T/N: Thank you so much to Minh for the Kofi donation! Here’s a double update!

---

A week later.

Pei Yi followed Bo Yueming into the small living room on the second floor. He looked left and right, and couldn’t help but affirm, “Er-ge, the door to your room is so big, ah.”

“I usually only use the master bedroom. The living room and the room on the other side are empty. Come in and put down your school bag.” Bo Yueming explained briefly and motioned for him to sit down in a corner of the small living room.

In order to fulfill the promised “supervised learning,” Bo Yueming had specially asked Uncle Kai to buy a two-person study table for the living room so that Pei Yi could sit by his side and study.

Pei Yi did so quickly and took out his textbook homework.

Bo Yueming sat down next to him with his study notebook and asked, “Which classes are you struggling with?”

“Uh…..”

Pei Yi thought for a moment and said honestly, “Math and English.”

The former was only a small problem, but the latter was a big one.

Nine out of ten children living in the capital would learn English early on. Pei Yi had worked hard to catch up in the past couple of years, but still had some difficulties. 

Bo Yueming specially selected his mathematics and English textbooks, really looking like a teacher. “There’s no rush, let’s go step by step. You do the homework assigned this week. I’ll look at the content of your class first and then strengthen your knowledge in a targeted manner.”

This sounded very professional.

Pei Yi’s eyes lit up. “Okay!”

With that said, he opened his homework book and began writing with extra concentration.

Bo Yueming flipped through Pei Yi’s books and read the content carefully. When he turned his head, he found that Pei Yi was still immersed in his studies, but his head was nearly as low as his homework.

Bo Yueming frowned unconsciously when he saw his posture, and without thinking, reached out to pinch the back of his neck. “Pei Yi.”

“Wu.”

Pei Yi was so ticklish that he shrank his neck and looked around slowly in confusion. “E-Er-ge?”

Bo Yueming lifted him up like a kitten to correct his posture. “That isn’t good for your eyes. Sit up straight before writing.”

Pei Yi sat upright. “Oh.”

Bo Yueming retracted his hand and watched him in a supervisory manner for a moment. Pei Yi noticed and sat up straighter.

This went on for some time.

Only then did Bo Yueming open his notework and get to work.

. . . . . . .

Time passed minute by minute.

After an unknown amount of time, Bo Yueming felt his arm being lightly poked by a pen. “Er-ge.”

Bo Yueming met Pei Yi’s troubled eyes. “What is it?”

Pei Yi pushed his math homework over and tapped on the last question, cute and honest. “I can’t do it.”

Bo Yueming understood the concept and solved the problem after two glances. He picked up the spare pen and paper and motioned to Pei Yi. “Come closer.”

Pei Yi quickly moved over.

It was a pity that Bo Yueming occupied a positional advantage, and was writing with his right hand. Even though Pei Yi tried his best to stretch his neck to see, his sight was still partially obscured.

Pei Yi stood up quickly. “Er-ge, wait a minute, I can’t see.”

Bo Yueming noticed the problem at once and stepped back slightly to open the distance between the chair and the table. “Come over here and stand in front of the desk.”

Pei Yi hurried to move over, and stood between Bo Yueming and the desk.

“Can you see clearly now?”

“En!”

Bo Yueming moved forward slightly and unconsciously held Pei Yi in his arms, continuing to explain with paper and pen, “There is a trick to this question. You have to choose how to identify…..”

The two of them had ridden horses before in a similar posture, but Pei Yi’s attention had been completely attracted by their speed. At this moment, he listened to the tone of Bo Yueming’s speech and unknowingly fell into a trance.

“Pei Yi?”

“Ah?”

“Ah? What ah?” Bo Yueming noticed his lack of attention and asked helplessly, “What are you thinking about? Do you understand what I said to you?”

“……’

Pei Yi smiled sheepishly and answered, “Er-ge, your voice is very nice.”

Hearing these meaningless words, Bo Yueming laughed angrily. He couldn’t help but pinch the back of the other person’s neck with his hand, pretending to be stern. “Pay attention!”

He used a bit of force, and it hurt a little.

Pei Yi quickly admitted his mistake. “I, I understand!”

Bo Yueming let him go when he saw him behave, and explained his problem-solving method again. Fortunately, Pei Yi’s little mind was very clear, and he learned quickly.

Bo Yueming glanced at the clock. It was three o’clock in the afternoon.

He looked at Pei Yi, who could be considered self-controlled and sensible, and instructed him gently, “All right, let’s rest for half an hour before continuing. I’ll go downstairs first.”

“Okay.”

. . . . . . .

About twenty minutes passed.

Pei Yi heard footsteps outside in the hallway, and at the same time, smelled something sweet.

Noticing something, he immediately turned and looked toward the door of the living room. Sure enough, Bo Yueming walked in with Uncle Kai, who was holding an exquisite afternoon tea tray in his hands.

Uncle Kai met Pei Yi’s gaze and said with a smile, “Are you hungry, Little Sir? I heard that the Second Young Master prepared egg tarts and milk for you in advance.”

Pei Yi suddenly became energetic, but before he could move from the table, he was pushed back into his chair by Bo Yueming, who had walked back quickly.

“Uncle Kai, please let those things cool first. We’ll eat them later.”

Having said this, he placed a fresh A4 paper test sheet in front of Pei Yi. “These three questions are about the same difficulty as the last question in the homework book just now.”

“—Ah?”

Pei Yi gave a rare frown and let out a melancholy cry.

Bo Yueming laid down the conditions. “If you answer these three questions correctly, you can eat two egg tarts.”

Pei Yi was actually in some distress from the smell of the egg tarts, and held two fingers out to bargain. “I’ll eat two first and then do the questions, okay?”

Bo Yueming said heartlessly, “No.”

Refusing to give up, Pei Yi silently retracted one finger. “Then I’ll eat one first. Er-ge, I’m hungry.”

The coquettishness in the last two words was particularly obvious.

“……”

Bo Yueming met his expectant gaze and barely held on to his bottom line. “You can eat first, but one more question will be added after you eat, okay?”

Pei Yi was so happy that he immediately grabbed the other’s right hand and said, “Deal!”

Then he quickly went up to Uncle Kai and called out endearingly, “Uncle Kai, you can make egg tarts? Amazing! They look delicious!”

Uncle Kai observed the way the two children got along with each other. He smiled gently, feeling glad in his heart—

With this Little Sir’s liveliness and cuteness, it seemed that the Second Young Master would not be too bored in the days to come.

. . . . . . .

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of the term.

After washing up, Pei Yi remained in the bathroom, holding his smartwatch and talking to Xu Rong on the phone. “Father Rong, don’t worry about me. I’m fine at Er-ge’s house.”

Xu Rong’s father back in his hometown had fallen ill, so he and Zong Baiyan hurriedly packed their things and left the capital on today’s earliest flight.

Fortunately, after four months of spending time together, the relationship between Pei Yi and Bo Yueming had become better and better, and Xu Rong dared to leave Pei Yi in the care of Bo Yueming and Uncle Kai temporarily.

“Be good, Baobei. Father Rong and Father Yan will be back in two days.”

“Okay.”

Pei Yi disconnected with Xu Rong and then rushed out of the small bedroom wearing his own thick pajamas.

Bo Yueming was still sitting at the desk in the corner of the living room while flipping through the information in his hands with seeming casualness, an untouched glass of warm milk beside him.

Pei Yi approached. “Er-ge.”

Bo Yueming was not surprised by his appearance. He took the lid off the cup of milk and handed it over to him. “Drink this before you go to sleep and you’ll grow taller.”

As soon as Pei Yi heard the words “grow taller,” he took it guilelessly at once.

He sat on the chair and drank his milk, and couldn’t help but glance at the other person’s hands. “Er-ge, what are you reading?”

Bo Yueming’s hands paused, and he said, “……Information on studying abroad.”

He looked to the side at Pei Yi and said in a calm tone, “Grandma wants me to go study abroad right after this year.”

“…….”

Pei Yi stopped drinking his milk, unable to react. “S-Study abroad? Where?”

Bo Yueming observed his expression and said honestly, “I haven’t decided yet.”

“Oh.”

Pei Yi responded dully, and then had to ask, “Er-ge, isn’t the Imperial Capital university good?”

He had originally thought that Bo Yueming would be admitted to the Imperial Capital University, which was also his own goal.

Bo Yueming replied, “Of course.”

Pei Yi couldn’t help but hold tight to the cup of milk, still feeling a little upset.

The term “study abroad” was too unfamiliar and distant for him.

He was already very satisfied that he could get out of the orphanage and live and study well under the love and care of Father Rong and Father Yan. Pei Yi didn’t dare to think about spending money to travel farther away.

Bo Yueming put away the information in his hands, not wanting to waste time talking about things he had not yet decided. “Pei Yi, are you okay sleeping alone tonight? Uncle Kai cleared out the small bedroom for you.”

“I’m okay.”

Pei Yi also slept alone at home.

Bo Yueming urged in a warm voice, “Go to bed early after drinking your milk. I’m going to take a shower first.”

“……”

Seeing the half glass of milk left, Pei Yi was inexplicably not happy to drink it.

He set the cup back on the table. “I can’t drink any more.”

Bo Yueming caught Pei Yi’s flash of emotion, but before he could ask further questions, the other party quickly rushed back to the door of the small bedroom and closed it with a gentle click.

Bo Yueming’s eyes narrowed slightly. He picked up the milk he disliked drinking so that it wouldn’t be wasted, whispering faintly, “Why doesn’t this kitten even say good night?”

. . . . . . . 

The night grew darker.

Because he was temporarily staying at the Bo residence, Pei Yi, who recognized both the bed and the quilt, was embarrassed to ask for too much. Thus, he had no choice but to huddle under the quilt and close his eyes to rest.

While half asleep and half awake, many images flashed through his mind:

When he was bullied in the orphanage as a child. After he was adopted, and was treated by his two fathers as their own son. There was also the incident when he met Bo Yueming half a year ago.

But what followed was more uneasiness and panic.

Pei Yi dreamed that his two fathers never returned. He waited and waited at the Bo residence, but they never came back. Then Bo Yueming also chose to study abroad, dan he was kicked out by the Bo family and became an unwanted child again.

“…….”

Pei Yi poked his little head out of the bed and took a few quiet breaths. He looked at the completely unfamiliar layout of the door and room, and suddenly felt an indescribable feeling of grievance and sadness.

The electronic watch showed that it was just past midnight.

Pei Yi couldn’t explain how he felt, but he instinctively wanted to find the most familiar and closest person in his family.

He got out of bed with bare feet, opened the door, and ran to the master bedroom opposite. He hesitated for a long while before knocking twice, not daring to make a loud noise. “Er-ge, are you asleep?”

There was no response.

Pei Yi pursed his lips in disappointment, then ran to the small sofa and sat there in silence.

In less than half a minute, the closed master bedroom door suddenly opened from the inside. Having heard the slight movement, Bo Yueming went out to take a look—

Only then did he realize that Pei Yi was currently curled up on the sofa. His bare ankles were white and pink. In the middle of winter, he felt cold just looking at them.

Bo Yueming frowned and went over. “Pei Yi, what are you doing here at night?”

Pei Yi sucked in a breath and remained silent.

The tip of his nose was red, and there was no telling if it was from the cold or if he had cried.

Seeing that he didn’t answer, Bo Yueming could only guess, “Did you have a nightmare? Or are you afraid and unable to sleep alone?”

Pei Yi saw him approaching and asked cautiously, “Er-ge, can I sleep with you tonight?”

Bo Yueming was surprised.

He wasn’t used to sleeping with him, but still chose to agree at this moment. Following Zong Baiyan’s method, he carried Pei Yi in front of him. “Where are your slippers?”

Pei Yi was particularly familiar with this carrying posture, and leaned in aggrievedly. “Er-ge, will Father Yan and Father Rong decide they don’t want me?”

“They won’t.”

Bo Yueming asked right after, “Why do you still think so?”

Even an outsider could see that Zong Baiyan and Xu Rong had raised Pei Yi as their own son and gave him the best of everything.

Pei Yi also felt that he shouldn’t be like this, and hummed softly.

The two returned to the master bedroom.

Bo Yueming covered Pei Yi with the quilt, paying special attention to his ankles, which had been cold up until now. “Don’t catch a cold, otherwise Uncle Yan and the others will be worried.”

Pei Yi unconsciously moved closer to Bo Yueming and said, “Er-ge.”

“En?”

“You really want to go abroad?”

“……”

“If you go abroad, there will be no one to help me with my homework or play with me.” The more Pei Yi thought about it, the sadder he felt. “I don’t want you to go abroad. The Imperial Capital University is also very good. You can pass the exam.”

Bo Yueming didn’t expect Pei Yi to still be thinking about this matter at night. “Is this why you were unhappy just now?”

Pei Yi said honestly, “En, I don’t want to be separated from Father Rong, and I don’t want you to leave. I’m still too young to go abroad, so why don’t you wait for me to grow up a little bit, okay?”

Bo Yueming lowered his head and saw the furrowed brow of the person next to him, and for a moment, couldn’t tell whether he was amused or helpless. He pinched the back of Pei Yi’s neck twice. “You’re not sleeping so late at night. Why are you thinking so much?”

“When did I say I would definitely go abroad?”

Bo Yueming had not made a complete decision. It was only that Old Mrs. Bo had sent someone to give him this information, so he took a brief look at it.

Pei Yi shrank his neck and asked, “Then can you not go?”

Bo Yueming thought about it for a moment, and then changed his method of motivation. “If I postpone it for a year or two, how about you pass the exam and enroll early? Then I can stay in China for university in the meantime.”

The two were three years apart, and exactly three grades apart.

When it came to study abroad, it was not too early to go a year early, and not too late to go a year late.

Pei Yi became more spirited. “Really? I can do it!”

Bo Yueming closed the quilt again. “Don’t talk nonsense, wait until you pass the exam.”

Although the affiliated middle school and high school would be regarded as direct admission schools, the annual early recruitment was open to the entire Imperial Capital, and the level of difficulty was not low.

Pei Yi had completely changed from his former sad and downcast self. “I’ll definitely be able to do it.”

Bo Yueming gave a smile and didn’t continue the topic. “Pei Yi, if you don’t finish drinking your milk and won’t sleep at night, do you really want to become a dwarf?”

Pei Yi retorted, “I’ve started to get taller.”

Bo Yueming raised his eyebrows. “Are you going to sleep?”

“…..I’ll sleep.”

Pei Yi closed his eyes obediently, and his mood was much better than when he had been alone before. “Er-ge, good night. Sweet dreams.”

Bo Yueming closed his eyes to sleep, smiling and relaxed. “En, sweet dreams.”

---

Consider donating via Kofi here!

Extra 7/15 <<Table of Contents >> Extra 9/15

A figure descended nimbly, and when he saw the scene clearly, he nearly sprained his foot as he fell. 

“Zhanyuan, Young Master Liu, you’re here too?” He Lan looked at the two extra people in shock.

Huo Fenglie was trying to understand the sentiments of the people on behalf of the emperor before rejoining the investigation team, so he acted alone.

And as the people sent by the Jinyiwei and Dongchang, He Lan and Qin Yu naturally followed the investigation team straight south with great fanfare.

None of them expected to meet here. Taking advantage of the fact that the leader had fainted from the pain of having his hand severed, the four of them exchanged information.

Huo Fenlie explained the situation from when they had arrived and the progress of the investigation. Liu Zhenqing’s expression remained unchanged throughout the whole process, even though he knew Huo Fenglie was hiding something.

