T/N: Thanks so much to VC3 for the donation! Your bonus chapter is up after this one!

Not long ago, Bo Yueming had received a message from Lin Zhong, saying that Pei Yi had gone to the “toilet” in a hurry, and then Zhong Yi, who hadn’t seen him for a long time, took the chance to greet him.

What Bo Yueming didn’t expect was—

That chat between him and Zhong Yi hadn’t lasted more than five minutes when Pei Yi hastily returned, and the word “husband” that he uttered sounded sour and jealous.

This unexpected harvest made Bo Yueming happy on both a physical and mental level. He looked at Pei Yi, who was about to become a shrunken kitten, and patted the empty seat beside him.

“Come here and sit down.”

In just five words, an uncontrollable smile still slipped out.

“…….”

Feeling mocked, Pei Yi ignored him and sat in another seat. He lowered his head and took a vicious bite, turning embarrassment into appetite.

Lin Zhong remembered an important matter and approached Bo Yueming, explaining in a low voice, “Mr. Bo, Little Sir and I went up to the second floor just now. Chen Shun and his son-in-law are in the room at the end of the corridor!”

Bo Yueming’s attention was drawn back by the assistant’s words, and his brow furrowed slightly—

When Chen Shun left with a bad expression just now, Pei Yi hurriedly “went to the bathroom.” He guessed that this person had gone to investigate for him.

Bo Yueming asked, “Did you hear anything?”

Lin Zhong replied, “I don’t know for now. Because it was a one-way exit, I was afraid of creating trouble, and also feared that Little Sir would be implicated, so I tossed a recording pen into the decorative plant by the door.”

Hearing Lin Zhong’s explanation, Bo Yueming asked more rigorously, “Is there any content of your past work on the recorder? Be careful not to be spotted by that old fox.”

“No, it’s clean.”

Lin Zhong would transfer the content of meetings to his computer every evening, then delete it on the recorder so that it didn’t take up memory. Even if they checked the brand of the recording pen, it would not be easy to spot him.

If the recording didn’t capture key information, they could just go on as if it hadn’t happened; and if some key information was recorded, they could prevent problems before they arose.

“…….”

Bo Yueming’s intuition told him that there would be something strange on it. “Well done. Keep an eye on it.”

“Yes.”

Seeing the interaction between Lin Zhong and Bo Yueming, Pei Yi didn’t have to think too much to understand what they were talking about. He finished eating a small cupcake, and finally managed to suppress the heat all over his body a little bit.

Suddenly, Pei Yi noticed a gentleman in a black suit whose gait was a little off when he stepped with his left foot.

Less than thirty seconds later, the gentleman walked up to Bo Yueming’s side. “Mr. Bo, Little Mister Pei, hello.”

Hearing the unfamiliar voice, Bo Yueming quickly brought a trace of coldness to his expression.

As the assistant, Lin Zhong asked in his stead, “May I ask who you are?”

“I am Zhang Shunzhi, Chief Assistant of the You Group.” The gentleman introduced himself, looking around vigilantly. “Mr. Bo, I wonder if you are free now? Our Director You would like to treat you to a drink.”

Director You?

The name of this person instantly popped up in Pei Yi’s mind. He was the newly appointed Executive Director of the You Group who “broke through the siege” at the beginning of the year—

“You Qinian?”

The name Pei Yi had thought of was simultaneously spoken by Bo Yueming.

“Yes.”

Zhang Shunzi was appropriately direct.

A dark glow flickered deep in Bo Yueming’s eyes, once more hidden beneath the lenses. “I must bring these people with me.”

Although Zhang Shunzi was taken aback, he responded, “Of course.”

Lin Zhong, who was on important business, got the location and stayed put temporarily.

Bo Yueming, Pei Yi, and the others left the exchange hall and took the elevator to the twelfth floor. When the elevator door opened, Pei Yi realized that there was something strange about this floor—

After passing through the anti-theft door, a private restaurant with extremely stylish decorations appeared unexpectedly. The walls on two consecutive sides were made into wine walls with the same decorative theme, extravagant and rich, even more extravagant than Bo Yueming’s collection in the Imperial Capital villa!

Pei Yi stared straight at the dazzling array of alcoholic beverages, almost unable to move.

God!

How could there be such a beautiful place in this world?

Bo Yueming noticed that his kitten was about to make a move. Just as he was about to raise a hand and pinch the back of his neck as punishment, there was the sound of footsteps on the steel stairway nearby. 

“Mr. Bo, I have admired you for a long time.”

A slightly hoarse voice met his ears.

Pei Yi looked at the person coming down the stairs—

He had a tall, straight figure at first glance, and his hair was also meticulously groomed.

It was only that there was an obvious scar on the right side of his face that extended from his temple to the bridge of his nose, leaving the most unusual mark on an otherwise handsome face.

Perhaps due to the scar, You Qinian’s aura was particularly frightening.

“…….”

Pei Yi’s focus on the wine immediately shifted to the person who had arrived, and Bo Yueming, who was feigning blindness, was also also inwardly surprised by the acquired scar.

The other party stood before Bo Yueming, looked at him openly, and also didn’t forget to greet, “Hello, I’m You Qinian.”

After You Qinian spoke, Pei Yi covertly compared heights again, and the corners of his mouth slightly curved—

En.

Bo Yueming was still slightly better!

Feeling the aura of the person in front of him, Bo Yueming returned calmly, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Director.”

You Qinian withdrew his appreciative gaze, and there was a trace of invitation in his hoarse voice, “If Mr. Bo has time, can we sit and chat slowly? Want some wine? The brands on the wall can be chosen at will.”

They could be casually picked?

So generous?

Pei Yi exclaimed in his heart, and at the same time, heard Bo Yueming decline, “Director You, I don’t drink well, and dare not drink alcohol casually.”

You Qinian noticed Bo Yueming’s vigilance, and said calmly, “I thought Mr. Bo and Little Mister Pei were wine lovers. After all, they picked up a lot of good wine in Linshui Pavilion some time ago.”

He paused, then seemed to praise, “Few people in Wencheng can take advantage of Chen Shun.”

“…….”

Bo Yueming’s eyes shifted slightly when he spoke of this, and Pei Yi, who was accompanying him silently, also found it strange—

In a private restaurant like Linshui Pavilion, it was impossible for anything to leak, not to mention that from the beginning to the end of that night, they were sure that they did not see You Qinian.

Otherwise, if it was someone as impressive as You Qinian, it was impossible for him not to make an impression.

After some thought, Pei Yi realized one possibility, and Bo Yueming also grasped the answer. “It seems that the boss behind Linshui Pavilion is Director You?”

You Qinian generously admitted, “Mr. Bo can laugh at the small restaurant I started before taking charge of You Group.”

Small business?

That could be regarded as a small business?

Hearing this simple answer, Pei Yi said internally that You Qinian was not a simple person—

The other party had built Linshui Pavilion into the most famous private restaurant in Wencheng, and the customers who could afford to eat there were all rich and powerful people.

On the surface, this restaurant was a super high-end consumer venue, but it was also the easiest place to view the private relationships between the major families and enterprises in Wencheng. It was simply the modern version of a secret society, ah!

Pei Yi thought without speaking, while Bo Yueming was as steady as Mount Tai.

Seeing that Bo Yueming remained motionless, You Qinian could only show his own cards first. “Mr. Bo, I came to you today to discuss a partnership.”

Bo Yueming pretended to be puzzled. “Partnership?”

You Qinian pointed out, “You and I are intelligent people, and we know how to maximize the benefits of the Wencheng Sports Center project.”

Bo Yueming finally received the answer he wanted, and raised his eyebrows slightly. “Director You, how do you want to cooperate?”

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere of a stalemate dissolved quite a lot.

You Qinian slowly relaxed. “By the way, didn’t you bake an apple pie? Why not let Little Mister Pei and the others try it?”

Hearing this, Pei Yi subconsciously grabbed the corner of Bu Yueming’s clothes. “Er-ge.”

He was still not one hundred percent assured of the “partnership” You Qinian spoke of. Lin Zhong hadn’t come yet, and if the bodyguard left, what if the fierce-faced You Qinian tried to attack Bo Yueming?

Sensing Pei Yi’s concern for him, Bo Yueming gently squeezed the hand holding the corner of his clothes. “It’s fine, go, ba.”

You Qinian saw the relationship between the two, and subconsciously turned his gaze to Zhang Shunzhi.

Zhang Shunzi met his eyes and pushed his glasses up with a smile, inviting, “Little Mister Pei, please follow me.”

“……..”

Pei Yi naturally trusted Bo Yueming.

He hadn’t participated in the bidding process all this time. If he forcibly stayed put at the other’s side at this moment, firstly, it would not be easy for him to understand, and secondly, it would be easy to cause trouble during their partnership conversation.

Thinking of this, Pei Yi could only slowly follow Zhang Shunzi up to the second floor.

Bodyguard Sun Wei stood by the second floor railing.

Although he couldn’t hear the conversation on the first floor, Bo Yueming’s figure could be seen below. Once the situation changed, he could rush down in a timely manner.

On the left side of the stairs was a room specially made into a baking kitchen. The contrasting color layout of beige and orange made the whole space look particularly warm and charming.

Zhang Shunzhi was busy retrieving the apple pie from the oven.

Pei Yi looked at Zhang Shunzhi’s back, and his gaze unconsciously fell to his legs—

Up until now, he still felt that the other party’s right foot was a little strange. Especially when stepping on the stairs, the weight and movement of the two feet were inconsistent.

Having finished taking out the apple pie, Zhang Shunzhi turned around suddenly. Pei Yi had no time to look away, and was caught by the other party.

“……”

Pei Yi was uncomfortable for a moment, and simply stopped hiding it. “Foot?”

Zhang Shunzhi was taken aback, and then smiled helplessly. “I thought it was well-disguised, but I didn’t expect that I couldn’t even hide it from Little Mister Pei.”

He slowly approached Pei Yi, tugged on his slightly loose pant leg, and generously showed the condition of his right foot.

It was a prosthetic.

Pei Yi’s breathing cut off. He realized that he might have touched Zhang Shunzhi’s inner scar, so he quickly responded with his most sincere apology, “I’m sorry.”

Zhang Shunzhi’s understanding of Pei Yi was limited to the investigation data. But now that he had formal contact with him, he felt that Pei Yi had a pure, bright heart under the “foolishness” that others ridiculed him for. 

“Little Mister Pei, you don’t need to apologize to me.” Zhang Shunzhi was very open about his disability.

He didn’t know how much Pei Yi could understand, but after thinking about it, he explained it at conventional thinking and speaking speed, “This prosthesis is newly ordered, and I haven’t fully gotten used to it yet.”

Pei Yi nodded silently, and didn’t intend to pry into his deeper privacy. He felt like Zhang Shunzhi’s temperament and style of conversation did not seem like he was only an “assistant.”

Zhang Shunzhi thought that Pei Yi was still worried about Bo Yueming, so he put a small slice of apple pie on a plate and handed it over. “Little Mister Pei, give it a try?”

“You don’t have to worry, the scar on Director You’s face is an acquired injury. It looks fierce, but it is actually very easy for him to talk about.”

“…….”

Very easy for him to talk about?

Pei Yi felt that these words were spoken through a personal filter, but didn’t refute them.

He took a light bite of the apple pie, and the warm, sweet taste immediately hit his taste buds.

Zhang Shunzhi saw Pei Yi’s eyes brighten. “How does it taste?”

“Hm!”

The desserts at the exchange meeting were so-so, but this piece of apple pie tasted much better. Pei Yi was not stingy with his love, and took another bite.

. . . . . .

In the restaurant on the first floor.

You Qinian set the whiskey on the table in front of Bo Yueming and invited, “Mr. Bo, have some?”

Bo Yueming nodded slightly, but didn’t rush to raise his glass and drink.

You Qinian sat down opposite him and took a sip of liquor. “Mr. Bo, I won’t speak too politely. How about Bo and You form a bidding consortium, 50-50.”

He had checked the specific regulations in advance, and as long as the two companies reached a consortium before submitting the bidding documents, it would be in compliance.

Bo Yueming didn’t answer immediately. “Director You, since you want to win this project, why didn’t you cooperate with Shuntian Group?”

You Qinian saw that there was an element of deliberate questioning in Bo Yueming’s words. “Mr. Bo, I’m not sure how much you know about the situation in Wencheng? Compared with the Bo family’s absolute status in the Imperial Capital, the most competitive enterprises in Wencheng in the past ten years have always been Shuntian and You.”

The two families had deep grievances.

Unless Chen Shun fell and the executive director of Shuntian Group was replaced, then there was practically no possibility of cooperation.

Bo Yueming had a heart like a steelyard, and easily answered, “That being the case, why doesn’t Director You continue to compete with Shuntian Group, win or lose? Instead, you want to drag me, an outsider, into it.”

You Qinian understood Bo Yueming’s roundabout speaking skills—

That is, he was waiting for him to tell the whole story before he was willing to discuss the cooperation further.

A trace of determination flickered in You Qinian’s long, narrow eyes, and he said bluntly, “Mr. Bo, you are a person who was raised in a wealthy family, so you should know how ruthless the power struggles can be.”

You Qinian touched the long, thick scar on his face, his tone gradually sinking, “Although I have become the Executive Director of You Group, there are countless pairs of eyes watching my every move.”

“Only absolute strength can shut people up.”

Bo Yueming agreed with his second sentence. “So, Director You wants to win all competitions with Shuntian Group during his time in power. Even if he is giving up profits and finding someone to partner with, he must ensure that he wins?”

You Qinian paused, then bluntly stated his goal, “Yes, I want to suppress Chen Shun and his group all together.”

Bo Yueming was noncommittal. “Director You, it is good to be ambitious, but why do you think it is necessary for me to cooperate with you? You should have investigated me before, so you should know—”

“I’m just an abandoned son of the Bo family. I don’t have to take this Wencheng project.”

You Qinian set down his glass, and there was a hint of clarity in his hoarse voice. “Is that so? I thought Mr. Bo wanted to take advantage of the success of this project to return to Bo headquarters.”

“You would rather endure the ridicule of others and pretend that your eyesight isn’t perfect. Mr. Bo said that I’m ambitious, so what about you?”

“…….”

Bo Yueming’s jaw tensed for a moment, and his fierce aura instantly spread out.

You Qinian grasped the initiative, “Mr. Bo’s camouflage techniques are very good, but my mother suffered from an eye disease before she died, so I just have more experience in discerning such things than outsiders do.”

“Moreover, Mr. Bo wanted to raise his hand to touch his lover when he first entered the door, right? Although you quickly restrained yourself, you were unfortunately caught by me while I was standing on the stairs.”

“…….”

Lover?

Hearing this term of address, Bo Yueming finally took off the glasses blocking his eyes. His dark blue irises were no longer lifeless, and there was a rare evenly-matched appreciation in them.

“Director You, good to meet you.”

The same words, but with a different meaning.

You Qinian understood what he meant, and became more frank, “To be honest, this project is really too large. You can actually afford it, but I can’t take the risk of investing all my capital into it.”

It was good to be able to win the entire thing, but in case there were unavoidable misfortunes during the construction process—

The others in the You family who were eyeing him would take the opportunity to attack and try to drag him down from his high position.

Participating in the bidding in the form of a consortium could increase the chances of winning for both parties.

You Qinian, who had just taken office, could have some leeway, and Bo Yueming could also rely on the success of this project to return to a core position in the group headquarters.

Bo Yueming picked up the whiskey on the table. “Director You, cooperation is fine, but I request that the consortium be led by Bo and the interests be divided 4-6 in the end.”

“…….”

You Qinian’s eyes shifted slightly. “Mr. Bo, you have a big appetite, ah.”

In his envisioning, You should be the leading enterprise, and a 50-50 split was the greatest sincerity he could give.

Bo Yueming took a sip of whiskey, not denying it. “Director You, if I didn’t have much of an appetite, why would I sit here and discuss cooperation with you?”

“This will bring down Shuntian Group step by step and make You the leader in Wencheng and even the coastal areas. As for other projects in the future, Bo will never compete with you for the top spot.”

Bo Yueming put the whiskey back on the table and made a final ultimatum. “4-6, it isn’t too much.”

You Qinian’s jaw tensed imperceptibly, and it took him a long time to reply. “There are still three days. Let me think about it.”

. . . . . .

Footsteps sounded upstairs.

Bo Yueming quickly donned his guide glasses, and the cold indifference of “not being able to see” suffused his body again.

Pei Yi descended the stairs first. He saw Bo Yueming get up slowly and fumble around, and trotted to his side. “Er-ge.”

Bo Yueming grasped his wrist habitually, his gaze off-center. “Director You, if there is nothing else, then we will leave first.”

Seeing him pretend to be decent in front of Pei Yi, You Qinian suddenly felt speechless, but he quickly adjusted. “Mr. Bo, walk slowly.”

As an assistant, Zhang Sunzhi sent them out and then returned. “Qinian, is the deal settled?”

You Qinian dropped his defenses, cupping his temples that were about to explode. “Somewhat. Bo Yueming has the intention to cooperate, but the conditions he raised are harsher than I had imagined.”

Since he was stabbed last year, this injured temple would always hurt sharply in rainy weather.

Distressed, Zhang Shunzhi pulled him down to sit, “It’s fine if you can’t talk about it. Don’t hurt yourself, why bother to be obsessed with this project?”

“If I don’t snatch this project from Chen Shun’s hands and stop the mouths of those people with ulterior motives, I won’t be able to secure my position completely.”

If his seat was unstable, he would be at their mercy.

You Qinian hesitated to speak, “Such pain…..I don’t want to go through it again.”

Last year, when the You Clan’s fighting was at its worst, not only You Qinian’s face suffered an accident, but Zhang Shunzhi’s leg also suffered at that time.

You Qinian asked Zhang Shunzhi to sit down, and glanced at his legs. “It might be about to rain, does your leg hurt?”

“I’m fine.”

Zhang Shunzhi masked it with one sentence, and changed the subject. “I just got to know Little Mister Pei, and I think he’s quite interesting, as well as a very nice person. What do you think of Mr. Bo?”

“Younger than me by four or five years—” You Qinian shook his head. “Ambitious and able to control the overall situation. I wonder what the current patriarch of the Bo family is thinking.”

To actually regard a sharp blade like Bo Yueming as an outcast? How ridiculous.

You Qinian stopped there and gently said, “Sit down for a while, I’ll go get some hot water and apply it to your foot.”

Zhang Shunzhi teased with a smile, “Then I will trouble Director You.”

. . . . . . .

Bo Yueming and Pei Yi walked into the elevator hall, followed by Sun Wei, who was in charge of security. Sun Wei said, “Boss Bo, do you want to go back to the exchange meeting or to the parking lot?”

“Let’s go back to the parking lot, you can contact Lin Zhong.”

In fact, one of the main purposes of Bo Yueming’s decision to come to this exchange meeting was to try to meet You Qinian, who was also the director of a Wencheng enterprise.

He didn’t originally see the other party at the exchange meeting, so Bo Yueming thought that his plan had failed.

Unexpectedly, there was another way out.

As a landmark enterprise in Wencheng, Shuntian Group did have an advantage in this bidding. No matter how confident Bo Yueming was in his bidding plan, he was also worried about this.

Bo Yueming had been considering the feasibility of consortium bidding when unexpectedly, You Qinian actually approached him of his own initiative and incidentally “gave” the initiative to him.

Now that the initial negotiation with You Qinian had been completed, there was no need for him to stay at this Hongmen Banquet.

Pei Yi was unclear about the outcome of the negotiation between Bo Yueming and You Qinian. “Er-ge?”

“It’s fine.”

Bo Yueming held his hand firmly. “Let’s go home.”

“……..”

Pei Yi lowered his eyes to look at their clasped hands, and felt a warmth in his heart.

He thought back to the beginning and how Bo Yueming “disliked” this marriage, and he was not allowed to have physical contact or call out to him jokingly. But now everything seemed to have changed, and this could indirectly prove one point—

Hadn’t his own existence played a role? Hadn’t Bo Yueming not become withdrawn, twisted, and blackened like in the original text?

When Pei Yi thought of this possibility, he unconsciously tightened his grip. “Er-ge!”

The elevator doors swung open.

Aware of his hard grip, Bo Yueming replied, “What is it?”

Pei Yi was a little proud, and said inexplicably, “I’m amazing.”

Bo Yueming heard this nonsensical sentence and teased, “En, knowing to call me ‘husband’ is amazing.”

“……..”

Couldn’t this matter pass? 

Why did this person like to laugh at him recently?

Pei Yi took a deep breath and tried to shake his hand off, but failed.

. . . . . . .

The elevator quickly arrived at the underground floor.

Lin Zhong, who had already completed the task and come down first, was waiting at the door. He reported immediately after seeing Bo Yueming, “Mr. Bo, I have already brought back the recording pen. Chen Shun and the others didn’t find it.”

“When I left the exchange hall, I met Ms. Zhong Yi again. She took the initiative to leave her contact information and said that she would like to meet up with you again sometime and ask about the Old Lady’s situation.”

Bo Yueming nodded, without much to say.

It wasn’t until they drew closer to Lao Zhang’s car that he intentionally urged Sun Wei away. “Stay outside the car for a while longer.”

