CH 75

That day, after they threw off the group of black-clothed assassins, even Su Zhan’s hidden guards failed to catch up with them and their1 lives and deaths weren’t clear in the end. Fu Yichen and Su Zhan passed through the town closest to the capital, bought another horse and prepared enough dry rations and horse feed before they set off once more.

Now that the news of the Emperor’s departure from the palace had been leaked, one could imagine the dangers that they would encounter on their journey. As there were only a few roads, including multiple necessary routes that led to Jiangnan from the capital, they would eventually be ambushed by others. Furthermore, there must be more than a group of people that wanted the Emperor dead. It was possible that multiple ambushes had already been set up along the road and a group of assassins might pop up at any time.

Furthermore, Fu Yichen had an intuition. Although Laji had said that the power of the plot of the Mary Sue world was getting smaller, but after experiencing these few incidents, Fu Yichen felt that the power of the plot became smaller because of the changes in the restrictions on the system. To be precise, they were the restrictions on Fu Yichen’s changes in the plots. But as far as maintaining the plot itself, it was still quite strong.

Just like the assassination attempts in the original plot, no matter whether the Male Lead brought the Female Lead with him or not, no matter which path they took, those assassination attempts would eventually happen in ways that they couldn’t have imagined and they would be unable to avoid it. Therefore, it was better for them to simply just walk right in openly. Anyways, they had to face it eventually.

As the night approached, Fu Yichen and Su Zhan finally arrived at the city of Nanyang, a town they must pass through, before it turned dark. No matter how great their martial arts skills were, they were exhausted after running all the way. Not to mention that the two of them weren’t ancient people that were used to riding horses.

But what made Fu Yichen want to raise his eyebrows was the fact that when the two of them, a pair of dazzling men, appeared in the same frame on the streets with their attires being a stark contrast to the dingy surroundings, miraculously, barely any people turned their heads. The people who passed by them had no reaction to their eye-catching appearances. From this, Fu Yichen could only speculate that these were actually low-levelled NPCs.

The two of them then found the largest inn in Nanyang and entered blatantly. They really just wanted to find a place to have a good meal and rest. But they didn’t expect to meet a certain someone when they tried to book a room.

At that time, the innkeeper was asking Fu Yichen about the number of rooms that he was going to book. Without thinking, Fu Yichen had replied with the words ‘one room’.

The innkeeper was a middle-aged uncle who was used to seeing all kinds of people. But now, faced with two equally imposing men, he was feeling a little confused.

“One room?” It stands to reason that it was impossible for two big men to share one room. Even if the people of the jianghu weren’t particular with these matters, but anyone with a bit of status would care about these things. In addition, they were equipped with high-quality goods. So money and the other sorts were naturally not a problem for them. With these things in mind, two grown men booking a single room was a bit strange.

In fact, Su Zhan, who was standing at the side also felt a little confused. In his memories, he had never shared a room with anyone except for his elder brother when he was a child. He had his own independent space. Probably because he was gay, he would always have some inexplicable concerns in his heart. So this kind of single room, the kind that’s a vip room with only one bed, what is this National Teacher trying to imply?

Su Zhan didn’t think that the relationship between the two of them was so good that they could share a bed. This also didn’t seem to match the cold settings of the National Teacher.

What’s more, this person is unaware that he’s gay. Additionally, he feels especially gay towards him in particular. This room… Su Zhan felt that he might not be able to control his wild thoughts and would have a sleepless night.

So, after a mental debate, Su Zhan decided to refuse the arrangements even after taking a peek at the National Teacher’s calm face. But before he could even refuse, a childish and excited voice interrupted Su Zhan’s little thoughts.

“Ningzhi-gege!”

Su Zhan could feel his temples twitch as he turned his head towatds the direction where the voice came from and saw the surprised Female Lead standing at the stairs. Immediately, Su Zhan felt his stomach cramping up in pain as his body suddenly felt unwell.

Seeing the Female Lead staring at him with bright eyes standing on top of the stairs, Fu Yichen also froze in surprise.

In the next second, Fu Yichen could see the Female Lead, dressed in red, trotting down the stairs and running straight towards him. She then hugged Fu Yichen’s arm in a familiar way and raised her head to give him an ‘innocent and naive’ look.

“Ningzhi-gege, you’re here too. That’s great, I don’t have to play alone.” She said with uncontrollable excitement that couldn’t be expressed with words as she even directly ignored Su Zhan who was originally standing closest to her.

Fu Yichen raised his eyebrows as an ambiguous smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, “Why is the little girl here too?”

