It was strange for her to step foot in the Duanmu Family Manor again.
It had been a long time since she had been here.
It was only before her marriage that she had been in the Duanmu Family Manor, after that, she had never come back to this place since she spent her time at the Bei Family Manor.
Being back here again raised all kinds of different emotions, but there weren’t any good emotions that came to her.
For Duanmu Ming Xue, it was hard for her to have any good feelings towards the Duanmu Family after everything that happened.
It was already good enough that she was able to hold herself back from cursing at the ones that were greeting her.
Since her status was as an envoy of the Mu Empire, she was warmly welcomed by those from the Duanmu Family.
She was even welcomed personally by the Duanmu Family Head who was her father.
Duanmu Ming Xue was the sixth daughter of the Duanmu Family Head, born from his second wife. She was someone who had exceptional beauty since she was young, but didn’t have the same talent for cultivation.
That was why she was sent to the Bei Family for marriage instead of being trained by the Duanmu Family.
After all, cultivation was the most important thing in this world.
If one wasn’t able to cultivate, then they would be treated as a cheaper product.
Especially in large families like this where one couldn’t afford to be emotional.
Seeing her father look at her kindly like this, a look that she had never seen before…there was a strong urge that filled Duanmu Ming Xue. There was a strong part of her that was telling her to punch him right in the face that had this wide smile on it.
But she held herself back in the end since she remembered why she was here.
“I’m here to give you the details, nothing else.” Duanmu Ming Xue said in a cold voice that was different from her normal voice.
This was the effect of the special voice changing artifact that Lin Fan had prepared for her.
Otherwise, it would have been easy for them to recognize her voice and see through her disguise.
Hearing this, the Duanmu Family Head slightly knitted his brows.
Though he was a bit displeased about being treated like this, he didn’t say anything. The only reason that he was displeased was because this wasn’t Lin Fan, but rather a subordinate of Lin Fan that was delivering the information.
He could accept it if Lin Fan treated him like this since he was the envoy from the Mu Empire, but for Lin Fan’s subordinate…
Still, the Duammu Family Head quickly revealed a normal face and said, “Of course, I’m sure that you’re busy. There’s plenty of things that still have to be prepared ahead of time.”
Duanmu Ming Xue gave a nod before saying the line that she had rehearsed, “Of course, I’ll also need to take a look at your treasury. The envoy wasn’t pleased with the things that he received last time, so he sent me here to take a closer look to see if there’s anything that he’s interested in.”
The Duanmu Family Head didn’t hide it this time as a frown appeared on his face.
It was one thing if Lin Fan took a look at the treasury, but it was a completely different matter for this unknown subordinate of Lin Fan’s to take a look. The only reason that they didn’t suspect that this person was a fake was because of the token that they had taken out.
They felt the aura that came from the token, so they knew that it wasn’t a fake.
But in the end, this person was not Lin Fan.
This person didn’t even reveal their face, which made things even more suspicious.
The Duanmu Family Head really wanted to reject this request, but thinking about it, he held himself back in the end. Weighing the pros and cons of this matter, he eventually decided…
“Alright, please follow me. We’ll bring you to take a look around our Duanmu Family Manor. However, you will have to take some time to talk to the other members of our Duanmu Family so they don’t get suspicious.”
The Duanmu Family Head’s goal was to get this subordinate of Lin Fan to alleviate the worries of the Duanmu Family.
After what happened last time, there were many people that were worried that the Mu Empire’s envoy wasn’t as close to the Duanmu Family as the Duanmu Family Head had put it.
There were people that had considered even removing the Duanmu Family Head.
While there weren’t enough of them to actually threaten the Duanmu Family Head, it was a problem that there were people thinking like that in the family. If this kind of sentiment continued to breed, there was no telling what kind of things these people could do.
If something were to happen before the envoy’s plan, then that would be the end of their Duanmu Family.
So the Duanmu Family Head had to think of a way to solve this issue before the plan came to fruition.
That was why he jumped on this opportunity.
He knew that it was impossible to get Lin Fan to go along with a request like this, but it was completely different for Lin Fan’s subordinate. As long as he gave a few good reasons, he would be able to gaslight this person into going along with this place.
After all, a subordinate would be afraid of ruining the boss’ plan.
If he made it sound like that by doing this, this subordinate would be causing trouble for Lin Fan, he would be able to get them to go along with this.
As expected…
“Alright, I’ll only say a few words and nothing more.” Duanmu Ming Xue said in the same cold voice.
The Duanmu Family Head secretly let out a sigh of relief, but on the surface, he said with the same smile as before, “Then let’s go in.”
The Duanmu Family Head thought that he had fooled Duanmu Ming Xue into following his plan, but in reality…this was what Duanmu Ming Xue wanted in the first place.
It was what Lin Fan had told her to do since he had already expected the Duanmu Family Head to act this way.
The goal that Duanmu Ming Xue had coming to the Duanmu Family Manor was just to see it one more time. Or it was better to say, she was seeing which parts of it she should spare.
She already knew that in the end, the Duanmu Family would be finished.
But it was a lie to say that she had cut all attachment to the Duanmu Family.
When she had been at the Duanmu Family, there were parts of it that she remembered fondly even now. So she didn’t want to see the Duanmu Family completely destroyed.
It was just that it had been a long time since she had even been at the Duanmu Family, so the memories that she had could be nothing more than fond memories from the past.
Before deciding on which parts of the Duanmu Family to spare, she had to at least see with her own eyes if they were worth sparing.
At the same time, there was something else that she wanted to take care of.
The Duanmu Family Head introduced Duanmu Ming Xue to the various members of the Duanmu Family, but she didn’t really engage with any of them. She had her memories of the Duanmu Family, which included these people.
She didn’t need to be introduced to them to know about them.
In her mind, they were part of the group that wasn’t worth sparing because of the actions of their past.
The ones that made her falter were…
“This is the Fourth Master of the Duanmu Family.” The Duanmu Family Head didn’t seem as enthusiastic when he introduced his fourth brother.
But that wasn’t the case with Duanmu Ming Xue.
When she was introduced to them, she acted completely differently.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Duanmu Ming Xue said in a voice that wasn’t as cold as the one that she used before.
It wasn’t just the Fourth Duanmu Master that was surprised, even the Duanmu Family Head was surprised. After all, in his mind, his fourth brother was absolutely worthless since he was someone who had a low cultivation and a low status in the family.
It was only because he was his fourth brother and he didn’t threaten him that he was allowed to live.
After a long silence, the Fourth Duanmu Master asked, “Have we met somewhere before?”
The Duanmu Family Head narrowed his eyes and wanted to step in when he heard this, but Duanmu Ming Xue raised her hand to stop him before asking, “Why do you think that?”
“Your voice sounds strangely familiar.” The Fourth Duanmu Master said in an honest voice.
He didn’t know where he had heard this voice before, but he felt that he had heard the voice of this envoy before.
Duanmu Ming Xue revealed a faint smile under her cloak.
Her fourth uncle was the one that took care of her when her father ignored her, so it wasn’t strange to even call her fourth uncle her father instead.
But Duanmu Ming Xue knew that she couldn’t reveal this since it would reveal her identity.
Before she could say anything else though, there was a voice that said, “Of course it sounds familiar, it’s someone that we know!”
Please check out my new novel for Rising Stars, These Familiars Are Strange.
Time to beg for power stones and reviews!
Come check out my stream: https://twitch.tv/dxhaseoxd