A trace of approval flickered in Pei Yi’s eyes as he understood what Bo Yueming was doing.

They had to confirm the news on the recorder as soon as possible, but Sun Wei had only been working with them for a day, so they couldn’t fully trust him.

Sun Wei fulfilled his duty and completely obeyed Bo Yueming’s arrangements. “Okay, Boss Bo.”

The door closed again.

After cutting off all possibility of prying eyes from outside, Bo Yueming cut to the point at once. “Did it record anything?”

“It did!”

Lin Zhong’s expression was indescribably complicated as he simply clicked the playback button of the recording pen. “Mr. Bo, I think you should just listen!”

The recording was a bit staticky, but it didn’t affect the clarity of Chen Shun and Pan Chenggong’s conversation—

Chen Shun’s anger remained undiminished. “I told you to change the batch of safety equipment last time, did you hear my words with deaf ears? How long has it been, and another life has been lost! Do you still want to live!”

“Dad, you, listen to my explanation, I really changed them out! Just, there are so many different batch numbers, and I didn’t know that there would be a fish that slipped through the net and caused something to go wrong!”

“You didn’t know? I think you know better than anyone else that you have the guts to deceive those below and above you! Get the hell out of the company today! Find a way to deal with it yourself!”

Pan Chenggong raised his voice pleadingly, “Dad! I really know I’m wrong! Xiuxiu is pregnant and about to go into labor, if I’m taken away by the police, she will be worried! Just help me one more time!”

“You……”

The furious Chen Shun remained silent for a long while.

During the pause in the recording, Lin Zhong told of the news he had found out. “Chen Shun’s daughter, Chen Xiu, met Pan Chenggong in university. They have been married for many years, and she only became pregnant this year.”

Chen Shun’s voice sounded, but this time it was nearly inaudible. Fortunately, Lin Zhong adjusted the volume to its highest point—

“If you pay the damages privately, you can directly pay double what the other party wants, and I will take care of the other things. You can’t let Xiuxiu know about this. If something goes wrong between her and the child in her belly, I’ll peel your skin off!”

There was the sound of a door opening and closing again.

Following this conversation, Pei Yi’s heart overflowed with disgust—

For the sake of your pregnant daughter, you want to do a favor for this money-loving son-in-law who disregards human life?

What about Qiao Dong’s brother? What about Qiao Dong’s pregnant sister-in-law and nephew? Qiao Dong’s father had to send his own son away! The lives of the rich were important, but the lives of the workers on the bottom could be ignored and trampled upon!

Coldness also condensed in Bo Yueming’s eyes. He decided after a little thought, “Lin Zhong, go to the twelfth floor again and tell You Qinian about the recorder and Qiao Dong.”

Since he intended to form a bidding alliance, some things should be handed over to more suitable people!

---

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

Liu Xian’an got up early and hadn’t eaten anything. On the way, he met a cook delivering food and asked for a steamed bun. The solid and slightly bitter yellow rice flour took a lot of teeth to bite, and he ate slowly while asking: “Is there still a shortage of food in the army?”

“If we can quickly attack Qianqu City, there will be no shortage, and there is just enough for the time being.” Liang Shu stretched out his arm to be used as a handrail, and the two climbed up to a high hill together. “I was discussing with Gao Lin this morning about sending you back to Baihe Mountain Village.”

When he heard this, Liu Xian’an was slightly taken aback, and after a long silence, he said doubtfully: “How long will it take to fight Qianqu City?”

“Not long.” Liang Shu said, “I plan to hand over Qianqu City to Hong Feng for him to fight.”

Lu Xiang had been dismissed for dereliction of duty, but the position of commander could not remain vacant forever. There must be someone to take it over temporarily, and Hong Feng was the best candidate selected by Liang Shu and Gao Lin from the army after so many days of observation. Liu Xian’an also felt that Qianqu City would not be difficult to attack, because Huang Wangxiang’s banner had already fallen and the rebel army had lost its backbone. And the two cities Qingyang and Sanshui had been captured by the Yan army with the force of lightning, which should have an enormous psychological deterrent effect on the rebels in Qianqu City.

He asked: “Since the battle can be resolved quickly, why are you rushing to send me and A-Ning back?”

Liang Shu was helpless: “Because the plan has changed. Emperor Brother sent a long-distance urgent decree last night so that I don’t have to go back to Wangcheng, and after the rebel army is wiped out, I will go directly to the Southwest to investigate the Baifu Sect.”

Investigate the Baifu Sect. These few words sounded simple, but they were a venomous constrictor that had been entrenched in the Southwest mountains for many years, and if they were not careful, they might be swallowed by it. The Imperial court had sent troops many times in recent years, but they were only knocks on the partition wall intended to deter them from being too arrogant. Liu Xian’an asked: “This is a provisional decision made by the Emperor?”

“It doesn’t count as such,” Liang Shu said. “Emperor Brother has been making arrangements in secret since he ascended the throne, the timeline has just moved up a little. To eradicate the cult and to divert the Bai River, these two events are his greatest wish. The Bai River may take many generations of working together, but that is not so for the cult. The Baifu Sect’s reach is getting longer and longer. If these ghastly claws are not cut clean, sooner or later the entire territory of Dayan will wither.”

Taking advantage of the security of the border at this time, he could free up his hands to take care of it.

When Liu Xian’an was lying in the waterside pavilion, watching the sky and sleeping, he just felt that his parents, brothers, and sisters were very busy every day. And now that he had met Liang Shu, he realized that ‘being busy’ could reach the height of a mountain.

Marching and fighting without sleep, now that the war was finally coming to an end, he was sent to the Southwest again before he could breathe a sigh of relief.

Whether the Emperor was a wise ruler, Liu Xian’an couldn’t discern for the time being, but he truly could see that the Emperor was very short of people around him.

Liang Shu asked: “Why are you in a daze again?”

Liu Xian’an swallowed the yellow rice bread in his mouth: “Then I’ll go to the Southwest too.”

Liang Shu gazed at him. Go to the Southwest together. This idea had also ignited in him for a short time, but in the end, he extinguished the flames. When carrying him back to camp under the moonlight last night, that body was light in his arms. Wrapped in a loose robe, he was slender and weak, very much like a weightless cat. So he would send him back to Baihe Mountain Village, ba, to that stable and wealthy town. Let him continue to eat and sleep, and watch the sky and clouds, and when he was tired of lying down, he could play chess and talk with those annoying white-bearded old men.

Liu Xian’an asked: “Why does the prince keep looking at me?”

Liang Shu said: “The forests in the Southwest lands are dense, with miasma everywhere. In the deep mountains where the Baifu Sect are located, there are even more snakes, insects, and rats crawling around.”

“Then I must go. The prince must have a doctor by his side, right?” Of course, there must be an army in the Southwest, as well as local military doctors. But Liu Xian’an thought, I’m different from them, I have to go.

Liang Shu frowned: “You cannot.”

Liu Xian’an turned his back to him and muttered, that’s your call, I have my own legs.

The sound was like a hum, but Liang Shu heard it clearly and grabbed his hairband: “Turn around, how can there be a person who brings suffering upon himself?”

Liu Xian’an said: “It cannot be considered suffering.” In ancient times, there were sages who sought the true, good, pure, and beautiful dao of heaven, traveling thousands of miles and walking barefoot all over the mountains and rivers. He himself would go to the Southwest to seek the same sort of pure new world. Wasn’t this very reasonable? Then he continued, “And the prince has promised to help me rearrange the worlds in my mind.”

Liang Shu knocked on his forehead: “I think you can come in and out freely now.”

“Not so, not so.” Liu Xian’an put on an act. “I still have a bit of a headache.”

Liang Shu didn’t expose his clumsy acting skills. Sliding his fingers down, he took advantage of the opportunity to pinch the other’s cheek: “You just want to go. What about those white-bearded old men who told you to do nothing and ignore the world? When it’s time to implement it, you throw it clean away.”

Liu Xian’an’s voice was pulled out by him – but the sages also say that if you go to rule the country and then leave it, there will be chaos.

In any case, I am going.

Liang Shu asked: “Just to save the country?”

Liu Xian’an tried to bluff his way out, answering: “Something like that.”

“Where is the point of difference?”

“Don’t know.”

“Then you are not allowed to go.”

“…….”

In the end, Liu Xian’an had no choice but to acknowledge that the point of difference was the prince. But admitting it was not enough, and His Royal Highness Xiao Wang continued to interrogate him about how many points that “point of difference” was. Liu Xian’an gestured that a cun was not enough, nor a chi or a zhang, and in the end, he could only point to the east, west, north, and south, taking in the entire world as far as he could see. Liang Shu was, with difficulty, satisfied with his own measure.

Liu Xian’an asked: “Then can I go to the Southwest now?”

Liang Shu nodded: “All right.”

After returning to camp, he told Gao Lin about the incident. Lieutenant General Gao sighed repeatedly, pulled the prince to a deserted corner, and persuaded him earnestly, didn’t we agree to send Second Young Master Liu back to Baihe City? Why did you suddenly change your mind? Asking for a wife is all about romantic surroundings, what the hell is a cult lair? There are dangers and miasma, who has the brains to take his sweetheart there? Is the prince menacing someone again?

Liang Shu was dizzy from his nattering: “Stay away from me.”

And A-Ning, as always, was very supportive of this decision. He said: “I think the young master should be with the prince.”

Liu Xian’an, half lying down: “En, I think so too.”

After lying down for a while, he wrote a letter to his parents at home, telling them that he must go to the Southwest. A-Ning was at his side grinding ink for him, and also leaned over to look at the two lines, reminding him: “Young Master, write a little more, ba. This time it’s all about the war and the cult again, the Village Master and his wife must be very worried. You must let them rest assured. En……just say that the prince has taken good care of us, and it is safe here.”

Liu Xian’an wrote as he said. The family letter reached the level of a family tree, and could be said to be thick. The letter described in detail how brave and invincible His Royal Highness Xiao Wang was, commanding troops like a god, and how caring and considerate he was to himself personally, voluminous and flowing, eloquent in every detail. A-Ning finally dozed off. Rubbing his eyes, he reminded, don’t just write about His Royal Highness Xiao Wang, also write about yourself, ah. Didn’t the young master also do many capable things in the war?

But Liu Xian’an had already dropped the brush. He was tired from writing and his arm was sore, so he went to the bed and lay down: “That’s all, ba. I don’t want to move.”

A-Ning was very regretful, and carefully sorted out the letter. Halfway through, Liang Shu’s voice suddenly came from outside, and he just watched as the lazy young master who claimed that he was “very tired, his arms were sore, and he didn’t even have the energy to write an extra word” immediately got up and ran out energetically.

“……”

After a short rest, the army struck out again and moved forward.

Although Miao Changqing was a rebel, due to his meritorious service in protecting the common people, along with his illness and old age, Liang Shu sent him to Kunzhou to work as a tomb guard there. 

Although it sounded bitter, Kunzhou had a warm climate and was a place where there was no shortage of food. There was also a Baihe Medical Center nearby, which could see him at any time, and there was no need for heavy work when guarding the tombs. Just living in the village amounted to a peaceful retirement.

As expected by Liang Shu, the battle for Qianqu City was fought without much effort. Taking advantage of the terrain, Hong Feng ordered the army to slow down its marching speed in order to confuse the rebels’ spies, and personally led three thousand vanguard troops to march rapidly from another direction and raid the city overnight. The leader of the rebel army was beheaded while still in a dream, and blood splattered three feet high.

This rebellion caused by floods and famine ended at the edge of this sword.

In a dark prison, Lu Xiang looked at the bowl of rice with a piece of fat before him. He raised his head and said: “You’re trying to kill me!”

Liang Shu said: “You are corrupted and took bribes, and were lax in governing, neglected your duties, and disregarded human life. Should you not be killed?”

“Only the Emperor—”

“It is the Emperor who wants your head,” Liang Shu interrupted him coldly. “Kneel down and receive the Imperial edict.”

Lu Xiang’s face was ashen, and he slumped to the ground: “Impossible, my uncle…..it’s you, you and my uncle have always been at odds, so you’re getting in the way. I want to face the Emperor for vindication!”

Gao Lin was amazed by his thick skin. You have the injustice of a fart. He ordered the jailer to go in and force the puddle of melting snow into a kneeling position, then opened the Imperial edict with a snap, and read it quickly. “Okay, take him out.”

“Liang Shu!” Lu Xiang shouted loudly, “You’re too arrogant! My uncle will not let you get away with this!”

Gao Lin kicked him until he was breathless: “You had better let your uncle off first, ba. This time, your beheading was personally requested by Lu-daren. He’s old enough to mop the floor with his beard, and he still has to take care of your mess. If you really have a conscience, your soul will drift far away after death and not frighten that hapless old man.”

Lu Xiang was dragged the whole way out, along with a continuous pattering of liquid. Gao Lin covered his nose and followed Liang Shu out to supervise the beheading. The people of Qianqu City were all there. The executioner went down and beheaded Lu Xiang, which also slew the corruption and dereliction of duty in the hearts of officials in the Baihe area.

Food for disaster relief had been shipped from all over the nation. The Imperial envoys were about to arrive, and refugees were being accepted in an orderly manner by local governments, so they could at least live through a winter that was no longer hungry or cold.

Liu Xian’an was sitting in a southbound carriage, holding a heater in his hands, his nose still red from the cold.

“I heard from Lieutenant General Gao that it’s already snowing in the north.” A-Ning also squeezed in beside him. “It would be great if we were in Wangcheng.”

Liu Xian’an also felt a little regretful, because it never snowed in Baihe City. He had never seen snow before, and his nose itched at the thought.

“Achoo!”

A-Ning picked up a cloak to the side and wrapped him up completely. The black fur was embellished with golden lace, very luxurious and exquisite. It was not of the same tailoring style as Second Young Master Liu’s usual robes, so one could tell it was something from the palace at a glance. And besides the cloak, the blankets, cushions, and pillows were all sent by His Royal Highness Xiao Wang.

A-Ning was baffled, waving his hands again and again: “We have them, we have them already.”

Gao Lin was resolute: “It doesn’t matter if you already have them, you have to keep them.”

The journey is long and the country is remote, and my prince really has nothing else to give. But this is his first awakening of love, the time where there are butterflies in his stomach and a little spark can cause a wildfire. He truly wishes that he could hold out all the good things in the world to his sweetheart, and after searching and searching, he could only find these. Although they look shabby and disgraceful, and your family’s young master may not need them, they must still be accepted.

A-Ning held a huge quilt in his arms. Feeling very dazed, he got into the carriage with great difficulty and said: “I tried to refuse. We have blankets, but Lieutenant General Gao ran after stuffing it into my arms, and I couldn’t catch up at all.”

Liu Xian’an spread his hands on the bed: “Give it to me.”

A-Ning crawled over and tidied up for a long time, saying with a troubled look: “I really can’t put any more down, our original quilt is not small. We should still return this to the prince.”

Liu Xian’an hugged his big quilt tightly.

Won’t return it.

---

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Chapter Fifty << Table of Contents >> Chapter Fifty-Two

It was soon time for dinner.

As a full-time housekeeper, Uncle Kai had always been a proficient cook, and could whip up a table of food alone even if he was busy.

At the long dinner table, Pei Yi deliberately chose the farthest place from the main seat.

Uncle Kai was a little surprised when he brought the soup over. “Little Sir, why are you sitting at the corner?”

He usually sat next to the main seat when he ate.

“Hmm.”

Pei Yi responded half-heartedly, pretending to be immersed in the food.

Not long ago, he was so stimulated from Bo Yueming’s words that he fled the sofa in a hurry, and his mood had not completely calmed down yet.

He didn’t know what was going on, but Pei Yi always felt that Bo Yueming was flirting with him intentionally or unintentionally. After thinking about it, he felt that his facial expression wasn’t right—

After all, when Bo Yueming spoke with such a face, eight out of ten sentences were enough to “kill” people!

Seeing that Pei Yi was sitting in the wrong seat, Lin Zhong and the others did not dare to sit indiscriminately. Driver Lao Zhong beckoned softly, “Little Sir, why don’t you go sit down?”

“…….”

Pei Yi played the fool and pretended not to hear. He buried his head in another bite of white rice.

Sitting at the main seat, Bo Yueming saw through him but kept silent. “It’s fine, everyone can sit down as you like.”

The head of the family had opened his mouth, so Uncle Kai and the others casually found places to sit.

Having just arrived, Qiao Dong didn’t dare to be too casual, and sat in a relatively farther back seat. Because it was far away from other dishes, he only dared to take a few bites of stir-fried vegetables with white rice.

Pei Yi, who was sitting on the side with no intention of eating, noticed Qiao Dong’s restrained expression after a while.

Getting up, he picked up serving chopsticks and a small bowl, and seemed to pick up dishes at random on the table. He plopped it in front of Qiao Dong, and didn’t forget to move over the untouched spare rib soup that Uncle Kai had given him.

“Eat!”

The resounding sentence attracted the attention of everyone at the table.

Qiao Dong, who had originally wanted to reduce his sense of existence, was startled. He imitated Uncle Kai, Lin Zhong, and the others, “L-little Sir, n-no need, you eat.”

In just a few seconds, his entire face had flushed red, and that appearance of “trying to be strong” from that day in the underground parking lot was nowhere to be seen.

Pei Yi was unmoved. “Eat, you’re skinny.”

“……”

He seemed to be picking randomly, but in fact, he paid attention to every dish, obviously because he feared Qiao Dong would not be full if he restrained himself.

However, after living together for so long, why didn’t Bo Yueming see the kitten getting things for him, the one with “inconvenient eyesight?”

Heartless little thing.

Bo Yueming endured the incongruous sourness, and gave Uncle Kai a look when nobody was paying attention.

Uncle Kai understood, and said with a smile, “Qiao Dong, you don’t need to be too restrained in this family. Your leg injury isn’t healed yet, so you should eat more.”

Qiao Dong relaxed slightly and looked at Pei Yi. “Thank you, Little Sir.”

Pei Yi saw that Qiao Dong was as old as himself, and was thinking about how to ask, when Lin Zhong smiled and said, “By the way, when I handled Qiao Dong’s hospitalization before, I found that he and Little Sir were born in the same year.”

“They’re the same age? Twenty-three?” Uncle Kai was surprised. “Which month?”

Qiao Dong nodded. “December 16th, I went to school later than most people.”

Uncle Kai said with a smile, “That’s half a year later than Little Sir. No wonder Little Sir takes care of you so closely. He probably treats you as a little brother.”

Pei Yi took a sip of water, thinking to himself proudly—

Without the “probably,” that was about right.

Pei Yi was twenty-five years old in the real world, and after transmigrating, he automatically lost two years of age, which made him the youngest everywhere he went. Even Bo Wang and Bo Jiao were a year older than him.

Now that he managed to catch someone younger than him, he suddenly felt that his status had risen!

“This is good, now that Qiao Dong is with the family and he is familiar with Little Sir, he should be able to chat with him for a while.” Uncle Kai continued to chatter away, “Otherwise Little Sir shuts himself up in his room watching cartoons all day.”

“…….”

Those final words came out.

Pei Yi’s pleasant mood suddenly collapsed, and he paused for a few seconds before burying himself in his food.

Bo Yueming smiled covertly. “All right, let’s eat.”

Qiao Dong looked at the small bowl of food in front of him and unknowingly felt a little more affection for Pei Yi. He let go of his restraint and began to eat.

Bo Yueming ate quietly, and the others didn’t talk much.

At the end of dinner, Lin Zhong got up to answer a call from Song Yuanyuan, and walked back not long after with a trace of uncertainty in his eyes. “Mr. Bo.”

Bo Yueming noticed his unusual tone. “What’s wrong?”

“Team Leader Song called. Chen Shun’s secretary contacted him ten minutes ago, saying that there is an exchange reception for enterprises in Wencheng this weekend. He wants to invite you to attend.”

The reason given by the other party was very good-sounding—

Although it was a foreign company, the current Bo Corporation had a branch in Wencheng, after all, so it was also a company from Wencheng.

“Since Chen Shun could get someone to make threatening phone calls to Qiao Dong, perhaps he is secretly monitoring his whereabouts.” Lin Zhong expressed his own analysis, and the expression of concern on his face remained undiminished. “We just now took Qiao Dong home, and then received a party invitation.”

Lin Zhong hesitated to speak, and changed to a more suitable phrasing, “It is said that as the head of enterprise in Wencheng, the annual exchange meeting is organized by Shuntian Group.”

“…….”

Both Bo Yueming and Pei Yi sensed something unusual, and their expressions changed slightly.

Qiao Dong, whose heartstrings had just loosened, instantly became nervous again. “Mr. Bo, m-me living here, will it cause trouble for you? How about I leave?”

Bo Yueming asked in a low voice, “Where can you go in your current situation? Will you leave Wencheng due to the threat?”

Qiao Dong was speechless.

If that was the case, where else could he seek justice for his brother?

Bo Yueming didn’t like to beat around the bush when speaking. “Chen Shun manages the Shuntian Group and has been in power for so many years. This isn’t about a small person like you.”

