The Chan River pleasure boats had only come into fashion within the past year, and their owners were all famous brothels and courtesan houses in Haojing. Before what happened to Lou Wu Zai, whenever night fell, the pleasure boats would line up along the river, adorning the Chan River like a stream of stars fallen from the Ninth Heaven. As the boats drifted slowly along, lilting songs carried on the breeze, mingled with soft murmurs, laughter, and merriment—a scene of carefree pleasure seemingly untouched by the sorrows of the mortal world.
After Lou Wu Zai’s accident, however, the Jinwu Guard had been stationed there. One cold-faced, saber-bearing guard after another stood like baleful gods who had shattered a beautiful dream. Even with lovely courtesans clustered nearby, customers could not shake the feeling that they were being forced to enjoy themselves, and business consequently plummeted.
By the time Fu Xi Yan arrived at the riverbank by carriage, most of the pleasure boats were still moored.
Shou Nan Shan led them confidently past one pleasure boat after another before finally stopping in front of a small, single-deck vessel. Calling it merely a “boat” almost seemed necessary because of how completely out of place it looked. Its plain exterior was one thing, but anyone could see from one end to the other at a glance, and there was not a single person aboard.
Fu Xi Yan looked at Shou Nan Shan and tentatively asked, “This is a… fishing boat, isn’t it?”
Shou Nan Shan clearly believed he had performed a great service. “Finding a boat around here that the guests have to row themselves was remarkably difficult.”
“…Then why go to all this trouble for yourself and everyone else?” I finally get to ride a pleasure boat, and you expect me to row it myself?
Shou Nan Shan urged, “Come, come. Get aboard.”
“There’s one more question before I get on.” Fu Xi Yan’s legs remained firmly planted on shore. “If we’re taking a fishing boat, why did we specifically wait for a moonless, windy night?”
“So we won’t attract attention.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…” The way he says that, I’ll be embarrassed to get off this boat later unless we discuss some grand issue capable of changing the entire world.
He turned his head just in time to see guests boarding the neighboring pleasure boat. One customer extended his hand, rested it in the boatwoman’s, and used her support to step onto the deck…
Pei Yuan Jin lightly tapped his feet against the ground and leaped onto the bow with the tabby cat in his arms. When he turned around, Fu Xi Yan imitated the other customer and extended a chubby paw—
and grabbed nothing but air.
Pei Yuan Jin raised an eyebrow slightly, as though asking what he was dawdling for.
…
Right. What am I dawdling for? Just because the atmosphere is acting haunted doesn’t mean I have to act possessed too!
Fu Xi Yan vaguely heard Shou Nan Shan chuckle. He hurriedly jumped aboard, making the little boat rock laboriously beneath his weight. Pei Yuan Jin said, “When we get back, have Shou Nan Shan find you a lightness-skill manual.”
The suggestion might have originated in disdain, but Fu Xi Yan was still coming out ahead. His thanks were therefore perfectly sincere.
The oars were still lying on the deck when Shou Nan Shan sent out a gentle palm strike, producing a breeze that softly pushed the boat away from shore. Clear river water slipped past both sides of the hull as they gradually drifted into the deep darkness.
Fu Xi Yan panicked slightly and shouted toward the bank, “You’re not coming aboard?”
Shou Nan Shan waved at him.
…
Fu Xi Yan slowly turned around.
Pei Yuan Jin had already found himself a comfortable place to sit.
When the little fishing boat with its swaying oil lamp was moored among the pleasure boats, it had been utterly inconspicuous. Out here in the deep darkness of the night, however, it somehow acquired the elegance of a lotus rising unstained from the mud.
Fu Xi Yan could not resist asking, “You’re not surprised?”
Pei Yuan Jin asked in return, “You didn’t expect this?”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
It would be inaccurate to say he had not expected it at all. Yet even though part of him had, a tiny shred of hope had remained that Shou Nan Shan might still be a respectable human being.
