After Alton picked up the little one from the cave and went back, he began to worry.

There was naturally no food in the cave, and it was impossible for the little one to hunt, so with Pure City having been destroyed half a year ago, what had he been eating for the past six months?

Alton took the doctor’s advice and had the kitchen boil eggs before mashing them up.

Holding the bowl in his hand, Alton looked at the little one lying on Lucas, and was dumbfounded. He stepped forward and said: “Aiya, come down, little one.”

“Yiya…..” Little Luo Ran grabbed Lucas’s neck and refused to let go.

Lucas was strangled by the neck, and wondered: “Why is he sticking to me?”

“He’s attached like a baby bird.” Alton smiled and shook the eggs in front of Luo Ran.

Luo Ran blinked, then turned his head to stare blankly.

Alton carefully fed Luo Ran small bites, and the big, tall man felt helpless against such a soft dumpling.

After the child had eaten a bowl of eggs, Alton finally succeeded in abducting him into his arms.

Holding Luo Ran, Alton grinned at Lucas and said: “Aiyo, he’s so soft, completely the opposite of you, you stiff little brat.”

“There’s no telling what this little guy will differentiate into when he grows up. A Beta is okay, but if he’s an Alpha or Omega, that would be incredible. After all, he’s a child of Pure City.”

Some people like Lucas were differentiated from birth, but others had to wait until adulthood.

Lucas looked at the child who had his face buried in Altons neck and said: “He has no parents, and they can’t be found. Then in the future……”

After a doctor examined him, it was confirmed that Luo Ran had lost his memory. He had aphasia and lesser cognitive function after living in a cave for half a year, and even the functions of his body had changed a lot.

By the time the patrol reached his cave, the stones and the insect had vanished. They didn’t know what was going on, and only thought this was because he had been disconnected from the outside world for so long. After all, it was a miracle in itself that the child had survived.

“Naturally, he’ll live a good life in the capital in the future. We’ll have to send him back to receive rehabilitation and formal education. Look at him, he can’t even speak now. He needs a teacher to show him how to live in human society again. How could he go with us everywhere for battle?” Alton raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Why? You’re reluctant to part with him and want to keep him? How about we adopt him into the family as your future spouse?”

“No!” Lucas’s face reddened, and he glared angrily. “Absolute nonsense, how old is he?”

“Hahaha……” Alton loved to tease Lucas the most. He kicked Lucas on the ass and said: “Silly bastard, what kind of spouse do you want? Go train!”

“Wu…..” Little Luo Ran bit Alton’s shoulder quite aggrievedly when the big one drove the little one away.

“Hungry again?” Alton deliberately teased. “He picked a small leaf from the potted plant on the desk and held it up to tickle Luo Ran’s nose and ears.

“Ao-wu!”

However, little Luo Ran lifted his head to vigorously bite the leaf, as if extremely hungry.

Alton frowned slightly. The child had looked puzzled at the eggs, but treated the leaf as if it was food. Could it be possible……that this kid used to eat vegetation in the cave?

“Poor little thing, I’ll make you more eggs.” Alton carried little Luo Ran to the kitchen.

. . . . . . .

Luo Ran remembered.

He was once carried by Alton, Lucas’s uncle and true family, his father, who was once the hero embraced by the Empire.

It was Alton who sent him back to the Capital orphanage, arranged a doctor and a counselor for him, and in order to protect him from outsiders and star pirates, concealed his identity as a descendant of Pure City.

And after he went back for rehabilitation, his body that had been empty of food for half a year was properly treated, and finally broke down. He became seriously ill with a fever, and was muddleheaded for half a year, even losing his memory after he recovered.

Luo Ran slowly opened his eyes.

“You’re awake.” Xia Zhi was sitting to the side, reading a book. Upon seeing that Luo Ran had woken up, he poured him water.

Luo Ran stared blankly at Xia Zhi.

“You’ve been transported back from the mountain.” Xia Zhi rubbed Luo Ran’s hair and and said. “You were injured again. You really are……”

“I didn’t expect this either.” Luo Ran smiled and said in a hoarse voice, “It happened so suddenly.”

Luo Ran supported himself on the bed and sat up to take the water, his head still buzzing. He drank the water, then pressed his temples and kneaded them gently. 

Xia Zhi sighed and said: “You originally had a bad spiritual injury. The combination of UNK and the mecha wasn’t good before, and now you’ve been injured again. I’ve already injected you with a lot of sedatives and painkillers, and it will be bad for your health if you have more. You can only wait for the Admiral to come back or take care of it yourself.”

“It’s all right.” Luo Ran adjusted his breathing and said: “The pain isn’t unbearable, just a little uncomfortable.”

Like someone holding a needle and poking it into him every now and then.

“En, if you really can’t stand it, let me know.” Xia Zhi gently rubbed Luo Ran’s shoulder. “I was really afraid for you. Next time you have something to do, don’t go out, just let the people below you do it. You are a target of the star pirates.”

Luo Ran nodded: “I’ll be careful next time.”

It was truly difficult for him to run around outside anymore. Even if the team he led was powerful and elite, accidents could still happen.

It wasn’t that Luo Ran was afraid of accidents. He just didn’t want to put himself in danger, lest Lucas worry about him while on the battlefield.

“What happened?” Luo Ran asked. “Why was I spiritually attacked out of nowhere?”

“Ah…..”

In order to facilitate the treatment, Xia Zhi had also learned about the situation from Lu Cheng and the research institute, and explained to Lu Ran about the giant insect that had been detected.

“But we can’t determine the insect’s true appearance, and there is only an infrared picture.”

“Can I take a look?” Luo Ran frowned slightly. Could it be……

Xia Zhi showed Luo Ran the picture on his terminal, and Luo Ran immediately had a subtle feeling.

Upon seeing its square head, Luo Ran recognized it. It was indeed the insect he had met in the cave as a child, but it hadn’t been this big back then.

“Maybe…..it didn’t come to attack me.” Luo Ran frowned slightly.

He had lived in the cave for half a year without the insect attacking him. On the contrary, perhaps it was due to the insect’s energy that he was able to survive.

“It’s hard to say. We don’t know what it is. But you’ve been unconscious for a day and a half, and the research institute has already made a preliminary judgment.” Xia Zhi took an apple and peeled it for Luo Ran, telling him about the research institute’s discovery that day.

“First of all, we know that ice mines are produced due to the energy of geological processes. There are countless movements, changes, and creatures underground. The environment is not suitable for us when the ground reaches a certain level, and drones will also be shot down by unknown creatures, so this has always been an unknown field.”

After the creation of the universe, people had discovered countless unknown areas, but each group kept to themselves. 

Xia Zhi continued: “Experts calculated the energy and strength of the insect. They have inferred that it came from that unknown underground area, and the lines on its back are likely underground magma.”

Luo Ran said with a frown: “Then why did it come up…..?”

“It should be because it came from the ground in East Luobing. Not only is the largest primary ice mine located there, but also countless other large and small mines. The excavation projects there are so frequent and deep that they even changed the geology, and the east is also connected to the ocean and seabeds. Perhaps the insect came up when it felt the fluctuations in the ground……”

“I understand.”

“The research institute has also speculated and determined the species.” Xia Zhi showed Luo Ran the photos on the database. “The code for this kind of insect is EX1. They are originally small in size, but will absorb the energy of the land and the movement of the planet’s crust to make a hard shell to protect themselves. Radiant energy is released during the construction process, just like humans breathe oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Now there is UNK in the present world, so we can make the connection and deduce that the unknown energy source is likely what allows the ice mines to evolve into UNK. After all, wherever UNK appears, the insect’s energy traces are also there.”

Luo Ran’s chaotic brain struggled to absorb this.

“You mean that the insect that suddenly appeared came up from the ground due to excessive excavation, and because of the construction process of its hard shell, it released energy that caused the stone to evolve into UNK?”

“Yes, but nobody has actually seen the insect thus far, so it is uncertain if it is EX1. And even if it is, nobody has really encountered it, so the descriptions in databases and textbooks might not be accurate. Everything is just guesswork.”

Luo Ran lowered his eyes, thinking silently.

He thought this information should be correct, and if it was correct, then by inference, he should have met the insect in the cave before, absorbed the energy it released, and evolved with the other stones so that he didn’t die.

And when he was an adult, he evolved into a 3S Omega.

But human beings were not stones. All those Omegas, including him, had side effects after being exposed to UNK.

Then why did he absorb the energy for half a year and turn out fine?

Luo Ran took the apple Xia Zhi handed to him and absently took a bite.

Why were there no side effects? What made him different from the others? It couldn’t be because he was from Pure City. In the end, Pure City only had a little higher spiritual power, so his outbursts were not as serious as others.

“Xiaxia.”

“En?”

“Since the government and the research institute know about the insect, what are they going to do?”

As soon as he mentioned this, Xia Zhi got a headache: “Aiya, don’t talk about it, history is repeating itself. The First Prince and the Second Prince just had that fight over the use of UNK, and now this insect has started it up again.”

The First Prince advocated capturing it and making the insect create new UNK and energy for them, while the Second Prince’s side hoped that the military could find and kill the insect in order to avoid trouble in the future.

When Luo Ran finished eating the apple, Xia Zhi thoughtfully handed him a tissue. 

Luo Ran asked while wiping his hands: “Then what do you think?”

“Me…..? I don’t know……” Xia Zhi scratched his head and said: “I just think that all things grow together and balance each other, and since UNK is a product of nature, there must be something balancing it. Otherwise, that big insect wouldn’t be able to survive by itself, would it? The animals and plants near UNK wouldn’t be able to survive, right? It’s just that none of us know what that thing is.”

If it could be found, there would be no need to bother with the insect, and UNK could be refined and used while eliminating the aftereffects.

“Never mind, let’s not talk about it. Don’t worry about the outside world, first take care of your body and your spiritual state.” Xia Zhi got up and said: “I’ll turn out the light. You have a good rest first.”

“Wait.” Luo Ran stopped Xia Zhi and said with a bit of embarrassment. “That…..”

“Huh?”

“Tomorrow, I want to be discharged from the hospital so that I can go back to the office to recuperate.”

“Are you crazy?!” Xia Zhi stared. “You still want to go to work?! What, the Empire will perish without you tomorrow, is that it!? Your body still needs……”

“Xiaxia……!” Luo Ran interrupted Xia Zhi’s wild commentary and said with some shame, “I’m not going to work when I go back.”

“Then what the hell are you going to do when you go back, ah!”

Xia Zhi, a gentle physician, was forced into swearing by Luo Ran.

Luo Ran had no choice but to tell the truth: “The Admiral’s room is at the office……”

Xia Zhi was taken aback.

He scratched his chin. “Fine.”

. . . . . . . .

The next day, Luo Ran finished his final checkup and returned to the office with his medications.

Back in the familiar office, Luo Ran glanced at the jacket hanging on the office chair.

Although its owner had been away for a long time, it was worn often, after all, and still carried a trace of pheromones.

Luo Ran lay down on Lucas’s bed with the jacket in his arms.

It truly felt a lot more comfortable.

Luo Ran wrapped himself in the jacket, burrowed into the bed that Lucas had used for several years, and a residual tobacco scent stirred up.

Looking at the dense wisteria flowers in the window, Luo Ran’s thoughts began to go wild.

His mind lingered at the moment Lucas found him at the mouth of the cave.

He couldn’t remember it clearly after so many years, and there was only a vague outline and an impression of someone good-looking.

That was the first person he saw after losing contact with the outside world.

Did Lucas still remember?

Luo Ran suddenly remembered what the First Prince had inadvertently said at a banquet before. At that time, he had applied for the position of Lucas’s secretary. There were people from the Royal Academy competing with him, but he was hired in the end.

Could it be…..

As Luo Ran contemplated, he felt more and more uncomfortable as his thoughts moved. He swallowed a mouthful of medicine and fell asleep in a daze.

. . . . . . . .

Comfortable.

Luo Ran slept from the afternoon to the middle of the night, and woke up feeling comfortable.

The scent of tobacco was very strong. He felt that he was being gently embraced, warm and comfortable, and the pain in his head was reduced by a lot.

Luo Ran opened his eyes and saw Lucas’s hale and hearty features.

“Wu……” 

Luo Ran stretched out his hand to Lucas in a daze.

Lucas held it.

Luo Ran blinked.

Was he dreaming……?

Luo Ran grinned and grasped Lucas’s face, saying arrogantly: “Hold on tighter.”

“Okay.” Lucas nodded, and indeed held him tighter.

Luo Ran fell asleep again in Lucas’s arms.

Lucas gazed fixedly at Luo Ran, and said in a whisper: “Silly Ranran.”

After the battle finally came to an end, he had tried his utmost to rush back as soon as possible.

Then as soon as he returned, he saw Luo Ran wrapped up in his jacket, curled up in his bed and sleeping senselessly. 

This was something that Lucas had never seen before, as it was impossible for Luo Ran to act so dependent in front of him.

Lucas hugged him.

Then, Luo Ran woke up and reached out to him like he had done in the cave many years ago.

“Good night.” Lucas held the man and released his pheromones gently.

---

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Chapter Seventy-Six << Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Eight

The originally small living room was packed with people.

Shu Wan was still thinking about dinner, and ran back to the kitchen without a word, leaving room for the young people to talk.

Pei Yi glanced at Li Yuan, whose foot was injured somehow, and then secretly at Yan Cen, completely seized by curiosity.

“Pear Garden, why don’t you come sit in my bedroom for a while.”

As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of Bo Yueming, Qin Yishun, and the others all turned away.

As a first-time guest, Li Yuan was restrained. “Huh?”

“I want to ask you something about work.”

Pei Yi gave a suitable reason and gently supported his friend. “Let’s go to my room for a moment.”

Pei Yuan looked at the two of them, and her belated ‘sister instincts’ broke out. “You two go in, just remember to come out for dinner later.”

Pei Yi responded with a light smile, “Sister, you’re busy, I’ll come out and help later.”

As he spoke, he gave Bo Yueming a veiled look.

Behave well, don’t be nervous—

Bo Yueming understood the hint in his lover’s eyes, and nodded imperceptibly.

The bedroom door shut again.

Isolating the four figures in the living room and also blocking Li Yuan’s inner anxiety and awkwardness.

Li Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, and the coldness at the corners of his eyes eased a little.

Pei Yi had his friend sit on a wooden chair, and sat on the bed facing him. “Weren’t you uncomfortable? It’s just the two of us here now, is it better?”

“It’s fine. I’m a little slow to warm up to the outside world.”

In the past, when he was the young master of a wealthy family, he could use cold arrogance to hide his reticent character. Later, he had to go all out for work.

Pei Yi understood. He picked up the thermos on the bedside table and poured a sweet pear soup from it. “Come on, have a taste?”

“My mom made it early in the morning and hid it here. I’ll secretly share half with you.”

Li Yuan took the warm sugar water, and the faintly rising heat carried a sweet scent that he liked very much. “Auntie seems very kind.” 

Although the two were cousins by blood, Shu Wan should be called “Aunt” according to seniority.^[1]

But he didn’t want anything to do with the Pei family, and always felt more at ease addressing her as Auntie.

Pei Yi pretty much understood what his friend was thinking. He didn’t care about the rules of these titles and just acknowledged, “En, she’s a very tough but gentle person. You’ll know after you meet her a few more times.”

He didn’t want to repeatedly emphasize the fact that “Shu Wan and Qin Yishun were good people” with his friend. He knew—

People with soft hearts could recognize each other through contact, not through verbal explanations.

Li Yuan took a sip of sweet pear soup and felt a lot more at ease. “Pei Yi, what work did you want to talk to me about?”

Pei Yi’s eyes flickered to his left foot. “Tell me first, how did you hurt your foot? Is it serious?”

“……”

Li Yuan was silent for a second or two, then admitted truthfully, “Didn’t I go to GM for the project summary meeting today?”

Pei Yi nodded. “En, then what?”

Li Yuan hid a little bit of the truth, and only said, “In the end, I couldn’t hold back my craving for cigarettes, so I hid in an access corridor and secretly took two smokes. I don’t know how Mr. Yan found me in the end…..”

He had initially wanted to be alone and hide away his worries, so Li Yuan smoked while pacing up and down the stairs.

He had only smoked half a cigarette when he heard the swish of the access door opening—

The moment he turned his head and saw Yan Cen’s figure, Li Yuan inexplicably panicked. His foot slipped, he stepped on air, and he fell down. 

Thinking of his unfortunate and embarrassing behavior not long ago, Li Yuan wished he could find a hole in the ground and crawl into it!

“It hurts a little bit, but the injury isn’t serious. It’ll probably be healed in ten to fifteen days. The doctor said to avoid running and intensive movement for a month.”

“It takes a hundred days for a bone to knit and tendons to heal. You need to be more careful.”

Pei Yi remembered that common saying. He said, “It’s just a few days off, so you should just stay at home and avoid going out. If Brother Xiang and the studio have any problems, I’ll go over, don’t worry about it.”

The two had always worked together with a division of labor, but they could also bolster each other when things went wrong.

Li Yuan broke out in his first smile of the day. “En.”

Pei Yi seized the opportunity to ask, “Then tell me, what’s going on with you and Yan Cen?”

Li Yuan looked away from his friend’s gossipy line of sight. “What do you mean what’s going on?”

“It was Yan Cen who took you to the hospital, then took you downstairs, and even carried you to the fourth floor, right?”

Pei Yi had seen through everything a long time ago, and clicked his tongue in wonder. “The dignified Executive Director of GM, why is he willing to spend this time and effort on you?”

Li Yuan suppressed his embarrassment. “I’m still a legal shareholder of YWY, and a partner in his investment project.”

Pei Yi raised his eyebrows. “Stop using this routine on me again.”

He still remembered “Yan Cen’s” description in the original text—

Although he was refined in appearance and gentle toward others, his gentleness was measured and he would not easily cross the line.

Lay aside those things before. If he was just an ordinary friend and partner, Yan Cen could easily arrange an assistant to help, and there was no need to do everything himself.

Li Yuan was blocked, and couldn’t speak. His heart was still a mess.

Pei Yi noticed his furrowed brow and asked uncertainly, “Pear Garden, what are you worried about? If Yan Cen has other thoughts about you, isn’t that good? You……”

In the middle of speaking, Pei Yi stopped and said, “I’m sorry, I’m being too nosy.”

Li Yuan looked at his good friend and shook his head. “It’s okay, I knew you had noticed it a long time ago, and you kept silent to give me face.”

“I just wasn’t sure what Yan Cen’s attitude was toward you, so I didn’t want to say anything.” Pei Yi simply asked, “Pear Garden, why don’t you dare to let him try?”

“Try what? Should I say that I had a crush on him, a senior, since university?” Li Yuan gave a complicated laugh, expressing his thoughts—

“Pei Yi, I don’t want to use these kinds of feelings to snatch him.”

If Yan Cen desired him or had a crush, then fine, that was all his business.

Li Yuan felt that he himself should not, and was also not qualified to speak out about these years of feelings, to forcibly place them in front of the other party and demand that he give him the response he wanted.

Pei Yi remained silent.

He knew that everyone had their own way of dealing with feelings.

Li Yuan calmed himself down. “In the past six months, we’ve had occasional contact at work. He’s taken good care of me, but I can’t let it go wrong.”

Li Yuan believed that he and Yan Cen were not close enough to discuss personal feelings, and what he didn’t tell Pei Yi was that—

Yan Cen was the only child in the family.

Even though same-sex marriage was commonplace now, he was born in a decent wealthy family and in the future, he should find a girl from a reputable family to marry.

If the two really dated, his gender and family background would not be recognized by the other’s family.

“…….”

Li Yuan thought about it for a moment, and when his focus returned, he laughed bitterly—

It was really getting more and more outrageous!