Pei Yi nodded imperceptibly—

Lin Zhong’s analysis was correct. Chen Shun must know where Qiao Dong was now, and feared that Bo Yueming would help him.

If there was a disturbance at this juncture of the upcoming bidding, it would definitely affect the Shuntian Group’s harvest of the “Wencheng Sports Center” project.

Thus, for Bo Yueming, this exchange banquet was likely to be a “Hongmen banquet,”^[1] 

Bo Yueming inwardly considered the pros and cons, and finally decided, “Ask Song Yuanyuan to tell Chen Shun’s secretary that I will arrive on time in two days.”

Lin Zhong frowned. “Mr. Bo, are you sure you want to go?”

After all, Wencheng was not the Imperial Capital. No matter how powerful the Bo family was, it would not be able to extend to here. Bo Yueming’s wealth and background in this city was probably insufficient.

What should he do if something went wrong?

Bo Yueming understood Lin Zhong’s implication, but the proudness of his features remained the same. “What are you afraid of? Even in the Imperial Capital, how reliable can my family background be?”

Lin Zhong took a deep breath. “Alright, then. I will reply to him now.”

Pei Yi looked at Lin Zhong’s gradually retreating back, and immediately said, “Er-ge.”

Bo Yueming understood tacitly, and said at once, “No.”

“…….”

Before he could say a word, he was stopped by the other party.

Pei Yi was stuck for a few seconds before giving a hum, “I, I go out to play too!”

Bo Yueming resolutely rebuffed him, “The reception is not a fun place. Are the troubles you caused in the Imperial Capital before not enough for you to learn a lesson?”

Pei Yi was speechless, but completely dissatisfied.

What troubles he caused in the past? It was clearly the short-sighted people who took the initiative to seek him out who were troublesome!

And every time trouble arrived, which person with ulterior motives hadn’t been given a lesson by him, ah? If it weren’t for “playing the fool” limiting the use of his mouth, he would be able to take down several of them alone!

Of course, it was more convenient to “play the fool” and hit back directly!

Pei Yi remembered his impulsive thoughts when he decided to come to Wencheng. Wasn’t it because he was afraid that Bo Yueming, who couldn’t see, would be ridiculed, targeted, or even secretly bullied by other people?

It was obvious that something might be wrong with this reception, so he naturally wanted to follow along to have a look.

When he realized this, Pei Yi simply ran to Bo Yueming’s side. “Er-ge!”

Bo Yueming frowned. “I said n—”

“I want to accompany you.”

“……..”

Bo Yueming swallowed his unspoken words. He knew these words were emphasized to “please him and be good,” and that the kitten wanted to go to the reception more out of curiosity and excitement, but he still couldn’t refuse.

He unobtrusively changed his half-spoken refusal and said, “Follow me the entire time and don’t run around. You have to…..”

Pei Yi hurriedly nodded and answered quickly, “Super obedient!”

Bo Yueming was blocked by his confident tone.

Uncle Kai and Lao Zhang to the side exchanged teasing glances, smiling. “Our Little Sir, ah, he’s the most clever at such a time!”

Qiao Dong also found it interesting and snickered, then heard Bo Yueming say as if changing the subject, “Qiao Dong, you stay here. Don’t worry too much, I do things my own way.”

Pei Yi agreed, giving a rare “En.”

Temporarily suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, Qiao Dong said, “I-I know. Thank you, Mr. Bo and Little Sir.”

. . . . . . .

Soon, it was Sunday.

Wencheng’s annual corporate exchange meeting was organized by Shuntian Group, and the venue was set at the Wencheng World Trade Center. In recent years, each one was higher than the other one.

Those invited to participate were all enterprises in Wencheng and nearby cities. As for the exchanges, they were nothing more than those topics involved in the business field.

Guided by a courteous attendant, Bo Yueming and Pei Yi smoothly entered the hall. In addition, they were followed by Lin Zhong and a hired security guard.

The group had just entered the exchange hall.

Chen Shun, who had heard the news in advance, approached. “Mr. Bo, welcome. I haven’t seen you in a while.”

Bo Yueming had narrowed his eyes before Chen Shun approached, and stretched out his hand as if recognizing his voice, “Chairman Chen? It was your invitation, so of course I wanted to come.”

Chen Shun reached a hand out and shook.

He took the opportunity to look at everyone around Bo Yueming, seemingly casual. “Unexpectedly, Little Mister Pei came along. There is also the short-haired brother in the back, who looks unfamiliar, ah.”

Bo Yueming knew that there were more words between the lines. “Chairman Chen, my eyesight is not convenient, and our family’s Pei Yi likes to follow me around childishly. If another bodyguard follows, he will be safer. Please excuse me.”

“…….”

Familiar excuses came to his ears, causing Chen Shun’s smile to freeze.

He immediately thought of the “It’s my treat” remark he had made on a whim that night, and knew immediately afterwards—

The other party unceremoniously spent almost 300,000 of his account for that meal, and took more than a dozen bottles of good wine alone, truly capable of doing dirty tricks!

Chen Shun repressed the grievance of his loss, asking with a smile, “Mr. Bo, I wonder if it is convenient to talk alone? There are seats in the dessert and drink area over there, Little Mister Pei and the others should like it.”

Bo Yueming wouldn’t even give him this little bit of face, and ordered the people around him, “You take Pei Yi over there first, and Sun Wei stays.”

“Yes!”

“Okay, Boss.”

The bodyguard Sun Wei and Lin Zhong responded one after another.

Pei Yi was not dissatisfied with Bo Yueming’s arrangements, and obediently followed.

Chen Shun looked at Sun Wei, who was still on guard behind Bo Yueming, and paused for a few seconds before calling a waiter over for wine. “Mr. Bo, what do you think about my prior proposal?”

“Proposal?”

Bo Yueming shook his wine glass slightly, as if he had to think for a few seconds before he remembered. “Apologies, Chairman Chen, the bidding this time was assigned by headquarters. Even if I wanted to start with a small project, the leaders above wouldn’t let me.”

This meant: they would not withdraw from the bidding.

Chen Shun thought of Bo Yueming’s position in the Bo family, and he really didn’t appear to be a person with the right to have a say. There was less than half a month now before the bidding, so it seemed he was destined to be a competitor.

Chen Shun expressed his understanding. “Mr. Bo, I know of your difficulties, but the two families will inevitably have a falling-out during this project, and no matter what the result is, I fear that it will hurt the peace in the end, ah.”

Bo Yueming took a sip of champagne, responding with ease, “Chairman Chen, fair bidding depends on ability. If one loses, who would take it amiss?”

“……..”

Seeing that Bo Yueming was invulnerable, Chen Shun could only pause for a few seconds and then get to the point. “Mr. Bo, the matter of the bidding is a fair competition, but I have another matter I would like to discuss with you.”

Bo Yueming already knew. “Chairman Chen, you might as well speak bluntly.”

Chen Shun glanced at the bodyguard behind him, and approached unhesitatingly. “Mr. Bo, listen to my advice, don’t bother with that Qiao Dong.”

He had sent someone to investigate in private, and Qiao Dong had never left Wencheng.

Because Zhao Hui’s death was not handled well, Chen Shun didn’t have the gangsters come to his door this time, but had them call and make threats. But he didn’t expect—

After Qiao Dong left the hospital, he was picked up by a black car. Upon investigation, the owner of the car was Bo Yueming’s current driver.

There was less than a month left before the final bidding, and Chen Shun feared that Bo Yueming would take advantage of Qiao Dong to fight back disproportionately. After all, things like a “human life” would definitely have adverse effects if things got serious.

Bo Yueming took half a step back. “Why can’t I understand Chairman Chen’s words?”

Chen Shun took the initiative to touch their wine glasses lightly, speaking with more weight, “I have led the Shuntian Group for more than thirty years, and have long been tied to Wencheng. What kind of bedbugs in the gutter have I not encountered these years?”

“Filthy things will find no benefits here, but I didn’t expect to turn around and meet Mr. Bo.” Chen Shun drank the champagne in one gulp, playing hard and soft, “I warn Mr. Bo, one should be careful not to put in the investment and not get anything back. Don’t you agree?”

Bo Yueming gestured with his raised glass and replied in a moderate tone, “I’ve been taught.”

Chen Shun saw his attitude, and there was a hint of anger in his expression. He still wanted to say something more, but a man with greasy hair and fat ears leaned over, “Dad! I need you urgently!”

He seemed to fear that outsiders would overhear, so he leaned over to Chen Shun’s ear and whispered.

“…….”

In less than five seconds, Chen Shun’s expression underwent a sudden change.

He faced Bo Yueming again, deliberately feigning calmness. “Mr. Bo, I have some personal matters to attend to, so excuse me.”

Bo Yueming sensed that something was wrong, but he couldn’t be bothered to stick around and go in circles with Chen Shun here. “Chairman Chen can do as he pleases.”

Chen Shun and the fat man left quickly into the distance.

Pei Yi stopped eating pudding, and pointed while asking Lin Zhong, “Him. Who?”

Lin Zhong was also keeping an eye on Bo Yueming’s situation. After seeing the direction Pei Yi’s finger was pointing, he revealed, “That, ah, it seems to be Chairman Chen’s son-in-law, named Pan Chenggong.”

He feared that the foolish Pei Yi would not understand, so he added concisely, “Little Sir, he is a bad person!”

Managing such a large construction site project, but still greedy for money, his first reaction after destroying a life was not dealing with the aftermath, but to be perfunctory and keep silent, then make threats. He was simply scum!

Coming from the heart, this sentence was true.

Lin Zhong thought of this, and his nausea could only surge.

Pei Yi gazed at Chen Shun and Pan Chenggong’s panic as they left, and felt that there was a reason for this incident. He used that little excuse of “going to the toilet” that didn’t have bad results, and got up, rushing in the direction the other party had left.

Seeing this, Lin Zhong hurriedly followed. “Little Sir! Wait for me!”

The banquet hall used for the exchange meeting was a duplex with two floors. Pei Yi went upstairs carefully using the circular staircase in the corridor. He remembered Bo Yueming’s explanation and did not stop Lin Zhong from following.

Lin Zhong followed behind while using his phone to update Bo Yueming. When he looked up and saw that Pei Yi had randomly gone in the wrong direction, he stopped him immediately. “Little Sir, the bathroom is not upstairs. You……”

“Shh!”

Pei Yi put his finger to his lips, and said in a very low and exaggerated voice, “Bad guy!”

Lin Zhong couldn’t keep up with Pei Yi’s brainwaves for a moment. “W-what?”

As soon as he spoke, there was the sound of violent fury from a room at the end of the second floor corridor. “You pig brain! Haven’t you learned enough lessons yet? How the hell do you dare to make trouble for me!”

Lin Zhong recognized Chen Shun’s voice, and his eyes shifted suddenly. “Little Sir, shh! Don’t move!”

Pei Yi silently nodded.

Due to the meeting in Linshui Pavilion, Pei Yi had the most basic judgment of Chen Shun’s character—

A smiling old fox.

After Pan Chenggong succeeded in getting close just now, Chen Shun’s expression and hurried steps to leave clearly indicated an accident!

Pei Yi knew that due to Bo Yuemings impaired eyesight, he would be unable to see this subtle change, so he quickly chased after in his stead.

The reason why Lin Zhong acquiesced to following was purely to assure Bo Yueming, but he was far better than Pei Yi imagined—

After having followed Bo Yueming for a long time, Lin Zhong’s instinctive reactions were better than anyone else’s.

The moment he heard the dispute, he fumbled the recording pen he used for work out of his pocket, approached quietly, and placed it in the nearest decorative potted plant.

Having done all this, Lin Zhong walked back quickly and coaxed in a low voice, “Little Sir, let’s go first, shall we? There is a lot of delicious food downstairs!”

There was only one corridor and stairs that led to the banquet hall here. Even if they hid in the lounge closeby, there was a certain possibility of being discovered, and it was very easy to alert the enemy.

Pei Yi understood Lin Zhong’s inner concerns.

Now that there was a better solution, there was no reason to risk himself.

The two quickly descended the stairs.

Fortunately, all the guests downstairs gathered in the banquet hall were busy dealing with each other, so they really didn’t have time to pay attention to this minor scene.

The two returned to the rest area along the edge of the banquet hall.

Before he could get close, Pei Yi unconsciously paused his steps. Following back and to the side, Lin Zhong felt it was strange and took a closer look before realizing—

Bo Yueming was sitting on a sofa at the end of the rest area, the bodyguard standing upright at his post behind him. Most importantly, there was a sexy young woman sitting next to Bo Yueming!

The other party was sitting slightly sideways, looking at Bo Yueming with a smile on her face. The straps of her dress were slightly revealing, and curly hair swung fragrantly over her shoulders. The hand holding the wine glass was also extraordinarily slender and beautiful.

Her demeanor was very outstanding, sexy but not tacky.

There was no telling what they were talking about at the moment. The woman seemed to be having a good time, and touched her glass to Bo Yueming’s.

Lin Zhong turned to Pei Yi and asked in a low voice, “Little Sir, are we going over?”

Pei Yi watched Bo Yueming drain the glass of champagne in coordination with her, without a hint of disgust at all, and he held his breath with narrowed eyes—

Sure enough, he was the villain comparable to the main male protagonist in the original text, capable of attracting bees and butterflies anywhere he went!

How was a “blind man” still so charming?

Pei Yi turned around and planned to leave. “Won’t go.”

Lin Zhong was afraid that Pei Yi would get lost and cause trouble, so he quickly coaxed him on behalf of his boss, “Little Sir, don’t you want to eat dessert? You still haven’t eaten very much yet.”

“……..”

Yes, ah.

That should be his place.

Pei Yi regained his confidence and walked over quickly, picking up a small cake in front of Bo Yueming and the woman.

Bo Yueming’s eyes hidden under the lenses noticed Pei Yi in the first moment. He was about to introduce both parties, but then he heard the soft voice of the person beside him ask, “Yueming, who is this?”

“…….”

Yueming?

When did they become so close?

They could address each other so intimately?

Hearing this voice as soft as water, Pei Yi tightened his grip on the cake and played the fool on impulse, humming, “Husband.”

“………”

The woman sitting on the sofa was taken aback for a moment, and even Lin Zhong, who was used to being around the other party, was surprised.

When Bo Yueming heard Pei Yi’s long-lost address, a smile flashed in his eyes. “Sister Zhong Yi, let me introduce you. This is Pei Yi.”

Lin Zhong to the side reacted at last. “Zhong Yi? Yes, you are the special assistant who followed the Old Lady?”

Bo Yueming nodded slightly, explaining to Lin Zhong, and more so to Pei Yi, “En, since she graduated, Sister Zhong Yi has been working with Grandma for twelve years.”

Zhong Yi had an extremely strong ability to handle affairs, and there was a saying that once spread around: “Bo Peizhi has cultivated to her youthful self again.”

Five years ago, thirty-four-year-old Zhong Yi met her current husband. After weighing matters, she resigned from the Bo family and went to Haishi to start a family and a business with her husband.

They didn’t expect to go full circle and run into each other again in Wencheng. The other party was on a business trip with her husband at this time.

Zhong Yi had always been self-disciplined. Near forty years old, she had a well-maintained figure and skin, and it was easy for her to be regarded as a young girl just from her back view and profile.

“…….”

When Pei Yi met Zhong Yi’s gentle gaze, he was so embarrassed that he couldn’t breathe.

What was he doing just now?

Didn’t he think Bo Yueming was hooked in by a young girl?

But how could he explain the sudden intimate address?

Although Pei Yi wanted to hide his shame, he was betrayed by his ears, which were so red that they looked like they could bleed.

Bo Yueming saw his kitten’s rare embarrassment and shyness, so no matter how hard he had to endure, he didn’t reveal his secret. “Sister Zhong Yi, Pei Yi’s character is rather introverted and shy. Please forgive him.”

Zhong Yi turned her gaze back and teased, “It’s rare to see you protecting someone like this.”

Pei Yi felt that “playing the fool” for so long had affected his basic judgment. His entire face was on fire, and his initial jealousy was completely disregarded.

Fortunately, a phone rang and broke the silence.

Zhong Yi rummaged through her small purse and found her cell phone, saying with a smile, “It’s my husband’s number. I’ll go find him, please excuse me.”

“All right.” 

Zhong Yi stood up and stepped away gracefully in her high heels.

Bo Yueming glanced at Pei Yi, who was torturing a little cake with his head bowed, and recalled the vinegar implied by that “husband” just now. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t restrain his smile.

“Pei Yi, what are you doing?”

“…….”

Pei Yi clammed up in embarrassment.

Don’t address me, I’m still ashamed.

---

[1] A Hongmen banquet (鸿门宴) is set up with the aim of murdering the guest. The first thing I think of is the GOT “Red Wedding.” ⮐

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Chapter Forty-Four <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Forty-Six

Luo Ran asked for leave a few days later, and he and Lucas, who was already on vacation, went to the biggest restaurant in the Empire.

It was rare for Lucas to be dressed more neatly than usual today. At least, they weren’t his usual casual clothes. If it were not for Luo Ran taking care of his clothing, perhaps Lucas would even be wearing clothes that were worn, wrinkled, or poorly matched.

Luo Ran didn’t deliberately dress up. He looked good as long as he was neatly dressed, with a natural elegant temperament.

The two went to the designated box together.

A counter was set up at the door with a heat-detecting machine, which prompted them to sign and register on a signature pad.

After finishing all this, Luo Ran pushed the door open and entered, and most of the eyes in the venue turned toward him.

Luo Ran smiled and nodded, looking at ease.

Lucas stood behind him, with an expressionless face that, when looked at from time to time, had its own baleful look and unapproachable ferocity.

The atmosphere was a bit delicate, and when the rest of the people looked at Luo Ran, their expressions stiffened for a moment.

“Welcome, ah, it’s Luo Ran…….” The class leader was a lively female Beta. She immediately stepped forward to say hello, and after a pause, she smiled awkwardly and said: “Ah, it’s Secretary Luo now.”

“This is Secretary Luo’s……boyfriend?” The class leader frowned slightly. Why did this person look so familiar……

Besides the fact that the Secretary-General was famous all over the empire for his CP with the Admiral, she had never heard of him having a boyfriend……

It was no wonder she couldn’t recognize him. Lucas’s appearances in front of the media were always in a dark military uniform.

Luo Ran paused, and Lucas behind him gave an “En.”

Luo Ran didn’t refute.

Lucas had told him before coming that he would pretend to be his boyfriend.

The two sat down.

Students of the same grade from the two branch schools came, some of whom Luo Ran didn’t know, some who had avoided him back then, and some who had bullied him.

It could not be conveyed how awkward the atmosphere was.

However, it was the others who were awkward. Luo Ran ate on his own.

He looked refined and leisurely while eating, with exquisite facial features and his long silver hair tied into a ponytail.

At a glance, he could be distinguished from the people around him. Like an aristocrat who had strayed into a slum, there was a heavy sense of dissonance.

People from his old class didn’t dare to look at Luo Ran, and in the end, it was the class leader of the new class who said with a smile: “How is Secretary Luo recently?”

“Pretty good.” Luo Ran nodded.

Many people at the dining tables had already recognized Lucas and were too frightened to speak, only feeling like they were in a dream.

Actually eating with the Admiral of the Empire……

“Secretary Luo has become so different, ah, he was so quiet before.” At this moment, a brown-haired girl with two pigtails spoke with a smile.

She was the Viscount’s daughter who had harassed him back then, Emily Little.

Since Lucas found out about this, not only did Lucas beat up her brother Effie, but he retaliated fiercely.

At that time, Effie was taking a geology exam. The family had originally planned to give Effie money to stay in the capital to study and work, so that he could be upgraded from a bastard with academic credits to a bastard with a solid job.

However, at Lucas’s orders, Effie was ordered to join an expedition team and go to a cold and remote desolate star to study its geology.

A life with no worries about food or clothing turned into “exile,” and the family naturally resented this.

This went on for several years, and Effie was not allowed to return until the barren planet had been developed recently.

After returning, the person had changed from how he was before. His skin was bad and he was very haggard, no longer bearing the arrogant playboy look he had before.

“Secretary Luo has a boyfriend?” Emily held her chin and said: “It seems Secretary Luo succeeded in getting another job. After all, the whole Empire thinks you’re with the Admiral. It must be nice to look so good……I’m a little envious.”

Inside and out, these words implied that Luo Ran used the boss’s unspoken rules to reach his position.

“Emily, stop talking!” The boy sitting next to her recognized the person beside Luo Ran, and……Emily’s insinuation was against the Imperial hero! This was not right in any way.

“I’m too envious, I just couldn’t help but say so.” Emily gave a limpid smile and said, “I also want to have such an easy job. And Secretary Luo is a Beta, so it’s even more convenient.”

Betas were not like Omegas, whom after intercourse must use contraceptives and inhibitors to avoid trouble.

“Emily!” The class leader glared furiously. “Stop talking……!”

“Haven’t you recognized him yet?” The boy pulled at Emily and said, “The one next to him is his boss.”

“What……?”

Luo Ran raised his eyes slightly, and was about to say something, but only heard a pa! as Lucas dropped his chopsticks expressionlessly.

“It turns out that the Little family has such views and misunderstandings about the Empire and the military department.” Lucas crossed his arms in front of his chest with a smile: “Then would you like me to clarify?”