He sighed, picked up the oars himself, and began rowing gently.
In the blink of an eye—
they were reunited with Shou Nan Shan.
Shou Nan Shan gave an awkward laugh. “You didn’t come back to pick me up, did you?”
“We did. Hurry up and get on.”
“Life’s little boat is too crowded for three.”
Seeing him about to strike out with another palm, Fu Xi Yan hurriedly said, “Wait. Allow me to ask one unnecessary question first. Which direction are we supposed to go?”
Shou Nan Shan said, “Any direction is fine. Just get farther from shore.”
Another palm strike sent them off.
Apparently worried they might somehow circle back again, he sent the boat directly toward the middle of the river.
Fu Xi Yan gripped the oars and rowed with all his strength. The boat promptly entered self-rotation mode. It spun and spun until Fu Xi Yan was nearly sick, at which point the tabby cat suddenly sprang into his arms and the oars were taken from his hands by Pei Yuan Jin. Pei Yuan Jin casually pulled them through the water a couple of times, and the boat immediately began moving normally.
Fu Xi Yan stared in surprise. “Young Palace Master Pei knows how to row?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “After watching the wrong way to do it, I learned.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…” So that was why no one stopped me while I performed for half the night. He was watching the bad example, learning from it, and drawing conclusions. Still, not everyone gets the privilege of having the Young Palace Master of the Immortal Treasury Palace row for them.
He settled in without the slightest guilt, petting the cat while letting Pei Yuan Jin do all the rowing.
Once the boat had put some distance between itself and the other pleasure boats, Pei Yuan Jin set down the oars. “I heard you had something you wanted to ask.”
Fu Xi Yan nodded. “Why did you agree to come to the pleasure boats?”
Fu Xi Yan had agreed because he wanted answers. But why had Pei Yuan Jin come? Surely it was not just to learn how to row a boat.
Pei Yuan Jin glanced at him. “You only get one question. Are you certain you want to use it on that?”
…
Fu Xi Yan discovered that he had an extremely bad habit: his mouth could give something up while his brain stubbornly continued digging for the answer. Just like now—his mouth was saying he would ask something else, while his mind remained fixated on the fact that Pei Yuan Jin was avoiding the question.
But why avoid it?
Before he could stop himself, a whole series of possibilities appeared in his mind.
Come to think of it… this atmosphere really does feel a lot like a date.
Pei Yuan Jin suddenly said, “Your face is red.”
The lantern on the fishing boat was not especially bright, but unfortunately they were sitting in precisely the right positions for it to illuminate both of them clearly.
Fu Xi Yan’s eyes darted uneasily from side to side. “The wind is strong tonight. It gave me a plateau flush.”
Elio’s Notes: “Plateau flush” (高原红) refers to the characteristic reddening of the cheeks commonly associated with high-altitude climates. Fu Xi Yan absurdly blames the ordinary night wind for giving him the same look rather than admitting he is blushing.
Pei Yuan Jin beckoned toward the tabby cat. The cat lightly swished its tail but remained curled comfortably in Fu Xi Yan’s arms.
Fu Xi Yan wondered whether he ought to hand the cat back voluntarily, but with two men alone together on one boat, having nothing in his arms somehow felt awkward. While he hesitated, Pei Yuan Jin had already stood and taken a tea set from a small chest aboard the boat.
Once the little stove was lit, Fu Xi Yan saw Pei Yuan Jin preparing to scoop river water to make tea and could not resist saying, “Who knows? You might scoop up someone else’s spit from the river.”
Pei Yuan Jin’s outstretched hand froze.
Fu Xi Yan continued, “What if someone peed in it too…”
Pei Yuan Jin tossed the ladle back into the chest and silently looked at him.
Faced with such a sharp and ridiculously handsome pair of eyes, Fu Xi Yan’s voice immediately shrank. “I’m merely proposing reasonable possibilities regarding the river.” He gave two dry chuckles, blew warm air onto his hands, rubbed them together, and looked everywhere except directly at Pei Yuan Jin.
