Futile Devices Scans

“Hiss…”

So that was the extent of his courage. Yugong Zhaoye rocked slightly backward from the force, rubbing the side of his face and wondering whether Wei Fu had actually gnawed a hole into it. He gave an objective assessment. “Your teeth really are strong. Getting pecked by you hurts.”

Wei Fu: “…”

The bite had been heavy and thorough, but there was no denying it had been genuine flirtation.

Yugong Zhaoye had not become angry. He had not moved away either. Yet neither had he shown the slightest embarrassment or stirring of passion. Under the sunlight, his transparent eyes gleamed almost like molten gold. Every curve of his brows, eyes, nose, and lips seemed perfectly carved by heaven itself—

He was simply too calm.

So clear and still that the very purity of it became cold and hard, almost heartless.

How am I supposed to mess him up completely, until there’s room for nothing else in his heart and no one else in his eyes but me?

The faintly pink corners of Yugong Zhaoye’s mouth seemed poised between smiling and not, like a trap overflowing with honey. Wei Fu knew perfectly well that if he boldly stepped into it, the thing waiting for him might very well be a blade pressed to his throat. His Adam’s apple still bobbed involuntarily. As though possessed, he bent down toward the bait.

“Hey, behave yourself.” Yugong Zhaoye did not even need to draw a blade. Two fingers caught Wei Fu’s mouth and held him firmly three inches away. “One peck was enough. Why are you still going?”

The failed sneak attack left Wei Fu utterly dejected. His brows and eyes drooped with grievance. If he possessed pointed ears and a tail, they would probably have wilted as well. His entire body radiated the miserable air of You don’t like me, so I’m going to jump into a lake.

Yugong Zhaoye casually flicked away a small bee drawn by the flower fragrance and threatened him, “Still planning to misbehave? Aren’t you afraid your mother might be worried enough to secretly follow us, only to catch you pecking people out here?”

Wei Fu lifted his eyes and stared at him resentfully, making two muffled sounds to indicate he should release his mouth.

“My mother knows.”

Yugong Zhaoye: “?”

Wei Fu caught his hand, threaded all five fingers tightly between Yugong Zhaoye’s, and raised their joined hands before him as though showing off. “Mother asked whether I’d started a family. I said no. She asked whether I had someone I liked. I said it was you. She asked whether I wanted to think it over more carefully. I told her, ‘Mother, I’ve decided on him.’”

Yugong Zhaoye was speechless. “And your mother just… accepted that?”

“She said I really am her biological son—my taste runs directly in the family.” Wei Fu deliberately squeezed his throat and produced several bizarre noises reminiscent of a duck. “When a hero falls from the heavens to rescue a beauty, it really is difficult to resist.”

Yugong Zhaoye: “You could at least try resisting!”

“According to Xiling custom, when a baby is born, the parents bury a jar of Wanxiang Spring beneath a tree. When the child marries, the jar is dug up and used as wedding-cup wine.” Wei Fu gazed at him through large, perfectly innocent black-and-white eyes. “When Mother said she wanted you to drink the wine, that was the wine she meant. I told her you still hadn’t agreed to me, so she was too embarrassed to say it directly.”

Yugong Zhaoye: “…”

So because there was no official relationship yet, the plan was simply to trick him into drinking it first and explain afterward?

He should have known. Anyone capable of producing two once-in-a-generation disasters like Xie Youlan and Wei Fu could hardly be some harmless, ordinary woman.

Wei Fu cleared his throat. “So… A’Ying, are we still going to Xiling?”

Through gritted teeth, Yugong Zhaoye squeezed out a single word.

“Going.”

Then he added, “I’m going to find that father of yours who wears the dragon robe and demand a refund.”

Liuzhi Alley, the old Wei residence.

