(For Chapter 1-163, go to (https://chrysanthemumgarden.com/novel-tl/awbtv/))
(Go to my Patreon, if you want early access of chapters: www.patreon.com/QuillAndScroll)
______________________________________________________________________________________
Li Lingbi couldn't help but recall how he had first met Du Qi.
Carefully counting it out, it had really only been a short while ago. Yet when he thought back on it in a daze, it felt as though a long time had already passed.
That night, late and drunk, he encountered Du Qi—wounded and unconscious—in a narrow alley. Li Lingbi felt as though he had been bewitched by the man's appearance. Half dragging, half supporting him, he carefully brought Du Qi to a small courtyard he had privately purchased.
He and Xuan Qinghe were deeply in love, but Li Lingbi considered himself a smart man. Once emotions became entangled with vested interests and money, complications were bound to arise, making everything far more treacherous. And so, avoiding Xuan Qinghe, he had quietly pocketed some funds and arranged for himself a hidden residence as a precaution against disaster.
They had only just arrived at this residence when the unconscious Du Qi woke up. Upon waking, however, Du Qi remembered nothing except his own name.
Li Lingbi discovered a wound at the back of Du Qi's head and suspected that he had lost his memory due to the injury.
On one hand, Li Lingbi marveled at how such a dog-blood melodramatic plot had actually happened to him. On the other, he couldn't help feeling a bit secretly pleased, wondering whether—like those characters who save the male lead—he might also gain a loyal, devoted "little wolf-dog."
Of course, he already had Xuan Qinghe and would never cheat or harbor a divided heart. This was purely out of kindness—he simply wanted to save someone.
Yet everything truly unfolded just like a cliché drama. The amnesiac Du Qi developed a chick-imprinting attachment: gentle, deeply affectionate, constantly clinging to Li Lingbi. Li Lingbi's already unsteady resolve wavered again and again.
Then, on a rainy night, Du Qi suddenly came down with a high fever, burning with delirium. Unable to refuse, Li Lingbi stayed in Du Qi's room to look after him.
With half-pushing and half-yielding, it happened.
The next morning, Li Lingbi was filled with regret. He felt that Du Qi had deliberately seduced him. Turning it over in his mind, he considered driving Du Qi away—yet he couldn't bear to do so. He agonized for quite some time, only to discover that Du Qi was already gone from the courtyard. All that remained was a letter, saying that he had recovered his memories and had returned home to deal with some matters.
Li Lingbi returned to the Xuan residence in a dazed, desolate state.
The pharmaceutical factory had made tremendous progress, and Xuan Qinghe treated him with utmost indulgence. Yet Li Lingbi's thoughts constantly drifted back to that small courtyard, back to Du Qi.
Unable to restrain himself, he began to secretly return there again and again.
Yet one day, the moment he opened the courtyard gate, he saw Du Qi—the very man he had been thinking of day and night.
From that point on, he and Du Qi confessed their feelings to each other, made their true identities and circumstances clear, and began living blissful days: on one side dealing with Xuan Qinghe, on the other sharing a life of quiet intimacy with Du Qi in the small courtyard.
Of course, when Du Qi asked about Xuan Qinghe, Li Lingbi's answer was simply that they were business partners; any other ambiguity, he claimed, was nothing but rumor. Although Du Qi had regained his memories, his gentle and devoted nature remained unchanged—whatever Li Lingbi said, he believed.
Li Lingbi occasionally thought of this with a hint of guilt, but far more often, what he felt was a strange sense of satisfaction.
The dashing young master of the Xuan family and the handsome, domineering young leader of a gang—both figures of rare prominence in Haicheng—had all been taken by him. Holding one in each arm, how could he not feel delighted?
Perhaps there were some risks of exposure, but he believed that whether it was the knowledge in his mind that far exceeded this era, or his almost prophetic understanding of the future, both were more than enough for him to bind these two men tightly to himself.
Whoever obtained him would be gaining a "golden finger"—and one with excellent looks at that. This should have been an enormous stroke of luck. He believed that as long as he adjusted things a little, Xuan Qinghe and Du Qi would have to accept the situation, even if it meant pinching their noses in displeasure—unless they no longer wanted him.