Pei Yuan Jin suddenly stood.
Fu Xi Yan’s heart jumped. Remembering what he had just been doing, he immediately had a bad feeling. Whenever a television drama reached this point, the heroine would feel cold, and then the hero would…
take… off… his… clothes!
If Pei Yuan Jin takes off his cloak right now, how am I supposed to refuse? And if I can’t refuse, will the plot run wild like a horse with its reins cut and develop into something so terrifying that even I’m afraid of it?
“I’m not…”
Before the word “cold” could leave his mouth, Pei Yuan Jin had already stepped onto the waves and disappeared.
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
He left that decisively?
What if I’d been about to say, “It’s not like I wouldn’t be okay with it”?
Young people these days. So impulsive.
He sat silently facing the empty river for a while before finally sighing in regret. “Ah, I was too impulsive. If I’d known, I would’ve asked about Mister Mo and Miss Rong first.”
Why did I care why Pei Yuan Jin agreed to come to the pleasure boats?!
Is that something a straight man should be worrying about?
Shou Nan Shan has completely led me astray!
…
The river wind was bitterly cold on a winter night.
Fu Xi Yan curled up in the boat with his eyes closed, massaging his temples. Something warm suddenly touched his left cheek. He hurriedly opened his eyes and found Pei Yuan Jin standing there with a flask of warmed wine in each hand. The one in his right hand was what had just touched Fu Xi Yan’s face.
Fu Xi Yan accepted it. “You went to get wine?”
Pei Yuan Jin sat down. “Weren’t you complaining that the river water was dirty?”
The moment Pei Yuan Jin returned, Fu Xi Yan completely forgot his recent repentance and let his troublesome mouth run free again. “What if the wine was brewed with river water?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Then that’s your fate.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…” Why do I insist on making life difficult for myself?
He pulled out the stopper and took a drink. The wine was exceptionally smooth, rather like a cocktail from his previous life, with a faint fragrance of osmanthus. It was not particularly intoxicating, but it was pleasantly mellow.
“Delicious.”
He could not resist taking another two sips.
Pei Yuan Jin also produced a packet of peanuts.
Fu Xi Yan grabbed a few, only to hear him ask, “Which are better, the fried peanuts at Yang Family Tavern or these?”
Yang Family Tavern was the place where Fu Xi Yan had met Lou Wu Zai for both of their conversations.
Fu Xi Yan froze, then blurted out something seemingly unrelated. “Every time Lou Wu Zai and I went there, we were discussing business.”
Pei Yuan Jin apparently saw nothing strange about that answer either. Each holding a flask of wine, the two quietly ate peanuts together.
The night was beautiful enough that it seemed a shame to disturb it.
Fu Xi Yan looked up at the vast starry sky, a faint melancholy stirring inside him. I have two questions. I just don’t know when I should ask them.
“You can ask now,” Pei Yuan Jin said at just the right moment, giving him the opening he needed.
There were many things Fu Xi Yan wanted to ask, but deciding how to ask them was another matter entirely. His thoughts turned several times before the question that finally emerged was, “How did Mo Xiao Ran originally take in his four disciples?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “I don’t know.”
Fu Xi Yan: “…”
Fu Xi Yan clinked his wine flask against Pei Yuan Jin’s. “Cheers! Let me drink while I think of a better question.”
A hint of helplessness appeared on Pei Yuan Jin’s face. “The Puppet Path was always elusive, and Mo Xiao Ran only attracted the attention of the righteous factions after committing several major atrocities. How he took in his disciples is something only he and those disciples would know.”
“What atrocities?”
“He once turned an entire village into a puppet village.”
“What?”
Pei Yuan Jin said coldly, “Little Divine Physician Yan Xie once passed through a village and discovered that all one hundred and sixty-nine people living there had been turned into puppets—and had remained that way for two full years. Their closest relatives and friends visited them frequently, yet no one noticed anything was wrong.”