Beneath the cool shade of the osmanthus tree, Wei Fu energetically wielded a shovel. Soft, slightly damp earth accumulated into little mounds beside the pit. Yugong Zhaoye sat under the eaves supervising the work. Four kinds of seasonal fruit sat on a small table beside him, and he held the fragrant tea that the elderly servant Wei Rong had attentively brought over. Bathed in the warm sunlight, he let out a yawn.

“Still haven’t found it?”

Wei Fu had told Wei Rong to focus entirely on looking after Yugong Zhaoye. Rolling up his sleeves and declaring “Leave it to me,” he had seized the hoe himself. After digging for half a shichen without striking so much as a large stone, he nevertheless continued excavating with tireless diligence.

“Almost, almost… hm?”

The hoe struck something with a solid thunk. The sensation was completely different from cutting into soil. Wei Fu immediately perked up and carefully cleared away the dirt covering it.

“Found it!”

Yugong Zhaoye had very complicated feelings about that ancient jar of wine, but he did not want to dampen Wei Fu’s enthusiasm. He put down his tea, lazily walked over, looked into the pit, and gave Wei Fu a little applause. “It’s covered in dirt. Take it out and wash it first.”

Wei Rong stepped forward to help lift the wine jar and brushed the loose soil away. Wei Fu suddenly made a puzzled sound.

“Hm? There’s something underneath the jar. What’s this?”

He crouched down and dug out a square parcel wrapped in oiled paper. After weighing it in his hand, he said, “It’s pretty heavy. Did they secretly bury savings down here too?”

“Probably the dowry they saved for you,” Yugong Zhaoye said indifferently, arms folded as he watched Wei Fu play in the dirt like someone out walking a dog. “After all, you weren’t supposed to dig it up until you got married.”

“Oh.” Wei Fu thought about it and decided that made perfect sense. He immediately turned and handed the bundle to Yugong Zhaoye. “Then you take it.”

Yugong Zhaoye: “…”

Fortunately, Wei Rong had gone to fetch water for the wine jar and was nowhere nearby.

Yugong Zhaoye lowered his voice and snapped through gritted teeth, “Wei Xiao Guan! Are you ever going to stop?”

“Don’t be so fierce.” Having scored another verbal victory, Wei Fu happily pressed close against him and began peeling away the oiled paper. Inside was a black, hammer-textured iron box about four inches square.

“This looks like meteoric iron…”

Yugong Zhaoye took it and examined it carefully. The box was seamless, like an iron turtle with nowhere to get one’s teeth into. “Madam Jiang said she had a Broken-Blade Sword forged from meteoric iron and that it had been melted down. She said the remaining scraps were made into the ring. But she never mentioned what happened to the part that was actually melted.”

Wei Fu shook the box beside his ear. “It sounds empty.” He turned it over repeatedly and examined all six sides. “No keyhole, no seam. It’s completely solid… Why did my mother make something like this? To use as a paperweight? Did she pass down an ancestral paperweight to me?”

“An ancestral brick,” Yugong Zhaoye corrected. He brushed dirt from Wei Fu’s sleeve. “Made specifically for knocking sense into an unfilial descendant like you. Madam Jiang mentioned the sword and the wine buried under the tree, but she never once mentioned a box under the wine jar. What do you think? Did her perfect memory suddenly fail her, or was she guarding against someone?”

“Your Highness is truly meticulous and discerning. Mother absolutely made the right choice entrusting me to you.” Wei Fu pulled the glass box from his sleeve. He opened a tiny movable plate on the underside of the iron box and fitted the meteoric-iron ring into the circular recess beneath it. At the same time, he emotionally recited a pair of thoroughly sentimental verses:

“What night is this, that I behold such a fine man? What day is this, that I share a boat with my prince…”

Click—

The mechanism activated. A narrow compartment sprang from the side of the perfectly seamless iron box.

The box was heavy in the hand, with the mechanism itself taking up nearly half its interior. The remaining compartment was narrow. It contained no dazzling treasure blazing with golden light, only a folded piece of light white silk.

