Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Past Events

Fu Ming was truly angry, and the things he had said earlier came from the heart.

Because he himself had done just that.

While he was having a romantic relationship with Bai Zhengliu, he still couldn't stop thinking about Gu Xiaolangjun.

When they had parted ways with Gu and Mei earlier, his longing could be slightly eased by the distance. But when they reunited and traveled together again, his feelings for Gu Miaoyu surged back like a tidal wave, leaving Fu Ming restless and tormented.

It wasn't just longing; there was also a touch of bitterness. He was jealous of Mei Yinghan, of course, but he was also jealous of Bai Zhengliu, and even of Gu Miaoyu.

Because he felt that his feelings for Bai Zhengliu were not fake either.

Although their relationship had started because of an accident. Gu Miaoyu and Mei Yinghan became a couple, while these two disappointed men drowned their sorrows in alcohol. When they woke up, they were shocked to realize they were staying together, just like former rivals in love.

Fu Ming found it hard to accept, and Bai Zhengliu also felt that it was difficult to explain.

However, over time, they got to know each other more. Fu Ming learned that Bai Zhengliu had been lonely since childhood, later learning the art of the sword from an elderly man, who then mysteriously disappeared. Bai Zhengliu, on the other hand, knew that Fu Ming, despite his noble status, had to live cautiously every day while in the capital. Gradually, their feelings blossomed, and genuine emotions emerged in their interactions.

If they hadn’t run into Gu Miaoyu again, Fu Ming would probably have just lived on like that. Although he couldn’t help but inquire about Gu Miaoyu’s whereabouts, there was only Bai Zhengliu by his side. Thinking about his late royal father, then about his elder brother on the throne and all the royal relatives and celebrities in the capital, Fu Ming even felt that he was the most loyal person in this era.

Even when he reunited with Gu Miaoyu, the two of them gradually became closer. One had always harbored feelings of affection, while the other, after being with his beloved senior brother, started to feel that his senior brother treated him as a responsibility. Being lovers was no different from being fellow disciples—nothing like the passionate relationship he had imagined.

At such a time, Fu Ming still believed that although he had fallen for two people, compared to those who had numerous wives and concubines, and even kept mistresses on the side, he had been sufficiently devoted.

Last night, when Bai Zhengliu had caught him and Gu Miaoyu meeting secretly at midnight, Fu Ming had felt guilty. But after thinking it through, he grew more confident and justified in his actions.

In any case, Bai Zhengliu had the same feelings for Gu Miaoyu. He had just acted on it a little earlier. In the future, it wouldn't be a big deal for the three of them to travel together. Although the Ninth Prince would still feel sour, Fu Ming thought that he was magnanimous enough to make concessions in front of the two people he loved.As a result? Bai Zhengliu not only didn't appreciate him, but also said something about "ending"!

This made Fu Ming furious. He felt that all his past sincerity had been trampled on by Bai Zhengliu, and the vague bitterness he had felt when imagining the future with the three of them together suddenly became unbearable. He had been wholeheartedly thinking about Bai Zhengliu, and in the end, Bai Zhengliu still only cared about Gu Miaoyu!

The more Fu Ming spoke, the angrier he became: "You said you no longer think about him! You said the past is over! You said from now on, it would just be the two of us! Turns out, all those words were lies!"

Bai Zhengliu was dumbfounded.

Seeing him like this, Fu Ming thought he was feeling guilty, and so his anger flared again.

He stood up, intending to raise his voice even more. But before he could say anything, he saw Bai Zhengliu turn his face and speak in another direction. With a bitter smile, he said, "You... you're making me laugh."

Fu Ming froze, then turned to look, only to see a woman sitting at the corner of the table, holding chopsticks, unsure whether she should take a bite.

Compared to the opulent decorations of the mansion's main hall, the woman's rough attire and weathered face seemed completely out of place. She looked as if she had been pulled from some rural household. At this moment, she awkwardly sat, being stared at by a crowd, and with a heavy accent, she said, "You all stop, stop talking."

This scene, in Fu Ming's eyes, was "Bai Zhengliu would rather talk to a peasant woman than answer me."

He sneered and took a step forward, his momentum rising again. "Bai Zhengliu!"