Liu Zhenqing was very surprised. Obviously, the emperor’s order for Huo Fenglie to investigate the incidents related to the rebels was a secret order, which meant that Yuan Jue didn’t want anyone in the capital to know that he was actively investigating. Therefore, Huo Fenglie told his two brothers that they had come here because they discovered something unusual by chance.

Liu Zhenqing knew that Huo Fenglie didn’t distrust the two brothers, and was just following orders. But why did he just…..tell Liu Zhenqing?

Was it because they had to work together? Or was it because the Liu family affair was closely related to the rebels?

“I still haven’t talked to you yet. Since we’re all heading south, why don’t you just wait for us and leave together? It’s only one day.” He Lan complained, “We’re so bored with the civil investigation team. They came slowly by boat, and we hurried ahead halfway. Unexpectedly, we arrived here a day early. Then we discovered that the Heaven’s Blessing Sect wanted to develop and grow this kind of thing without going through the review of our Jinyiwei. Isn’t it ridiculous? We didn’t know the consequences until after we investigated, but now that we’ve looked into it, it’s really shocking. These people are very bold.”

When He Lan said this, he smiled and raised his eyebrows at Qin Yu, then flippantly nudged the buns hidden on Qin Yu’s chest with his elbow. “We wanted to sneak in to investigate, so we made a bet. Whoever lost would come in disguised as a woman, and in the end, Beauty Qin made the sacrifice.”

He Lan’s actions were so roguish that even Liu Zhenqing standing opposite him felt that he deserved a beating.

As a result, there was a snap, and Qin Yu lived up to expectations as he slapped him with his backhand.

Neither light nor heavy, a lesson was given.

He Lan covered his face. Seeing Qin Yu’s gloomy expression, he didn’t dare to fight back, and looked at the two people across from him. He continued with a playful smile: “Lao Qin was responsible for blending in to find information. I looked around and found almost the same news as you. Then I came over to find Lao Qin. We initially wanted to capture the leader in secret. Now that we’ve met you, we’ll follow your arrangements.”

Huo Fenglie nodded. He Lan took charge of the sect leader, and Qin You seemed unable to bear how he was dressed up, so he went to directly change clothes.

The Jinyiwei naturally had methods to threaten people. After being threatened with severe torture, the leader could only grit his teeth and cooperate, leading them to the guest room where his father had resided before. They soon procured the first piece of evidence hidden under the screen. The leader’s expression was very ugly at that time. He had likely never expected that the evidence his father had always been thinking about was right under his nose.

Then they got the second piece in the main hall on the way back, and the rest was in the cave.

He Lan said: “I’ve been there before. There were a lot of people, so I couldn’t take action. We still needed to wait for the rest time you mentioned, otherwise no matter how high our martial arts are, we’ll be discovered.”

Thus, everyone took the leader back to the house where Prefect Wu was.

They had the young girl go to stay in the next room and take care of the girl who had been about to commit suicide.

When Prefect Wu saw that they had obtained two pieces of evidence and even brought the leader, he stepped forward in excitement and kicked the leader violently, as if he wanted to vent all the fright and torture he had suffered in the past two years.

Once Prefect Wu had calmed down, Huo Fenglie briefly introduced He Lan and Qin Yu. Prefect Wu was naturally in awe of the rumored Jinyiwei and Dongchang.

And the two people in front of him were even less trusting than Huo Fenglie. Meeting this stranger, they behaved as if they were interrogating a prisoner, let alone a so-called hostage witness.

Qin Yu gave a straightforward statement of suspicion, and the tone had a gloomy effect, making people shudder. “If I remember correctly, Prefect Wu once acted corruptly.”

“Ya, is there such a thing? Now that Prefect Wu has changed his mind, he dares to take such risks to avenge the common people?” He Lan sang in harmony with a playful smile.

Huo Fenglie had always led his troops all year round while ignoring the affairs of the court, and naturally didn’t know about this sort of matter.

“What happened?” Huo Fenglie asked.

Qin Yu: “It has something to do with Liu Zhenqing. Do you want to hear it?”

Huo Fenglie’s expression changed slightly.

Before Huo Fenglie could speak, Prefect Wu himself said: “I know the methods of the Jinyiwei and Dongchang. I’ll say it myself. I was indeed one of the criminals in the disaster relief corruption case that was investigated nine years ago, but at that time, it was my foolish mother who collected that sum of money behind my back. I didn’t know that it was a total of two thousand taels. When the authorities investigated, I learned that my mother died of shock, and I was charged with the crime.”

Prefect Wu said with a downcast expression, “The most ridiculous thing is that several colleagues and I jointly filed a petition to report the corrupt officials, but Prime Minister Liu ignored it. They were allowed to be corrupt until it aroused public outrage, and the emperor ordered an investigation. Then he came and just perfunctorily arrested a few of the most corrupt ones, and officials like me and Prefect Wang, whose embezzlement did not exceed 5,000 taels, were left in place to continue to deal with the disasters. That was how my life was accidentally saved.”

“Why didn’t he catch all of you?” He Lan asked doubtfully.

“Who knows what the traitor was thinking?” Prefect Wu said with a bitter smile: “Perhaps he was waiting for us to show filial piety? In any case, I did not. Perhaps Magistrate Wang was promoted because he flattered him.”

“Not possible, Liu Zhenqing had already passed away when he was promoted,” Qin Yu said bluntly.

Prefect Wu was taken aback, and said, “Then I don’t know. In any case, that is my crime. I wholeheartedly wanted to be a good official for the Great Zhou Dynasty, but unfortunately encountered two disasters.”

Officials like Prefect Wu who were willing to stand firm in a place of suffering and not go astray were indeed valuable.

It was just…..he wasn’t very smart, and hadn’t figured it out after so many years.

Liu Zhenqing complained silently in his heart, but it was fine as long as there were a few smart first generation officials who could do practical things.

When it was time to rest at the furnace, the group of people decided to split up.

Qin Yu and Liu Zhenqing stayed behind to wait, while Huo Fenglie and He Lan went to collect things.

Qin Yu was bored and intended to interrogate the leader, but at this moment, something unexpected happened.

When they were conversing before, they hadn’t been paying attention to the half-dead leader, and he had unexpectedly broken free from his ropes. When Qin Yu approached, he rolled directly to Prefect Wu’s side and grasped his neck from behind, saying sternly: “Don’t come closer, or I’ll kill him!”

“Calm down, ah, do you think you can run away like this? Even without Prefect Wu, we still have the evidence, and you have no way out.” Liu Zhenqing quickly said, “Why don’t you think about how to atone for your crimes. Perhaps you can make up for it with meritorious credit and preserve your life.”

Qin Yu watched coldly from the side, his hands behind his back.

“Don’t lie to me. Based on what I’ve done, once the court knows about it, how can I still live? The only way to survive is for all of you to die,” the leader said presumptuously.

Liu Zhenqing probably looked as if he was gazing at a fool, which directly angered the other person.

“Do you think they can get out of the cave alive? I asked experts to set up mechanisms there. How could we be careless enough to let someone just break into the cave and find out what we’re doing? Hahaha, the god of war General Huo, the Jinyiwei, and the evidence will all be destroyed in the cave!”

When these words were spoken, the expressions of Liu Zhenqing and Qin Yu changed, and the two exchanged glances. They heard the leader say: “Don’t move, ah, or I’ll kill Prefect Wu. Now it’s your turn to beg me.”

As he spoke, the leader opened his mouth to call someone, but the moment he did so, there was a flash of silver light.

Along with the screams of Prefect Wu and the leader, Qin Yu’ soft sword penetrated their bodies coldly.

Because of where they stood, it impacted Prefect Wu in the shoulder and the leader in the chest.

By the time Qin Yu pulled out his sword, the leader had lost the strength to hold onto Prefect Wu, who looked at Qin Yu in disbelief. “You, how dare you attack me!”

It could only be said that he was unfortunate. Huo Fenglie or He Lan may have hesitated, but how could someone from the Dongchang be easily threatened? 

It wasn’t as if the leader’s life must be preserved. The main culprit was Magistrate Wang.

Qin Yu watched coldly as the leader fell, then shook the blood from his sword and said to Liu Zhenqing: “You stay here, I’ll go find them.”

Liu Zhenqing grabbed Qin Yu, and his tone was more serious than ever before: “No, take me with you, I know mechanisms!”

Qin Yu frowned slightly and didn’t talk any nonsense. He left the injured Prefect Wu behind and rushed to the cave with Liu Zhenqing.

Two unconscious guards could be seen at the entrance of the cave from a distance. It must be their work.

But just as they approached the entrance of the cave, they felt the ground shake slightly, and a sound similar to rolling stones came from inside along with a flash of fire. A bad feeling came over the two of them.

Qin Yu rushed toward the cave entrance in an instant, and discovered at this moment that Liu Zhenqing was not inferior to him in speed. It wasn’t that he knew martial arts, but that he was truly running with all his might.

When they arrived at the entrance, they didn’t see the two others. They only saw various stoves and tools that had been dumped, along with a bottomless pit in the ground. There was fire inside the pit, and no telling what was underneath.

Qin Yu was about to step forward and investigate, but found that the entire cave was shaking more violently. Gravel fell, as if the cave would collapse at any time.

Liu Zhenqing was extremely flustered, but surprisingly calm. He glanced around and suddenly pointed at a stone behind him, saying: “Qin-daren, stop that stone over there from moving!”

The tone of Liu Zhenqing’s command was extremely strict. Qin Yu instinctively looked over and saw a strange stone moving on the mountain wall. 

With a hiss, the soft sword flew out and inserted into the mountain wall to block the stone. Sure enough, the cave became quiet for a moment, but the force of the stone’s movement was too great, and Qin Yu had to brace the sword to resist it.

Seeing this, Liu Zhenqing could only rush to the edge of the pit and look inside. The moment he looked, he was almost forced back by the heat. There was actually a huge furnace deep down, and it seemed that there were several levels of melting silver.

Liu Zhenqing also instantly saw the figures hanging on the stone wall on the opposite side of the furnace.

It was Huo Fenglie and He Lan!

Liu Zhenqing finally exhaled half of his stagnant breath, but half was still stuck in his throat.

At this time, Huo Fenglie had inserted the Chunjun sword into the mountain wall and was holding on with one hand while holding onto He Lan with the other. One of He Lan’s legs seemed to have been severely burned.

Liu Zhenqing called out at once, not noticing the tremor in his voice.

Huo Fenglie heard this and raised his head, his eyes lighting up. He Lan’s eyes also widened in surprise. He shouted: “There’s a chain nearby, find somewhere to fix it in place and then throw it over.”

Liu Zhenqing turned around to look for it, and saw a chain being thrown toward him.

It turned out that the chain had fallen at Qin Yu’s feet due to the tremors just now. When Qin Yu heard, he understood immediately and picked it up with his foot, throwing a section of the chain over and tying the other end to himself.

Not wasting any time, Liu Zhenqing threw the chain right away.

Diagonally opposite, Huo Fenglie seized the opportunity and threw the injured He Lan over. He Lan wrapped his hands and feet around the chain and used qinggong to fly up.

He Lan was startled when he came up and saw Qin Yu on the other side, but before he could speak, the chain on his body was torn off by Liu Zhenqing and quickly thrown down again.

He Lan was about to open his mouth to stop him, but was too late.

He watched as Liu Zhenqing stared at Huo Fenglie in the distance intently, shouting, “Brother Huo, come up quickly!”

He looked anxious, as if he couldn’t pay attention to the outside world at all. He Lan really doubted that he didn’t care about Huo Fenglie because of his amnesia. 

And just as Liu Zhenqing was nervously waiting for Er-gou to fly over and grab the chain, there was a sudden crack from the mountain wall that had been scorched for a long time. The place where the Chunjun sword was inserted completely shattered, and Huo Fenglie fell straight down into thin air.

There was a furnace beneath.

At that moment, all of Liu Zhenqing’s intelligence and resourcefulness was useless. His pupils shrank at once, and he felt his constricting heart stop. 

The image of Huo Feihan dying in battle flashed before his eyes.

In an instant, it seemed as if an invisible hand grabbed Liu Zhenqing’s throat.

That was Boss’s only little brother, the Er-gou they wanted to protect.

He was the general of the Huo family and the god of war of the Great Zhou Dynasty. How could something happen to him here?

How could something happen when he was by Liu Zhenqing’s side?

“Er-gou!”

The sharp cry reflected its caller’s panic, because in the face of this unexpected situation, he was unable to do anything.

But in the next second, he saw Huo Fenglie rise up, flying diagonally to the opposite wall as if he was stepping on air, then flying back and forth in an upward motion using his internal strength.

He Lan saw Liu Zhenqing looking as if he was about to jump down, and quickly stopped him. “Young Master Liu, don’t be anxious, ah. He is better at qinggong than any of us. It was inconvenient for him to take me with him just now, but alone, he can fly up without the chain.”

His frozen brain gradually thawed out, regaining its consciousness and IQ.

Right, ah, he could fly with him onto such a high city wall. Although the height here was also great, how could he not be able to do it alone!

When he was able to react, Liu Zhenqing’s scalp gradually became numb, and he had no expression on his face. Then Huo Fenglie landed lightly in front of him, stared at him for a moment, and said: “I’m okay.”

Only two words flashed through Liu Zhenqing’s mind: It’s over!

But Liu Zhenqing had a strong desire to survive, and couldn’t help but try to compensate for it. “It’s…..good that you’re okay.” Perhaps Er-gou didn’t hear it?”

He Lan interjected doubtfully, “By the way, what did you call Zhanyuan just now? Er-gou. Did I hear you wrong?” He said in amusement, “You secretly gave Zhanyuan a nickname? How bold you are!”

Liu Zhenqing: Damn it!

“That is my nickname,” Huo Fenglie replied calmly.

“Ah?!” It was He Lan’s turn to exclaim in surprise. “Wait, nickname? Er-gou, we didn’t know you had this nickname, so how does Young Master Liu know about it, ah?” And he even shouted it out. This, this, this…..he didn’t understand. Could it be that Lao Qin’s previous guess was true?!

Liu Zhenqing’s throat tightened, and he had already scolded himself a thousand times for not keeping his calm.

“I…..heard Yunci and Yunqian say it before.”

Would he believe it? He would be exposed after the others returned to the capital, but he would have already flown away by then, so it didn’t matter.

Wait, didn’t this confirm that he had used the big yellow dog to tease him before?

God, what kind of luck did he have now, ah. His evil deeds had been exposed!

Liu Zhenqing’s entire heart was full of tangles and pain, but his face remained calm. 

But He Lan believed him right away. “Those two little brats. Even though I always treat them so well, they didn’t even tell me such an interesting secret.”

He Lan was complaining when he heard Qin Yu say: “Hey, enough talking. What should I do?”

When everyone turned their heads, Qin Yu was still holding the mechanism.

Liu Zhenqing said quickly: “There’s no use. This sort of mechanism cannot be reversed. This place will collapse, they will soon discover it when they return. We must act quickly.

Qin Yu pulled out the sword, and the cave really did start up again. The four of them left quickly.

Huo Fenglie directly picked up Liu Zhenqing and flew out. Although Liu Zhenqing was tense, he cooperated obediently as suspicion gradually arose in his heart.

He Lan’s reaction was normal.

Huo Fenglie didn’t even ask anything.

Liu Zhenqing’s eyes gradually narrowed, and he suddenly reached out to grab Huo Fenglie’s arm around him. 