Lucas took out his terminal on the spot, clicked on the address book, and dialed.

“Admiral, may I ask what the matter is……?” After connecting, a middle-aged man’s voice came from the other end, very respectful.

Emily’s face paled, and she was speechless.

That was her father……!

Lucas raised his eyebrows and smiled: “I heard from your daughter that you think I apply unspoken rules to my subordinate, and that Luo Ran’s work is so easy that he only needs to serve me. I’m here to clarify with you both.”

Lucas said it very lightly, as if the purpose was just to “clarify.”

But the Viscount’s breathing grew obviously heavier with nervousness.

“A-Admiral……” The Viscount paused and said: “Admiral, are you with my daughter? My disgraceful daughter doesn’t know how to speak, that’s not what she meant……!”

Not listening to his explanation, Lucas cut off the call. Then he looked at Emily and said: “He said you didn’t mean it, so did you or not?”

Lucas’s voice bore neither anger nor displeasure, but Emily was shaking all over.

“I…..I’m sorry, I didn’t mean……” Emily spoke with reddened eyes. “Forgive me……”

Seeing Lucas eating with his head down, Emily came to a realization and quickly turned to Luo Ran: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“It’s not a big deal.” Luo Ran said with a smile: “Everyone eat, ba. Don’t pay attention to me.”

The atmosphere was tense for a moment, until, driven by a few lively and talkative people, everyone gradually resumed eating and chatting.

Emily couldn’t stay any longer and left early. She also received a call from her father, and the thought of going home was another disaster.

Afterwards, Luo Ran was obviously flattered and fawned over.

He could sense that those who were unwilling to get close to him in the past, or those who had participated in the bullying, were cautiously currying favor with him, while some cast him envious glances.

Luo Ran suddenly understood what Lucas meant.

Once he came here, he would put them out of his mind.

It wasn’t because of the others’ flattery, he just thought that if he still felt bothered and sad because of these people, it would be quite……stupid.

He used to think the world was so small, but now it was the past that couldn’t be tinier.

You couldn’t see the puddles if you possessed the sea.

“Secretary Luo is so beautiful, ah. Every time I look at photos on the internet, they are so beautiful. I didn’t expect the real person to look even better.”

“When will Secretary Luo make an official announcement with the Admiral, ah?”

“Secretary Luo, this is delicious.”

Someone handed a fruit platter to Luo Ran.

Luo Ran took it with a smile: “Thank you.”

Seeing that Luo Ran was about to peel the coconut meat, Lucas frowned and patted his hand, saying: “You can’t eat this, you have a bad stomach.”

Luo Ran paused and said: “I just want to give it to you. Don’t you like coconut?”

Lucas was silent for a moment. He actually didn’t like it.

It was only that Luo Ran couldn’t eat it, so he kept grabbing it and helping him eat it.

“En, thanks,” Lucas said.

There was an intimacy between the two that prevented anyone else from intervening, an atmosphere that no one else could break.

It was only that the two were used to such intimacy, and took it for granted.

Anyone with eyes could tell if there were unspoken rules or not, and how far their relationship reached.

“I’m going to the restroom.” Luo Ran left midway.

Lucas opened his mouth, and initially wanted to say he would accompany him, but thought it would be strange and ended up saying nothing.

. . . . . .

The restroom was just around the corner at the end of the corridor. Luo Ran passed another box and could vaguely see the situation inside through a gap in the screen.

There were quite a lot of people.

It wasn’t anything worth noticing at first, but Luo Ran had always been keen, and he could sense the high-strength fighters standing outside the screen. Although they were dressed as Capital guards, Luo Ran quickly noticed that these were outsiders due to their posture, demeanor, and temperament.

Luo Ran frowned slightly.

A waiter came out pushing an empty wine cart, and Luo Ran quickly stopped him, asking: “May I ask who is in there?”

“Ah, people from the Lion Hunter Chamber of Commerce.” The waiter smiled and said: “They’ve become popular in the capital recently. The medicine they sell is super cheap and very effective!”

“So that’s it.” Luo Ran nodded.

Hearing that it was a Chamber of Commerce, he was not surprised.

The Empire was strong and safe. Not only were there many chambers of commerce in the capital, but other countries and planets were willing to come here to do business, and there were countless businessmen and powerful people from all over who gathered here.

Just then, a tall, curly-haired man stepped out.

Luo Ran then hurried into the restroom, not wanting others to find out that he was asking around. After all, it was too impolite.

. . . . . .

Gurgle. 

In the restroom, Luo Ran turned on the tap to wash his hands, and his face by the way.

He had been in a bad state of mind, taking medicine and injections every day, and still hadn’t recovered.

Shen Xiluo and Xia Zhi said he was injured too badly due to the superposition of UNK and the mecha. If Lucas hadn’t given him a temporary mark and stayed with him all day, he might not even be able to function by himself, tormented by hallucinations and agonizing seizures.

“Huh?”

A voice came from behind, and when Luo Ran looked up into the mirror, he saw that it was the curly-haired man who had just come out of the chamber of commerce.

The man had curly hair, his skin and face were pale like most people, and there were deep, dark circles under his drooping eyes. Although he looked a little sick, he was still handsome.

“Where have I seen you before?” The curly-haired man smiled and said, “Your pheromones are very familiar.”

“Hello.”

Luo Ran nodded politely, thinking that surely he had never seen this man before, right? After all, he was so unique that he would never forget him after seeing him.

“An SSS Omega……” The man took a few steps forward, narrowed his eyes slightly and said, “Truly superb.”

Luo Ran: “…….”

He remembered.

……No way.

Luo Ran’s heart skipped a beat, and his eyes widened.

This was…….!

If it was really Huntsman, then how did he get in?

“The fate between me and Secretary Luo seems to be inseparable from the bathroom.” Huntsman shook his head. “I’m always meeting you in the bathroom.”

“…….” Luo Ran took a few calm steps back, pressed his terminal with his hand, and sent his location to Lucas with one key.

“It’s so pitiful, ah,” Huntsman said with a smile. “You’ve suffered such a serious spiritual injury.”

Huntsman saw it at a glance.

Luo Ran said coldly: “How dare you appear here.”

Huntsman crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows: “Why should I dare not? I can appear here because I don’t fear being discovered. You can’t catch me.”

“On the contrary……Secretary Luo, you should worry about yourself.” 

Luo Ran could feel a wave of pheromones attack him, invisible and impossible to evade.

It was……the scent of rust.

The scent of rusted metal.

Huntsman was now unscrupulously releasing his own pheromones. Using this method would not cause any great commotion.

This was different from Lucas’s previous teasing. This was attack and suppression, an Alpha’s absolute means over an Omega, which could forcibly deprive an Omega of their power and force them into heat.

Luo Ran felt like he was being held down by a pair of big, invisible hands. It was untenable. He was so uncomfortable that it was like every cell in his body was scurrying around uneasily.

Luo Ran supported himself on the sink with both hands, dripping cold sweat.

He felt sick, extremely sick.

Huntsman was an SS Alpha, and due to Luo Ran’s injury, he could completely gain the upper hand at the moment.

Luo Ran gasped for breath and bent his knees, kneeling down weakly.

Huntsman smiled, stepped forward, and knelt down in front of him.

Bam—!

At this exact moment, Luo Ran promptly picked up the bucket next to him and viciously threw it at Huntsman.

Huntsman was too close to dodge, and was caught off guard.

………!

Got him!

Huntsman’s head was directly smashed by the wooden barrel, and blood flowed out along with the dirty water that splashed his face. The two liquids mixed together and dripped from the scattered hair on his forehead and down his chin.

Huntsman: “…….”

The water was not only dirty, but also smelly.

This may be the most humiliating moment of his life.

And it was done to him by an Omega.

Of course…….the other party was obviously not an ordinary Omega.

Huntsman really didn’t expect that with Luo Ran’s potholed spiritual strength, he could grit his teeth and resist his spiritual attack after being so badly injured, which even many Alphas couldn’t do. Let alone have the strength to hit him with a wooden barrel.

Luo Ran had already run away.

Huntsman took a deep breath. He couldn’t catch up with him. If Lucas was outside, the losses would outweigh the gains.

Huntsman took out a communication device with a blank expression.

“I’ve been found, prepare for evacuation.”

Then Huntsman jumped out the restroom window.

. . . . . .

“Luo Ran!”

Lucas strode into the restroom and saw Luo Ran running out with a pale face.

Lucas immediately embraced him. “What’s wrong?!”

Wrapped in the familiar tobacco scent, Luo Ran immediately stopped holding on, and leaned a bit exhaustedly against Lucas, gasping.

He held Lucas’s shoulders tightly, shaking uncontrollably.

Luo Ran was already so seriously injured when he was violently attacked, so he naturally had an episode.

Lucas’s face sank immediately, and he said, “Who was it.”

“Hunt……” Luo Ran tried to speak, but was stunned by the pain in his head and couldn’t get the words out. He took a gasp of cold air.

“Luo Ran, don’t be afraid.” Lucas immediately pressed Luo Ran into his arms, saying in a low voice, “The pain will be gone right away.”

Lucas pressed the back of Luo Ran’s head, and Luo Ran felt his head tilt against Lucas’s chest. His entire body was wrapped in tobacco-scented pheromones.

The pheromones calmed him like a gentle tide, slowly entering his sea of consciousness.

But Luo Ran was so badly injured that he was still shaking all over.

Lucas held him and walked to the corner with Luo Ran, hiding together behind the curtains and potted plants.

“Luo Ran, the temporary mark has faded and has little effect.” Lucas said hoarsely, “I’ll give you another one.”

Lucas gently stroke the bump on the back of Luo Ran’s neck, his voice low and rough.

“Can I?”

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Chapter Sixty-One << Table of Contents >> Chapter Sixty-Three

Liu Xian’an had not yet removed his disguise at this time. With such a simple and resolute face, no matter what he did, he had a sense of integrity and naturally would not cause people to have any undue associations. Moreover, after hearing the words, “Your Highness,” the common people were shocked, as if they had seen a ghost. They all knelt on the ground, trembling and not daring to speak, let alone watch the two embrace each other.

So Gao Lin was the only one whose eyes hurt.

Liang Shu gently supported Liu Xian’an. Seeing that he was not injured, he turned around and looked under the trees. The guards had already smashed the military advisor to pieces. He was gasping for breath, and his head was like a pig’s. Liu Xian’an said: “Before the prince broke through the city, this man was eager to kill the common people. He didn’t join the battle or run away, but led troops to search the mountains overnight, and still tried to kill people. His behavior was truly abnormal.”

Liang Shu understood the meaning of his words and ordered two guards to step forward. They slashed open the military advisor’s shirt and took a look, and there was indeed a Baifu Sect tattoo. The cult took advantage of natural disasters, used dirty officials, and then coerced the refugees to stir up the entire Bai River Basin into a miasma. This sort of thing was not uncommon. Liang Shu said: “Take him away, and question him thoroughly.”

“Yes!” Gao Lin motioned for the guards to accompany him. Liu Xian’an also asked A-Ning to follow and stop the cultist’s bleeding first, lest he die in the middle of interrogation.

The people at the scene still did not dare to raise their heads, and until they were pulled up by the Yan army, they felt that their lives were not destined to be long. Liu Xian’an said loudly: “The war is over. Everyone, don’t continue to stand here in the wind, go home and rest!”

It was over. Hearing these words, everyone felt like they were in a dream, because before that, they had anxiously awaited the battle for many days, and all of them were slightly delirious. The torches formed a sea of fire as the Yan army led them home, and until then, only the boldest dared to secretly raise their heads and take a look at His Legendary Royal Highness Xiao Wang.

He was not vicious, and didn’t have a blue face and fangs. On the contrary, he was young and handsome. His eyes were like stars, and he wore silver battle armor, holding a long sword dripping with blood. His eyes were very gentle, and seemed to be smiling as he looked at the little doctor in front of him.

Liu Xian’an’s face was uncomfortable under the mask, and he kept reaching up to fiddle with it. Liang Shu groped behind his ears for a long time before carefully peeling off the whole sheet, and rubbed the flushed skin with the backs of his fingers: “Go back and get some medicine for yourself.”

“All right.” Liu Xian’an turned back and looked at the common people again. Most of them had left, and only Miao Changqing was still standing there with his remaining subordinates. And Lao Miao was obviously startled by the little doctor who had removed his mask, staring hard at him. Liang Shu noticed this and asked, “ Who is this person?”

“……Miao Changqing is also Huang Wangxiang’s subordinate,” Liu Xian’an said, “But he has always been protecting the common people, and he is not the same as Yuan Zong.”

“The Imperial court must also take this person away first, and cannot just let him go,” Liang Shu said. “After the truth comes to light, if he is truly meritorious, he will be punished lightly.”

“All right.” Liu Xian’an was a little anxious, and whispered, “But Uncle Miao’s legs and feet are inconvenient, and he can’t bear the humidity, so can he not be locked up in prison?”

Liang Shu ordered his soldiers to find an empty house in the city to temporarily detain Miao Changqing and his subordinates. Liu Xian’an also entered the city and first comforted Miao Changqing with a few words, and then found a place to take a nap. After waking up, he ran to the camp outside the city to help bandage the wounded soldiers, and went on like this for three days without even seeing Liang Shu’s face.

Until the evening of the fourth day, after changing the medicine for the last wounded soldier, he was dizzy from exhaustion and didn’t even want to go back to his residence. He walked softly to a quiet place and washed hastily with spring water before sitting down on the ground and falling asleep in an instant. He didn’t even have the strength to dream a little dream. The gates of the three thousand worlds were tightly locked, and there was a plaque saying visitors were not being accepted, but there were still people who insisted on squeezing in.

There was a familiar scent of sandalwood in the air. Liu Xian’an felt that this person was really bothersome, ah, so he told him loudly: “I’m closed today too!”

Liang Shu took off his cloak and wrapped it around his cool body. Putting his hands around his shoulders, he half-knelt and asked with his head tilted to the side: “Your words are vague, what are you mumbling about?”

Lui Xian’an slept soundly, and when he didn’t want to wake up, he wouldn’t wake up even if the sky collapsed. Liang Shu didn’t ask any more questions. He just picked him up and brought him to the camp, and put him on his bed, trying to let him lie down more comfortably. The army was practical when it marched and fought, but that meant there was no big mahogany bed. There was only a hard, narrow plank bed without several layers of cushioning, so it was not very comfortable. In his dreams, Second Young Master Liu felt that he was lying on a pile of rubble. He frowned and thought, why did I find such a terrible place? So he forced himself to get up, and without opening his eyes, he walked elsewhere.

Liang Shu was ready to leave, and when he heard the movement, he turned around just in time to catch the warm, charming person who rushed towards him. Caught off guard, he couldn’t laugh nor cry. He made a sound of annoyance and didn’t know if this person was awake or asleep: “Why do you still have a sleepwalking problem?”

Liu Xian’an couldn’t hear him at all. He stepped on the ground softly with his bare feet and hung his arms around Liang Shu’s shoulders, pressing his entire weight over in a sleepy, drunken posture. It was the kind of drunk after drinking poor quality wine.

Liang Shu had no choice but to pick him up and go back to the bed, but Liu Xian’an refused to let go. In the dream, he found the most comfortable position and curled up like a kitten in its nest. Liang Shu half leaned against the head of the bed, stretching out his hand to reach the blanket on one side and cover him. His beloved’s breathing was so close to his ear. Liang Shu caressed his black hair with his palm and played with his earlobe with his fingers. He gathered that messy hair to reveal a smooth, pale cheek, leaned in slightly, and planted a kiss there.

Taking advantage of people’s sleep, the ethics of a martial artist could not be spoken of.

But in fact, Second Young Master Liu was also taking advantage of sleep as he focused on watching a person bathe in his dream. It may be because the sandalwood aroma in the air was so obvious, so His Royal Highness Xiao Wang snuck into the closed Three Thousand Worlds. He soaked in hot spring filled with white mist, his upper body as strong and firm as ever, but there were many old and new scars.

Liu Xian’an said: “Let me give the prince some medicine.”

Liang Shu stretched out his hand: “Then you come down.”

Liu Xian’an stood up and walked into the hot spring, but his foot missed, and he fell forward. He struggled and panicked in his dream, but Liang Shu in reality hugged him tight and patted him comfortingly: “Having a nightmare?”

And His Royal Highness Xiao Wang in the Three Thousand Worlds also reached out to catch him. Slightly hot water splashed everywhere. Liu Xian’an’s face was a little red from the heat, thinking in his heart, this isn’t a nightmare, it’s actually quite good. And the scene was also very romantic, with pink and white petals floating in the sky like snow.

They fluttered all night and filled up the entire hot spring, but the Sleeping Immortal was still unwilling to wake up. In the end, A-Ning shouted and the dream was shattered. Liu Xian’an opened his eyes amongst the shadows of butterflies fluttering around, and responded perfunctorily. Stretching again, he turned around and wrapped himself in the blanket to continue sleeping.

“Young Master, Young Master!” A-Ning refused to comply, and grabbed the blanket, shaking it back and forth. “This is the prince’s big tent, let’s go back to the city and sleep.”

As a result, Liu Xian’an sat up with a whoosh.

A-Ning was taken aback: “Young Master, you……why did you wake up so soon this time? I’m not ready yet.”

Liu Xian’an turned his head to look around, asking in surprise: “Why am I sleeping here?”

A-Ning was not surprised. Perhaps the young master fell asleep on the grass again, and was simply brought back by the prince.

“Where is the prince?”

“Just outside. I ran into him just now, and he was talking with Lieutenant General Gao. They’re probably talking about the military situation, the young master can come wash up first.”

Liu Xian’an hurriedly wiped his face and rinsed his mouth, then stuck his head out of the big tent.

Gao Lin was analyzing straightforwardly at this time: “Second Young Master Liu fell asleep in the wild, but was stumbled upon by the prince. It’s not the same as sharing the same bed. Anyway, I didn’t see anything half ambiguous, so you can’t be too happy about this matter so early.”

Liang Shu glanced at him from the corner of his eye with a dignified expression: “Shut up! Go do your work!”

He kicked the man away and adjusted his expression again. It wasn’t until a “Your Highness” sounded behind him that he turned around calmly and gracefully.

It was contrived, but useful, because even A-Ning whispered “wow,” feeling that His Royal Highness Xiao Wang looked extraordinarily luxurious under the rising sun, his entire body gleaming. Liu Xian’an stepped forward, and Liang Shu asked: “You’re awake?”

Liu Xian’an looked at him doubtfully: “What is wrong with the prince’s neck?”

Liang Shu said: “It’s stiff.”

Liu Xian’an immediately felt guilty: “Oh.”

“Oh?” Liang Shu leaned over slightly with a half-smile. “You took my bed, why don’t you say thank you?”

Liu Xian’an thought, because I also applied medicine for you all night in my dreams, and my arms were so sore that I couldn’t lift them up. As for why he continued to persist when they were sore, it might be because it was the vocation of a doctor to save lives and heal the wounded. In any case, it must have nothing to do with the feel of His Royal Highness Xiao Wang’s chest muscles.

It’s fine, it’s okay.

He said: “Then I’ll massage it for the prince.”

Liang Shu turned his head to the side: “Come.”

Liu Xian’an found his tense tendons and pressed them hard. Liang Shu’s smile froze on his face. He just felt his brain make a buzzing sound and his qi instantly stagnated. His breath cut off for a moment, and after a long time, he choked out a word in a shaking voice: “You……”

Liu Xian’an quickly withdrew his hands: “Done.”

Done was done, so done that it was not even half tender, and let the soldiers next to them witness the classic handed-down scene of their prince being pressed to tears while still alive. Liang Shu grabbed his face: “Why are you doctors so barbaric?”

Liu Xian’an defended: “In any case, it’s cured.”

“Can’t you be a little gentler?”

“……That is also possible.”

In the dream, he was very gentle, so gentle that even Liu Xian’an felt that it was a bit too much. There seemed to be no doctor like this in the world, but on the other hand, he felt that he was already dreaming, so what was the point of the dream? Since in this world, immortals could pluck the sun and moon, sages could ride the waves, and even white cranes could lift three thousand pavilions and fly through the sky, couldn’t he create a new method of treatment?

Of course he could.

As a result, the distance between the two became closer and closer. Wrapped in the hot, humid mist of the hot spring, their hearts pattered in a tangle.

Liang Shu asked: “What are you thinking about?”

Liu Xian’an returned to his senses: “Nothing, it’s nothing. I just woke up and I’m a little dizzy.”

Liang Shu led him around the camp again. The soldier at his side was puzzled, so he whispered to the brother next to him: “Why did our prince change into such grand, beautiful clothes today? Is something important going to happen, or is the Emperor coming?”

“The Emperor is in the capital, how could he come to Sanshui City?” The other person was also puzzled.

A group of recruits discussed together for a long time, but couldn’t come up with a reason to explain this sudden luxury.

They were just very, very bemused.

---

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

There was the sound of the iron gate opening and shutting outside the window.

Pei Yi’s mind couldn’t help but shift from the group chat interface. He got up and peered out — a familiar black car drove to the inner courtyard of the villa, then toward the garage.