How could he imagine what would happen next?

It had been a long time since Pei Yi had seen his friend look so lonely. “Pear Garden?”

“It’s nothing.”

Li Yuan clenched his cup tightly, and drank two more sips of sweet pear soup in order to suppress the bitterness that had not filled his heart for a long time.

Pei Yi thought for a moment, then said, “Yuan, I should have told you more than once—”

“What?”

“You are excellent.” Pei Yi straightforwardly gave him credit. “You deserve all the good things!”

“I understand, you have been around excellent people since you were young, so you will inevitably feel a gap after encountering setbacks.”

Just like Li Yuan, whose family went bankrupt, Pei Huan after he learned the truth, and Bo Guancheng who was now in custody.

“But you must know that the standards of this world should never be measured by family background.”

“Most people are born in ordinary families, and some are abandoned as orphans at birth.”

Pei Yi was aware that he had experienced hard times, and also enjoyed a short life of a rich young master, and then eventually became an ordinary person. 

So what?

He relied on his own efforts to get what he wanted step by step!

If Pei Yi could do it, then so could Li Yuan.

Perhaps in matters of love, Pei Yi, who was in the exploratory period, could not give his friend much help or advice. But in other respects, he didn’t want Li Yuan to lack the most basic self-confidence.

Hearing Pei Yi’s remarks, a glimmer of light flickered in Li Yuan’s eyes. “Pei Yi.”

“En?”

Li Yuan said truthfully, “Sometimes when I look at you, I feel like you shouldn’t talk like this at your age, and that your mental age is much more mature than mine.”

Pei Yi didn’t deny this.

The more things a person experienced, the more they would understand.

“Don’t worry, I know what you mean. Right now, I just want to do well in my career.”

Li Yuan confessed his thoughts, “I abandoned my family background as my solid ground, so now I have to be my own backer.”

“Maybe one day, with my career as my most solid trump card, I can also face the love that I want.”

Pei Yi detected the sincerity and motivation in his friend’s words, and responded with a smile, “Isn’t it just business, ah? I’ll accompany you.”

Li Yuan raised the sweet pear soup in his hands. “Then cheers.”

Pei Yi picked up the remaining half bowl. “Cheers!”

. . . . . . .

On the sofa in the living room, Bo Yueming and Yan Cen glanced at the bedroom door from time to time.

Qin Yishun, on the other hand, quietly observed them. Especially Yan Cen, who had suddenly entered the door with “impudence.”

Pei Yuan came out of the kitchen with some uncooked ingredients, and was surprised after seeing the situation. “Brother, what are you guys doing in here? Are you not going to talk?”

Qin Yishun had no such feelings. “En, we’re not familiar.”

“……”

“……”

Bo Yueming and Yan Cen exchanged glances, feeling as if they had been blacklisted.

Qin Yishun looked at the bag of food in Pei Yuan’s hand. “Do you need help?”

“En.”

Pei Yuan knew Qin Yishun’s cold on the outside but warm on the inside personality, and wasn’t afraid of him at all. “There is one bag of small potatoes and one bag of beans. The potatoes need to be peeled, and the beans should be cut into small pieces.”

“I wasted a little time just now, so I need to hurry up.”

Pei Yuan couldn’t trouble Bo Yueming and Yan Cen, who were considered “guests,” so she could only command her cousin. “Brother, will you help me?”

Qin Yishun nodded and took the bag, saying, “Go back to the kitchen and help Auntie. We’ll handle these few things.”

“Ah?”

Pei Yuan glanced at Bo Yueming and Yan Cen uncertainly. These two looked like pampered wealthy young masters who never got their hands dirty. Could they do such a thing?

“Ah, what?” Qin Yishun was nonchalant, looking at Bo Yueming and Yan Cen next to him with a hint of scrutiny. “Is there a problem?”

Bo Yueming remembered the expression in Pei Yi’s eyes before he entered the room. “There’s no problem.”

Yan Cen reached up to push up his lenses, covering up the gleam in his eyes. “I came here brazenly to eat, so of course I’ll help with this small thing.”

Qin Yishun scoffed unobtrusively. “Okay, you two take care of this bag.”

As he spoke, he handed the bag of dirty potatoes to Bo Yueming and Yan Cen.

“……”

“……”

Seeing this, the two who had been straightforward just now simultaneously fell into an awkward silence.

Pei Yuan suppressed a smile. “Wait a moment, I’ll teach you.”

Soon after, she went back to the kitchen and fetched a basin of clear water and two small steel spoons, then taught them how to do it by hand. “This kind of small potato is easy to peel. When it gets wet, you can scrape it off with the edge of the spoon.”

Bo Yueming and Yan Cen watched carefully, and got started at once.

The more Pei Yuan watched, the more she felt like the two of them were pretty good. She glanced at the closed door and couldn’t help but quietly ask, “You’ve been around Xiao Yi and Xiao Li a lot. What do you think of them?”

When thinking of his lover, Bo Yueming had no shortage of compliments. “In fact, Pei Yi is excellent and very smart. He’s also very cute when he occasionally gets a temper.”

Yan Cen answered unconsciously, “Mr. Li as well.”

As soon as his voice fell, everyone heard a crisp crack.

Qin Yishun, who was sitting on the sofa, forcibly broke in half the long beans in his hand.

He pretended to be calm and threw the beans into the basket. “Xiao Yuan, you go to the kitchen, we can handle things here.”

Pei Yuan stopped chatting. “I’ll trouble you, then. Quickly, please!”

Bo Yueming and Yan Cen exchanged glances, and continued to peel potato skins.

The door to the room, which had been closed for a long time, finally opened less than a minute later.

Pei Yi helped Li Yuan out with his injured foot, and had just stepped out when he saw the “fantastical” situation in the living room—

Bo Yueming and Yan Cen, who could easily boast of investment projects worth tens or hundreds of millions, were now peeling potatoes.

Qin Yishun, who was used to holding weapons in actual combat, was now cracking beans.

These people who were nearly the same height nestled on the sofa, heads lowered as they focused on the work at hand. It seemed they were doing their utmost to see who could perform better.

Pei Yi couldn’t hold back, and snickered. “What are you doing?”

Bo Yueming looked at his lover. “You’re finished talking?”

Yan Cen’s attention was still on Li Yuan. “Mr. Li, your foot is hurt, come sit here. Don’t stand up for so long.”

Qin Yishun got up with the beans he had already cracked, smoothly protecting his cabbage. “Xiao Yi, you help Xiao Li and sit here.”

Pei Yi didn’t care about who sat where at this time. He turned his head and called toward the kitchen, “Mom, Sister, do you need anything? I can help too.”

“Don’t you two little brothers worry about it. Just sit and chat, rest, and wait for the meal.”

Qin Yishun carried his double-standard brother-protection to the end, and his eyes swung toward Bo Yueming and Yan Cen again. “Hurry up!”

These two were clearly impractical people who didn’t know how to cook.

If it took them so much time to peel potatoes, how could they take good care of others in the future?

Bo Yueming and Yan Cen didn’t speak. They both increased the speed of their hands—

Brother-in-law, future brother-in-law was not easy to mess with!

Seeing their uniform movements, Pei Yi and Li Yuan looked at each other, struggling to hold in their laughter.

Although they smiled, the two still went to help.

Everyone rushed to make a table of hot dishes before seven o’clock, and sat around the makeshift meal.

Shu Wan’s heart moved as she looked at the young people around the table.

After more than twenty years, she finally realized the meaning of liveliness again. “Everyone eat more, don’t hold back.”

Pei Yi was particularly supportive. “Mom, don’t worry, we’ll definitely eat up tonight. Right?”

Qin Yishun and Bo Yueming nodded one after another, as well as Li Yuan and Yan Cen, who were relative strangers.

Pei Yi took the initiative to stir up the atmosphere as an intermediary, asking and answering questions, and everyone also joined in to talk.

After the meal, the subtle sense of unfamiliarity had disappeared.

Shu Wan went back to her room before dinner was over, and when she came out again, there was a stack of heavy red envelopes in her hand.

She distributed them to the children one by one. “Xiao Yuan, Xiao Yi, Yishun, and Xiao Li, here are your New Year red envelopes.”

Pei Yuan was appropriately the most unrestrained. “Thank you, Mom!”

Even when it was only the mother and daughter, Shu Wan would always give her a red envelope for the New Year. This year’s red envelope had come early, but she still accepted it and gave thanks.

Pei Yi felt the thickness of the red envelope and was about to say something, when Shu Wan urged, “Take it!”

Shu Wan’s dream was for her youngest son to be healthy and by her side. This red envelope had been prepared every year, and was finally handed over this year.

Pei Yi changed his words. “Thank you, Mom. I’ll take it.”

Shu Wan smiled, and handed a red envelope to Qin Yishun and Li Yuan respectively.

“You two children can’t refuse. Just treat it as a gift from me and your uncle, this red envelope is for a peaceful new year.”

“I…..” Li Yuan hesitated.

Qin Yishun thought for a moment, then took the red envelope on Li Yuan’s behalf and stuffed it into the other party’s hands. “Why haven’t you said thank you yet?”

Li Yuan’s fingers tightened slightly on the red envelope, and he said sincerely, “Thank you….Auntie.”

Pei Yi saw his good friend slowly accepting his family, and smiled. “Mom, there are still people at this table who are jealous.”

Shu Wan heard him joke and said, “Silly child, don’t you see that I still have red envelopes in my hand?”

Having said this, she handed the remaining two red envelopes to Bo Yueming and Yan Cen. “Come, take them.”

This was the first time Bo Yueming had received a New Year’s red envelope. He looked over uncertainly at his lover, and accepted it after seeing him nod silently.

Yan Cen was surprised to also get one. “Auntie, are you sure it’s for me?”

“Giving out red envelopes during the New Year is for the liveliness!”

Shu Wan was in a good mood today, and stuffed it directly into his hands. “It’s not much money. You children who grew up in wealthy families, don’t hold it against me.”

Yan Cen maintained his gentle courtesy. “Of course we won’t hold it against you. Your kindness is the most important thing. This is the first time we’ve received such official New Year’s red envelopes.”

Bo Yueming nodded at his friend’s words.

The family backgrounds of the two were considered to be top-notch in the Imperial capital, but they seldom followed such traditional customs on the holidays. At most, there would be an extra sum of money in their bank card from time to time.

Cold as ice, not with the human warmth at this moment.

Pei Yi and the others took their red envelopes and conscientiously helped Shu Wan clean up the dining table.

It wasn’t until the clock on the wall moved to nearly ten o’clock that they thought of leaving.

Pei Yi considered the number of steps on these four floors, and recalled his friend’s foot. “Pear Garden, have someone carry you down. Don’t step on your foot and get hurt again.”

Yan Cen nodded. “I……”

Qin Yishun’s radar activated, and he answered the call first. “I’ll do it.”

He quickly walked up to Li Yuan and bent down slightly. “Xiao An, get on.”

Li Yuan declined. “I can do it myself, I won’t trouble you.”

“Where’s the trouble when a big brother carries his little brother?” Qin Yishun looked at Pei Yi. “When Xiao Yi was injured, I carried him on my back.”

Pei Yi received his older brother’s look and hastily nodded. “Pear Garden, get on quickly! Or do you want someone else to carry you?”

Li Yuan heard the second half of the sentence and said, “I don’t!”

After speaking, he climbed onto Qin Yishun’s back.

Yan Cen raised his hand slightly to support him, as if he was afraid that he would lose his balance and fall.

Pei Yi saw through him, but didn’t say anything. He took the initiative to hold Bo Yueming’s hand. “Mom, we’re leaving. I’ll see you again in two days.”

“Ai, be careful on the road!”

Shu Wan deliberately didn’t ask her son to stay overnight. Her heart was very content.

Pei Yi gathered up his coat, the curiosity of a younger brother hidden deep in his bones. “Mom, I’m going downstairs to see them off, I’ll be back later!”

. . . . . . .

The group of people went to the bottom of the residential building.

Pei Yi and Bo Yueming were going back to Bo Manor. Qin Yishun knew that he had no reason to stop him, so he could only ask another nominal little brother.

“Xiao An, how did you get here?”

Yan Cen answered instead. “He came in my car.”

Li Yuan nodded, adding, “I hurt my foot this afternoon, so Mr. Yan helped drive me.”

Pei Yi’s eyes flickered slightly, and he created an opportunity. “Everyone is coming and going. Brother, where you live is the opposite direction from us. Don’t send people back, go home and rest early.”

“…….”

Qin Yishun was easily blocked by his little brother’s words.

Everyone bid farewell to each other and got into their vehicles.

Pei Yuan had followed them downstairs, and saw this scene just as she wished. She smiled with joy on her face. “Brother, you said they’re a pair, and they look like a good match. Don’t you think so?”

Qin Yishun frowned slightly when he heard his cousin’s words—

Match?

This pair looked very annoying!

. . . . . . .

Time moved unknowingly to eleven o’clock.

Bo Yueming had just come out of the bathroom wrapped in a bathrobe when Pei Yi, who was lurking outside the door, hung onto his body with his arms and legs.

“Er-ge!”

Bo Yueming quickly embraced him. “What are you waiting here for? Isn’t it cold?”

“The heater is on, how can it be cold?”

Pei Yi kissed the remaining drops of water on his lover’s Adam’s apple, and hooked him in. “Er-ge, I have something for you. Touch my pajama pocket.”

Bo Yueming’s breathing went tight, and he easily carried Pei Yi with one arm, leaving the other hand free to touch. “What is it?”

As soon as he finished speaking, he took out a red envelope from his lover’s pajama pocket.

Bo Yueming stared slightly, with a trace of surprise. “You prepared this for me?”

“En!”

Pei Yi explained, “I prepared it a long time ago. I wanted to wait for New Year’s to give it to you, but I didn’t expect that my mom would make one tonight. But it doesn’t matter—’

“It’s for you, and must be given to you sooner or later.”

Pei Yi looked into Bo Yueming’s eyes, and wished softly and earnestly, “I wish my Er-ge a happy and healthy New Year.”

Bo Yueming smiled softly and kissed his lover’s lips. “Thank you, kitten.”

After saying so, he carried Pei Yi and walked to the wine wall, gesturing to it.

“Open the second cabinet.”

“Ah?”

Pei Yi suddenly realized something, and opened it—

In the second cabinet were countless bottle openers, and also a thick red envelope lying there alone.

The upward arc of Pei Yi’s mouth widened slightly. “Er-ge, you prepared one too?”

Bo Yueming also didn’t deny it. “I initially wanted to wait for you to find it yourself when drinking on New Year’s Eve, but I didn’t expect you to give me a red envelope earlier. If I didn’t reciprocate the gift now, I would lose.”

Pei Yi burst out laughing and deliberately weighed the red envelope. “You didn’t lose, it’s quite a lot. What about the blessings?”

Bo Yueming set him on the bar and sincerely wished, “I also wish my little husband a happy and healthy New Year, with no fear, worry, or loneliness.”

Pei Yi’s heart beat intensely, and he leaned forward for a kiss. “With you here, I’m not afraid, worried, or lonely.”

Bo Yueming did as he wished, and kissed him gently. “It’s a holiday, you’re not going to work?”

Pei Yi heard the deep meaning in his words, and said boastfully, “En, if you have the ability, I can stay in bed for ten days!”

“…….”

Bo Yueming’s words overflowed with subtlety. “Is that so? Then Little Sir will have to hold on.”

---

[1] The formal address would be 婶婶, or ‘the wife of the father’s brother,’ but Li Yuan uses 阿姨, which is more informal and affectionate. ⮐

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Chapter Seventy-Six <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Eight

Seeing Liu Xian’an acquiesce, Qiu Cheng was overjoyed. Uncaring of the fact that he was still unable to move, he dragged his injured leg and was about to get out of bed, but grimaced from the pain and almost fell to the ground. He slapped himself angrily and stammered, “This…..Young Master, I can’t move, ah.”

“If you can’t move, then don’t go yet.” Liu Xian’an moved a chair over and sat down. “I heard that you plan to find the saint alone?”

“Yes, that liar Wang Quan took my money but refused to take me with him, so I planned to follow him secretly,” Qiu Cheng said. “He’s just an old rascal. He has a wife at home and a concubine outside, and wants to marry the Holy Maiden. Maybe the date set has been postponed again because the Holy Maiden thinks he’s dirty. Bah!”

“Yes.” Liu Xian’an nodded. “Then you tell me everything about Wang Quan, about joining the religion, and your plans and arrangements for the future. Tell me all about it, and just let me listen. After listening, I will judge whether you are qualified to see the saint this time.”

There were still many people standing outside in the courtyard at this time, listening to their conversation. Once people who had been brainwashed by the cult embarked on that wild goose chase, it was very difficult to get out again. Qiu Cheng believed that this fairy-like young master had the same status as the Baifu saint, and was filled with the spirit of “sacrifice and dedication.” Without any doubts, he immediately began to speak without asking the other party anything.

Qiu Cheng was just the lowest level of believer, and that old rascal Wang Chuan was his “guide.” As for Wang Chuan’s guide, Qiu Cheng didn’t know his name, but only knew that he was a merchant from Raven City who ran a jade business, had high status, and had seen the saint with his own eyes.

There was a wide road connecting Raven City and Cuili City, and the latter was the city with the most jade mines in the Southwest. Nearly every household in Raven City had something to do with the jade business. After Qiu Cheng racked his brain and finished speaking, he asked anxiously: “I can’t walk now, will the Holy Maiden be angry?”

“I don’t know.” Liu Xian’an shook his head. “I’m unfamiliar with her.”

Qiu Cheng’s eyes widened: “Unfamiliar?”

Liu Xian’an stood up and said: “The Baifu Sect has done much evil. There is no cure for it, but you should still be saved and rest at ease to recuperate.”

The Baifu Sect has done much evil. Qiu Cheng had been hearing such words over and over again recently. Father always said it, and Mother always said it. His ears had already grown callouses, but he refused to believe even half a word and remained dismissive, thinking that the reason others thought so was that they probably didn’t have spiritual roots. But now, the same words being said by this immortal jade-like man in front of him seemed to have some credibility. In any case, Qiu Cheng had never seen such a fairy-like appearance in the past twenty years, so he judged that the other party must not be mortal.

“Who is this young master?”

“A doctor.”

Qiu Cheng patted the edge of the bed: “Immortal Doctor!”

Anyway, no matter what, he had to be somewhat related to an immortal.

Liu Xian’an made no further rebuttals. He had already asked what needed to be asked, so he could be an immortal as long as this person didn’t run away from home to seek death again. And when he turned to leave, Qiu Cheng’s gaze was still very eager, and he felt that he had become a person chosen by two factions at the same time. No matter which was the real one…..in any case, he would be part of one faction, right? Shouldn’t he have no worries about not being rich in the future?

Everyone left the small courtyard, and Ku You said: “This Qiu Cheng is a hothead with no brains. He’s not a bad person, but has the stubborn personality of a bull. I brought him back from the mountains a while ago. Lao Qiu beat and scolded him, and asked him about the cult, but he stiffened his neck and didn’t say a word. I didn’t expect that when he saw Second Young Master Liu, he would come clean like spilling beans out of a bamboo tube.”

“He thought I was the companion of the Baifu Holy Maiden,” Liu Xian’an said. “About eighty percent of the merchants in Raven City are in the jade business. Will Commander Ku be able to send someone to find him?”

“The Wang Quan he was talking about is a ruffian from the next village, so it won’t be difficult to find him.” Ku You said, “I’ll send people to do this right now.”

. . . . . . 

Wumeng Yunle liked her swing very much, and spent most of her day sitting on it.

After Liu Hengchang finished his consultation with Feng Xiaojin, he went out to meet her and saluted with a bow: “Yunle-guniang.”

