Chapter 1396: Snow in June (Part 2) [Happy New Year]
She seemed to notice the change in Shen Tang's expression and became somewhat wary as well: "Why are you looking at me like that, sir?"
"The queen looks just like an old friend."
The woman in front of me does indeed look a lot like someone.
"An old friend?"
Shen Tang said, "Mm."
I see her every time I look in the mirror.
"It's all fate." The proprietress gently stroked her face, which already bore the marks of time. Frequent travel had made her age faster than her peers; fine lines had appeared at the corners of her eyes, and strands of white hair had quietly emerged from her temples. "This rain won't stop anytime soon. If you're not in a hurry, why don't you sit down and rest for a while?"
"Then I'll have to trouble you."
"Sir, you're too kind. It's no trouble at all that you've come to patronize our shop. Do you have a preference for tea?"
Shen Tang shook his head, saying he didn't know, and asked the proprietress for recommendations.
The proprietress recommended the shop's signature dish to her.
Shen Tang: "I wonder what your family name is, Lady?"
"His surname is Chen."
The woman surnamed Shen is a teahouse owner who bears a striking resemblance to the real person.
The two labels combined reminded Shen Tang of an incident from many years ago—during the Northern Desert War, Gu Chi Liao Jia had been an envoy to the Gao Kingdom and entered a roadside teahouse on his return journey.
The proprietress looks remarkably like the real person.
Judging by their ages, the two should be about the same.
So, could they be the same person?
Watching the proprietress prepare the tea and drinks with ease, Shen Tang took the initiative to start a conversation: "If I may ask, judging from your elegant speech and accent, you don't seem to be a local. It sounds like you have a bit of a northern accent?"
"Sir, you have a good ear. I am from the North." The proprietress did not hide her past, and had the straightforwardness that was unique to the North. "In my early years, my family fell into poverty and I was the only one left alive. I had no choice but to flee to make a living."
Shen Tang: "The North is not exactly a land of song and dance now, but it has been peaceful for many years. Has Your Majesty considered going back? In the end, people still want to return to their roots. In addition, there are rumors that chaos is about to break out in the Central Region. It may not be safe to stay here any longer."
The proprietress said, "I had no choice but to accept it."
It's hard to leave one's homeland, and unless there are special reasons, no one wants to go to a place where they don't know anyone to make a living, where there is always the risk of losing their life.
Watching the fragrant flowers and leaves rise and fall in the teacup, Shen Tang wore an expression of empathy. She took a sip of the steaming tea, savoring the floral and fruity aromas spreading in her mouth: "Good tea, no wonder it's the shop's signature drink."
Outside the teahouse, the rain was drizzling.
Due to the weather, no other travelers passed by at this time.
Shen Tang invited the proprietress to sit down and have a drink, chat, and play chess together.
Brewing tea and chatting idly while listening to the rain, playing chess and discussing worldly affairs.
The proprietress wasn't very good at chess, but Shen Tang wasn't taking it seriously either. The two played a back-and-forth game on the chessboard, and in the end, the proprietress resigned. She said, "Sir, you seem preoccupied. Your mind isn't on the game at all. It's not fun playing."
"Please forgive me, Lady Shen, I have indeed been troubled lately." Shen Tang tidied up the messy chessboard. "To be honest, I have come here to look for someone. He has been out of contact recently, and I am worried that something may have happened to him."
The proprietress stopped helping to tidy up.
She looked up at Shen Tang.
She happened to meet Shen Tang's gaze, which was calmly fixed on her.
“I’ve been asking around, but I’ve found very little information about him. Lady Shen has been running a teahouse here for quite some time now. I wonder if you remember her?” Shen Tang took out the portrait of Tan Ting and, while the other person was examining the painting closely, revealed his true intentions. “To tell you the truth, before coming here, I heard from a beggar that he had met Lady Shen at a dilapidated temple.”
The proprietress firmly closed the scroll: "Never seen it before."
His tone was much colder.
As she got up to close the shop, she heard Shen Tang call out a name: "Lady Shen, have you really never seen Tan Mengyuan?"
The name made the proprietress stop what she was doing.
"Who are you?"
She turned to look at Shen Tang, a wary glint in her eyes.
Shen Tang bowed respectfully, her righteous demeanor revealing her sincerity: "Tan Mengyuan is my colleague. He had previously requested leave to return home to visit relatives, but lost contact as soon as he entered the central region. I am here on my lord's orders to investigate his whereabouts. If Lady Shen knows anything, I humbly request your leniency."
"...So, you are from the Northwest Kang Kingdom?"
Shen Tang nodded: "Mm."
The proprietress looked conflicted, as if she hesitated whether to tell the truth. After a long while, she said, "Never mind, never mind."