Pei Yi checked the time in the lower right corner of the computer and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

Back before five o’clock?

Why did Bo Yueming get off work so early today?

Pei Yi hurriedly ended the work chat with Li Yuan and crew, and turned off the computer before leaving the room to go downstairs.

Uncle Kai, who was residing on the first floor, opened the door in a timely manner. Bo Yueming and Lin Zhong walked inside first, followed by two people behind them—

It was the driver Lao Zhang, and a young man on crutches who was being helped along by him.

Although there was still a distance between them, Pei Yi on the stairs recognized the other party right away. It was Qiao Dong, who they accidentally met in the parking lot that night.

Pei Yi had originally thought the two of them wouldn’t have a chance to meet again, but now the other party had been brought home by Bo Yueming? He approached curiously, staring right at Qiao Dong.

When meeting again after more than a month, Qiao Dong’s cheeks were still thin, but there was obviously a little more color to them. His long bangs had been cut short, revealing a pair of good-looking eyes.

Other than the broken left leg, the other bruises and abrasions on his exposed hands and feet had pretty much healed.

“…….”

Qiao Dong looked at Pei Yi, lacking the proudness and stubbornness of when they first met, and ducked his head unconsciously.

Uncle Kai noticed Pei Yi following behind, and was curious. “Little Sir, why did you come down?”

Pei Yi looked at Bo Yueming, who had suddenly brought someone home, and called out, “Er-ge.”

He didn’t mean to accuse him of anything, he just didn’t understand.

Hearing this soft and delicate address, Bo Yueming seemed to fear that Pei Yi would misunderstand him, so he gave a rare muffled cough. 

Lin Zhong immediately understood. “Little Sir, Uncle Kai, Qiao Dong received a threatening phone call today. He has no place to go for the time being, so we brought him back first to ask about the situation.”

Bo Yueming knew that Pei Yi would understand, so he said with seeming casualness, “Let’s talk about it in the living room, I’m also uncertain.”

If Pei Yi didn’t answer, that meant he acquiesced.

In fact, he was quite curious about Qiao Dong’s secrets and grievances, and it would be nice to hear his story.

. . . . . .

The group of people sat down in the living room.

Uncle Kai thoughtfully delivered corresponding drinks to everyone, and rushed to the kitchen without pause to work on dinner. There were many people eating tonight, so more needed to be prepared.

Pei Yi stared intently at Qiao Dong who was sitting alone, and became even more curious.

Bo Yueming snuck a peek at the curious kitten beside him while he drank his coffee, and after seeing the cute little mole on the back of his neck—

He was inexplicably itchy, but restrained himself.

Bo Yueming shifted his gaze hidden under the lenses, and said softly, “Qiao Dong, if you still refuse to tell the truth at this point, then no one can help you.”

“…….”

Qiao Dong unconsciously clenched the glass of water in his hands.

Even though Bo Yueming didn’t specifically look at him when speaking, he still felt the other person’s powerful aura.

Qiao Dong knew that only Bo Yueming had the ability to seek justice for him.

As soon as he received the threatening phone call today, he contacted the other party’s assistant, Lin Zhong. After weighing the pros and cons, he wanted to confess everything and ask the other party for help.

Taking advantage of the silence, Bo Yueming cut straight to the point. “What is the relationship between Song Dazhi and Zhao Hui?”

“You!”

Qiao Dong exclaimed in astonishment, but then restrained himself. “How do you know about them?”

Pei Yi thought to himself, isn’t it simple?

There was no impenetrable wall in this world. Let alone a company as big as the Shuntian Group, it was easy to pick up clues if one investigated deeply.

Sure enough, Lin Zhong gave an explanation of the investigation following Bo Yueming, “We learned that your brother Zhao Hui passed away more than three months ago, and five months ago, Song Dazhi accidentally fell to his death on the construction site.”

Two people died in succession?

Were they both related to the Shuntian Group?

Pei Yi became more and more curious about the twists and turns. Qiao Dong, who was sitting diagonally opposite, finally sorted out his emotions and said frankly, “Zhao Hui was my half-brother, eight years older than me. He used to be a construction contractor, and led seventy or eighty construction workers.”

Song Dazhi was one of the workers Zhao Hui led.

For a large enterprise such as Shuntian Group, once a real estate project was launched, in addition to their own core construction team, a large number of basic chores and rough work would be outsourced to the contract team.

Qiao Dong’s older brother, Zhao Hui, was one of the contract teams who heard the news and came to work.

Qiao Dong choked up and swallowed, continuing, “My brother and the others used to work on a construction site in Shencheng.”

“At the beginning of this year, he found out that the big company in Wencheng had a longer construction period and paid more, so he asked to be hired as one of the outsourced teams of Shuntian Group.”

Half a year ago, Zhao Hui led his workers to participate in the construction and development of “Jiu Metro,” which was the largest real estate project of Shuntian Group in the past two years.

But after a month and a half, an accident happened in the team.

The steel parts on the high-altitude scaffolding suddenly loosened. As a result, Song Dazhi accidentally fell, and the safety rope tied to him did not play its role of stopping him, but broke directly in response.

If a person fell from a ten story building, they would soon die, and it would not help if he was sent to the hospital for treatment.

“As the contractor, my brother naturally took responsibility. He secretly took the safety equipment on the construction site to inspect it, and it was found that the group cut corners with the material. The parts, helmets, and aerial work ropes used were all mixed with inferior products.”

“He took Song Dazhi’s family members to the general manager of the construction site to confront him. The other party played nice at the beginning and spoke very sincerely, but in the end only offered 200,000 yuan in compensation as a hush-up fee.”

That was a human life, ah! Just this little money and they were sent away?

The family members naturally refused, but the general manager avoided contact with them, so they could only go tearfully to Zhao Hui.

“Song Dazhi was the person who had traveled far and wide with my brother for the longest time. My brother has always been loyal and obstinate, so there were many workers who followed him. He promised that the Song family would definitely seek justice and real compensation.”

Later, Zhao Hui learned—

The chief person in charge of Jiu Metro real estate was Chen Shun’s son-in-law, and the other party had indeed privately reported high prices for safety equipment and masqueraded shoddy ones as new.

“The son-in-law is not kind, and is greedy for the group’s money. My brother thought about it, and had no choice but to wait at the gate of Shuntian Group with the evidence he had found, and stopped Chen Shun to tell him everything.”

“Chen Shun was angry at first, and said that he would take care of everything within three days.”

Zhao Hui thought that the boss of such a huge business would not renege on his debts, but three days later, not only did he not receive answers from the other party, he was arrested by the police for the unwarranted charges of “stealing construction site materials” and “extortion.”

Lin Zhong frowned. “What?!”

The eyes of Bo Yueming and Pei Yi flickered, and they simultaneously felt extreme disgust—

In many cases, the confrontation between those at the top and those at the bottom was tantamount to an ant meeting an elephant!

What’s more, one was his own relative and the other was a construction site employee, so who would Chen Shun help? In fact, it was obvious, but this way of handling it was too inappropriate!

“My brother had originally cited evidence to the police and asked Song Dazhi’s family to testify, but!”

Qiao Dong took a deep breath, and the corners of his eyes once again became red with unwillingness. “But on the other hand, they said that the compensation from Shuntian Group was in place from the beginning, and it was my brother who wanted to use this incident to extort another sum of money!”

“……..”

Driver Lao Zhang and Lin Zhong looked at each other, not having expected this sort of result. It was obvious that the Song family was dissatisfied with the compensation at the beginning, so why did they become the accused in the end?

Bo Yueming saw it clearly. “The Song family was settled by Chen Shun and the others?”

Pei Yi agreed with this guess.

In the end, compared to Zhao Hui, who had earnest motives, Song Dazhi’s family members should be easier to handle.

People could not be resurrected after death, but the reality of suffering was right in front of them. How many people were willing to give up money and fight meaninglessly against the powerful?

People’s hearts were complicated and unpredictable.

The Song family were not in the wrong to keep things quiet, but they helped the Shuntian Group pour dirty water on Zhao Hui, which really violated the moral bottom line.

“I came here to help after hearing my pregnant sister-in-law cry and say these things.”

Although they were half-brothers, the relationship between the two had always been very good. Zhao Hui had the responsibility of the eldest brother and son. He knew that his younger brother did well in school, so he took over his father’s responsibilities since he was a child and made money for his younger brother’s education.

Qiao Dong respected and admired his older brother from the bottom of his heart.

“My brother was detained for fourteen days and fined a lot of money before he was released. My sister-in-law and I originally wanted to set up a table of delicious food and wine to help him get rid of his bad luck, but when we came back from the market, we found my brother unconscious in a pool of blood.”

Later, after investigation, it was found that—

Two gangsters who claimed to be workmates broke into the rental house and had an argument with Zhao Hui. The back of his head was hit at a fatal point after a struggle, and he lost so much blood that he couldn’t be saved in the end.

Due to her husband’s death, Qiao Dong’s sister-in-law became so emotional that she had a miscarriage. Not only did she fail to keep the child, but she also lost the ability to become a mother again.

Father Qiao had married into the Zhao family when he was young, so Zhao Hui took the surname of his deceased mother. Father Qiao raised Zhao Hui until he was seven years old before marrying Qiao Dong’s mother and having a child.

The eldest son was getting married and starting a business, and the younger son was about to graduate and earn money. Just when everything was looking better, this sort of bad news happened. Qiao Dong’s father had a heart attack and collapsed to the ground, dying two days later.

“I had just graduated from university, and my eldest brother was the pillar of the family. Without that pillar, the sky collapsed.” Qiao Dong quickly wiped away his tears, his hatred undiminished.

Although the two gangsters were caught by the police, due to the lack of evidence and their lawyers, they were only sentenced to three years for “manslaughter,” and the case was closed some time ago.

Qiao Dong was no fool. He knew that even if it was manslaughter, they were sent by Chen Shun to threaten Zhao Hui!

Bo Yueming connected everything together. “So, you secretly followed Chen Shun? You blocked him in the underground parking lot on impulse?”

“…….”

Qiao Dong silently acquiesced.

After taking care of his brother and father’s funerals, he handed over all the family money to his sister-in-law, then returned to Wencheng alone to seek justice.

“Chen Shun acted guilty. As soon as he heard that I was Zhao Hui’s younger brother, he immediately called the security guards! The threatening phone call this morning must have been made by him! He knows I haven’t left Wencheng yet, and is afraid that I’ll cause trouble again!”

Pei Yi frowned for a moment, and thought to himself—

Chen Shun was like a local snake in Wencheng, and after the beating in the parking lot, he made a threatening phone call. So what would happen next?

Qiao Dong disregarded his left leg, which was still recovering, and got up to kneel down. “Mr. Bo! I know your identity is not simple! Please help me! I beg you!”

Lao Zhang next to him saw this and quickly stopped him. “Hey, your leg injury still isn’t healed!”

Bo Yueming pretended not to see their tugging, and took a steady sip of coffee. “I asked Lin Zhong and Lao Zhang to bring you back today because it is relatively safe here, so Chen Shun won’t dare to do anything for a while.”

“From today onwards, you will stay here to continue to recuperate. Before I make up my mind to deal with Chen Shun, you are not allowed to act rashly.” Bo Yueming set the cup back on the cup holder. “Of course, if you don’t trust me, you can leave at any time.”

Qiao Dong hastily nodded. “I, I trust you! I’ll listen to Mr. Bo!”

When he was in the parking lot, he suspected that Bo Yueming and his group were friends with Chen Shun, and was extra vigilant because of the “stress reaction” after getting injured.

After a month of observation and thought, he had already decided—

Even if Bo Yueming and the others took care of him with “ulterior motives,” he was also willing to be used as long as Chen Shun could get his retribution in the end and Shuntian Group could collapse!

After hearing what happened to Qiao Dong, Lao Zhang felt sorry for the family. “Mr. Bo, which room should Qiao Dong stay in? His small bag of luggage is still in the trunk of the car.”

The one master bedroom and three other bedrooms in this villa were fully occupied. As for Lao Zhang, because he was a native of Wencheng, he lived at his own home every day.

Where would he stay?

Bo Yueming glanced at Pei Yi beside him from the corner of his eye.

At the same time, the silent Pei Yi felt something subtle. Before Bo Yueming could speak, he played the fool and raised his hand. “Me!”

Thinking about it carefully, Qiao Dong didn’t know the four of them very well, so it would be more comfortable for him to stay in a room alone.

But Uncle Kai and Lin Zhong who resided downstairs were too different in age, and had many things to do every day, so it was impossible to share a room with them.

As for the “head of the family,” Bo Yueming? That was even more impossible.

In Pei Yi’s case, he could either share with Qiao Dong, or give up the bedroom on the second floor and then use their “marriage” relationship to live in the master bedroom with Bo Yueming again. Anyway, it would not be the first time they slept together.

But when Pei Yi thought of his dishonest sleeping habits, and thought that he would hold Bo Yueming tightly in his arms while asleep, the heat went to his head again and his heartstrings tensed.

He swallowed and looked at Bo Yueming, adding, “I, I live with him!”

Anyway, the two were about the same age. One wanted to play the fool at home and one wanted to rest at home.

“…….”

Bo Yueming had originally planned to take this opportunity to let Pei Yi move back into the master bedroom, but didn’t expect the other party to think and react faster than him.

He would rather stay with the unfamiliar Qiao Dong than sleep with him?

Bo Yueming looked at Pei Yi playing the fool, and there was a trace of panic in his eyes as he thought of the other party wrapping his arms and legs around Qiao Dong in his sleep—

He ground his molars unnoticeably and refused. “That won’t work.”

Pei Yi sucked in a light breath. “W-why?”

Bo Yueming made sure to kill with one blow, “You sleep dishonestly. What if you pester Qiao Dong in the middle of the night and press on his leg wound?”

“…….”

This was reasonable and could not be refuted.

Pei Yi closed up like a gourd on the spot, his cheeks flushed.

Qiao Dong was unsure of the relationship between Bo Yueming and Pei Yi, but he was accustomed to paying attention to words and feelings—

Just now when Pei Yi said that he would bring him to stay in his room, Bo Yueming’s jaw tensed instantly, and a trace of sourness flashed across his face. Something was very wrong!

Qiao Dong had just arrived, so how could he dare ask for so much, ah? He hastened to say, “M-Mr. Bo, you don’t need to make room for me, I’ll just sleep on the sofa!”

He paused for a moment, then took another step back. “It’s fine to sleep on the floor too!”

Lin Zhong, who was also paying attention, quickly said, “Mr. Bo, Qiao Dong and I can sleep in the same room, right? Recently, I’ve been following you out early and returning late due to the bidding. I don’t stay at home much, so it won’t delay Qiao Dong’s rest during the day.”

“And staying on the first floor, it will be more convenient to call Uncle Kai for help.”

Bo Yueming nodded his head.

To be honest, even if Pei Yi agreed to move back to the master bedroom, he would not want Qiao Dong to stay in Pei Yi’s room.

Seeing as Bo Yueming had agreed, Qiao Dong quickly cast a grateful look at Lin Zhong for being willing to take him in. “Thank you, Brother Lin.”

“You’re welcome. Come on, I’ll help you back to the room,” Lin Zhong said, and gave the driver Lao Zhang another look. “Lao Zhang, go and bring Qiao Dong’s luggage.”

Lao Zhang was also a sensible person, so he got up quickly and left.

Less than half a minute later.

Only Bo Yueming and Pei Yi were left in the living room.

Pei Yi hadn’t been alone with Bo Yueming for a long time, and before he knew it, he felt a little uncomfortable. He put the milk he was drinking back on the coffee table, and tried to escape when he saw the right moment.

In the next second, Bo Yueming “felt around” and grasped his wrist. “Where are you going?”

“…….”

Was this the ability of a villain?

Why was his instinct to catch people so strong when his eyes hadn’t even healed yet?

Pei Yi complained from the bottom of his heart, and grumbled on the surface, “I’m sleepy.”

He spent the whole afternoon clacking away at his keyboard, and listened to Qiao Dong’s story for so long, so he was indeed a little tired.

Bo Yueming relaxed his tone and requested, “It’s time to eat. Eat before resting.”

The tension on his wrist did not relax.

Bo Yueming continued, “Pei Yi, I have something to ask you.”

Uncomprehending, Pei Yi made an airy sound to express his doubt.

Bo Yueming moved closer. “You don’t want to sleep with me?”

“…….”

Pei Yi got stuck.

What kind of problem was this, ah?

Besides, when the word “sleep” came out of Bo Yueming’s mouth, why did it feel strangely astringent?

Pei Yi pretended to be confused. “Er-ge?”

Bo Yueming chose to be more specific. “It’s not just now. That morning, you sneaked back to your room without saying a word.”

“…….”

The scene of that morning once again flashed through Pei Yi’s mind. The tips of their noses rubbing lightly, their breaths intertwined, lips just about to kiss. The memory made his palms sweat.

Pei Yi tried to get those pictures out of his mind, and didn’t know if he was playing the fool or really stuttering. “N-no, I sleep, don’t behave, not good.”

Right after saying this, Pei Yi wanted to bite his own tongue—

It was strange. He was clearly able to deal with everyone calmly, but everything changed when he encountered Bo Yueming. It was an indescribable feeling.

Perhaps he really was dazzled by the face in front of him.

Bo Yueming pretended not to see, and instead followed the sound of Pei Yi’s breathing to say, “Who says you don’t behave?”

His breathing became unbalanced again, and Pei Yi swallowed unconsciously.

Bo Yueming sensed his nervousness, but the desire to tease the kitten remained undiminished. “You sleep in my arms every night, and there is never a time when you are not well-behaved.”

Never…..a time…..he was not well-behaved?

Pei Yi’s breath shook, and he inwardly pondered the meaning of the second half of the sentence.

His heart was wreathed in tension, beating faster and harder, making him unable to think at all.

Pei Yi suddenly stood up from the sofa and stared at Bo Yueming sitting there. Then he blinked unnaturally and ran away, playing the fool.

“…….”

Looking at his back as he fled in a hurry, Bo Yueming allowed himself to laugh a couple of times.

What could he do?

There was a kitten who was looking cuter and cuter.

---

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

“Don’t worry, I’m the admiral of the Empire, not some precious son of theirs who will pay attention to them.” Lucas gave a pei and said, “I don’t care.”

Luo Ran hesitated before saying, “En.”

His smile was like the breeze on the surface of a pool. 

Gentle, with some appeasement.

Lucas gazed at it for a moment before opening his arms and saying: “Why don’t you give me a hug?”

Luo Ran was taken aback, and then felt a little ill at ease.

Lucas kept his arms stuck out like a blockhead.

It was just a comforting hug, nothing more.

Luo Ran hesitated, then stepped forward and hugged Lucas.

Lucas leaned his head lightly on Luo Ran’s shoulder and smiled: “It’s enough for me to have you as my family.”

Luo Ran was surprised, then whispered: “Okay.”

The two embraced at a bend in the corner, and the people passing by only dared to sneak a peek excitedly and then flee at a faster pace without disturbing them.

After a while, Lucas let go of Luo Ran and pointed at the floor, saying, “Luo Ran.”

“En?”

“You seem to have dropped something, maybe it got knocked out when we were hugging.”

The already very proficient Luo Ran looked down and exclaimed, “It seems to be the admiral’s small brain, when did it pop out?”

Lucas: “? ? ?”

The phrase “you’re missing a boyfriend” stuck in Lucas’s throat.

Lucas had even considered for a long time whether to choose boyfriend or husband.

Luo Ran raised his head and said worriedly: “Are you going to pick it up?”

Lucas said coldly: “Luo Ran, you’re dead.”

Luo Ran clutched his temples. “My head hurts a bit.”

Lucas: “? ? ?”

Lucas bared his teeth: “Don’t do this again!”

Luo Ran smiled and hugged the official documents, then turned around and quickly ran away.

Lucas was so angry that his face distorted.

Son of a bitch ! !

. . . . . .

Three hours later.

Inside the barracks, Lucas held a serious meeting with Wang Qiuyang, Lu Cheng, and Shen Xiluo in a small, dark room.

The content of the meeting was naturally — the progress of the research project on the outstanding heir to the empire.

Now that the UNK project had been forced to a stop, Shen Shiluo and Xia Zhi were also free. Shen Xiluo brought a report from the medical department to the military department and came to meet with Lucas. After dealing with official business, he heard Lucas unexpectedly ask: “How did you guys first pursue your wives?”

Wang Qiuyang and Lu Cheng exchaged glances.

Lu Cheng said: “The first time we met, I just hit a home run and didn’t have to pursue him……”

Wang Qiuyang said: “It was a blind date arranged by my family, but the first time we saw each other, the family members asked for a marriage, and we got married……”

Lucas was sour.

Shen Xiluo habitually pushed his glasses up and said: “I haven’t officially succeeded in my pursuit yet, but I’m making good progress and will soon succeed.”

Shen Xiluo proudly said: “He has already agreed to have dinner with me.”

The other three people turned their heads to look at him in a daze.

“If you wish to be successful, naturally you must continuously learn, seek breakthroughs, and take risks.” Shen Xiluo said: “Among them are reference materials, further observation, and more learning.”

