For Ye Tiancheng, how to place Ye Qingcheng became a new, difficult problem.
In the past, he chose to keep both Hou Mingzhu and Ye Qingcheng by his side because Hou Mingzhu insisted on following him, and Ye Qingcheng's situation was also precarious, with people targeting his daughter.
Under these circumstances, Ye Tiancheng chose to compromise with Hou Mingzhu and agreed to take Hou Mingzhu and the others with him.
However, the situation was different now. New crises had appeared around him, even leading to Hou Mingzhu's whereabouts being unknown and her life or death uncertain, while his daughter had also been frightened as a result.
In such a situation, how could Ye Tiancheng dare to continue keeping them by his side?
He was afraid that Ye Qingcheng would also be implicated by him.
But if he didn't keep Ye Qingcheng by his side, Ye Tiancheng couldn't be completely at ease. Without his supervision, how could he guarantee that Ye Qingcheng wouldn't encounter any other accidents when he wasn't looking?
Wasn't it precisely when Ye Tiancheng was away that Hou Mingzhu was taken advantage of and met with disaster?
If it were simply a matter of hiding an object, Ye Tiancheng would have more confidence in finding an absolutely safe and sufficiently secluded place, confident that no one would find it.
The problem was that Ye Qingcheng was a living person, and a child at that.
An absolutely safe and secluded place might be suitable for hiding objects, but it was definitely not suitable for hiding people, especially a child whose psychological development was not yet complete. If kept in such a place, by the time Ye Tiancheng finished his affairs and returned to find her, the child would likely have already collapsed.
Ye Tiancheng could not treat his daughter this way.
Since it was difficult and he couldn't think of a good solution, he could only pool his wisdom.
Ye Tiancheng found the little fox and Long Miaomiao and asked them for suitable methods.
After listening to Ye Tiancheng's account, Long Miaomiao indeed lacked sufficient experience in certain aspects and did not understand many things, so the plan she proposed was similar to a plan for hiding objects.
Ye Tiancheng rejected Long Miaomiao's idea and explained to her why it wouldn't work.
Long Miaomiao understood after hearing it that humans were so fragile.
However, she then thought that beings like herself, accustomed to secluded cultivation and staying at the bottom of the lake for thousands of years, couldn't help but feel bored and want to go out for a stroll. That's why Long Miaomiao followed Ye Tiancheng out of the Dragon Palace at the bottom of the lake. Thus, it was perhaps reasonable that humans couldn't endure such an environment.
Although humans had less patience than her, she had an extremely long lifespan, almost equivalent to immortality if there were no accidents. Therefore, a long period of secluded life was no more than the time it took for her to fall asleep.
Then, converting this proportionally, it was reasonable that humans, with their short lives, couldn't tolerate a prolonged enclosed environment.
Although Ye Tiancheng's daughter should have cultivation talent like Ye Tiancheng, and Ye Tiancheng intended to cultivate his daughter, Ye Qingcheng would eventually get used to such a life. However, Ye Qingcheng was still just an ordinary human child at the moment.
The little fox listened to the discussion between Ye Tiancheng and Long Miaomiao. After thinking, he spoke during a lull in their conversation.
"Actually, finding a safe and enclosed environment to house Ye Qingcheng is not entirely impossible. It's just that we might need to find trustworthy people to accompany her."
The little fox explained his reasoning as he spoke.
"Humans cannot be confined in enclosed environments because humans need social interaction and cannot tolerate loneliness. If they lack companionship, various psychological problems can easily arise."
"Moreover, Ye Qingcheng is too young. This is a time when she most needs companionship, needs to learn a lot of knowledge, and needs someone to teach her."
"Therefore, we all believe that she cannot be independent."
Ye Tiancheng agreed, saying, "That's right. We don't have anyone strong enough and trustworthy enough, yet we can't let Qingcheng stay alone."
The little fox then said, "Yes, and isn't it coincidental? These two problems are mutually reinforcing. So, as long as we solve the weakness of one side, won't the problem be solved?"
He concluded by saying, "If we provide a sufficiently safe place, and then let people we trust and can rely on accompany and teach Ye Qingcheng, wouldn't that be much better?"
Ye Tiancheng thought about it and realized it was indeed the case.
Moreover, they couldn't think of a better solution for the time being. The latter problem was more difficult to solve, but the weakness of the former was very easy to fill. They couldn't find strong and trustworthy people, but trustworthy people were easy to find.
Especially those arranged to take care of Ye Qingcheng.
Ye Qingcheng was the daughter of both Ye Tiancheng and Hou Mingzhu. At least the Hou family absolutely valued Ye Qingcheng, because Hou Mingzhu's status in the Hou family was self-evident, and so was the status of her daughter.
If Ye Tiancheng couldn't find loyal and trustworthy candidates, then if he brought this matter up with the Hou family, wouldn't the Hou family have a solution?
Having resolved this difficult problem, Ye Tiancheng finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good. If we don't need to worry about safety issues, there are plenty of people I can entrust my daughter to," Ye Tiancheng finally nodded in agreement.
Since the matter was decided, Ye Tiancheng sent someone to contact them.