But that was impossible.
During the days when Li Lingbi was at his most triumphant, Xuan Qinghe doted on him, Du Qi indulged him, and the penicillin produced by the pharmaceutical factory had already entered clinical trials. Everything seemed to be moving in a good direction.
Unfortunately, happiness that comes easily can also collapse without warning.
The Xuan family fell apart overnight, and the great fire at the pharmaceutical factory raged on unceasingly, even under a torrential downpour.
When the Green Eagle forcefully stormed into the Xuan residence, Li Lingbi fled.
Fortunately, Green Eagle was only targeting the pharmaceutical factory and had no intention of looting or killing at the Xuan home. After paying a bit more in silver dollars, he managed to slip away smoothly.
He carried with him the only batch of penicillin the factory had produced and hid it in that private courtyard. Afterward, to avoid arousing Xuan Qinghe's suspicion, he returned to the Xuan residence once more.
Only after he returned to the Xuan residence did he learn that Xuan Qinghe had gone out that night, saying he was going to pay a visit to some influential figure in hopes of saving the Xuan family. Unexpectedly, once he left, he never came back.
Two or three days passed, yet there was still no sign of him—neither alive nor dead.
In times like these, disappearance was almost no different from death. Unwilling to wait any longer, Li Lingbi decided to pack up his valuables and secretly go find Du Qi.
Without the Xuan family, he still had Du Qi, still had the Tianming Society. Earlier, when he had spoken to Du Qi about these medicines, Du Qi had revealed that some of Haicheng's top elites also seemed to be discussing antibiotics.
This puzzled Li Lingbi somewhat. After all, in history, antibiotics did not appear at this time. Was this the butterfly effect caused by his own actions, or had Xuan Qinghe already used penicillin to probe those influential figures earlier, allowing rumors to spread?
With limited information, Li Lingbi couldn't reach a definite conclusion. But now that penicillin had already been produced, and since those powerful figures were interested, holding this in his hands meant that making a comeback should only be a matter of time.
Yet he was unlucky.
Just as he had made up his mind to leave the Xuan residence in secret, Gu Qishu led people in, barged into the Xuan home, and without a word knocked him unconscious and bound him.
Li Lingbi was confused and panicked. He knew Gu Qishu and was aware that he was Xuan Qinghe's former schoolmate, but he had never imagined that Gu Qishu would actually kidnap him.
Soon enough, however, under Gu Qishu's interrogation—coercion mixed with persuasion—Li Lingbi finally understood. It was likely that Gu Qishu had sensed something amiss from Xuan Qinghe, conducted a covert investigation, and then fixed his sights on Li Lingbi, hoping to obtain his secret.
Gu Qishu, after all, still thought like an ordinary man. He merely assumed that Li Lingbi had encountered some fortuitous opportunity and never even considered something like transmigration. Li Lingbi remained on guard and carefully maneuvered around him.
However, after being imprisoned for no more than two days, he suddenly began to feel unwell.
It was as if a hundred claws were raking at his heart, like ants gnawing at his bones. He collapsed to his knees, his body convulsing in spasms, suddenly and desperately needing something—anything—to ease the agony.
Amid the hallucinatory, distorted blur of his vision, Gu Qishu walked over across the wooden floor and stopped a few steps away. Casting him a look of undisguised disgust, he said only, "So he's an opium addict too. Tie him up and make him quit. What I need is what's in his head—not a pile of rotten mush."
The days of unbearable torment began.
Li Lingbi didn't know how he survived those first two days. In his madness, he smashed his head against the wall, bit into his own flesh, knelt on the ground with tears and snot streaming as he abjectly begged for mercy. When lucid, he was seized by fear and self-loathing—wanting desperately to escape, yet racking his brain to figure out where he could possibly have become addicted to opium.
The person he suspected most was Xuan Qinghe, who had been at his side day and night for so long.
