Chapter 181
Chapter 181
Of course, Siran Ming himself was not qualified to participate in the discussion of where he would go.
By the time Shengsheng Zhou came back to her senses, he had already been trussed up and stuffed into the carriage. The Protect Shengsheng faction, led by Weiqing Song, proposed sending him straight back to the Yong Kingdom and letting Rong Li deal with the mess.
The Couldn’t-Care-Less faction, led by Shengsheng, merely waved a hand and approved the proposal with airy indifference.
“Let’s leave this job to Jian Zhang,” Shengsheng suggested.
Weiqing had no idea why she wanted to do that, but after a moment’s thought, he agreed.
Jian Zhang had probably been worked to the bone while he was away. They could call this a vacation.
Holding her luggage, Zhiyu Jiang looked back at the secluded mountain.
She had arrived heartbroken and lost.
When she left, she took only a pickle jar, a pearl, and a goldfish wind chime.
Yet her heart was calmer than it had ever been.
“Xiaoyu! We’re leaving!” Shengsheng, noticing that she had fallen behind, waved to her.
Zhiyu turned around. “Coming!”
Wukong Zhou stood to one side, watching the group of young people who had arrived in a rush and were now departing just as quickly. An emotion flickered through his eyes.
Thank fuck. They were finally leaving.
“Brother Monkey!”
Wukong Zhou: “…?”
“Thank you for bringing us down! Goodbye!” Standing beside the carriage, Shengsheng waved at him with a radiant smile.
The corners of Wukong’s mouth, which had been pressed into a straight line, relaxed. Awkwardly imitating her, he raised a hand and waved. “Goodbye.”
Beside the carriage,
Shengsheng looked at the man in red who had remained standing off to the side. “You’re not coming with us?”
“Mm.” Fusheng Duan nodded. Qingbai stretched its wings on his shoulder.
Weiqing and Zhiyu exchanged a glance and decided to board the carriage first.
“Weiqing,” Fusheng called.
Weiqing had no choice but to walk over. He glanced at Shengsheng beside them. “Mm?”
Fusheng grabbed him and pulled him aside, then turned his head and told Shengsheng, “Give me a moment.”
“Keep something for me.” Without wasting a word, Fusheng went straight to the point.
Weiqing nodded and held out a hand. “Pay the storage fee first.”
Fusheng said, “How about I give you Xunlan Liu?”
Weiqing: “…You should keep that treasure for yourself.”
Fusheng drew a wooden box from his sleeve. “Hold on to this. I’ll come get it from you later.”
“What priceless treasure has you fussing over it like this?”
With Fusheng’s tacit permission, Weiqing opened the box. Tiny pale-purple flowers lay quietly inside, preserved by some special method. Every petal remained fully spread, exactly as it had been before.
Weiqing was certainly no stranger to them. He had watched Shengsheng pluck them from a crack in the rocks with his own eyes.
“How romantic.” He could not identify the feeling in his heart, so he offered the dry remark, put the box away, and asked, “Is the place far? How long will you be gone this time?”
Fusheng stared absently in one direction. “Probably… quite some time.”
After the gu entered his body, a brand resembling a phoenix had appeared on his palm.
It was the key to unlocking the final treasure.
And the location of that treasure was now inside his mind.
“All right. Say a proper goodbye.” Weiqing patted him on the shoulder and returned to the carriage.
Shengsheng watched Fusheng walk toward her. “Where are you going?”
Fusheng Duan held out his hand and showed her the mark on his palm. “There is one more thing I need to do.”
Remembering what he had told her that night, Shengsheng Zhou nodded in understanding.
“How long will you be gone?”
Fusheng shook his head gently. “I’m not sure.”
She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, her voice muffled. “When you come back, can I tell you some things? About me.”
Surprise flashed through Fusheng’s eyes. His lips curved in a faint smile. “All right.”
Shengsheng suddenly pulled out of his arms, eyes wide. “No, no, no. I take that back. Pretend I never said it.”
Good lord! In novels and TV dramas, saying *when you come back, we’ll do this or that* was how you planted the deadliest kind of flag!
Fusheng, who had no idea what had just crossed her mind: “…Mm.”
He looped an arm around her waist, bent down, and kissed her for a while. Then he hung something around her neck.
Shengsheng looked down. It was a silver whistle engraved with characters she could not read.
Meeting her puzzled gaze, Fusheng explained, “A-Xuan will stay with you from now on. It is wary of strangers and often hides in the shadows. If you need it, blow the whistle and it will appear.”
Afraid she had forgotten, Fusheng added, “I told you what the Mystic Bird can do. Do you remember?”
Shengsheng nodded. A-Xuan had been responsible for the soldiers who slaughtered one another during the war with the Yong Kingdom.
Fusheng had only told Shengsheng about that recently.
And now he was giving such a lethal weapon to her.
“Wait here.” Shengsheng ran behind the carriage. After making sure no one could see her, she bombarded A-Pang inside her head. *A-Pang, A-Pang, A-Pang, A-Pang, A-Pang, A-Pang!*
Lately, he claimed to be hibernating and slept constantly.
Shengsheng found that extremely suspicious.
What kind of panda hibernated?
Sure enough, her barrage woke A-Pang. *What do you want?*
*Do you have some ultimate weapon that can protect a person and attack enemies at the same time?*
A-Pang: *…Why don’t you just delete me instead?*
*Something close will do. Take a look.*
A-Pang had never been able to refuse her. Gritting his teeth, he opened the shop.
*Nothing meets all those requirements. What about this? “Golden Dragon Scale Temporarily Stored by Paopao.”*
Shengsheng: *…Let me guess. The activation incantation is “My heart is iron, my will unbroken”?*
A-Pang snapped his fingers. *Smart.*
Shengsheng trotted back and told Fusheng to lower his head.
He bent down obligingly. Shengsheng slapped the golden dragon scale onto his forehead.
Fusheng froze. The scale quickly vanished, but Shengsheng’s palm print remained. It was not that she had used much force. Fusheng was simply so pale that his skin marked far too easily.
With a red handprint stamped across his forehead, Fusheng began, “What–”
“If you’re ever in danger, shout, ‘My heart is iron, my will unbroken.’ Got it?”
An unreadable look in his eyes, Fusheng nodded. “Mm…”
They spoke a little longer. When there was truly no time left, he embraced Shengsheng. “Wait for me–”
Before he could finish, Shengsheng pressed one finger to his lips.
She nearly poked it into his mouth.
“Shh. I know what you’re going to say. Wait for you to come back, right? Don’t say it. It’s enough that I know.”
Reject death flags. It starts with you and me.