Wei Fu praised the craftsmanship and pinched the silk between his fingers, about to unfold it.

Beside him, Yugong Zhaoye suddenly drew his blade.

His weapons were made not to reflect light. Wei Fu saw only a blur of white sweep before him as a sharp gust cut past the tip of his nose like a razor. His mind had not yet caught up, but every hair on the back of his neck stood on end.

Clang-clang-clang-clang—!

Hidden weapons fired from several directions were swept aside by the blade, producing a series of sharp metallic strikes. Several men dressed in black appeared soundlessly atop the walls one after another like poisonous mushrooms after rain. Bright sabers in hand, they closed in and half-surrounded the pair within the courtyard.

Yugong Zhaoye clicked his tongue impatiently. “Troublesome.”

Only once everyone else had taken their positions did Xie Youlan make his grand entrance, dressed in purple and black, with a silver crown and belt patterned with serpents. His airs were grander than the King of Hell’s. He arrogantly crooked a finger at Wei Fu.

“Hand it over.”

Wei Fu immediately hid the box behind his back and pretended not to hear. Wearing a false smile, he said, “What a rare guest. What evil wind blew Palace Master Xie all the way here?”

“Not at all,” Xie Youlan replied coldly. “I’ve been waiting here for you for quite some time.”

“For me?” Wei Fu smiled. “Could it be that Palace Master Xie also wants a share of the wine my father and mother buried?”

“I’m not interested in the wine,” Xie Youlan said. “But what she left behind is coming with me.”

Neither side needed him to explain who “she” meant.

Wei Fu deliberately looked troubled. “I thought that once people passed the age of ten, older brothers stopped snatching toys from their younger brothers. I never expected Palace Master Xie to have so little shame… I don’t even know what this is yet. Surely I can at least look at it first?”

“I suggest you stop courting death. Otherwise I may have to rob you and kill you to silence you while I’m here.” Xie Youlan said, “Save that photographic memory of yours for acting as your Prince Yugong’s lapdog. Stop talking nonsense and hand it over.”

“That I object to.” Wei Fu looked offended. “We sincerely love each other. How can you call me a lapdog—”

Yugong Zhaoye cut in, “You two already threw hidden weapons at each other. Can we stop pretending to be affectionate brothers, get to the point, and quit spouting nonsense?”

Xie Youlan: “Wasn’t I talking about serious matters from the beginning? He’s the one changing the subject and acting insane.”

Yugong Zhaoye glanced toward Wei Fu. “See? Even a bystander thinks we’re unsuitable.”

Xie Youlan: “?”

Wei Fu: “…”

“What does he know?!” Wei Fu exploded. “He’s already in his thirties and doesn’t even have a wife. What qualifications does he have to comment on our relationship?”

Xie Youlan: “…Stop talking nonsense!”

“Fine. Since you begged me so sincerely, let’s discuss this piece of silk.” Wei Fu smiled with satisfaction. “Dear big brother, why exactly do you want it?”

Xie Youlan replied, “Why should I tell you?”

Wei Fu gave a cold snort. With deliberate leisure, he drew a fire striker from his sleeve, lit it, and moved the flame toward the compartment in the iron box.

The flickering flame hovered a hair’s breadth from the white silk.

Xie Youlan finally lost his patience.

“What are you doing?!”

Wei Fu replied innocently, “Burning it.”

Xie Youlan: “…”

“It may be priceless to you, but it means nothing to me. I don’t know what’s written on it, so to me it’s only an ordinary scrap of cloth.” Wei Fu stared at him without yielding an inch. “It was left to me by my mother. I can do whatever I like with it. I could burn it to ashes right now and I would not feel. The slightest. Heartache.”

Yugong Zhaoye also offered earnest advice. “Brother, countless rare treasures throughout history have been destroyed by idiots. Why provoke him for no reason? Just pretend a dog bit you. There, don’t lower yourself to his level.”