Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 205 Unmasking (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Ye Tinglan fell silent, seemingly deep in thought.

Lu Xingzhou didn't say anything more and enjoyed his meal with A Nuo.

By the time Ye Tinglan came to her senses, the food was almost all gone.

Ye Tinglan picked up a slice of radish with her chopsticks, looking annoyed.

The air seemed to fall silent for a moment. Lu Xingzhou and A Nuo moved their cheeks in perfect unison, turning their heads to stare blankly at her.

Ye Tinglan lifted a corner of her veil and ate the radish without looking at anyone else: "Why are you all staring at me? Can't I eat? Just watch you eat?"

Lu Xingzhou laughed: "Of course you can. But isn't it a bit inconvenient to eat like this?"

"Trying to trick me into taking off my veil again." Ye Tinglan was both annoyed and amused: "What on earth is going on in your head?"

"To be honest... it's not quite right for a disciple to not even know what his master looks like. Have you ever seen a master and disciple like this?"

Ye Tinglan was stunned for a moment, then thought about it and realized it made sense.

The root of the problem lies in my own impure motives for taking them on as disciples. I didn't initially treat them as disciples, but later I got used to it, and it became somewhat awkward to talk about revealing their identities. This is a legacy issue.

Ye Tinglan thought for a moment and found a way out for herself: "If you complete one of my tests, I will reveal my true identity."

Lu Xingzhou simply lowered his head and ate his rice, ignoring her completely.

"Hey!" Ye Tinglan slammed her chopsticks down: "What do you mean?"

"It's nothing, Anuo. Are you finished eating? Let's go."

The master and apprentice tossed down a piece of silver and dashed out of the inn to stroll around.

You can still faintly hear the two of them whispering: "They even have to test what the disciple looks like? I've never seen such pretentious behavior."

"Shh...maybe it's very beautiful. Women tend to believe it and think it's a reward."

"Maybe it's ugly? If you're really pretty, why would you cover it up every day? I think Sister Ayi wants everyone to praise her."

"That's different. After all, it's a first-class rank, so it has a certain air about it."

"Is Sister Yu also wearing the Yama mask because of this?"

"No, that's not it. Her charming little vixen appearance lacks any real authority; it's just for scaring people. Have you ever heard of Lanling Wang?"

"No……"

"Let me tell you a story, Master. Once upon a time, there was a..."

As the sound faded into the distance, Ye Tinglan ate a few bites of food without expression, finding it tasteless and feeling extremely annoyed.

If you don't want to watch it, fine. Do you expect me to?

Glancing at the strange looks from the other diners as she ate while lifting her veil, as if they were staring at an idiot, Ye Tinglan slammed her chopsticks down, refusing to eat anymore, and stormed back to the guest courtyard.

What's so good about it? It's just mundane, tasteless food.

She was unaware that, despite only being away from Beijing for a few days, her emotions were escalating...

After meditating in the house for a while, I heard voices outside the courtyard. The two rascals had returned from shopping.

"Knock knock~" A knocking sound came from the door, and Lu Xingzhou's voice asked, "Is the master in?"

Ye Tinglan didn't want to see him at all, and asked irritably, "What is it?"

"I just went shopping with Ah Nuo and bought some things for Mr. [the man]."

"Take it back, no."

"Sir will definitely like it."

Ye Tinglan became a little curious: "How do you know what I like? Come in and take a look."

The door opened, and Lu Xingzhou placed a stack of veils beside him: "Seeing that you haven't changed them for so long, you must not be feeling well. Here are 365 veils, you can change one every day without repeating, and you don't need to wash them."

Ye Tinglan's hands clenched so tightly they cracked: "Lu Xingzhou, do you really think I won't beat you up?!"

"Huh?" Lu Xingzhou asked blankly, "Don't you like it, sir? I thought you treasured it very much."

Ye Tinglan was so angry she almost laughed: "Get out."

"So you don't treasure it, sir?" Lu Xingzhou stroked his chin. "Then can I exchange these 365 for this one, sir?"

Ye Tinglan sneered: "You said you'd reveal your true colors if I passed the test, so why are you pretending you don't want to see?"

Lu Xingzhou said, "This doesn't need an assessment. I'd rather give you a question, and if you can't answer it, then..."

Ye Tinglan glanced at him sideways: "You think you can stump me?"

"Why not give it a try and see? Anyway, the master was already planning to reveal his identity, so we won't lose anything whether we answer or not."

Ye Tinglan was a little embarrassed and annoyed, thinking to herself, "Even if I'm trying to save face, you don't have to be so blunt. Don't you have any dignity left?" "You're not making up some Lanling King story, are you? Nobody can answer that."

"Of course not... well, let's talk about well-known figures of our time."

Ye Tinglan sneered, "If you're talking about idlers, I don't know as many as you do. But if you're talking about famous figures, how could you possibly stump me? Go ahead and tell me."

Are you kidding me? In the past century, no well-known figure has ever been as familiar as a young person like you.

But then Lu Xingzhou said, "Hmm, what is Yan Junyuan Muyu's true background? He's quite famous, isn't he?"