Some things you can't escape. She never expected that even after coming all this way, she would keep running into people connected to her past. Perhaps it really was fate: "Just ask me anything. I'll tell you what I know, and I can't help you with what I don't."
Shen Tang asked the question only after considering it very carefully.
When did you two meet?
"I don't know him."
"You talked a lot in the dilapidated temple, how come you don't recognize me?"
When talking about the time at the dilapidated temple, the landlady didn't hide anything: "Before that, I really didn't know him. He only came to me because he had something to discuss. I went to the dilapidated temple to keep the appointment because I saw the coded message he left behind."
"What did he ask you about?"
"This involves his private affairs."
Shen Tang said decisively, "It also involves his life and fortune."
Her tone wasn't harsh, yet it unnaturally revealed an authoritative air of authority that commanded respect. The proprietress paused, reassessing Shen Tang's identity: "He came to investigate a missing person case. The missing person was connected to him, but he didn't specify the nature of the connection. He contacted me because the missing person had been in contact with me... He asked some questions and then left."
"What is your connection with the missing person? Could you elaborate?"
It's really hard to tell where Tan Ting is just from the literal information.
The proprietress gave a bitter smile: "We're all in the same boat."
Shen Tang frowned. This was as good as saying nothing. With just an inefficient question-and-answer session, if the other party was intentionally hiding something, she wouldn't be able to get any useful information out of them. Wouldn't it be better to use some other methods?
Before Shen Tang could ask any further questions, the proprietress took the initiative and asked, "Have you ever heard of the Council of Gods?"
Shen Tang nodded: "I know."
How much do you know about the Pantheon?
"Similar to Meng Yuan."
The proprietress thus concluded that Shen Tang was also a high-ranking official and elder statesman in Kang Kingdom; otherwise, how would she know so many unknown secrets? It was good that she knew this, saving her the trouble of explaining further: "The person Tan Mengyuan is looking for is of the same kind as me. There are some women in this world who inherited a certain bloodline from an unknown ancestor, passed down through generations to this day. This bloodline has attracted the covetousness of the Inner Society of the Gods. To protect ourselves, we can only do our utmost to hide and conceal ourselves, occasionally contacting each other and reminding one another."
Most of them are unaware of what makes them special.
Without this awareness, one will naturally not be vigilant about danger.
Those of similar backgrounds maintained private contact and shared information, gradually forming a small group. The proprietress was also unexpectedly drawn into it after entering the central region. In recent years, however, some members have lost contact and disappeared.
"No further contact? Did something happen?"
The proprietress nodded and said, "Yes."
Shen Tang asked in confusion, "Since it's so dangerous, why would Lady Shen risk staying in the central region? Aren't you afraid of losing your life?"
"That's because I'm different from them too."
The proprietress sneered, "My bloodline is much purer than theirs, making it less likely for bad guys to discover my true identity. Although people of the same blood can sense each other, betraying me is betraying themselves. So, we've managed to live in peace all these years."
It's not something you're born with; it's something that's been modified later in life.
The culprit who tampered with her was the Naisha.
It is said that they used the last remaining "secret treasure".
This "treasure" was extracted from the first generation.
It's a pity the inner society collapsed too early, and almost all those in the know died, which allowed her to grow up safely and survive to this day. If the proprietress had a choice, she wouldn't want to be involved in her past: "Tan Mengyuan must have discovered my connection to the missing person, which is why he used the code we used to lure me out..."
That's all?
Shen Tang was somewhat unwilling.
The trail ends here?
The proprietress said, "That's all the connection I have with Tan Mengyuan, but—I can tell you some secrets I know. Most of these missing people were kept as breeding grounds to reproduce more of their kind; there's a demand for that."
"What?"
A flash of inspiration struck Shen Tang.
She recalled the intelligence that Luan Gongyi had brought back.
Wouldn't that completely connect the clues on both sides?
The proprietress looked at Shen Tang, her tone carrying a hint of inexplicable emotion: "We've had a very pleasant conversation. Since we've already shared so much, I might as well remind you of something else—your lord is closer to the first generation of bloodline than I am."
I'm not saying all this to sow discord or anything like that.
This is just to remind you.
If Shen Youli fails, she may never be able to recover. Her bloodline is extremely compatible with the first generation, without being diluted over generations. In the eyes of these madmen in the Central Branch, this is a priceless treasure and the key to their immortality.
"That's all I know."
The landlady has said everything that should and shouldn't have been said.
Shen Tang said helplessly, "We can't find Meng Yuan with just these things."
The proprietress said, "Tan Mengyuan must have gone to rescue people. Perhaps he can find him by finding his fellow captives. But that place is a den of dragons and tigers. If you go there alone, you may not come back."
You can't go wrong by putting your effort in this direction.
