"Master, this river is too shallow. Even if you jump in, you'll only end up with a bloody head. It's far from fulfilling your wish to drown in boundless blue waves. As your disciple, I advise you—if you want to jump, first buy a swift horse, gallop eight hundred miles east, then find a place with beautiful scenery, azure waters, and a high cliff before you leap. First, that’s the only way you’ll actually die; second, only such a setting would match your dashing, charming, and universally adored persona..." A voice suddenly spoke from behind. Fang Pingzhai had finished playing his tune at some point and now stood leisurely behind him.
Liu Yan remained unmoved. He was long accustomed to Fang Pingzhai’s nonsensical ramblings, but the moment Fang Pingzhai opened his mouth, he realized his thoughts had wandered far away. His mind had strayed far from the antidote for the Ape-Demon Nine Heart Pill. Once again, he’d lost his focus. If only he had A-Li’s willpower—but he didn’t.
"Master—Master—" Fang Pingzhai circled him twice. "Tonight, do you want roasted chicken or grilled fish? There’s rice in the house, but with just the two of us men, lighting a fire and cooking is too much trouble. And your talented disciple’s grilling skills are peerless and unparalleled under heaven..."
"Shut up!" Liu Yan snapped impatiently. After a pause, he asked indifferently, "What do you want to eat?"
"Master, do you have the patience to make fish congee? Haha, the taste of the fish congee you made last time was truly intoxicating." Fang Pingzhai, with the red-feathered fan tucked behind his neck and drumsticks in hand, twirled them around his wrist upon hearing this, knowing Liu Yan planned to cook tonight. Though this master’s face was stern and cold, his temper gloomy and unyielding, he was kind-hearted at his core. If you pestered him enough, repeated your request once, twice, thrice, or even four times, he’d eventually agree to anything.
Master was a good man, after all...
Humming a tune, Fang Pingzhai sat by the stream fishing. If Zhu Yan didn’t exist in this world, if Master were a beautiful woman, this life could go on forever—until his sons had sons, and grandsons had grandsons...
Inside the house, Liu Yan struggled to light the fire. He was never skilled at this task, and each attempt filled the room with thick smoke. Today was no exception. By the time Fang Pingzhai caught his fourth fish, Liu Yan finally got the fire going—only to realize the reason it wouldn’t light earlier was because Fang Pingzhai had stuffed snow-laden branches into the stove. The melting snow had dampened the firewood, causing it to smoke heavily. He felt a surge of irritation, wondering if Fang Pingzhai had done it on purpose, but the anger soon dissipated on its own.
Fang Pingzhai wasn’t bad to him. Though he only wanted to learn the Sound Assassination Technique, at least he was someone who rarely troubled Liu Yan and often endured his temper without complaint.
He set up the earthen pot, added the soaked rice, and stood by the stove, lost in thought most of the time.
When A Shui stepped into Chicken Coop Mountain Manor, she was met with a room full of white smoke. Fang Pingzhai was happily fishing by the stream, while waves of half-black, half-white smoke drifted from the windows, chimney, and doorway. Startled, Yu Tuan'er widened her eyes. When they both rushed into the kitchen, they found Liu Yan cooking congee.
He paid no attention to the weak fire beneath the stove or the thick smoke filling the room. He simply stood by the stove, gazing at the pot of rice as it simmered faintly."Hey! What are you doing?" Yu Tuan'er laughed, rushing over to grab his hand. "Is it ready? I'm hungry." Liu Yan was startled and turned around to see A Shui holding Feng Feng at the doorway while Yu Tuan'er grinned at him. For a moment, he was at a loss for words.
Feng Feng coughed violently from the smoke filling the room, tiny finger pointing accusingly at Liu Yan as she glared and chanted, "Bad bad bad bad bad bad bad..." A Shui couldn't help but chuckle. "Let me handle this." She handed Feng Feng to Yu Tuan'er and said softly, "Why don’t you two go for a walk? I’ll call you when the congee is ready."