Huo Fenglie didn’t have any extraneous reaction, and just glanced at him as he hurried on.

Liu Zhenqing gave a stiff smile: “I’m a little worried about your situation, so I wanted to take your pulse.”

Huo Fenglie just said quietly: “I’m fine, there’s no use worrying.”

Liu Zhenqing smiled faintly and withdrew his hand.

Martial arts practitioners would not easily allow someone to touch their vital points. Even if they knew that the other person was familiar or harmless, a sudden move would make them instinctively tense. 

Only, Liu Zhenqing had practiced taking pulses with Er-gou before, so Er-gou was already immune to him and wouldn’t react if he was suddenly caught while half asleep and half awake.

Liu Zhenqing’s heart steadily sank to the bottom, and as he looked at Huo Fenglie, his eyes became deep and distant.

---

Consider donating via Kofi here!

Chapter Thirty-Nine << Table of Contents >> Chapter Forty-One

One sentence almost made his little neighbor feel a lifetime of guilt.

Mu Nanqiao looked at the various snacks piled on the small coffee table and began to reflect on whether he had gone too far in pretending to be pitiful. He raised his eyes and saw Lu Qi walking out of the bedroom, carrying a medicine box in his left hand and a glowing “little cabbage” in his right hand.

Yes, “little cabbage,” a rubber cartoon cabbage night light.

Lu Qi placed the small vegetable on the coffee table. The not-so-bright light enveloped the two people in a warm yellow halo. The coffee table was full, so he dragged a chair over and placed the medical kit on it. He leaned over and inspected Mu Nanqiao’s hands, then asked him: 

“I often get abrasions when I rescue stray cats and dogs, and I’m pretty good at dealing with them. Let me help you deal with the injury on your fingers first, and then take you to the hospital?”

Mu Nanqiao glanced at the scratches on his knuckles.

Huh, if the little neighbor moved any slower, the wounds would be healed.

He raised his hand in amusement to show Lu Qi: “If I want to buy a bandaid, I don’t have to go to the hospital. It can be bought at the drug store downstairs.”

Lu Qi also realized that he was making a fuss, and pursed his lips in an embarrassed smile. The small pear dimple on his left cheek appeared faintly. Under the night light’s warm glow, his whole body had a soft, gentle harmlessness.

It made a person want to touch it.

“Then let me disinfect it for you.” Lu Qi sat on the small stool for changing shoes and carefully held Mu Nanqiao’s wrist.

When his fingertips pressed against the outside of the other’s wrist, Mu Nanqiao’s arm tensed imperceptibly, but the other party only moved his wrist gently and asked with an upturned face: “There really aren’t any other injuries?”

Mu Nanqiao felt a little strange when he felt the warm touch on his wrist. For a long time, he couldn’t be in a small space with others, not even his parents. 

Although the situation had improved a lot after the intervention of therapy, Lu Qi was still a stranger whom he had only met a few times.

But now, in the small living room, the clean and gentle young man was so close that he could even feel the gentle airflow of the other person’s breath on the back of his hand.

He didn’t resist, and even relaxed his arm, responding softly, “There aren’t.”

Lu Qi turned and patted the “little cabbage” to brighten it, then lowered his head to apply iodine to the scratches.

“I wasn’t mad at you just now…..” Lu Qi explained with a low voice and a lowered head: “I…..I dated Lin Yuan……”

Mu Nanqiao raised an eyebrow.

Then he figured something out. He narrowed his beautiful fox eyes, stretched out his hand, and tugged the short rubber leg of the little cabbage. “He treated you as me…..”

Lu Qi huffed angrily.

Mu Nanqiao was not surprised. This was what trash like Lin Yuan would do.

“So the things you’ve encountered recently are his doing? His purpose is…..to force you to go back?” Mu Nanqiao understood, and revealed a sarcastic smile. “It really is, ah. He hasn’t changed his methods.”

Lu Qi felt a little sad when he heard this.

He was an adult now, and faced with all this, it was inevitable that he would feel helpless. Then wouldn’t it be even more pitiable for Mu Nanqiao, who was living under someone else’s roof back then?

What a poor little thing, and he was still engaged in such a profession.

Facing Lu Qi’s tender gaze, a certain pitiful little thing of 1.9 meters: ? ? ?

“You need to be careful, ah.” Lu Qi said particularly earnestly: “You see, he is so obsessed with me as a substitute. If he finds out you’re back, will it be okay? There’s no telling what kind of harmful tricks he’ll use to get you by any means necessary!”

Mu Nanqiao: ……

In Lu Qi’s eyes, was he the same as the little cabbage on the table?

“So you should change your job,” Lu Qi tentatively advised. “Your job…..it’s too easy for him to get a handle on you..…”

This serious and worried look amused Mu Nanqiao. He feigned embarrassment and said: “But I just returned to China. I’m unfamiliar with the place, and I don’t know what to do.”

“Hm…..” Lu Qi thought for a while, and then his eyes lit up. “You can become a photoshoot model. I have friends who are engaged in this industry, and I can help you ask.”

He noticed that Mu Nanqiao had turned his face sideways, his cheeks hidden in shadow and his face covered with slender hands. His shoulders shook slightly.

“Hey…..” Lu Qi stood up and turned around in a circle helplessly. “You…..why are you crying…..”

Then he heard deep, muffled laughter leaking out from between Mu Nanqiao’s fingers.

This person was actually laughing!

Lu Qi didn’t understand what was so funny. He held the cotton swab in confusion and stared blankly at Mu Nanqiao, who was laughing more and more wildly. “W…..what is it…..”

Mu Nanqiao looked up at him with sparkling eyes— clearly tears of laughter. “It was actually a misunderstanding that day.”

Lu Qi was confused: “That day? What day?”

Mu Nanqiao suppressed his laughter: “The day you were looking for a little duck, I had actually made an appointment with someone to, uh, talk about finding a job. Because the other party gave the wrong address, No. 201 Minghu Street was written as 102. I happened to have never met the other party, so I mistakenly regarded you as that person…..”

He thought again about when Lu Qi touched his hand that day and pretended to be experienced. The one he touched was the one that was scratched today. That beautiful and slender hand was held forward: “Here, this is the hand you touched. You received the interest and didn’t feel bad at all, and even pinched my fingers in the door.”

Lu Qi: ……

Certain toe-clenching images were playing on loop in his head!

He defended himself weakly: “But you said to go…..to a hotel, and you said it was expensive…..”

“What I meant was to find a quiet place to talk.” Mu Nanqiao held his chin and smiled meaningfully. “What were you thinking at the time?”

Lu Qi: “……”

He silently squatted down, pointed the hair on his head at Mu Nanqiao, and reached out to lift up the plush carpet on the ground.

Mu Nanqiao leaned forward curiously and asked: “What are you looking for?”

Lu Qi put on a straight face and said seriously: “I remember there is a crack in the floor.”

Mu Nanqiao couldn’t help it anymore. He leaned on the soft sofa and laughed without any care for his image.

Buzz—

The lights came on as the electricity returned.

Lu Qi jumped up in embarrassment: “Okay! It’s not dark anymore, you should go home quickly!”

He reached out his hand to grab Mu Nanqiao’s hoodie, pulled him up, and pushed him out the door.

Of course, he couldn’t actually pull such a big person. Mu Nanqiao cooperated as he was pushed out the door. When the door was about to close, he turned around and asked: 

“By the way, do you still want to draw the human body?” Mu Nanqiao winked, his eyes full of cunning. “If it’s you, I’ll let you draw it for free.”

Bang—

The door closed in front of Mu Nanqiao.

A muffled sentence came from the door: “I’m sorry I thought you were…..”

Mu Nanqiao knocked twice on the door: “It doesn’t matter. After all, this is an industry that relies on looks, so I’m honored to have received your recognition.”

There was a clanging sound inside the door, which probably meant that the Holy Sword of Physics placed by the door had been knocked over.

Mu Nanqiao turned around, took the keys from his pocket, and unlocked his door.

He changed into his slippers at the door, inadvertently turned his head, and saw the smile on his face in the reflective decorative pattern of the shoe cabinet.

Half-squatting was uncomfortable, but Mu Nanqiao maintained this posture for a long time. He stared at his face with that unfamiliar smile, and a well-known quote came to his mind in an untimely manner:

The young master hasn’t smiled like this in a long time.

The layout of apartment 502 was actually similar to that of Lu Qi’s apartment 501, but due to the orientation problem, the lighting was darker and more cramped. Even though it had been renovated, there was still a faint smell of moisture.

There were lights everywhere in the apartment, and artificial light filled the entire space without any blind spots.

Mu Nanqiao moved into this forged light, his smile fading little by little.

There were obviously so many lights.

So why didn’t it seem better than that “little cabbage?”

. . . . . . .

Early the next morning, Lu Qi went out to the police station.

The soundproofing in the old apartments was not very good. He didn’t know whether Mu Nanqiao was awake or not, so he closed the door as quietly as possible when he went out, and also walked down the stairs quietly.

There was a small road that went north of the community. Not far from it was the police station, and diagonally opposite was Hengjin Secondary School. There were usually many luxury cars coming and going to pick up the young ladies and young masters of various families. It was unknown who parked their car at the entrance of the alley today. The car’s logo was Maybach.

Speaking of which, Lu Qi was different from most boys and was not particularly interested in cars. The reason he recognized these two M’s stacked on top of each other was because one time, a financial sponsor asked him to do a commission where the boss and the driver were doing some oral stuff on the hood of the car. 

The reference model he was given at that time happened to be the one in front of him.

He coughed and drifted past without a sideways look, fearing that his impure eyes would contaminate this pure and expensive luxury car.

As he passed by, the back door of the Maybach opened, and a thin man wearing rimless glasses with a folder got out of the car and asked with a cellphone in his hand: “Boss? Boss, are you awake? I beg you to wake up!”

Lu Qi: ……

This anxious tone was really pitiful. Sure enough, there was no such thing as an easy job, and capital would not let you enjoy a penny for free.

After receiving a sympathetic look from the handsome passerby, the assistant wiped his face sadly and listened to his boss’s instructions on the phone.

“I didn’t sleep well.” The boss’s voice was harsh and low, with a lazy tone. “Tell that group of elders from the Mu family that I was busy receiving a guest last night and I’m too tired to go today.”

The assistant had begun following Mu Nanqiao after graduation and knew the boss somewhat. He asked anxiously at once: “Mr. Mu, did you encounter any trouble last night?”

“En,” Mu Nanqiao said, “But I called the police.”

The assistant: ……

That was a good idea.

He heard the boss sigh quietly: “Thanks be to a society ruled by law.”

The assistant didn’t dare to speak, and only dared to point out flaws internally. He really felt that the boss’s tone was full of regret. If it weren’t for a society ruled by law, the boss would have bricked the family’s seniors into a wall.

He was thinking about work, and had to interrupt his boss’s sighing. “If you don’t go to the meeting, are you sure they won’t flip the table?”

“The table in the conference room on the top floor is made out of mahogany and weighs several hundred pounds. Can the table be flipped?” The person on the other side of the phone chuckled lightly. “Let’s talk about it tomorrow. I haven’t mentioned my car yet. Have them pick me up in a Cullinan. I’ve never sat in it, only admired the trunk.”

The assistant didn’t know how someone admired a trunk. Then he heard his unpredictable boss say: “By the way, help me contact Haicheng Law Firm.”

The assistant opened his memo: “What do you need consulted?”

“It’s not me.” Mu Nanqiao on the other side paused. “It’s just to help my…..”

The assistant waited for a while: And? Your what?

Mu Nanqiao thought about it for half a minute, but still didn’t say the word ‘friend.’ “My neighbor.”

The assistant: ? ? ? You’re hiring one of the best law firms in the country for your neighbor? You are truly a good neighbor of China.

As if knowing his question, Mu Nanqiao let out a long sigh. “It can’t be helped. I owe him a painting, and I can only wear underwear.”

The assistant: Boss, you’re so naughty, ah.

But your neighbor is also not a standard neighbor.

“Achoo!”

Lu Qi, who had just walked out of the police station, gave a heavy sneeze.

Rubbing his nose, he whispered softly: “Doesn’t this mean someone is gossiping behind my back…..”

---

Consider donating via Kofi here!

Chapter Seven << Table of Contents >> Chapter Nine

At the Imperial Capital private horse riding stable.

Pei Yi was sitting on his pony in uniform, but his eyes kept shooting toward the entrance outside the racecourse. 

Zong Baiyan, who was standing by to accompany him, saw through his child’s small thoughts and couldn’t help but remind him, “Xiao Yi, concentrate on riding and sit up properly.”

Pei Yi automatically straightened his back and tightened his grip on the reins. “Father Yan, why hasn’t Er-ge come yet?”

They originally had staggered riding times, but after becoming “friends,” and with Pei Yi’s persuasion, Bo Yueming finally agreed to change his time to every Saturday.

Now, Pei Yi had been training for half an hour without seeing Bo Yueming, and was impatient.

Bo Yueming replied, “Maybe he had something to do and couldn’t come. You finish this lap independently first. If you perform well, Father Yan will call later and ask.”

Hearing this promise, Pei Yi immediately nodded in agreement.

He rode his pony at a trot. Before Zong Baiyan could fulfill his promise, Bo Yueming arrived belatedly and ran into the racecourse on his own black horse, Adrien.

“Er-ge!”

Pei Yi was happy at once.

Bo Yueming approached and greeted Zong Baiyan politely. “Hello, Uncle Yan.”

Zong Baiyan nodded, and before he could respond, Pei Yi quickly made his presence known. “Er-ge, why are you here so late, ah? I’ve ridden several times.”

Bo Yueming replied, “There was trading simulation training at one o’clock this afternoon. I came over right after.”

Pei Yi nodded in understanding. “Oh.”

Bo Yueming didn’t waste any time. “I’ll take Adrien to warm up first.”

Pei Yi immediately raised his hand and said, “Me too, me too. I can ride and trot.”

Zong Baiyan was anxious. “Xiao Yi, you can’t match Yueming’s speed. Don’t make trouble.”

“……”

When Pei Yi heard this denial, a hint of unhappiness flashed across his face.

Bo Yueming noticed this at once and only said, “It’s fine. I’ll ride slower and see how his training is progressing as we go.”

Having said this, he turned the horse’s head and began to canter around the field.

Pei Yi could tell that Bo Yueming was intentionally waiting for him, and his eyes became more and more pleading. “Father Yan.”

Ever since he was injured while secretly riding horseback before, he didn’t dare to go beyond the instructions of Zong Baiyan and Coach Gao.

Seeing Bo Yueming’s slowed down riding speed, Zong Baiyan also wanted to cultivate Pei Yi’s ability and confidence, so he nodded after some hesitation.

“Go ahead, ba. But you can’t speed up rashly, got it?”

“En!”

Pei Yi received Zong Baiyan’s consent and responded at an appropriate volume, then rode after Bo Yueming.

The two of them, one big and one small, rode around the big circle of the racecourse three times, and then saw Zong Baiyan leading his beloved horse out.

Pei Yi got off his pony with Zong Baiyan’s help, and then heard the latter actively ask, “Xiao Yi, do you want me to take you riding on this horse?”

With Pei Yi’s current stature, he was unable to control a large horse independently, nor could he gallop. Every time, it was Zong Baiyan who took his child out to have fun.

In the past, Pei Yi would definitely nodded at once in agreement, but today he was surprisingly hesitant—

His eyes wandered between Zong Baiyan and Bo Yueming, and he finally asked with shy expectancy, “Father Yan, I want my Er-ge to take me riding! His Adrien is so good-looking!”

