Fu Li sat cross-legged on the bed in the middle of the night. He took out a Vitality Replenishing Pill from his Qiankun pouch and shoved it at Zhuang Qing. “For you, it’s been hard on you.”
Faced with this Vitality Replenishing Pill, Zhuang Qing’s face darkened. Pressing Fu Li onto the bed, he gnashed his teeth. “Fu Li!”
“Yes?” Fu Li cocked his head and reached out, touching Zhuang Qing’s sweaty cheeks.
“Don’t touch.”
“You’re already my dragon, so what if I touch?”
Naturally, there was nothing wrong with touching. But when the flame was reignited, that was a problem reserved for a night of indulgence.
The next morning, the elders still didn’t see their juniors come out to eat. Feng Ruizhong squatted by the door, gazing pensively in the direction of the bedrooms. The Baize walked over and patted him on the shoulder. “What are you crouching here and thinking of?”
“I was thinking. If Little Li and Little Zhuang get into a fight, should we pretend not to have seen it or try to get them to reconcile?
“You’re overthinking,” The Baize couldn’t help laughing. “Their relationship is very good, it’ll be fine as long as you don’t worry for no reason. Haven’t all of you been fond of watching those television dramas in the human world? Aren’t those elders who like to meddle with their juniors’ affairs very loathsome?”
Feng Ruizhong nodded.
“Then you shouldn’t be like those elders in television dramas.”
Feng Ruizhong understood in a flash. The Baize was indirectly saying that he was being meddlesome. He hung his head, cupped his chin, and let out a long sigh.
“Uncle Feng, Uncle Bai, what are you doing squatting at the entrance to the meal room?” Fu Li walked in from outside. His clothes were neat and orderly, and every strand of his hair was brimming with vigor. His entire yao person was filled with the vitality of spring.
The Baize and Feng Ruizhong looked up, a shocked expression on their faces the moment they got a clear glimpse of Fu Li’s face. Due to Fu Li’s inherent natal chart, there was no golden glow of virtue or purple qi on him. Nor was it possible for them to appear on him. But if that was the case, what was the golden and purple radiance that they were now seeing on Fu Li? Those rays of light couldn’t possibly be falsified using colored light bulbs, right?
“Uncle Bai, Uncle Feng, what’s with the two of you?” Fu Li discovered the strange pleased yet doubtful looks on their faces, and couldn’t help but suspect that the elders had found out that he and Zhuang little dragon had mated last night.
As a yao, Fu Li did not feel that there was anything embarrassing about the great harmonious activity of life. But he did feel a bit awkward when thinking about how his elders had not known a single thing while he was playing with Zhuang little dragon in bed.
“Child, your complexion today is pretty good,” The Baize returned to his senses, a smile spreading over his face. “Keep it up.”
“Ah?”
Seeing that an attendant refined from magic devices was cooking in the kitchen, Fu Li said, “Zhuang little dragon and I are going to work, you guys have a good rest at home.”
What was with his tone of ‘arduously working to make a living outside, yet still needing to worry about his foolish fathers at home’?
Feng Ruizhong watched Fu Li from behind as he floated out. Turning towards the Baize, he said, “Why do I have a feeling that Fu Li is in a particularly good mood today?”
The Baize gave it a thought. “He might have resolved the misunderstanding with Little Zhuang. They’re young after all, quarreling and then reconciling is very normal.”
“Is that how it works?” Feng Ruizhong had a niggling feeling that there was something off about this.
“En,” Zhuang Qing gripped Fu Li’s hand. Pretending not to see Feng Ruizhong’s furtive peeks at them from behind the door, he helped to tidy Fu Li’s bed hair.
After the two little juniors left the flying palace, the Xing Xing erected a barrier in the yard and let Wang Liang out from the magic device.
“Oh, why does Wang Liang look so puny?” The Baize’s ‘oh’ seemed to embody infinite ridicule and disdain. Wang Liang’s entire body shook from anger, but in the presence of the four auspicious yao beasts, not only was he rendered completely powerless, all his power was even sealed.
“This is Wang Liang?” Feng Ruizhong walked over and patted the black lump. “Why does he look like any ordinary demonic yao? He did too many things that caused him to lose virtue and became this weak?”
Wang Liang sneered. “You don’t have to mock me. I may be in your hands today, but I won’t utter a single thing.”
Without saying anything further, the Baize cast his auspicious light on Wang Liang, who let out a smothered groan of pain.
