FID – Chapter 947

Chapter 947: Go Find a Gu Woman to Marry Into the Family

After their roughhousing, everyone gathered again in the main hall. Feng Qingbai got straight to the point with Xue Qinglian, “Since you’ve recovered, you’ll be going to the Southern Border personally.”

“Can’t you put that a little more nicely?” Xue Qinglian pouted. “Like saying you’re worried I’ll be killed by Gu worms and are urging me to head south to find a way to survive. That way, at least I’d feel a bit better hearing it.”

“Why should I care if you feel better?”

“Feng Qingbai, you weren’t this heartless before,” Xue Qinglian sat up straighter and glared at him. “When I passed out in pain, you were so worried. You even carried me back yourself. You sent Badou and Hongdou into the palace just to save me. Now suddenly you’re all cold and ruthless?”

“So what?” Feng Qingbai narrowed his eyes.

“My heart hurts!”

As soon as the words left his mouth—CRASH!—the hall was filled with the sound of things being knocked over.

The three uninvolved quickly backed away, retreating from the impending chaos.

Qian Wanjin hid behind Shi Xianrou, but still poked his head out and shouted, “That guy’s begging for a beating! Feng Qingbai, don’t hold back! If you don’t give him a proper thrashing now, he’ll be flirting with you again in no time. You’re a King! A King’s dignity must not be violated!”

Liu Yusheng and Shi Xianrou immediately reached out and shoved Qian Wanjin’s head back into place. “Quiet down, or you’ll be the one howling next.”

“And it’ll be a double beating too.”

Qian Wanjin immediately sat upright, putting on a serious face. “Why would I get dragged into this? I didn’t do anything.”

Then, with a very solemn tone, he called out to the two fighting, “Enough, enough, stop fighting already! Come back and talk business. Once we’re done, Xue Qinglian has to set off. We only get, what, half an hour together at most? And you’re wasting it brawling, how childish is that?”

Liu Yusheng and Shi Xianrou: “…”

When someone was determined to get themselves killed, no one else could stop them.

Inside the hall, the chaos only escalated. Feathers flew, dogs barked, and the whole place was a mess.

By the time the dust settled, two black-and-blue figures stood in the middle of the room, so beaten their backs couldn’t even straighten.

“Do I really have to go to the Southern Border?” Xue Qinglian pulled out a swelling and bruise-reducing ointment from his chest and gently applied it to his face as he asked.

“You’ve always loved studying anything remotely related to medicine. Gu witchcraft might not be medicine, but when it comes to harming people, it’s practically the twin sibling of your poisons.” 

The unspoken message: You’ve found your paradise—now go already.”

“The Life Link Gu is said to be incurable. And even if there is a cure, would they really help an outsider like me? The Southern Border is extremely xenophobic. They’ve stayed mysterious all these years precisely because they never accept outsiders, so barely any information ever leaks out.”

“That’s easy.” Qian Wanjin reached out and snatched the ointment from his hand, smearing it on his own face. “They reject outsiders, sure, but they don’t reject their own people, right? Just become one of them. Go find a Gu woman and marry into her family.”

“You bastard—believe it or not, I’ll poison you before I leave.”

“Pfft! Heard that a hundred times. Got anything new? You think I’m scared of you?”

Xue Qinglian smirked and gave a pointed glance toward Qian Wanjin’s lower half, smiling wickedly. “You’re marrying Shitou in November, right? Imagine if you can’t perform on your wedding night. Think about how long that story would haunt you, eh?”

“F—! Xue Qinglian, don’t push me or we’re enemies for life!” Qian Wanjin exploded, diving behind Shi Xianrou for cover. At moments like these, only a man’s wife could be trusted.

What was a man’s greatest shame? It was not failing the imperial exam—it was failing in the bridal chamber!

“Coward,” Xue Qinglian mocked.

“You know nothing. This is called knowing when to bend or stand firm.”

Feng Qingbai stood up, pulling Liu Yusheng along. He clearly was unwilling to spend another moment with the two fools. They were dragging down the class of the entire room.