With that said, he ran to Adrien’s side and looked up at Bo Yueming above. “Er-ge, is that okay?”

“……”

Zong Baiyan was stuck. He clearly hadn’t expected to be ruthlessly abandoned by his own child.

He tactically cleared his throat, trying to regain his dignity as a parent. “Xiao Yi, ah, that won’t work.”

“Ah?”

Pei Yi’s eyes dimmed slightly, but he still retained a trace of expectation.

Sitting on his horse, Bo Yueming lowered his head to face him. When the words that should have been a rejection came to his lips, they came out as an offer. “Uncle Yan, let me help him try.”

When it came to technique, Bo Yueming was not necessarily worse than Zong Baiyan.

“It’s just one lap. I’ll take him to try it. Anyway, Adrien hasn’t had enough fun yet.”

Bo Yueming’s steady tone always gave people a sense of maturity and reliability. Zong Baiyan had initially wanted to refuse, but when he saw his child’s coquettish, pleading eyes, his heart suddenly softened.

“Then, then just run a lap, but be careful.”

With that said, he lifted Pei Yi and Bo Yueming accepted him.

Pei Yi sat in front of Bo Yueming. Although there was only a three-year age difference between them, the difference in height and body shape between the two was still obvious.

Zong Baiyan anxiously warned, “Xiao Yi, you still have to hold tight. Yueming, you shouldn’t speed up too much. Be a little more cautious.”

“All right.”

Bo Yueming half-embraced Pei Yi from behind and said in a low voice, “Are you sitting tight?”

Pei Yi sat firmly in Bo Yueming’s arms with great peace of mind. He wasn’t nervous at all, and even patted Adrien happily, saying, “Let’s go!”

Bo Yueming smiled unconsciously and urged the horse to run.

For safety reasons, he didn’t dare use his usual galloping speed, and slowed down a little. However, this was enough to excite Pei Yi, who could only trot on horseback.

“—Wow! Er-ge is amazing!”

The lone Zong Baiyan heard his child cheering on horseback and inexplicably felt a little disappointed.

He quickly mounted his Changfeng, took his cell phone out of his pocket, and took a short video of the two riding away, not forgetting to “accuse”—

“Rong-ge, look at your precious son. He’s forgotten his father now that he has a friend.”

“He has no use for this old father, ah.”

His WeChat message was replied to very quickly. “It’s rare for Xiao Yi to have a good friend. As a father, please don’t be sour. Whatever you want to eat tonight, I’ll make it for you when I finish my work here.”

Zong Baiyan replied, “Don’t do it tonight, you rest. I’ll take Xiao Yi and his friend to have a casual meal. Shall I bring you your favorite barbecued pork when I come back?”

“Okay.”

When Bo Yueming finished taking Pei Yi for a lap, Zong Baiyan was still immersed in the WeChat conversation with his lover.

Pei Yi realized that his father was distracted, and quickly urged, “Er-ge, hurry, hurry! Don’t let Father find out, let’s run another lap! Go faster!”

“……”

Bo Yueming hesitated for a moment, but decided to satisfy the curiosity of the kitten in his arms. “Are you having fun?”

Pei Yi nodded. “En! It’s fun!”

. . . . . . . . 

In no time at all, it was five o’clock in the afternoon. Inside a high-end teashop—

Pei Yi ate spoonful after spoonful of the caramel pudding that had been served. Zong Baiyan sat next to him, while Bo Yueming and Uncle Kai had been invited to sit opposite.

Zong Baiyan filled a bowl with seafood, peeled shrimp and crab, and handed it to Pei Yi. “Xiao Yi, eat your meal first.”

“You’re almost at the bottom of your bowl of pudding. If your Father Rong finds out that you ate sweets before your meal, both of us, father and son, will suffer.”

“……”

Although Xu Rong was exceedingly gentle on a daily basis, he had very strict dietary requirements for the three staple meals. Pei Yi quickly stopped and pulled over the rice and cleanly peeled shrimp.

Bo Yueming stared at the seafood bowl that Zong Baiyan had procured, and couldn’t help but glance at the feasting Pei Yi. 

The next second, the observant Uncle Kai asked, “Little Sir seems to like seafood and desserts?”

“Yes, ah.”

Zong Baiyan looked at Pei Yi and said, “Xiao Yi likes to eat all kinds of seafood, and can’t get enough of it.”

“Our family member who adores him always has to prepare it and feed it to him. He’s so spoiled, we’ve made you laugh.”

Zong Baiyan couldn’t bear to see his lover work hard, so in the end, the task of peeling the shrimp every time they ate became his. 

Pei Yi’s cheeks bulged with food, and he corrected, “Father Yan, I’m not spoiled.”

Zong Biayan smiled at him. “Eat properly, don’t choke.”

Pei Yi had no choice but to shift his gaze to Bo Yueming, who was watching him.

Their eyes met, and Pei Yi took another bite of rice in a well-behaved manner.

For some reason, Bo Yueming felt that the way Pei Yi ate was like a greedy little cat. This, this was rather cute.

Most of the meal was spent with Zong Baiyan and Uncle Kai conversing, but it was very pleasant.

When it was nearly over, Uncle Kai asked, “By the way, is Little Sir in the high school affiliated with Imperial Capital University?”

Zong Baiyan nodded. “The new semester is about to begin. His father and I are considering hiring a tutor for him to help him with his homework on weekends and preview his work in advance.”

Pei Yi’s academic foundation was a bit poor when he was in the orphanage a few years ago, but fortunately, he was quite intelligent. After working hard during his first two years of adoption, he was able to keep up with the progress of his peers.

However, Zong Baiyana and Xu Rong still feared that his foundation was weak, so they thought of asking a tutor to help supervise him.

Pei Yi put his spoon in his mouth, his eyes fixed on the untouched pudding on Bo Yueming’s side of the table. He muttered, “I can do well without a tutor.”

He had asked his classmates. The hourly fee for weekend tutoring was very expensive. He wasn’t a bad student, so there was no need to waste the money.

If he encountered an occasional question he couldn’t understand, Father Rong and Father Yan could instruct him.

Zong Baiyan still attached great importance to Pei Yi’s study problems, and uncommonly asked Uncle Kai and Bo Yueming for advice. “By the way, I remember that Yueming is a student at the Imperial Capital High School, right?”

Bo Yueming nodded, and handed his share of pudding to Pei Yi with seeming casualness. 

Pei Yi’s eyes brightened at once. “Thank you, Er-ge!”

Bo Yueming looked at Pei Yi, and a subtle thought suddenly emerged in his heart. “Uncle Yan, at this age, Pei Yi doesn’t need to have so much pressure put on him to study. If you’re okay with it, I can supervise him to do his homework every weekend.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the perpetually calm Uncle Kai showed some surprise.

It should be known that their family’s Second Young Master had been solitary since he was a child.

The matter of “making friends” with Pei Yi was largely based on the other party’s efforts, but it was different now—

It was Bo Yueming who offered to help with his homework! This was just like the sun rising in the west!

At the same time, Zong Baiyan also fell into a brief moment of silent contemplation.

He had heard of Bo Yueming’s academic excellence, but the issue of studying was not a big or small matter. No matter what, the other party was still a young master of the Bo family, so it was a bit inappropriate.

Zong Baiyan had his own considerations. Just as he was about to refuse, his own child beat him to it—

Pei Yi, who had always hated the idea of being urged to do homework with a tutor, actually took the opportunity to comply.

“Okay! I agree!”

---

Consider donating via Kofi here!

Extra 6/15 <<Table of Contents >> Extra 8/15

Because of his relationship with her Er-ge, Liu Nanyuan’s impression of His Royal Highness Xiao Wang had recently changed a little. It had seemed that he was not as cruel as the rumors said, but now he had been beaten back into his original shape by Cheng Suyue. Although the excuse may be reasonable, this was still very different from the men she had met before. 

Thus, after finishing up for the day, Liu Nanyuan made a special trip to visit her Er-ge.

“Why do you ask?”

“Curiosity.”

Liu Xian’an made a pot of flower tea and said: “Because he can come to my world and be friends with my friends.”

Liu Nanyuan had also heard about her brother’s Three Thousand Worlds. She drew a circle in the air with her finger: “Is the prince also willing to go to that world and drink tea and discuss the Dao with the ancient sages?”

Liu Xian’an was perfunctory. Something like that, something like that.

Liu Nanyuan thought, wow, people cannot be judged by their appearance.

She was at the age of first love, but Baihe Mountain Village was full of patients, and the atmosphere was mostly repressed and solemn. Several of her close friends also had strict family traditions, and never left the house or stepped out the door all day long. No one was willing to accompany Liu Nanyuan to talk about the sickly and handsome men she liked. The only person she was able to discuss issues of the heart with seemed to be her Er-ge.

“What about you?” Liu Xian’an poured her a cup. “Traveling every day, you must have met many romantic and carefree youngsters, right? Take Head Escort Chang as an example, I watched him blushing and stammering when he saw you.”

“I have met a lot of them, but not the kind I like.” Liu Nanyuan’s attitude was very firm. They must be weak and pale.

Liu Xian’an adopted the attitude of “anything is fine” on this matter, but he also raised a question with rather philosophical implications. If you do meet someone in the future who is weak, pale, and in poor health, after getting married, will you treat him or not? If he is not treated, he may become more seriously ill, and it will go against the family motto of Baihe Mountain Village. But if he is treated and cured, he will be neither pale nor weak in the future, which will go against your aesthetic tastes.

Liu Nanyuan said blankly: “…..I’ve never thought about this problem.”

Liu Xian’an comforted: “You can start thinking about it from now on. In any case, you haven’t met your sweetheart yet, so don’t worry. Perhaps when you do, you will find that it is okay for them not to be weak or pale.”

Liu Nanyuan insisted: “They at least can’t look too rosy.”

Liu Xian’an nodded: “That’s fine.”

Having no bottom line when tolerating his sister’s unique views on mate selection may be due to the advantage of being forty-eight thousand years old. Since the whole world was just a drop in the ocean, then a girl in this vast world who wanted to find a sickly husband was just a miniscule drop inside a drop, truly insignificant. It didn’t matter, didn’t matter.

Liu Nanyuan received sincere affirmation, and happily walked out of her Er-ge’s door with the medicine basket in hand, happening to meet Chang Xiaoqiu head-on. He had originally come to see His Royal Highness Xiao Wang, but unexpectedly met a beautiful girl. At once, the blood all over his body began to rush to his face again. He stood aside to get out of the way and tried to say hello, but he stuttered for a long time without getting out a word. Gao Lin witnessed this scene from a distance and was in awe. He walked up and smacked him on the head, cursing: “I thought you were rather intelligent before, but why are you such a disgrace at the critical moment? Work harder, ah!” Could it be that the ‘aphasia at the sight of a girl’ passed down by the Northwest Dayan ancestors could be transmitted through the air?

“I’ve tried a lot harder, but Third Young Lady Liu doesn’t like my type,” Chang Xiaoqiu said. “I also asked Second Young Master Liu specifically and he said I’m not pale enough.”

Gao Lin looked at the young man’s pink and white face and said regretfully: “If even a pampered New Year painting doll like you is not pale enough, then doesn’t that mean nobody in our camp has any hope? Yes, those big men should proceed to lighten up. The prince is in the study at the moment. Is there something you need from him?”

“Yes.” Chang Xiaoqiu said, “First Young Master Liu has prepared several anti-miasma pills and masks and wants to try them later in the forest.”

“The local southwest soldiers will test the medicine. They are experienced enough and can sense any danger immediately. Why are you joining in?” Gao Lin said, “In the military camp, in addition to being brave, one must still have a plan. If you rush forward blindly, the losses will outweigh the gains. There is no need for you to go into that dense forest, just continue to accompany First Young Master Liu.”

“But I don’t understand medical science.”

“If you don’t understand, you still must accompany him,” Gao Lin ordered. “Have you not seen those people from the Scimitar Silver Moon Clan running into the pharmacy when they have nothing to do recently? I heard that several girls are coming in the next two days. You dress up handsomely and elegantly and stand there to block the miracle doctor’s pursuers.”

Chang Xiaoqiu took a step back, rejection written all over his body: “I’d better go and test the medicine.”

“You’re going against the heavens.” Gao Lin learned from others and gave him a kick in the same style of His Royal Highness Xiao Wang. “There is no telling how many people envy this job, but you still pick and choose. Hurry up and go!”

After sending the bitter-faced boy away, Gao Lin went to find Liang Shu again and said: “The medical hut has been set up. I took a look, and it is even more beautiful and exquisite than in the drawings.”

It was also more luxurious than the shabby thatched shack where Second Young Master Liu had his first consultation. In addition to the medical hut, Gao Lin also found people to make many new sets of white clothes with blue belts, and carefully selected a group of white, tall, and heroic soldiers from the army. In short, from the building to the personnel, everything was pleasing to the eye.

Liang Shu was going to ask Liu Nanyuan to do consultations in person.

Although beauty and ugliness in the world did not amount to right and wrong, people’s pursuit of beauty was nearly instinctive. The so-called “Holy Maiden” of the Baifu Sect also made use of this instinct, and there currently happened to be someone more beautiful than her in the Dayan army.

Liu Nanyuan herself had no objection to this. She had never been secretive about her beauty. She loved beautiful clothes, beautiful jewelry, and loved to look in the mirror. Therefore, when she received the clothes from Cheng Suyue, she changed into them on the spot. She had just finished bathing. Her half-wet hair was still loose, and the room was full of fragrance. The red gauze skirt lining made her even more gorgeous, like a peach or plum flower. She applied a bit of lip balm with her slender white fingers, swiping it between her lips. Cheng Suyue felt as if she was beholding a goddess under the moonlight.

Her vitality and exuberance and the silent saintess of the Baifu Sect were two extremes. Cheng Suyue leaned against the door and watched her change out her jewelry one by one. In the end, a butterfly hairpin was forcibly pinned Cheng Suyue’s own head. When she went back, she was glimpsed by Liang Shu. His Royal Highness Xiao Wang’s brows jumped slightly, and this person who usually kept a low profile made a very rare comment: “Pretty good. It’s rare that you wear something that doesn’t look like it conceals a weapon.”

Cheng Suyue: “…..Third Young Lady Liu is ready.”

“Good, it’s up to you to handle this matter.” Liang Shu nodded. “Put her safety first in everything.”

The “Holy Maiden” that the Baifu Sect had worked so hard to create would never allow others to take a piece of the pie. If they really couldn’t control the situation, they would most likely be in a life-or-death struggle.

In the dense forest, Liu Hengchang untied layers of gauze and asked anxiously: “Commander Ku still cannot see anything?”

Ku You said: “Indeed.”

“Then…..” Liu Hengchang hesitated, not knowing how to tell the other party the truth. Ku You took the initiative and said, “You can just assume that I’ll spend the rest of my life in darkness, and brief me on the situation. How is it going?”

“Recently, the guard posts at various locations have been changed very frequently, sometimes once a day.” Liu Hengchang said, “Even if I continue to observe for another ten and a half days, I may not be able to conclude a pattern.”

“What about the back mountain?”

“The back mountain?” Liu Hengchang asked. “The back mountain is full of miasma. If you want to escape from the back mountain, you would need Young Master Feng’s help. What did he say?”

Ku You said: “He vowed to cooperate with me.”