He had originally called her “Holy Maiden” like the rest of the congregation, but Feng Xiaojin didn’t like this title very much, and Wumeng Yunle always listened to this uncle, so Liu Hengchang was allowed to call her by her own name when they were in private.

“Help me take a look.” Wumeng Yunle stretched out her hand. “How am I doing recently?”

Liu Hengchang set down the tray in his hands and stepped forward to check her pulse, saying after a moment: “Miss should go into the Gu room less in the future. Otherwise, no much how much medicine you take, it will be difficult to recover fully.”

“But the other doctors said I was fine, and so did my brother.”

“Everyone has their own way of making a diagnosis.” Liu Hengchang insisted, “Perhaps the Southwest witch doctors think it is nothing, but in the eyes of a Central Plains doctor, poison is poison.”

Wumeng Yunle leaned on the swing, looked down at her blue nails for a moment, and suddenly raised her head to ask: “I heard that you were once a disciple of Baihe Mountain Village?”

Liu Hengchang nodded: “Yes.”

“Then you should have seen that Third Young Lady Liu.” Wumeng Yunle asked, “How beautiful is she?”

Liu Hengchang said: “I worked in the pharmacy for a while, so I saw the Third Young Lady every day, but in Baihe Mountain Village, no one actually paid too much attention to how beautiful she was. When the Third Young Lady was at home, she didn’t dress up much, because she was busy treating illnesses and saving lives. So like us, she often wore coarse clothing that was convenient for working, and her hair was tied up with a wooden hairpin. She looked like an ordinary medical student girl.”

“A coarse dress and a wooden hairpin, and she can still be regarded as Dayan’s number one beauty. It seems she is truly beautiful.” Wumeng Yunle swung happily on the swing, wearing a dazzling array of exquisite accessories. “I want to see her.”

“The Third Young Lady spends most of her time in Baihe City, and rarely travels far,” Liu Hengchang said. “Yunle-guniang is also a beauty, why bother to travel thousands of miles to see another? It’s windy, Miss should go back to her room to rest. Don’t catch a cold, and try not to go into the Gu room again.”

Although he was Liang Shu’s undercover agent, he didn’t think that everyone here deserved to die, at least not the girl in front of him. Wumeng Yunle had been raised in the Baifu Sect since she was a child, and had never been in contact with the outside world, so she couldn’t distinguish between good and evil. Killing, blood, and the lives of others were meaningless to her. Such a cold and naive little girl may seem evil and cruel, but her existence itself was nothing but a tragedy.

Wumeng Yunle didn’t enter the house, and continued to sit on the swing. She didn’t heed Liu Hengchang’s advice, whether it was to not stay in the cold wind or to stop going to the Gu room.

. . . . . . 

The night was deep.

After bathing, Liu Xian’an soaked his feet in a wooden barrel with A-Ning. They spoke one moment and were quiet the next, each of them becoming drowsy. As they were yawning, there was a knock on the door.

A-Ning was startled: “Who is it?”

Liang Shu aske: “Are you sleeping?”

Liu Xian’an didn’t want to move, continuing to doze off comfortably. A-Ning hurried to open the door. A gust of cold wind blew in, and the Sleeping Immortal managed to open his eyes halfway to look at the person in front of him: “Your Highness.”

Liang Shu had also finished bathing, and waited for half an hour afterward, but didn’t hear movement next door, so he simply came over to give him a reminder in person. He grabbed the slight bit of flesh on Liu Xian’an’s cheek and said with dissatisfaction: “Wasn’t it agreed that my breathing is disordered, so you will massage me well tonight?”

Liu Xian’an wanted to be lazy. He didn’t want to massage him, and just tried to be perfunctory. It’s not that bad, there’s no need to grip so tight…..aiya!

A-Ning stood by the door, completely stunned. He watched helplessly as the prince picked his young master off the bed and carried him away without even letting him dry his feet. They just dripped water, dangling in the cool night wind.

With a bang, the door of the main residence also closed.

A-Ning: Such a lack of etiquette, I need to call for help.

Liu Xian’an: “Achoo!”

Liang Shu set the man on his bed: “Where will you start the massage?”

Liu Xian’an looked around: “Why is the prince’s bed so big?”

Liang Shu replied logically: “So that it is convenient for you to come and sleep.”

Liu Xian’an thought that was fine, because this bed seemed softer and more comfortable than his own. He crawled to the head of the bed and sat down, indicating that Liang Shu should lay down on his stomach first: “Some places may be a little painful when massaged, but will be very comfortable afterward. If you really can’t bear it, let me know.”

Liang Shu had already been poked by his fingers during the day, so he had made some mental preparations: “All right.”

Liu Xian’an rolled up his sleeves and pressed a point with his fingers: “Does it hurt?”

Liang Shu said: “No pain.”

“What about here?”

“It doesn’t hurt either.”

“Here?”

“A little sore.”

Liu Xian’an pressed another place: “How about—”

Before he could ask, Liang Shu had already gasped out: “Stop!”

Liu Xian’an paused for a moment, then looked at him sideways: “It really hurt?”

Liang Shu nodded darkly.

Liu Xian’an said: “A kidney deficiency?”

Liang Shu: “…….”

There was no reason for this, so it should be impossible. His Royal Highness Xiao Wang made a decisive decision. Then I probably felt wrong, you can press it again.

Liu Xian’an straddled him once again.

Liang Shu buried his head deeply into the pillow, feeling that he was about to be sent to see the old, white-bearded men.

“Is there pain?”

“No pain.”

Everything was pleasant, and his voice didn’t change. Mount Tai could collapse before his eyes, but his color would remain the same. During the period of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yun had poisoned blood drained from his arm until it filled a plate, and was still able to drink wine while talking and laughing freely, so there was no reason why Liang Shu shouldn’t even be able to have an acupuncture point pressed.

Liang Shu let out a slow breath. He summarized his life or death moments throughout his military career, gritted his teeth, and insisted on laying on his stomach without moving a bit. He took this ambiguous moment of skin-to-skin contact with his sweetheart and lay out with a staunch and unyielding attitude……it could grudgingly be regarded as skin to skin, ba, because there really was skin, and after Second Young Master Liu finished massaging, he did take the initiative to bow his head and kiss him.

Liang Shu exhausted all his strength: “Done massaging?”

“It’s done for today.” Liu Xian’an got out of bed and washed the massage oil off his hands. “We’ll continue tomorrow.”

Liang Shu’s ears rang on the spot, and he didn’t want to move anymore.

Liu Xian’an returned to the bed and lazily lay atop his body: “Did it really not hurt?”

Liang Shu squeezed out a noble and masculine “en.” It didn’t hurt. If I say it didn’t hurt, then it didn’t hurt.

Liu Xian’an hugged his shoulders for a while, and then suddenly laughed.

Liang Shu turned around and asked: “What are you happy about?”

“I’m not happy about something,” Liu Xian’an said. “I just think the prince is very impressive.”

He was also very obedient, and could be coaxed with nonsense to cooperate with his treatment and lie still for half an hour.

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Chapter Seventy-Three << Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Five

Hundreds of years ago, the Aldor and Gelan families followed the Zhou family onto the battlefield, establishing an empire and ushering in a new era.

It was only that the patriarch of the Gelan family was cruel and greedy by nature, and always resorted to extreme measures in war regarding strategies and captives. After the establishment of the Empire, they went the wrong way and even tried to swallow up the other two dominant families, and plundered them repeatedly, so they were exiled by the Aldors.

After being exiled from the country, the Gelan family recruited soldiers and warships, becoming bullies in the interstellar world, and constantly used their own troops to try to take back the Empire.

This was the origin of the star pirates.

Therefore, the star pirates always thought that the capital that was robbed from them should return to their hands, and had been plundering and killing on the Empire’s territory for generations. Their goal had not changed from beginning to end — to take back the Empire.

And the Aldors had been the Empire’s shield for generations.

Every Aldor patriarch had gone to the battlefield to defend the Empire, with the family either serving in the army or engaging in trade.

And even in trade, the Aldor family didn’t make any big profits, with most of the income used to subsidize their own army, weapons manufacturing, and military operations. Which of those did not require money? In this way, even if something happened to the Empire, the military department would never fall, and it would always maintain strong operations.

Lucas’s father, the Marshal, had also been on the battlefield. But when he came back, he fell ill and had a strange and indifferent demeanor.

He wasn’t a good father, but he was a good soldier.

Due to this, Luo Ran was dumbfounded after hearing the recording on the communicator.

The snowy mountain was already freezing, but now Luo Ran was so cold that he couldn’t move his fingers.

Impossible.

No matter how bad he was, how jealous and resentful, it was impossible…..

This was the eldest son of the Aldor family.

Kleiman also looked at Luo Ran cautiously: “W-what is it?”

“I’m really sorry.” Luo Ran took a deep breath and said: “Can I leave first? I need…..to be alone for a while to calm down and think.”

“Right, right!” Kleiman stood up, saying: “Secretary Luo, don’t worry about me!”

The aircraft was right next to the tent. Luo Ran strode into it and then sat down as if exhausted.

After a while, he contacted the captain of the investigation team.

“Secretary Luo?”

Luo Ran took a deep breath to quickly calm down his mind: “Captain, between me and the Admiral, who do you listen to?”

“You.”

Luo Ran was taken aback for a moment, a little surprised. He had originally prepared some lines to persuade him.

The captain added: “I obey the Admiral, but the Admiral told us to listen to you before he left.”

After his initial surprise, Luo Ran said with a smile: “Good, then I want you to help me investigate the battle where Admiral Alton died in action. I need you to keep it secret for the time being and not let the Admiral know.”

Luo Ran said: “Of course, I won’t hide it from him forever. It’s just that the Admiral is still on the battlefield, and he shouldn’t be influenced by this. You can tell him the results of the investigation when he returns.”

“Yes!”

After explaining everything, Luo Ran took a deep breath and clicked on the content of the communicator again—

“Target is heading north, coordinates y8e6……”

Boom—

At this moment, there were dull bursts of sound outside, like thunder rolling in the sky.

Lu Cheng rushed in and said: “Secretary Luo! We need to evacuate. Avalanche!”

“Okay.” Luo Ran put the communicator in his pocket and got up, going to the main control room.

Kleiman also began to pack up. Luo Ran could already see the snow rolling down not far away, as if it was going to swallow everything.

But at this moment, the alarms of all the warships and aircraft in the team sounded sharply.

“Look out!”

“It’s an enemy attack!”

Luo Ran frowned slightly, and carefully observed the battleships that suddenly appeared outside and frantically focused fire on them.

There were no signals or formations, nor regular troops or ranks.

After observing for a moment, Luo Ran judged that these people were mercenaries.

They were underground killers who could be hired for the right price.

Luo Ran recalled what Kleiman had said about assassins, and understood why the man had insisted on asking him to come here to talk.

—Kleiman was worried that he would not be able to leave.

That was why he pulled Luo Ran over, intending to make use of Lucas’s military power to save his own life.

Luo Ran lightly tapped the main control panel with his fingers, and said to Lu Cheng: “Don’t try to continue fighting, protect His Highness Kleiman and retreat together.”

“Yes!”

Lu Cheng led the troops to protect Luo Ran’s aircraft at the front. The team was well-trained, and their formation was strong, and the battleships and mechas cooperated to repel the enemies one by one.

It was just that it was taking a bit more time to get away. The avalanche was almost upon them, and the ground began to shake violently, the sound becoming louder and louder.

Lu Cheng piloted his mecha and shouted: “Rear wing team, take Secretary Luo to retreat first!”

Boom—

Boom—

The avalanche caught up with the troops. This was not the same as an enemy that could be defeated with weapons, but a force of nature. There was no way to resist. They could only run away.

At the same time, Luo Ran felt his aircraft shake violently, and there was the sound of an explosion from the rear cabin.

With a guess in mind, he strode toward the back.

Sure enough, there was a big hole.

The rear cabin was blown apart, revealing a big gap. No matter how fast Luo Ran ran to catch up, he could only watch as a figure with a parachute leaped out.

The other people in the aircraft were also missing.

Luo Ran speculated that someone had blown up the aircraft from the inside, and then took down those other people. It was inevitable that after ruling each other out, that person’s identity was discovered, and he simply pushed the others down before escaping alone.

Luo Ran’s gaze froze slightly.

To be able to do such things, one must have the trust of the others in order to make a move silently and unexpectedly. It was not an external enemy, but an internal traitor.

But this aircraft was carefully selected by Lu Cheng, full of a small number of elites who had been by his side for a long time.

However, now was not the time to struggle over the identity of the undercover agent. Half of the aircraft had been blasted apart, and it had lost its ability to fly. At this moment, under the blizzard and avalanche, it gradually drifted off course.

Luo Ran had to firmly cling to the things next to him so as not to fall. Everything in the aircraft shook and fell, creating a mess.

The autopilot function was broken. Luo Ran stabilized himself and then returned to the main control room, manipulating the controls to steady the aircraft and prevent it from falling.

Bang—

The scene outside the window was suddenly covered in snow as the avalanche chasing after it covered the falling aircraft.

Luo Ran could see the troops trying their best to break through the enemy’s obstruction and catch up to him.

He thought to himself, they might have thought that the communicator was still with Kleiman, so the purpose of this operation was likely to capture Kleiman alive. And as for Luo Ran, it was natural to kill him.

Luo Ran sneered. He turned on the emergency function of the aircraft and made a direct spiritual connection.

Ordinary people may not be able to do so, but Luo Ran was a 3S Omega, and could quickly and easily connect to the complicated and damaged steering system in this critical situation.

The machine was broken and unable to fly, so Luo Ran could only try to use spiritual power to pilot it.

“Whoosh—” The aircraft suddenly turned 180 degrees from its original fall and then soared upwards.

Luo Ran concentrated on the controls, and drove the aircraft toward a cave marked on the map with the fastest speed and horsepower.

Finally, before the aircraft could be completely submerged in the falling snow, he successfully found the entrance in the mountain wall and crashed into the cave.

At the same time, snow completely covered the entrance.

The cave was now separated from the outside world by a thick layer of snow.

Luo Ran breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as he wasn’t buried in snow, his situation was not the worst, and he could wait for rescue here.

The team was so strong that they wouldn’t fail to deal with the enemy, nor would they be unable to dig through the snow outside.

With the aircraft landed in the cave, Luo Ran collapsed on the main control screen with cold sweat dripping down his forehead.

It was his first time connecting spiritually to the control system, so he was naturally uncomfortable.

What’s more, Luo Ran’s spiritual force had a big wound, and he indeed managed it with difficulty.

Luo Ran rested his head on his arms, panting slightly.

Pheromones……

He had never craved Lucas’s pheromones more than at this moment.

It was colder inside the cave than outside. Luo Ran tightened his clothing, took a deep breath to adjust his state, and looked around.

The cave was nothing special, all dark stone walls. Because of the cold, many icicles and ice slag had formed, but a lot of other caves had formed all around. They led to other places, and the sound of water came from several of them.

However, Luo Ran was not interested in exploring. He turned to the already dilapidated aircraft after ensuring that his surroundings were safe, and turned the dial up on the temperature control system.

Luo Ran looked at the data and saw that the temperature control system would only last for one day.

It was enough.

Luo Ran checked the communication system again.

“Beepbeep…..”

“Beep……”

“Secretary Luo? Secretary Luo!”

It was Lu Cheng’s voice. Although it was unclear and mixed with many noises, Luo Ran was relieved. He grasped the microphone and said: “En, I’m okay, no injuries.”

“Good! Good! Zii….Wait for us….ziiiziii….we’ve located your….ziii….come right away!”

“Okay.”

Luo Ran turned on the aircraft’s radio locator, making it easier for Lu Cheng and the others to find.

Boom—

After the locator was turned on, the ground suddenly shook again.

Luo Ran felt something rushing toward him, not like a physical thing, but like an air current.

The flow was aggressive.

Luo Ran grabbed his head, his mind almost torn apart by the impact of this messy external spiritual force.

In a daze, Luo Ran saw that the scene before him had changed.

The original dull stone wall in front of him was suddenly covered with dense silver stones. The stones were covered in red lines and emitted a strang light, illuminating the entire entrance of the cave.

It was stone from an ice mine, UNK.

This was a hallucination.

And the hallucination overlapped with Luo Ran’s memories.

“Oh my god…..ziii…..”

“Secretary Luo! Turn off the radio, shut off the electricity…..ziii…..”

“Shut…..ziziii……”

Luo Ran remembered.

. . . . . . .

“What?”

Lucas had just left the battlefield, and after returning to the main control room, Lu Cheng connected with him.

After hearing what Lu Cheng said, Lucas’s entire body felt cold, and the hot blood and hostility that had not dissipated from his body also overflowed.

“Admiral, don’t worry, we subdued all the assassins as quickly as possible and dug through the snow to rescue Secretary Luo,” Lu Cheng said. “Secretary Luo has no major problems other than the cold and a spiritual injury! He has now been transferred to the best hospital in the capital, and Dr. Xia is treating him.”

Shen Xiluo had followed Lucas to the battlefield, and Luo Ran was in a special situation. He couldn’t let others know his gender, lest they covet him, so Lu Cheng and the others specially invited Xia Zhi.

“Spiritual injury?” Lucas frowned, clutching the terminal tightly.

“Yes! This…..it’s a long story.” Lu Cheng paused, as if organizing his words.

After all, he had only just learned from Xia Zhi that Luo Ran was an Omega, and a 3S, so he was inevitably shocked.

“First of all, Secretary Luo was injured while establishing a connection with the aircraft, and his pheromones are a bit unstable. Then, in order to facilitate our locating of him, he turned on the aircraft’s radio waves.”

“Then…..something happened that made all of us almost think we were hallucinating. Our detectors discovered that there was a giant creature not far from the bottom of the cave where Secretary Luo was.”

Lucas was taken aback.

“What?”

“The cave is connected to the largest underground opening in the frontier. Perhaps it was attracted by the radio waves? It suddenly came over…..we don’t know what it was or what it looked like, and only using the thermal energy profile shown on the detector, it could be inferred to be a giant insect…..”

“The giant insect seemed to have terrifying spiritual power, and Secretary Luo was injured due to this attack. However, its speed of movement in the underground cave was very slow. The experts in the team speculated that it may have been because it was too large to pass through the small tunnels. So before it could move to the cave where Secretary Luo was, we brought him out.”

Lu Cheng still felt lingering fear as he said this.

The moment they discovered the giant creature, his blood ran cold, and he couldn’t speak clearly. It was a race against time.

“How is this possible?” Lucas snapped: “There are so many excavation and construction projects on the frontier. With all those thermal energy detectors, why didn’t they detect the existence of such a creature?”

Why did appear when Luo Ran fell into the cave?

“We don’t know…..perhaps we should wait for the experts in the capital to find out why.”

After hanging up the call, Lucas violently threw the terminal away.

Luo Ran’s spiritual force was injured, and he needed pheromones.

Lucas let out an angry breath and strode to the deck.

Faster.

He needed to be faster.

. . . . . . .

On the other side, Luo Ran had been transferred back to the best ward in the capital, but he had yet to wake up.

Luo Ran had a very long dream.

He remembered.

. . . . . . .

More than twenty years ago, there was a small city on the border of where Luobing and the Empire joined. 

This city was named Pure City, perhaps because it had nothing to do with the outside world. The people in the small city lived by a glacier and drank the purest water, and ate the cleanest natural food that they grew themselves. But the location was awkward and remote, and there was still a towering and precarious snowy mountain between it and the outside world, which made it difficult for even aircraft to find a suitable route to enter. Thus, their technology was not as advanced as that of the outside world, but the spiritual power of the people there was very high, all of them at S or A-level. The levels were so high that they were even comparable to the people of ancient earth, who had not been exposed to a large amount of radiation and Imperial technology.