A chill rose from the bottom of Fu Xi Yan’s heart. “Why would he do that?”
“The Puppet Path teaches that all things can be controlled. Controlling human beings is the mark of a Puppet King. People believe he did it in order to advance to Puppet King.”
The mere thought of someone dear and familiar beside him suddenly having their very soul controlled without Fu Xi Yan realizing anything was wrong left coldness coiling through his chest. “How can you tell whether someone is being controlled by the Puppet Path?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “When someone is actively controlling them, Gu acts as the medium, and every movement of the person is directed by the controller. When no one is actively controlling them, the Gu causes them to respond according to past memories. They can reproduce familiar behavior, but they cannot properly adapt their responses to changes in the situation.”
That sounded practically the same as having no method at all. Fu Xi Yan asked, “Isn’t there something like drinking realgar wine and immediately revealing your true form?”
Pei Yuan Jin shook his head. “Realgar wine? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”
Elio’s Notes: Fu Xi Yan is referencing the Legend of the White Snake. In the famous story, Bai Suzhen drinks realgar wine during the Dragon Boat Festival and involuntarily reveals her true form as a white snake.
Fu Xi Yan thought, If I ever test my relatives, I’ll have to hit them with some completely unprecedented, explosive topic. Then he asked, “Could Tie Rong Rong be someone from the Rong family? Is there anyone in the Rong family around the right age who seems suspicious?”
The Immortal Treasury Palace had put considerable effort into researching the Puppet Path during the campaign to eradicate it, so Pei Yuan Jin answered without hesitation. “Two people. One is Rong Yue’s biological younger sister, Worthy Consort Rong Rong. The other is Rong Yue’s younger female cousin, Rong Hui, who married Prince Yunzhong in Rong Rong’s place.”
Fu Xi Yan immediately seized upon the important part. “Married Prince Yunzhong in Rong Rong’s place?” That one sentence could be expanded into an entire novel.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “The Rong family supported Prince Yunzhong back then.”
And His Majesty tolerated that? Was the emperor’s entire ‘off with their heads’ persona just marketing?
Pei Yuan Jin said, “After Prince Longnan and Prince Yunzhong were defeated, the two forces under their command merged and fled to the Northern Lands.”
Fu Xi Yan blurted, “The Northern Alliance?”
Most officials at court tacitly knew these things already. But Fu Xi Yan had behaved so much like a wastrel in the past that Fu Fu and Fu Xuan naturally had never told him this sort of “common knowledge” capable of getting a person beheaded.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “If the Rong family falls, the Northern Lands will go to war.”
Fu Xi Yan followed the logic further. “The Commandery Prince of Pingluo guards the Northern Lands, and his grandsons entered the capital not long ago.” Before a major war, the emperor had brought hostages into the capital. It was insurance against the Commandery Prince of Pingluo stabbing him in the back.
So the emperor had clearly planned far ahead before moving against the Rong family.
“But the Rong family is already nearly finished, so could it be…” Fu Xi Yan suddenly slapped his palms together in realization. “Tie Rong Rong belongs to the Puppet Path.”
Which meant she might be capable of…
controlling…
anyone.
Putting himself in Emperor Jianhong’s position made Fu Xi Yan feel as though needles were pressing into his back. What emperor could possibly tolerate knowing that anyone around him might secretly be a puppet controlled by someone else?
It seemed he had wronged Shou Nan Shan. The subject they were discussing tonight really did require a moonless night, deep darkness, and absolute privacy…
Even with no one anywhere around them, Fu Xi Yan still unconsciously lowered his voice. “Could the emperor himself also be…” Controlled?
No. If the emperor were being controlled, he would not be attacking the Rong family.