Liu Hengchang was overjoyed, but before he could speak, he heard the next sentence. Cooperation was possible, but he must first marry Wumeng Yunle. There was no need for all the ceremonies, and they didn’t even need to wear new clothes to bow, let alone a bridal chamber and candles. Just a nod was enough.

Liu Hengchang probed: “Then…..what does Commander Ku think?”

He felt that no matter how he felt about it, this was a really good deal. With just a nod, he could escape from the devil’s cave. If it were him, he would definitely not refuse. Moreover, Wumeng Yunle was the pinnacle of holiness and beauty in the hearts of the Baifu believers. Were it to be known that she had actually become a man’s wife, wouldn’t that mean that the psychological defenses of a large number of people would collapse without the prince having to put in more effort?

Ku You said: “You think it over and find a place.”

Liu Hengchang was puzzled: “Where?”

“A convenient place to hide without being discovered by anyone,” Ku You said. “Prepare enough dry food and water. Not much is needed, just enough for ten days.”

Liu Hengchang obeyed his order and went down to make preparations. Ku You calculated the days in his mind. He was actually eighty percent certain now that he could leave this ghastly place without anyone noticing, but after some thought, it had taken a lot of effort to come here. How could he leave empty-handed? He must bring something with him.

Thus, he was still very patient.

Liu Xian’an was also very patient.

He rolled up his sleeves and wrote medicine names on small pieces of paper, preparing to dry them and stick them on the medicine bottles. The weather had turned hot recently, so he was wearing thin clothing. As soon as Liang Shu entered the door, he saw white arms. He stretched out a finger to poke, but was turned away: “Don’t make trouble.”

“Miracle Doctor’s Heaven and Earth pill.” Liang Shu picked up a piece of paper and said, “What does it treat?”

“Diarrhea,” Liu Xian’an said.

“Immortal Vigor pill?”

“Loss of appetite.”

“Is there a relationship between the two?”

“No, ah, but wasn’t this the prince’s request? It should be majestic, easy to understand, and as convincing as possible. I even made a special trip to ask my elder brother’s servants. They said that people like these kinds of names. When people hear Miracle Doctor and Immortal Vigor, they want to swallow two of them.”

“That’s right.” Liang Shu put the paper back. “The medicine bottles have also arrived, and are pink and blue. They look very lovely, like clouds reflected in a clear sky. Just looking at them makes a person feel good.”

In short, they were definitely more like fairy supplies than those strange and bizarre things from the Baifu Sect.

---

Consider donating via Kofi here!

Chapter One Hundred Twelve << Table of Contents >> Chapter One Hundred Fourteen

“……”

Bo Yueming looked into the bright, clear eyes of the person in front of him and felt a special warmth in his heart that he had never felt before.

Since being “forcibly” brought back to the Bo family, due to his special status, no one had ever been willing to take the initiative to “make friends” with him. The only friend he could chat with was Yan Cen, and their relationship was also that of classmates.

In the past, little brothers like Pei Yi would never have any contact with him.

Pei Yi eagerly awaited Bo Yueming’s reply. Seeing that he didn’t respond for a long time, he became a little anxious and said, “Er-ge?”

“En?”

Bo Yueming responded to him unconsciously, as if he had accepted this exclusive title.

“O-Okay.” Pei Yi took a deep breath, as if having made an important decision.

He took out a small, flattened straw grasshopper that was disordered from being in his small school bag, and handed it over. “This is my most favorite, I’ll give it to you too! Can you be friends with me now?”

Bo Yueming looked at the several things that had been given to him, which were altogether worthless, and then glanced at the small straw toy that was of obvious significance with a complicated feeling.

Pei Yi felt a little depressed now. He grasped the shoulder strap of his school bag and said, “There isn’t any more.”

Bo Yueming opened the schoolbag with one hand and tossed everything in his arms back inside. “I don’t need these things.”

“……”

Pei Yi thought this was a rejection, but before he could feel sad, he heard Bo Yueming ask, “Why do you want to be friends with me? We only met once.”

Pei Yi shook his head, and gestured with his hands, “This is already the second time, and we’ll see each other more and more in the future.”

Bo Yueming gradually adapted to his familiar tendencies and walked into the house with his notebook of homework.

Pei Yi seized the opportunity and hastily followed, saying as he walked, “You’re good-looking, tall, and even look cool when riding a horse. You protected me, and Father Yan also said that everyone praises you for your excellence.”

Bo Yueming tapped the corner of his mouth and feigned nonchalance. “Do you make friends with everyone like this?”

Pei Yi’s short legs were still working hard, and he shook his head as he walked. “No, it’s my first time making a friend.”

Because he was bullied by the big, tall, older boys at the orphanage in the past, Pei Yi had always been reluctant to come into contact with such people.

In the three years since he was adopted, apart from his classmates, Bo Yueming was definitely the first tall gege he wanted to be close to.

As soon as he finished speaking, Bo Yueming stopped in front of a desk.

Pei Yi, who was trying his best to keep up, realized that he had entered the private study without permission. He remembered Father Rong’s previous instructions about etiquette, and backed up to the study door.

— Knock knock

“Er-ge, can I come in?”

He was familiar, but polite.

“……”

There was a hint of a smile in the depths of Bo Yueming’s eyes, and he only said, “I need to study, and I like silence. You’ll be bored staying here with me.”

Pei Yi ran up and told a bald-faced lie, “I also like silence.”

Bo Yueming did not object, and allowed Pei Yi to bring a small stool and sit diagonally at the corner of his desk.

Pei Yi lowered his voice. “Er-ge, are we friends?”

Bo Yueming turned a page of his notes and said, “Being friends doesn’t just happen by verbally admitting it.”

“Oh,” Pei Yi responded, and said no more.

Bo Yueming always preferred solitude and silence. When he said he needed to study, he wasn’t just making an excuse.

Pei Yi didn’t dare be noisy, but after waiting a few minutes, he couldn’t hold back his greed. He quietly unwrapped the strawberry lollipop, stuffed it into his mouth, and glanced at Bo Yueming guiltily.

Bo Yueming had already noticed his movements from the corner of his eye, but just saw through it without saying anything.

Some time passed.

The sound of the kitten’s chewing began to become wanton. Bo Yueming couldn’t bear it anymore and looked up to find that Pei Yi’s forehead was pressed against the edge of the desk, and his head was practically buried in the school bag.

“Pei Yi? What are you doing?”

“Ah?”

Pei Yi raised his head without thinking. His cheeks were bulging, and there was still a little bit of egg yolk cake residue at the corners of his mouth, like a kitten that had stolen something.

Taking advantage of his height, Bo Yueming easily glanced at the contents of his school bag and asked, “What are you eating?”

There was an element of already knowing the answer to his question.

Having been caught, Pei Yi honestly put the candy wrapper, half-drunk banana milk, two bites of taro bread, and one remaining egg yolk cake on the table.

Pei Yi said vaguely, “…..I was a little hungry.”

Bo Yueming said, “Didn’t you say that these things were all for me? You ate my things without saying anything?”

When Pei Yi heard this, his blush spread from his ears to his entire face, but then he said cleverly, “Friends should share things with each other. And I left some for you.”

Bringing a bunch of food to make a friend and then eating everything in the name of “friendship” was really not a loss at all.

Where did this clever kitten come from?

Bo Yueming chuckled, then quickly calmed down. “Then you can finish your meal.”

Pei Yi shook his head with restraint. 

Bo Yueming urged, “Eat it. It’s all opened, don’t waste it. I don’t like sweet things.”

Seeing that he wasn’t angry, Pei Yi immediately backtracked with a smile. “Thank you, Er-ge!”

Bo Yueming could do nothing about him, and his smile became more obvious. “What are you thanking me for? This is your own stuff.”

Pei Yi didn’t answer, and only began to eat more happily.

Bo Yueming stared at his bulging cheeks and asked without thinking, “Is it so tasty?”

“Mm, it’s delicious,” Pei Yi replied. “I used to be in an orphanage, and it was hard to get enough to eat. Then I went home with Father Rong and Father Yan.”

“……”

Orphanage?

When Bo Yueming heard this strange yet familiar word, his brow twitched unconsciously.

Although he had already guessed Pei Yi’s identity as an adopted orphan, he still felt some imperceptible worry when he heard this person speak of his situation so calmly.

Even with the care and attention of Old Mrs. Bo these years, when Bo Yueming faced the second branch family, there was always a feeling of inadequacy from living on someone else’s charity. But compared to Pei Yi, who once lacked love and affection, his upbringing paled in comparison.

Pei Yi, who was still nibbling bread, seemed to notice Bo Yueming’s silence. He looked up at the other party, his smile still pure. “Er-ge, don’t feel sorry for me. Father Rong and Father Yan are very good to me.”

“Just like your grandma is to you.”

Pei Yi didn’t compare Zong Baiyan and Xu Rong to Bo Yueming’s parents. He wasn’t stupid, and had heard some clues from Bo Wang’s words just now.

“We’re both kids who have adults that care about us.”

What seemed like ordinary words of comfort injected an irresistible warmth into Bo Yueming’s heart.

He froze for a few seconds, and finally no longer concealed his smile. “En, you’re right.”

Having received his approval, Pei Yi bit off another piece of bread and ate more happily.

The two stopped their brief exchange. 

Bo Yueming entered study mode again, and after finishing the snacks he had brought, Pei Yi simply folded his arms and lay down on the table.

Perhaps it was because he had just filled his stomach, or because the sky was growing darker, but Pei Yi, who had not been able to take a nap at noon that day, felt sleepy at this moment.

He tried his best to keep his eyelids open, but still couldn’t resist the hypnosis that swept over him.

Thud.

He tilted his head and fell asleep lying on the table.

When Bo Yueming returned to his senses, he had even begun to snore in his sleep.

Bo Yueming tapped the table and called for his attention. “Pei Yi?”

“……”

Pei Yi didn’t reply to him, but only shifted his position and continued to sleep.

Bo Yueming frowned slightly. After hesitating for a moment, he stood up and approached. “Pei Yi, don’t sleep here. It’s easy to get a stiff neck or catch a cold.”

No matter how the weather was, you would be more affected by the cold while asleep than when you were awake.

Pei Yi hummed with a bit of unhappiness at being disturbed, and there was also a little fussiness that was not easy to detect.

“……”

With no other choice, Bo Yueming could only lean down and coax in an unskilled manner, “I’ll take you to the sofa to rest, okay?”

Pei Yi narrowed his eyes drowsily and subconsciously hugged Bo Yueming in front of him. “Sleepy.”

When he was too sleepy to move in the past, Zong Baiyan and Xu Rong would carry him back to his room like this to sleep. At this moment, he was so sleepy that he couldn’t tell north, south, east, or west, and temporarily forgot that he was still in someone else’s house.

Bo Yueming looked at Pei Yi, who continued nuzzling into his arms, and could only carry him in front of him with difficulty.

Pei Yi was very accustomed to being carried this way. He hugged the other tightly with both hands and rested in forehead in the crook of his neck, sleeping peacefully.

“……”

Bo Yueming quickly brought Pei Yi to the living room. He carefully placed the sleeping Pei Yi on the sofa, not forgetting to cover him with a small blanket.

The unfamiliar scent of the quilt made Pei Yi uneasy in his sleep. He kicked the quilt and turned over, almost falling off the sofa.

“Ai!”

Bo Yueming blocked him with quick reflexes and anxiously covered him with the blanket again.

There were no servants in the villa at the moment. Even Uncle Kai had gone to help at the main house, and there was no one here to look after him.

Bo Yueming was afraid that Pei Yi would fall in his disordered sleep, so he had to go back to the study to get a book and sit quietly next to him.

Time passed minute by minute.

The ajar door moved again.

Uncle Kai led Zong Baiyan in and said, “Second Young Master, Mr. Zong is here to pick up Pei Yi.”

Bo Yueming raised his eyes and calmly faced Zong Baiyan at the door.

When Zong Baiyan saw Bo Yueming, whose aura was not inferior to that of an adult, a hint of genuine admiration flashed in his eyes.

Bo Yueming stood up and indicated, “He’s asleep.”

Zong Baiyan had already discovered his family’s kitten curled up in a ball on the sofa. He approached slowly and replied in a low voice, “We’ve troubled the Second Young Master. I’ll take him back.”

With that said, he easily picked up Pei Yi.

It was also the same posture of carrying him in front of his body.

Bo Yueming silently observed this scene, paying special attention to Zong Baiyan’s posture from the corner of his eye. 

“Huh? Father Yan?”

Pei Yi woke up in a daze, but remained lying against Zong Baiyan’s shoulder without raising his head.

Zong Baiyan patted Pei Yi on the back and coaxed, “Xiao Yi, we’re going home first. Do you want to say goodbye to the Second Young Master?”

These words aroused a sense of clarity in Pei Yi’s mind. He rubbed his eyes and slowly faced Bo Yueming’s direction, yawning as he spoke.

“Good bye, Er-ge. I’ll come to play with you next time.”

---

Consider donating via Kofi here!

Extra 5/15 <<Table of Contents >> Extra 7/15

Lu Qi sat in the reception room, shivering and wrapped in a random blanket. The plush, camel-colored blanket was piled up in several layers under his neck, covering a little less than half his face. His frightened face was so pale that it made people feel slightly distressed.

He seemed like a different person from the young hero who whacked the hoodlum with the Holy Sword of Physics just now.

He was obviously scared, but at that time in the dark corridor, this well-behaved kid still rushed over and shielded him.

Although Mu Nanqiao no longer needed someone to stand in front of him, the feeling of being protected was so unfamiliar that he couldn’t help but think about it over and over again, wanting to break it into pieces and taste it carefully.

He stood up, took a glass of water, and handed it to Lu Qi.

“Drink some warm water.” Mu Nanqiao’s voice was very low and slow. After handing him the water, he did not sit back down across from him. Instead, he sat in a chair on the same side as Lu Qi. Their shoulders were very close, touching lightly.

The temperature slowly spread from his fingertips. Lu Qi moved his stiff wrist and whispered: “Thank you.”

“It’s my turn to thank you.” Mu Nanqiao took the hood off his head, revealing his handsome face. He casually grabbed the slightly curly black hair a couple of times. “This person may have attacked with a purpose, and the target should be……”

“It’s me.” Lu Qi lowered his head dejectedly. “It might be…..my anti-fan…..”

Mu Nanqiao was speechless with astonishment.

He looked at Lu Qi again and asked uncertainly: “Are you a celebrity? I just returned to China not long ago, and I don’t pay much attention to the entertainment industry.”

“No, I’m a painter.” Lu Qi explained in a low voice, “You…..have you seen the news about it? A painter harassed Party A when asking about the requirements…..”

He paused. The paper cup was slightly deformed. “This is a rumor. It’s not true.”

He cautiously looked at the man from the corner of his eye, a little afraid that his expression would suddenly change to show disgust.

But the man didn’t. He just shook his head and said: “I haven’t seen the news. You said it was an anti-fan, so I thought you were a celebrity. After all, you look very likable.”

This was one of the few positive comments Lu Qi had received recently. His eyes curved slightly, and his tense body relaxed.

“So actually, it’s me who should apologize.” Lu Qi lowered his eyelashes and whispered: “You may have been implicated by me.”

Mu Nanqiao smiled. He wanted to reach out and rub his head.

Why did he love to take the blame for his own mistakes?

Such a good boy with a high sense of morality. Why did some people think he was a pervert?