Little girl, this was the nickname of the Second Male for the Female Lead in the original text. The Female Lead had met the Second Male first in the palace and was stunned by his heavenly appearance. She liked to cling to the Second Male and call him Ningzhi-ge. On the contrary, the relationship between the Male and Female Leads was very bad at the beginning. To the point of showing mutual dislike towards each other.

On the other hand, the Second Male, who was a high-ranked National Teacher, always had a high and cold attitude towards outsiders. This includes the new and the old emperors. But as long as he was facing the Female Lead, he would show another face, one with a hint of evil in his extraordinary-looking eyes. This was part of the mysterious personality character design of the author for the National Teacher. It was also to highlight the difference in treatment of the Second Male towards the Female Lead. In the author’s words, ‘Only then this two-faced Guoshi would show his real side.’

However, what role the Second Male might play, Fu Yichen couldn’t tell from the plot that he had obtained so far. Anyways, he was able to act according to the settings, but he always had a hidden intuition that the author will definitely make the identity of the Second Male a big thing. There would be some magical turning point at that time.

However, although Fu Yichen gave the Female Lead a smile, there was a slight movement in his heart. The unexpected appearance of the Female Lead seemed to have confirmed his guess about the power of the plot. Sure enough, the plot was still strong enough in maintaining the settings.

In fact, before setting off, Fu Yichen had gone to the palace of the Empress dowager where the Female Lead was and then left for the city gates to wait for Su Zhan after confirming that she was still there. As a result, when he and Su Zhan had ridden horses all the way to Nanyang, the Female Lead was still able to arrive there before they did.

It was really strange. Fu Yichen didn’t believe that there was any shortcut leading here. It was even more impossible for the Female Lead to have any special powers. The only explanation was that the plot maintained the settings of the world itself. Because in the original plot, after the Male and Female leads were ambushed outside the city gates, they were the only ones to escape that siege. They would then stay overnight in Nanyang, which was in this inn.

It could be seen from this situation, so Fu Yichen couldn’t think of anything else but the plot. From this point of view, it wouldn’t be a simple matter to prevent the Female Lead from approaching the Male Lead.

Nangong Ximo giggled. Obviously, the two didn’t have much contact while they were in the palace. But from her facial expressions at this time, she seemed to be very familiar with him. Her arms that were holding onto Fu Yichen seemed to be completely out of sight.

“Ningzhi-gege could come out. Why can’t I come out?” While talking, she tilted her head on purpose with an ‘innocent and cute’ look on her face, “Ningzhi-gege, don’t denounce me.”

Fu Yichen suppressed the twitching corners of his mouth. Although she was in the body of a nine-year-old girl, the original Female Lead was twenty years old. According to the author’s description in the previous chapters, before time-travelling, the Female Lead was the princess of darkness who grew up in an underworld empire. There was no kind of dark side that she hadn’t seen. So what was with her ‘innocent hehehe’?

Fu Yichen remained as immovable as a mountain and let her hug him. The smile on the corner of his mouth didn’t diminish. He just stretched out his slender fingers and pointed behind the Female Lead who was raising her head to look at him, then signalled her to look back with his eyes.

Nangong Ximo looked suspicious at his actions, but still followed the direction of his finger. As a result, her ‘innocent and naive’ face immediately collapsed after seeing the person. The so-called encounter on a narrow road.

“So-…” Nangong Ximo stared at Su Zhan’s ugly expression and almost blurted out the word “Son”. Nangong Ximo, who was staring at Su Zhan’s stinky expression, was interrupted by Su Zhan’s threatening cold eyes and forced back the words ‘son’. But instead, she complained in displeasure, “Why are you here?”

In fact, Fu Yichen was pained by this title as well. It might be because of the author’s wicked tastes, or it was deliberately added to add humour. After all, the setting of the relationship between the Male and Female Lead at the beginning was the so-called ‘enemies to lovers’. So at the beginning, the two started with ‘mutual dislike’ that eventually turned into ‘a lifetime of endless bickering’.

When the nine-year-old girl said the words ‘son’, Fu Yichen’s whole body immediately trembled. Compared with Su Zhan’s title, his ‘Ningzhi-gege’ seemed to be nothing. It could even be said to be pleasant to hear.

But at this time, Su Zhan was in a lot of pain. It was not because he couldn’t get rid of the Female Lead for no reason. It wasn’t because of the painful-sounding title given to him by the brain-dead author. But it was definitely due to the attitude of the National Teacher towards this Female Lead.