Pei Yuan Jin had never liked the Northern Zhou emperor. The methods Wang Yu had used to seize the throne were full of petty schemes and underhanded tricks, every one of them touching upon things Pei Yuan Jin despised. “If you bargain with a tiger for its hide, naturally you prepare ways to guard against the tiger.”
Elio’s Notes: “Bargaining with a tiger for its hide” (与虎谋皮) describes trying to obtain something from a dangerous party at the expense of that party’s own interests—an arrangement in which distrust and defensive measures are inevitable.
“Bargain with a tiger for its hide?”
There had been too much information tonight. Fu Xi Yan sat on the boat and sorted through it for quite some time before abruptly saying, “Tie Rong Rong should be Worthy Consort Rong Rong.”
If Tie Rong Rong were Prince Yunzhong’s wife instead, then after Prince Yunzhong’s defeat all those years ago, Rong Yue would never have remained in Haojing simply waiting for death. He had stayed because his own biological sister possessed enough power to contend with the emperor and protect him.
Yet judging from the outcome, neither sending his sister into the palace nor Rong Yue himself living a dissipated life had extinguished His Majesty’s desire to destroy him. Pei Yuan Jin’s statement that “if the Rong family falls, the Northern Lands will rebel” also proved that the Rong family and the Northern Alliance had never truly become enemies.
That made the emperor’s motive for destroying the Rong family even clearer.
Once Fu Xi Yan understood that, several other things fell naturally into place.
“The reason the emperor held off on the Rong family was because he was waiting for the Worthy Consort to strike back.”
If puppets were difficult to identify after being controlled, then finding them one by one would be troublesome. But if the controller herself were driven into a corner and forced to reveal the cards in her hand, everything would become much simpler.
Pei Yuan Jin sounded thoroughly uninterested. “Dogs biting dogs.”
If something had not happened to the person who swallowed the Harmonized Yang Pills, he would never have involved himself in the Northern Zhou court’s mess at a time like this.
Since arriving in Haojing, Pei Yuan Jin had barely left the estate. Partly it was because the place was such a foul political swamp that he had no interest in it, but he was also deliberately soothing the Northern Zhou emperor’s oversensitive nerves, unwilling to create unnecessary complications.
After Pei Yuan Jin climbed over the city wall before dawn that time, the Wind Division reported that the emperor had quietly brought two thousand troops into the capital to reinforce its defenses. The manpower at every city gate had doubled, and Count Yongfeng’s Estate went without saying—eyes were watching it from both inside and outside. Emperor Jianhong’s wariness could hardly have been more obvious.
Fu Xi Yan sighed. “Even if they are dogs…”
Pei Yuan Jin’s gaze abruptly sharpened. He raised one finger, and a curtain of river water surged into the air.
An arrow instantly tore through the water curtain and shot toward Fu Xi Yan’s temple.
There was no longer time for Fu Xi Yan to dodge. A golden-bronze sheen spread over his originally fair skin. Pei Yuan Jin lifted two fingers with apparent casualness, yet his timing was exact: an instant before the arrowhead touched Fu Xi Yan’s skin, he caught the shaft perfectly between them.
Fu Xi Yan slowly turned his head. The black-coated arrowhead was pointed directly between his brows and emitted a faint, unpleasant odor. “Poison?”
Pei Yuan Jin lifted the arrow and examined it beneath the lantern. “Southern Yu Wall-Breaching Crossbow.”
Ghostshadow Organization Thunderclap Bombs. Southern Yu Wall-Breaching Crossbows…
Fu Xi Yan clicked his tongue. “The people trying to kill me have certainly broadened my knowledge of long-range weaponry.”
“Young Palace Master, Young Madam…” Shou Nan Shan came striding through the air with a black-clad man dangling from one hand.
Pei Yuan Jin said, “This is your idea of guarding the riverbank?”
Shou Nan Shan lightly landed with both feet on the stern and gave an embarrassed smile. “I caught him already, but he killed himself.” His relaxed tone made it obvious he had never considered the assassin much of a threat.