“The ambulance took away that person just now. Didn’t you notice what was going on with him?” Mu Nanqiao fiddled with the empty paper cup in his hand. “He was twitching, sweating all over, and crying with tears and snot. Do you think you could make him cry snotty tears with just a rod?”

“I thought I hit him in the head.” Lu Qi turned around and looked at Mu Nanqiao with wide eyes. “Didn’t I?”

The bright yellow paper cup was torn open by Mu Nanqiao. Those slender fingers seemed to be playing with handicrafts, first tearing it into strips, then into short petals, and finally, the paper cup turned into a blooming sunflower.

He patiently flattened the bottom of the cup little by little, and pushed the sunflower in front of Lu Qi like a child. “He’s a drug addict.”

Lu Qi: ……

Among those “sages” who hid behind the screen to blindly uphold justice, were there really such desperate criminals?

“Understand?” Mu Nanqiao raised his finger and casually pointed at himself. “He ran at me.”

There was even a smile at the corners of his eyes when he said this, his handsome face full of the casualness of telling a joke.

Lu Qi: …..

That was to say, prostitution, gambling, and drugs were all indistinguishable, and you really shouldn’t do anything illegal.

The air conditioner was turned on too low, and he couldn’t help but shiver when he was hit by the cold air.

Mu Nanqiao reached up and helped him pull down the blanket piled behind his neck.

He conjured up a tie clip out of nowhere, and together with the paper cup, stuck it to the corner of the blanket to hold it in place. It hung on his shoulders like a small cloak, so that Lu Qi didn’t have to keep raising his arms and grabbing the blanket.

Just as Mu Nanqiao was about to say something, the door of the reception room was pushed open.

The female police officer who had brought them in reappeared, this time with a serious expression, and was followed by two male police officers.

She asked: “Are you feeling better? If you’ve recovered, make a statement.”

Lu Qi nodded, and Mu Nanqiao also stood up. He patted Lu Qi’s shoulder comfortingly. “If you feel uncomfortable, I’ll go first and you can rest for a while.”

“Okay.” Lu Qi whispered: “Will your profession cause you trouble, ah…..”

Mu Nanqiao: ……

Still thinking of him as a duck.

Lu Qi saw him raise his eyebrows and reveal that half-smiling expression.

The policewoman waiting to the side first checked the identities of the two people, asking coldly and simply: “Names.”

Only then did Lu Qi recall that he still didn’t know the name of this lighting store owner, Russian music lover, next door neighbor and top-rate duck.

Then he heard the man sitting next to him say:

“Mu Nanqiao.”

. . . . . . . .

The hoodlum they had clashed with tested positive for drugs, so Mu Nanqiao and Lu Qi also took drug tests. When no problems were found, they finally left the police station.

It was close to early morning, so it wasn’t easy to get a car. And it was not far from the community where Lu Qi lived, so he planned to walk back. He tugged the small blanket and touched a cold, hard metal bar, then remembered that Mu Nanqiao’s tie clip was still with him.

He turned his head and saw the young man walking slowly down the long steps of the city police bureau, one hand in the pocket of his black hoodie. His steps were loose and indolent, but even so, those simple concrete steps were like a catwalk for him at a fashion show for a sports fashion brand.

Lu Qi simply walked backward two steps and stood under the stairs, looking up at him.

Wu. It was no wonder Lin Yuan couldn’t forget him if he looked like this. But in the end, the Mu Nanqiao before him was not the same as the white moonlight everyone mentioned. Where was that weak little white flower he had been promised?

Wasn’t it said that they were very similar?

Lu Qi thought frustratedly that those people were all lying. 

He was clearly not so masculine.

Mu Nanqiao lowered his head and sent a text to his assistant. When he raised his head, he met the beautiful deer-like eyes of the little painter who couldn’t hide his emotions. He stood at the foot of the steps and stared at him with his head raised, as if he was observing an endangered animal.

He just noticed that the way Lu Qi looked at him had suddenly become strange.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Like an energetic high school boy, he jumped down the last three steps and took two steps toward Lu Qi, tilting his head to look at him. “Is it because I said I had just returned to China and haven’t had time to find a job yet, so I’m still a ‘freelancer?’”

Lu Qi thought to himself, your profession is quite free. Too free.

But of course it wasn’t because of that.

He hesitated for a moment, then asked directly: “Do you know Lin Yuan?”

It was difficult to clearly describe Mu Nanqiao’s expression at that moment. It seemed gloomy, with a hint of ridicule. In the end, all these emotions were concentrated deep in his eyes. He narrowed those beautiful fox eyes and said: “I know him as a classmate. He was very caring, and took care of me.”

He seemed to chew those words hard before saying them with a half-smile, but Lu Qi didn’t notice this detail. He stared at Mu Nanqiao’s features in surprise and whispered: “Not alike at all.”

Mu Nanqiao: ……

What alike? He couldn’t be talking about him resembling that dumbass Lin Yuan, right?

Mu Nanqiao shuddered, disgusted by the idea. He wanted to ask, but found that his little neighbor had turned around and walked away very quickly, without any intention of waiting for him.

The other party intended to put the word “alienation” on his forehead, and Mu Nanqiao didn’t catch up. He had long legs, and followed slowly from a distance. After all, he didn’t know if he would encounter any “accidents” tonight, so it would be better to keep a distance from this little neighbor who had been in trouble recently.

But the little neighbor actually knew Lin Yuan?

Mu Nanqiao kicked away a pebble in his path.

What was their relationship?

If Lu Qi told Lin Yuan about his return to China, would Lin Yuan realize that the recent troubles he was encountering in Hengjin Group were related to him?

Although the dumbass shouldn’t guess it considering his IQ, he hadn’t thought of this flaw.

With this thought in mind, the two of them entered the unit door one after another.

Lu Qi’s footsteps as he walked to the upper floor stopped for a moment, and the light that leaked down the gap in the stairway fell on Mu Nanqiao’s head.

The words “Check someone out for me” had been sent on the screen of his mobile phone, and his whole body was enveloped in a wash of light. The short five words in the typing box looked extremely dark under the cold white light.

When he looked up, Lu Qi was leaning on the handrail of the stairs, looking down at him. His eyes were evasive, and he asked in an unnatural tone: “Are…..are you afraid of the dark?”

Mu Nanqiao: ……

It seemed like feathers were falling down, gentle but itchy.

He turned his phone off and caught up with him in two steps. The corridor was very narrow, and it was obviously a bit crowded with two young men with wide shoulders and long legs side by side. Mu Nanqiao’s shoulder rubbed against the small blanket hanging on Lu Qi’s shoulders, and the cool temperature of the “sunflower” tie clip fell on his skin, reminding him of his mood when he tore up the paper cup just now.

There was no calculation, no violent emotions, just a simple desire to comfort the beautiful young man standing in front of him.

He suddenly no longer wanted to privately investigate Lu Qi. Those dark methods seemed to pollute his moment of peace.

If he wanted to know, perhaps he should just ask.

It seemed that in front of this little deer, sincerity was better than so many twists and turns.

“I’m afraid of the dark, ah.” He stretched out his fingers to hook a corner of the blanket and asked in puzzlement: “Did I make you angry just now?”

Lu Qi: ……

He didn’t have to turn his head to sense the caution in the other person’s eyes.

“I’m not angry.” Lu Qi explained weakly, “I just feel……awkward when I see you.”

Mu Nanqiao was innocent, but when he thought of how his current situation was caused by that beast Lin Yuan, and Lin Yuan liked Mu Nanqiao, he wondered whether the two of them would be together in the future…..

Lu Qi felt uncomfortable when he thought about this, not to mention that he had also served as Mu Nanqiao’s substitute.

Mu Nanqiao raised his eyebrows and guessed: “You know Lin Yuan? He mentioned me to you? He said something bad about me?”

“He praised you and said you are very good.” Lu Qi snorted.

They were already at the fifth floor. Lu Qi opened the door of 501 and looked at Mu Nanqiao, who was standing behind him with a confused expression. He couldn’t help but speak again with emotion: “He’s a scoundrel, you should stay away from him in the future. He…..he doesn’t respect you!”

Mu Nanqiao: ……

He almost laughed at this soft “scoundrel.” Compared to so many vicious curses he had heard, this sentence was really cute. That garbage Lin Yuan was not worthy of such a soft “scoundrel.”

He didn’t know what this meant, but he was keenly aware of Lu Qi’s disdain for Lin Yuan, so he took a step forward and grasped the crack of the door before Lu Qi could close it.

“Ah…..” Lu Qi quickly let go of the door handle. “Be careful of your hands…..”

Mu Nanqiao ignored his fingers and said bluntly: “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but when I was in school, I didn’t have a good relationship with him. My classmates would lock me in an empty classroom, pour milk tea into my school bag, and pour ice water on me in winter…..”

Lu Qi looked at him blankly. He had heard this from Lin Yuan’s aunt, but when a sentence about school bullying turned into specific incidents, it still made him feel upset.

However, what Mu Nanqiao said next surprised him even more.

“These were all done by Lin Yuan,” Mu Nanqiao said, “to make me isolated and helpless, so that I could only be friends with him.”

---

Consider donating via Kofi here!

Chapter Six << Table of Contents >> Chapter Eight

Liu Zhenqing stiffened and immediately looked up at Huo Fenglie, who noticed his reaction and reached out to support him with worried and questioning eyes.

And Liu Zhenqing hesitated for a moment before saying softly: “I saw the vice president of the southern branch of the Liu Family Chamber of Commerce. If I remember correctly, he is indeed involved in a section of the river transportation business.” If he hadn’t participated in the family assessment, he wouldn’t have seen this.

Huo Fenglie frowned. “He must transport the food and broken silver.”

Liu Zhenqing’s heart sank. It seemed that he had transported the assassins from before to the capital and infiltrated the Liu Family Chamber of Commerce, doing a lot of things to deceive others.

Sure enough, the Old Master was elderly, and the two uncles were just frogs in a well. They only knew how to fight for the power in front of them, and had not carefully reviewed the matters of the Chamber of Commerce. This allowed the villains to take advantage of a loophole.

“Catch him,” Liu Zhenqing whispered.

The Liu family had been arrested in the name of the Imperial Examinations, so only the actual members of the Liu family had been taken. The chamber of commerce was too big to implicate, so the emperor hadn’t taken action for the moment. Many businesses were still running, but the president was not there, and the vice president was still in charge of the overall situation. Unexpectedly, they had caught him on the spot.

Just as he spoke, the party below seemed to have come to an end, and everyone was enjoying themselves. As soon as the leader clapped his hands, they saw his subordinates open the doors and push women in white clothes and veils to stagger inside. There were dozens of them. Faint sobbing could be heard, but it was covered up by the lively music.

“Everyone, look, these are the young girls we just collected. They are very clean. I wish you a good time tonight.”

“Leader, don’t let it get too out of control when the time comes. It is unsightly when they get bloody,” one person said.

“Ai, you don’t like it, but some people do. I like the strong ones. I’ve prepared beautiful ropes and whips.”

“Don’t worry, everyone. Look at them crying obediently. They were given the choice to either starve to death or behave themselves. The ones whose mouths are gagged are the strong ones. If they still can’t figure it out after everyone has trained them, then forget it.”

As soon as the leader said these words, everyone burst into laughter, as if they had found satisfactory prey.

Although Liu Zhenqing had experienced many terrible things, he was still unable to watch these disgusting things ruin the young girls. The hand that was holding Huo Fenglie’s arm unconsciously clenched down as hard as it could.

Huo Fenglie glanced at Liu Zhenqing and said nothing. When the people below left, the two decided not to take the evidence here for the time being and followed the leader instead.

The leader had a big appetite, and directly picked two girls. One was quiet, while the other struggled wildly.

Following the leader’s footsteps, they came to the inner courtyard. The guards drove the two women into the room to wait, and the leader went to the study first to listen to his men report on the night’s patrol.

Liu Zhenqing quietly waited for some time without speaking, but felt that every minute was very difficult. What was happening to those girls who were taken away now? If he hadn’t seen them, he wouldn’t have thought about them much, but now that he had seen them, he couldn’t be ambivalent. Those who had gone with the leader were of course going to be saved by them, but he also knew that there was nothing they could do about the others.

Just as he was thinking about this, Liu Zhenqing was embraced by Huo Fenglie and they landed under an unguarded hidden windowsill. Liu Zhenqing looked at Huo Fenglie in confusion. 

Huo Fenglie put Liu Zhenqing down and said in a deep voice: “I have observed their patrol routes, and they will not pass through here. You stay here and don’t move. Wait for me for a while.”

Liu Zhenqing said doubtfully: “You want to go to the study? But…..” Liu Zhenqing was about to say that the courtyard was full of guards, and the least likely way to alert others was to wait for the leader to enter the inner room alone.

“I’m going to save those girls.”

Liu Zhenqing was taken aback, and stared at Huo Fenglie in astonishment, his eyes flickering. Logically speaking, the overall situation should be the most important thing, not……

Huo Fenglie explained: “There is enough time. I’ll just knock them all out and lock the doors. It won’t take long.” As he spoke, he gave Liu Zhenqing a firm look. “Someone once said, if you can’t save the people in front of you, how can you save all living beings?”

Liu Zhenqing was stunned for a moment, but before he could react, Huo Fenglie flew away.

Huo Fenglie had listened to that sentence Liu Zhenqing had once said? This was not an unusual statement. They were the words of a young person who was inexperienced in the world, full of heroic intentions, convinced that he was the protagonist of the world. He did not know the heights of the sky and the cruelty of existence. 

Reality would prove that this sentence was very idealistic, so idealistic that it was a bit silly. When you really had everyone in your hands, you would realize that nobody was the protagonist of the world, and there was no protagonist halo to make the journey smooth. There were only extremely heavy burdens, and trade-offs to be made.

But it must be said that when Huo Fenglie left so decisively, Liu Zhenqing felt more at ease than ever before, as if Er-gou had taken away the breath that was stuck in his throat.

Liu Zhenqing didn’t realize that he had a smile on his face. At some point, he heard movement from the window sill next to him. “Mom and Dad, I’m sorry. This daughter will be filial again in the next life.”

Liu Zhenqing was stunned. He immediately stood up and opened the window in front of him to see a woman hanging beside the window sill, her body struggling and swinging wildly.

He immediately leaped over and hugged the girl’s legs, dragging her back in an attempt to save her, but she struggled fiercely. At this moment, he saw a white shape flash in the corner of his eye. The other woman had noticed and come over. He didn’t see the woman rushing to help, but only sensed her raise her hand. In the next second, the tension of the rope loosened. He didn’t know if the rope had been tied loosely or something, but the girl fell down directly. Liu Zhenqing could only hold her awkwardly, but the girl had already lost consciousness when she fell.

Liu Zhenqing quickly looked at the woman, and saw her regarding him calmly. She was rather tall, and he couldn’t see her face clearly because of the veil. She only looked at him with a pair of beautiful eyes.

Liu Zhenqing smiled at once and said: “Young lady, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a bad person. I’m here to save you.”

The girl raised her eyebrows and had just reached up to remove her veil when there was the sound of footsteps and the door opening from the outside.

This was the inner room’s dressing room, so they wouldn’t be exposed for the moment. Liu Zhenqing sensed that it might be the leader coming in. He quickly shushed the woman, looked around, and found a cabinet. He hid the unconscious girl inside and picked up the cloak on the ground, wrapping it around himself. He said to the calm woman: “Young lady, you can see by my appearance that I’m not a bad person, right? So let’s cooperate to buy time. A great hero will rescue us later, but you don’t have to be afraid. I won’t let that beast take advantage of you, just hide behind me.”