Wang Liang: …
“Don’t talk big if you can’t endure it, how embarrassing would it be when you’re seen through?” The Baize withdrew his auspicious light, settling himself on a chair at the side. “Come, have a good chat with us, who was it who rescued you from the seal?”
“I don’t understand what you mean,” Wang Liang leaned his head to the side. “I came out by myself.”
“You relied on your little bit of strength to shatter the seal?” Feng Ruizhong mercilessly jeered at him. “Don’t you feel guilty saying such things?”
Wang Liang was close to spitting out blood from Feng Ruizhong’s attitude. His face contorted. “Do all you auspicious beasts naturally look down on other yao?”
“No, you thought wrong,” The Baize’s smile turned even gentler. “We just don’t look up to you very much. You were born in darkness, born by relying on absorbing the emotions of other living creatures, yet you don’t understand emotion. Apart from spreading jealousy and hatred, what else can you do?”
“What do natural auspicious beasts like you know? You stood tall and lofty ever since birth, receiving an abundance of worship from a myriad of living creatures. Naturally, you look down on a yao beast like me who brings misfortune from birth,” Wang Liang laughed grimly. “What’s laughable is that you want me, a creature who brings misfortune from birth, to be benevolent like you.”
“Misfortune is misfortune – it is impossible in this world for a fiend to become an auspicious beast,” Ridicule was painted all over Wang Liang’s face. He was ridiculing the high and lofty auspicious beasts, and also ridiculing them for their naivety. “Eternally impossible!”
“Fu ge!”
Zhang Ke beckoned to Fu Li the instant he reached the management bureau’s public workspace.
Tossing an empty yogurt bottle into the rubbish bin, Fu Li made his way to Zhang Ke. “What good news do you have to tell me?”
“Look here, look here,” Zhang Ke pointed at his computer screen. There was a post titled ‘top ten couples who touched the entire country’ or something or other on the screen. He and Zhuang Qing’s voter rank was very high; they were in the top five.
Were humans nowadays idle to this extent? What couple ranking? There was even voting? Many lovers appeared well-off on the surface, but no one could be certain how they were like in private other than the people in question. What were the netizens using as a basis for voting? Fu Li conveyed the doubts in his heart to Zhang Ke, who smiled in reply. “This has its origins in intuition and fondness. If you and the boss object to it, I’ll contact the other departments and get this website to delete the post.”
“No need, let them have their fun, it’s not like it’s anything major,” Fu Li sat on a nearby chair with a broad smile, as if he would pardon anything.
“Do you feel like Fu ge is in a particularly good mood today?” Xu Yuan fished out her phone and asked in the group chat. “Did something good happen?”
Exceptionally Good Sword: Maybe it’s because Fu ge’s elders returned?
Female Emperor’s Exclusive Hairpin: No no no, Fu ge’s face is brimming with the aura of flowers blooming in spring. An emotionless sword like you won’t understand.
“Oh!” Zhang Ke exclaimed softly. “I got it.”
“Got what?” Fu Li turned to look at Zhang Ke in confusion.
“N-Nothing, I just realized that spring’s arrived,” Zhang Ke nodded solemnly. “Spring is truly beautiful.”
Fu Li was left speechless. Why was this child so dim-witted? He took out his phone and found the post he had made anonymously yesterday. Netizens were squabbling under the post, and there was already no one who was concerned about the question posed by the person involved, nor the answer this individual had wanted.
Fu Li thought about it and then sent a reply to this post. No matter what was said, many netizens had wholeheartedly offered up ideas to him.
Nameless Netizen: Many thanks for the suggestions, everyone. We’ve already made up.
Twenty-Five Cent Apple: I’m not sure why but I have an indescribable feeling that the OP’s tone resembles that person.
Qingke Barley Wine: Person upstairs, you’re not alone, I feel the same. This must be my misconception. It’s impossible for such a silly and illogical thing to happen to the Boss and Little Assistant. Also, on the post made not long ago, there was a shot of the Boss and Little Assistant queuing up together to buy breakfast. Their relationship is very good, the Boss definitely isn’t having an affair.
After rejecting this conjecture, everyone once again happily launched into chatter. Out of boredom, someone even offered the OP ideas on how to distinguish men who were having an affair.
“Your imagination ran wild because you saw these?”
Fu Li looked up. At some point, Zhuang Qing had walked over to his seat. The fact that he had posted on the internet must have been discovered by him.
“I was just asking a casual question, how can you peek at my phone?” Fu Li stuffed his phone into the pocket of his jacket and said righteously, “Doesn’t the human world have a saying called… ‘respecting privacy’? Understand?”