“Observation and thinking are the beginning of all research, and the same is true of love.”

Lu Cheng and Wang Qiuyang opened their mouths blankly. The depth of research doctors was really of a different kind. A skillful kind.

Lu Cheng stared and said: “What will the admiral do now?”

Shen Xiluo took out the terminal again.

“Naturally, read more information and then apply it.”

Lucas: “…….”

Lucas was on guard. If Shen Xiluo took out anything weird, he would leave.

But Shen Xiluo didn’t.

He just saw him click lovingly on a folder, and say solemnly: “Watching romantic TV dramas and movies is a good choice. I have many types here, including contemporary and ancient earth materials.”

“If you’re just getting started, I recommend a romance series from ancient Earth’s Kimchi Country.”

Lucas: “…….”

Lucas had probably never thought that one day he would watch romantic movies with his adjutants in the barracks.

He also didn’t expect that his vacation entertainment would be watching dramas.

And after watching for a while, he thought they were too stupid.

Tsk.

He, Lucas Aldor, would stop here. He wouldn’t do anything stupid to Luo Ran like those heroes and heroines.

It was best to leave it at that.

Before he left, Shen Xiluo sent him some study materials.

On the other side, Luo Ran had finished studying today’s official documents and was about to go back, when he received the investigation team’s report.

They had acted very quickly, and it took two days to find out Cyril’s complete itinerary.

The investigation team had filtered out a very interesting piece of information.

A lot had happened that night at the king’s birthday party.

Among them, Prince Andika was drugged and then met Lu Cheng, and because of this, Andika was controlled by the star pirates for a period of time.

Prince Andika’s mission was to lead Huntsman and the star pirates to sneak into the capital to do business, and in addition, to take him to meet the “big shot” in the capital.

The second banquet that Andika participated in was the welcome banquet set up for Luobing. At that time, the envoy even blatantly asked Lucas to marry Luobing’s two Highnesses.

And then Huntsman, who was brought by Andika and dressed as a bodyguard, went with him to the east wing on the seventh floor of the hotel.

Cyril was also in the east wing.

In addition, the First Prince was playing billiards with Cyril that night.

Luo Ran rubbed his brow at once, his mood bottoming out.

Naturally, they couldn’t conclude that the First Prince had colluded with Cyril and the star pirates just because of this incident that could be a coincidence.

It was just a possibility.

But if this possibility really held true, then trouble would follow.

Very, very troublesome.

Cyril was the eldest Aldor son.

How ironic was it that the youngest son and the star pirates were fighting to the death, and the eldest son and the star pirates were in the same party? How embarrassed would the Aldors be? Hundreds of years of loyalty and noble reputation were about to be marred by an inescapable stain.

And if the First Prince really got involved, or let Cyril loose to fish for benefits, it would be a disaster for the Empire.

The relationship between the military and the royal family had always been delicate, and the First Prince was still the future leader of the Empire. If the future leader of the Empire colluded with the enemies and looters of the Empire, the star pirates, Lucas would be the first to be targeted, and what would happen to the Empire then?

What would happen to the people of the Empire?

Luo Ran lightly pressed his temples, frowning slightly.

He deleted the file, and was about to go find the investigation team leader in person, when the terminal beep sounded again.

……Huh?

It was information about a school reunion.

In fact, Luo Ran had not contacted his old classmates for a long time. After all, Luo Ran had experienced bullying and targeting since entering junior high school, and transferred to a new school where he spent only two years of high school. His classmates at the new school didn’t dare to make friends with him when they heard about his past, let alone offend the Viscount’s family, who were all extremely high up in the civilian school at that time.

After all, the new school was actually a branch of the old school, and the teaching building was only one street away. Luo Ran’s father tried his best at that time, but he couldn’t be transferred to a different school.

But Luo Ran still received this information, because the class reunion notice was automatically generated by the school for all students at the same level.

Luo Ran received them once every three years, but he had never gone before.

After the class reunion was over, Luo Ran also received a photo automatically forwarded from the school. His former classmates were naturally beautiful and glamorous.

Luo Ran was different from before. He was not inferior, and was even better than his former classmates.

Only, he still didn’t go.

“Why are you in a daze?” When Lucas returned from military headquarters, he saw Luo Ran sitting alone in front of the table, holding a terminal blankly.

“It’s nothing.”

Luo Ran smiled and said: “I’m going back. Good night, Admiral.”

Lucas reached out with a frown to stop Luo Ran, saying: “What’s the matter? Tell me honestly, don’t hide anything from me.”

This was no secret. Luo Ran said helplessly: “It’s nothing, I just received a report from the investigation team and a notice for a class reunion.”

Aside from Luo Ran’s blind dates, the investigation team had always sent reports to both of them at the same time, so Lucas also knew about it.

“En, you don’t have to think so much about those things. Appropriate measures will be taken when the situation calls for them.” Lucas asked, “Will you go meet your classmates?”

“No.” Luo Ran shook his head. “It isn’t necessary.”

Lucas paused, then said, “Go, ba.”

“Ah……?”

Lucas smiled and said: “I’ll accompany you.”

If he never went, Luo Ran would occasionally think of the past, but if he went to face those people and crushed them, he could dismiss them from his mind.

“No need,” Luo Ran said with a smile. “It was a long time ago, and I don’t have a good relationship with them.”

“Is it unnecessary or are you afraid?” Lucas raised an eyebrow and asked: “Why? As my secretary, should you still be afraid to meet them? You have subdued even generals of the Empire, why continue to fear them?”

“How could I.” Luo Ran lowered his eyes and said with red ears, “I won’t.”

Lucas smiled: “Then Secretary Luo, the Imperial secretary who manages the military department, and contends with the royal family, will you go?”

“I’ll go,” Luo Ran said with a smile. “I can go by myself, and also grab some free food.”

After all, the class reunion was held in a very big and famous restaurant in the capital.

“I’ll accompany you.”

“No need, I can go by myself……”

Lucas said angrily: “You can eat but I can’t?!”

“…….”

Lucas said: “Zhou Mingkai went to the military academy before. He told me that a class reunion is a place to show off wealth and partners, and you, as my secretary, represent my face and cannot lose.”

The classmates were all people who had bullied Luo Ran in the past, right?

Lucas sneered. He would not allow Luo Ran to go alone.

“…….” Luo Ran lowered his head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry: “In fact, not every class reunion is like this, and……”

And he didn’t have a partner either.

Luo Ran paused and said nothing.

Lucas just raised his eyebrows and didn’t speak.

The atmosphere was a bit strange.

After a moment, Lucas asked: “Do you want to stay overnight tonight?”

“……No.” Luo Ran turned his head and said: “I won’t bother the admiral. I’ll go home and pack up, then go directly to the investigation team leader tomorrow to finalize the direction of the next investigation.”

When it came to the royal family, everything had to be done with great caution.

“I’ll go with you tomorrow.”

After speaking, Lucas opened his mouth to persuade him to stay, but felt that he couldn’t force him.

Lucas scratched the back of his head.

Ahhh, what a hassle. He used to be able to sleep with him without pursuing him, but now he couldn’t.

Lucas chased after him with some dissatisfaction, thinking that he should at least be able to give Luo Ran a ride.

It was raining outside.

The deluge was heavy, and raindrops wet the doorstep.

Luo Ran was standing by the door, and there was no shelter on the way to the parking lot to fetch the aircraft. He was about to use an umbrella when Lucas rushed to catch up.

Luo Ran was a little surprised. Lucas would never send him off like this in the past.

Before Luo Ran could say anything, his vision went dark.

Luo Ran: “ ? “

Lucas had taken off his jacket at some point, and now it was covering Luo Ran’s head.

The two squeezed in and nestled together under the coat, very close.

Lucas said: “Let’s go like this.”

Luo Ran said: “No need, I have an umbrella.”

“We’re better off going this way.”

“……I really do have an umbrella.” Luo Ran took out a small umbrella from his bag. 

Lucas threw the umbrella into the locker next to him and said angrily: “You don’t have one!”

Lu Ran: “? ? ? ?”

Thus:

The Imperial Secretary and the Admiral of the Empire huddled under a jacket. Luo Ran’s right hand and Lucas’s left hand held the corners of the jacket as they tried to block the bean-sized raindrops with the fabric, and the two of them ran pitifully toward the aircraft with big strides, through the wind and rain.

Someone upstairs witnessed this scene through the glass window, and immediately called their colleagues to watch together.

“Come and see! There are two idiots downstairs! Aren’t there many umbrellas at the counter on the ground floor?”

“Who the hell is that? Let me see!”

“……Wait, isn’t this?”

“……Fuck.”

“What a wonderful love!!”

. . . . . . .

Downstairs.

Luo Ran and Lucas finally dashed onto the aircraft with their shoulders and backs wet from the rain, and they both looked a little embarrassed.

Luo Ran: “……..”

So stupid.

Lucas: “……..”

He also felt very stupid.

But that was how it was done on TV.

Lucas flicked drops of water from his hair like a big dog and asked Luo Ran with a solemn face: “Do you feel your heart pounding?”

Luo Ran: “…….”

He suddenly understood what was going on.

Luo Ran: “…….”

He wanted to laugh, but was also a little embarrassed.

However, the feeling of gloom just now had vanished after being disturbed in such a way. 

That’s right, with him and Lucas here, appropriate measures would be taken when the situation called for them.

“Admiral, you’d better head back quickly, the rain is getting heavier.” Luo Ran handed Lucas the spare umbrella in the aircraft.

“En.”

The jacket on Luo Ran’s head had not been taken off yet, and Luo Ran stretched out his hand to return it, but was taken aback in the next moment.

Lucas stepped forward and tugged his jacket to cover Luo Ran, then leaned his head in to place a very quick, light kiss on his cheek.

His nose filled with Lucas’s tobacco scent, the scent that Luo Ran was most familiar with.

Perhaps it was coming from Lucas, or perhaps from the coat.

Luo Ran blushed.

“Good night,” Lucas said with a smile. “I’ll leave. And I’ll send you home like this every day from now on.”

Luo Ran froze on the spot like a stone sculpture.

A stone sculpture that was painted red.

Lucas disembarked the aircraft, and after he walked all the way back to the office, the aircraft also took off.

Luo Ran buried his head in the jacket like an ostrich.

Wu.

This……was this also learned from TV dramas?

---

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Chapter Sixty << Table of Contents >> Chapter Sixty-Two

The news that the Yan army was about to attack the city quickly spread to every street.

The news that Huang Wangxiang was killed by Yuan Zong at the city gate also spread to everyone’s ears.

The combination of the two events was enough to shake the hearts of the entirety of Sanshui City. From the beginning of this large-scale war, Huang Wangxiang’s three characters were used as a banner. But now, the banner suddenly fell, not on the battlefield, but on the city wall before the battle arrived.

Even people with no military knowledge knew that this was definitely not a sign of victory. At the same time, other news was quietly circulating in the city. It was said that the Qingyang City tragedy was not caused by the Yan army, but the defenders were unreconciled to defeat and aimed their butcher’s knives at the common people.

Truth and lies, chaos on top of chaos.

Miao Changqing took Liu Xian’an and walked on the street together. He was also one of the great generals. Either Yuan Zong didn’t care about him, looked down on him, or was thinking about their past friendship. In short, after ascending the throne, he didn’t attack this old fellow for the time being, so the rest of the rebels did not dare to touch the two of them, and only watched from a distance.

Outside the city, the golden drums were beating, and all the rebels lined up and ran across the long street. Preparing to fight against the defenders, the common people also took up their knives and guarded the gates of their homes. Some of them wanted to run to the gates of the city, but Liu Xian’an stopped them: “Cheng Dacai, where is your daughter-in-law!”

The young man who was questioned by him replied: “At home.”

“Take her to the ruined temple.” Liu Xian’an found a high platform and stood on it, shouting, “Gather all those who cannot protect themselves at the ruined temple. The rest who can hold a sword are responsible for guarding the temple gate. We have to go to the same place together, running around here and there in such a way is not going to protect our families.”

“But in case the Yan army breaks into the city…..”

“Then what if someone wants to kill your wife before the Yan army breaks into the city?” Liu Xian’an didn’t talk to him further, but called to more people, “Quickly! Take your families and follow me!”

Some people chose to listen to his words, and moved their parents, wives, and children to the ruined temple. The sick and weak stayed in the innermost part, and the young and middle-aged stayed outside with weapons. In addition, many people shouted along the street, saying that the ruined temple was protected and everyone should go there. Miao Changqing led a hundred of his men to guard the outermost perimeter. The old man had a white beard and hair, just like the gatekeeper general in the New Year portraits.

More and more people took refuge, and the ruined temple couldn’t fit them all, so they scattered to the houses in this area, and Miao Changqing formed teams of youths with swords to guard every intersection. Such commotion finally attracted Yuan Zong’s attention, and he asked in displeasure: “What does Lao Miao intend to do?”

The officer who came to report said: “General Miao is holding His Majes……Huang’s sword, and he’s obeying that doctor’s orders.”

The military advisor next to Yuan Zong said in a nonchalant way: “The Emperor still can’t see his intentions?”

Yuan Zong himself was full of longing for the throne, so he felt that others should feel the same way. His face was livid as he said: “Tell Lao Miao to quickly bring his people over, as well as all the young and middle-aged men who can fight. If they refuse, if they refuse to come—”

The military advisor completed the second half of the sentence for the new emperor: “Those who resist the decree and do not obey will be killed without mercy.”

Three streams of fiery arrows streaked across the sky, bringing with them a sharp sound.

The Yan army’s attack on the city had already begun.

Liu Xian’an also stood with Miao Changqing, watching an army come from the other end of the smoke-filled street with swords in their hands. Before the people arrived, the leader had already ordered loudly: “The Emperor has commanded that General Miao and all the young and middle-aged men will go out of the city to join the battle without a moment’s delay! Go quickly!”

Liu Xian’an asked: “If the young and middle-aged are gone, who will protect the old, young, sick, and weak? We won’t leave.”

The response he received was the rattle of swords. A-Ning stood bravely in front of his young master: “What, do you intend to kill someone?”

“I almost forgot, if you don’t go out by yourselves, the military advisor ordered that others can live, but Liang Shu’s spies must die!” The leader pointed at Liu Xian’an. “Someone come and arrest him!”

A group of soldiers rushed forward fiercely, and Miao Changqing said angrily: “Who dares! Back off!”

But this old general obviously didn’t have much authority anymore, or perhaps had been dismissed by Yuan Zong. Seeing that Liu Xian’an was about to be taken away, the surrounding young and middle-aged people stepped forward to stop it one after another, and a small-scale commotion broke out at the scene. The leader became even more dissatisfied at the sight: “Arrest them all for me! Those who disobey will be punished as spies!”

“The battle is imminent, yet you won’t go out of the city and just stay here to threaten the common people, calling them to fight and kill!” Wang Fan swept away the person in front of Liu Xian’an with a single blow, and said coldly, “I’ll see who dares to touch my doctor!”

“You oppose us!” The leader drew his sword and slashed, but he was no match for the Wang family brothers. He rolled off his horse awkwardly and lost his composure, shouting: “Whoever stands with them, kill them all, so as not to shake the morale of the army!”

Miao Changqing’s eyes widened in fury: “You’re crazy!”

He tried to ride a horse to find Yuan Zong, but the horse’s legs were cut by random blades, and Wang Fan pulled him to a safe place. At this time, the rebels were already killing like madmen. The young and middle-aged men raised their blades to resist, and some of them shouted, saying they were willing to go out of the city and fight, but what they got in exchange was the cold glint of a blade. Some people saw the signs and called: “They just want to kill us!”

Miao Changqing was already injured. Liu Xian’an tried to help him, but he almost tripped over. With sharp reflexes, Wang Fan picked him up and said: “Young Master, don’t panic. The prince has already sent many people into the city to deal with the current situation.”

He did? Liu Xian’an looked around, and sure enough, he found that among the common people, there were many masters mixed in, and it would be impossible to count them on two hands and two feet. Flying back and forth, they were even more dazzling, so he asked: “When did they all enter the city?”

“As long as you are willing to spend money, no matter how long the queue is, you can get to the front,” Wang Fan said. “This mob is far from being the opponents of our army. You just wait and see, the prince will definitely break through the city within three days.”

The people in the ruined temple worked together and quickly killed all the rebels. Liu Xian’an walked over the mountain of dead bodies, and after finding the leader who had been shouting for their deaths just now, he picked up a knife beside him and cut open his shirt.

Puzzled, A-Ning asked: “What is the young master doing?”

“His behavior just now was too abnormal. It was as if he didn’t come to urge the common people to go to the battlefield at all, and just wanted to find a pretext to kill people. But it stands to reason that the battle has just begun, so there is no need to be so anxious even if they want to massacre the city.” Liu Xian’an said, “If something goes wrong, there must be a culprit. I suddenly thought of the Baifu Sect, but he doesn’t have any tattoos on his body.”

“He is not a member of the Baifu Sect, but that does not mean that there are no people from the Baifu Sect standing on the city gate,” Wang Fan said. “As Young Master says, it really is possible.”

“If it is the cult, it is even more important to protect the common people.” Liu Xian’an took out Huang Wangxiang’s sword from under the statue. “Right now, there is a fierce battle at the city gate, and Yuan Zong can’t take care of this end. Let’s hurry and send everyone out of the city through the small northwest gate.”

Wang Fan nodded: “All right. Young Master, come with me.”

. . . . . .

At the front of the battlefield, blood stained the sky.

Liang Shu adopted the most violent and direct method of attack. Thousands of troops roared like ferocious beasts as thunder filled the dark sky. Fire bombs and boiling oil could not force the attacking forces back. Heavy logs hit the city gates again and again, causing the bluestone city wall tens of zhang high to shake. Yuan Zong’s face was as pale as paper.

He had thought that all of Dayan’s troops were like the ones he encountered earlier, the kind that could be easily defeated, corrupt and unable to bear one strike, so his ambition swelled all the way. He had felt that the whole country was crumbling, and he only needed to tug lightly to change who was sitting on the throne. But now, he personally experienced what a real army was, tens of thousands of cavalry with black armor and long swords. Under Liang Shu’s leadership, they looked so uniform, brave, and invincible. Their bodies and strength of will were like cast steel as they advanced and retreated in an orderly manner, far from the disintegration and collapse of a dynasty.

This was an undefeated master.

“Your Majesty!” A soldier hastened to report, “The city gate will soon be overwhelmed.”

“……Line up, go out of the city to fight!” Yuan Zong clenched the sword in his hand, almost unable to stand steadily. He was already starting to regret that he couldn’t wait to ascend the so-called throne, but he had to stand firm. “Call everyone, go out of the city!”

“Yes!”

“Your Majesty,” the military adviser reminded, “The people who went to look for General Miao have not yet returned.”

“You go have a look.” Yuan Zhong was flustered internally and just gave a casual order, not taking it seriously.

A military division trooped all the way through the city, and at the same time, Liu Xian’an had already led the common people through the northwest gate to hide in the dense forest outside the city. Nobody spoke, they just held their breaths and walked deep into the dense forest, trying to find the safest shelter from the wind before night fell.

The entirety of Sanshui City had almost become empty. The small gate to the northwest was open, and no one was on duty. The military commander’s face was livid, and he ordered: “Go with me out of the city to search!”

The sun gradually sank.

One the battlefield, blazing torches burned, and the city gate collapsed. The Yan army rushed into the city in an unstoppable wave and fought with the rebels. Yuan Zong’s eyes were blinded by the bloody mist, and his horse was also injured. He hadn’t even been able to see Liang Shu at close range. The combat power of the two sides was truly different, whether in terms of combat strategy or the armies themselves.

In a great panic, the new emperor escaped from the city overnight through a side door, surrounded by a group of subordinates, but before he could take two steps, he was blocked by a team of militia.

“Huang Wangxiang.” Gao Lin looked at the man wrapped in a bright yellow robe before him. “Only now do you think of fleeing. It is too late. Surrender.”

Yuan Zong breathed heavily. On top of his initial emotions, another humiliation was added. He had originally thought that the army of the Dayan Dynasty knew of him, and that he was a frightening existence, but facts proved that the other party didn’t even know his own name.

He gave a loud cry, drew his sword, and went forward to kill.

But there was not half a chance of victory.

This small group of rebels was quickly subdued by the Yan army, and one of them, likely in order to survive, took the initiative to inform them: “He, he is not Huang Wangxiang!”

When he heard this, Gao Lin was truly shocked. He thought the other party was playing tricks in a crafty escape plan, so he grabbed him and asked: “Where is Huang Wangxiang!”

The other party said tremblingly: “Dead. Already dead, killed by General Yuan, Yuan Zong!”

Gao Lin asked again: “Where is Yuan Zong?”

Yuan Zong who was right next to him: “…….”

Of course, Gao Lin figured it all out in the end, and the Yan army also found Huang Wangxiang’s body inside the city.

It was completely dark.

Deep in the dense forest, Liu Xian’an was huddling with the common people to keep warm. Because it was not yet clear how the battle outside was going, they didn’t light camp fires, and could only make use of one another’s body heat to resist the cold. Nobody made a sound. The young and middle-aged people scattered around, and after a while, someone suddenly ran back to warn: “There are troops ahead!”