Shen Tang then asked, "And how do you find a female ruler like yourself?"
This is a big problem.
The proprietress drew her dagger and, without hesitation, made a deep cut. With her fingers stained with blood, she wrote a mysterious pattern on the bamboo slip.
"As long as you carry it with you, you will be guided by the unseen forces."
Shen Tang accepted the blood-written letter from the landlady.
The pattern is the same as the dark pattern on the robe of the High Priest Jimo Qiuyi.
She secretly contacted the original body, asking it to inquire with Ji Moqiu about what had happened. Not daring to delay even a moment, she prepared to set off to find the person. Dead or alive, she had to get Tan Ting out of there.
But before that—
Shen Tang had some things on her mind to say to the proprietress: "If Tan Ting can be saved, Your Majesty will have performed a great service. When we report to the Lord, you will surely be rewarded. I wonder if Your Majesty has any requests?"
"I have no desires, I just want to live a simple life."
"Just alive?"
"Ha, just being alive is better than so many miserable people." To end this life of constant wandering, the dangers and hidden dangers need to be eradicated at their root. With her abilities, how difficult that is!
"Will the Queen still be there when I return?"
They were just short of directly asking the other party if they would run away.
The proprietress: "I wonder what you mean by that, sir?"
Shen Tang played with the blood-written letter and said meaningfully, "Nothing much, I'm just worried that I won't be able to find the whereabouts of the Lady in order to repay her kindness in the future."
The proprietress: "..."
She was an ordinary person, but she also keenly sensed that the atmosphere had changed.
Just as she was holding her breath in nervousness, and cold sweat was breaking out on her back, Shen Tang grabbed a bamboo hat and put it on: "Madam Shen, the green hills remain unchanged, the green waters flow forever, and we are destined to meet again."
The proprietress watched as Shen Tang stepped into the rain.
A certain lurking suspicion grew stronger.
She performed a curtsy and said, "May your country prosper."
Upon hearing this, Shen Tang paused, then disappeared into the rain.
As Madam Shen initially stated, Tan Ting had an important person who had gone missing. He found a coded message among the person's belongings that allowed him to contact Madam Shen, and used the message to lure the person out to get answers. From beginning to end, it was clear she was a complete outsider. If that's the case, why did Madam Shen bother with so much digression? Therefore, Shen Tang had another guess.
Could it be that Tan Ting was led there by her?
Luring Meng Yuan into the game, and then using Meng Yuan to lure the Kang Kingdom's forces into the game?
Madam Shen herself said that she maintains contact with people of similar backgrounds in the central region, and the person Tan Ting is looking for is one of them.
Will she know about the relationship between her kind and Tan Ting?
Do you know whether Tan Ting belongs to Kang State?
Moreover, this blood-written letter also reveals that her perception of her kind is far stronger than their perception of her. At the same distance, her kind cannot find her, while she knows of their existence.
When their kind went missing, Madam Shen was the first to know.
With Tan Ting gone missing, Kangguo could not remain indifferent. Firstly, Tan Ting himself was valuable; his scholarly way was Kangguo's "moat" against the central region. Secondly, Tan Ting was a member of the Pantheon branch and had a better understanding of the situation in the central region.
From both a moral and logical standpoint, we should send people to search for him even if he goes missing.
Madam Shen just needs to wait for someone to come to her.
Besides that, there is another flaw.
Given Tan Ting's cautious nature, the beggar in the dilapidated temple was either dead or had his memory erased by him. How could he possibly remember clearly his secret conversation with the mysterious woman? What if Madam Shen intervened?
That makes sense.
But what was her purpose in intervening?
Following this hypothesis, some of the strange things became clear.
What further confirmed Shen Tang's suspicions was Madam Shen's response to Shen Tang's probing, a simple "May the nation prosper" that directly revealed her intentions. She rubbed her temples, thinking to herself—in the end, Wu You's body belonged to someone else, but Wu You and the original Wu You shared the same origin.
It's understandable that the other party guessed his identity.
Just then, the voice of the original self appeared in my mind: "I have a darker guess—what if the disappearance of the person Mengyuan is looking for is also related to her? Use shrimp to catch small fish, and use small fish to catch big fish. When the big fish takes the bait, the goal will be achieved."
Shen Tang paused in her steps.
They immediately chose to turn back.
From afar, a large fire could be seen breaking out in the direction of the teahouse.
Chen, the original owner of Tang: "...Oh ho."
Chen Wuyou Tang: "...Oh my god!"
ヾ(*>＜*)(｀●)
Since the beginning, many readers have speculated that Madam Shen and Tang Mei would be rivals. Actually, there wasn't from the start. Their connection was that Tang Mei used her identity, and she was one of the experimental subjects of the Inner Society of the Gods.
Her motivation was simple: to survive.
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