Zhuang Qing looked at him with a smile yet not a smile. Faced with his gaze, Fu Li felt a bit guilty.
“All right, if there are any jobs outside today, you don’t have to personally run out and settle it. I’ll bring you out for a meal during rest time in the afternoon,” Zhuang Qing glanced at the time. “I reserved a table at a seafood shop.”
Fu Li agreed without even thinking. Both of them were fond of eating marine products, so after getting together, at least they wouldn’t have a fall out because of their tastes in food.
“Boss, why not be merry as a group rather than alone? It’s been a long while since I’ve eaten seafood,” Chu Yu came looking for trouble. “We want to eat too!”
Chao Yun and Ning Xuan looked at Chu Yu as if he were a warrior. Contrary to their expectations, Zhuang Qing replied without hesitation, “Since everyone wants to go too, let’s go together after getting off work in the afternoon.”
“T-Thank you boss,” Chu Yu stammered, his gaze on Zhuang Qing. Turning, he secretly glanced at Fu Li. It seemed like Fu ge’s elders had given the boss many treasures for him to have become so generous.
The other colleagues were also struck dumb. The boss who couldn’t bear to even work the air-conditioner too much during summer was actually willing to treat them to seafood – it couldn’t be that sort of cheap self-service place, right?
“Boss, where will we be eating?” Chu Yu was still as brave as ever.
“The most famous one in the central plaza. I knew everyone would want to go too, so I got them to reserve the seats early on,” Zhuang Qing waved a hand. “Work hard, otherwise you won’t need to go.”
“Work, work,” Chu Yu switched on his computer in a flurry to make himself appear a bit more hardworking. When Zhuang Qing left, he hurriedly took out his phone and started chattering in the group chat.
Number One Fish in the World: The boss has such a strong tyrannical chairman aura today, he’s so generous that I don’t feel like it’s real.
Female Emperor’s Exclusive Hairpin: Reality has proven that great love can make anything possible.
Everyone put down their phones and turned to look at Fu Li. The truly great person was Fu ge.
In the sea so deep that the bottom could not be seen, incomparably hideous deep sea fishes were lazily swaying their deformed tails back and forth. Upon hearing the snarl echoing from the depths of the sea, their fat bodies shifted and they swam a bit further.
Several ugly and noisy fishes had appeared in the sea some time back, and they would create a stir every so often. The more diligent deep sea fishes nearby had all moved away, leaving only the few who disliked moving.
“King, please quell your anger. Wang Liang has poor strength, he has only himself to blame for being captured,” A strange beast sporting the body of an ox, the tail of a snake, and a single eye was pawing the ground with its hooves. Seemingly unaccustomed to life in the sea, the two horns on its head occasionally moved as if to push something upwards.
“That trash Wang Liang sorely lacks in achievements, but has ample failures. Only a brainless yao like Yazi would accept him as a subject,” The strange beast addressed as King shook its body. “Does that blockhead Yazi want us to help him find the Blue Dragon’s inheritance?”
The strange ox didn’t seem to have a very good memory. Only after thinking it over for a good while did it reply exasperatingly slowly, “Yazi seems to have mentioned this matter before.”
“Those sons of the Blue Dragon have been pampered to no end with Heaven and Earth’s spiritual qi since their birth. They think that Heaven and Earth will always give them free reign, what a childish and absurd affair,” The king snorted. “Let him find it, if he really manages to find it…”
“Do we help him obtain the inheritance?” The strange ox interrupted the king, asking impatiently.
“Help? What benefits do we get by helping him?” The king flung a dead fish at the strange ox’s head. “Can’t you use your brain when talking and working?”
He had still been mocking Yazi’s subjects for their unparalleled silliness, but all these small fry in front of him weren’t much better than them either.
Other than killing, looting, and bringing harm to living creatures, couldn’t these blockheads have a bit more brains?
“King, I thought of a rumor from five thousand years ago,” The strange ox shook off the dead fish on its head and hurriedly offered a rumor it knew.
“What rumor?’ The king didn’t expect anything useful to come out of this subject’s mouth.
“When the yao emperor descends on the world, the yao world will once more welcome great prosperity.”
“Yao your ass!” Another dead fish slammed onto the strange ox’s face. The lone eye on its head instantly turned swollen.
“Laozi is the yao world’s boss!”
Having all these blockheads as subjects gave the king the misconception that being the yao emperor would be a very lamentable affair.