Ning Xian glanced at Feng helplessly, shook his head and sighed.
Feng gave her a hard knock on the head and chased after the child. They watched the child run into a house, then jumped onto the wall and saw a reclining chair in the yard. A person was half-reclining there with their back to them, and the child lunged straight at that person—
"Huahua! Huahua! There are bad guys—two bad guys are looking for you. I didn't tell them where you were. You'd better hide quickly..."
A long, slender, smooth hand reached out and patted the child's head. "Don't be afraid, it's alright. Boys don't cry, okay?"
"Yes!" The child nodded vigorously, wiping away his snot and tears.
Ning Xian and Feng on the wall exchanged a glance—it was clearly Mu Yuan's voice! To avoid frightening the child, they didn't jump down immediately. The child continued, "Hua Hua, you're my wife, I'll protect you!"
"Okay, okay—" the man replied casually with a half-smile, then changed the subject, "Shouldn't you go to the fields to fetch your mother?"
"Mmm! Mom said she'll bring back lots of delicious food today, I'll go get it for her—but I also need to protect Huahua..."
"It's okay, I'm at home, bad guys won't be able to find me."
The child nodded vigorously and ran out the door.
The person on the chair seemed to adjust their posture slightly and raised their voice, saying, "The one on the wall can come down now."
Ning Xian and Feng jumped into the courtyard, but the other person did not turn around. He just smiled and said, "So it's the two of you... Impressive skills, you can make people not notice you at all—but I wonder if you two are friends or foes, and what business do you have with me?"
Ning Xian frowned. "Mu Yuan, what are you playing?"
The man let out a soft "Eh," slowly rising to his feet. His slender figure was draped in a loose white robe, yet it couldn't conceal his innate, alluring beauty. Their familiar voices rang out again, "So it's Duanxian'er… Then the other one, with such skill, must be Feng?" He slowly turned around, and Ningxian finally saw that his eyes were wrapped in thick gauze, completely obscuring his amber eyes. Her heart skipped a beat, and as she fell, she felt lost, sinking heavily to the ground—
Chapter Sixty-Two: The Decline of Morals
—On that day—
When Mu Yuan went to Yanyu Pavilion that day, everything was not much different from usual. Although there were fewer guests, it was not the busiest time of the day, so he did not think much of it.
Upon entering the gate, Yue Ji greeted him with a bow and said, somewhat anxiously, that Ni Chang was waiting for him. Well, he admitted there was something slightly unusual about this. Yue Ji served in the inner chambers and shouldn't have been greeting guests here—though Ni Chang might have changed her location. Furthermore, if Ni Chang was truly in a hurry to see him, given the matter of religious affairs, their relationship was no longer that of guest and courtesan. Even if she needed to maintain appearances in front of others, given her rank, she should at least have come out to greet him. However, he still didn't take it to heart.
Upon entering the room, a faint fragrance wafted through the air, and the flowers were in disarray, but the zither was nowhere to be found. Ni Chang was not in the room. Yue Ji had assumed that Ni Chang would arrive soon, and Mu Yuan smiled and nodded, finally taking it to heart, but not really paying any attention.
The maidservant brought him tea, and he pretended to take a sip, waiting to see what tricks she would play. However, when several assassins hidden in the shadows appeared, and even the seemingly ordinary girls outside the room suddenly made their move, he realized that this was not just a matter of a few assassins; the entire Misty Rain Pavilion was already under their control!
Since the situation was beyond his ability to handle alone, he was about to leave when he discovered he had been poisoned. Only then did he realize that the poison wasn't in the tea, but in the incense in Ni Chang's room—because the scent wasn't significantly different from what Ni Chang usually used. He had been terribly careless.
The words Dongfang Qingming had once told him that he would eventually be killed by his own carelessness had now come true. Seeing that those people were desperately trying to prevent him from leaving Yanyu Pavilion, he did the opposite, pretending to be captured. This served two purposes: first, to conserve his strength and have a chance to suppress the poison in his body; and second, to investigate Ni Chang's condition.
As expected, he and Ni Chang were locked together. Ni Chang's usually beautiful smile was now quite ugly. Unexpectedly, her hasty warning letter allowed the Left Envoy to enter.
Driven by a desire to atone for her sins, she insisted on protecting Mu Yuan as they escaped, only to run into Yue Ji.
This poor woman, who was supposedly frail and weak and unable to even kill a chicken, was coerced into becoming a tyrant. Without saying a word, she immediately helped them. However, when Mu Yuan was in danger of being poisoned, she suddenly attacked Mu Yuan's eyes with a poisoned hidden weapon.
Mu Yuan and Ni Chang eventually escaped, but Ni Chang got separated from him while covering the rear. He only remembers that his vision became increasingly blurry and dark, and then he lost consciousness. Later, he was found by the family he is with now.
—This concludes Mu Yuan's memoir. (I swear it wasn't because I was lazy; I doubt anyone would want to read it in detail anyway. I'm grateful to my gentle, considerate, and understanding mother~~)
He sighed and concluded, "I wasn't meant to die..."
"A scourge can last for a thousand years," Ning Xian added.
"Come back with us, your eyes need immediate treatment!" Feng cut to the chase without any preamble.
However, someone immediately responded: "I don't want to!"
Huh? Two pairs of eyes immediately fixed on the protester. Ning Xian looked nervous and leaned over to touch his forehead. "Mu Yuan, has the poison gotten into your brain?" Then, Feng pulled her hand away.
...Ignore that. The focus now is on the wooden kite.
"Am I supposed to go back like this? Where would I put my pride?"
He vomited blood and collapsed to the ground.
"Mu Yuan!! Is this your excuse for hiding and refusing to go back?? Huh?? Which is more important, your eyes or your pride!?"
"They are all important," Mu Yuan replied without a doubt.
Feeling the helplessness of his fellow disciples as he collapsed to the ground, and the impending cold storm, he smiled and added, "The doctors here are quite good, really. Although it's just a small place, the doctors here are truly skilled. I can get my eyes checked here."
—How could they be the same? No matter what, a doctor in such a small place couldn't possibly compare to Garuda King, who is in charge of medical clinics in the religion, could he?
“Okay, we can stay here for now, but you can’t stay here. Come with us to the inn.”
This time, Mu Yuan finally had no objections, but she said sickly, "I can't see, I need Duanxian'er to help me..."
Before he could finish speaking, Feng Youli's iron claws grabbed his wrist, and he flew away with a "whoosh"—
"Hey, wait a minute, let me say goodbye to them..."
Mu Yuan's voice came from mid-air. Ning Xian scratched his head. Could it be that he was so reluctant to part with his little husband?
This question had been bothering Ning Xian for a long time. When she finally couldn't help but ask, Mu Yuan replied, "Anyway, you can't do anything since you can't see, so you might as well flirt around."
—How immoral of you to hook up with a child who still has a snotty nose?
—Pull the camera back—
The three arrived at the inn. Upon landing, Mu Yuan immediately lost his balance. This was the first time he had flown around without using his eyes, and he felt dizzy and disoriented. Moreover, Feng shamelessly released him as soon as they landed and went into the inn first. Mu Yuan swayed, and Ning Xian quickly steadied him.
"Welcome back, sir." The waiter greeted Feng, and then Ning Xian and Mu Yuan walked in. "Feng, what about the room?"