At the moment, the reason was unclear.

It was simply that he did not really feel like leaving.

Jiang Yeqian tried to mention offhandedly, "She saved me."

Bai Mei said, "Then it should be enough to just give her some compensation."

Jiang Yeqian's gaze was deep and bottomless. His magnetic voice was tinged with a murderous aura as he growled, "Bai Mei, are you interfering with my business?"

Bai Mei immediately said, "I wouldn't dare. I just don't understand why Master would want to serve a common village girl instead of making use of your blessings. After all, you are so superior and are our highly esteemed master of the Zhaixing Administration as well as the Head Grand Secretariat of Capital City in Northern Liang."

Jiang Yeqian could no longer go through his current motions the way he wanted to since Bai Mei had expressed her doubts so openly and bluntly. After contemplating for a moment, he said, "She is connected to the Godly Physician Su Hexiao as well as the Master Architect Li Qinglian."

"..." Light flashed across Bai Mei's eyes.

As the Head of the Zhaixing Administration, Jiang Yeqian naturally knew that the Administration was known for its intelligence gathering. However, there was some information that even they were unable to obtain—such as the whereabouts of Su Hexiao and Li Qinglian.

"Do you think I would need to investigate her myself if you were able to obtain information about her? Are you stupid?"

"I recognize my mistake."

Of course, Bai Mei heard from the few old masters who were currently building Qi Qingyao's house in the village that the house might have something to do with Master Architect Li Qinglian's blueprint. It seemed that the Master had put himself in a difficult situation and was suffering alone quietly to investigate Su Hexiao and Li QInglian's disappearances. 'Oh Master, you're suffering now because of my incompetence.'

After Bai Mei left, Jiang Yeqian returned to the room and laid on the bed.

Qi Qingyao's sobbing face suddenly appeared in his mind. Other women were still beautiful when they cried; only she would cry like a child without a care for her image.

She was really, really…

Really just like an idiot.

…

The next morning.

Jiang Yeqian and Si Jin had planned to help out again at the worksite but Qi Qingyao said, "Can you two bring the children to the village to play? They're going to lose their minds if we keep them cooped in this room."

The children heard that they were given permission to play and were quite happy. Dabao in particular was already whispering to Si Jin about how he wanted to buy tanghulu. Erniu also said she wanted some.

Only Xiaobao thought to himself silently that he did not want to eat tanghulu like a child. Instead, he would bring his book, Thousand Character Classics (6th-century poem used as traditional reading primer) and learn more words.

"Will you not be going?" asked Jiang Yeqian.

Qi Qingyao cradled her forehead and pointed at her dark eye circles. "I'm not in the mood. I want to get some rest in my room for a bit."

Xiaobao looked at Qi Qingyao longingly before he left.

"How much did Mommy lose?"

"It was initially ten thousand gold but she sold it for ten thousand silver," Jiang Yeqian said quietly.

"..." Xiaobao gulped and swallowed the words he was about to say back into his stomach.

Dabao blinked and whispered, "That definitely is a huge loss."

Qi Qingyao sighed. "If I had sold it for ten thousand gold, we would have already been able to buy a big mansion in Qingzhou City."

"Definitely a ginormous loss," Xiaobao whispered embarrassedly.

Jiang Yeqian hurriedly carried Xiaobao and Dabao and went downstairs. Si Jin had Erniu sitting on his shoulders.

They also made sure to close the door when they left.

Alone, Qi Qingyao walked toward the window and leaned over the window sill, savoring the cool air. Seeing that snow was beginning to flutter down outside the window, she sighed, her expression scrunched. "Ah, from ten thousand gold to ten thousand silver just like that. It's all because of my stupid mouth."