Kang Run laid on his stomach motionlessly on the roof, looking in the direction of the street corner. Suddenly, his eyes sharpened and he quickly flipped off the roof, jumped into the room from the window and shook the unconscious Zou Lan on the bed to wake him. “Wake up. The soldiers on searching duty are coming.”
Zou Lan’s eyes were tightly shut and he was unresponsive.
“Tsk, he is really weak. Just curing the poison and he faints for so long.” Kang Run looked at him in disgust. He took out a silver needle from his clothes and pricked Zou Lan with it. He watched as Zou Lan’s eyelids trembled and waited for him to wake up before he quickly said, “There’s a secret cellar near the back. Go hide in it. I’ll watch the government soldiers’ movements outside. Don’t come out without my permission, understand?”
However, Zou Lan acted like he didn’t hear him at all. When he woke up, he immediately went to touch his face. After seeing the dirty black blood on his hands, he let out a piercing scream and looked at Kang Run in terror. “My face! What happened to my face? Brother Kang Run, wasn’t it an antidote? Why did my face become like this? Is my face ruined?”
“Be quiet!” Kang Run regret waking him up after seeing his reaction and raised his hand to knock him out. He didn’t expect that Zou Lan was so agile when he was very emotional. After avoiding his hand, Zou Lan held onto his arm and continued to cry, “Brother Kang Run, you have to save me. Heal my face, I don’t want to live like this forever. You have to save me!”
After estimating the time it would take for the government soldiers to get from the street to this house, Kang Run became increasingly anxious. He tore Zou Lan off his arm and threatened him, “Shout again and I’ll directly throw you out. If you don’t want to die, shut up and go to the back door. Quickly!”
Zou Lan was frightened by the murderous look on his face. The arm that was holding onto Kang Run trembled a little before slowly loosening.
There was an unexpected, slight tingling sensation on Kang Run's arm, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. Seeing that Zou Lan finally obediently went to the back door, he quickly turned to the window and looked out from the crack. His right hand touched the flexible sword wrapped around his waist.
“Brother Kang Run.”
He stopped his movements, turned his head and sneered impatiently, “Why haven’t you left yet? Do you really want to die?”
Zou Lan, with a hideously messy face covered with black blood, suddenly smiled and waved at him, “Thank you for saving me. I wish you a safe trip to the underworld.”
“Did you become insane? Still not—” His voice abruptly stopped as an excruciating pain suddenly rose from his arm and spread quickly throughout his whole body. He looked at Zou Lan incredulously, and the flexible sword fell from his hand. “You…”
With a thud, he fell flat on his face.
Zou Lan went up to kick him while wiping his face with his sleeve and looking down at his fingernails. He sneered, “Men are truly unreliable and useless things… Useless trash, it’s a waste that Grandmother trusted you so much!” He crouched down and searched Kang Run’s body for all the hidden weapons on him. He listened to the movements outside the house, lifted his clothes and then ran towards the back door.
When Ye Zhizhou woke up, it was already dark and Shen Tingwei still hadn’t returned. His overused spiritual power recovered quite a bit. After he got up and freshened up, he called for a guard to ask, “Have they still not caught them yet?”
The guard lowered his head. “The general looked for the criminals in the location based on your instructions, and indeed found traces of the prisoner there…But the prisoner is… missing.”
“Missing?” He got up in surprise. “How could he be missing? Then, what about Kang Run?”
“By the time we arrived, Kang Run was already on the ground and unconscious with severe poisoning. The general called a doctor to treat him.”
Kang Run was severely poisoned? Ye Zhizhou rubbed his forehead, unable to understand the plot development. He thought that once he woke up, he would be able to see the protagonist and Kang Run arrested together. He didn’t expect such a surprise to happen… Could this be the reason why the love probability fell to 50%? The protagonist poisoned Kang Run? A weak chicken ger who had been held in captivity for several days was able to poison an assassin?
He took a deep breath to hold back the ache in his brain that started again. He weakly said, “Take me to the general. I have some things to ask Kang Run.”
The guard hesitated for a moment and lowered his head even more. “That… Kang Run has been in a coma since capture, I’m afraid… The doctor said that the poison in his body was too fierce and unique, so they wouldn’t be able to develop an antidote in such a short amount of time.”
That’s annoying. He waved his hand and took the lead to go out first. “It’s okay. I can cure his poison. Let’s go.”
The guard was stunned and hurried to follow him. His eyes contained a trace of surprise and worship. The general’s wife can even solve this kind of backdoor poison. Before that, he even helped the general accurately find the location where the prisoner was hiding. How amazing!