Why? This person had just experienced life and death with him. As a result, he still had a cold expression from the beginning till the end, coldly rejecting everyone thousands of miles away. He had thought that this was the nature of the National Teacher, treating everyone with such a cold face. But he smiled at the Female Lead in the blink of an eye and even smiled in a wicked manner.

It was really extremely painful. Looking at the strangely harmonious interaction between the two, Su Zhan couldn’t help but want to stare a hole into the back of the Female Lead’s head.

Of course, Su Zhan simply forgot that in the plot he knew, this was how the Second Male treated the Female Lead. So he couldn’t talk about controlling his emotions at this time.

Immediately, Su Zhan showed a cold expression without hesitation. Even if he was facing a nine-year-old girl, he was completely impolite, “Going out without authorization. Do you know the consequences?” They were all people who could understand, so some things need not be said. Anyways, they all understood.

A person from the imperial harem and also the Empress Dowager who was the reincarnation of a goddess, snuck out without authorization. If news broke out, it would simply cause chaos. But on the other hand, there were many people who wanted her to die, such as people from the other countries.

However, as the Female Lead of a Mary Sue novel, Nangong Ximo was naturally fearless. Her hand that was holding onto Fu Yichen’s arm didn’t loosen at all. She just shrugged her shoulders at Su Zhan indifferently and said with a rather disdainful look.

“It doesn’t matter, this lady doesn’t fear anything.” As soon as she finished speaking, she turned her head to face Fu Yichen. Her face immediately changed and even her tone changed into a sweet and childish voice, “Ningzhi-gege, let’s go and have dinner together.”

Su Zhan’s temples throbbed. He could only grit his teeth in anger, trying to convince himself to not be angry with a nine-year-old girl. Good men don’t fight with women. No, he wouldn’t be the same as a brainless NPC that was written by a brainless author. But no matter how much he tried to control himself, his eyes unconsciously landed at the two paws holding onto the arms of the National Teacher.

Fortunately, at this time, the innkeeper who had been ignored for a long time finally spoke out weakly, “Excuse me, do you still want another room?”

“Nonsense.” Before Fu Yichen could speak, Su Zhan spoke out in a cold voice.

Fu Yichen’s fingers moved as he tried to suppress his smile. The innkeeper confirmed it weakly, “O-one… room?” The innkeeper only felt that this man’s eyes looked cold and frightening. As if he had a natural deterrent force which made his legs tremble in fright.

Su Zhan frowned slightly as his tone unconsciously carried a bit of the domineering air of a superior, “One room.” The hesitation and worries that he had before were all eaten by dogs.

Wouldn’t having a single room make things difficult for the Female Lead to create an opportunity to approach him?

“Ah, yes, yes, yes.” The innkeeper hurriedly agreed and came out to lead them away in person, “You two, please follow me.” The so-called vip service must be in place. Even their meals would be delivered to their rooms in person.

Staring at Su Zhan who turned away and left, it seemed that the back of his head was full of displeasure. Fu Yichen’s face flashed with the trace of an unclear smile. He then lowered his head and said to the Female Lead who was still hanging onto his arm, “Little girl, go back to your room. We’re here to do business.”

“No! I just want to follow Ningzhi-gege.” The Female Lead was very reluctant to part with him and acted like a baby. Su Zhan, who had already walked up the stairs ahead of them, turned a little green when he heard the voice. If this was a real nine-year-old girl, it would still be fine. But the key point was that the soul living inside that shell was a twenty-year-old adult.

So…

“Ningzhi-ge! Hurry up.”

Su Zhan yelled out accidentally. Originally, Su Zhan couldn’t yell out this title because of the National Teacher’s words of ‘Wuji-didi’. But probably because he was stimulated by the Female Lead, he blurted out these words without paying attention. There was absolutely no hidden intention of competing for favour2!

Of course, if he was asked to yell out ‘Ningzhi-gege’, Su Zhan would have bitten his own tongue and would not have called out.

However, this call of ‘Ningzhi-ge’ was enough to make Su Zhan blush. He immediately ignored other people’s reactions and continued walking upstairs with his head down.

As for Fu Yichen, it could be said that he was feeling elated. So his smile towards the Female Lead became a bit more sincere, “Little girl, be obedient. Go back.”

After he finished speaking, he withdrew his arm from her grasp and ignored her, following Su Zhan upstairs. Leaving only Nangong Ximo stomping and angrily gnashing her teeth, watching Su Zhan’s disappearing back.

the guards

read this in a tone of denial