As he spoke, Liu Zhenqing scattered his hair, put on a veil, and did his best to cover himself up. Hiding a dagger in his sleeve, he protected the woman behind him.

Suddenly, he heard the woman behind him whisper: “You’re too tall.”

When he heard this, Liu Zhenqing automatically crouched a bit to lower his height, but suddenly realized that the voice just now didn’t sound feminine.

He wanted to look back, but it was too late.

“Come out from wherever you are, do you still want me to invite you personally?”

Hearing the sound of the leader’s voice accompanied by the door closing, Liu Zhenqing’s heart calmed down. Patting the woman on the arm to comfort her, Liu Zhenqing extinguished the lights in this area, darkening the illumination in the dressing room while impatiently waiting for the leader to come inside.

Because of his disguise and the leader’s drunkenness, he didn’t realize that the person had changed, and he stepped forward to grab Liu Zhenqing’s wrist. “Weren’t you very spirited just now? Why are you quiet? Have you figured it out? Hahaha, it will be to your own benefit to serve this leader well.”

The leader reached out to remove Liu Zhenqing’s veil.

Liu Zhenqing was very experienced when it came to pretending to be a woman, and lowered his head shyly, dodging like a frightened little rabbit. This actually aroused the other person’s interest, and the pulling and tugging was like a game to delay time.

Finally, the leader became impatient and pulled this person into his arms. 

“Come, let me give you a kiss.”

Liu Zhenqing suppressed his nausea, and was about to use this opportunity to press a dagger against the other’s neck.

But before he could thrust the dagger out, the other party grabbed his wrist.

“You!”

Damn it, he didn’t realize he was a martial artist when he saw his sloppy steps.

“You’re courting death!”

The opponent was obviously angered by Liu Zhenqing, and was about to use the dagger to strike back. Facing this move, Liu Zhenqing also remembered the killing move he had learned before and was about to retaliate when a silver light suddenly flashed and a dagger appeared at the leader’s throat. The dagger was instantly stained with blood, and seemed like it was about to cut deeper.

The leader took a sharp breath.

“Shut up! Don’t move!” The sinister voice sounded like a snake crawling in the darkness. It was the woman from just now.

Liu Zhenqing was quickly pushed away by the leader. It was obvious that he wanted to resist the woman, but she was faster and covered the leader’s mouth with one hand from behind. Without blinking, she gripped the dagger and slashed, and three fingers of the hand the leader had raised were cut off. Clearly, only someone with internal strength could do such a thing. 

And the leader’s shrill scream was blocked back into his throat.

“I told you not to move.”

The leader was furious, but also knew he couldn’t fight back. The other party’s martial arts were clearly higher than his.

The dagger was placed back against his neck, and the woman chuckled: “I want you to speak. Just call out obediently and tell all the guards in the outer courtyard to leave. If you dare speak an unnecessary word or if someone breaks in, don’t blame me for cutting off your head and giving it to your father.”

Before the leader could speak, he felt the dagger on his neck bear down again. He was truly frightened now. When the woman let go of his mouth, he could only obey her command and call in embarrassment: “Everyone outside, go away. No matter what sounds you hear, you are not allowed to come in. If you disturb me, laozi will kill you!”

The guards outside looked at each other in confusion. But after all, the leader had the authority, so they could only obey and stay away from the courtyard.

The woman listened silently for a while, then kicked the leader over and said, “Kneel.” When the leader got up awkwardly, he could sense the person standing behind him. Although he didn’t know their position or how close the dagger was to him, the fear still oppressed him and kept him motionless. 

“What are you doing? Don’t kill me. If you want something, I can give you a lot of money, as much as you want.” The leader pretended to be calm.

Liu Zhenqing was presently dumbfounded. This turn of events had happened so fast that he was caught off guard, and the woman in front of him suddenly seemed familiar. Just as he was stunned, he felt a cold wind blow from behind him. 

At the same time, the kneeling man naturally saw the situation behind Liu Zhenqing and watched as a man flew in from the window. His eyes were as sharp as knives, and with a flash of red, he pounced on Liu Zhenqing like a terrifying beast in the late nighttime forest pouncing on its prey. The aura he brought in with him was simply more terrifying than that of the woman threatening him with the dagger.

The woman also saw this scene and was stunned for a moment. Just as she was about to speak, she watched as that person reached out and grabbed Liu Zhenqing’s arm, pulling him suddenly.

Liu Zhenqing felt an overbearing force change his posture. He was frightened, and when he turned around, he beheld a face that was about to freeze over.

Liu Zhenqing couldn’t see the anger and impatience in that face, but instinctively sensed the danger and tried to retreat. But when he realized who had come, his first reaction was to ask, “So fast? You did it? Have you taken care of everything? We haven’t been discovered.”

Huo Fenglie paused, and for a moment, he went along with the other person out of habit.

“En, I took care of it. Everything is fine.” After answering, he had to forcibly suppress his wild emotions after not seeing this person where he left him. He choked and couldn’t help feeling a little aggrieved, although it wasn’t evident in his tone. “You…..why didn’t you wait for me?”

Liu Zhenqing thought Huo Fenglie was blaming him for acting without authorization. After all, without martial arts, it would be easy to alert someone, but he couldn’t turn a blind eye at that time. He could only briefly explain the situation and then glance at the strange woman who knew martial arts.

Huo Fenglie seemed to be interested in seeing who the woman was. When he came in, he had just instinctively determined if the situation was okay and then focused all of his attention on Liu Zhenqing. 

When he turned around, Huo Fenglie paused for a moment and his expression became a bit subtle.

Liu Zhenqing was still wondering why the person in front of him looked familiar when he heard the woman say in an unkind tone: “What a coincidence.”

As the woman took off her veil, Liu Zhenqing’s eyes gradually widened. Then he took a sharp breath, and the other’s cold gaze swept over, as if he was saying with his eyes: Dare to laugh? Try it.

Liu Zhenqing swallowed his laughter, realizing that the person in front of him was actually Qin Yu disguised as a woman.

It wasn’t that Liu Zhenqing wanted to laugh, but the Qin Yu before him was dressed up so exquisitely, with makeup and powder. Even his lips were painted an extremely bright red. If he didn’t know Qin Yu or wasn’t sure of his voice, he would have thought this was Qin Yu’s sister. Even though he was pretending to be a woman, he didn’t have to sacrifice so much. Were there steamed buns stuffed in his chest?

And it was simply unimaginable that someone with Qin Yu’s temperament would dress up like this.

It was really too shocking. Liu Zhenqing said with a dry smile, “Actually, your disguise is quite good. No wonder you managed to sneak in.” Just as he was curious about why Qin Yu was with the contingent of women, this casual sentence made Qin Yu unhappy, and he seemed to be holding back his anger.

Qin Yu narrowed his eyes and said: “It’s not as good as Young Master Liu’s. With only a veil, this fool became obsessed with you, tugging and playing with you.”

The corners of Liu Zhenqing’s mouth twitched, and he heard Huo Fenglie beside him say in a deep voice, “What?”

Qin Yu directly told on him. “He even embraced Young Master Liu.”

Liu Zhenqing: I have no face, ah!

This Qin Yu was truly sinister and evil. He usually looked mild and quiet, and was also a bit aloof. But when it was time for him to speak out, he never spoke softly, and specialized in deceiving people.

As soon as he turned around, he found that Huo Fenglie’s face was so dark that he couldn’t look at it.

How strange, Er-gou seemed to be angry? He had thought he would only receive a complicated expression.

A figure suddenly flashed around him, and the leader grunted as his chin was punched. Then a kick broke his arm, and the agonized leader could only make muffled sounds and roll on the ground.

Qin Yu scoffed coldly, and found that Huo Fenglie had already raised his head to look at him. His meaning was obvious: why didn’t you help?

Qin Yu choked, then said with a shrug: “It’s not that I wouldn’t help, but the timing didn’t allow for it. This fellow knows martial arts, and I was afraid of disturbing the situation. I also thought Young Master Liu’s performance was very smooth, so I played it by ear.”

Liu Zhenqing said speechlessly: “I’m a man, so I wouldn’t suffer. I was just buying time.”

However, he saw that Huo Fenglie was still looking at him with disapproval.

And at this moment, the strange sound of a cat’s meow came from the roof.

Then a voice with an obvious smile came: “Has Beauty Qin been captured? Do you want me, the hero, to save the beauty?”

Qin Yu’s expression darkened instantly, and he raised his sleeve to wipe his face.

Liu Zhenqing: Okay, now I know why Qin Yu was holding back his anger.

---

Consider donating via Kofi here!

Chapter Thirty-Eight << Table of Contents >> Chapter Forty

“Ku You” was unconscious and looked like he would be lying down for a while. Liu Xian’an carefully examined his face, but could not find any trace of a disguise. He opened his eyelids and looked at his eyes, which were also a light gold like splashes of ink. Astonished, he rubbed his thumbs behind the other’s ears again but still couldn’t find it.

Gao Lin stood beside the bed with his hands folded, trying to come up with some kind of hypothesis. Since this person’s facial features resembled Ku You’s and his eyes looked like Ku You’s, was there a possibility that he was actually Ku You? 

Liu Xian’an also asked: “How did the prince conclude that he is a fake?”

Liang Shu shook off his gloves: “He deliberately pretended to be confused, as if his brain was muddled by torture. And I don’t know where he learned his Northwest accent when he opened his mouth, because it is far different from Ku You’s.”

Cheng Suyue burst out laughing, pfft, and Gao Lin sighed with emotion. He didn’t expect that such an honest man would have such ideas. In the early years, when Ku You was just an ordinary minor commander in the northwest, he was often sent by his superiors to surrounding villages to buy local products with soldiers and carts, then sell them uniformly to traders—there was no other way. The national treasury was tight, and the local army could only find its own way. Over time, Ku You had developed two major skills. One was bargaining, and the other was the Northwest dialect. Not only could he understand it, but he could also speak it fluently.

Liu Xian’an said: “So Commander Ku never used his actual voice from the moment he was kidnapped?”

“It’s not necessarily that he never used it at all. At least in the beginning, he still said a few words to the fake Gao Lin. But at that time, the other party was eager to lead him out of the camp. He knew that talking too much would lead to mistakes, and he needed to hold it in until the end, so the conversation between them likely didn’t exceed five sentences, just over a hundred words. If Ku You decided to do it later on, he would still be able to hide his accent.”

“There are some traces of the disguise here. The bonding points are thinner and more invisible than a cow hair.” Liu Xian’an was holding a crystal-polished lens inlaid with gold in his hand. It was originally a toy given to him by Liang Shu when he was bored. Now, he just used it to enlarge the counterfeit goods and examine them.

Liu Nanyuan also stepped forward, and her eyes were dazzled by what she saw. Then she found the wiring and stood up, saying in disbelief: “A human skin mask can be made so lifelike, and there is even a way to change the color of the pupils. Even our Baihe Mountain Village cannot do these two things.”

“It cannot be done because Baihe Mountain Village does not follow evil ways,” Liu Xian’an said. “If one implants Gu insects into their eyes, let alone golden eyes, even rainbow-colored eyes are possible. But the skill of this disguise is very good. After he wakes up, you can ask him carefully.”

“But I don’t think he’ll wake up for a while.” Liu Nanyuan tested the other party’s pulse. “He was probably afraid of being discovered by us, so he took drugs that would disrupt his pulse in advance, trying to create the illusion of being tortured. This person can be regarded as losing his life’s savings, and he paid with his own body.”

That was why Liang Shu kneed him so hard in the kidneys that he lost his breath and fell unconscious. Liu Xian’an told his sister: “Then you should wake him up as soon as possible.”

Liu Nanyuan asked in confusion: “Why don’t you treat him?”

“Because he is not difficult to treat.” Since he was not difficult to treat, it was not necessary for Second Young Master Liu to personally go into battle. 

Before Liu Nanyuan could open her mouth, Liang Shu had already said: “Then Third Young Lady Liu can do it. I will take Xiao An back to rest first. He has been feeling tired and low of energy recently.”

Everyone at the scene fell silent, mainly because they truly had nothing to say about this blatant favoritism. Liu Nanyuan looked at her lazy Er-ge and felt worry in her heart that was very similar to that of her parents. He was already immobile enough, but now he had someone to support him. In the future, would he not have to eat on his own, but lie down and be fed by a maid?

But in fact, it was not as dramatic as his sister thought. At least, His Royal Highness Xiao Wang would never let others feed the Sleeping Immortal.

After the two left, Gao Lin said: “Third Young Lady Liu, there’s no need to be so surprised. To be honest, we’re all used to it.”

Liu Nanyuan glanced at Cheng Suyue.

Cheng-guniang also nodded and said truthfully: “It’s not like there isn’t something more dramatic than this. Once, Second Young Master Liu just climbed an extra section of the mountain himself and coughed twice from exhaustion. The prince’s attitude at that time made it sound like he was going to split the mountain in two, and some people believed him.”

Liu Nanyuan: “……”

So Da-ge had been witnessing the extravagant treatment of Er-ge as if he was a concubine, which was thousands of li away from the Liu family’s rule of being diligent, thrifty, and putting others before oneself. How on earth had he resisted taking out the red sandalwood ruler?

Impressive, impressive.

Liu Xian’an said as he walked: “I walked a lot today.”

“Where did you go?” Liang Shu was puzzled. “Weren’t you waiting for me to come back to the room?”

“I waited but couldn’t sit still, so I kept walking back and forth in the courtyard.” Liu Xian’an patted his knees. “I didn’t feel it before, but now it’s starting to hurt.”

Liang Shu thought about the scene of him wandering around the courtyard like a spinning top, and thought it was quite cute. He smiled and said: “Then I’ll carry you.”

This was what Liu Xian’an was waiting for. He put one arm around Liang Shu’s neck and said: “I once saw a windwheel cart in my dreams. People can sit in it and move forward without relying on cattle or horses.”

“If it doesn’t use animals, then what does it rely on? Just the wind?”

“It also might be something else.” Liu Xian’an didn’t bother to explain. “Anyway, it went very fast.”

So Liang Shu carried him and also went very fast. Liu Xian’an was shaken up and laughed, patting him on the shoulder as he said: “The prince hasn’t said anything about what happened when you went into the dense forest today for the exchange. Did it go well?”

“It went well. Everything happened as planned, and all the gold, silver, and jewelry have been dumped into the lake. The other party sent a young woman. Judging from her figure, she should be the one who pretended to be a village girl and wanted to marry Gao Lin at the old woman’s birthday party that day. She also had a bit of a Nanyang accent when she spoke, and should be from the same place as the imposter lying in bed at this moment.”

“And the Scimitar Silver Moon Tribe?”

“Following the woman.” Liang Shu said, “The miasma will not hinder them. Hopefully, good news can be sent back soon.”

The two of them walked all the way to their residence. When the soldiers along the way saw this intimate scene, they quickly looked to both sides and at each other. Liu Xian’an didn’t think it was a big deal, because immortals were all very dissolute. Liang Shu opened the door sideways and leaned his face toward him: “You can still be a little more dissolute.”

Liu Xian’an pinched his face and jumped to the ground: “Where are the two Gu worms? Take them out and let me look.”

Liang Shu smiled and handed over the porcelain bottle: “They weren’t moving at the time, and I don’t know if they are alive or dead. Be careful.”