Kang Run was placed in another inn where only soldiers lived, to ensure that he had no chance of escaping, even if he was awake and not poisoned.
Ye Zhizhou pushed the door open and nodded to Shen Tingwei in haste as a greeting. He went to the bedside, opened the small mirror’s scanning function and scanned Kang Run’s body. After getting the result, he directly took out a detoxification pill and bent down to feed it to Kang Run.
“What are you doing here?” Shen Tingwei waved his hand to signal to the guard in the room to leave. He walked up to Ye Zhizhou with a dark face, touched his hands and said, “It’s cold at night. Why didn’t you put on a cloak?” After saying this, he took his cloak on the chair and put it on Ye Zhizhou.
“I was in a hurry when I went out and forgot about it.” At this moment, Ye Zhizhou finally felt a little cold. After tightening the cloak, he took out a porcelain bottle, opened it and waved it under Kang Run’s nose. Finally, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Somehow I made it. If I waited for another half-hour, even the immortals couldn't save this man.”
Shen Tingwei sat down on the chair beside the bed and looked at Kang Run with him. His tone was somewhat heavy. “It’s useless. An ordinary antidote is useless. The poison in his body spread too fast and has already penetrated his internal organs.”
It was only then that Ye Zhizhou remembered that his lover still didn’t know about the special pills in his possession. The corners of his mouth raised, and he took out an antidote pill to hand to him. “His poison has been cured with this pill. Here, you take this. In the future, if you ever get poisoned, use this. I have more than enough.”
Shen Tingwei showed a rare expression of astonishment.
As if to confirm Ye Zhizhou’s words, Kang Run stirred in the bed and his eyelids fluttered open. When Kang Run realized that someone was next to him, his first instinct was to get up and attack, but he immediately felt the sharp lingering pain in his body. He took a deep breath and unconsciously curled up.
Shen Tingwei extended his arm to control Kang Run but was blocked by Ye Zhizhou in time. “I have something to ask him, don’t make him faint again.” After saying that, he took out a pill that made muscles weak and forced Kang Run’s mouth open as he fed the pill to him.
The pain gradually disappeared, but his body couldn't move. Kang Run looked at Ye Zhizhou with hatred. “What did you feed me?”
“Something to save your life. Would you rather be poisoned?” When Ye Zhizhou saw him, he would be reminded of the missing protagonist. He was very resentful. “I don’t know why you would save Zou Lan, but now you’ve tasted the bitter fruit of saving him. Where is Zou Lan? Where would he most likely hide after poisoning you? Or, which direction would he most likely run to?”
The memories before he lost consciousness gradually returned to him and Kang Run hatefully ground his teeth, “That slut!”
[The probability of Kang Run and the protagonist falling in love have dropped to 20%, may the host persist in his efforts.]
After almost being poisoned to death by the other, his love probability still hasn’t completely fallen? Good, good. Ye Zhizhou became even angrier and continued, “I don’t have the time for you to feel sorry for yourself. Tell me now, where did Zou Lan run off to?”
Kang Run looked at him gloomily and then turned his head away. “There are no good gers. Just kill me!”
Ye Zhizhou gasped in anger. How could there be such a person in this world? This troll! He really wants to hammer him to death! Although there’s no quantity limit to the system pills, these pills aren’t candy that can be eaten casually! Kang Run’s attitude is simply forcing people to regret saving him!
Hearing his words, Shen Tingwei’s face turned dark and he directly went up to jab Kang Run’s body several times. Kang Run, who was clearly awake, fainted with his eyes rolling back.
“What have you done to him?” Ye Zhizhou was surprised and pulled his sleeve. "I was still asking him for Zou Lan whereabouts…"
“It’s okay. He’ll wake up in ten minutes.” Shen Tingwei took his hand placatingly. He pulled him up and walked him to the room next door. “You can leave his interrogation to me. Go next door and rest for a while, I’ll be done soon.”
Ye Zhizhou followed him passively, with some doubts. “Are you sure you can do it?" From first glance, he could tell that Kang Run was a hard nut to crack. He was already fooled by Zou Lan to this point, but he was still unwilling to talk. He is also someone that is hard on himself.
“Trust me.” Shen Tingwei stroked his face, half coaxing him and half pushing him into the next room while calling a midnight snack for him.
Five minutes later, a hot bowl of delicious beef noodles was delivered to Ye Zhizhou. He had just picked up a bite with his chopsticks when a scream that could pierce through the clouds came from next door.
