"Oh.. I see.." Chóng Fēi muttered, his mind still working on it. He pointed at his closet, unable to move properly in the heavy, soaked robe. "Get me some clothes. I will be down there in a moment."
"But do you know what I think about the deals?" Zì Hāo asked, keeping the rhythm as he passed Chóng Fēi his robes from the large closet.
"Huh?" Chóng Fēi paused by the question while taking them, looking at him. "What do you think?" He raised an eyebrow in his usual almost-judgmental way. "You ever think about cultivation politics?"
"I do sometimes." Zì Hāo said, crossing his arms. His tone was much more serious than before—not harsh, but justifying himself. "Not like I let go of the throne because I love freedom—it's also because I don't have the family foundation you have."
Chóng Fēi nodded once, feeling the weight of his words. Because yes—cultivator heirs couldn't claim their thrones even from bloodlines if they didn't have their father to officially name them.
"I think the deal is not with angelic cultivators.. but the demonic ones.." Zì Hāo said, his voice lower, hardened gaze meeting Chóng Fēi's. Then he guessed a little, "Or it could be any clan from Xuè Gusu too. I at least know—no angelic cultivators from Yínglòu Chéng have ever stepped into this land for a decade by now. And they will never do either."
Chóng Fēi stayed silent.
'Well, his guess.. does make sense. Zhù fù has always avoided outsiders because this place was his only power.. while he's mainly powerless.'
'The Hàngwō clan was once trying to control things here, but for some reason they stopped even seeing humans here as humans. Perhaps for the same reason.. which Xiǎo Lìng faced: blindness, rudeness, misunderstanding without trying to fix things.'
'But maybe things would change this time since.. Lìngxiāo has passed the test everybody failed: returning from that temple. My mouth hurts from repeating this same word like a parrot to every exorcist who made their way here.'
'Lord of Earth knows why he has to test this way. Or is it because they are supposed to go to exorcism there anyway?'
"I will meet you later then." With that, Chóng Fēi silently closed the door of the washroom. The closing of the door was too careful, too focused—different from usual.
"I will go down with you then. Gotta get some pocket money from shù fù." Zì Hāo muttered, his tone slipping back to carefree.
His faint smile was the last thing Chóng Fēi saw before the door clipped the moment—like the air itself could be cut by the tension on the surface.
***
After five to eight minutes, Chóng Fēi came out in his fresh robe. He was wearing the plain black one instead of his signature red-black robe—the one that made him look like royalty with its deep blend of colors.
"You could have—" Chóng Fēi paused mid-sentence, his hand still adjusting his collar, when he saw there was nobody in his room at all.
Only silence. Like no one had even been there before.
"Hāo?" He looked around once. Then exhaled, as usual. "His pranks again, huh?.. just like my wine."
He didn't pay much attention, tying up his hair which wasn't fully dried yet. He exhaled faintly over his official jade badge, pinned it over the right side of his chest, and hurried silently downstairs.
The servants bowed. Disciples greeted him for the afternoon—which had come without him realizing, since he'd been lost in chaos and the day here always looked like night.
He didn't hear their voices properly. He just nodded mindlessly as his feet carried him forward. His boots clicked sharper and faster. His mind spun around everything that had happened today—from the rotten food to this summons.
He looked at the doorways and windows, searching for Zì Hāo unconsciously. He knew his brother sometimes sat in those unusual places, and somehow Chóng Fēi's father didn't really get annoyed—he couldn't, while his cousin brought gifts whenever he came. Books for his father.
Chóng Fēi couldn't deny that a tiny space of breathing in this clan was always Zì Hāo. But he couldn't understand how within five minutes, a person could disappear—and nobody seemed to even know about his arrival or departure.
'Perhaps he couldn't wait to get his damn pocket money and went to zhù fù already.'
He was walking past the maids, who were busy cleaning the dining table to prepare lunch.
"Zì Hāo Gōngzi has just returned from the Mount Yào. The letter said he will visit after a week." A maid said softly to another, smiling.
"Oh, I wonder what new story he will bring with himself." Another one replied—they were always carefree with him.
'What??'
Chóng Fēi paused, like something had pulled him back to his place. His hands clenched.
'Then who was I with? Are they mistaken? But.. he yelled hard. I heard him. Even Lìngxiāo heard him. And they say.. he would come.. after a week?'
His head spun with thousands of theories.
'No wonder he was saying things zhù fù would never tell him. I had a feeling he shouldn't have come right away. Was it some play of the skull mummy or something?'
'Or was it something else?'
'Then was I even about to be summoned by zhù fù?'
To be sure, he still went toward his father's meeting room—the place they usually spoke of such things. Two disciples were heading there. They quickly bowed.
"Gōngzǐ, since you are already here, we may inform you that Fèng Xiānsheng has summoned you just now for some important talking." One of them said.
'Called just now..? I just got this news before the moment even came, and I had chaos for no reason?'
Chóng Fēi silently nodded, his usual arrogant edges dimmed. "Alright. I'm heading."
The disciples immediately went back to open the grand door for him, revealing the large, old but neat meeting room—the only place in this clan with the largest balcony and windows. The cold, pre-rain wind hit Chóng Fēi's skin. Today the wind was a little colder, heavier. Faint drops of water could be felt. Perhaps rain would soon come and bless just a little—let the trees gleam and the well be filled to the brim.
'I should just get drenched under the rain later—like trying to melt away all of my worries.'
"Zhù fù? You summoned me?" He called out. His voice echoed softly into the chamber.
At first, only silence. A few spiritual bats squeaked, hanging at a corner of the room.
"Shut up. I did not come to grab your ugly babies." He muttered bitterly to those bats. They seemed to know him well—for grabbing them like chicks.
"It's called 'me', not 'ya'. Brat.." His father finally spoke, emerging from the balcony. Water droplets clung to his strands of hair like glass pearls. "You came too early. Strange. You usually take a few moments before obeying me."
"No big deal." Chóng Fēi answered in his casual bored tone, his gaze shifting. His right arm hung loosely at his side while his left rested over his hip, as always. "I was just walking around here, so they told me and I came. Simple."
"Hmph.." His father hummed softly.
But his gaze was suspicious. He sat down at the royal pillow of their round meeting table, pouring red tea. "Sit down then. Let us see if things really are that 'simple' or not."