The owner of the tofu soup shop could never have imagined in his lifetime that he would actually see the Miss Saito from his great-grandfather’s stories.
It was said that even his great-grandfather did not know Miss Saito’s given name, only that her surname was Saito, and since Saito was one of the more prominent surnames in Japan, it was even harder to trace.
Lin Wan’er finished the bowl of tofu soup, paid the bill, then slung her schoolbag over her shoulder and left the little shop in high spirits.
Once outside, she continued walking towards Kinkaku-ji, but her attention remained on the various shops lining the streets.
Lin Wan’er had lived in Japan for a very long time, not leaving until after entering the 20th century.
During her time in Kyoto, she had been the benevolent Miss Saito, known for her charity. Back then, Japan had just undergone the Meiji Restoration, transforming from an agricultural nation into an industrial one. Militarism had begun to take root, but it had not yet spread across the country.
In that era’s Kyoto, most ordinary folk lived in poverty, and many shopkeepers and small business owners had received aid from Lin Wan’er, great or small. What surprised her was that many of those shops were still operating to this day.
Sushi restaurants with two hundred years of history, tempura places with three hundred years behind them, and several Western clothing and kimono shops dating back to the 19th century.
The reason this place had so many brands with centuries of history was largely because the country had rarely been invaded or colonised by foreign powers. Even though they had wrought havoc across East Asia and South Asia during the Second World War, most of their own territory had ultimately escaped the ravages of war, allowing these old establishments to be passed down through the generations.
As Lin Wan’er wandered the streets of Kyoto like a high school girl skipping school for a day trip from Osaka, An Chengxi inside Kinkaku-ji remained completely unaware of her movements.
Ever since faking her death to escape, all she had done for so many years was lay the groundwork in secret. She had never imagined that she herself would be exposed.
Twenty minutes before Lin Wan’er’s arrival in Kyoto, Tang Sihai had already made his way there via a circuitous route and met with An Chengxi inside Kinkaku-ji.
An Chengxi was very pleased with his arrangements this time and praised him. “Sihai, you have been indispensable in this. You have worked hard these past days. For the time being, stay here and rest well.”
The Xiao family of three had already left China, and Xiao Churan’s fleeting moment of clarity had completely eliminated the risks posed by Xiao Changkun and Ma Lan. For An Chengxi, this was the ideal situation.
Tang Sihai said with some emotion, “With the young madam gone, the young master must be in great pain. I wonder how long it will take him to recover…”
An Chengxi nodded and sighed. “Although the three of them from the Xiao family have left, I know that Chen’er must be extremely anxious and pained right now. Otherwise, he would not have immediately called in Li Yalin for help. He naturally wants to do everything in his power to find Xiao Churan.”
At this point, her heart felt profoundly unsettled.
After all, her original intention had not been to manipulate Ye Chen’s life from the shadows, nor to control him as a mother in various ways. The reason she had gone to such lengths to make Xiao Churan leave was that Ye Chen’s cultivation progress had been too slow lately. He had yet to open the Mud Maru Palace, which meant he would always be separated from Wu Feiyan by an insurmountable chasm.
Neither Wu Feiyan nor Meng Changsheng in the Hundred Thousand Mountains would give Ye Chen much time. If he did not focus entirely on improving his cultivation now, all their plans for revenge would come to nothing.
For this, she had even prepared herself for Ye Chen to resent her in the future. Over the past twenty years, she had endured humiliation and hardship precisely to give Ye Chen a chance, a chance to clear away all obstacles and live without ever having to hide again.
Thus, she said with a sigh, “When I meet Chen’er in the future, he will naturally learn that everything was orchestrated by me from behind the scenes. I wonder if he will hate me then…”