The Imperial government intended to excavate these treasured talents, and repeatedly sent envoys to talk to them, asking them to move to the capital.

However, the Empire had their eyes on it, and the star parents naturally knew this too.

So the city was inevitably attacked and occupied by the star pirates.

The city was set alight, and little Luo Ran, who was less than ten years old, was protected by his family with their lives and crawled out a small hole in the city wall.

After crawling out, there was only endless ice and snow.

It was a vast expanse of white, with occasional gusts of snow. Luo Ran walked unconsciously, not knowing how long he walked and in what direction, and finally came to a cave.

It was too cold, so Luo Ran hid in the cave.

So pretty……

As soon as the boy walked in, he froze.

The stone walls were covered in gleaming stones, brightly illuminating the entire cave.

Luo Ran also saw an insect with red stripes on its back in the corner. The six-legged, square-headed insect was huge, stuck motionlessly to the stone wall as if in a deep sleep.

With the insect as the center, the stones near it had turned silver with red streaks. The ones farther away were gradually changing color, slowly transforming from ordinary stones to silver ones, as if they were evolving.

Luo Ran thought, this bug can do magic.

He felt so warm as soon as he came here, his whole body heating up.

Luo Ran was still young, so he naturally didn’t know that this was actually a sign of impending death. His body began to feel warm, and he felt very sleepy.

The child had no concept of death, and was not afraid of the insect, so he just curled up beside it and fell asleep.

But he didn’t die.

Luo Ran woke up again after sleeping for a day, and the tail ends of his hair had begun to turn silver.

Luo Ran was unaware of the change to his hair, and just counted which stones changed color, and how much they changed during the day.

He didn’t know how long he stayed in the cave. He only drank water from the underground river and survived without food.

Perhaps it was a month, or a year, but Luo Ran stayed there until he forgot how to speak, along with all his memories of the past.

The size of the insect increased day by day, and then it sank into the ground. Luo Ran didn’t know where it went. He was weak from not eating, so he could only lie down and not move much in order to conserve his energy.

Until one day, a little boy appeared at the mouth of the cave.

The snowstorms had stopped that day, and it was even a rare sunny day out.

The boy who stood there was clearly only a few years older than him, but his facial features were full of vigor and fierceness.

“Uncle, there’s someone here.”

This was the first face Luo Ran had seen since being isolated from the world.

But Luo Ran was mentally weak and couldn’t remember much.

A tall man walked in, frowning slightly. “A survivor of Pure City…..?”

The man was in disbelief. Looking at the sole survivor of the disaster in front of him, he thought to himself, how did this child survive in the cave by himself for so long?

“Wu……”

Luo Ran subconsciously reached out to the boy.

The boy stepped forward and held Luo Ran’s hand, comforting him somewhat bluntly: “Don’t be afraid, we’ll take you back to the capital.”

The man seemed to find this very interesting. He glanced at the boy who was carefully picking him up, and said with a smile: “Let’s go, Lucas. This patrol ends here, we’ll take him back to the capital first.”

“Okay.”

The boy carried Luo Ran, who was curled into a little ball, and followed in stride.

---

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Chapter Seventy-Five << Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Seven

No matter how cunning a criminal was, he could not escape the punishment of the law. Li Gui finally confessed to his actions and exposed Bo Guancheng, the mastermind behind the scenes.

Not only that, but the truck driver involved in the accident also admitted that he had received a huge sum of money, and even the call recording of the transaction at that time was dug out.

In the end, Bo Guancheng went from being the young master of the Bo family, who was envied by everyone and one of the possible successors to the family, to a prisoner whom everyone laughed at and ridiculed.

A person who was never content was like a snake trying to swallow an elephant.

The wrong things he had done, he still had to bear them himself in the end.

The only surprising thing was that Bo Guancheng did not sue Bo Yueming for intentionally hurting him—

Did he discover a conscience? Or did he just give up struggling?

No one knew the answer deep in his heart. They only knew that when the police came to the door, he did not struggle hysterically or resist with all his might, and only followed along with the course of events.

As for further trial and conviction, that would have to wait until the next year.

New Year’s Day and the Spring Festival were very close, less than a month away.

The Last Fog that had been launched recently had already stabilized with a certain amount of players, and still had a slight upward trend each day.

The overall development was within Pei Yi’s expectations, and it also gave YWY time to prepare for the launch of the mobile game, The Last Fog 2.0.

As the new year approached, Pei Yi and Li Yuan led the studio team to move into a brand new location. For the sake of The Last Fog’s good development, the two of them took advantage of the official holiday—

They discussed between themselves and sent extra red envelopes to the employees, which immediately drew them the praise of being “good bosses” for a while.

However, even if the game studio was on holiday for the Chinese New Year, someone had to hold fast.

Fortunately, Xiang Nansheng was an Imperial Capital native, and his home was very close to the location of the new studio, so he took the initiative to assume the responsibility of staying on duty.

In addition to the rightful double bonus that would be given to someone who was on duty during the New Year, Pei Yi and Li Yuan also promised that if anything happened, they would be on call as the core leaders.

The group of people joyfully went on holiday.

Pei Yi looked at the office hall that had vacated in an instant, smiled helplessly, and walked toward his friend’s office. “Li Yuan, are you busy?”

“Not busy, GM sent an email. Tomorrow afternoon, their company is holding a year-end meeting. As one of their investment projects, we need to send someone over.”

This sort of thing naturally fell on Li Yuan, the Operations Director, and he was presently sorting out the materials and reports needed for the meeting.

“Thanks for your hard work.” Pei Yi asked sincerely, “Are you free tomorrow night?”

“Yes, I’ll be free after the morning meeting.” Li Yuan nodded. “What’s up?”

Pei Yi tilted his head and extended an invitation, “Come to my house for the New Year?”

Li Yuan was taken aback. “The Bo family?”

Pei Yi shook his head. “No, I mean, my mom’s house. My sister and brother will be there, along with Bo Yueming.”

“……”

Li Yuan stared blankly.

Pei Yi knew that his friend understood the weight of this invitation, and didn’t force him. “Li Yuan, although we’re both more or less related to the Pei family, we’ve already broken away from the shackles of that home.”

“We can be friends if you want, or also family. This invitation is not only mine, but also theirs.”

“Trust me, they’re all good people. Just like you.”

There was only sincerity in Pei Yi’s invitation, no coercion, which made Li Yuan consider it—

Ever since he completely severed ties with An Yang outside the hospital emergency room, Li Yuan had moved out of the home he had lived in since he was a child and chose to rent a house to live alone. 

The friends he had met when he was a young master were nearly gone, and only a handful of friends he met with after work remained.

Nobody knew him. He was afraid of being alone, and also wanted a family.

Pei Yi’s dinner invitation fell directly into Li Yuan’s heart.

“If…..” Li Yuan plucked up his courage and said with a bit of expectation, “If you don’t mind the trouble, then I’ll come for the meal tomorrow night.”

Pei Yi responded with a smile, “Of course, I’ll send you the address later?”

Li Yuan nodded.

After finishing his business, Pei Yi looked at the phone display with some joy at the tips of his eyes. “Then I’ll leave first. Someone is waiting for me in the parking lot.”

“…….”

Li Yuan changed his previous attitude and jokingly refused the dog food. “Get out, get out, I can’t be bothered to watch you hover around in front of me.”

. . . . . . . 

In the evening of the next day, Bo Yueming parked the car in a parking space in front of an old-fashioned residential building and looked at his lover beside him.

“We’re here.”

“En.”

Pei Yi glanced up through the car window. “I can see steam coming out the window. I figure my mom has already started cooking.”

Bo Yueming suppressed the tension deep in his heart. “I’ll get the things out of the back of the car.”

Pei Yi couldn’t restrain his smile. “Okay.”

The two had originally just wanted to come and have a simple New Year’s Eve, but Old Mrs. Bo heard about this at the dining table the night before, and had been busy all morning today arranging many things for Bo Yueming’s visit.

Pei Yi tried to persuade her not to take the trouble, but in the end, Old Mrs. Bo said, “The young are ignorant,” and then insisted on filling the entire trunk with the things she had prepared—

Fumbling around, Bo Yueming felt the tension of “meeting the parents for the first time.”

Pei Yi got out of the car. “Er-ge, let me get some of that for you.”

Bo Yueming only handed him something light and easy to carry, and asked when he had a spare moment, “Kitten, is my outfit today suitable?”

Pei Yi replied as a matter of course, “It’s suitable, ah, why wouldn’t it be?”

It wasn’t until he looked up to catch the hint in Bo Yueming’s eyes that he belatedly said, “Er-ge, are you nervous?”

“……”

Bo Yueming’s silence was his explanation.

Pei Yi tried his best to hold back the upturned corners of his mouth, one second, two seconds, and then couldn’t help but laugh and fall into his arms.

Bo Yueming was helpless. “What are you laughing about?”

Pei Yi’s smile was undiminished. “Er-ge, haven’t you met my mother and sister before? Why are you still nervous?”

Faced with bidding projects at work worth hundreds of millions, the other party’s eyelids might not necessarily blink a few extra times.

Bo Yueming lightly kissed his lover’s hair. “It’s not the same. This is the first time I’ve formally visited them now that I’m with you.”

Last time, he was too troubled by the matter of those two over-the-top relatives, and it was really not a good meeting. In addition, the marriage between the two of them was false at that time and they had not yet gotten together.

Comparing the before and after, the significance of this door-to-door visit was indeed special.

Pei Yi approached and kissed Bo Yueming’s cool lips, saying with a smile, “Er-ge, don’t be nervous. Did you forget that I’m the one who has business to take care of today?”

He intended to confess to Shu Wan and Pei Yuan that he had become a “normal person.”

After all, he was not the “Pei Yi” he was at the beginning, and he couldn’t let the mother and daughter worry about him.

“Okay, let’s not be nervous,” Bo Yueming responded, lowering his head to lightly kiss the tip of his lover’s nose. “Let’s go up. Be careful not to stand in the cold too long and get sick.”

“En.”

. . . . . . .

The two walked up to the fourth floor with bags big and small. Pei Yuan, who had just heard their footsteps, opened the door.

When she saw her little brother and Bo Yueming, she was surprised and delighted. “Xiao Yi and Mr. Bo, why did you bring over so many things?”

As soon as she spoke, Qin Yishun also appeared by the door. He had come early to help.

Qin Yishun saw the pile of things the two people outside were carrying, and naturally placed the credit on his little brother. “It’s normal to bring some things when visiting relatives during the New Year. Our Xiao Yi took a lot of trouble.”

Having spoken, he was afraid that Pei Yi would be tired after carrying these things, and stepped out to take the things out of the other party’s hands.

As for Bo Yueming to the side, who was carrying heavier and more plentiful things, he didn’t care.

“……”

Bo Yueming was already familiar with Qin Yishun’s “brother-protecting madman” attribute, and was silently tested by his brother-in-law.

Seeing this, Pei Yuan took the initiative to help. “Mr. Bo, you just come inside and eat, there are too many things here.”

Bo Yueming didn’t let the young girl handle it, and simply responded, “It’s not too much, Brother is right, this is how it should be.”

“…….”

Qin Yishun didn’t keep a firm grip on this thing in his hand, and it fell to the ground with a bang. He turned around to look in disbelief at Bo Yueming, who had changed his term of address.

Brother?

How did it become such a relationship?

What was he playing at today?

Bo Yueming met Qin Yishun’s probing gaze and nodded, pretending to be familiar. He had figured it out long ago—

Regardless of whether or not Pei Yi was the original “Young Master Pei” of the Pei family, he was serious about caring for his family.

That being the case, as his lover, he naturally couldn’t do otherwise. There was no problem with having more multiple brothers.

Pei Yi saw the subtle turbulence between the two, and responded with immediate delight, “En, Brother is right!”

Now it was Pei Yuan’s turn to be astonished. “Xiao Yi?”

When did her little brother’s articulation become so clear? 

At the same time, Shu Wan heard the noise and rushed over from the kitchen, holding a spatula in her hand. “Xiao Huan, is your brother here?”

Pei Yi took a deep breath and stepped into the room before Pei Huan could answer. “Mom, it’s me. I’m back.”

“…….”

Shu Wan suddenly stopped in her tracks, staring at Pei Yi as he approached.

Pei Yuan put her things on the ground at random and quickly followed. “Xiao Yi, y-you’re…..”

Thinking of Bo Yueming and Qin Yishun behind him, who were already in the know, Pei Yi simply stopped covering it up. “Mom, Sister, I have something I want to talk with you about alone. Is that okay?”

—Bang!

The spatula in Shu Wan’s hand fell to the ground, but she didn’t bother to bend down and pick it up. She rubbed her apron with anxious hands, nervous and expectant.

“……Okay, okay! Let’s, let’s go into the room and talk!”

Pei Yuan also recognized the change to normal in Pei Yi, and restrained the excitement in her heart. “En! Let’s go talk in the room!”

. . . . . . .

Everyone entered the small bedroom, full of emotion.

The door was closed tightly.

Bo Yueming and Qin Yishun, who had stayed in the living room, stared wide-eyed. The latter picked up the spatula on the ground and spoke first, “Put everything to the side first, I have something to ask you.”

Bo Yueming could probably guess Qin Yishun’s intentions, and nodded slightly. The two of them sat down on the sofa.

Qin Yishun cut to the chase. “Do you recall what I told you when Xiao Yi was almost bullied by Sun Yelong back then?”

“I remember. You said that if another such situation occurred, you would take Pei Yi back from the Bo residence.” Bo Yueming didn’t evade, and admitted to his mistakes. “It was because I failed to protect Pei Yi in all aspects that he was kidnapped.”

“Bo Yueming, it’s not that I want to find fault with you and don’t want to see you.”

Qin Yishun recalled the dangerous scene when he found Pei Yi surrounded by Li Gui and others that day, and his face was full of deep displeasure.

“The relationships in your Bo family are a mess. Even if the main branch is gone, who can guarantee that the second branch won’t cause trouble in the future.”

His tone was very severe and cold. “Even if Xiao Yi has the ability to protect himself, that doesn’t mean those people won’t trouble him again and again!”

“If you can’t deal with that group of troublemakers, then don’t claim that you can protect Xiao Yi!”

Qin Yishun was a soldier, and the word “protect” had never been empty talk!

“…….”

Faced with Qin Yishun’s harsh questioning, Bo Yueming didn’t feel the slightest bit of resentment. “Yes, it is my problem.”

If not for Pei Yi’s cleverness, and if Qin Yishun hadn’t arrived in time, there might have been serious consequences!

Qin Yishun recognized Bo Yueming’s willingness to admit his mistake and allow himself to be criticized, and stopped where he was. “Bo Yueming, the reason why I kept myself from saying anything about Pei Yi leaving the Bo residence is because he likes you.”

That day, when Pei Yi had just escaped the danger of being kidnapped, his first thought was not to treat his injuries, but to rush to group headquarters to find Bo Yueming.

Since then, as an outsider, Qin Yishun completely understood — his little brother had probably fallen for Bo Yueming long ago!

Pei Yi was an independent individual with his own emotions and choices. Since he had already chosen to be with Bo Yueming, outsiders had no right to interfere.

Qin Yishun did not want to weaken or underestimate Pei Yi, but from the perspective of his older brother, he hoped that the other party would live a happier life.

“……”

“……”

Silence spread between the two.

After a long time, Qin Yishun sighed and made a solemn plea, “Bo Yueming, this matter is not over, do you understand!”

“I understand!”

Bo Yueming readily confirmed in self-blame, “There won’t be a next time, absolutely not.”

Qin Yishun didn’t say anything more. He got up and took the spatula back to the kitchen.

. . . . . . .

On the other side, in the warmly furnished bedroom that Shu Wan and Pei Yuan had set aside for Pei Yi when he stayed over.

No matter where the mother and daughter moved, or whether Pei Yi would come back to live there, this habit that had been maintained for many years continued.

Pei Yi looked at the mother and daughter, who appeared excited but unprepared to ask casually, and a sour feeling welled up in his heart.

“Mom, Sister, you don’t have to look at me like that, it’s just what you think—” He paused slightly, still intending to explain the situation with ‘half truth and half falsehood.’ “Since entering the Bo residence, my condition gradually improved and recovered.”

“……”

Shu Wan burst into tears.

Pei Yuan quickly handed her a tissue, barely resisting the urge to cry. “Xiao Yi, you’re really alright?”

“En.”

Pei Yi also took out a tissue and handed it to Pei Yuan, smiling cutely. “I’m fine, see how I can communicate with and talk to you normally now?” 

Shu Wan’s eyes were red. The depression and pain that had accumulated in her heart for many years finally broke out, and she cried bitterly while covering her face.

Pei Yi had been forcibly taken away by Old Mr. Pei as soon as he was born, and the number of times the mother and son could meet each year was very small. At that time, Shu Wan had thought—

Although the longing and separation of flesh and blood was difficult, at least her son had grandparents who truly cared about him, and had enough food and clothing. She just needed to make good money in order to let her daughter live well and happily.

Later, when the news came that Pei Yi had fallen into the water and become a fool, Shu Wan’s heart seemed to split in two.

She tried to break into the Pei residence more than once to accompany and take care of her youngest son, but she was always turned away mercilessly.

At that time, only Old Mrs. Pei would help find ways to create opportunities for the mother, son, and siblings to meet.

During the first few brief encounters, Shu Wan always felt that her son was not “foolish,” but his reactions were just slower.

For this reason, knowing nothing about medicine, she researched a lot of information that said the situation might get better.

This “possibility” became the only hope in her heart, and she even took a class to learn relevant knowledge about physiotherapy.

It was a pity that after Old Mrs. Pei’s death, she and Pei Yi saw each other less and less.

Year after year, the other party’s condition did not improve.

Pei Yuan at her side had been sensible since she was a child, and even voluntarily promised that no matter what happened in the future, she would help and take care of her little brother as much as possible.

But Shu Wan knew well that a girl should have a life of her own, and her foolish younger son should never be the eldest daughter’s duty to care for.

Later, Shu Wan watched her gradually get older, and in order not to drag her daughter down, and to give her son a certain amount of care in the future—

Without telling her daughter Pei Yuan, she worked two jobs herself. Even on the weekends, which was the only time she could rest, she would still find a way to get some handmade components in the hopes of saving more money.

Shu Wan had originally thought that she would have to go on like this day after day, suffering until the light in her heart completely vanished, or maybe until the end of her life.

However, at this moment, Pei Yi stood in front of her, healthy and carefree, and said, “I’m fine.”

The boulder accumulated in her heart turned to dust, and the light that had been blocked finally shone again on this life that had been dark since her husband’s death.

Shu Wan knew that she had a weak personality and couldn’t be considered a good mother most of the time, but she thought from beginning to end—

This healthy son and daughter pair were the greatest reward and gift from heaven! She was willing to give her all for the two children!

“Mom, don’t cry. Brother is fine, you should be happy,” Pei Yuan persuaded, but she herself was crying.

Pei Yi looked at the tearful mother and daughter, and took the initiative to hug and support them. “Mom, Sister, it’s all in the past.”

“In the future, I’ll take Dad’s place and take on the responsibility of taking care of you.”

Having gone through so much, Pei Yi now not only wanted to take responsibility on behalf of the original owner, but sincerely wished to grasp the warmth and duty bestowed by this family relationship.

“You have to trust me, okay?”

“Okay, of course.”

---

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Chapter Seventy-Five <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Seven

It was the first time in Liang Shu’s life that someone had praised him as “even-looking.” He appeared confused, so Liu Xian’an explained it to him with a swipe of his finger across the air. The breeze that occurred was so light that it couldn’t even blow a bug away, but it made His Royal Highness Xiao Wang’s heart flutter. He grabbed his hand and pressed that palm against his chest: “You don’t need to be so polite with me.”