Liu Xian’an shook the bottle twice, and a click click sound came from the collision of hard shells. The things inside were still alive. He took out a large silver plate and a transparent ice crystal cover, poured out the Gu insects, and fastened them in. Ping, ping, ping, the hard black insects collided with the ice crystal again and again, leaving powdery black traces one after another.

Liang Shu was disgusted: “What kind of insect is this?”

“Soul-numbing Gu,” Liu Xian’an said. “Even if the powder only touches the skin, it will quickly penetrate into the blood and flow to the heart. Within a month, symptoms will range from half-body paralysis, loss of self-awareness, and death. If one is pricked by this sharp thorn, it will be even more difficult to treat. However, although this Gu is very poisonous, it is delicate and difficult to maintain, and has extremely high environmental requirements. Only the Baifu Sect, who live in the forest miasma, have the conditions to let them grow strong.”

“No wonder he took these things out right away. If they could bite me, they could make a profit with very little investment.” Liang Shu asked, “Can you find a way to maintain them?”

“I can try feeding them some poisonous mushrooms, but it may take hundreds of soldiers to find food for them.” Liu Xian’an sealed the ice crystal cover. “But let’s talk about it first. I have only read about them in books, and I have no experience. If I feed them to death, they’ll just die.”

You absolutely must not seek compensation from me.

. . . . . . .

The woman in red flew like a wild sparrow into a ring of green trees on the mountainside.

The people of the Scimitar Silver Moon Tribe followed closely behind. They were dressed in yellow and emerald green clothes, and practically blended into the mountains. They bypassed the guards unnoticed, and a young man said upon looking at the large undulating tile-roofed farmhouses that suddenly appeared in front of them: “If I were to start a cult, I would at least have a black and red hall tens of zhang high, and more than a dozen raging fires burning with drag chains, with ghosts and wolves howling everywhere.”

The woman slapped his face: “I’ve told you so many times not to listen to the ghost stories about Second Young Master Liu flying through the clouds and mist. If you really have nothing to do, you can learn more from First Young Master Liu.”

The young man stuck out his tongue: “Then what should we do now?”

“You just stay here and don’t move. I’ll go find Commander Ku first.” Another man stood up. “This place is really big though, so it will probably take some time.”

The young man looked out through the trees and said: “Although it is big, there are not many people.”

“The evil cult relies on the weakness of people’s hearts to win over believers, so force is the least important.” The woman said, “They don’t need too many people, but those ones are more difficult to deal with than thousands of troops.”

The man’s back quickly disappeared.

Feng Xiaojin looked at the silver-haired man in front of him and said: “A-Le seems to truly be in love with you, but you can’t marry her or even pretend to make her happy.”

“She fell in love with me just because she hasn’t met many normal men,” Ku You said. “Young Master Feng should understand better than I do how she has spent these ten years. Actually, I also have a question to ask. Since Young Master Feng cares so much about his brother and sister, why did he allow Mu Zhe to train them into a pair of murderous tools ignorant of good or evil?”

“Because this world is inherently upside down. There is no need to bother distinguishing between good and evil. And also because I had no choice.” Feng Xiaojin said, “You wouldn’t understand.”

“In the Dayan military camp, no matter how big or small the matter is, everyone can decide what they want or don’t want. I really don’t understand what ‘no choice’ means,” Ku You said. “But if Young Master Feng is willing to say—”

“I’m not willing to say it, and there is no need for you to hear it.,” Feng Xiaojin interrupted him. “I only have one condition. If you promise me, I will agree to cooperate.”

Ku You asked: “What is it?”

“Marry A-Le so that she can have a husband,” Feng Xiaojin said word by word. “This is my only condition.”

. . . . . . .

The first thing Liu Nanyuan did was to fix the misplaced ribs and the shattered wrist bones of this unfortunate fellow. The injuries were really serious, ah, and she couldn’t help but turn around and ask: “Sister Cheng, wasn’t the prince afraid he might have the wrong person? Even if the way he spoke was different, if Commander Ku had a cough, or took certain drugs, his voice could have been temporarily changed.”

“Even if there was only a slight abnormality, the prince would not hesitate, because if he hesitated for a moment, the danger would increase dozens or hundreds of times,” Cheng Suyue said. “Although his injuries are serious, he can still be saved, right?”

Liu Nanyuan nodded: “En, it will just be a little troublesome to move, but it’s not life-threatening.”

“Then isn’t this right?” Cheng Suyue said, “Even if the prince’s judgment was wrong and he really was Ku You, it’s nothing more than a few broken bones. There is A-Yuan in the military camp, as well as First Young Master Liu and Second Young Master Liu. Is there any reason to fear that he won’t be healed? So to be on the safe side, it’s better to be economical first.”

Liu Nanyuan: “……Can this kind of thing be economical?”

Cheng Suyue nodded. If we can save time and money, we must save time and money. We’ve been following the prince for so long and have already become accustomed to it.

---

Consider donating via Kofi here!

Chapter One Hundred Eleven << Table of Contents >> Chapter One Hundred Thirteen

The trees on both sides of the car windows receded rapidly.

Pei Yi was dressed in a serious little suit with a small black school bag in his arms, and looked quite precious.

His gaze moved from the car window to the front row, and there was uncontrollable excitement in his eyes. “Father Yan, Father Rong, can I really see that gege again today?”

“You can.”

Zong Baiyan glanced at him through the rearview mirror. “Father Yan will definitely do what he promised you.”

Xu Rong turned to look at his child and said warmly, “Pei Yi, today is the birthday of that little gege’s grandma. When you follow us to meet her later, you must be polite. Do you understand?”

Pei Yi nodded.

Xu Rong looked at Zong Baiyan with worry in his expression that only an adult could understand. “I remember that your Zong family rarely interacts with the Bo family?”

Although both Bo and Zong were among the top groups in the Imperial Capital, they rarely interacted with each other in domestic life.

Zong Baiyan chuckled. “Actually, it’s not that big of a deal.”

When Zong Baiyan’s grandfather was young, he was in a business competition with Mrs. Bo, who was in charge of the group. As a result, he suffered a rare big loss.

But there were no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.

“After my grandfather passed away, my father led the Zong family and had some business dealings with the Bo family, but the cooperation was not deep.”

Zong Baiyan glanced at the cute Pei Yi in the mirror again. “This time, I can use the excuse of Xiao Yi to break the ice and communicate privately. My father is very supportive.”

Xu Rong felt relieved.

He was just an outsider and didn’t know much about these “big families.”

Zong Baiyan noticed his lover’s confusion and continued to tell what he knew, “Old Mrs. Bo is a well-known strong woman, did you know that? At this age, she was happily divorced two years ago.”

“The old man had an affair behind her back. The other party was still married back then, and as a result, his reputation was stained and he left the house.”

At the same time, Old Mrs. Bo also severed ties with her eldest son and his family.

“The young man Pei Yi met last time is called Bo Yueming. He’s Old Mrs. Bo’s second grandson. I heard that he’s the second son of Bo Lihong, and came about when the man was young and romantic…..”

Probably out of concern for Pei Yi behind him, Zong Baiyan didn’t explain the entire matter. “But I hear that the Second Young Master of the Bo family is very talented.”

“He’s not even grown yet, but his temperament is as stable as that of a young adult. And he has already won a grand slam in those simulated stock trading competitions, which is very outstanding.”

Sitting in the back row, Pei Yi’s eyes flitted back and forth. In fact, his “cat” ears were perked up very seriously.

As soon as he heard Zong Baiyan’s affirmation of Bo Yueming, he felt an indescribable ambition—

Even such an outstanding father praised the other person’s excellence? Then he must be friends with Er-ge!

. . . . . . .

Old Mrs. Bo’s birthday banquet was arranged at the Bo family’s main residence. When Zong Baiyan arrived with Xu Rong and Pei Yi, there were already many guests who had come to celebrate her birthday.

Zong Baiyan located Old Mrs. Bo and approached her proactively. “Hello, Chairman Bo. I’m Zong Baiyan.”

Bo Peizhi recognized her at a glance. “It’s young Mr. Zong. Long time no see.”

As she spoke, her eyes wandered toward Xu Rong and Pei Yi.

Zong Baiyan introduced them with poise, “Chairman Bo, this is my husband, Xu Rong, and my son, Xiao Yi.”

When the guests heard Zong Baiyan’s words, they all looked surprised—

Although it was no secret that the other party had married a same-sex lover, few people knew that they had also adopted a child.

Xu Rong calmly ignored the glances around him. He greeted Old Mrs. Bo politely, and didn’t neglect to pat Pei Yi’s little head.

Receiving this reminder from his Father Rong, he raised his head and greeted with a sweet smile, “Hello, Old Madam. I wish you a happy birthday, good health, and safety.”

Old Mrs. Bo liked children the most, especially those like Pei Yi, who were cute and intelligent.

She responded kindly, “Ai, thank you for your blessings. Such a good child.”

After Pei Yi replied, his eyes searched the crowd unconsciously.

Once he confirmed that he couldn’t find the person he wanted to see, he approached Zong Baiayn, who was still talking, and gently tugged on the corner of his clothing. He was a little anxious, but due to politeness, he didn’t dare to say anything.

Zong Baiyan understood his child. 

He calmly recounted the horse riding incident half a month before to Old Mrs. Bo, and added his justification at the end, “……We left too quickly last time. Xiao Yi had been thinking about it and wants to thank the Second Young Master in person.”

Old Mrs. Bo responded, “That’s right, the housekeeper with Yueming did tell me such a thing.”

She met Pei Yi’s expectant eyes and simply called a nearby servant. “Take him to find the Second Young Master. The child should still be in his room.”

This was a place for adults, and as a child, it would indeed be boring for Pei Yi to stay here.

The servant accepted Old Mrs. Bo’s instructions and patiently gestured to Pei Yi. “Please follow me.”

Pei Yi was a little unsure. He looked at Zong Baiyan and Xu Rong on both sides of him and silently asked his parents for consent.

Zong Baiyan agreed. “Go ahead, Father Yan will pick you up later.”

Xu Rong asked, “Do you need to carry your school bag?”

Pei Yi thought of the treasures in his bag and nodded heavily. “En.”

. . . . . . .

The Bo family manor was very large.

The two walked out the back door of the main house and walked for a while until they approached their destination—

Only then did Pei Yi realize that Bo Yueming actually had a large villa of his own, and the “wow” in his heart soared into the sky.

But before the two of them could get close to Bo Yueming’s villa, they heard a burst of children’s mischievous playing.

“That’s him! The blood-sucking insect that no one wants and is still living in this house!”

Pei Yi heard this clearly malicious tone and subconsciously broke away from the servant’s control, trotting ahead.

In the next second, he saw the little boy in the lead throw the stone in his hand, which hit the other person’s calf with force.

“……”

Bo Yueming felt the slight, dull pain in his calf and looked at Bo Wang, who was with a group of arrogant children nearby. A hint of irritation flashed across his expression.

Before he could figure out how to “dispatch” this conceited half-brother, a figure rushed over at once and stood in front of him.

“Don’t bully my Er-ge! If you do it again, I’ll tell your parents!”

The group of children, including Bo Wang, looked stunned when they heard this.

“……”

Bo Yueming stared at the silly little head tilted up in front of him. Through his address, he identified the other party, and his originally depressed heart became clear.

Bo Wang looked at Pei Yi, who was not as tall as him, and frowned very unhappily. “Who are you, ah?”

Pei Yi had been beaten up in the orphanage when he was a young child, and was most afraid of such a one-against-many situation.

He tightened his grip on the strap of his school bag, but tried to be brave and refused to move away. “A-anyway, you can’t throw things at people!”

Young Master Bo Wang’s temper rose, and he raised his head. “This is my home! I can do whatever I want! It has nothing to do with you!”

“I..…”

Just as Pei Yi was about to say more, someone suddenly grabbed his arm—

Bo Yueming wordlessly pulled him behind him and told him from the corner of his mouth, “Stand still and don’t talk.”

“……”

Pei Yi opened his mouth, but still obeyed.

Bo Yueming returned his gaze to Bo Wang. “Grandma is about to cut the cake. Aren’t you going?”

Cutting the cake was not the point, but getting red envelopes and attention was.

Bo Wang remembered his mother Xue Min’s instructions early in the morning, and immediately changed his focus. He gave a deliberate scoff and hurried away with his little friends.

Standing behind Bo Yueming, Pei Yi leaned half of his body out and glared at the backs of Bo Wang and those peers of his who had shown off their power. “Hmph! They have no quality at all! If they come back again, I’ll fight them!”

Hearing this “ferocious” cry, Bo Yueming purposely replied, “The one in the lead is my brother, so you can’t hit him.”

“……”

Pei Yi gave an “ah,” a little embarrassed.

How could he solve a minor conflict between two brothers?

Bo Yueming hadn’t expected to meet Pei Yi at his home today. He asked with a hint of subtlety, “Did you come to the birthday banquet with your Father Rong and Father Yan?”

Those members who could go to the racecourse were either rich or noble.

An unfamiliar child such as Pei Yi had appeared at the family’s main house. After some thought, there was only one possibility.

Pei Yi nodded, and blurted out an explanation, “I didn’t purposely leave without saying anything last time.”

Bo Yueming walked back to the small table in the courtyard and put away his study notes. “It’s fine. We didn’t know each other in the first place. You should go back to the main house, there’s cake to eat.”

He remembered that this person seemed to like sweets.

Pei Yi continued to follow behind Bo Yueming. “Er-ge? Aren’t you going?”

“……”

Hearing this familiar address, Bo Yueming stopped and said, “I’m not going. Don’t follow me, either. Good bye.”

He had already wished Old Mrs. Bo a happy birthday in advance, and she was aware that he would be uncomfortable on such an occasion. 

Bo Yueming’s long legs gave him long strides, and Pei Yi could only trot behind, reluctant to let him go. “Er-ge, wait for me. I have something to give you, ah—”

He didn’t even have time to finish his sentence when he failed to notice the steps and fell to the ground.

Bo Yueming turned around in shock and quickly pulled Pei Yi up. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt from the fall?”

Pei Yi shook his head, his ears flushed with embarrassment at having fallen.

Bo Yueming couldn’t figure out what he wanted for the moment, but was also somewhat interested. “Why are you following me with such short legs? Why don’t you go and eat cake?”

Pei Yi was so agitated by the ‘short legs’ comment that he raised his head and opened his eyes, muttering unresignedly, “My legs aren’t short.”

“Father Yan took me to the doctor for a checkup. I….I just haven’t grown up yet. I won’t be short in the future.”

Bo Yueming smiled in spite of himself. “En? So what do you want?”

Pei Yi lifted the small school bag in front of him, opened the zipper, and took out the contents as if it was a bag of treasure. “Here, it’s for you—”

“This is my favorite taro bread, this is my favorite strawberry lollipop, this is my favorite sweet banana milk, and these are the egg yolk cakes that my Father Rong made yesterday. I left two for you.”

“…….”

Bo Yueming watched as a steady stream of snacks was stuffed into his hands, and was forced to take them. It was obvious that they were the favorites of the person in front of him.

“Enough, enough.”

Bo Yueming put a halt to the juggling act and said, dumbfounded, “You don’t want to eat them yourself?”

“They’re for you, ah.” Pei Yi said emphatically, “They’re very sweet and delicious.”

Bo Yueming made an unobtrusive sound in response, feeling much better.

Before he could ask Pei Yi again about his purpose in coming here, the other party asked with a pair of smiling eyes bright with sincerity, “Er-ge, I like you, can we be friends?”

---

Consider donating via Kofi here!

Extra 4/15 <<Table of Contents >> Extra 6/15