But he didn’t finish his sentence.

Because suddenly, the sound of a chair sliding on the ground was heard. Gu Miaoyu, who had been watching his senior brother the whole time, but had noticed that his senior brother’s gaze had never returned to him, broke down emotionally. He cried out, "I just wanted to experience real love between a man and a woman, not always being treated like a junior disciple! What’s wrong with that?"

With that, tears began to roll down his face. Feeling embarrassed, he covered his face and ran out of the room.Fu Ming saw this and was immediately distracted: "Miaoyu! Why are you sad for that kind of person? He’s not worth you being this heartbroken!" With that, he quickly followed after him.

The once lively main hall fell silent again, with the sound of footsteps echoing.

The peasant woman’s mouth opened slightly, looking at the scene before her in surprise.

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan remained silent. After speaking to the peasant woman with a "you make me laugh," they now turned to look at the young servant who had been standing dumbfounded since earlier. They both felt that it was hard to describe how awkward it was for the servant to witness such a scene.

Just as another "you make me laugh" was about to be spoken, the servant sighed deeply, and with a rueful expression, said, "Jianghu people don’t care about the small details!"

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan: "..." No, you misunderstood.

The two were about to speak, but just then, another figure stumbled into the hall. The person was clumsy, with an unpleasant expression, calling out, "Ping Ge! Something’s wrong! Something’s wrong!"

The servant who had led Bai and Mei in suddenly had a change in his expression: "What’s going on?"

The newly arrived maid leaned close to the servant's ear and whispered something.

The servant's expression immediately darkened. He glanced at Bai and Mei, his eyes filled with complexity, and said, "Gentlemen, please take your time with breakfast. The master has called me, and with the house being short-handed... sigh! I’ll be right back, just a moment."

Bai and Mei looked at him for a moment, and Mei Yinghan nodded: "Since it’s something the old master requires, it can’t be delayed. Go quickly."

The servant and the maid hurried off. The people in the main hall once again grew fewer. For Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan, this finally gave them a moment to breathe and discuss what to do next.

The peasant woman by the side cautiously watched them.Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan exchanged glances as they felt her gaze on them.

Bai Zhengliu: "This sister here is probably someone who, like us, was 'invited' here."

Mei Yinghan: "Indeed. It wouldn’t hurt to ask her where she’s from and what she’s discovered."

Such an exchange happened in the blink of an eye. To the peasant woman, the two young men before her merely found a spot neither too close nor too far from her and sat down, smiling as they looked at her.

"Big sister," Bai Zhengliu spoke first, "My surname is Bai, you can call me 'Bai Lang'. This is the great hero Mei from the Tianshan Sect; you can call him 'Mei Lang'."

"Tianshan Sect..." The peasant woman showed a hint of hesitation.

Bai Zhengliu smiled, "Oh, their place is far from the Central Plains. If you don’t know about it, just think of the Tianshan Sect as a martial arts sect similar to Wudang or Shaolin."

Mei Yinghan also said, "Exactly."

The peasant woman relaxed slightly: "I know about Shaolin, it’s just a bunch of abbots. Sometimes, a little abbot comes to our village to beg for alms, and if there’s any firewood chopping to do, he’ll always help out."

Bai Zhengliu smiled, "That’s right. If there’s a kind-hearted sister like you to treat us to a meal, we’ll definitely lend you a hand."

The peasant woman waved her hand: "Don’t be so polite, it sounds a bit odd. My surname is Wang, just call me 'Apo Wang'."

She already had grandchildren, and in her village, she was always called 'Apo'. But the young men before her, upon hearing her words, smoothly responded, calling her, "Then, it’s Sister Wang."

The peasant woman was slightly awkward and said, "I look at you two, you’re probably in your twenties? How could you—"

But Bai Zhengliu suddenly became serious, speaking in a low voice: "Sister, you’ve probably noticed as well. The place we’re in right now is very strange."The peasant woman immediately stiffened, her face showing a hint of panic.

"That's right!" she exclaimed. "I need to hurry back. If I’m not there, what will that old man do? And my son—my daughter-in-law said just a few days ago that she missed her parents and wanted to go back for a couple of days. So, they left two men at home. Without me there, they’ll probably end up eating half-cooked rice!"