Liu Xian’an’s fingertips curled slightly, and he said: “But I’m already finished.”

Liang Shu said: “But I don’t understand.”

If you don’t understand, then you just don’t understand, and if you don’t understand, you don’t speak. There should be a lot of ambiguity at this point in time. After all, a pair of lovers were sitting in bed with disheveled clothing, and it was really unreasonable for nothing to happen. But just now, there was the sentence “very even” for a foundation, and Liang Shu felt that if he disrobed more thoroughly, he might only be used as a teaching aid.

Liu Xian’an found an acupuncture point and suddenly pressed down.

Liang Shu was unprepared, and almost lost half his life, his eyes darkening due to the pain. “You—”

“Your breathing is disordered.” Liu Xian’an withdrew his hand. “I’ll massage the prince more at night.”

It hurt like hell and he had to massage him more. If this was said by a military or Imperial doctor, they may be sent away by His Royal Highness Xiao Wang in an intimidating and perfunctory manner. But for the fairy-like Second Young Master Liu, not to mention letting him massage him with his hands, even hitting him with a hammer was not impossible to consider. This was probably what being obsessed with desire meant.

The courtyard door slammed. It was A-Ning, bringing chicken soup. He already had rich experience in this area, and deliberately created some noise outside, waiting a while before knocking on the door. Sure enough, Liu Xian’an had already woken up, and asked wonderingly: “Why so much food?”

“The chicken soup hadn’t been stewed yet when I went, so I waited for a while,” A-Ning said. “The uncle in the kitchen was very enthusiastic and kept searching everywhere for food. I didn’t want it, and he got upset. After, he stammered out that his son’s leg is broken and he wanted to ask me to take a look.”

“How was it broken?”

“By that uncle himself.” A-Ning said, “He said his son was possessed by an evil spirit a while ago and insisted on going to see the Baifu Holy Maiden. He couldn’t be stopped, and ran out to hide in the mountains somewhere. In the end, Commander Tong tracked him down himself. Although his leg is broken and he can’t run away now, he still yearns for her and hides portraits of her under his pillow.”

As he spoke, he took one from his pocket: “This is it.”

Liu Xian’an took it. The girl pictured was indeed extremely beautiful and elegant, and her eyes seemed to hold compassion for the world. She was about the age of A-Yuan and Cheng Suyue, but she didn’t have the delicate and carefree nature she should have at this age. She was truly like a stiff statue whose only function was to be wrapped in brocade and enshrined in a lofty place.

Wumeng Yunyou, Wumeng Yunle, this brother and sister pair. One killed and the other seduced. They could be called the two good knives of the Baifu Sect.

. . . . . .

The Southwest woodlands were dense, with drifting white fog and abundant miasma.

A teenager leaped through the withered vines and landed firmly on the ground: “Uncle, when did you come?”

Feng Xiaojin, who was still wearing a silver mask, asked in displeasure: “You went to kill again yesterday?”

Wumeng Yunyou snorted: “A-Le complained again. She always likes to inquire about my affairs.”

Feng Xiaojin shook his head: “A-Le didn’t need to say anything. Everyone in the sect has been spreading stories about you recently.”

“I met him, so I killed him.” Wumeng Yun You put his sword back into its sheath indifferently. In his heart, an insignificant human life was worth less than an ant’s. “Uncle, you can be at ease and see to your injury. You don’t need to worry about these things. By the way, how is that doctor?”

“His medical skills are very good.” Feng Xiaojin led him back slowly. “You don’t have to test him further in the future.”

“Okay, I’ll listen to Uncle.” Wumeng Yunyou supported him by the arm. “As it happens, Liang Shu arrived in Garrison City a few days ago, and it seems there is a person from the Liu family traveling with him, but I don’t know who it is. Some say it is Liu Xianche, and some say it is Liu Xian’an. Does Uncle know about this?”

Feng Xiaojin shook his head: “I didn’t know.” He frowned as he spoke again, “Liang Shu’s martial arts are unfathomable. Just because you got away last time does not mean that you will be safe the next time. You had best not provoke him.”

“I know.” Wumeng Yunyou was somewhat obedient in front of Feng Xiaojin, but whether his obedience was feigned or genuine, he knew for himself, and Feng Xiaojin also knew.

When the two returned to their residence, there was a young girl sitting on the swing in the courtyard, wearing plain white clothes. When the wind blew, she looked like a flower unstained by dust, although this seemingly pure flower bloomed in the dirtiest and gloomiest place. Feng Xiaojin returned to his room, and Wumeng Yunyou stepped forward to push the swing for her twice: “I bought some snacks outside, do you want to eat them?”

“No.” Wumeng Yunle stood up. “I heard them say that the man who injured you has come to the Southwest.”

“Why is everyone talking about this?” Wumeng Yun You let go of the swing. “Yes, Liang Shu is here, but it isn’t a rare event. Master wants to go all the way north, and the court can’t turn a blind eye. Instead of worrying about me, it is better to worry about yourself.”

“Myself?”

“Yes, ah, yourself.”

Wumeng Yunyou sat down at a table: “Right now, towns and villages in the Southwest are spreading wild rumors about your beauty. As long as they can meet you, they are even willing to lose their families and property, and some people fight with their neighbors in the same village to win a spot. With such a big commotion, perhaps Liang Shu will deal with you first.”

“Then let him come,” Wumeng Yunle said cheerfully. “I hear that he is Dayan’s youngest and most invincible general, and that he will marry Dayan’s number one beauty in the future.”

“Liu Nanyuan? I saw her once near Baihe City. She was accompanied by a retinue of servants, and was far less beautiful than you.”

“But she can walk every street of Dayan openly, and have everyone praise her beauty and medical skills.” Wumeng Yunle looked at her reflection and sighed. “I also want to go out in a legitimate manner and walk in the sun, instead of hiding in secret.”

“When I kill Liang Shu, you can walk in the sunshine.” Wumeng Yunyou tossed her some dried fruit. “Eat something, don’t think about the title of Dayan’s number one beauty. That’s boring.”

Wumeng Yunle reached out to grab the dried fruit. She had thin fingers adorned in blue and silver ornaments, and her fingertips were also faintly tinged with blue.

Crack!

In the small Garrison City courtyard, Liang Shu crushed open the hard shell and picked out the walnut inside. “Do you want to eat?”

“No.” Liu Xian’an shook his head. “It’s not sweet.”

“What kind of sweet walnuts do you want? You’re difficult to serve.” Liang Shu tapped his forehead and ordered, “Open your mouth.”

Liu Xian’an reluctantly opened his mouth, but Liang Shu didn’t feed him. Instead, he leaned closer and quickly kissed him. And after the kiss, he turned around and sent the guards to the street to buy honey-soaked amber walnut kernels.

It could be seen that no one in this world could do anything about Second Young Master Liu’s tendency to be a picky eater. Master Liu’s reprimands could not, A-Ning’s nagging could not, and First Young Master Liu’s ruler could not. He finally met His Royal Highness Xiao Wang, who might be able to do something about it, but he just blindly held him in the palm of his hand and indulged him. When he wanted the moon, he would not give him the stars. There was no hope.

The guards quickly brought back the amber walnut kernels, and A-Ning also returned at this time. He had already seen to the leg injury of the kitchen uncle’s son, and said: “Although he can’t leave, he still yearns for her very much. His mouth is full of foulness and cursing. From what I understand, he not only wants to see the Holy Maiden, but wants to marry the Holy Maiden in the future.”

“How could he marry her?”

“According to the teachings of the cult, as long as your heart is sincere, you can marry her, and whoever has the most sincere heart is the most able to marry.” As for such things as sincerity, it was impossible to just convey in words, so those who had money donated their family wealth, and those without money self-mutilated and cut their wrists. Everyone was scrambling to express themselves, hoping that one day they could marry the Holy Maiden and reach the sky in one step.

Liang Shu’s brain hurt when he heard this.

Liu Xian’an asked: “How can they meet that saint?”

A-Ning replied: “According to the degree of dedication, they will select from the front to the back. It is estimated that a few people can be chosen out of a hundred.”

The current dedication requirements were only based on donating money and self-mutilation. In the future, it may develop into killing Dayan officers and soldiers. After all, cults were very good at promoting military-civilian confrontation. After dinner, Liang Shu and Liu Xian’an went to the study. In front of Gao Lin was a thick stack of documents, all related to the Wumeng brother and sister. These two were young, but had done much evil.

“Half of this is the blood debt owed by Wumeng Yunyou. Since seven or eight years ago, he has committed violent crimes.” Gao Lin said, “This other half is Wumeng Yunle.”

“Isn’t the thickness about the same?” A-Ning was puzzled. “But she was promoted as a saint not long ago. Did she kill people before?”

“She didn’t kill people in the past. These are all recent murders. No matter how strong Wumeng Yunyou is in martial arts, even if he slaughtered a village through the night, he could only kill dozens or hundreds of people at most. But every time Wumeng Yunle appears, she is accompanied by fanatical riots, and the evil results are multiplied.” Gao Lin said, “The Baifu Sect wants to shape her into a symbol, and it seems to be quite effective so far.”

“What is the origin of this brother and sister?”

“Orphans. They were raised by the leader of the Baifu Sect since they were children.”

As for the leader of the Baifu Sect, no one knew his name or had even seen his appearance. Ku You had been investigating for many years, and had also interrogated many cult members, but had never found any results. The other party was like a shadow, with sound but not shape, always drifting in the unfathomable night sky.

Liu Xian’an asked: “How much devotion must be given in order to meet the Holy Maiden?”

Gao Lin said: “There must be inspections at every level. Ordinary people wouldn’t be able to get in if they wanted to, but they could find a member of the congregation who was qualified to meet her and follow secretly, and they should be able to discover the location.”

Then the question arose, how could they find such a person?

In the small courtyard of the back kitchen in the government office, there was a row of lodgings. The fire-burning uncle’s unfortunate son with the broken leg was lying on a bed, mesmerized as he held a portrait of the saint. Suddenly, the bedroom door was pushed open with a creak.

Startled, he hastily stuffed the portrait under the quilt so as not to get his other leg broken. He turned his head to see who it was, and his eyes widened in shock. Since when was there such a shining and romantic young man in Garrison City?

Liu Xian’an asked: “Are you Qiu Cheng?”

Qiu Cheng let out an “ah.” The jut of his throat bobbed, and he asked with awkward nervousness: “Was the young master sent by the saint to pick me up?”

Liu Xian’an: “…….”

That’s fine too.

---

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Chapter Seventy-Two << Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Four

Rong Duo swore that she didn’t really mean it, but when Luo Ran walked out of the office, she couldn’t help but take a glance at him.

The corners of Luo Ran’s mouth and lips were red, and the blush on his cheeks had not completely faded away.

Ao-wu!

Rong Duo quickly lowered her head and covered her face in shame.

Rong Duo thought very simply, the Admiral must have kissed too hard!

Luo Ran strode to the bathroom to rinse his mouth, and then washed his face with clean water, not only to clean it, but to give himself more energy and concentration. After all, today’s workload was heavy.

Sigh……

Luo Ran held himself up on the glazed sink with his hands, adjusting his breathing.

Lucas was the person he liked, and was also his Alpha. It took a lot of effort for him to calm himself down and stop messing around with Lucas.

His throat that had just been hydrated felt a little hot now, and the heat spread to his cheeks, neck, and limbs again.

Luo Ran turned on the tap again and washed his face.

He stood there for quite a long time.

He was now beginning to understand the concerns of his parents and brother.

Indeed, there were no expectations in the past. They were just an ordinary boss and subordinate, and Luo Ran would set a limit for himself.

He would not think too much, nor would he be too attached.

But now……

How could he not yearn for Lucas?

When Luo Ran was sitting on Lucas’s lap before, he almost said: “How about you don’t go?” Upon realizing his own thoughts, he immediately felt annoyed and guilty.

What he should do was lighten the burden for Lucas and take care of the department and logistics for him so that he had no worries, rather than become an extra burden.

Luo Ran took a deep breath, dried his face, and straightened his collar before going out.

. . . . . . .

Early the next morning, Luo Ran once again watched Lucas’s tall figure board the aircraft.

Lucas was away for four days. During these four days, other than a call before battle, Lucas had no contact with him. It could be assumed that the war was very dire.

And in the past few days, the government’s investigations had also made great progress.

His Royal Highness Zhou Mingyu, the First Prince of the Empire, had indeed embezzled funds for the military base on Apollo.

Now, Zhou Mingyu’s image had completely collapsed.

He had been delaying the start of the trial, but hadn’t done anything other than this so far. For the time being, Luo Ran couldn’t figure out what the other party intended to do.

On this day, Luo Ran got the court to sign a confirmation that the testimony of the military department would be guaranteed.

When Luo Ran went there, he met Zhou Mingkai, who was standing outside and leaning against the wall, looking at him in a very depressed mood.

Just like a stray dog.

This was natural. Firstly, the elder brother he admired had suddenly become connected to terrible things, and secondly…..Lu Bei had also resigned.

“Third Highness.” Luo Ran stepped forward to greet him. “Why are you here?”

“Ah…..I came to find Lu Bei. He accompanied Yuan Han here.” Zhou Mingkai was stubborn and obstinate. He scratched the back of his head and said: “Are you concerned about your former subordinate?”

“En.” Luo Ran nodded.

“But Secretary Luo……” Zhou Mingkai said: “You look really unhappy.”

“Ah…..?” Luo Ran said: “I’m not.”

“You do, ah.” Zhou Mingkai grinned and said: “Are you thinking about the Admiral?”

“How could this be? It’s not the first time the Admiral has gone to war.” Luo Ran smiled and changed the subject: “The Third Highness seems to be even more unhappy.”

“Pei, I’m really not.” Zhou Mingkai smiled. “No one is controlling me now that Lu Bei is gone. I’m so happy, ah, haha.”

Luo Ran: “…….”

Luo Ran patted Zhou Mingkai on the shoulder.

Zhou Mingkai looked at Luo Ran and his reassuring gesture, paused for a moment, but still went on to make an exaggeratedly downcast expression.

“Wuwuwu…..” Zhou Mingkai squatted down and hugged his head, saying: “I made plans with him to go to the moon to participate in the Alliance Sports Competition, how did it become like this now, ah? Wuwuwu, I bought the tickets, but he’s avoiding me now.”

“Who the fuck can think of my big brother…..ah, I don’t know if it’s true, how troublesome, ah.”

Zhou Mingkai had been holding back these days, but now when he was comforted by Luo Ran’s warm voice, he couldn’t hold back his wailing and howling. The scene of a tall Alpha with reddened eyes blubbering was very eye-catching.

Luo Ran felt both distressed and amused, and crouched down to pat Zhou Mingkai’s shoulder lightly.

“What kind of suffering is this, ah!” Zhou Mingkai howled.

Luo Ran said comfortingly: “It’s okay, there will be more sports competitions. You can talk to Mr. Lu again once this turmoil is over.”

“There won’t be more.” Zhou Mingkai said pitifully: “The sports competition is held every five years. He’s not talking to me now, and I don’t know if he will acknowledge me after five years.”

After Luo Ran coaxed him for a long time, he couldn’t help but turn on the mirror function of his terminal to look at his face after returning.

Was it really that bad…..?

Luo Ran hesitated for a long moment, then clicked on Lucas’s name on the terminal.

— Is the Admiral all right?

When Luo Ran finished typing the line, he immediately deleted it.

Sitting in front of his desk, Luo Ran suddenly remembered Zhou Mingkai’s mention of the Alliance Sports Competition.

Every five years. The last time happened to be in his second year as Lucas’s secretary, but…..

Luo Ran suddenly discovered a terrible thing. Why did he not have any impression of it?

Logically speaking, the Alliance Sports Competition was a very grand event. For example, there were advertisements everywhere now.

Frowning, Luo Ran clicked on the historical usage records of his terminal.

Luo Ran waited for the system to run for a long moment, and it finally launched the activity report from five years ago.

He looked down slowly. The system had recorded his work records from January to March, but starting from April…..

It was blank..

Blank through December.

In January of the following year, the terminal resumed operations.

What had happened?

Luo Ran tried his utmost to make a connection, but found that he had indeed lost his memory of those nine months, and the memories from before and after were not clear.

He frowned slightly.

Luo Ran felt terrible. He had lost so many memories, such as what had happened before he was adopted, and those inexplicable nine months.

He was presently working as Lucas’s secretary, so Luo Ran decided to look for clues from Lucas.

Luo Ran sent a call request to Lu Cheng.

“Secretary Luo?” Lu Cheng’s hearty voice came from the other end of the phone.

“I want to ask you something.”

“Okay!”

Luo Ran said: “Do you still remember what the Admiral was doing five years ago, the year of the Alliance Sports Competition?”

“…….”

There was a sudden silence on the terminal.

Luo Ran felt even stranger, but he couldn’t see Lu Cheng’s expression at the moment and couldn’t judge what was going on.

He asked again: “Adjutant Lu? Do you remember?”

“Ah, this, I don’t remember.”

Luo Ran frowned slightly.

After a moment, Luo Ran said: “Adjutant Lu, is there anything I shouldn’t know?”

“No! Absolutely not! It’s just……” Lu Cheng seemed very embarrassed, and could only say: “Well, when the Admiral comes back, can’t you ask him yourself?”

“…….”

“It’s really not a secret, but…..ah, just, I don’t know if I can say it!”

“…….”

Luo Ran didn’t make things difficult for Lu Cheng, and said with a smile: “It’s okay, I understand.”

Luo Ran hung up, thinking that he would ask Lucas and see what he had to say.

In fact…..he didn’t completely have no impression.

Luo Ran tried hard to think while flipping through the terminal for the before and after records, and recalled some intermittent images. He vaguely remembered that there were many wisteria flowers and a very cute log cabin.

Wisteria flowers……

With a slight frown, Luo Ran subconsciously glanced at the wisteria flowers by the office window.

He rested his chin on his hand, somewhat lost in thought.

New Year’s Eve was two days away.

. . . . . .

Luo Ran went home to have dinner with his family for the New Year.

It was presently snowing in the capital, but snow here generally didn’t last long.

Near midnight, the Empire’s Central Plaza began to broadcast the countdown.

There were thirty minutes to go.

Luo Ran was holding the terminal while sitting on the recliner on the balcony at home, wearing thick clothes and watching the night sky.

The originally drab night sky was now full of slowly falling snow, and a thin layer had accumulated on the ground and the balcony railings.

He didn’t bother Lucas, but still carried the terminal.

“Ranran, you…..” Wang Zitong glanced at Luo Ran and stepped forward to rub his shoulder, saying: “It’s the same for the Admiral…..it’s not long after you got together…..”

“Mom, it’s okay.” Luo Ran held up the terminal to show her. “I’m watching videos for fun.”

“En.” Wang Zitong glanced at him and said: “Go to sleep early.”

“Okay.”

Many relatives had come to the house, and Wang Zitong went downstairs to play cards with them.

Luo Ran was a little ashamed.

Could it be that…..he was really acting distraught and concerned?

But he wasn’t doing it on purpose. And presuming he didn’t care, his body and pheromones may not be able to accept it for a while.

Lucas had given him temporary marks, they had made a spiritual connection, and Lucas also used his pheromones as an antidote when Luo Ran was having spiritual problems.

And since the temporary marking, they had been staying close, their pheromones always fusing together intimately.

Luo Ran thought, fortunately there was no official mark yet. If there was a permanent mark, his body may be even more uncomfortable.

Luo Ran watched videos for a while, and then there were only ten minutes left on the countdown.

He exited the video and looked at the night sky quietly.

Ten minutes later, the sky would be covered with gorgeous fireworks, and would look extremely beautiful.

