"I hope so. I’ve made a list of books for you to read when you have time." Zhou Chunfeng picked up a sheet of paper and gave it a gentle toss. As if it had a mind of its own, the paper slowly floated over to Li Qingxian.
Li Qingxian took it.
*Book of Intrigue*, *Weaving Scripture*, *Book of Concealment*, *Little People’s Scripture*, *Service Scripture*...
"Don’t you worry, Uncle Zhou. I’ll take my time with them. I won’t let your efforts go to waste."
"I’m just worried you’ll only pay them lip service while you’re actually spending all day on those Life Books. Fate Skill isn’t useless, it’s just far too esoteric. Not one in ten thousand Cultivators is suited for it. You... should just stop wasting your time," Zhou Chunfeng said.
"Uncle Zhou, you’re just too sweet with your words," Li Qingxian said with a sigh.
"Out with it. What other conditions do you have?" Zhou Chunfeng asked.
Li Qingxian said, "Tomorrow, I’m planning to pay my respects to my father. But I’m worried someone might cause trouble—Ye Han, for example. So, I’m hoping you and Sister Youfei can work together to keep Ye Han stuck in this study, nice and quiet, for the entire day."
"What are you scheming now?" Zhou Chunfeng asked, his eyes filled with suspicion.
"Well, I might as well admit it. This is to repay Ye Han for the Jiao Dragon Transformation Pill," Li Qingxian said with a sigh.
"How so?"
"My Fate Skill has improved greatly of late, and I’ve foreseen that a few of Ye Han’s brothers are planning to harm him tomorrow, while he’s paying respects to his mother. I didn’t want to get involved, but after giving it some thought... I am Li Qingxian, the Sunshine Boy, after all. I might as well be a good person through and through. So, I’ll keep him here at the Night Guard Office and spare him the tragedy of being killed by his own kin."
"Really?"
"As true as can be," Li Qingxian said.
Zhou Chunfeng gazed out the window, mulling over the mystical nature of Fate Skill. "You’re saying I can’t hold him back alone?"
"You said it yourself. His Qi Fortune is flourishing; he’s on the verge of becoming a dragon. I even suspect that you might not be able to hold him back, even with Sister Youfei’s help," Li Qingxian said.
’Li Qingxian had calculated it perfectly. As an Ungraded, he couldn’t use Fate Skill to suppress Ye Han. Even if he went to the landing point of the purple crystal ahead of time, he would undoubtedly be influenced by Ye Han’s Fate Grid and meet with some disaster. But Zhou Chunfeng and Jiang Youfei were different. One was the world-famous Disciplinary Officer of the Night Guard, wielding real power; the other was the Saintess of a major Daoist Sect. It would be no problem for them to join forces and suppress the current Ye Han.’
"Is this that important to you?"
"Extremely. It’s important enough to affect my entire life." Li Qingxian stared intently at Zhou Chunfeng.
Zhou Chunfeng fell into a long silence before saying, "For your sake, and for Youfei’s, we’ll raise the stakes. The ways of Fate Skill may be ethereal and uncertain, but heroes throughout history have said that while human will may not always conquer the heavens, a person’s own fate, if strong enough, can influence Celestial Fate. Since Ye Han’s Qi Fortune is so strong, I’ll add one more person to the mix. I’ll request an order from the Guard Commander!"
"The Cowardly King?" Li Qingxian asked, his face a mask of doubt.
"Don’t be absurd. Prince Songx is merely magnanimous and avoids conflict. Those rumors are baseless."
"Right. He’s an Upper Three Grades Grandmaster, after all. I suppose he’s useful," Li Qingxian said.
"Zhou Henn," Zhou Chunfeng said.
"Here, sir."
"Take my Token and go to the Guard Commander. Request a confinement order for the entire Night Guard. Everyone is to remain on standby today. No one is to leave without my written command—and that includes Ye Han. Also, have someone investigate Marquis Dingbei’s other sons," Zhou Chunfeng ordered.
"As you command!"
Watching Zhou Henn depart, Li Qingxian asked, "Uncle Zhou, you trust me that easily?"
"I only need to ask you one thing: after tomorrow is over, can you impersonate Lü Ren?"
"As long as we can hold Ye Han back tomorrow, I’d dare to face a Third Grade from the Demon Sect!" Li Qingxian declared.
"If you have any other conditions, list them all out," Zhou Chunfeng said.