Seeing him about to toss the corpse aboard, Fu Xi Yan hurriedly stopped him. “Life’s little boat has no room for a third person.”
Shou Nan Shan smiled knowingly. “Young Madam is right. Shall I take him away, then?”
Fu Xi Yan said, “We’re leaving too. Give us a push.”
Shou Nan Shan teased, “Such a fine night, such beautiful scenery…”
Pei Yuan Jin cut him off. “Ruined by inadequate security.”
Shou Nan Shan: “…”
With a Martial King providing the power, the tiny fishing boat suddenly acquired the exhilarating momentum of a great ship riding the wind and breaking the waves.
Even after reaching shore, Fu Xi Yan remained somewhat reluctant to leave. When Shou Nan Shan suggested they come again another time, Fu Xi Yan, unusually, did not object.
The Chan River lay outside Haojing, and by the time they returned, the city gates had already closed.
Fu Xi Yan had known they would be returning late, however, so he had specifically asked his uncle to arrange authorization for the gates to be opened for them after curfew. He had been terrified that Pei Yuan Jin and Shou Nan Shan might get excited and decide to climb over the walls again.
Even so, the guards at the city gate were exceptionally strict that night. They searched every inch of the carriage and verified everyone’s identity twice before allowing them through.
Night lay heavily over the city. The carriage moved along the road to the lonely rhythm of hoofbeats and turning wheels.
Fu Xi Yan had just been wondering why everything was so quiet tonight when answering hoofbeats seemed to sound from ahead.
Shou Nan Shan asked, “Want me to see who’s coming?”
On a freezing winter night like this, Fu Xi Yan had no curiosity whatsoever. “We’re strangers meeting by chance. Why bother getting acquainted?”
The two carriages approached each other and were about to pass when the window of the opposite carriage suddenly opened. Someone leaned out and asked, “May I ask which young master from Count Yongfeng’s Estate is inside?”
The voice sounded vaguely familiar. Fu Xi Yan opened his own window and saw Mei Xia Ying smiling at him.
“So it’s Lord Mei.” Fu Xi Yan casually asked, “Is Lord Mei leaving the city?”
Mei Xia Ying said, “My home is in that direction.”
Fu Xi Yan cupped his fists. “Then I won’t delay Lord Mei on your way home.”
“Lord Fu, what did you think of the painting you saw last time?”
Fu Xi Yan found that strange. It was not the question itself that was strange, but Mei Xia Ying’s attitude, which was completely different from before. The last time Fu Xi Yan saw that painting, Mei Xia Ying had hurriedly rolled it away. Why was he now bringing it up on his own?
Could that painting really have been an intentional hint?
Fu Xi Yan said, “Its mysteries were far too profound for me to comprehend. I would appreciate Lord Mei’s guidance.”
Mei Xia Ying smiled. “I heard Lord Fu recently visited Mingji Temple and even contributed money to support the elderly residents of the Universal Relief Infirmary. To occupy a high position yet remember to aid the vulnerable and impoverished—that is a work worthy of being called profound and marvelous. Mei is ashamed to compare. It is already late, so I will not delay Lord Fu’s journey any further.”
With that, he closed his carriage window and slowly departed.
Fu Xi Yan shut his own window and turned toward the other two people inside. “What did he mean by that? When I was about to leave, he started talking to me. Then when I started talking to him, he left… Does he think I’m not conversational enough?”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “He kept looking at you.”
Fu Xi Yan immediately took that the wrong way. “…People who aren’t conversational enough don’t even deserve to be looked at while someone talks to them?”
Shou Nan Shan smiled. “What the Young Palace Master means is that while he was speaking with you, he was constantly observing you.”
Fu Xi Yan asked, “Observing what?”
How would Shou Nan Shan know? He casually replied, “He’s a painter. If he’s observing someone, it’s probably because he wants to paint them.”