When only five minutes were left, Luo Ran’s terminal rang.

Startled, Luo Ran opened it.

— Lucas.

A smile appeared on Luo Ran’s face, and he accepted the call.

“Ranran,” Lucas said in a low voice. “What are you doing?”

Luo Ran chuckled: “Waiting for the countdown and the fireworks.”

The other side was silent for a moment, then said: “Open the video screen.”

Luo Ran paused, then did so.

He saw Lucas on the small screen.

Lucas seemed to have just come from battle not long ago. His military uniform was a bit dirty, and there was a fierce look in his eyes that had not yet receded.

“Sorry,” Lucas said. “I had originally agreed to spend the New Year with you.”

“It’s okay, I’ll adjust the camera after the fireworks start, and we can watch them together.” Luo Ran’s eyes contained a smile. “There are only three minutes left.”

“Okay.”

Lucas seemed a little tired and quiet, so they didn’t speak, and just accompanied each other silently.

Lucas changed clothes in his room on the battleship and quickly washed his face.

“Ten! Nine! Eight!”

The countdown in the Central Plaza began, and was broadcasted everywhere in real time.

“Seven! Six!”

. . . . . .

“Three! Two!”

“One!”

Fireworks shot into the sky, and everything went from dim to bright for a while.

Luo Ran watched the fireworks and said: “Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year.” Lucas paused, then suddenly said: “Luo Ran, I love you.”

Lucas’s tone was very gentle when he said this, and it was hard to imagine that he would have such a soft tone.

This was also the first time Lucas had said such words that he considered “sappy.”

Luo Ran stared blankly at the terminal, sitting there on the spot.

Lucas was a little embarrassed after speaking, and scratched the back of his head, saying: “Ai, anyway, that’s all. What time are you going to bed?”

“I…..later.” Luo Ran blushed slightly. He grasped the terminal tightly, and finally conceded.

“Admiral, I miss you very much.”

Now it was Lucas’s turn to freeze.

“I’m really sorry.” Luo Ran lowered his eyes with a smile. “But I’m going to do everything well.”

“I…..” Lucas said hoarsely: “I will also fight hard and bring victory to the Empire and to you!”

“Good.”

The fireworks were still going on, but Lucas fell asleep within a short while after lying down. It could be seen that he was truly exhausted. He didn’t even have time to say goodnight, and fell asleep holding the terminal.

Luo Ran paused, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, and turned off the call.

At that moment, Luo Ran lowered his head and kissed the screen of the terminal.

. . . . . . 

The next day, Luo Ran received a call from Kleiman’s secretary.

He said that Kleiman would not be returning anytime soon, and had fallen in love with climbing, completely addicted to it.

An avalanche had occurred on the snowy mountain where Kleiman was a few days ago, which changed its geology, so Kleiman, who was a mountaineering enthusiast, was more excited to explore.

Therefore, Kleiman meant for Luo Ran to find him in person if he had any business to discuss. After all, if Luo Ran wanted to go, he didn’t need to climb the mountain. An aircraft could take him up.

But in fact, Luo Ran already knew the answers to the questions he wanted to ask, so he wasn’t in a hurry.

Until the dispatch team brought him a new report.

“Regarding His Highness Kleiman’s invitation to go to the snowy mountain, Cyril’s side seems to be very nervous.” The captain said with a frown: “The reason is unknown, but they were concerned and even tried to investigate and spy on us.”

However, Lucas’s investigation team had always been the elite of the Empire, and they were soldiers. No one could detect them without being counter-investigated.

The team had been paying special attention to Zhou Mingyu and Cyril recently, so they would immediately know if there was any trouble.

Luo Ran frowned slightly.

Was there another mystery?

Luo Ran asked: “Where is the mountain Kleiman is on?”

“In the Western part of the transitional territory between Luobing and the Empire. It is extremely remote, and the temperature is also extremely low, even colder than Luobing. It is covered in thick ice and snow all year round, and the terrain is steep. Recently, there have been frequent avalanches due to geological changes.”

“Has this happened before?”

“The location of the mountain is special, and each type of terrain has different advantages for military strategists. Therefore, there have been many battles, weather between the Empire and Luobing or the Empire and the star pirates.”

Luo Ran nodded, frowning for a moment. “Does His Highness really like climbing mountains?”

“It’s unclear. He wasn’t that keen before, but after the avalanche, he became obsessed with climbing.”

When it came to climbing, this person was still a prince anyway, and there were countless aircraft following him, which could temporarily take him away before an avalanche occurred.

“I’ll go and have a look,” Luo Ran said. “Tomorrow.”

“Yes!” The captain reminded: “Please be sure to bring enough troops to ensure your safety.”

“En.” Luo Ran planned to take Lu Cheng and his team directly.

Otherwise, Lucas would have to worry about being far away on the battlefield. Luo Ran would take the entire squad with him, so that even if a small army came from the opposite side, he would not be afraid.

. . . . . . .

The snow-capped mountain was located in the far reaches of the planet, and was indeed extremely cold.

The aircraft landed on flat ground on the mountainside, where Kleiman and his camp of guards were located.

Luo Ran was wearing two thick layers of clothing, but after getting off the aircraft, he still felt a gust of wind pour into his nose and mouth, reaching his lungs.

Hiss, it was really cold.

“Secretary Luo is here!” Kleiman stepped forward and said with a smile: “Aiyo, so urgent, ah. I’m curious about what urgent matter could get you to come here in person.”

The brown-haired Kleiman looked sloppy.

Luo Ran just smiled.

Kleiman looked around and said with a smile: “Shall we go into the tent?”

Kleiman and Luo Ran walked into the tent alone. Kleiman asked people to stand guard, and after making sure that there were no other people around, he said: “Secretary Luo, I have something to tell you.”

“Say it.” Luo Ran sat down and said: “Is it something sensitive?”

Kleiman sat in front of Luo Ran and whispered: “Secretary Luo, do you know why I suddenly wanted to climb this mountain?”

“Hm?”

“I came here to find something, but now that I found it……I think things are more complicated.” Kleiman’s voice shook a little as he spoke. “I haven’t been able to sleep well at all these past few nights.”

“Speak slowly, it’s okay.” Luo Ran said: “If necessary, I will keep it a secret.”

“Just, when Admiral Alton was fighting the star pirates, another logistics team that Cyril was in was surprise attacked by Luobing. I was on the battleship at the time. Later, I saw that Cyril kept coming back after the incident as if he was looking for something. He was very nervous and scared, and I lied to him that I had found what he wanted.”

Kleiman scratched the back of his head and said: “At that time, I just wanted to extort money and scare a high-ranking official of the Empire, but I didn’t expect that there would be assassination attempts next. After escaping a few times, I came clean and confessed that I just wanted to blackmail him, but I was still being watched.”

Luo Ran frowned slightly: “Are you still being watched?”

“Yes, ah! There have been several attempts on my life since I came to the snowy mountain. I can’t stand it anymore. I wanted to get rid of this curse, so I came back to look for that thing.”

“I didn’t expect that because of the avalanche changing the terrain, I would actually find the remnants of the battlefield that was buried back then.”

“Just……”

Kleiman took out a personal communication device from his pocket and handed it to Luo Ran.

The device looked like it was from a long time ago. It was worn out and covered with a lot of old ice and snow, which made it a little cold to handle.

“There are still conversation records inside.” Kleiman turned his head and said: “After a lot of thought, I still think it’s most appropriate to tell the Admiral, but, that, I dare not. So…..I’ll trouble you.”

Luo Ran turned on the communicator and played the conversation recordings.

“Beepbeep……”

“Hello, hello.”

Luo Ran was a little surprised.

That was Cyril’s voice.

“Target is heading north, coordinates y8e6……”

“Repeat. Target is heading north, coordinates y8e6……”

“Beepbeep……”

After he heard it clearly, Luo Ran’s blood instantly froze.

---

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Chapter Seventy-Four << Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Six

Liu Xian’an did not go to the guest courtyard in the end, because the main courtyard where Liang Shu resided was very big. That said, even if the main courtyard was not big, with only a hard bed on the march, His Royal Highness Xiao Wang should be able to find a reason to squeeze to his sweetheart’s side and not leave, such as pretending to be sick or having a heartache.

“I don’t see where the prince is hurting.” Liu Xian’an withdrew his hand. “But Commander Ku’s eye disease must be treated as soon as possible.”

“He has an eye disease?” Liang Shu asked. “I’ve never heard of it before, what kind of disease is it?”

“Gold blindness,” Liu Xian’an said. “The prince once said that Commander Ku had golden eyes since birth, and his silver hair was caused by poisoning. Golden eyes are indeed not a disease, but reflective golden eyes cannot be ignored. It should be the case that the poisoning also affected his eyes. The disease requires fine needles to remove the cataract, supplemented with medical treatment, and it will take at least half a year for a complete recovery.”

Liang Shu asked: “If treatment doesn’t work, what will happen? Will he lose his sight?”

“Yes, and the disease should be treated early, or it will be more difficult if it is delayed.” Liu Xian’an said, “But neither A-Ning nor I are proficient at this sort of treatment. It is better for Elder Brother to do it. Do you want me to send a letter home right away?”

“Okay.” Liang Shu pulled out a chair for him. “You write first, and afterwards, wait for Ku You to return from his busy military affairs and take a good look at him.”

But Commander Ku on the other side was not actually busy with military affairs. After listening to the Dayan love story that Gao Lin told him, he was shocked, and asked three or four times in a row: “Either I’m deaf or you’re crazy. The prince and Second Young Master Liu, is this okay?”

“You’re not deaf and I’m not crazy.” Gao Lin grasped his shoulders and said, “There is nothing wrong with this. Second Young Master Liu has excellent medical skills, is patient and meticulous, has no temper at all, and also looks like an immortal. He is a suitable match for our prince, a match made in heaven.”

Ku You’s mind was still a mess. Mainly, he felt that although he was in the Southwest, his grasp on information coming out of the Central Plains was very accurate, and he could adjust the troops at any time according to the current situation. But now that the prince was here, nothing that happened was in line with his own cognition, so he fell into deep melancholy and reflection. Who am I, where am I, is the information I found out before really all correct?

Thus, he couldn’t help but ask again: “Really?”

Gao Lin simply brought him along to convince him through observation. The two sneaked into the main courtyard like thieves and slowly poked half their heads above the bushes. When they looked across, the window was half open. Liu Xian’an was sitting at the table writing, and Liang Shu was pressing paper and grinding ink for him.

“See?” Gao Lin nudged Ku You’s elbow. “That is to say, your broken house has been repaired in a very unromantic way. Were it to be replaced with carved mahogany windows, and weeping willows planted all over the courtyard, it would be just like having a tryst with a lover.”

Ku You was still very skeptical, because both the prince and Second Young Master Liu were frowning, and it didn’t look like they were speaking words of love. Hearing what he said, Gao Lin craned his head to take a second look. The heads of the two grew like mushrooms, and Liang Shu said: “Come in!”

Gao Lin said with certainty: “The prince is in a good mood today.”

Ku You was puzzled: “How can you tell?”

Gao Lin had rich experience in this area, because usually the word “scram” would come prior to the words “come in,” but this time it was not.

Ku You was speechless, and stood up, saying, “Then you scram, I’ll go.”

Gao Lin kicked him on the buttocks, and the two military officials rushed into the front hall without dignity, all smiles: “Your Highness.”

“Sit there.” Liang Shu ignored Gao Lin and pointed Ku You to the bench. “How are your eyes?”

“Eyes? Fine, ah,” Ku You said. “It’s only that I read military reports for a long time and feel a little dizzy.”

Gao Lin thought to himself, how normal is this, that dense nonsense makes me dizzy too.

Liu Xian’an asked: “May I examine Commander Ku?”

Ku You nodded: “Naturally, Second Young Master Liu may take a look.”

Liu Xian’an washed his hands, then opened the other party’s eyelids for examination. He had never examined a person with an eye disease before, and even fewer golden eyes. At most, he had picked up a wild cat that had slipped into the waterside pavilion and exchanged stares with it, marveling at the beauty of the cat’s eyes. But Ku You’s eyes were more beautiful than the cat’s eyes, like pale golden gemstones rolled in stardust.

Ku You asked: “Miracle Doctor, am I all right?”

Liu Xian’an sat up straight: “You have something wrong with you.”

Ku You: “……”

Gao Lin also stepped forward to look at his eyes, and said to Liu Xian’an: “But the eyes of all of A-You’s family are like this.”

“It isn’t golden eyes, but gold blindness.” Liu Xian’an explained: “I wrote a letter to my family member just now and asked him to come to Garrison City and diagnose Commander Ku. His method of removing cataracts is very precise. This is not a serious case, it is only that it is a trial for some doctors, so don’t worry too much.”

Ku You sat on the bench, still not convinced that he had an eye disease, but seeing that the prince and Gao Lin seemed to place great trust in Miracle Doctor Liu, his heart was shaken, and he tentatively asked: “What will happen in the most serious case?”

Liu Xian’an: “Blindness.”

Ku You sucked in a breath of air: “No, I can’t be blind. If I go blind, those Baifu Sect grandchildren will celebrate in circles.”

Gao Lin asked: “Are they still offering a reward for you?”

“It’s not just me. As long as someone is in charge of exterminating the cult and has a military position, they are willing to pay a lot of money for their heads.” When speaking of this matter, Ku You’s voice sank. “I just lost a brother last month, and when I heard the news and brought people to rescue him, it was too late. The person who killed him was Wumeng Yunyou. He just turned sixteen, but his status in the Baifu Sect is already extremely high. He never preaches, and only kills people who choose not to believe in the Baifu Sect.”

The other three people were not unfamiliar with this name, because when he was in Baihe City, the Baifu Sect disciple tried to kidnap Liu Xianche, but ended up kidnapping Liu Xian’an. He had also called himself Yun You.

Wumeng was a Southwest surname, and had produced many famous frontier generals, but this was the first time it had produced a killer cultist. Ku You said: “He also has a younger sister named Wumeng Yunle, who is said to have a very beautiful and elegant appearance. She was just chosen as a saint a while ago, and is also the successor of the Baifu Buddha Mother.”

Although beauty did not directly kill people, it was an extremely useful tool. People always yearned for beauty. If the Baifu Buddha Mother was a beautiful girl, then the sect she represented would share in the same beauty. Conversely, if the Baifu Buddha Mother was Aunt Mou Cuihua in Huaizhen City, slapping her thigh and greeting your eighteen generations of ancestors, it may not be the court’s concern to suppress this religion.

Liu Xian’an asked: “How beautiful is she?”

Ku You said: “Although I have never seen the rare beauty, since Wumeng Yunle was elected, the number of followers of the Baifu Sect have indeed increased dramatically. There are no few people who are willing to lose their fortunes and make the journey just to see her.”

“Then start investigating this brother and sister pair,” Liang Shu said. “Go find all the files related to them first, and give them to Gao Lin to read. You have a good rest, and don’t use your eyes too much in the near future.”

Lieutenant General Gao: “…….”

Ku You nodded, asking again: “Second Young Master Liu, how long will it take for my eyes to deteriorate?”

Liu Xian’an said: “Three months. After my brother receives this letter, if he speeds up his horse, he will be able to make it in time. His riding skills are very good.”

How good it was to be particular. When treating patients outside, it was common for one person and one horse to carry a medicine box on their backs and traverse snow-capped mountains and rivers. Thinking about it this way, the children of Baihe Mountain Village were truly hard-working. The entire family only had Second Young Master Liu who ate and slept like a rice weevil. Nowadays, even if His Royal Highness Xiao Wang forcibly lifted him up to move around, he would still lie in the carriage to eat snacks and carry a stove in his arms, very luxurious.

Ku You took Gao Lin to the study, leaving Liang Shu behind to ask: “Three months, is that true?”

“Not necessarily. It should be up to three months,” Liu Xian’an said. “But he’s in a relaxed mood, which is beneficial for the condition, so I said this first, and we’ll take it a step at a time. If Elder Brother is too late, I can give it a try.”

“Fortunately, you’re here.” Liang Shu sighed. “If he really becomes ill at this time, I truly can’t think of anyone who can take over. The military doctors here are also a bunch of wastes, and didn’t notice it earlier.”

“Commander Ku was born with golden eyes, so it is difficult to detect the illness. Besides, he really doesn’t have any symptoms right now.” Liu Xian’an cleared the table. “Shall we go through those files too?”

“Don’t be in a hurry.” Liang Shu pulled him to sit down. “You haven’t had a good rest in the past few days. I had someone stew some chicken soup, have a bowl first. We’ll go out for dinner later.”

Liu Xian’an asked: “How did the prince find out that I haven’t had a good rest?”

Liang Shu said without a change of expression: “I just looked at you.”

Liu Xian’an said: “A-Ning said something.”

Liang Shu crouched in front of him, rested his head on his knees, and said shamelessly: “If you want, you can also bribe Gao Lin. I have no objections.”

Liu Xian’an smiled and grabbed a lock of his hair: “Then I’ll sleep for a bit now. Would you like to join me, Your Highness?”

Liang Shu answered with considerable dignity: “This lord……will consider it.”

The result of his consideration was that they squeezed into the single-person bed in the room and wrapped the quilt around the two of them. He didn’t sleep well during the day, and the chicken soup was about to be simmered, so Second Young Master Liu said to His Royal Highness Xiao Wang who was lazily soaking in the hot spring, I’m leaving soon today, I can’t stay longer. The prince should also go back to sleep early, have you seen the tall palace on top of the mountain? I made this new just for you, and it’s filled with gems and herbs.

His Royal Highness Xiao Wang was still dissatisfied, frowning as he asked: “Where are you going?” After asking, without waiting for an answer, he stood up from the pool with a splash, and Liu Xian’an closed his eyes. He was innocent, but not completely innocent, so he opened his eyes a little, still wanting to see.

As a result, he didn’t grasp his strength well and overdid it, waking himself up.

He sighed somewhat regretfully.

Liang Shu hugged the person in his arms tightly, and asked: “What is it?”

Liu Xian’an replied: “I woke up from my dream.”

Liang Shu laughed: “Then continue to dream.”

However, Liu Xian’an couldn’t fall asleep. He dawdled for a while, then turned his gaze to His Royal Highness Xiao Wang’s lapels and stretched out a finger to reach for the slightly open neckline.

Without moving, Liang Shu let the other party pull away his belt bit by bit. After the under layer was opened, there was a strong naked body. Liu Xian’an laid down a little bit to regard it very seriously. After being stared at for a while, Liang Shu felt that it was time for him to wake up, so he made a charming, profound expression and reached out a hand to grasp his chin, asking: “What are you looking at?”

Liu Xian’an replied: “I’m looking at the prince’s muscles. They look very even, more even than the pictures drawn by my elder brother.”

---

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Chapter Seventy-One << Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Three

“…….”

Do you want me?

Having such a straightforward and touching invitation thrown out like this, Bo Yueming’s mind drew a rare blank.

He instinctively captured the lips of the person in his arms, and kissed him for a long time before he was rational enough to speak. “I want, of course I want—”

The never before heard low, hoarse tone was impulsive but even more restrained. “But you still have a fever and your arm is injured. You can’t mess around.”

Pei Yi pressed against him again. His cheeks were a little hot. “But I want you.”

He had already thought it through. The two of them would reach this point sooner or later, and now that they were one hundred percent invested, there was no need to distinguish “sooner or later” so clearly.

“Er-ge, just be careful.”

Pei Yi intermittently kissed Bo Yueming’s eyebrows, the tip of his nose, his lips, and his Adam’s apple, using the most sincere and clumsy method to attract his full attention.

“I’m not afraid of pain, and I know you won’t hurt me…..wu.”

His unfinished temptation was lost in a kiss.