Ye Tinglan stared at him blankly, momentarily stunned.

Of course you're famous enough, and you've asked the right person.

You could ask anyone in the world, but no one knows more about Yuan Muyu's background than Ye Tinglan. Ye Tinglan knows exactly what color diapers Yuan Muyu wore as a child, and she changed them herself.

But can this be said?
Lu Xingzhou, being so intelligent, had clearly guessed that she and Yuan Muyu shared the same background. Yuan Muyu's "running away from home" back then was due to an argument with her, which was easy to determine. And then what? Saying she was from the Tianyao Holy Land would be tantamount to clearly telling him that she was the Imperial Preceptor Ye Tinglan.

Her current line of communication is that of the reclusive sect, the Cloud Hidden Immortal Sect. She even created a fake model for it, so anyone investigating "Madam Ye's" background can find out that such a real sect exists.

So should we tell him that Yuan Muyu also came from the Yunyin Immortal Sect? But that's not "real"; judging by the question, that's the wrong answer.

Even if he wanted to cover it up, this guy was so familiar with Yuan Muyu. If they met one day and he asked about "Yunyin Immortal Sect", and Yuan Muyu's reaction was that he had never heard of it, wouldn't that give him away completely?
After a long period of lag, Ye Tinglan slowly came back to her senses, thinking to herself that since revealing her identity was just a way to save face, she might as well do it.

He then said, "You might have misunderstood... I'm not familiar with King Yama, which is why I asked you so many questions. I really can't answer this one."

After saying that, he reached out and lifted the veil, casually placing it aside: "You're right, this disciple shouldn't have been unaware of your appearance, Master. Now that I see it clearly?"

No one responded.

Lu Xingzhou stood there dumbfounded, his heart pounding in his throat.

You don't know her at all! You look so much like Yuan Muyu, you're practically a mature and charming version of her! How can you say you don't know her?

I would believe you if you said you were a fish mom.

However, the two have very different temperaments.

In her early years, Yuan Muyu was a charming and delicate girl. However, as she participated in more events in the Demonic Path and her status rose, she became more restrained in her demeanor as a little demon girl, and her fierce and ruthless aura grew stronger.

Madam Ye, on the other hand, possessed a dignified and aloof demeanor due to her long-standing high position, yet she remained calm and profound. When she looked at you steadily, it was like the distant night sky, still and undisturbed.

It seems that this pair itself reflects the boundary between the heavens and the underworld, between immortals and demons.

Ye Tinglan thought of a bunch of questions but couldn't think of the fact that she looked like Yuan Muyu. She was completely dumbfounded... Seeing Lu Xingzhou's stunned look, her calm eyes gradually turned embarrassed and annoyed: "Do you want to wipe your drool?"

"Huh?" Lu Xingzhou came to his senses: "Uh, sir, you misunderstand. I've seen this kind of person many times..."

Ye Tinglan: "?"

Lu Xingzhou carefully and quietly touched the veil on the coffee table and quickly put it away: "Then I'll take this bet with me."

Ye Tinglan reacted: "Stop! What bet? Isn't it just revealing your identity?"

Lu Xingzhou said in a serious tone: "I just said 'then...' but I didn't finish. Combining what I said before about exchanging 365 veils for this one, of course I meant 'then give me the veil.'"

After saying that, he pressed the ring, turned around, and ran away.

He had just run out of the house when a palm seemed to fall from the sky, slamming him into the ground with a "bang." He twitched twice and then lay still.

Ye Tinglan blew on her palms, looking at the little man outside with amusement, but ultimately did not try to snatch back the veil. She simply waved her hand, and the door slammed shut.

It felt like a dimension had been separated; the air became quiet, and my mind inexplicably felt much lighter, even a little bit like laughing.

He said he hoped to relax... It seems like he used a lot of tricks, whether it was provoking or teasing, all for this purpose.

Admittedly, it has been quite effective.

It's as if, with the veil lifted, a burden has been removed; from now on, he is no longer the all-encompassing imperial advisor, but simply his teacher. He can now face the world without makeup and meet people as he pleases.

No wonder those wealthy women say that young puppies can provide emotional value; they're absolutely right.

Ye Tinglan got up from her seat, stretched, and unabashedly displayed her mature and voluptuous figure. Then she stood leisurely by the window, looking at the night scene, and remained silent.

She was enjoying the moon in a relaxed mood, while Lu Xingzhou tossed and turned on his bed, unable to sleep at all.

I've seen this look many times...

Little did they know that the unspoken thought hidden in their hearts was that this very appearance was what truly touched their hearts.

The moonlight shone on the windowsill, making it appear very white.

Lu Xingzhou didn't even dare to think about whether he could control his racing heart the next time they sat side by side, heads huddled together for a private coaching session. Those were the most unremarkable memories of those unremarkable years.

It was as if nothing had changed in the blink of an eye; she was still sitting beside me teaching, only a little more mature.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

PS: Although it's not quite 10,000, it's close enough~ I'm righteously asking for monthly votes!
(End of this chapter)