The atmosphere became tense at once.

A-Ning asked softly: “Is it the prince’s army?”

“Not likely,” Wang Fan said. “Everyone, be vigilant.”

Everyone held their breaths, wondering what would happen next. And at this moment, there happened to be a little child who cried “wah-wah.” The clear voice cut through the silent night sky, causing countless hearts to contract sharply!

The woman hastened to cover the child’s mouth tightly, but it was too late. The sound of chaotic footsteps was getting closer and closer, and before anyone arrived, dozens of flaming arrows were already shot over!

“Careful!” Wang Fan swept away the falling arrows, picked up Liu Xian’an, and placed him on the other side. Dozens of others immediately surrounded him to protect him in the middle. Torches were lit all around. It was the rebels, and someone shouted: “Kill them!”

Miao Changqing drew his sword out of its sheath: “Follow me to protect the common people!”

The young and middle-aged people quickly gathered around him, and the silence in the dense forest was broken, half with crying and half with killing.

The military leader stood at a high place, looking through the crowd, and his gaze landed directly on Liu Xian’an. And Liu Xian’an was also observing him. With high cheekbones and a short face, he didn’t look like the common people of the central plains.

“Brother Wang, go and catch that person!” Liu Xian’an said, “It’s better to keep him alive.”

Wang Fan recruited three people and flew up to the high ground. That military adviser also flew backwards, and his martial arts were more than ten Yuan Zongs combined. 

Liu Xian’an stood on the tips of his toes: “Don’t let him get away!”

There was an odd, grotesque smile in the military advisor’s eyes. He dodged to avoid Wang Fan and the others, but did not run further away. Instead, he suddenly turned and rushed toward Liu Xian’an, and a hidden weapon bathed in blue light flashed out of his hand.

Clank, bang. There was the sound of metal colliding and bone and flesh breaking.

All of the hidden weapons were wrapped up together in a big black cloak, and the military advisor was also twisted by the neck and thrown heavily into a tree.

Liu Xian’an said happily: “Your Highness!”

He immediately ran over with no care for what he was stepping on, and slipped with a whoosh: “Ah!”

Liang Shu opened his hands without changing his expression, and took that person firmly into his arms.

---

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

Pei Yi stood silently at the door and looked at the gleam of light shining from the crack at the bottom. Before his villainous heart could begin to bubble up and struggle, the closed door suddenly opened—

The four eyes met.

Both unprepared people were taken aback.

Pei Yi’s gaze wavered, and he quickly lowered his head to control his expression.

At the same time, Bo Yueming also recovered from the momentary shock. He had just gone to the bathroom to wash his face and drive away the drowsiness when he suddenly heard light footsteps at the door.

Because this was his first time staying in the new house, he feared it was a burglar in the middle of the night, so he approached softly and opened the door suddenly.

Seeing Pei Yi, Bo Yueming pretended at once to be blind and vigilant. “Who is it?”

“……..”

In just a few seconds, the acting skills of the two simultaneously came online.

Pei Yi fought against his inexplicably thumping heartbeat and looked up again—

Bo Yueming was wearing black pajamas, and the tight waistband outlined his lithe waist, raising his body proportions to the extreme.

His meticulously combed wet hair fell down across his forehead, faintly covering the faint cold proudness of his features, and there was trace of asceticism that couldn’t be explained to outsiders.

Pei Yi swallowed slightly, feeling that he was very thirsty. “Er, Er-ge.”

Even though this wasn’t the first time he had seen such a thing, he couldn’t help but sigh internally every time: the other party was the most attractive person in the book, and even Yan Cen and Qin Yishun had to stand aside a little bit.

Bo Yueming pretended to identify him by sound, and said knowingly, “Pei Yi? Why aren’t you sleeping? It’s late.”

Pei Yi thought of his purpose for leaving the room, and his series of embarrassing behaviors as he stood unknowingly in front of the master bedroom, and his whole body felt hot.

For now, he could only come up with a lame excuse. “I’m thirsty.”

“Thirsty?”

Bo Yueming’s expression was a little subtle.

The kitten was playing the fool, and wasn’t really stupid.

Even if he was thirsty and wanted to drink water at this point in time, he would go downstairs and pour it quietly. How could he walk in the opposite direction to his bedroom?

Unless……the other party just wanted to find him.

This thought suddenly popped into Bo Yueming’s mind, and he asked, “You can’t sleep in a new place tonight? Don’t you have your quilt?”

“……..”

How did he know?

He couldn’t sleep even with the quilt.

Still secretly depressed, Pei Yi took a deep breath and played the fool to the end. “Er-ge, I’m thirsty.”

Bo Yueming turned slightly to make room for him, and motioned, “Come in, I”ll get you some water.”

Pei Yi hesitated for two seconds, and then walked in as slow as a snail.

Bo Yueming trailed one hand on the wall and located Pei Yi’s position with the other. “Come on.”

When he was alone, he didn’t have to hide anything, but when the kitten came, he had to act!

Pei Yi was already accustomed to this bit of Bo Yueming’s fumbling and searching, so he naturally held his wrist while skillfully pretending to be very well-behaved.

The two played their own roles and walked inside together.

The area of the master bedroom here was not as big as the one in the Imperial Capital, but all facilities were in place. There were raised cushions on both sides of the large bed to sit on, and the black computer desk was densely covered with materials.

The reason Bo Yueming was up at this point in time was because he was busy with work.

Overturning the original bidding plan and coming up with an advantageous new one within two months undoubtedly came with enormous pressure.

Bo Yueming was not a hands-off boss with only a title, so he naturally had to put in more effort than others.

“…….”

Looking at the project information displayed on the tablet and the materials on the desk, Pei Yi became suspicious.

Bo Yueming’s heart tightened, and the rigorous workaholic became negligent the moment Pei Yi said he was “thirsty.”

He quickly “fumbled” for the bottle of mineral water on the corner of the table, and deliberately dropped a document due to “not being able to see it.”

“……..”

Not only that, but after unscrewing the bottle cap, he handed it out in an ‘uncertain’ direction. “Sit down and drink.”

Pei Yi took it, and cautiously stretched out his hand to wave it in front of Bo Yueming’s eyes. Seeing that there was no extraneous reaction from the other party, he sat on the cushion beside the bed.

Bo Yueming was conscious of his possible flaws, but he had to continue acting.

Slowly and carefully, he sat back in his seat and added, “I thought Lin Zhong had come back after leaving. Remember to ask Uncle Kai to prepare water for you before bed.”

As he spoke, he took out the bluetooth headset from his pajama pocket, put it on, and tapped it twice.

Not only did he have a guilty conscience, but so did Pei Yi, who had “asked for water.”

His doubts were dispelled, and his attention fell on the matter of “Bo Yueming working hard.”

It didn’t matter that he left early and came back late every day, but did he have to work until this point when he got home?

He let the assistant go back to his room to rest, but had to use the electronic text-to-speech function to continue? Wasn’t this a waste of his ears and ability to remember?

Bo Yueming didn’t know what Pei Yi was thinking, and the longer he was silent, the more guilty he became. “Pei Yi, do you want to go back to sleep? I still have some work to do.”

Pei Yi took a couple sips of mineral water and shook his head. “I, I accompany Er-ge.”

In any case, he may not be able to sleep if he went back to his room. It was better to stay here with Bo Yueming to pass the time, and it wouldn’t be too late for him to go back after the other party finished his work.

Wasn’t it just staying up late? This was no problem for him, a night owl!

“…….”

Bo Yueming hesitated for several seconds.

Facing the kitten who had delivered himself to his door, he couldn’t bear to refuse. “Okay, sleep when you feel sleepy.”

Pei Yi made a sound of acknowledgement.

He sat on the cushion on the side of the bed and leaned back against it in a comfortable posture. He could euphemistically call this “accompanying Er-ge,” but he was actually in a “dazed fugue.”

Pei Yi thought of the upcoming “The Last Fog” project, then the plots and characters in the original text and the final results.

It had almost been two months since he transmigrated.

Judging from the plot, Li Yuan and Pei Huan’s origins would be revealed in two months, and wouldn’t Bo Yueming’s eyesight enter the recovery period?

As for his canon fodder self, thanks to the foundation laid out by the original owner, he was able to rely on his mediocre acting skills to pretend until now.

Pei Yi knew that once Bo Yueming recovered his eyesight, he would likely not be able to escape the other party’s eyes.

After all, what Bo Yueming hated most in the original text was deception.

Deception?

Didn’t this count as deceiving him? If Bo Yueming found out, wouldn’t he be very angry?

Pei Yi’s thoughts were complicated and tangled for a while, but he was still steadfast in his original goal—

Save his life and start a career. He couldn’t change anything!

Pei Yi was full of thoughts, but his eyelids gradually grew heavier, and his gaze unknowingly froze in one direction.

Bo Yueming felt the focused gaze from the side, and he felt nervous and helpless at the same time—

It must be known that in the past, he was the only one who “supervised” others.

Unexpectedly, in the middle of the night, a kitten suddenly appeared to “supervise” his every move?

The more this was the case, the more Bo Yueming didn’t dare to show his usual work efficiency, and he honestly listened to the voice from his earphones.

The night gradually deepened.

There was suddenly a faint sound of sleep talking from the bedside. Bo Yueming was taken aback, and turned around to look—

At some point, Pei Yi had hugged a small round pillow and fallen asleep with his head tilted. The promised “accompanying Er-ge” hadn’t even lasted twenty minutes.

Bo Yueming looked at his cute sleeping face, and his heart relaxed slightly. “Pei Yi?”

No answer.

Thus, Bo Yueming simply turned off the tablet and earphones.

As early as the moment Pei Yi came to his door, his working mode was completely disturbed, and he also had a deceptive sense of revealing tension. 

Bo Yueming approached and called out twice. After confirming that the other party was asleep, he easily placed the other party on his bed.

Laying on the more comfortable pillow, Pei Yi let out a comfortable hum.

Bo Yueming became more cautious, covering him with a quilt silently.

The familiar calming scent lingered. Pei Yi habitually turned sideways in his sleep and wrapped his arms and legs around him. “Hmmn.”

Bo Yueming touched the back of his neck, comforting him to sleep with his cool fingertips. “Good. Sleep, ba.”

“…….”

Pei Yi didn’t respond, sleeping soundly.

Bo Yueming stared down at the sleeping person in his arms, joy on his face—

Pei Yi had gradually gotten used to living with him, and he was also ready to go further with the other party.

No matter what the result of this bidding project was, when he returned to the Imperial Capital, he intended to find an opportunity to confess his eye condition to Pei Yi.

Acting to tease the kitten was fun, but he would be noticed sooner or later, and it might even make the other person angry.

Although the relationship between the two was based on marriage, their future relationship could not be based on deception.

At the least, he didn’t want to hide it from Pei Yi and make the other person worry about him.

. . . . . .

It was a gentle, sleepy night, and birdsong sounded outside the window at dawn.

Pei Yi was awoken by the consistent morning calls. He opened his eyes in a sleepy daze, and was instantly alarmed by the scene in front of him—

He actually slept in Bo Yueming’s arms?

Not only that, but he also entangled the other person with his limbs and refused to let go!

“…….”

Having just woken up, it took a while for Pei Yi to recall what happened last night after his brain “crashed,” and more question marks popped up in his mind.

Wasn’t he sitting down lost in thought last night? When did he fall asleep? Why was he lying in Bo Yueming’s bed?

Also, what kind of position was this now?!

Pei Yi swallowed nervously, intending to withdraw from Bo Yueming’s arms, but unexpectedly found that his waist was tightly bound.

Bo Yueming’s arm was around his waist, very firmly.

“…….”

Pei Yi was dumbfounded.

He tried to peel off the fingers that were pressed to his body, and they finally loosened a little. But before he could retreat—

In his sleep, Bo Yueming hugged him back again with furrowed brows, saying in a faint, low tone, “Don’t move.”

“Ah?”

Pei Yi raised his head at these words.

The distance between the two was unexpectedly so close. The tips of their noses rubbed against each other suddenly, their warm breaths blended together, and even their lips seemed to touch.

“……”

Pei Yi’s brain restarted and went blank. He pulled his head back to distance himself.

The bedside lamp was still on, and the clutter on the desk was the same as the night before. It was naturally impossible for Bo Yueming to do everything, considering his eye condition.

Pei Yi stared blankly at the person in front of him for a while—

The sleeping Bo Yueming became softer and less fierce. His eyelashes were very long, the bridge of his nose was straight, and his thin lips were also very good-looking, especially suitable for kissing.

Kissing?

The extremely blurry picture in his dreams flashed through his mind and almost overlapped with his vision.

Pei Yi swallowed several times, and when he realized his burgeoning thoughts, he couldn’t worry about his shock anymore!

He quickly broke free from the firm embrace, and the kitten slipped out of the room with his tail between his legs.

Swish, click.

There was a trace of panic in the sound of the door closing.

Bo Yueming, who had been “soundly asleep,” slowly opened his eyes and looked helplessly at the empty right side of the bed.

As early as the first time Pei Yi moved around in his arms and peeled away his fingers, he had already woken up.

Bo Yueming didn’t get up immediately. He just raised his hand to cover his eyes, silently suppressing some unspeakable impulse.

He had originally tried to hook the kitten with his “sleeping face,” but it was a pity that the other party was very calm, not at all bewitched, and quickly made his escape.

“……..”

Bo Yueming pressed his nose against the quilt lightly. Pei Yi’s warmth still remained on it, and he sighed with a helpless chuckle—

This early in the morning, the kitten trap didn’t succeed, and his own true colors were almost exposed!

. . . . . . .

Pei Yi collapsed on the bed after returning to his room, his whole body filled with an inexplicable heat.

He had always been aware of his sleeping tendencies.

Honest?

It was practically impossible to be honest.

Wrapping up in a quilt before going to bed and throwing the quilt off while asleep were all very normal things.

Bo Yueming’s biological clock was always more on time than his own. During those days they first came to Wencheng and stayed in a hotel, Pei Yi slept until he woke up naturally every day, and each time he woke up, the bed was empty.

The other party never mentioned the commotion at night, so he forgot to consider it until he unexpectedly woke up early today.

Thinking of those nights when he slept in the same bed with Bo Yueming, it was very likely that he treated the other person like a big pillow to hug, and even took the initiative to get into the other person’s arms every night—

Pei Yi felt the emotion called “shame.” He grabbed the quilt and wrapped himself up, acting like a turtle early in the morning.

“…….”

The other party must have regarded him as a fool, so he was extra indulgent, right? But this was too shameful! 

Pei Yi, who learned the truth about his sleeping, was overcome by an indescribable and unfamiliar embarrassment. He didn’t know how to face Bo Yueming at the moment, so he had to “pretend to sleep” in order to avoid breakfast.

However, this one-sided hiding lasted all morning.

Because Bo Yueming was so busy leading the project team, it had become normal for him to leave early and return late, or even stay there overnight.

Pei Yi could imagine the pressure of the workload, and tried to considerately not cause any trouble for the other party.

Fortunately, the nature of his work had always been “home-based,” and he didn’t stop working while the other party was busy.

It took Pei Yi a month to complete the game structure of “Tracking Pros and Cons,” including the original eight levels, plus two additional ones required by Nebula—

Ten levels, a whole series, all at once.

Not only that, but another original mini-game designed by him was successfully sold three days ago, adding another sum of money to his small treasury.

“Teacher Will, the final payment has been sent to you through the forum background. Please check on it!”

Pei Yi looked at the message sent by the copyright team leader, and responded with a smile, “Thank you, Team Leader Gu, for a pleasant cooperation.”

The original 660,000 yuan was finally increased to 760,000 yuan, and he was quite satisfied with his earnings.

Team Leader Gu liked Pei Yi’s game very much, and through this month’s online contract, he found that the two people had a certain resonance regarding game concepts.

Although this short-term cooperation was over, he really wanted to make friends with this great god.

“Teacher Will, would you like to come to Haishi for development?”

“Whether it is our Nebula or our game headquarters in Weiyi, in fact, there is a lack of creative original game architects like you.”

“If you are willing to come, whether it is a guaranteed monthly salary or game shares, it will definitely not be low.”

Seeing the olive branch that was suddenly handed over, Pei YI raised his eyebrows. “Thank you, but I don’t like being controlled by others. I prefer to be my own boss to earn money.”

What’s more, G.M.’s investment was in place, and “The Last Fog 1.0” had officially launched.

Team Leader Gu on the other side was unaware of this, and only thought that Pei Yi preferred the identity of an unfettered freelance architect. “Then in the future, if you have a chance to come to Haishi, I will treat Teacher Will to dinner.”

Pei Yi readily agreed.

The two game company hotbeds in China — The Imperial Capital and Haishi, would definitely have a place for him in the future.

Pei Yi took the initiative to end this string of messages and opened another blank document. He planned to start the writing structure of a new game without pause.

You couldn’t become fat after eating one bite, but you could take one bite after another.

The first wave of pre-heat publicity for Cloud Realm had already begun and achieved initial results. Pei Yi wanted to take advantage of this wave of popularity to open up his reputation in the field as soon as possible.

After all, only his works could determine his capability and prospects.

Ding-dong.

The message notification sound appeared once more.

Pei Yi switched back to the chat interface of Youtu and found a message from his core work group.

Li Yuan: “Will, you there? I want to discuss something with you.”

Pei Yi immediately typed his response. “I’m here.”

The preparatory work for “The Last Fog” had already started. Compared with Pei Yi’s online remote work, Li Yuan had to be busy in the early stages.

Li Yuan said again: “You know that problem with Youming Studios some time ago? If nothing unexpected happened, Ke Ming and Xiang Nansheng should have fallen apart!”

Li Yuan paid special attention to news about their studio due to their past relationship.

Pei Yi stared at this string of news, a little surprised.

After all, when he was still in the Imperial Capital, he had thought about “poaching” and asked Xiang Nansheng to come to the “Last Fog” project team, and even gave him a month to think about it.

It was a pity that the other party didn’t come at the point that the “Last Fog” project was officially launched.

He had thought that Xiang Nansheng and Ke Ming had resolved their differences and continued to run the studio together, so why did they break apart?

Pei Yi returned to his senses and simply said, “Pear Garden, be more specific.”

His daily name for Li Yuan had changed from Little Boss Li at the beginning to his current ID nickname.

Likely finding it troublesome to type, Li Yuan directly sent a fifty-nine second voice message. Pei Yi clicked on it and listened carefully, finally understanding the whole story—

A week ago, Youming Studio’s most popular mobile game, “Search for Another World,” launched a brand new map and also opened a relatively high item charging channel.

However, within twelve hours of going online, many bugs such as character card withdrawal, garbled interfaces, duplicate charges, and undelivered props frequently appeared.

The technical department’s hard work on the servers was fruitless, and the repair process was also lengthy, which caused a large number of players and consumers to be dissatisfied in a short period of time.

It must be known that “Search for Another World” was the proudest work of Youming Studios since its establishment. There were no few players who loved this game. As a result, after this failed operation—

Individual players angrily called the Consumer Association to complain, and more players gave the game low scores on various software stores.

As insiders in the game circle, both Pei Yi and Li Yuan understood how much loss this would bring to a rising studio.

“I don’t know exactly how much Youming Studios lost, and don’t have time to research their subsequent solutions, but I’m sure of one thing now!”

Li Yuan took a screenshot of Youming Studio’s official website:

The “Technical Director” line above had been replaced by someone else’s name, and the name “Xiang Nansheng” no longer appeared in other technical positions.

Pei Yi guessed Li Yuan’s real purpose in expressing all this. “You want to poach Xiang Nansheng?”

Li Yuan said straightforwardly, “Isn’t this what you wanted? Since there is an opportunity now, why not try?”

Their “Last Fog” still lacked a competent and capable technical director.

Lou Yang’s ability was indeed very strong, but “The Last Fog” was a long-term game in terms of development, and it was impossible for her to supervise the art and technical aspects all the time, bearing double the pressure.

Li Yuan said again, “I asked Sister Yang, and she supports it.”

Pei Yi replied, “Okay, can you talk to him in person?”

For a successful game project, the basic core personnel were the most important—

If this “poaching” went well, then “The Last Fog” would be composed of his plot structure and Lou Yang and Xiang Nansheng working together in art design and R&D. As for Li Yuan, he was a good hand at external operations.

Li Yuan was quite confident. “En, we have G.M.’s investment in “The Last Fog,” and the double strength guarantee of you and Sister Yang. I think I should be able to convince him.”

Pei Yi raised his eyebrows with a smile. “Then, troubling our Little Boss Li.”

As soon as this line of words was sent, Lou Yang, who had not participated in the chat, also bubbled up: “You two bosses, review the logo of our studio. Is it satisfactory?”

The name of the studio was eventually chosen by Lou Yang.

Because she had been working abroad for a long time, she preferred simple letters names.  So Li Yuan and Pei Yi each chose an English letter—

Pei Yi chose “y,” from the initial letter of “Yi,” and Li Yuan also chose “y,” from the initial letter of “Yuan.”

Apparently, they were a pair of naming wastes.

Lou Yang had no choice but to make her own choice, and chose the initial letter “w” of “Will.”

Combining these three letters together looked like an emoticon with a crooked mouth next to two scissors.

