In the small room outside of sword village, lit only by an oil lamp, Wang Biming poured a cup of wine and handed it to Fu Yuanjun.
Fu Yuanjun drank the wine and looked at Wang Biming. He smiled. "Before I came to see you, your shimei gave me an earful."
Wang Biming smiled faintly. "Really? What did she say?"
Fu Yuanjun put down the wine cup. "She told me to stay away from you and keep my distance."
"Maybe she likes you," Wang Biming suggested.
"How so?"
Wang Biming replied, "She always asks me about you, why were we partners in the first place?" He looked at Fu Yuanjun. "She also asked about the Chief Leader of Seventy-Two Islands."
Fu Yuanjun smiled lightly. "We may succeed in other people's affairs, but love is definitely not one of them."
"You got that right," Wang Biming agreed with a sigh.
Fu Yuanjun mused, "If time could turn backward, I wonder if we would still choose the same path?"
"Do you regret it now?" Wang Biming asked.
Fu Yuanjun looked at him directly. "Meeting you is the best gift heaven has given me. There is nothing to regret."
Wang Biming changed the subject. "I sometimes wonder, we are both our fathers' sons, but why did he love his other sons more?"
Fu Yuanjun sneered. "Yes, we must sacrifice ourselves and let their other son climb the ladder."
"I have no hatred for my da ge," Wang Biming said simply.
Fu Yuanjun shrugged. "I also don't hold anything against my father's moron son."
"The assassins are ready," Wang Biming said, moving to the practical matters. "They will appear as soon as you call them."
Fu Yuanjun stretched out his hand and took Wang Biming's hand, smiling. "Thank you."
Wang Biming looked at him. "There should be no thank you or sorry between us."
"I know. You told me already." Fu Yuanjun stood up and walked behind Wang Biming, wrapping his arms around his neck. "Do you still miss him?"
"I do. After all, he is still my first love," Wang Biming confessed.
Fu Yuanjun chuckled and sighed. "He has moved on, why can't you move on?"
Wang Biming held onto Fu Yuanjun's hands. "I can't, because deep in my heart, I still care about him."
"You have said that since childhood, don't you get bored?" Fu Yuanjun asked.
"What about you?" Wang Biming countered. "You decided to marry someone, and it was your lover who gave you the coffin."
Fu Yuanjun sighed. "She told me that our relationship is like a broken rope. No matter how much we tried to tie the rope back together, it will never be free of knots."
"She is right."
Fu Yuanjun continued, "Ma Jingguo did this to avenge Chen Dandan, but what he didn't know was that he actually helped me get rid of Gu Jingjing."
"What do you want to do with Chaomei?" Wang Biming asked.
"Nothing," Fu Yuanjun replied. "She is with Sunset Sector, and they are now part of the Four Households."
Wang Biming saw an opportunity. "This is a good opportunity for you to marry her. It has always been your dream. Now, since they turn to the orthodox sect, you can use your marriage with Chaomei to tighten the shackles between Sunset Sect and Tianshan."
Fu Yuanjun nodded. "This is not a bad idea, but the problem is that she once married Gu Yingjie... Marrying her now, Tianshan elders may not agree. Moreover, I need time."
Wang Biming turned his head to look at Fu Yuanjun. "Yuanjun, if I have an opportunity like you, I will grab it without hesitation."
Fu Yuanjun sighed. "If I have someone who loves me unconditionally like you love Mu Dishi, I will never leave him for another man." He picked up the cup. "Yong Taihua may have his doubts, but he has no conclusive evidence to prove it."
"That Mongol figured out how the chief leader of Seventy-Two Islands escaped after he killed Chen Dandan?" Wang Biming asked, referring to Bazar Batu.
Fu Yuanjun smirked. "Fortunately, you gave him the wrong poison. Don't worry, I will take care of it. I can guarantee that Kuo Lok will not fight with them."
"Really, what are you going to do?" Wang Biming asked, intrigued.
"I like watching people fly without wings." Fu Yuanjun looked at Wang Biming. "You will have to wait to watch the spectacular show."
In the small, cramped room, Wang Biming and Fu Yuanjun shared a cold, triumphant laugh. They learned in, their voices dropping as they plotted the details of their next crucial move: their journey south to Jiangnan.
In the warm late summer afternoon, the sun rose high, and Ma Jingguo and Mu Dishi sat together by the teahouse. Ma Jingguo's gaze fell to the ground on his right, fixing on the spot where he had last hugged his mother—the place he had promised her he would always stand by Mu Dishi's side.
He picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Mu Dishi. He stared at the man beside him, struck by the fact that despite knowing each other for so many years, Mu Dishi hadn't changed much at all.
Ma Jingguo sighed, swirling the tea in his cup. "Xiao shushu, it's been many years since we met in this roadside teahouse. At that time, I was ten years old and you were in your early twenties. I found out that you have not changed at all. You are still the same as when I first met you." He drank the tea. "Xiao shushu, did you really take me home because you needed someone to play the flute for you while you practiced killer strings?"
Mu Dishi gave a curt answer. "Yes."
"Any other reasons?" Ma Jingguo pressed.
"No," Mu Dishi stated flatly.
Ma Jingguo smiled, a hint of self-mockery in his tone. "Oh... I thought I was a special person. What a bummer?" He continued to stare at Mu Dishi while stirring his tea. "To be honest, the reason why I decided to wait for you for two days was because when I saw you for the first time, your facial features told me that this person is beautiful from head to toe. He must be a very good person with a heart of gold."
Mu Dishi didn't look at him, instead focusing on the tabletop. "You must be disappointed."
"I am," Ma Jingguo admitted easily. He drank the tea. "Then when you saved me, I realized that my prediction was correct."
"I am not a beautiful person with a heart of gold," Mu Dishi insisted.
Ma Jingguo smiled, correcting him gently. "I know... You are a beautiful person with the icy cold heart of winter."
Mu Dishi finally looked up, meeting Ma Jingguo's eyes. "Jingguo... I remember you once told me that you were tired of chasing me. Since you are tired, do you want to stop chasing after me?"
Ma Jingguo's face tightened instantly. "Xiao shushu, are you leaving me again?"
Mu Dishi met his gaze, his voice devoid of warmth. "I told you a long time ago. Let's make the decision together. You are right, I am a person with the icy cold heart of winter. I have been thinking about it because we are back where we first met. Our story begins in this melancholy Jiangnan mist. Should our story end here, let those memories be buried here?"
"You promised me to listen to me in the future?" Ma Jingguo asked, clinging to that faint hope.
"If you are not satisfied with this decision, then we will forget it," Mu Dishi conceded, a hollow gesture.
Ma Jingguo sighed, his smile dissolving into heartbreak. "What's the point of wanting you to stay when you don't want to stay. Xiao shushu, I really love you and I still love you. No matter how tiresome it is, I will still try to love you, but then I realized that I had been lying to myself. I don't know why loving you would hurt me so much. Recently... I was wondering whether having me by your side makes you happy or am I the only one who thinks that having me beside you makes me happy."
Mu Dishi looked at him, his final decision chillingly firm. "Jingguo, let's break up and sever all relations."
Ma Jingguo sneered, a desperate defense mechanism. "If it's a joke, then it's not funny."
"It's not a joke."
Ma Jingguo gnashed his teeth, the reality piercing him. "You really mean that?"
"Yes..." Mu Dishi confirmed. "Do you agree with this decision?"
"What is the reason you want to break up and sever all relations?" Ma Jingguo demanded.
Mu Dishi answered vaguely. "So, if the person standing next to you is someone other than me, your heart will no longer be hurt."
Ma Jingguo finally broke. "Alright."
"Thank you," Mu Dishi said.
"What do you plan to do after you leave here?" Ma Jingguo asked, his voice now dangerously cold.
"I will go home and stay there."
Ma Jingguo looked at him with icy malice. "Xiao shushu, can I visit you from time to time?"
Mu Dishi refused to meet his eyes. "We'd better not meet again."
Ma Jingguo chuckled, a dark, humorless sound. "Very well. We have always parted on bad terms, but this time it's different."
Mu Dishi stood up. "I'll leave now." He didn't look back at Ma Jingguo, walking slowly toward his home.
Ma Jingguo watched Mu Dishi slowly disappear, his figure fading into the warm afternoon mist. The teacup in his right hand suddenly shattered under the crushing grip of his fury, shards of porcelain and hot tea scattering across the ground. He gritted his teeth, his voice raw with a desolate sense of betrayal.
"Liar... everyone is a liar," he whispered, his eyes fixed on the fractured pieces. "I know you are not going home. You are going to find Wang Biming and take him home with you!"
He chuckled softly, still staring at the distance—the road to Mu Dishi's home, a path he had never been allowed to forget.
"Xiao shushu, oh my beloved xiao shushu... once you enter my life, you don't have the opportunity to leave me!" he murmured, a terrifying, wicked smile spreading across his face.