Bo Yueming’s breathing was rapid, but there was a subtle coolness on his lips and tongue, like a turbulent sea sweeping in, wrapping his lover in his scent.

Pei Yi was only stunned for a second or two, and immediately clenched the collar of the other’s pajamas with his uninjured left hand, responding and giving him the most basic sense of security.

Their blending breaths swirled with heat, like a whirlpool suddenly appearing on the surface of the sea, sucking them into the abyss together.

The kiss ended.

Pei Yi realized that the two of them had changed their positions unconsciously. He looked up at Bo Yueming with faint longing at the tips of his eyes.

Bo Yueming avoided his injured right arm, leaning over to kiss his lover’s soft red lips. “Are you sure? Tomorrow is Monday, don’t you have to go to work?”

Pei Yi hooked Bo Yueming’s arm with his left hand and leaned forward to lightly rub the tip of his nose, joking slyly, “In any case, I can ask for sick leave. Maybe it could partly count as a work-related injury?”

Bo Yueming was puzzled. “Work-related injury?”

Pei Yi said seriously, “En. As one of the representatives of YWY, I expressed my willingness to accept the invitation for a friendly discussion with a GM shareholder.”

Bo Yueming kissed him again. “Where did you get such a glib tongue?”

Pei Yi didn’t see any unease or nervousness in his eyes, and he became increasingly eager. “Er-ge, I’ve really, truly thought about it—”

“I want to have you completely, just as you have me completely.”

Bo Yueming tilted his head and rubbed his earlobe. “Call me something else, what did you call me on WeChat today?”

“…….”

Thinking of that call, Pei Yi felt even hotter all over.

Bo Yueming began to move his hands, and asked him coaxingly, “You called it so smoothly when we first met. Why do you refuse to call me that way now that we’re getting along with each other?”

Pei Yi was so excited that his breath shook, and his heated brain was dizzy. “In the past, I called it out for the outsiders watching. It was a joke, it doesn’t count.”

Bo Yueming continued to provoke him. “Then what about now?”

“Mmph.”

Pei Yi moaned in a broken tone, tightly grabbing Bo Yueming’s arm again.

He barely managed to grasp his last bit of reasoning in his dizziness, looking into those eyes that held a hint of provocation amidst pure love. 

“Husband, want me now.”

“……”

In the end, Bo Yueming couldn’t resist the invitation. The last string of restraint suddenly broke, and he instantly hurtled toward the edge of his control.

Pei Yi gasped, and fell into an earth-shattering kiss.

Desire climbed higher and higher, occupying their entire world.

. . . .

. . . . . . .

When Pei Yi woke up in a daze, his head was still dizzy and he couldn’t tell north from south or east from west.

“Er-ge.”

Upon making a sound, Pei Yi was taken aback by the hoarseness of his voice, and there was a trace of confusion in his sleepy eyes. Was this his voice? How did it get like this?

Footsteps sounded.

Bo Yueming returned with a glass of water. He saw that his lover had finally woken up naturally, and couldn’t help but speed up his pace.

“Awake?”

“……”

Pei Yi belatedly realized that his throat was a little hot, and stared straight at the glass of water in his hand.

Bo Yueming helped his silly lover sit up, and passed over the water. “Come on, drink some water first.”

Pei Yi gulped it all down vigorously, and didn’t feel that he had gained some sobriety until he drank the entire glass of warm water.

—Beep.

Bo Yueming at the side took his temperature and frowned. “You still have a slight fever. Are you feeling uncomfortable?”

Pei Yi shook his head, then nodded again. “It’s normal to feel dizzy after just waking up. What time is it, Er-ge?”

Bo Yueming replied, “Three o’clock in the afternoon.”

Pei Yi was startled. “T-Three o’clock?”

He automatically calculated the time in his mind, then straightened up without thinking about it, an inexplicable smugness in his eyes.

“Er-ge, you—” That’s not good, ah.

Pei suddenly recalled that process that was almost fierce enough to make a person pass out. 

Where wasn’t it good? It was obviously very good!

He changed his words in the middle of the sentence, the smugness in his eyes undiminished. “Hey, it looks like I’m pretty good too.”

Bo Yueming raised his eyebrows. “Pretty good? Where are you pretty good?”

Pei Yi’s self-confidence continued to increase, and he felt that his head wasn’t so dizzy anymore. “We did that kind of thing early in the morning, and now I woke up at three in the afternoon. Isn’t that enough to prove that my physical fitness is superb?”

Bo Yueming sighed and picked up his phone. “Look for yourself.”

“What?”

Pei Yi lit up the phone screen. There was a string of numbers on it—

Tuesday, 3:07 p.m.

“…….”

Pei Yi’s smug expression froze instantly, and he even faintly doubted life.

It wasn’t Monday?

But three o’clock in the afternoon on Tuesday?

He fell unconscious for nearly a day and a half?

Bo Yueming held back a small smile, and leaned closer to whisper, “There’s a kitten, ah, who was attracted so intensely and cried out so wantonly that it was too sleepy to wake up.”

“……”

The blood rushed back to Pei Yi’s brain in an instant, and he was too ashamed to speak. When he lowered his eyes in avoidance, he realized that there was a small needle mark on the back of his hand—

Although Bo Yueming had been careful enough in restraining himself, he had been restrained for a long time, after all, and once he indulged, he was a bit excessive.

Pei Yi, who was already suffering from a low-grade fever, grew hotter afterwards, and no matter how much he was called, he fell into a drowsy sleep. Bo Yueming could only ask a private doctor to give him an antipyretic injection.

Pei Yi came to terms with reality and his ego took a hit. His face flushed red, and his head became dizzy again.

He lay back down, pa, and simply pulled the quilt over his head like a shrunken kitten. “Don’t talk to me. I’m, I’m a little embarrassed.”

“What’s there to be embarrassed about between you and me?”

Bo Yueming patted his little head through the quilt. “Since you’re awake, you should at least get up and eat something first. You can’t leave your stomach empty for so long.”

After being reminded, Pei Yi indeed felt hungry.

He revealed his eyes again, and said with the innate stubbornness in his bones, “Then you’re not allowed to talk about it outside.”

Being made comatose for a day and a half?

If Li Yuan found out, he would laugh at him to death!

“I’ll never speak out about anything that happens between us.” Bo Yueming leaned closer and kissed his forehead. “Besides, you have a fever. Uncle Kai only just went to bed. He was frightened about your wound being inflamed.”

“Really?”

“I kid you not.”

Pei Yi managed to recover a bit of confidence, and got up, unspeakably sore. “Er-ge, I’m hungry.”

Bo Yueming responded softly, “There’s food prepared for you in the kitchen. Do you want to stay in the room to eat, or go downstairs?”

Pei Yi thought for a moment. “Go downstairs.”

To prove that he was all right — go downstairs! Must go downstairs!

Bo Yueming picked up the thick coat that had been prepared earlier. “Then put on your clothes and wash up. Do you want my help?”

Pei Yi paid no heed to the deep meaning in the last sentence, and just as he got off the bed, his legs suddenly went limp—

Bo Yueming seemed to have long expected this, and picked him up.

Pei Yi grabbed his shoulder with one hand, and came to a belated realization. “Don’t laugh! I, I injured my feet after being kidnapped, and I don’t have my strength.”

“En.” Bo Yueming played along with him earnestly. “You really don’t have strength.”

In the early hours of the morning before, he was struggling to crawl away, but because he had no strength, he was dragged back by him.

Pei Yi saw something wrong in Bo Yueming’s eyes. “I feel like you’re laughing at me inside.”

Bo Yueming denied it. “I’m not.”

Pei Yi didn’t believe him. “You’re really not?”

Bo Yueming helped him sit on the clean sink, and prepared the dental kit for him. “Wash up quickly.”

“Oh.”

It was inconvenient for Pei Yi to lift his injured right hand, and the efficiency of doing things with his left hand was much slower.

Bo Yueming waited patiently for him to finish getting ready. “Should I carry you downstairs, or do you want to stay in the room to eat?”

“Go downstairs, go downstairs.”

Pei Yi took the initiative to hug him like a koala, and smashed the jar. “Anyway, it’s not the first time I’ve lost face. I’ll stick to you and order you around.”

Bo Yueming kissed his lover’s moist lips and took him out of the room.

Pei Yi felt a little worried when he saw Inspector still curled up in the cat nest. “Er-ge, have you checked on Inspector? I think he must have been scared that day.”

Fortunately, it knew to hide when it couldn’t fight, and listened to his words that day.

Bo Yueming replied, “Don’t worry. I asked Lin Zhong to take him to the pet hospital for a checkup, and there’s no major problem. It ate canned cat food normally last night.”

While talking, the two of them had already descended the stairs.

Uncle Kai was still resting in his room, and when he heard movement, he immediately rushed out to check on the situation. “Ah, Little Sir is awake?”

“Uncle Kai, go back and lie down,” Bo Yueming instructed in a low voice, both out of concern and the need to give the ‘embarrassed kitten’ some space.

He signaled to the other servants to bring the food. “Eat, ba.”

Pei Yi drank two or three mouthfuls of light millet porridge to fill his stomach, and didn’t move the topic to serious business until the discomfort of hunger was eased. 

“Er-ge, you beat Bo Guancheng so hard in front of so many shareholders two days ago. Are you not pretending to be blind anymore?”

Bo Yueming nodded. “En, he knew about it before the shareholders’ meeting, otherwise he wouldn’t have united with other shareholders to put pressure on me.”

Pei Yi was puzzled. “How did he know? When did you leak it?”

Bo Yueming replied truthfully, “That day in the parking lot of the hospital. You went to have a private chat with Mr. Qin, and I saw Pei Huan when I returned to the car alone.”

“…….”

Pei Yi frowned when he heard that name. “Why is it him again? Did you reveal it on purpose?”

Bo Yueming didn’t deny it. “I threatened Pei Ruzhang at the door of the hospital emergency room—as long as I am still in the Bo family and Pei Huan stays with the Pei family, they won’t get any benefits.”

Pei Huan should be very attached to the life of a young master provided to him by the Pei family. He didn’t want to be kicked out, so he could only find a way to make something happen to Bo Yueming in order to relieve this threat.

“I deliberately exposed my secret in front of him. He likely turned around and told Bo Guancheng in order to use someone else’s hand to deal with me.”

Little did he realize that everything was under Bo Yueming’s control.

“Fuck!”

Pei Yi couldn’t hold back his low curse.

Realizing that he was in front of his lover, he pretended to be well-behaved and civilized.

Bo Yueming had already seen through his ‘little wildcat’ character, and urged, “Quickly, eat.”

Pei Yi nodded, changing the subject. “Er-ge, did the other matters work out?”

“Cheng Yangshan and Bo Lihui can’t escape, and even the dog skin plaster relatives of the Cheng family will follow along.”

Bo Yueming wiped his hands with a wet towel and peeled fresh shrimp for his lover.

“I heard people say that when they were taken away the afternoon before yesterday, Cheng Yangshan and Bo Lihui were lashing out at each other.”

Hearing of this farce, Pei Yi scoffed coldly. “This father and son are really alike, a dog biting a dog, ah.”

Sure enough, they were both selfish people, and would protect themselves in the face of disaster.

Pei Yi took a bite of the shrimp that Bo Yueming handed over, and murmured, “Cheng Yangshan is very old. Can he be put in prison? He’ll find someone to figure out how to release him from jail, won’t he?”

Seeing that the kitten liked to eat these, Bo Yueming continued to peel. “The ‘connections’ he has accumulated over the years are all for the Bo family. At this critical point, who is willing to find connections for him to be released on bail?”

Even if the law expressly stipulated that old people who had reached the age of seventy-five may be given a lighter punishment, if Cheng Yangshan came out again, what would be left for him?

Pei Yi sighed. “Ai, he’s lived most of his life and still fell into a trap of his own devising.”

It was clearly Cheng Yangshan himself who married in when he was young, but in the end, he became dissatisfied as time went by.

With everything he was given by the Bo family, he was still dissatisfied and ungrateful, and blamed Old Mrs. Bo for restricting him.

If he really had the ability, he could abandon all of this and start his own business. He had lived most of his life as a cheap person who wanted to look valuable, but in the end, hadn’t he become a talking point and laughing stock for others?

But having said that, Old Mrs. Bo was worthy of being a heroine, boldly loving and boldly hating!

Pei Yi looked at Bo Yueming with a trace of real jealousy hidden in his teasing. “Er-ge, I really envy you for having such a good grandma.”

Bo Yueming corrected, “You have one too.”

Pei Yi responded with a laugh.

The villa door opened, and Lin Zhong walked in hurriedly. He looked at the two people sitting at the dining table, and his footsteps slowed.

“Mr. Bo, Little Sir, you’re both here, ah.”

Lin Zhong replied, “Oh, the police called to inquire about Little Sir’s situation, and want to know if it is convenient for him to go over as quickly as possible to give a statement.”

The police had sent someone to inquire the day before, but Pei Yi had still been in a state of “sleeping and getting an injection.”

“I’ll go over in a while.”

Pei Yi bit the spoon lightly, and looked at Bo Yueming, hesitating to speak. “Er-ge, didn’t you have to go to the company these two days?”

“Grandma specially gave me a vacation. It happens that Sister Zhong Yi came back, and Bo Jiao can also fill in.” Bo Yueming explained briefly, responding to his inner thoughts, “I’ll accompany you there later. I also want to report to the police.”

Pei Yi didn’t react for a moment. “What?”

Bo Yueming reminded him, “Did you forget? I told you the chances are eight out of ten that the car accident was man-made.”

“……”

Pei Yi’s expression suddenly changed, and he realized the strangeness at once. “Er-ge, you’re saying that Bo Guaneng ordered the car accident?”

Bo Yueming surmised, “Pretty much. It depends on how the police interrogate him and if he confesses.”

Pei Yi quickly finished the porridge, and when he got up, it implicated an unspeakable place. He immediately pursed his mouth in a frown.

Bo Yueming saw this and smiled. “What’s the hurry?”

Pei Yi whispered, “It’s all your fault.”

Bo Yueming inquired, “Who was the one who asked for it?”

“…….”

Pei Yi was speechless.

Lin Zhong, who was eating this dog food, had nothing to say and felt that his existence was becoming more and more redundant!

. . . . . . .

As night fell, Pei Yi and Bo Yueming walked out of the inquiry room.

The leading police officer in charge of the case stopped. “Mr. Bo, Mr. Pei, don’t worry. Please rest assured that we will begin handing this over to the joint case once we have the first-hand evidence together.”

Li Gui had been arrested, and was stubborn. He refused to confess other things in order to mitigate his crime, but the call records on the mobile phone still betrayed him.

As for the two younger brothers who were brought by Li Gui, they said everything they had to say early on.

The evidence of that day’s kidnapping was solid, and Bo Guancheng, the mastermind, could not escape legal punishment.

It was just that the man-made car accident had yet to be verified and confirmed. After all, what police were most concerned with was evidence.

“Many thanks, apologies for the inconvenience.”

“You’re welcome, this is our duty.” The police officer wore a righteous expression. “Then I won’t see you off, you two go slowly.”

The two walked out of the police station lobby.

The cold, howling wind brought the night with it, and the temperature difference between inside and outside was so great that Pei Yi shivered.

Bo Yueming quickly took the scarf in his hand and re-tied it. “Are you cold?”

Pei Yi shrank his neck and smiled back. “I’m not cold, I’m warm.”

Bo Yueming reached out to touch his forehead. It seemed that the fever was gone. “Are you still dizzy? I’ll ask Lin Zhong to take you back to rest first.”

Pei Yi asked curiously, “Er-ge, where are you planning to go?”

Bo Yueming said bluntly, “To the hospital to see Bo Guancheng again. Grandma wants me to tell him something.”

The day before yesterday, Bo Yueming had lost control of his emotions for a moment and beat Bo Guancheng unconscious in full view. Perhaps he intended to use that sort of vicious character to “trick” him.

Thinking of this possibility, Pei Yi held his hand. “I’m not tired, I’ll go with you.”

Bo Yueming clasped his fingers tightly. “Okay.”

. . . . . . . 

Imperial Capital Central Hospital.

Bo Guancheng was lying on the hospital bed. His face was bruised and swollen, and his complexion had turned sallow and unsightly in just two days.

Suddenly, the door opened. 

Bo Guancheng glanced sideways, and after seeing the person clearly, he sat up from bed at once with a look of deep resentment on his swollen face.

“Bo Yueming, you still dare to come here!”

“…….”

Why wouldn’t he dare?

Who was the loser here?

Pei Yi was inwardly sarcastic, but obediently stayed by Bo Yueming’s side without speaking.

Seeing the two of them approaching, Bo Guancheng suddenly picked up the fruit knife on the bedside table and hurled it. “Get lost!”

The fruit knife hit Pei Yi’s foot.

Bo Yueming’s expression immediately darkened, and he kicked it back under the bed. “Bo Guancheng, it’s come to this point, and you still want to hurt people?”

“Hurt people? What did I do?”

As if thinking of something amusing, Bo Guancheng patted his colorful face twice. “My face is like this because of you. Just wait, I’ll do an injury appraisal report!”

He would never let the person in front of him get away with it!

Thinking that he had caught him, the malice and arrogance in Bo Guancheng’s eyes reappeared. “You don’t deny what you did, do you?”

Pei Yi’s eyes shifted slightly, and he wished he could go up and punch Bo Guancheng in the face again—

One shouldn’t be merciful when dealing with this kind of person!

He had clearly done so many dirty things and wouldn’t say a word, but wanted to bite back when he got the opportunity?

Sensing his lover’s impulse and fury, Bo Yueming lightly rubbed his wrist.

Pei Yi noticed his silent comfort and managed to calm down.

Bo Yueming looked directly at the malicious Bo Guancheng and admitted fearlessly, “One must admit what they have done. The car accident you planned in the beginning and the kidnapping you planned that day are enough for you to spend the rest of your life in jail.”

Bo Guancheng gritted his teeth, which pulled at his wounds. “You…..”

“I came here to tell you that I don’t regret what I did to you, nor do I fear your subsequent prosecution methods. Between the two of us, whose actions are more severe? You have to know.”

“……”

Bo Guancheng’s smile froze slightly, and he couldn’t answer for a moment. How could he not know—

The matter between him and Brother Gui was more serious. As for the few punches Bo Yueming gave him, he could just use “justifiable self-defense” as an excuse.

“Bo Yueming, don’t think that with the protection of the Bo family, you can be lawless! You say I engineered the car accident? Where is the evidence? Do you have any? Do the police have any?”

He had always been very secretive in his work, and never did it himself.

If Bo Yueming had evidence about the car accident, Bo Guancheng wouldn’t be here, but facing a cold interrogation!

Seeing his ridiculous internal struggle, Bo Yueming calmly changed the subject. “Bo Guancheng, have you ever thought that Grandma’s favorite heir was actually you?”

“……”

Bo Guancheng was taken aback, and made a sound of disbelief.

“She once told me that your ability is better than your father’s, that you are tactful enough to conduct yourself in life, and merciless when necessary.”

Compared to Bo Yueming’s cold, unsmiling demeanor, Bo Guancheng, the eldest grandson, was the most suitable of the Bo family children to take over.

“My background would inevitably be criticized. Grandma told me long ago — if one day she really couldn’t handle it anymore, she would have you take over her position as chairman and let me assist you in handling affairs.”

Bo Guancheng suppressed his astonishment, and blurted out his denial, “Who do you think you’re bluffing? Would you be willing to help me?”

“Of course not.” Bo Yueming didn’t lie. “You and I don’t share the same worldviews. We would never get along.”

All these years, the reason he was willing to work in the company was to show respect for Old Mrs. Bo and not disappoint her.