Liu Yan's expression was unreadable, but his eyes flickered between joy and anger. Suddenly, he spoke coldly, "Did Tang Lici send you here?" Yu Tuan'er cheered, "Yes! I thought he was a bad guy at first, but turns out he’s really nice! He had Brother Yu bring us here!" She peered at the half-cooked congee in the pot. "What are you making? You can cook too?" Still holding Feng Feng, she leaned closer to the pot, but the little girl kept coughing. Liu Yan abruptly threw down the ladle, grabbed his crutch, and hobbled outside.
Yu Tuan'er immediately followed, one arm cradling Feng Feng while the other steadied Liu Yan, her steps light as a swallow’s.
They disappeared into the woods beyond the door.
A Shui pulled out the damp firewood, scooped some water from the jar, and doused the smoking logs. The kitchen cleared as the smoke thinned, and the surroundings suddenly seemed vast and empty. She stoked the fire, covered the pot, and glanced around—no vegetables, no eggs, no ginger or scallions. A jar of salt and a bottle of oil sat lonely on the counter, salt spilled everywhere, oil smeared across half the stove.
A warmth rose in her chest, tugging at the corners of her lips, though the smile never fully formed. Soon, that faint amusement melted into quiet sorrow. She remembered Liu Yan’s face as it once was—his arrogance, his cruelty when he commanded the Dissolute Shop, the countless girls who had adored him, his mastery of the qin, the xiao, the pipa, his poetry, his paintings...
He had been one step away from ruling the martial world.
Now, disfigured and crippled, stripped of his martial arts, he stood before a stove cooking congee—yet without a trace of resentment.
The fire’s warmth slowly grew, and with it, the buried memories in her heart seemed to unravel thread by thread. The fierce, wild Liu Yan imprinted in her mind gradually faded, and even the icy child hidden deep within her seemed easier to forget. He... brought more warmth than Tang Lici ever could.
Perhaps he just didn’t realize it himself.The porridge in the pot bubbled vigorously as she lifted the lid and stirred it slowly with a ladle. Fang Pingzhai walked in carrying a string of live fish. She gave him a faint smile, which he returned. "Beauty, what a beauty..." he murmured to himself as he began scaling and gutting the fish. "I caught seven live ones—the big ones we'll grill, the small ones for porridge. What do you think?" A Shui chuckled. "If you don't mind, we could also make a fish soup. Leave it to me, Brother Fang."
Fang Pingzhai grinned. "Actually, when Master cooks himself, the results aren't bad. I thought you'd be happy to see him in the kitchen." A Shui paused. "Happy?" Fang Pingzhai laughed. "Don't women like seeing men in the kitchen? It shows they're caring, patient, tender, and romantic." A Shui murmured softly, "Tender and romantic?" She smiled at him. "Truthfully, I've never had any expectations about how a man should be."
"Ha! Men—" Fang Pingzhai grinned back. "Really, someone like Master isn't bad—a pushover, guileless, only ever angry at himself. Though he often wants to jump into the sea, he's too trapped by unfinished business to actually do it..." Before he could finish, A Shui laughed again. "Brother Fang always cuts to the heart of things." She sighed faintly. "I used to think Liu Yan wasn't a good person—too willful, disregarding others' feelings, sometimes acting as if he didn't care whether anyone lived or died. When he commanded those White-Clad Servants and Red-Clad Servants, he was so cold it was as if those women weren't risking their lives for him. He should have been a very callous man." She paused, then added quietly, "But he wasn’t. I think he just wanted to learn Young Master Tang’s methods of manipulating situations, to mimic his ruthlessness. But... he only ended up harming himself and others along the way."
"Ha!" Fang Pingzhai circled halfway around her, turning to face the door. "Others harmed by him just die. But when he harms himself, he doesn’t even dare to die."
With that, he sauntered off.
A Shui watched his retreating figure. Brother Fang was a mysterious man. Though his martial arts weren’t peerless, both Yu Konghou and Gui Mudan wanted him to join the Dissolute Shop.
Why was that? Brother Fang was gentle with everyone. Perhaps he had other motives for many things, but he bore no ill will toward anyone.
So why were Yu Konghou and Gui Mudan so insistent on having him join the Dissolute Shop?
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