"I need to go out and buy offerings for the memorial today, so I’ll need a written pass from you. And tomorrow, someone might try to plot against me from the shadows. Could you have Uncle Xiaozhou secretly follow me and deal with them?"
"Done." After speaking, Zhou Chunfeng lowered his head and let out a soft cough.
Li Qingxian was overjoyed. "Thank you, Uncle Zhou! Once this is all over, I’ll get the best loquat syrup from a childhood friend of mine for you."
"How thoughtful of you." As Zhou Chunfeng spoke, he wrote out a pass in his own hand, stamped it with his Great Seal, and handed it to Li Qingxian.
Li Qingxian accepted it. "Oh, by the way, Uncle Zhou, there’s a personal matter I’d like to ask you about."
"Hm?" Zhou Chunfeng’s expression darkened.
Li Qingxian chuckled. "You’ve got the wrong idea. It’s *my* personal matter, not yours."
"Let’s hear it."
Li Qingxian let out a long sigh. "It’s a long story, but my life has been one disaster after another. When I was little, my mother told me my father was going to arrange a marriage for me, but for some reason, I never heard about it again. Then, six months ago, my aunt said my father saw I was about to turn sixteen and was making arrangements for my wedding. And then... nothing came of that either. So, I was thinking, Uncle Zhou, could you please not let my life be filled with yet another setback? Uncle Zhou?"
For some reason, Zhou Chunfeng seemed to drift away. He only snapped back to reality when Li Qingxian called out his name again. "You want me to... arrange a marriage for you?"
"Not arrange a marriage, exactly. Just... keep an eye out for any nice young ladies. Can’t let someone else snap them up first, right?" Li Qingxian said.
Zhou Chunfeng nodded. "I’ll keep an eye out for you."
Li Qingxian cleared his throat. "Uncle Zhou... what I mean is, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you *have* to find someone like Jiang Youfei. But, well, if you *insisted* on finding someone just like her, I wouldn’t be opposed..."
"Get out!"
"Uncle Zhou..."
"Get out!"
"Fine, then! Let the Li Family line die with me!" Li Qingxian shook his head, then picked up another plate of pastries and left.
Zhou Chunfeng was left looking completely exasperated.
’That little rogue, just like his father...’ he muttered. He then stood up and walked to the window, gazing outside.
A blurry memory surfaced. A middle-aged man was squatting in front of a little girl with a runny nose, dangling a stick of tanghulu. He smiled gently. "Ying’er, my dear, how about I give you this tanghulu, and you marry our little Qingxian, hm?"
The little girl’s eyes were glued to the tanghulu.
"It’s a deal, then!" The man pressed the glistening tanghulu into the girl’s hand, and she skipped away.
「That night, also in the early summer」
Zhou Chunfeng, who had resigned his post to live in Jiangnan, got completely drunk with a visiting Li Gangfeng.
At the height of their drunkenness, Li Gangfeng slammed the table, cursing Zhou Chunfeng for being scared witless by the Demon Race. He berated him for wasting his immense talent by idling away in Jiangnan, for selfishly ignoring the righteous cause of the Human Race.
After that day, the two of them never shared a drink again.
"Ying’er must be wanting tanghulu..."
Zhou Chunfeng changed into casual clothes—a green robe with a pattern of scattered branches—and left the Night Guard Office. He bought two sticks of tanghulu and returned to the back hall of the Divine Capital Bureau. There, he sat on the ground beneath a maple tree, slowly dug a shallow hole, and buried both sticks.
Carrying Zhou Chunfeng’s pass, Li Qingxian left the Night Guard Office. He bought some offerings for the memorial, and while he was at it, also picked up a few items commonly used by Fake Fate Masters: Yellow Paper, Chicken Blood, a Money Sword, and some Peach Wood Talismans.
He then returned to Room A9 to grab some pastries and a few books before heading to the medical ward.
Setting down the plate, Li Qingxian glanced at the two figures lying in the beds.
Li Qingxian said, "Lord Zhou said Team A9 is to rest and recuperate for now. I’ll keep watch during the day, but I have to go home to sleep at night. For the next two days, Lord Zhou and I have important business to attend to, so I’ll have to trouble you to take over."
Han Anbo nodded and said in a low voice, "You’re still young. It’s natural for people to want to climb higher. But no matter what you do, be careful. This world isn’t kind to good men. Just look at Captain Zheng..."
"I understand." Li Qingxian’s gaze fell on the unconscious Zheng Hui.
"It’s not that you can’t be a good man, it’s just that being a good man is ten times harder than being a villain..." Han Anbo sighed.