But precisely because they had been together for so long, Li Lingbi knew very well that although Xuan Qinghe liked him, what he liked even more was the knowledge in his head. If Li Lingbi had been smoking opium—spending less time clear-minded, letting all that knowledge become muddled—would Xuan Qinghe really not care?
That didn't quite add up.
As for the second person he suspected…
It was Du Qi, who at this very moment was carrying him on his back, fleeing through the narrow alleys.
"Lingbi, wake up. We're here."
The soft call pulled Li Lingbi's scattered thoughts back.
He looked up and realized that, without noticing, they had already arrived at his small courtyard.
Aside from himself and Du Qi, no one else knew of this place. Even if Gu Qishu wanted to find it, he would have to expend considerable effort. It was indeed a suitable place to stop and lie low for the time being.
"Seventh Brother, I can walk. Put me down," Li Lingbi said.
Du Qi didn't insist on continuing to carry him. After reminding him to be careful, he set Li Lingbi down.
Out of the corner of his eye, Li Lingbi glanced to either side. All he saw were dim, narrow alleys, the ground slick and mossy. If he tried to escape now, he likely wouldn't make it more than a few steps before Du Qi caught him.
He harbored suspicions toward Du Qi and didn't particularly want to stay by his side anymore, yet aside from Du Qi, he couldn't think of anyone else to rely on at the moment.
As he hesitated, Du Qi had already unlocked the door and turned back to help Li Lingbi inside.
Not far away, at the bend of the alley, two figures appeared, cautiously watching as Li Lingbi and Du Qi's backs disappeared through the courtyard gate.
"This Du Qi really lives up to being the 'good son' Du Tianming boasts about every day. He's got some real skills—he almost spotted us just now."
Two heads leaned together, whispering.
"Should we make a move?"
"Not yet. Let's wait and see what Du Qi is really up to. Just look at that nasty face of his—I've got a feeling he's up to no good. He pretended to have amnesia here before, but he never stopped secretly keeping in touch with the Tianming Society. Come on, let's follow them for now."
Inside the main room of the small courtyard.
Li Lingbi sat down on the low bed while Du Qi busied himself back and forth, boiling water and preparing food for him.
Leaning against the jade stone cooling pillow on the couch, Li Lingbi stretched out his stiff limbs. As he gently rubbed his ankles and wrists, he glanced through the half-closed door, watching Du Qi's figure moving back and forth in the dining area.
His body felt utterly drained. After rubbing a few times, he grew too lazy to continue. He wanted to call Du Qi in, but when he opened his mouth, no sound came out. Looking at that silhouette, at times Li Lingbi felt it was steady and warm, worthy of trust; at other times, it seemed deep and unfathomable, impossible to read.
If it wasn't Xuan Qinghe who had done it, then it didn't necessarily have to be Du Qi.
Li Lingbi thought to himself.
It could have been someone else—perhaps those young masters of the Xuan family who had long been jealous of Xuan Qinghe, or some malicious rival from outside. They could have instructed maids or servants to tamper with him, to do something to his food—such things were entirely possible. He hadn't been with Du Qi for very long, and they rarely ate separately; most of the time they shared meals together. There really wasn't much opportunity.
With his eyes closed, Li Lingbi drifted in and out of thought, unable to grasp his own mind clearly. Ever since his first bout of withdrawal, his head had been in a constant muddle, his thoughts hard to sort out.
Just then, Du Qi came in carrying a cup of hot tea and two small plates of pastries.
"I made some food, but it'll take a bit longer. Have some pastries first."
Du Qi set the pastries on the small tea table beside Li Lingbi's hand, then went back out to fetch a basin of hot water. Squatting down, he began soaking Li Lingbi's feet.
Li Lingbi was already used to being pampered by Du Qi like this. Even though he harbored some doubts, he didn't refuse the attention.
Steam rose from the water.
The slightly hot water enveloped his feet, the neither-light-nor-heavy kneading and rubbing easing the soreness and fatigue. The clear tea slid down his throat, carrying a mellow fragrance that warmed his hollow, depleted body.
This comfortable setting allowed Li Lingbi to relax considerably. He casually picked up a piece of cloud-slice cake from the plate and put it into his mouth.
