"Why don't you call him father?" Jun Xie asked.
Ye Tian Yun shrugged, "Maybe because I don't want to."
"You don't want to?" Jun Xie frowned, "Dude, you can trust me a little bit, right?"
Ye Tian Yun smiled, "Alright. I will tell you two little secrets. I am not the son of Prime Minister Fang."
"What!?" Jun Xie almost jumped from his seat, "What the fuck are you saying!?"
Looking to his left and right, he then leaned forward and whispered, "Prime Minister Fang is not your Father!? Who is your Father then? Don't tell me, Madam Fang…"
"No." Ye Tian Yun shook his head, "Madam Fang never betrayed Prime Minister Fang. In fact, I am not her son either."
"Then whose son are you?" Jun Xie asked.
Ye Tian Yun shrugged, "You will find out in the future. But keep your mouth shut about this, will ya?"
"Sure," Jun Xie shrugged and asked, "What's the second secret?"
"I just told you."
"What?"
"I am not her son either."
"..."
Before Jun Xie could think of an argument, someone knocked on the door.
"First Young Master, Clan Head is calling you. He's also calling Young Master Jun Xie to the study room."
Ye Tian Yun smiled at Jun Xie, "Alright, I will head there in a minute. No need to wait for me."
"Alright, Young Master." The Guard left.
Jun Xie stood up from his seat and said, "Let's go."
"Hmm," Ye Tian Yun also stood up, and they headed towards the study.
Along the way, Jun Xie couldn't help but ask, "Considering that Prime Minister is also calling me, I am sure you have told me about the assassination attempt, and I am going there to verify what you said."
Ye Tian Yun nodded, "Yes. And don't say anything about the goal behind your mission. He won't force you to answer, but don't let him catch any hints."
"Alright."
When they reached the hallway to the study, a familiar face appeared in front of him - the Guard Ao Jia.
When they passed by him, Ye Tian Yun asked, "Did you get in trouble?"
"Not really," Ao Jia shrugged. He didn't wish to show the bad politics of the servants in the clan to the Young Master.
Ye Tian Yun, however, saw through his ruse quite easily.
Taking out a token from his spatial ring, he handed it over to Ao Jia and said, "Take this. This is my token. Keep it with you in case you get into trouble."
Ao Jia smiled, "Thank you, young master."
The token was Fang Chen's identity token. There were quite a few such tokens in Fang Chen's room, and they should only be given to a very few people.
Ao Jia felt acknowledged and proud upon receiving the token.
Ye Tian Yun patted his head and resumed his study.
Ao Jia froze for a second before ruffling his own hair and stepping away from Ye Tian Yun.
'Why the fuck would you pat me!?'
...
Just when Ye Tian Yun and Jun Xie were a few steps away from the study, Prime Minister Fang had already sensed them.
"Come in."
Ye Tian Yun pushed the door open upon hearing the Prime Minister's call and stepped inside.
Jun Xie followed him closely.
"Hmm, you came." Prime Minister Fang raised his head from the pile of papers in front of him, and then glancing at the young man beside Ye Tian Yun, he asked, "You must be the Core disciple from the Gracious Sword Sect?"
"Disciple Jun Xie from the Gracious Sword Sect greets Prime Minister Fang." Jun Xie said while cupping his fists.
"Ah, no need to be so formal," Prime Minister Fang smiled, "How's your stay? I hope you didn't face any trouble here."
"It has been a great experience," Jun Xie replied, "And a pleasure for me to stay here."
"Pleasure's mine," Prime Minister Fang added, "I am glad you became my son's friend."
Jun Xie smiled, "It was fate."
"Fate works in mysterious ways," the Prime Minister laughed, "So, tell me, Jun Xie, which clan are you from?"
"It might sound like a story, but my master actually found me near the gates of the Gracious Sword Sect."
"Oh?" Prime Minister Fang frowned, "That's quite unfortunate. I am sure your parents must have had reasons behind this."
Jun Xie smiled, "I hope so."
"Well, don't worry, you're a friend of my son, so for me, you're no different. If you face any trouble, just knock on my door."
"Thank you, Prime Minister Fang."
"Haha, no need to add honorifics. Call me Uncle Fang."
"Alright, Uncle Fang."
"Hmm, good."
"Uncle Fang, you wanted to see me?" Jun Xie asked. He was referring to the Guard's request from earlier.
Prime Minister Fang nodded, "Yeah, my son was telling me about a few things today early this morning. I wanted to hear them in more detail from you."
"Oh?" Jun Xie frowned, "The assassination attempt on us?"
"Indeed." Prime Minister Fang nodded, "Was it really my clan's array that they used?"
"Yes," Jun Xie nodded, "I don't remember the exact name, but I can describe it. Well, there were three people involved in it. Two of them were controlling the array, and the third was instructing them. He was the same guy you just mentioned to us, Mo Da."
"Oh? What kind of array were they controlling?"
"It was a bow and arrow array. The whole valley was covered. At first, we thought there were thousands of soldiers sitting for an ambush, but it turned out to be only two masked men controlling everything."
"Ah…" Prime Minister Fang exhaled, "Four Hands Thousand Arrows Array. It's my clan's signature array."
Jun Xie nodded, "I heard this from Mo Da's mouth. He told us they wanted to use the array and make the Fang Clan accountable for the ambush assassination. It was under the orders of King Xin."
"Do you know where Mo Da is right now?" Prime Minister Fang asked.
Jun Xie shrugged, "We left him for the dead. I don't think he's even alive anymore."
Prime Minister Fang let out a sigh, "What about the other two men?"
"We killed them."
"Sigh," Prime Minister Fang let out a sigh, "Looks like all these years of loyalty amounted to nothing."
"King Xin… didn't do the right thing."