As a designer, Lou Yang had a rich imagination. She regarded YWY as the expression of a cat, and added cat ears on top of the three letters, as well as an arc for the outline of a cat’s face.

The texture was that of black metal.

A studio logo resembling a black cat with a big face appeared on the screen.

Pei Yi looked at it for a few seconds, considering his words. “Sister Yang, isn’t this a little too cute?”

Li Yuan briefly said, “Seconded!”

“Game studios have always been associated with two-dimensional logos, and the cuteness of animals is easy to remember.” Lou Yang briefly explained her design concept. “Besides, how cute are cats, ah?”

“Don’t you want our studio to conquer the entire game circle like a kitty cat conquers people’s hearts?”

“…….”

“…….”

It made sense, and could not be refuted.

Lou Yang had the stubbornness of a designer, but also the self-consciousness of a subordinate. “How about you two partners, do you have some advice to offer? Or should we choose a more reliable studio name?”

Pei Yi and Li Yuan both fell silent.

In less than two seconds, the nominee was chosen, and the two voted in favor.

“Sister Yang has the final say.”

“Seconded!”

---

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

Bo Yueming and his party returned to the underground parking lot, but the driver, Lao Zhang, was not in the car.

Lin Zhong and Uncle Kai were each carrying a bunch of wine, and the weight was really a bit much. The former quickly put his burden on the ground and said, “Mr. Bo, Lao Zhang isn’t here, I’ll call him and ask.”

Lao Fu, the original driver from the Imperial Capital, did not come to Wencheng with them. The current driver, Lao Zhang, was recruited by Song Yuanyuan for Bo Yueming.

He was under the age of fifty, had excellent driving skills, and was honest.

Bo Yueming had originally planned to take him to today’s Lingshui Pavilion dinner, but the other party refused.

He said that he was just an ordinary person and was really not interested in such a high-end place. Looking at the expensive dishes, he feared he wouldn’t be able to sit still, so it was better to eat at some homestyle restaurant on the side of the road.

Bo Yueming didn’t force it. He only said that he would reimburse the dinner expenses, and let him make his own decision.

Lin Zhong’s phone call went through quickly. “Lao Zhang, where are you? Boss Bo and Little Sir are already waiting by the car.”

“What? You’re buying medicine?”

“Okay, come back as soon as possible.”

Lin Zhong communicated with him briefly, and after hanging up the phone, he explained to Bo Yueming, “Mr. Bo, Lao Zhang said he went to buy some medicine, and he is already on his way back.”

Bo Yueming was not in a hurry. “It’s fine.”

Pei Yi had eaten enough to fill his stomach, and was pacing back and forth with his head bowed.

Taking advantage of the height difference, Bo Yueming gazed at the hair on the back of his head and smiled unknowingly. 

Uncle Kai and Lin Zhong might not be able to see it, but Bo Yueming knew—

The wine that Pei Yi “purchased” tonight was either not in his wine cabinet, or there was only one bottle left, and each bottle was highly valued in the wine circle.

He had spent hundreds of thousands, as a conservative estimate.

If he had lived in the Pei residence since childhood and was maliciously belittled by the Pei couple, how could the kitten have learned so much?

Because of this, he was even more curious about Pei Yi’s real experience hidden under the mask of “foolishness.”

In less than three minutes, anxious footsteps came from far to near, and the driver Lao Zhang ran over panting. The plastic medicine bag in his hand rustled.

“Boss, Boss Bo, I’m really sorry.” 

Lao Zhang looked a little cautious. “I thought you guys would call before you came down, so I just ran out for five or six minutes. I will definitely pay attention to the time in the future.”

Uncle Kai knew Bo Yueming’s character best. As long as it was an important matter, he was always tolerant of his subordinates.

He handed over the packaged dessert in his hand. “Lao Zhang, don’t be nervous, a delay of a few minutes is fine. I recall that your little daughter loves desserts? Second Young Master specially asked the restaurant to pack one for her.”

Lao Zhang was stunned for a moment and then took it, flattered. “Thank you, Mr. Bo. I made you spend money.”

Lin Zhong lifted the wine bottle. “Lao Zhang, open the trunk first.”

Lao Zhang quickly did so.

Pei Yi stared at the medicine bag tightly clutched in his hand, thinking to himself—

Where is Lao Zhang feeling uncomfortable?

If there was anything wrong with his body, they must have a different driver. After all, Bo Yueming had been in a car accident before, so they couldn’t be careless when it came to travel.

Pei Yi considered these things on behalf of Bo Yueming, and pretended to be curious, pointing out, “Medicine? Uncomfortable?”

“Little Sir, I am in good health and I’m not feeling sick.” Lao Zhang opened the bag while explaining, “I bought some anti-bruise and antiseptic cream for someone else.”

After Lin Zhong put the wine away, he asked casually, “Someone else?”

Lao Zhang didn’t hide it, either. “I was just about to say, Boss, I saw Chairman Chen of the Shuntian group just now!”

These days, he drove Bo Yueming back and forth, and although he didn’t quite understand the business affairs of the other party’s conversations, he happened to read the information that Lin Zhong had investigated.

There were photos of Chen Shun and others.

As a native of Wencheng, Lao Zhang was familiar with this well-known big boss.

“……..”

Bo Yueming’s eyes narrowed. “You saw him?”

Lao Zhang answered truthfully, “Yes, ah, wasn’t he wearing blue or black clothes? It was a bit of a distance away, and this underground parking lot is a little dark.”

Lin Zhong felt this was very odd. “Mr. Bo, didn’t Chen Shun leave before we ate?”

Pei Yi nodded imperceptibly, also feeling that the timeline was a bit wrong.

Bo Yueming said bluntly, “Tell me in detail.”

Lao Zhang did not conceal anything from them. “I returned after eating outside. Since it was still early, I planned to walk around the parking lot to refresh myself, and then inadvertently heard the sound of fighting.”

Rather than saying it was a fight, it was better to say that it was someone’s muffled sounds of pain.

Out of curiosity that only middle-aged men had, Lao Zhang followed the source of the sounds and walked over, and then he saw—

In the corner of the parking lot, two security guards were holding batons as they unilaterally beat a thin young man. And Chen Shun stood nearby, watching indifferently with a thick cigar dangling from his mouth.

Lao Zhang was hesitating over whether to rush forward to help, but Chen Shun said, “Don’t beat him to death, it’s unlucky and troublesome.” This signaled the two guards to stop.

The thin, beaten young man lay on the ground and was unable to get up. Chen Shun tossed the cigar that was about to burn out into his face with a clear warning—

“If you don’t want to end up like your brother, then get the hell out of Wencheng.”

“Otherwise, if I see you again, just forget it.”

After speaking, he just walked away.

“After they left, I hurried to check on the situation. That young man looked the same age as Little Sir, ba. His body was oozing blood, swollen and bruised, so pitiful.”

“He can’t stand on two legs, and he dragged his immobile left leg to huddle in a corner, not making a sound. I think the bone is probably broken!”

Lao Zhang thought about everything he had witnessed and couldn’t help but sigh.

As a father himself, he couldn’t bear to see young children suffer like this.

“I questioned the child for a while, but I couldn’t figure out the cause of the incident. I thought to call the police and an ambulance, but he insisted on refusing and said that the police would not care about it, and he had no money to see a doctor.”

Lao Zhang lifted the bag of medicine in his hand. “I couldn’t bear it, so I wanted to rush and buy him some medicine before you returned.”

After all, he was just a passer-by who bumped into him by accident, and didn’t have the power to help much.

After hearing Lao Zhang’s statement, Pei Yi became more suspicious—

Why did Chen Shun have the security guards beat a young man? And his verbal threat mentioned the other party’s brother?

Everything happened for a reason.

There must be something strange going on here!

Bo Yueming also felt that this was not a simple matter. “Lao Zhang, don’t you intend to deliver the medicine to him? Take us there to have a look.”

He shouldn’t miss any clues that were sent to him about Shuntian Group, one of their strongest opponents in the bidding.

Lao Zhang tightly gripped the medicine bag in his hand. “Ai! Mr. Bo, I’ll take you there right away!”

. . . . . . .

In the northernmost corner of the underground parking lot.

Pei Yi saw the figure curled up in the corner at a glance. The blue T-shirt was washed white, and the cropped shorts he wore also looked very old.

The incandescent lights in the underground parking lot were always covered in a layer of dust, but even under such lighting conditions, bruises of different sizes could still be seen on the exposed skin of the other party’s hands and feet. Some abrasions were still wet with blood.

Likely hearing their footsteps, the young man with his head buried in his knees slowly raised his head. His hair was rather long, and must have remained uncut for a long while.

Through the gap in the other’s hair, Pei Yi vaguely met his eyes—

His eyes were very red, as if he had been crying, and there was unwilling hatred and anger in them, along with vigilance and defensiveness against their group.

“Who are you?”

In a word, he was ready to bite.

Driver Lao Fu approached and handed over the medicine bag, quickly explaining, “It’s me, ah, Little Brother. I bought medicine for you!”

“Oh! This is my boss, Mr. Bo Yueming. He heard me talk about your injuries and wanted to see if you need help.”

“…….”

The other party’s vigilant eyes swept over Bo Yueming and Pei Yi, and he slowly took Lao Zhang’s bag. “Thank you.”

Uncle Kai saw that the other party’s injuries were a little severe, so he asked with a frown, “This gentleman, where do you live? We can send you back along the way. Or have your injuries seen to.”

“No need!”

The other party decisively refused.

He supported himself against the wall on his right side and tried to stand, his figure wobbly and very unstable.

Pei Yi’s eyes dropped down—

The other party’s left calf was so red and swollen at the bottom that it had turned purple, and the sole of his foot was puffy. It was clear that he could no longer step on it.

Trying his best to hide the pain, he thanked driver Lao Zhang again for delivering the medicine, then dragged his immobile left leg and moved away little by little.

It seemed that he could fall down at any time.

Pei Yi looked at the young man who was about his same age and height, and thought for some reason about the original owner’s suffering at the Pei house. He couldn’t bear it.

“Wait a minute!”

“Why did Chen Shun have someone beat you?”

The voices of Pei Yi and Bo Yueming rang out almost simultaneously.

The young man in the blue T-shirt paused, and then turned his gaze toward the two of them again. “How do you know that person was Chen Shun?”

Bo Yueming felt the tug at the corner of his clothes and accurately grasped Pei Yi’s hand.

Pei Yi was taken aback, and before he could react, Bo Yueming analyzed without a change in expression, “What grievances did Chen Shun have with your brother before that could cause you to disregard your own safety?” 

He heard Bo Yueming’s further inquiries, which even mentioned his brother.

The young man in the blue T-shirt suddenly became emotional. “Who the hell are you? Why are you asking questions!”

“…….”

The more agitated his emotions were, the fishier this became.

Normally, Bo Yueming wouldn’t “meddle in someone else’s business.” After all, there were so many people suffering in the world, and not everyone’s lives could be meddled with by him.

But the current situation was different—

They were competing against Shuntian for a major project. Apart from their regular abilities on the surface, they also tried to understand each other’s “unusual” situations in private.

Not for malicious competition, but in order to be prepared.

There was a possibility that a seemingly insignificant thing or person could be strong evidence to bring down the opponent.

Even if the other party had nothing, the kitten had seen him now, so it was fine to help.

“I heard that you are seriously injured? I can have my subordinate take you to the hospital first, don’t worry about the cost.” Bo Yueming paused tactically for two seconds, and said bluntly, “But I want to hear what happened between you, your brother, and Chen Shun.” 

The young man in the blue T-shirt frowned. “Why should I tell you?”

“Since finding the police won’t work, then that means you have tried it before. If you want to get justice from a real estate tycoon like Chen Shun, do you think you can do it yourself?”

If it could be done, he wouldn’t have ended up like this.

“Of course, you could choose to refuse and remain silent.” Bo Yueming pointed out, “But when you are not capable enough, it is best not to push away a helping hand.”

“……”

The young man’s expression changed slightly.

Looking at his terribly painful left leg, he remembered the irreconcilable grievances between his family and Chen Shun, and finally made his choice. “My, my name is Qiao Dong.”

No matter who the other party was, he really couldn’t refuse this help.

Bo Yueming simply said, “Lin Zhong, make the arrangements.”

“Yes, Boss.”

Lin Zhong responded quickly and walked to Qiao Dong’s side. “Don’t move around. I’ll call the ambulance at once.”

Bo Yueming trusted his assistant, so he didn’t waste time. “Uncle Kai, Lao Zhang, let’s go.”

After speaking, he turned around first.

“…….”

His arm was pulled suddenly.

Pei Yi lowered his head and at once remembered that they were still holding hands, so he hurriedly followed. “ Er-ge.”

Bo Yueming asked knowingly, “En?”

“Hand.”

Pei Yi tugged back slightly.

Bo Yueming didn’t let go, but pulled even harder. “Yes, we’re holding them.”

Pei Yi looked up at him and hummed, “Why?”

Bo Yueming’s expression didn’t change. “Because I’m afraid a ‘little fool’ like you will get lost.”

“…….”

Pei Yi was blocked and could say no more, but he felt it was very strange—

A blind man, afraid of a fool getting lost?

En, it was hard to say which was more unreliable for a moment.

Uncle Kai at the side suppressed his smile and tried his best to assist and cover for his young master. “Second Young Master, go a little to the left.”

Bo Yueming stopped walking and pretended to be uncertain, slowly changing his course to follow Uncle Kai’s guidance.

Early the next morning, Pei Yi learned of Qiao Dong’s physical condition at the breakfast table—

The scrapes and bruises on his body were minor, and would heal on their own with some medicine.

The serious thing was his fractured calf. When he was first sent to the hospital, he had an X-Ray taken and was treated with a cast, but it was conservatively estimated that it would take two to three months for him to walk on the ground.

“Mr. Bo, after he was settled in the hospital last night, I asked him a few indirect questions, and that kid’s mouth is quite tight. He refused to say anything.”

Lin Zhong took a bite of salted tofu pudding and swallowed contentedly. “However, I can be sure of one thing.”

Bo Yueming asked, “What is it?”

“His brother is probably dead. Combined with what Lao Zhang heard last night, I suspect that his brother’s probable death is associated with Chen Shun and the Shuntian Group.”

Bo Yueming had expected this possibility the night before, so he calmly nodded. “You focus on checking the news related to Shuntian Group in the past year, especially the suppressed gossip that may have the potential to take a life.”

“Also, you should go to the hospital and talk with him more. Try to gain his trust, this person may be useful in the future.”

Listening to Bo Yueming’s instructions, Pei Yi silently took a bite of boiled egg.

He could understand the other party’s intention to “help” Qiao Dong in this way.

Real commercial struggles and things involving interests were often complicated.

It was a normal method to grasp all the flaws and weaknesses of the opponent, then launch an attack at the most suitable time.

If Shuntian Group and Chen Shun really suppressed news of a death, then the relevant departments would also be careful in their selection in terms of this international project.

In any case, everything was still unknown at the moment, but Bo Yueming’s help to Qiao Dong was real.

Pei Yi understood clearly, and Lin Zhong, who had been at Bo Yueming’s side for a long time, was equally convinced. “Okay, Mr. Bo. What about the bidding work?”

Bo Yueming could handle the work alone, and almost forgot about his “vision.” He added calmly, “Song Yuanyuan is also very helpful.”

However, his eyes hidden beneath the lenses contained a rare guilty conscience, and he quickly took a peek at Pei Yi.

Pei Yi swallowed the other half of the egg. He was immersed in thought just now, and didn’t have time to catch Bo Yueming’s flaw.

Bo Yueming was relieved, and after a moment of silence, he said, “Uncle Kai, a house has been found. You pack up the luggage these two days, and we will move there the day after tomorrow. If there is anything missing in the new house, you can make up your own mind about what to get.”

When Uncle Kai heard this, he glanced at Pei Yi. “Okay, Second Young Master.”

He thought, didn’t his young master want to stay in the hotel these two or three months in order to sleep in the same room as Little Sir? Anyway, it was not bad in terms of money.

Why did Bo Yueming not want to?

It was because he knew that Pei Yi’s “foolishness” was all a disguise.

Using the excuse of “being unable to find a house” for eight or nine days was long enough. If this continued, he feared that the kitten would become suspicious sooner or later.

What’s more, although this suite was very spacious, it was depressing to live in for a long time. At any rate, there was a garden-style villa over there, so Pei Yi should live in a more comfortable house.

Pei Yi heard the words “found a house” and breathed a secret sigh of relief while drinking milk.

The wait was finally over.

Although this week, he and Bo Yueming slept in the same bed peacefully each night, they had no practical relationship, after all, and it was inconvenient to sleep together for a long period of time.

The most terrible thing was that he had to “obediently” go to bed early every night at ten o’clock, which was really too difficult for him, a night owl!

. . . . . .

In the evening two days later, Pei Yi finally got his wish and moved into the new house.

The garden-style duplex bungalow had a very attentive and exquisite layout, including the decorations outside and inside, and monitoring and security measures were also in place around the entire villa.

The two bedrooms on the first floor were assigned to Uncle Kai and Lin Zhong respectively.

There was a study between the master bedroom and second bedroom on the second floor. As for who lived in each, the answer was quite clear.

Compared to the one in the Imperial City villa, this bedroom was more private, and there was a computer on the desk.

Although it could not be used for coding programs, it was more than enough for game text structure.

The three-day bidding auction for “Tracking Pros and Cons” had ended. The Youtu forum sent a system message right away—

[Congratulations to user Will. The copyright buyout action you set up has been successfully completed. The final bidding price is 660,000 yuan, and the bidder is “Nebula Fun Tour.” Both parties are requested to further confirm the transaction within 72 hours.]

[If any party reneges maliciously, 3% of the auction price must be paid to the other party.]

Looking at this string of words, Pei Yi couldn’t help but admire the Youtu website’s protection measures for the users’ rights and interests.

660,000.

Combined with the game IP itself and the architect’s reputation, this was within the reasonable price range.

Sure enough, it was the most professional game forum in China. It was filled with knowledgeable people, and there was no random price quotation.

“Nebula Fun Tour?”

Pei Yi felt that the name of this studio was familiar, so he clicked on a webpage to search, and soon found something.

Nebula Fun Tour was one of the studios under the top game company in China — “Weiyi.” It was located in Haishi, which had the fastest growing game market nationwide.

Although Nebula had only been established for three years, as the saying went, it was good to lean against a big tree to enjoy the shade. 

Not all of their games were popular, but the overall development was not bad, and there weren’t many negative comments about the studio.

In general, it was prosperous and reliable.

Ding-dong!

There was movement on the project chat page, which turned out to be a message from Nebula Fun Tour.

“Mr. Will, hello. I am the person in charge of Nebula’s copyright team, surnamed Gu. Do you have any objections to the current buyout offer?”

“Hello, Team Leader Gu.” Pei Yi typed back with a straightforward attitude, “I am very satisfied with the quote from your studio.”

Team Leader Gu on the other side chatted further, “If there is no problem with the price, then let’s talk about the contract details?”

Pei Yi pursed his lips. “Okay.”

The two sides chatted about the cooperation agreement for a long time, and when the general discussion was completed, it was almost ten o’clock in the evening.

There was no rush to formally sign the deal. Pei Yi and Team Leader Gu made an appointment for the next two days to continue to move closer.

Thinking of the large sum of money that would hit his account soon, the corners of Pei Yi’s lips twitched upwards.

He didn’t force himself to perfect the other levels of “Tracking Pros and Cons,” but picked up a towel and pajamas and went into the bathroom. 

Balancing work and rest was very important.

After a while, Pei Yi lay on his new bed in a new house.

Although the bed and environment were unfamiliar, at least the quilt with a familiar scent was still there. He thought he wouldn’t suffer from insomnia tonight.

In the dark bedroom, Pei Yi twisted and turned, unable to fall asleep. Not only that, but he also got hot and felt like something was missing.

Pei Yi slightly lifted the tightly-wrapped quilt and stretched out his hand, opening it.

The right side of the bed was empty, and seemed too spacious no matter how he touched it.

For some reason, there was a trace of discordant loss in his heart. Pei Yi simply turned on the light and sat up.

His phone indicated that it was past one o’clock.

“…….”

Pei Yi looked at the locked door, and an impulse flashed through his mind. He pursed his lips, persuading himself—

It must be because I’m thirsty and can’t sleep!

It wouldn’t be too much to go out and pour a glass of water, right?

Having made up his mind, Pei Yi lightly unlocked the door and went out.

The ceiling light fixture in the hallway emitted a faint yellow light, enough for people to see the path clearly in the dark.

It was agreed that he would go downstairs to pour water, but his steps didn’t take him to the stairs at all. Instead, he unknowingly walked through the study in the middle and to the inner master bedroom.

It wasn’t until he stopped at Bo Yueming’s bedroom that Pei Yi became aware of his inexplicable behavior. He took a breath and lowered his head, only to find a faint light coming from the crack at the bottom of the door.

Pei Yi’s eyes lit up with joy that even he didn’t notice.

Huh?

Bo Yueming still wasn’t asleep at this time?

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Chapter Forty-One <<Table of Contents >> Chapter Forty-Three