Perhaps because quitting opium had robbed him of his appetite, and because he hadn't been able to eat properly for so long, the moment the cloud-slice cake touched his tongue, Li Lingbi found it incomparably delicious. His spirits lifted, and the hunger in his belly surged up.
He opened his eyes, paused for a moment, then directly pulled the plate of pastries into his arms, feeding himself piece after piece without stopping, no longer caring about table manners. When the urge became too strong, he even grabbed three or four pieces at once and stuffed them into his mouth together, like a starving ghost reborn.
Seeing crumbs of pastry falling in a steady sprinkle, Du Qi lifted his gaze to look, yet made no move to stop Li Lingbi's ravenous eating.
When more than half the pastries on the plate were gone, Li Lingbi's hands holding the dish suddenly trembled and slackened. The celadon plate rolled off the low bed, but Du Qi raised a hand and caught it steadily.
He straightened up, leaned in close, and softly enunciated, "Lingbi."
Li Lingbi covered half his face with his sleeve, his expression hazy and unfocused. Hearing the call, he gave a low hum. His eyes couldn't fix on Du Qi's face at all, yet the corners of his mouth curved upward in an unnaturally wide arc, revealing a sweet, cloying smile at Du Qi.
After calmly observing Li Lingbi's reaction for a moment, Du Qi finally, slowly withdrew the gentle, obedient, sincere, and affectionate expression from his face.
Thick, chilling desire—frenzied, suppressed malice—poured out in an instant, flooding every line of Du Qi's face, every inch of his skin. He was like a lethally venomous snake rearing up, his head twitching spasmodically as he flicked a blood-red tongue and breathed out a rank, fetid air toward his prey.
"Wouldn't it be better to just stay obediently by my side, Lingbi?"
Du Qi's voice grew even gentler, as though murmuring affection to the one he loved most, softly begging for his beloved's mercy.
"I know you've started to suspect me. But whose fault is that, really?"
"It can only be yours."
"Did you truly think I didn't know what kind of relationship you had with Xuan Qinghe? Did you really believe you were keeping silent about the outside world for my sake—so my amnesia wouldn't worsen—letting me remain forgetful all this time? Your intentions were never pure."
"If I had truly lost my memory, I might really have been fooled by you."
"But fortunately, I was the one who fooled you. Unfortunately, you weren't obedient at all. You still went to the Xuan residence to see Xuan Qinghe, came to me carrying his scent, still refused to give him up, refused to tell me your secrets—your antibiotics, your guns, your machinery, your mind—and give them all to me."
"So tell me, who's to blame here? It's only you."
Du Qi leaned in even closer, his eyes fixed unblinking on Li Lingbi's neck. "Lingbi, I know you brought some things out of the Xuan residence. They're hidden in this courtyard. Be good and tell me where they are, hm?"
"Answer honestly, and I can make you even more—much more—delicious pastries to eat…"
Before he could finish speaking, Li Lingbi—who had seemed lost in a daze, his expression unfocused—suddenly snapped his half-lidded eyes open. The hand hanging by the edge of the couch grabbed a pair of scissors from the rack, jerked upward, and stabbed straight toward Du Qi.
"You really were pretending after all!"
Du Qi wasn't surprised in the slightest. He let out a cold laugh and, with a backhand motion, seized Li Lingbi's attacking arm.
"Bastard!"
Li Lingbi struggled to get up, hatred surging like a tide.
Du Qi lifted his leg and pressed down, pinning both of Li Lingbi's hands, then suddenly laughed. "Lingbi, what should I even say about you? You finally managed to be smart for once, yet you couldn't hold your nerve—couldn't even keep up the act. Attacking me now… are you so confident you have something to rely on, or are you just that stupid?"
"Du Qi, let me go!" Li Lingbi kicked wildly, trying to flip Du Qi off him.
But his physique was no match for Du Qi's, who had trained in martial arts. On top of that, he had just eaten a large amount of cloud-slice cake. Now even writhing and struggling took effort, let alone mounting any real resistance.