The Hou family soon responded, saying they could send people over. They didn't know that Hou Mingzhu had met with an accident, but given the relationship between Ye Tiancheng and Hou Mingzhu, Ye Tiancheng saying it was Hou Mingzhu's wish was enough to persuade them.
After all, without knowing that Hou Mingzhu had met with an accident, in the eyes of the Hou family, Ye Tiancheng had no reason to do this behind Hou Mingzhu's back. Hou Mingzhu was also by Ye Tiancheng's side, so she must have known.
With this side arranged, the little fox asked Ye Tiancheng, "We can send Qingcheng away, which is not wrong, but what do you plan to do about that fake sister-in-law, Brother Ye?"
"If she knows we plan to send Qingcheng away, I'm sure she won't agree and might even try to stop us or harm us."
Ye Tiancheng then remembered and told the little fox, "Miaomiao mentioned this to me. She said she could help. Miaomiao can transform and even impersonate. It won't be difficult to conceal it."
"Moreover, doing so can also verify the abilities of that fake person."
"You weren't present when she mentioned this, so I didn't have a chance to tell you."
This was not intentional concealment. The little fox already knew he was going to hide the child. This matter would eventually be discussed with the little fox, but when they were discussing the arrangements, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox each had things to do, so they were not together at that time.
The little fox understood and nodded, saying, "This is already perfect. We can also proceed with the subsequent matters with as few worries as possible."
At this moment, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox were meeting and about to discuss their next itinerary. Long Miaomiao was helping Ye Tiancheng with other matters, which was to send Ye Qingcheng away and settle her in a safe place, and was thus absent.
Ye Tiancheng looked at the little fox and remembered another matter.
He paused for a moment, looking at the little fox without speaking.
Seeing Ye Tiancheng suddenly fall silent and stare at him without a word, the little fox felt strange and couldn't help but break the awkward atmosphere, asking Ye Tiancheng, "Brother, why are you looking at me like that? Is there something wrong with me?"
"...Could it be that... Brother, you think I'm also fake and have some problem? You can't be overly suspicious. I haven't been separated from you, Brother, and you can tell if I'm real or fake, right?"
The little fox paused as he spoke, and then exclaimed in surprise.
As he spoke towards the end, the little fox's expression showed a hint of pitifulness, and he looked at Ye Tiancheng's face pitifully.
Seeing the little fox like this, Ye Tiancheng couldn't help but laugh.
"What are you thinking? I know you haven't been swapped out. Your movements are not suspicious, and I know you very well. I know what you should be like, and I can recognize you."
Seeing that the little fox had misunderstood, he quickly comforted the little fox.
The little fox then patted his chest in relief and said, "That's good. But Brother, why were you looking at me and not speaking just now?"
Ye Tiancheng's attention shifted, and he thought of this matter again.
He explained to the little fox, "Oh, this is about another matter. I thought of it before. This matter is related to you, and it should have been discussed with you, but I never found a suitable opportunity, so I never mentioned it. Later, I gradually forgot about it."
"After we finished discussing matters, I looked at you, and then thought of Miaomiao, and suddenly remembered this matter."
The little fox nodded, but was a little confused. "What is it? It's related to me and connected with Long Miaomiao."
Ye Tiancheng hesitated, but thinking that as brothers, it was not good to always suppress things, which would make them seem suspicious of each other. Moreover, Fatty had met with an accident and betrayed him. The reason for Fatty's betrayal had indeed hurt Ye Tiancheng. Ye Tiancheng really didn't want to lose another brother.
Therefore, when speaking about it, he was somewhat hesitant and afraid to appear evasive, lest it cause others to overthink.
After thinking about it, he said to the little fox, "First, I want to make it clear to you. The reason I thought of this matter is because I genuinely care about you and worry that something might happen to you because of it, which is why I was anxious and paid attention. It's not because I suspect you of anything. Let's clarify this first, so as not to overthink it afterwards."
The little fox was stunned for a moment when he heard Ye Tiancheng say this, and then he reacted.
After Fatty's incident, although they knew that Fatty was not in a normal state at the time, the repercussions for them were undeniable, making it difficult not to feel apprehensive. His own identity was indeed somewhat sensitive, so it was normal for Ye Tiancheng to say this.
Moreover, since he was willing to speak so frankly, it indicated Ye Tiancheng's attitude to some extent, that he truly did not have any suspicious thoughts about him.
The little fox understood and replied to Ye Tiancheng, "I understand what Brother means. Don't worry, I've noted it down. After hearing this, I definitely won't overthink it. Brother, please speak."
After receiving the little fox's assurance, Ye Tiancheng felt somewhat relieved.
If things were not made clear, Ye Tiancheng was indeed a little scared.
Ye Tiancheng said to the little fox, "The matter I thought of is still related to your identity. When you first came to us, your identity was unknown. Later, when we encountered Ghost Fox Azhi in the Odd Market, we discovered the problem. According to what he said, you seem to be a part of him."
"He released you, probably because he couldn't leave the Odd Market himself and was looking for a way to do so. Therefore, you targeted the Fuxi Qin and approached me."
The little fox nodded slowly.
Although he didn't remember these things, he had heard Ye Tiancheng talk about them, so he wasn't completely ignorant. When mentioned, he could recall them.