Second Flame Of Romance

Chapter 29 - They were just not meant to be

WT 29 - They were just not meant to be

Miss Wan Ting had kept her word and avoided Heng Zhen Gan whenever they crossed paths.

The Wan family moved out after they found a new house and sold their old residence after cleaning it up as much as they could. They only continue hiring three servants and let go of the others that had managed to survive the incident.

When they left the Heng manor, Miss Wan thanked him again for everything, reminding him to ask for her if he needed help, especially in regards to pills, and left. She had not spoken of anything else.

There had been many instances where some ladies would use schemes to bind him into marriage. But this was the first time someone confessed to him but not asking for anything in return.

In fact, he could understand how she would come to like him. He gathered that she had not experienced being cared for by a man other than her father, and her inexperienced heart was swayed by his generosity.

But they were just not meant to be.

With Heng Zhen Gan lacking guards, the Third Prince loaned out his shadow guards to protect Miss Wan secretly. The prince's action continuously surprised him and he wondered what was his motive in doing so when the Wan family was no longer involved with officialdom.

His curiosity was doom to be unsatisfied with how tight-lipped the Third Prince was regarding this matter. Could the prince find out about the Flame Spirit? It was not impossible, as Miss Wan was not hiding that fact, but she was also not broadcasting it. It was easy to find out with a simple investigation.

That thought reminded him of the book about Flame Spirit.

After the check-up, Owner Yu confirmed that Miss Wan was completely herself and successfully absorbed the essence of the Flame Spirit into herself. She will not have the complete strength of a mature Flame Spirit, but even with that small amount of strength alone was impressive. The only problem was letting Miss Wan learn how to control the power.

Perhaps Miss Wan was talented because she only needed eight days to learn how to summon and extinguish it at will. Immediately after that, she returned back to work.

"This biscuit is delicious, crunchy yet not drying up my throat. It's also sweet and sour at the same time. Where did you buy this?"

"Made by Liu Bing." His student had hidden in the kitchen, trying to accept the fact that Miss Wan liked his teacher. That boy must have started to consider Miss Wan as his life partner after Prince Heng started to matchmake them.

Prince Heng left Liu Bing to his own thoughts. Whatever his decision after his long thoughts will be between him and Miss Wan. As she had given up, she should be looking for another candidate for marriage.

"I heard from Elder Qing Shu that the Shadow Tree Sect had left Guilin?" Prince Heng asked.

Owner Yu nodded, his mouth busy munching the biscuit.

"Will they be coming back?"

Owner Yu pondered before answering with a shrug.

"Will Fruity Tree Sect eliminate Shadow Tree Sect down to their roots?"

Owner Yu's eyes flashed and nodded. The biscuit was completely chewed and swallowed, finally allowing him to speak. "The grudge between both parties will never end until one of us is gone. We prefer it to be Shadow Tree Sect. Some of our alliance will be helping us to deal with them, as our interest aligned."

"Make sure they don't come back."

"You just don't want to get involved with the mess," Owner Yu said dryly. "The sect master of Shadow Tree was severely injured and needed the Flame Spirit to continuously forge a pill for ninety-nine days. But without the recipe, they will not find Miss Wan for now. If they come here, I will tell you."

It turns out that Doctor Shen had a hobby of collecting ancient texts of medicine, each of them very valuable. After his death, they were passed down to Hao Li, his successor. Coincidentally, one of the ancient texts was the one Shadow Tree Sect was looking for and they found Hao Li.

"Young Hao Li is truly a strong person. Elder Lan Shu says he is very similar to Doctor Shen."

Hao Li had refused to give the book to the Shadow Tree Sect, or even tell them where he had hidden it despite being tortured so badly that his life was hanging between life and death. He knew very well how dangerous that book was, and how cruel the methods were to acquire those ingredients for that special pill. Never knowing why his uncle would have that kind of book, nevertheless, he still promised his uncle to never let it fall to anyone's hands.

The safest way was to burn that book, removing it from existence, which he did and now only he knew the content. It was fortunate he did so early on because every inch and corner of his room was searched and his family members were eager to help the evil sect so that they would be safe.

The longer Hao Li did not give what they wanted, the crueler his kidnapper became. They had the Shen family admit who was the one in the family that was most important to Hao Li. In exchange, the other family members will be safe.

Madam Shen was picked to force Hao Li to speak up. But the Shadow Tree sect did not account for her actions. Right in front of Hao Li, Madam Shen killed herself, refused to be used to force her nephew, and used this opportunity to reunite with her husband and children in the afterlife.

But the cruelest thing was, the Shen family only reported Hao Li's disappearance many days after they gave up Madam Shen. They had not even revealed the entire truth, only claiming that he disappeared without any clues and gave an excuse that Madam Shen had gone missing after she went to search for Hao Li without them knowing.

Were they doing this to ease that little guilt they had in their heart?

How ironic.

"You want Hao Li to replicate the book?"

"That is a tempting idea." Owner Yu sighed and nibbled another piece of biscuit. "But that boy will never do it even if I ask. If he is unwilling, Fruity Tree Sect will not force him."

Hao Li was now recuperating from his injuries on the second floor of Fruity Herb shop, with Bao Hai tending to him. Surprisingly, Miss Wan chose to have Bao Hai stay at Fruity Herb shop instead of being her maidservant but still continue on with the agreement of trying to make Energy Gathering pills for the living pill.

"Anyway, what are you going to do with the rumor?" Owner Yu asked Prince Heng, with unmasked curiosity in his eyes.

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"I thought you won't be coming anymore!" Huang Qian said the moment she saw Wan Ting coming out of her workroom, clearly waiting for her to have lunch together.

"I'm recuperating from my injuries." Their house moving was known by many, including their previous residence being trashed badly. They did not let the public know the real reason, only that thieves had entered their house and she got injured from battling with them.

It would be baffling why the thieves would choose their house instead of a much richer family, but they used the excuse of carelessly flashing a box of treasures when Madam Wan brought them to be pawned. Everyone in the circle knew the Wan family was facing some financial difficulties so it was not difficult for others to accept it.

"Is there something bothering you?" Wan Ting asked when Huang Qian looked as if something was bothering her.

Huang Qian's eyes shifted away. "... Let's talk after our meal."

Since Huang Qian had said so, Wan Ting did not insist and they went to the dining hall. Huang Tian was already seated, eating his food and acting normally, which was in contrast to the seemingly in edge Huang Qian that was for once focused on food instead of staring at good-looking men.

Quickly eat, go back to Wan Ting's workroom and talk. That was Huang Qian's plan. But a group of females approached their table and broke apart her plan.

"Miss Wan, may we bother you for a moment?"