three plotlines in parallel was also something that couldn't happen in the game.
There were definitely changes in the plot, and what Feng Yu Die had said last night confirmed it.
On Yun Jiujiu's line, the player would not encounter an ambush of Zhuang Yan's men in the game. However, Feng Yu Die said she was ambushed by a group of Foundation Building cultivators.
In other words, if he did nothing, Yun Yiyi would indeed be kidnapped, and it was likely that those people would also get rid of him in the process.
Ye Anping walked around Cloud Mansion toward the side wall, but suddenly, there was a rush of footsteps behind him.
The maid who came to knock on their door this morning ran toward him.
Huang Quan saw that Ye Anping turned around before she reached him and said with some embarrassment, "Hello, Master."
Ye Anping narrowed his eyes and wondered: could there be a problem with this girl?
It seems her name was Huang Quan?
In the game, she was Yun Yiyi's appendage; she didn't speak, and only said "Yes" and "Understood" when interacting. She had also survived to the end of the Moon Shadow Sword Sect, so there should be no problem.
However, her flustered expression now made Ye Anping somewhat uneasy, so he asked with a trace of vigilance, "Miss Huang Quan, is there something wrong?"
"Ah..." Huang Quan was a bit nervous and didn't dare to look at Ye Anping's face. She stuttered, "Master, I saw you alone, and I wanted to come over and help you hold the umbrella..."
"There's no need for that. Don't you have anything else to do?"
"No... I am the Young Lady's personal maid. Usually, I only take care of the Young Lady's daily life. After you become our master, I will also take care of your daily life... And also... things like room-sharing and stuff..."
Huang Quan's voice became smaller and smaller until she only moved her mouth without any sound.
Ye Anping raised his eyebrows in question. "What?"
"Ah... nothing, it's nothing." Huang Quan quickly waved and said, "Taking care of Young Master is also my duty as a servant. Let me hold the umbrella for you."
"..."
Ye Anping sized her up suspiciously, but after pondering for a while, he simply nodded in agreement.
Regardless of whether or not this maid posed a problem, she wouldn't dare to make a move now, not to mention that this little maid was only at the second or third level of Qi Refining . Even if it was a sneak attack or something, he was confident he could deal with it.
After handing over the umbrella to her, Huang Quan's eyes lit up instantly. She quickly took the paper umbrella with both hands and extended her arms to cover Ye Anping's head with the umbrella but stood outside herself.
"Why are you holding the umbrella like this? Won't you get wet in the snow?"
"This is the rule..." explained Huang Quan. "The servant cannot share an umbrella with the master. When using an umbrella, the servant must stand outside. Didn't Young Master have servants before?"
Ye Anping was taken aback. He really didn't know there was such a rule.
He remembered that when training his sister back at the Hundred Lotus Sect, he would stand side by side with Xiaodie under an umbrella, watching his little sister practice shadowboxing in the rain...
"Come here, I don't have these rules."
"Ah... no, no, no." Huang Quan shook his head and said, "If the Young Lady sees it, I will be scolded. It is fine like this... I am not cold."
Ye Anping looked at her, trying to endure the cold, and sighed. He was originally going to give her the cloak, but after thinking about it, Yun Yiyi gave it to him, so it wouldn't be appropriate. So, he simply took out another cloak from the storage bag and put it on her back.
"Don't refuse it."
"Ah..." Huang Quan, somewhat flattered, lowered her head and nodded. "Thank you, Young Master..."
Ye Anping took the opportunity to glance at her sleeves, making sure there were no hidden knives or other things before turning around and continuing along the path. Huang Quan immediately followed beside him, holding the umbrella.
After walking about five hundred steps forward, they passed through a moon-shaped arch and arrived at a lotus pond.
Due to the snowfall, a thick layer of ice had formed on the surface of the lotus pond, with some snow accumulated on top. A large artificial rockery in the middle of the pond was also frozen.
Ye Anping looked around but didn't notice anything strange. He prepared to turn around and investigate the next location.
"Young Master... Are you here for sightseeing? Do you want me to tell you about these places?"
"Oh? Go ahead."
"Err..."
Huang Quan blinked. She actually had no idea what to say; she just wanted to talk more with Ye Anping and become familiar with him so that there would be a higher chance of being called by him to share a room later.
Looking at the frozen rockery in the pool, she said, "Sir, this is Drunken Lotus Pond , it's Miss' favorite place. The lotus flowers in the pool were all planted by Miss herself. They seem to be Seven Star Snow Lotus , a treasure of this land, very precious."
"Well... Water can generate such treasure, I've heard about it."
Ye Anping walked along the edge of the pond as he casually replied.
Looking at Ye Anping's expression, Huang Quan thought that he was not interested in what she said. After thinking for a while, she added, "Oh, right! There used to be a very deep hole in that rockery in the pond. It seemed like a naturally formed underground valley leading to a small cave on Flowing Water Peak . I heard that when Miss was young, she often liked to explore it."
Ye Anping frowned. "What?"
Seeing Ye Anping showing interest, Huang Quan hurriedly continued. "But now it has been sealed off, and the small cave on the mountainside has also been blocked with stones, so there is no way to enter. Miss said it was very unsafe."
Could this be it... Ye Anping crouched and looked back at the rockery in the pond.
"Where exactly on the mountainside?"
"Well... It seems to be in the depths of a bamboo forest. I haven't been there before, so I can't take you there. But Senior Liu from the storeroom seems to know. He is very old and has watched Miss grow up."
"I see... let's go see other places."
Ye Anping took one last look at the rockery and made a mental note. It seemed that Zhuang Yan's people were likely to sneak into Cloud Mansion through here and kidnap Yun Yiyi.
So later on, he should come here and place some talismans just in case.