Book 14: Chapter 35

Subtle

Lan Jiqiong was surprised to see Boss, but he wasn’t ready to back down. “This isn’t Liu Shan Men. You think you can stop us on your own?”

Lan Jiqiong didn’t perceive Boss to be someone he couldn’t afford to offend despite His Majesty’s obvious favouritism. The reason was simple: the three offices overseeing the martial world and Daren Academy belonged to different bodies. His Majesty wouldn’t punish the academy even if they had a conflict with any of the offices because none of them was stronger than the other by a margin large enough that there could be bullying. The problem was, Boss and I combined weren’t their match.

“Move or I will have to make things hard for you,” threatened Lan Jiqiong.

“Boss.” I whispered by Boss’ ear, “Forget about me. The worst they could do is beat me up. If you get involved, both of us will get beaten. It’s best if you stay out of it.”

Boss looked stupefied at first, smiled brightly and then gestured for me to bring my head closer. When I lowered my head, she leaned in and whispered, “This is the first time you’ve spoken at such a close proximity to me since we returned from Hangzhou.”

“Huh?”

The comment that came out of nowhere brought back memories from the night at the inn at Hangzhou. In turn, I instinctively looked down to Boss’ lips, but she didn’t notice.

“You’ve been keeping your distance from me when you speak. Why?”

“H-have I? Isn’t that normal?” I reactively s.h.i.+fted back half a step before I realised it.

Boss looked disappointed when she saw me back up, but she wasn’t the type to be a loser, so she wrinkled her nose. “You just lied to my face!”

I coughed. “Boss, this is not the time and place for this. You see… there are still people asking for trouble.”

Lan Jiqiong: “It’s fine. Take your time. We can wait.”

I don’t need your generosity! Aren’t you here to avenge your teacher?!

Lan Jiqiong whispered to the guys next to him. “I always heard they were having an affair. It looks very likely to be true. Once they progress further, we’ll catch them red handed for our alliance leader. I can’t wait to see them in misery.”

You have an alliance leader?! What brain-dead alliance is this?! Why do you care what’s going on between us?! I meant, there’s nothing going on between us… Why do I keep getting confused?

Since Lan Jiqiong wouldn’t help, I had to tackle Boss’ piercing gaze on my own. Thankfully, she saw my attention was elsewhere, so she let me off the hook with just a “hmph”.

“Boss, do you have an idea?”

“You think I’m you, acting without any boundaries?” Boss turned back to face Lan Jiqiong.

Based on the flow of qi around Boss, she showed no intention of fighting or catching Lan Jiqiong off guard with a flying kick.

“Mr. Lan, I am not here to oppose you. However, I cannot watch you harm my subordinate.”

“What’s the difference? Protecting him is opposing me.”

“That is not true. May I boldly ask why you are after Feizhen?”

“He hurt my s.h.i.+zun!”

“I am here to address that matter. Mr. Lan, I can clear up your confusion; you just need to make a trip with me.”

Lan Jiqiong looked to me with distrustful eyes. “What sort of tricks are you trying to play?”

“You have more people. What tricks could possibly help us win against you? Should you still not believe Feizhen is innocent once we arrive, I will be more than willing to fight.”

Lan Jiqiong had a long and hard think, then nodded.

***

“That is absolutely ridiculous!”

And so, Lan Jiqiong copped a ruthless scolding once we returned to Uncle Huang’s room at Daren Academy.

“Sh-s.h.i.+zun…”

“I’m not your s.h.i.+zun. I don’t have such a foolish student.” Despite Uncle Huang having to lean against the couch for support, his eyes were full of vigour. “Fiends’ Genesis’ Jiang Chen was the one who hurt me. How does it having anything to do with Ming Feizhen? He saved my life, yet here you are trying to harm him. Even if you were ignorant to the facts, is it appropriate for a mentor to harm a student? What do you have inside your skull?”

I muttered under my breath, “Feed for pigs.”

Lan Jiqiong glared daggers at me.

“Your brain is filled with feed for pigs, the cheapest type!” thundered Uncle Huang. “Is he wrong?!”

Needless to say, I was more than happy to listen to Uncle Huang clear up my name. At the same time, I asked Boss, “Boss, how did you know Uncle Huang woke up?”

“You were hyper focused on compet.i.tions of wits and valour, completely forgetting to stop and think why you were being framed. Princ.i.p.al Huang waking up is no small matter, yet you two were so busy running around outside that you were unaware. Had I not heard you were held at the Qilin Guards’ office and fetched you, I wouldn’t have known Mr. Lan was also there.”

Oh, I see.

I spent quite a while negotiating with Zuo Suniang, while Lan Jiqiong was too busy searching for me to contact the academy to find out Uncle Huang had woken up.

“I knew why they had you surrounded as soon as I saw the situation. Since Princ.i.p.al Huang had woken up, you were safe.”

I had to give Boss credit for being so quick on her feet – and for getting Lan Jiqiong into trouble.

Boss has such a good head, appearance, body scent, lips are soft and…

I furtively took a small step backwards, but Boss caught me again. She didn’t say anything, but her cold “hmph” shook me.

“Please come this way to continue our conversation.” Thankfully, unlike his students, Uncle Huang was a sensible man.

“Coming, coming. Boss, Princ.i.p.al Huang called for us.”

Boss glared at me before she walked over to the couch.

Our interaction put a small smile on Uncle Huang’s face. When he looked over to me, he switched it out for a grin.

You can’t do this! I saved you, remember?!

“This old one understands his foolish disciple wronged you. If you could find it in your hearts, please pardon him for the sake of this old one.”

Of course, we were quick to pardon Lan Jiqiong.

“Aside from this…” Uncle Huang was tired since he had just come to and had just been stressed out, so he paused and shut his eyes for a moment. He exhaled once he was ready, opened his eyes and conveyed, “This one is aware you are Yan s.h.i.+san’s disciple. Therefore, he has a request he would like to trouble you with.”

Boss bowed. “Please do not hesitate, Princ.i.p.al Huang.”

“This old one… wishes to ask for your help in investigating a case from twenty years ago.”