Du Qi was right. After taking in too much opium, his mind truly was in disarray. With just a slight provocation, he couldn't restrain himself, driven by the urge for revenge, completely forgetting that he had no ability to carry it out in his current state.
Du Qi grabbed a fistful of Li Lingbi's hair. Li Lingbi cried out in pain and began hurling curses.
The insults were ugly, but Du Qi seemed not to hear them at all. He watched Li Lingbi as if watching a monkey show and said softly, "Lingbi, look at yourself."
"Promiscuous and fickle, hypocritical and stupid, arrogant and conceited. Apart from the secrets you carry and that passable skin of yours, there's really nothing about you worth a second glance. And yet you have not the slightest self-awareness, always acting as though you're above everyone else, looking down on the world. But what should you really look like?"
"You should look exactly like this. A lowly opera performer—one of the lowest of the low—a plaything."
The last bit of strength Li Lingbi had been holding onto finally ran out. The struggling of his limbs gradually stilled; his cursing cut off, replaced by harsh, rasping breaths tearing from his throat.
His eyes were wide open, pupils cloudy and unfocused, yet they still rolled upward, locking stubbornly onto Du Qi.
Du Qi bent slightly, leaning close to Li Lingbi's ear, and said softly, "Lingbi, tell me where you hid the things you brought out of the Xuan residence. Prove your value to me, and I'll still treat you the same as before—cook for you, wash your feet, indulge you in everything."
"Yu Jingzhi suppresses Haicheng's opium trade day after day, but I still hold the lion's share. You can have as much cloud-slice cake as you want."
Li Lingbi's Adam's apple bobbed uncontrollably.
His gaze seemed to release Du Qi as the viciousness faded from his eyes. He stared straight ahead at some intangible point in the slanted space before him, his lips moving as he slurred out the words, "The… the things I brought out… are… are in the east wing's—"
Du Qi's expression tightened slightly as he focused intently on listening.
At that very moment, a gunshot exploded behind Du Qi with a loud bang.
Du Qi let out a muffled grunt. His body swayed, and he immediately rolled behind the low bed.
Using the low bed as cover, he drew his gun and fired two shots toward the window. Then he didn't linger—taking a single bounding step, he rushed to the bedroom's back window and vaulted out.
As he leapt through the window, Du Qi had intended to turn back and give Li Lingbi a shot. He knew very well that whatever Li Lingbi possessed would be a boon to whoever obtained it. If he couldn't have it, then no other force should either.
But the instant he showed the slightest hesitation, gunfire rang out again from the front, chasing after him.
Judging by the shots, there were at least two people.
Under normal circumstances, let alone two people—even three or five—Du Qi wouldn't have taken them seriously. But he had just been ambushed, taking a direct hit in the back. An old wound hadn't yet healed, and now a new one had been added. If he got entangled in another fight, it would likely be to his disadvantage.
Without further hesitation, Du Qi burst out the back door and quickly disappeared into the maze of alleyways.
As he reached the corner, his steps faltered for a moment. He looked back at the small courtyard, his gaze filled with ferocity and unwillingness.
Meanwhile, inside the courtyard, the two men forced Du Qi back. They didn't press their advantage, but instead turned around and returned to the bedroom, where they hauled Li Lingbi up.
Li Lingbi's whole body was as limp as overcooked noodles. Once he was helped to his feet, his legs immediately began to shake.
"Who… who are you people?" he asked.
The two men exchanged a glance but didn't answer. One of them simply brought down a hand in a sharp chop, clean and efficient, knocking him unconscious.
…
When Chu Yunsheng received the news that Li Lingbi had been captured, he had just finished drawing several sets of blueprints and was coming out of the study.
"They caught Li Lingbi?"
He walked into the bedroom and asked.
Yu Jingzhi had already changed out of the robe he wore before going to bed and was fastening the buttons of his shirt one by one. Hearing the question, he glanced at Chu Yunsheng and chuckled. "Strictly speaking, we didn't plan on grabbing him. But seeing that if he stayed with Du Qi any longer, he'd be completely ruined, we figured saving a life would earn us seven levels of merit."