Pei Yuan Jin said, “Keep an eye on him. Don’t let the fat—”
“Cough, cough, cough!” Shou Nan Shan suddenly broke into violent coughing.
Fu Xi Yan also gave Pei Yuan Jin a cool look, his expression saying that he was listening very carefully.
Pei Yuan Jin looked faintly aggrieved. He turned away, stared at Shou Nan Shan, and said, “Handle it.”
Shou Nan Shan said, “This subordinate understands.”
He patted the roof of the carriage and spoke toward the empty air. “Kill that painter!”
“No need, no need!” Fu Xi Yan slapped the carriage roof even louder. “The Young Madam says you’re not allowed to go! Not allowed! Did you hear me? If you heard, answer!”
A faint voice came from the empty air. “As you command.”
Only then did Fu Xi Yan relax and sit back down. He turned to find Pei Yuan Jin resting with his eyes closed while Shou Nan Shan looked at him with obvious amusement.
…
Fu Xi Yan said, “One, two, three—freeze!”
No one say another word! I don’t want to hear it.
When Fu Xi Yan returned home, he was surprised to find Fu Fu still awake at such a late hour and actually waiting outside to greet him. Feeling absurdly honored, he asked, “I was only gone for half a day. Father missed me already?”
Fu Fu asked, “Nothing happened on the road, did it?”
“Not on the road. On the boat, someone fired a Southern Yu Wall-Breaching Crossbow at me. But Young Palace Master Pei stopped it.”
Fu Fu nodded. “With Young Palace Master Pei and Martial King Shou beside you, there truly is nothing to worry about.”
Fu Xi Yan noticed that his expression was unusual. “What happened?”
Fu Fu said, “An order just came from the palace summoning your uncle back immediately to stand guard. Quite a few high officials and nobles were targeted tonight by Southern Yu Wall-Breaching Crossbows. The entire city is so tense now that everyone is afraid to leave home.”
Fu Xi Yan had become so accustomed to assassination attempts that he had assumed the Southern Yu Wall-Breaching Crossbow was aimed solely at him. He had not expected a coordinated wave of attacks. He hurriedly asked, “Is everyone at home all right?”
Fu Fu said, “However powerful a Wall-Breaching Crossbow may be, it isn’t going to shoot all the way into our house.”
Fu Xi Yan nodded. Then he suddenly remembered the Puppet Path’s methods and began scrutinizing his father suspiciously. Without warning, he asked, “I’ve decided I’m going to be with Pei Yuan Jin. What do you think?” This was definitely an explosive topic. He would bet Fu Fu’s memories contained absolutely no prepared response to something like this.
Fu Fu froze completely.
Fu Xi Yan waved a hand in front of his face. When Fu Fu continued standing motionless, Fu Xi Yan became alarmed. Did I just throw something outside the Gu’s processing range and make the whole system crash? Is this still actually my father?
Only after a very long time did Fu Fu finally release a deep breath. “You… I… I’m going back to sleep. You should sleep early too!”
Watching his father hurry away, Fu Xi Yan nervously looked at Pei Yuan Jin. “Judging from that reaction, do you think my father is a puppet or not?”
Shou Nan Shan’s cheerful voice abruptly cut in. “Since the Young Madam and Young Palace Master have already discussed the matter, sooner is better than later. I’ll go arrange it immediately!” He rubbed his hands together delightedly and vanished in a flash.
Fu Xi Yan did not react at first. “Huh? Arrange what?”
Pei Yuan Jin looked at him speechlessly.
Only then did Fu Xi Yan belatedly remember the nonsense he had just spouted in front of Fu Fu. He jumped in fright. “I-I-I was making it up! H-he didn’t actually believe me, did he?”
Pei Yuan Jin suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, turned around, and walked away.
Fu Xi Yan hurried after him, stamping anxiously as he ran. “Y-you need to control him! What is he going to arrange?! Stop him! Go stop him!”
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