As soon as Liu Suwu and Imperial Physician Sun, supporting Commander Fan Qing, stepped out of the Feihua Pleasure Boat, a figure rushed over and bowed deeply to them.
Looking up, it was none other than “Huo Ci.”
“Today’s events were quite sudden, and it was wrong of me to have involved you all. I, Huo, sincerely apologize here.”
The corner of Liu Suwu’s mouth twitched: We’ve already been dragged into the water and drowned. Is there any use saying this now?
Imperial Physician Sun, after all, had seen much in his life, remained completely unperturbed.
The fact that he’s apologizing at all is good. Better than nothing.
“Another day, Huo Ci will surely prepare generous gifts and visit to properly apologize.”
Imperial Physician Sun was so startled he quickly waved his hands. “No, no, that won’t do! Please spare this old man, General Huo. My old bones can’t take any more excitement. I am just a doctor who sees patients. General Huo and your family are merely my patients. Please, let’s not cross any further boundaries!”
Though Liu Suwu’s face still wore a faint, ambiguous smile, in his heart, he had traveled back twenty days and viciously slapped his own talkative self twice.
If only he hadn’t used the incident with the malicious servant to subtly mock “Huo Ci” back then, perhaps he wouldn’t have suffered this calamity today.
The utterly bewildered Fan Qing: At least you all have your reasons. What about me? So I just deserve this?
Jiang Xingyan personally hired three carriages to send each of them home separately.
Fan Qing was dead drunk and unconscious, yet his steps weren’t unsteady. The burly man, over two hundred pounds, was somehow helped into the carriage by a skinny coachman.
Watching his retreating back, Jiang Xingyan couldn’t help but click her tongue in private admiration: Everyone in the court is a formidable character.
Only then did Xin Zhui, following behind, have a belated realization. “General, you just now—”
“Quiet! We’ll talk back at the estate.”
“Alright!” Xin Zhui’s heart blossomed with joy.
Ah Xing was willing to include me in such a big scheme. Does this mean my standing in her heart has risen?
Jiang Xingyan, who had actually just needed him to make up the numbers: ?
There was no moon tonight.
It was already the beginning of the Hai hour (9 PM). The streets were sparsely populated, countless households were dark and quiet. Only the lanterns in front of grand mansions and the brothels and pleasure quarters, with their lights burning all night, remained.
Xin Zhui suddenly remembered the past, on nights just as deep as this, after he and Huo Ci had finished practicing martial arts.
On a whim, he had wanted to race Huo Ci using Qinggong (lightness skill).
But Huo Ci had sternly scolded him. “Nonsense! The capital is not a place for such recklessness! Xin Zhui, you’re not a child anymore. Why are you so childish?”
Xin Zhui had been utterly disappointed.
Clearly, the General was only twelve at the time too.
He turned his head to look at Jiang Xingyan, who seemed lost in thought. But in his eyes, it wasn’t Huo Ci he saw, but her original form.
So serene, so clever and lively.
No wonder both the General and the Grand Astrologer are so deeply smitten with Ah Xing.
Suddenly, Xin Zhui really wanted to indulge himself, emboldened by the alcohol.
“Ah Xing, how about we race using Qinggong? See who gets back to the General’s estate first?”
Perhaps because they had become comrades who had faced life and death together, Jiang Xingyan didn’t feel aversion or resistance to the name “Ah Xing.”
She gave Xin Zhui, his face full of expectation, a look of disdain.
“Childish!”
In the next instant, her figure was already several zhang away, gathering strength to leap onto the rooftops.
“If you can catch up, I’ll concede!”
Xin Zhui’s mood felt like it had plummeted off a cliff, only to be caught and lifted high again.
By the time he reacted, Jiang Xingyan was already on the roof ridge of a house.
“Ah Xing, you… you cheated!”
He focused his energy and chased after her with all his might.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The two of them dropped from the roof ridges, flashing through an alley one after the other.
Whoosh!
They simultaneously flashed back.
Jiang Xingyan rubbed her chin, seeming thoughtful. “Hmm? This carriage looks very familiar.”
In the darkness, a nearly invisible black horse snorted, the silver ornament on its forehead reflecting a bright glint of light.
The carriage attached behind it was spotless, as if brand new.
Xin Zhui pointed at it curiously. “It’s so clean. Isn’t it the one from the estate? Wang Qi polishes it five times a day!”
“Wang Qi?”
Jiang Xingyan called out a few times, but no one answered.
Her heart tightened.
Could something have happened?
She hurried forward and lifted the carriage curtain.
Inside, Huo Ci sat in the carriage, his gaze empty as he looked at Jiang Xingyan.
Jiang Xingyan’s heart skipped a beat. Remembering the afternoon’s abnormalities in Huo Ci’s body, she wondered what had happened to him after he returned to the estate.
Upon seeing her, he pulled a faint, serene smile. “Ah Yan.”
Jiang Xingyan instantly got goosebumps all over.
“Are you alright?”
Huo Ci didn’t speak, just looked at Xin Zhui outside the carriage with an unfamiliar gaze.
Xin Zhui’s heart skipped a beat.
Why is the General looking at me so coldly? Did he hear me call her ‘Ah Xing’?
Xin Zhui immediately lowered his head, his face flushing bright red.
Huo Ci spoke coldly. “I have things to discuss with Ah Yan.”
—Idle bystanders, shouldn’t you leave?
Xin Zhui, crestfallen, answered in a muffled voice. “Oh. Then I’ll head back to the military camp first.”
He turned immediately, not daring to look back at Jiang Xingyan again.
Jiang Xingyan thought he was just disappointed their Qinggong race was interrupted and chuckled helplessly. “Really, just like a child.”
Hearing this, Huo Ci turned his head and stared fixedly at her.
He stared until Jiang Xingyan felt uneasy. She shot him an annoyed glare: Weirdo!
“Where’s Wang Qi? Why are you waiting for me here? What’s the matter?”
“Ah Yan, how do you plan to deal with my mother?”