"Want to go take a look?"
Yu Jingzhi picked up Chu Yunsheng's coat, walked over, and lifted his hand slightly.
Meeting Li Lingbi was neither here nor there for Chu Yunsheng; he felt no particular curiosity toward him. But Yu Jingzhi was clearly hoping Chu Yunsheng would accompany him.
Chu Yunsheng took the coat and didn't refuse Yu Jingzhi's suggestion.
The two of them left the small building together and headed straight for the Yu residence.
Upon arriving at the Yu residence and being led along by Liu Er, Chu Yunsheng realized that the small courtyard where Li Lingbi was being held was, unexpectedly, the very same courtyard where, on the night of the Lantern Festival, the Fengxiang Troupe had brought Bai Chu to perform at a private hall gathering. One could hardly say that the twists of fate weren't uncanny.
The room was dim, lit by only a single kerosene lamp.
Its dull yellow glow cast a shadow of Li Lingbi, who was slumped against a chair, head lowered, looking lifeless and dispirited.
Hearing the door open and footsteps approach, his body stiffened. He slowly raised his face, a heavy despair and ashen dejection flashing across his features.
However, the people who walked in were not those familiar faces.
Li Lingbi froze, then stammered, "You… who are you?"
Chu Yunsheng did not answer. Yu Jingzhi, on the other hand, smiled gently and amiably. "Yu Jingzhi. I imagine you've heard of me."
Yu Jingzhi?!
Li Lingbi jolted, nearly springing up from the chair.
His memories of this scum-attack male lead from Republican Era Pear Garden were far too vivid—whether it was Yu Jingzhi's cold-blooded ruthlessness, his unscrupulous methods, or his brutal, domineering power that seemed to blot out the sky, all of it had left Li Lingbi with an exceptionally terrifying impression.
It could be said that, in Li Lingbi's eyes, Yu Jingzhi was a dark and unfathomable demon king, capricious in temper and impossible to predict.
He remembered that when he had first transmigrated, he had once caught a distant glimpse of this legendary Mr. Yu. The man's features had been indistinct, impossible to make out clearly, but that murderous, merciless aura had been unmistakable.
He had been frightened by it, and so in the days that followed, whenever he could avoid this Mr. Yu, he hurried to do so.
Earlier, when Bai Chu's attempt to approach Yu Jingzhi had failed, Li Lingbi hadn't dared to encourage Bai Chu again, afraid that saying too much would drag himself into it and place him directly before Yu Jingzhi.
But now, this man wearing such a gentle smile claimed to be Yu Jingzhi…
Slowly, heart pounding, Li Lingbi matched the blurred features from his memories to the person before him. The fear and panic in his chest rose almost to their peak.
How had things come to this—how on earth had he ended up being abducted by Yu Jingzhi?!
At this moment, even if the one who had come for him were Gu Qishu, it would have been better than this situation.
"Yu… Yu, Mister Yu, you brought me here because…?" Li Lingbi forced down the chaotic thoughts in his mind, trying not to dwell on Yu Jingzhi's terror. He spoke as calmly and cautiously as he could, taking the initiative.
Yu Jingzhi had no intention of wasting words with Li Lingbi.
After sizing him up for a few seconds, he went straight to the point. "You claim that you come from Huaguo a hundred years in the future. Is that true?"
"W-what?"
Li Lingbi was shocked. He had never expected that Yu Jingzhi's very first question would be this. "Mister Yu, I don't quite understand… How could I possibly be from a hundred years in the future? That's completely absurd—pure fantasy… I'm just an ordinary person… R-right! Did you know? The Xuan family's pharmaceutical factory has developed a kind of miracle drug—antibiotics. Do you need it? As long as you're willing to help me leave Haicheng, I can give you those—"
"No need."
Yu Jingzhi cut off Li Lingbi's increasingly disordered speech.
Li Lingbi's expression stiffened. Fear filled his eyes, and he fell silent at once.