Bo Yueming had never coveted the position of chairman of Bo Group, and had even thought about waiting until Bo Guancheng took over. He would resign on his own, preferring to manage GM together with his friend Yan Cen.

Bo Guancheng was still disbelieving. “Impossible, how could she leave the position to me? How could you not compete with me?”

Bo Yueming asked back, “How is it impossible? Think about your name.”

Bo Guancheng, ‘become crowned.’

Although this name was chosen by Cheng Yangshan with shameful intentions, in Old Mrs. Bo’s heart—

Back then, she truly did hope that Bo Guancheng could shoulder the family business and take over the ambition hidden deep in her husband’s heart.

It was a pity that Bo Guancheng’s thoughts grew increasingly crooked, completely disappointing her in the end.

Bo Guancheng shook his head, denying blindly, “Impossible! Don’t try to deceive me! The only grandson she favors is you! I’m just a decoration! A decoration!”

Pei Yi had already figured out the key points, and concluded, “If you’re just a decoration, given Old Mrs. Bo’s temper, would she have given you the chance to join Bo Group?”

She would have cut off Bo Guancheng’s hopes from the very beginning!

Bo Yueming put the facts in front of him. “The grandson of the Bo family, the young master of the Bo family, and before I graduated, you became the youngest general manager of the Bo family.”

“At the beginning, she held out a project worth nearly one billion, just to give you good experience when you had newly graduated.  It didn’t even matter if you lost money. Is this not enough to make the matter clear?”

“…….”

Bo Guancheng’s hands loosened and tightened where he held the blanket, and his expression looked as if he had been slapped several times.

Seeing his changing expression, Pei Yi shook his head in amazement and lament—

You left your biggest backer, and now you have to get along with that soft rice guy!

If Bo Guancheng hadn’t thought too much and had concentrated on accomplishing things, perhaps the position of chairman would have already been his today!

Bo Yueming didn’t want to continue interacting with him, so he quit while he was ahead. “I came here today to relay a message from Grandma — you’re on your own.”

With that said, he took Pei Yi and left.

The sound of the door closing knocked hard on Bo Guancheng’s heart, shattering his self-understanding.

Bo Guancheng only felt that he had been pushed into an endless abyss, waking up from a dream into a rapid freefall.

It turned out that Old Mrs. Bo valued him? He was favored before? 

Bo Guancheng covered his face, letting the pain of his wounds wreak havoc. 

He laughed wildly and frantically, and a gleam of water overflowed from between his fingers.

Unwillingness? Regret?

Bo Guancheng didn’t know what was going on in his heart. He only knew that it was too late now!

---

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Chapter Seventy-Four <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Six

The villagers gradually lost control of their emotions, and the encirclement became smaller and smaller. Their bodies staggered and their wrists shook, poisoned wine splashing out of the cups, but none of it fell on Liu Xian’an. Because Liang Shu almost simultaneously shot out a cold light with a sweep of his hand as the soft sword in his sleeve emerged like a silver dragon coming out of a box, blocking the bowls of wine back without a drop leaking through.

“Drink…….ai!” One person was excitedly urging the two to drink, but was unexpectedly splashed in the face and mouth. The venom ate through his skin like acid, and he was so shocked that he grabbed his throat and squeezed aside to vomit desperately.

This small misfortune caused the scene to go quiet for a moment. The villagers stopped and looked at Liang Shu and Liu Xian’an warily, as well as the sword in Liang Shu’s hand. And in that short period of silence, the villager who had mistakenly swallowed the poisoned wine had already collapsed with convulsing limbs, his face a strange blue color. Liu Xian’an said: “It should be snake venom.”

“Kill these two demons!” A shout burst out from among the villagers!

“Kill the demons!” The people shouted, raising their arms.

Then, as if a hidden switch had been flipped, they suddenly became excited again and seemed to have forgotten that their neighbor had died just now. They poured the poisoned wine in their hands toward the two of them like a summer rain. Liang Shu grabbed Liu Xian’an’s waist and flew over the dark mass of heads in front of him, landing firmly under the trees on the other side.

Gao Lin, who had been standing guard at the village entrance, also led his people over. When they first heard the sound of the rattle drums, everyone judged that this might be another trap set up by the Baifu Sect, but Gao Lin only suspected an ambush, not such a big scene as this. “When it comes to the routines of cults, I’m really too naive.” While thinking such, Lieutenant General Gao swung his sword to sweep away a group of ruffians who had already drawn their knives, and turned to ask: “Your Highness, how should this be settled?”

Liang Shu suggested: “If you can ask such a question, why don’t you try to reason with them first?”

Gao Lin: “…….”

There was no way to explain the truth when the knives were already at their throats.

On Liang Su’s southern tour this time, although he didn’t bring many guards, every one of them was a master, and the group of strong men from the court were still following him inseparably. This small village contained more than a hundred people. Excluding the old, the weak, and the women and children who could not be hit, there were about fifty men left. If replaced by enemies, it would take no more than half an hour to clean them up.

But they were common people. Even if they were raising their knives to kill at this time, they were still common people. An Imperial guard turned sideways to avoid the long knife in front of him, but two people snuck up from behind. He was hesitating for a moment over whether to draw his sword, when a cold black wind suddenly swept in front of him with a crash. The attackers flew up with blood dripping from their mouths, landing on the ground one by one. The soles of Liang Shu’s boots stepped on the arms of the two men, and the sound of cracking bones was clearly audible amidst the collisions of swords and knives. Their shouts of pain were accompanied by hysterical curses. Liang Shu ignored them, kicked them under the trees, and turned around to say coldly: “Don’t make me save you a second time.”

The Imperial guard was ashamed: “……Yes.”

Liu Xian’an stood alone under the trees, and an older child noticed him, saying in a cruel, shrill voice that had not yet changed: “Skin him too!”

The little dolls shook the rattle drums in their hands, trying to drive away the demons with the sound, and picked up stones to throw under the trees. A group of old women also raised torches to burn the demons. Liang Shu turned back in time and drew his sword, sweeping it under the trees to the sound of miserable screams. He landed on the ground and glanced around with cold eyes, shocking the group of children and old women so much that they dared not move anymore. A few sporadic people among them continued to babble even though they couldn’t get up, “Kill the evil gods! Kill the evil gods! Baifu Buddha Mother, kill the evil gods!” They spoke tremblingly, timid and cringing, but the hatred in the glances they occasionally stole did not diminish by half.

Liu Xian’an gave a slight sigh.

Liang Shu asked: “Should we have mercy on them?”

Liu Xian’an replied: “A little, but not much.”

Gao Lin was listening and thought, a little, but not much.

It sounds humane without overdoing it. I’ll learn it and say it next time.

Second Young Master Liu was truly suitable for the prince.

The villagers were quickly subdued. They increasingly regarded Liang Shu and his party as evil gods, and their hatred and fear were clearly displayed on their faces. Some of them even spat at the guards. Gao Lin moved away from these watering cans in disgust, and asked Liang Shu: “Your Highness, did the Baifu Sect put this group of people here just to repulse us?”

“Yes,” Liang Shu said. “They can’t do anything else.”

There were many rattle drums scattered on the ground. Liu Xian’an picked one up with a handkerchief and asked an older child: “Did you make these yourselves, or did they give them to you?”

The other party didn’t answer, but cursed at him in a dirty manner, then pulled out a provocative smile. Liang Shu frowned slightly. The guard to the side understood and pulled the soft whip from his waist, waving his hand.

A bloodstain bloomed. The child cried out in pain, and his parents also shouted anxiously in the crowd. The guard raised his hand and whipped again, this time toward the ground, which caused dirt to splatter and gravel to fly. This shocked the adults into silence, and the child was the only one still shouting loudly: “You adults hit me, a child!”

Gao Lin smiled at the sound: “How old are you this year?”

Given an opportunity, the child shouted loudly: “I’m only ten years old!”

“Ten years old?” Liang Shu looked at him. “At the Northwest camp, some herdsmen send their seven and eight-year-old sons there. Some children are so small that they can’t even climb on the back of a horse, but they can still carry big bags and follow the army on foot when marching and fighting. They are born into poverty, and feel that they can enter the military camp and have enough food to eat, read books, and practice martial arts, so they work hard. All of them are trained to be strong and righteous, and are good at riding and shooting. Those are the good boys that Dayan needs. However, the southwestern region is rich in food and clothing, there is no border turmoil, and the Bai river is not flooding. Instead, you have raised such a big, ignorant waste!”

The child was stunned by the scolding, and his chest heaved in anger. Due to the pain in his body, he didn’t dare to shout “evil gods” anymore, so he just stared fiercely at Liu Xian’an — he was also discerning, and among the crowd at the scene, this one looked the kindest and weakest. But evidence turned out to prove otherwise, because he was whipped again soon after. He screamed in pain and only cried: “You, why don’t you adults leave us alone?”

“It is because you are still young and can be saved that the prince is willing to discipline you personally,” Gao Lin said. “As for the rest.” As he spoke, he turned and glanced at the villagers under the trees. “You are things that will only grow older, not wiser. Life in the Southwest is stable and prosperous, and border trade is developed. If you want to live a long life and get rich, there are many ways to do so the right way, but you chose the wrong way.”

“Baifu Buddha Mother saves all living beings!” Someone shouted.

Gao Lin wasn’t even interested in shutting him up, and turned around to ask Liang Shu for instructions: “Your Highness, should the government take all the villagers away?”

“As soon as possible,” Liang Shu ordered. “After being taken back, those who can be persuaded and whose minds are working will still be temporarily imprisoned and do hard labor nearby for a few years. Those who still single-mindedly seek their religion will all be exiled to the mines in the north. Since they have the energy to chant their mantras here, that energy shouldn’t be wasted.”

“Yes!” Gao Lin ordered the guards to take the Imperial token and hurry to the local government. At this time, the crowd was still in commotion. The northern mines, perhaps the most unforgiving mines in the whole of Dayan, were covered in heavy snow and ice in winter and were thousands of li away. Someone cried: “My parents are already sixty years old and can’t walk. What is the difference between this and murder?”

Liu Xian’an said: “Your parents were able to try to burn me with torches, so it isn’t that they can’t walk, but that they walk more slowly.”

Gao Lin gave a laugh, pfft, and after laughing, he felt that this occasion should be more serious, so he cleared his throat and frowned at the man, saying: “Not to mention sixty years old, even if you were six hundred years old, can you break the law with impunity? In my opinion, your parents have lived decades longer than you but still don’t know right from wrong, so they should be sentenced more severely. My family’s prince has never bought such tricks as relying on youth and old age. If you want a lighter sentence, the only way out is to cooperate with the Imperial court’s investigation and clear up the Baifu Buddha Mother in your mind as soon as possible, and stop dirtying the ears of my family’s young master!”

My family’s……young master.

Liang Shu felt that he should consider giving him a raise.

Whether the villagers had been scolded to sobriety was hard to say, but they were at least scolded silent.

The guards kept watch on the area with their swords. The government office was not nearby, and even if they hurried, they should not arrive until noon the next day. Liang Shu didn’t want Liu Xian’an to stay in this strange, dirty village any longer, so he went back to the woods outside the village with him.

Liu Xian’an asked: “Will the prince continue to interrogate them?”

Liang Shu said: “No need, Gao Lin knows what to ask.”

Liu Xian’an nodded, feeling a little hungry.

Liang Shu smiled and patted him on the shoulder, then gathered a pile of dry firewood in the forest and lit it. He took a package of meat out of the carriage and slowly roasted it, saying: “It’s true that nothing can delay your eating and sleeping.”

“There are things that can delay them.” Liu Xian’an said beside him and imitated him by baking a piece of biscuit. He was indeed able to eat and sleep most of the time, but there were also a few times he was unable to eat or sleep all night, all because of His Royal Highness Xiao Wang — he was reluctant to fall asleep and was not at ease, worrying about having to work in his dreams.

Liang Shu asked: “What things? Let’s hear them.”

Liu Xian’an refused: “Won’t say.”

Liang Shu put his arm around his shoulders, coaxing: “A forty-eight thousand-year-old immortal who is rich in experience has nothing to say?”

Liu Xian’an remained calm and kept his mouth shut.

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll make wild guesses.” Liang Shu cupped his face. “Were you thinking about me so much that you couldn’t sleep?”

He was just speaking randomly, and never thought he would get it right. A forty-eight thousand year-old immortal had not cultivated a forty-eight thousand year-old face. In this respect, Second Young Master Liu was still very young. Looking at his sweetheart at such a close distance, his heart was poked, and he blushed. Liang Shu seemed to have discovered a secret treasure stash: “No, you really think about me so much?”

But Liu Xian’an thought, this is human nature. That is to say, love is annoying, and you will think about someone when they’re out of sight. It is written like this in poems.

Liang Shu embraced him tightly: “That being the case, how about I don’t go back to my own place to sleep, and just stay at your bedside all night?”

Liu Xian’an’s ears itched because of what he said, so he turned his head to hide, but the other party refused to let go, so he could only say something like: “I’m hungry.”

Liang Shu continued to wrap the man in his arms in order to keep him warm, and leaned over to take something from the fire for him to eat. With food in his stomach, the chill in his bones that had just set in at the village dissipated a little, and he was much more comfortable. Liu Xian’an said: “I don’t know how many similar villages there will be farther south.”

“Even if there are one hundred or one thousand villages like this, they are not difficult to handle,” Liang Shu said. “The tricky part is the Baifu Sect. It is like a giant queen ant hidden deep underground, continuously spawning batches of victims. If it is not completely eradicated, there will never be peace in the Southwest.”

His voice was very soft when he spoke, without any hostility, and when he gave a light sigh, it was like a sigh of exhaustion. Liu Xian’an reached out to touch the side of his face, caressing it a bit. Liang Shu felt his care and distress, and pushed forward to get closer to him, their faces nearly touching.

The mountain wind rustled the trees in the forest, and winter in the Southwest was not very cold. The two of them snuggled up to each other by the fire, and their hands and feet were warmed up. It was rare for Liu Xian’an not to feel drowsy from being baked by the fire, and he stretched out his hand to let Liang Shu rest his head on his shoulder.

There was quiet a sense of being dependent on each other.

Everyone slept in the woods overnight. At noon the next day, the local official came with a bunch of people who were scared witless. He fell off his horse, and when he met Liang Shu, he almost wet his pants in fear. He knew that there were many cults in this world, but why were there so many? All of the people in the village were brainwashed and raised their knives to kill His Royal Highness Xiao Wang. This……they might as well kill themselves too!

“I will leave further investigation to you, and if you achieve results, this lord will spare you the crime of dereliction of duty this time,” Liang Shu said. “Persuade the people of this village if you can, and the ones who remain stubborn will be considered cultists, so there is no need to waste words.”

“Yes, yes, I will do my best!” The official had already determined that he would be beheaded, and now that he had recovered his life in the wake of this catastrophe, he nearly cried. “Your Highness, just rest assured!”

He kowtowed here, with the villagers on the other side still cursing and chanting scriptures endlessly. The official was so dizzy that he ordered his subordinates to shut them up and arrest them. A guard of Xiao Wang Palace was also anxious, and said: “It’s been a whole night, why aren’t these people tired? Do they really think they can talk people to death with just their mouths?”

“You can really talk people to death with your mouth, but not with this kind of wording.” Gao Lin tossed over a steamed bun. “Eat, then continue on your way.”

The guard asked: “Then what kind of wording?”

Gao Lin looked toward the other side, where Liu Xian’an was talking to A-Ning under a tree: “Look, that’s the way it is said.”

But Second Young Master Liu himself didn’t think he was too talkative. He didn’t have a good rest last night, so his neck was sore and his head was dizzy. While massaging his shoulders and neck, A-Ning asked: “The young master was holding the prince for the whole night?”

Liu Xian’an said: “Yes.”

A-Ning found this unbelievable: “But the young master usually sleeps lying down, and even has to change position seven or eight times per night.”

Liu Xian’an explained: “Because there is usually no prince there when I sleep.”

After speaking, he was so tired that he climbed back into the carriage to catch up on sleep. Gao Lin sneaked over to acquire information, and asked: “What were you talking about just now?”

A-Ning answered truthfully, saying that there was usually no prince when he slept.

Gao Lin slapped his thigh deep in his heart. I knew it, Second Young Master Liu’s hazy and distressed expression just now must have something to do with my prince. I’m so clever and witty. He immediately took this news as if offering a treasure, and said to Liang Shu: “Second Young Master Liu regrets that there is no prince when he usually sleeps.”

This sentence could be broken down into two parts. “There is usually no prince” was said by A-Ning himself, and the “regret” part was summarized by Lieutenant General Gao himself because of that distressed look. It must not be very much different from regret, and couldn’t be explained as happiness, right?

Liang Shu praised: “After returning to the Northwest, go to the accountant for a raise.”

Lieutenant General Gao had gone through many ups and downs during his years of life, but this was the first time he made such easy money. 

The mountain road became increasingly rugged as they went farther south. When they arrived at the Southwest garrison military camp, it was already approaching New Year’s Eve.

This city was called Garrison City. There were no civilians in residence, but soldiers and their families. Ku You personally led the army out of the city to meet them. Wearing silver armor and riding a white horse, he held a long spear, and had silver hair and golden eyes. With this appearance of somewhere between a demon and a god, it was no wonder that rumors about him spread everywhere in the Southwest and even the entire territory of Dayan.

“Your Highness.” He got off his horse and was about to salute, but was grabbed by Gao Lin, who said, “Kneel when your old injury is healed, or I’m afraid you won’t be able to get up.”

“I’m already better.” Ku You handed the spear to a subordinate, and personally led the horse for Liang Shu. The sun was just right on this day, and when he looked up, his eyes reflected the light like a cat’s or a leopard’s, and Liu Xian’an behind him was taken aback for a moment.

A-Ning also noticed it, and whispered: “This Commander Ku’s eye disease seems to be very serious.”

“It’s very tricky, and needs to be treated as soon as possible,” Liu Xian’an said.

A-Ning asked again: “Can the young master cure it?”

Liu Xian’an shook his head: “Although I know medical principles, this disease requires surgery, and I have never cut an eyeball myself.”

A-Ning had actually gone to observe several cadaver dissection classes, but that wasn’t enough either. The two of them just put their heads together and murmured. Ku You also noticed this, and asked: “Brother Gao, are those two people in the back the rumored miracle doctors?”

“Yes.” Gao Lin said, “I’ll ask Second Young Master Liu to take a look at your old wound for you. He’s a master. He treated our prince and tamed him.”

Ku You was puzzled: “Shouldn’t the miracle doctor be First Young Master Liu?”

Gao Lin said with surprise: “Aiya, you’re well-informed in these old Southwest forests. This matter is a long story, and we must start with our prince’s marriage.”

Ku You was happy to hear this. “I heard that the prince truly wishes to marry the lady of Baihe Mountain Village?”

As soon as these words fell, a piece of silver was thrown at Gao Lin’s head and smacked into his teeth. With sharp eyes and quick hands, Gao Lin snatched the small windfall from the sky and put it in his sleeve with peace of mind, saying in a knowledgeable tone, “This brother advises you to shut up.”

Ku You: “…….”

Their residences in the city had been prepared. Liang Shu naturally stayed in the main courtyard, and Liu Xian’an’s residence was also good, spacious and bright. However, it was far away from the main courtyard. Gao Lin was impressed, and asked: “Why don’t you just arrange for Second Young Master Liu to live in the wild forest outside the city?”

Ku You didn’t understand at all: “What do you mean by that? What’s this about arranging him outside the city? Isn’t this for the convenience of the miracle doctor to go collect medicinal herbs?”

Gao Lin was so choked that he couldn’t speak a word.

What happened, I didn’t notice you were this stupid in the Northwest, ah!

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Chapter Seventy << Table of Contents >> Chapter Seventy-Two