“That settles it. After lunch, you’re setting off.”

No discussion, no negotiation. He was getting kicked straight out of the King’s Manor, all packed and ready to go.

“Fine, I’ll go. Happy now?” Xue Qinglian sighed.

After all, it concerned his own life. He wasn’t afraid of dying, but he refused to die at the hands of some bug.

A famed Dead No Treatment poison master, brought down by a Gu worm? That would be a joke for the ages.

Before leaving, he made a stop at the room next to his in Liuyun Pavilion to take one last look at the man who had been left there, nearly forgotten.

The man lay motionless, still wearing the same tattered clothes he had had on when dragged out of prison, so filthy and bloodstained that their original color was impossible to tell.

Hair disheveled, face grimy, his appearance was withered and old—like a dying candle in the wind. His limbs were tightly bound with iron chains to prevent any sudden movement that might harm others. Even his mouth was stuffed with a cloth gag, to keep him from biting off his own tongue.

Xue Qinglian walked slowly up to the man. Under that bloodshot, glaring stare, he untied the cloth from the man’s mouth and tossed it aside.

There was no need for it anymore. He knew his uncle’s nature better than anyone. No matter how low or hopeless he fell, the man would never take his own life.

He feared death too much, always clinging to the fantasy that one day, he might rise again.

“Uncle, let me be blunt. You’re a cripple now. Even if someone handed you the power to rule the world, what could you actually do with it? You need help to eat, drink, and relieve yourself. You can’t even have children. Clinging to life like this is just a waste of time.”

He walked over and sat down across from the man, keeping a good distance from the stench that made one want to gag.

He calmly met the man’s eyes, his gaze unwavering and composed, as if the man had never once tried to take his life.

“This will be the last time I come to see you. After today, I won’t return. I owe you nothing now, so there’s nothing more I need to repay. Seeing you like this… honestly, I find it quite satisfying.” He paused, then added, “I’m not crippled. I wonder if that disappoints you. If it does, well—tough luck. Today I leave the King’s Manor. Whatever leverage you thought you had with me, consider it gone. Before I go, though, I’ll give you one last chance. Is there anything you want to say to me?”

The man glared at him, eyes cloudy and vicious, peering out from behind filthy strands of hair. The sliver of light in those eyes was cold and sinister.

After a long silence, the man finally rasped, voice hoarse and ugly, “Where is Xue Honglian?”

“Pfft!” Xue Qinglian suddenly burst out laughing, clutching his stomach. “Uncle, what a ridiculous question. You killed that guy, don’t you remember?”

“Bring him out!”

“Bring him out? For what?” Xue Qinglian’s laughter faded, replaced by a cold expression. He stood up. “To let him continue being blindly loyal to you? Even now, you’re still trying to use him?”

He stepped closer until he was right in front of the man, then spoke clearly, enunciating every word: “He told me to tell you. Xue Honglian is dead. From now on, there is only Qinglian!”

He re-tied the cloth around the man’s mouth, silencing whatever words he had left to say.

Then, stepping back a few paces, he looked at the man who was practically bulging his eyes out in rage, and nodded in satisfaction. “Yes, it’s much more peaceful with you tied up like that. Uncle, we won’t be meeting again.”

Without looking back, he left the suffocating room. As he stepped out the door, a group of people stood there.

Feng Qingbai, Liu Yusheng, Qian Wanjin, and Shi Xianrou.

The moment he crossed the threshold, each of them looked at him. Beneath their calm gazes lay deep concern for him.

It was like a tightly clenched heart suddenly relaxing, the coldness in his chest dispelled by a warm feeling.

“So what, did you only realize I’m good to you now that I’m leaving? Are you feeling reluctant to see me go?”

“If I were leaving, I’d hurry up and go. Who’s reluctant?” Qian Wanjin snorted and tossed him a brocade pouch. “I hear Southern Border is a godforsaken place full of savages. If force and poison won’t work, just bribe them with silver. Who doesn’t love money?”