Chu Yunsheng listened from the side. He wasn't particularly surprised that Li Lingbi had finally managed to produce penicillin, but he was somewhat taken aback by how tense and terrified Li Lingbi was in Yu Jingzhi's presence. Judging by Li Lingbi's reaction, anyone who didn't know better might have thought Yu Jingzhi was some man-eating demon.
For a moment, the room fell into silence.
Yu Jingzhi lowered his gaze slightly, as if pondering something—hesitating over something yet to be decided.
Li Lingbi said in a low voice, "If you don't need the medicines, then… firearms and ammunition, new types of machines—I can provide those too… and the future political situation, what will happen in the years to come. You—"
"None of it is needed," Yu Jingzhi said.
He adjusted his sitting position and raised his eyes, but instead of looking at Li Lingbi, he quietly watched the flickering flame of the lampwick in the kerosene lamp on the table.
After a moment of silence, he spoke again. "Everything you've mentioned—I have no need of it. Before coming to see you, I did have some questions I wanted to ask. But now, it seems there's no longer any need."
Li Lingbi's eyes widened slightly; he did not understand what Yu Jingzhi meant.
Chu Yunsheng, however, roughly understood what Yu Jingzhi had been hesitating over for so long.
There were some things Yu Jingzhi could not easily ask Chu Yunsheng, and some that Chu Yunsheng might not be able to answer. But he could ask Li Lingbi and hear Li Lingbi's response. Moreover, Yu Jingzhi had always had a feeling that Chu Yunsheng and Li Lingbi were not the same—they did not come from the same place.
Yet when the words reached his lips, there was no longer any need to ask them.
Whether the Dongyang army would march south, whether Haicheng would fall—these were, at this moment, neither a piece of established history nor a predetermined plot. They were an unknown future, one that still required their own efforts.
Everything was already different, and would inevitably be different.
In the end, Chu Yunsheng and Yu Jingzhi asked nothing at all, and simply left the Yu residence.
Of the three, only Li Lingbi was completely baffled by the meeting, unable to make sense of what had actually happened. He could not believe that anyone would truly refuse a head full of advanced knowledge—especially not someone like Yu Jingzhi, an ambitious power player of such stature.
After much deliberation, he concluded that Yu Jingzhi's rejection and feigned indifference during that meeting must have been a tactic to tame him—perhaps playing hard to get, perhaps bestowing a favor in hopes of repayment, or something of the sort. He waited, all along, for Yu Jingzhi to reveal his true intentions.
That wait stretched on—for ten days, then half a month.
By the time he had finished taking the last dose of the anti-opium medicine and had more or less shaken off the drug's hold, Li Lingbi still had not seen Yu Jingzhi a second time.
He began to doubt, almost unable to believe it himself.
Could it be that when Yu Jingzhi said he didn't need any of it that night, he truly meant it? Was Yu Jingzhi really different from Xuan Qinghe, Gu Qishu, Du Qi, and the others?
Yet if Yu Jingzhi were the one answering Li Lingbi's question, his answer would likely be that he was no different from the rest. If Chu Yunsheng had not existed, and if he had discovered Li Lingbi's peculiar origins, he would certainly have squeezed every last thing out of Li Lingbi's mind to strengthen Haicheng's power.
Compared to others, his methods might have been somewhat gentler, more presentable—but what he sought was the same. He had never considered himself a good man.
That night, he had also very much wanted to ask Li Lingbi whether, in that future—the new Huaguo—there were still many people like himself.
In the end, after some thought, he chose not to ask.
Still, the answer was probably not too bad.
Li Lingbi's affair was nothing more than a small ripple, a fleeting wave that passed and was gone.
After locking him up, both Chu Yunsheng and Yu Jingzhi quickly left Li Lingbi behind, forgetting about him altogether. They had many important matters to attend to, and at present the most pressing of all was Gao Lan's welcome banquet.
On the twenty-fourth day of the eighth month, the sky was high and clear, with the first hints of autumn in the air.
Gao Lan sent out invitations far and wide, inviting guests to a banquet at Wanghai Tower.
Chu Yunsheng looked over the invitation and said in a low voice, "A Hongmen Banquet."