The peasant woman was clearly worried. Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan exchanged another brief glance.

Bai Zhengliu: "Sister Wang’s face and hands appear rough, but there's no puffiness from hunger. Her build is that of a sturdy woman. Her family seems to be farmers, but they're probably not poor."

Mei Yinghan nodded slightly and reminded Bai Zhengliu: "Look at her. There’s so much good meat and vegetables on the table. Both Gu Miao and Fu Ming have had a taste, so the food must be good. But Sister Wang hasn’t touched any of it."

Bai Zhengliu: "She says she wants to go home, but she’s just sitting here, not moving."

Mei Yinghan: "It seems that…"

Bai Zhengliu: "When we came here, Fu Ming said, ‘Something happened this morning.’ Sister Wang has been here in the main hall since early morning; she must know what happened!"

Mei Yinghan: "Ask her."

Bai Zhengliu’s gaze flickered. "Who’s to say? We just took a nap and woke up, only to find ourselves in this strange place."

Wang: "I heard the two people in front say they were originally in Guang'an Prefecture? But my home is in Xu Village outside the prefecture! We clearly aren't from the same place, yet somehow, we’ve all ended up together!"

Mei Yinghan: "Exactly. And this morning, we—"

Wang suddenly changed color: "Wait a minute. If you want to go out, does that mean you’ve gone outside the house?"

Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan both stiffened, then replied: "No, not exactly. We had planned to go up to the roof to see what was happening outside. But when we got up there, we realized we couldn’t see the streets or the houses outside at all. We were just about to worry when we ran into the servant from earlier, who brought us here."Wang sighed, as if relieved yet fearful, and said, "It's good that you didn’t go outside!" She then began to recount her experience.

Unlike Bai Zhengliu and Mei Yinghan, who were already at the prefect’s residence, she had gotten up early to do some work. However, when she opened her own yard gate, she was met with thick fog.

At that moment, Wang had muttered something about the bad weather, then walked into the fog, intending to gather firewood.

But she couldn’t find the firewood pile, and instead, she got lost in the thick fog. In the end, she walked much further than her own yard. By the time the fog cleared, she found herself at the entrance of the "Chang Residence."

Looking at the carved beams and painted pillars in front of her, she was at a loss. Just then, someone walked up behind her.

Wang recognized the person and knew his surname was Hu. He was a butcher from the town, and his family was quite sturdy, having a good business selling meat. When standing next to Wang, not only was he much taller than her, but his build was also at least twice as broad.

Normally, if they bumped into each other in town, Wang would probably walk around him. But this situation was different, so she asked the butcher what had happened to him and if he knew why she ended up here.

The butcher had a fierce temperament but was still able to communicate well. Upon realizing that both he and Wang had gotten lost while walking in their yards early in the morning, he muttered, "Could it be we ran into the Fox Immortal?"

The Fox Immortal? Wang shuddered and began to feel scared.

Halfway through her fear, a sound came from deeper inside the Chang Residence. Upon listening closely, she realized it was two people approaching. One of them was crying, shouting, "Don’t stop me! I’m going to find my senior brother. He didn’t come back last night; he must have gone outside now." The one trying to console the crying person was saying…

Wang didn’t catch what was being said. When the four of them met up, Fu Ming frowned at Wang and the butcher, seeing them as "common people." The butcher, irritated by his look, almost started a fight right there. But Wang intervened, suggesting that the two of them must be important people and shouldn’t be provoked. Gu Miao also pulled Fu Ming back, preventing the fight.

The butcher, upset and still worried about his business, decided to turn back through the fog.

He left with a curse, saying, "Damn it, I don’t believe it. If I could walk in, can’t I walk out?!"With that, the butcher stepped out of the Chang Residence's main gate.

The remaining people watched his retreating figure. Wang was worried, both concerned for his safety and thinking that if the butcher could leave, she should be able to go back as well.

As for Fu Ming and Gu Miao, Wang was too nervous at the time to notice their reactions.

The waiting didn’t last long.

Soon, the butcher’s figure was completely swallowed up by the thick fog. Then, a shrill and miserable scream echoed from within the mist.