His chopsticks trembled and the noodles slipped back into the bowl.
He looked at the neighboring room in surprise, thought about it for a bit and then chose to pretend to be deaf as he buried his head in eating the noodles. In the ancient era, the interrogation method was somewhat violent… If his lover really broke the person, he could just go secretly heal them later.
15 minutes later, his belly was full and the screaming from next door also stopped. Two minutes later, Shen Tingwei pushed the door open and came in with his same hard and expressionless face.
Ye Zhizhou put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth. He whispered, “Have you settled it?"
“It’s done.” Shen Tingwei came up to him and looked at his noodle bowl. He saw that most of the bowl was empty. With some reluctance, he stroked his hair in satisfaction before pulling him up. “I haven’t asked for the details yet, we can ask together. He won’t be so tight-lipped anymore.”
The badly mangled flesh and blood that he imagined didn’t appear. Kang Run’s hands and feet were still intact and there was also no problem with his face. It’s just the gaze looking toward Shen Tingwei was both angry and afraid, like a mouse that saw a cat.
Ye Zhizhou tentatively asked a few questions, and the other party actually answered them all without concealing anything. After he finished asking him the questions, he tugged on Shen Tingwei with surprise, looking at him up and down before asking, “What on earth did you do to him? How did he become so obedient?” He’s obedient to the point of being like a bok choy that he personally raised; it was like you could do whatever you want.
“Using both the carrot and the stick, very simple.” Shen Tingwei enjoyed his current expression immensely, and his tone became softer. “Okay, you can go to sleep now. I’ll deal with the rest.”
His spiritual power hasn't fully recovered yet and he wasn't at his best right now, but he learned his lesson after he went to sleep earlier and woke up and found that the plot was a mess. He couldn't afford to ignore anything and leave everything to his lover.
“I’m going with you.” He grabbed Shen Tingwei’s hand and insisted, “My heart won’t be settled if we can’t find Zou Lan.”
Shen Tingwei frowned, kneaded his hand and saw that Ye Zhizhou was staring at him silently. He helplessly compromised. “Then, you have to follow me and not run around recklessly.”
Ye Zhizhou quickly nodded his head. “No problem!”
The husband and wife pair attacking together, naturally, the result should be… Unexpectedly, there was no result.
Three days after closing the city, an extensive search was conducted countless times. However, it was as if Zou Lan had completely vanished from the world—they were unable to find any traces of him. The people of Luzhou still had to live so the city gate couldn’t be closed all the time. Without any other choice, the government could only reluctantly open the city gate after the last investigation.
By the time another week passed, the surrounding villages, towns, and forests were all checked but nothing was found. The emperor was already urging Shen Tingwei to return while Yuan Hui from the Zou family side was also urging Ye Zhizhou to return. The two had no choice but to return to the capital.
After returning to the capital, they rested for a day before Ye Zhizhou arrived at the Zou family manor with a group of Shen Tingwei’s personal guards. He seized Old Madam Zou and her servants. Zou Qing wasn’t able to spit out any of the reprimands that he had been holding back for the past 2 weeks before he was stunned silly by Ye Zhizhou’s shocking actions.
“What are you doing!” He came forward, trying to push aside the guard who was holding down Old Madam Zou, but the guard blocked him with a sword. He could only look angrily at Ye Zhizhou to sneer, “It’s not enough to arrest your own brother, now you also want to start things with your own grandmother! What exactly are you trying to do?”
“Father, take a good look. Is this really my grandmother?” Ye Zhizhou didn’t care about Zou Qing’s anger at all. He opened a portrait and held it in front of him while saying in a low voice, “This is the portrait of grandmother that grandfather painted for her. Father, you should take a really good look at it.”
Zou Qing’s eyes fell on to the portrait and frowned after a few glances. “What kind of ruckus are you trying to make? Isn’t that your grandmother? Let your grandmother go!”
This blind guy… really deserves to recognize the wrong mother for so many years!
“Look carefully at the forehead, the side hairs on the temples and especially at the ears.” He pushed the portrait forward, almost pasting it onto Zou Qing’s face. “My real grandmother has big and full earlobes. The side hairs on the right side are longer than the left side, and that one…” he pointed to the ‘Old Madam Zou’ who had been silent this whole time, keeping up the official wife like attitude and sneered, “Her earlobes are small and thin, and her side hairs are symmetrical on both side. It’s obviously not the same person as the portrait!"
Zou Qing heard him, looked at the portrait and then looked at his ‘mother’ next to him, stupefied. “What’s going on?”
