Chapter 109
Chapter 109
Clearing her throat, Shengsheng Zhou clasped her hands behind her back. “Little Ming is a fat man. What does he become if he falls into a bottomless abyss?”
Siran Ming’s first reaction was to look down at his waist.
Still as lean and firm as ever.
“Is that a riddle?” he asked.
It was entirely unlike those he had solved before.
Shengsheng nodded. “Yes.”
“Mud.”
“A dead fat man.” Shengsheng tugged at her mouth and affectionately patted his dog head.
*All right, eldest son. Hurry on back.*
“I lost. A wager is a wager, so I’ll do as Shengsheng wishes.” The tall man in black flashed before her and vanished.
Shengsheng remained in place, staring in surprise.
He left that easily?
Impossible.
Watching her from hiding, Siran’s eyes flashed with amusement.
As long as Shengsheng *thought* he had left, was that not enough?
*Shengsheng, I need to tell you something.* A-Pang’s weak voice suddenly sounded.
Shengsheng stroked A-Pang’s head where he lay on her shoulder. *What is it?*
Sniffling, A-Pang said haggardly, *On a whim, I checked the exchange records. I found something I don’t remember exchanging at all. Yet the laxative I remember has no record.*
Shengsheng suddenly had a bad feeling.
She had experienced rather too many bad feelings today. *What is the thing you don’t remember?*
A-Pang answered shakily, *Magical Animal Potion…*
Shengsheng’s vision darkened. She struggled to ask, *Its effect and duration?*
*If I’m right, it randomly transforms the target into an animal. It’s an advanced potion, so it doesn’t expire. The target must take an antidote.*
*What?! An advanced potion? How many System Points did that cost me?!* Shengsheng shrieked.
A-Pang fell silent.
In a corner of the palace, a young woman stood facing a wall, utterly lost.
She had caused disaster.
That was Shengsheng’s first thought.
Her second was whether posting a missing-person notice might help.
Missing Person:
Xunlan Liu, current emperor of the Zhu Kingdom. Male, twenty years old, 176 centimeters tall, capital accent. Vanished from his bedchamber late at night. Experts believe he may have transformed into an animal. Anyone with information should contact So-and-so in the palace at 183-XXXX-XXXX. Generous reward.
No wonder… No wonder Xiangxiang said the Empress Dowager had summoned Fusheng Duan repeatedly these past few days.
The Zhu Kingdom’s emperor was missing. This was grave.
She could not blame A-Pang. Her selfish impulse and failure to confirm things with him had caused the disaster.
Now she had to find Xunlan.
One must answer for one’s own actions.
*A-Pang, give me one Search a Thousand Miles.*
A-Pang replied, *Shengsheng, it probably won’t work. Search a Thousand Miles requires you to picture the lost object’s appearance. Xunlan must look different now, so it likely won’t respond.*
As expected. Shengsheng had thought the same.
She had no choice but to discreetly ask whether some strange animal had appeared near Xunlan’s bedchamber.
But with the emperor missing, the Empress Dowager must have sealed the place tightly. One extra question, and Shengsheng would probably be arrested.
She could turn invisible and search, but invisibility items had time limits. She could never calculate precisely when they would expire and would still end up arrested.
Thus, the only safe method available–
was to cling to Fusheng Duan’s thigh.
Why was it Fusheng again?!
Both Xiyuan Duanmu and Xunlan Liu could only be saved through Fusheng?!
Tell me, wretched heavens. Are you doing this deliberately?
Unable to contain herself, Shengsheng Zhou knocked her forehead against the wall and thought bitterly.
She had cared before. But now that she considered it, she would not use this body much longer anyway. She did not really care how casually she kissed someone.
——
“My lord! A country cannot go one day without its ruler! No matter what, a double cannot be used forever!” Yan Yu knelt at Fusheng’s feet. Her eyes were filled with infatuation, yet it did not delay anything she needed to say.
Fusheng nudged her aside with the tip of his foot and gave a careless hum.
He knew who had done it, so the matter did not count as serious.
Besides, he personally wished Xunlan would die in some random corner.
But Yan Yu was a member of his clan, and Xunlan counted as half of one. The Zhu Kingdom was not yet due to fall, so the man could not die for now.
“My lord, then perhaps…” Yan Yu, having crawled back, asked cautiously.
“Leave this to me. You needn’t interfere.” Fusheng sounded distracted.
It was only redeeming one person. She should be back by now.
“One more thing. Send Qingbai to me later. I have a task for it.”
With that, he left without a trace of reluctance or a glance at Yan Yu on the floor.
Yan Yu showed no displeasure. She greedily watched Fusheng’s retreating figure while answering, “As you command.”
She guessed Fusheng intended to send Qingbai to find Xunlan.
—–
Looking at an entire table covered in his favorite foods, Fusheng raised an eyebrow.
He lifted the gauze curtain and entered the inner room.
A familiar figure was bent over, doing something unknown.
Fusheng did not speak. His steps ghostlike and silent, he walked behind Shengsheng.
Shengsheng felt an itch at the tip of her ear. Turning, she met Fusheng’s teasing eyes.
“Your Highness!”
*Holy crap! You scared this beauty to death. You even startled a former ghost like me. You’re neither human nor ghost!*
Neither-Human-nor-Ghost Fusheng tilted his head toward the object in her hand. “What are you doing?”
Shengsheng pointed at the dying blue bird in the golden cage. “This servant is feeding it.”
Strangely, Dailuan had refused even food offered by Fusheng himself, yet accepted what Shengsheng fed it.
Glancing at the little dish in her hand, Fusheng became interested. “What is it?”
Shengsheng held it up like a treasure and chirped, “Special bird food made by mashing lots of caterpillars into paste and mixing in fruit.”
With one jade-like finger, Fusheng moved away the plate she had nearly pressed to his mouth. “Take it away.”
Seeing his disgust, Shengsheng muttered, “It sounds delicious.”
Fusheng fell silent. She was not a bird. How would she know?
Still, the little thing had grown bolder around him. After she changed from a child back to her original appearance, she had returned to her old self. In recent days, however, she had begun resembling the person in her thoughts.
“I do have another question.” Fusheng leaned nearby and looked down at her.
Shengsheng spared him a glance amid her work. “Please ask, Your Highness.”
Pointing at her, Fusheng asked at leisure, “Why do you smell of dog?”