“Father, pinch your own earlobes and then think about Aunt Tao’s earlobes. Do you realize anything?” He put the portrait away and handed over a tattered family register. “This is grandmother’s family register. You’ll understand after reading it.”
Zou Qing quickly took the family register, opened it and read through it rapidly.
“There’s no need to look at it.” Old Madam Zou suddenly stepped forward and calmly said, “Qing’er, I’m not your real mother. In terms of blood relationship, you should call me aunt.”
Zou Qing clenched the hands, which were holding the family register, and stared at her with a twisted expression. “Are you the aunt who was supposed to come to my home but was killed half-way?”
“Yes, that’s me.” She dusted off her sleeves and fixed the hairpin holding her hair. She said indifferently, “I killed your mother and you killed my daughter. We’re even.” Looking at Ye Zhizhou, the corners of her mouth pulled up and she showed a fierce dark smile. “You were the biggest accident in my plan. I should’ve killed you back then.”
“Unfortunately, you didn’t.” For this kind of old monster, Ye Zhizhou had some ways to stimulate her. He said slowly and leisurely, “You have no more chances to kill me, but I still have the chance to kill your grandson.”
The old lady’s saggy face trembled for a moment, then, she suddenly took out a pill and swallowed it. She laughed loudly and said, “Either way, I’ve been successful all my life! You were all losers fooled by me! Just like playthings in my palm!”
Ye Zhizhou watched her with cold eyes as she laughed. He watched as she spat out blood and then fell to the ground before disdainfully saying, “It’s very courageous to commit suicide when things are revealed. Living as someone else all your life, repressing your nature to play another person and not even letting your own daughter address you as 'mother' in broad daylight. You don’t dare to go to your ancestor’s grave after death, and you won’t have relatives in your reincarnation… If such a life is considered successful, then I admit that you’re very good at deluding yourself. Don’t worry, your grandson won’t go on your road of 'success'. He has another dead end to follow.”
“No…” Her body twitched and the light in her eyes gradually dimmed. Her fingers tightly grabbed at the cracks in the bricks and the stones on the ground as her throat gasped hoarsely, “Lan’er, you really are part of the Zou Family… Xiao Dong, Xiao Dong…”
The register in Zou Qing’s hands fell to the ground and he sank to his knees, grabbing his hair as he fell apart, shaking his head as he cried bitterly, “No… It’s not true… It’s not true…”
Ye Zhizhou looked at Zou Qing and then looked at the old lady who had fallen to the ground while sighing. The words he said earlier could also apply to him. He lived several worlds as someone else, trying to imitate the original owner’s personality in front of their relatives. Thinking carefully, is that not equally despicable and ridiculous?
Yuan Hui, who had been standing outside the courtyard door as a bystander this whole time, slowly stepped forward and stood behind him. She patted his shoulder and said softly, “Mingming, lunch is ready. Mother personally cooked your favorite drunken duck for you. Let’s go, the dishes will get cold.”
He pulled away from the suddenly rising dark train of thought and turned to face her with a smile. The task isn’t over yet, the play will continue. He can only hope to keep true to himself and try his best to let the people that the original owner cared about be safe and happy.
Half a month later, the Zou family's situation basically stabilized. Zou Qing didn’t arrange a funeral for the fake Old Madam Zou. He only said that ‘Old Madam Zou’ had gone back to her hometown to rest and recuperate. Afterwards, Zou Qing became seriously ill. Zou Yuan, the eldest son of the Zou family who had left home to study, finally returned home. The burden on Yuan Hui’s shoulders was lifted and Ye Zhizhou finally didn’t have to run back and forth between the two families.
Another six months went by peacefully. It was like Zou Lan had just vanished from the world, leaving behind no trace. The love probability of the remaining two soul flags was stubbornly stuck at 20%, even though Fei Jinchu and Kang Run hated Zou Lan to the bone.
On an ordinary afternoon, the Chunxiu Garden troupe came to the Shen Mansion to perform for Old Madam Shen. Ye Zhizhou was laying down in the garden pavilion, eating grapes, being lazy and not wanting to move.
[The probability of Fei Jinchu, Kang Run and the protagonist falling in love has risen to 30%. Asking host to please pay attention! Asking host to please pay attention!]
He quickly sat up and nearly choked to death on the grape he was eating.
The author has something to say:
Thank you Jun Shi for your grenade! Love you so much = 3=
PS: Ah, one minute late!
Wonder what happened to make that love probability go up 
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