You are only seven parts drunk, yet you act so well that tears stream down your face.

"Hmph!"

Even with the most meticulous surface composure, Sheng Lanzhi's heart remained deeply unsettled.

The moment she learned of her father's demise, Sheng Lanzhi had already anticipated that Ye Liufeng would immediately come after her with a letter of divorce. Following that, the shops under her name would undoubtedly be targeted by ravenous wolves, carved up and devoured entirely.

Left with no choice, she would be forced to flee the imperial capital and live out the rest of her days in some remote, insignificant town. If fortune favored her, the money in her possession might at least afford her a comfortable latter half of life. But should fortune forsake her—such a grim scenario was something Sheng Lanzhi simply dared not even imagine.

This was precisely why, upon discovering that Ye Liufeng was dead and that the man before her was actually Ye Liuyun, her very first instinct had been to cling to him for protection. Constrained by the limitations of the era, a woman ultimately found it exceedingly difficult to survive alone amidst a pack of predatory wolves.

*'I suppose Elder Brother must have desperately wished to see this outcome as well.'*

Seeing the tension melt away from Sheng Lanzhi's face, Ye Liuyun sighed inwardly. Ye Liufeng certainly would have wanted him to take good care of Sheng Lanzhi, after all.

And on Sheng Lanzhi's end:

*'That good-for-nothing Ye Liufeng, his death is truly a blessing.'*

Now that she thought about it, it was fortunate that Ye Liufeng had died. Otherwise, given today's circumstances, Ye Liufeng would likely not only have sought to divorce her, but also attempted to strip away all the shops currently in her grasp.

***

Perhaps to mend the relationship between herself and Ye Liuyun, Sheng Lanzhi poured him another cup of wine while recounting various episodes from her life, dating back to her childhood.

She spoke of how her father had drilled into her from a young age the ideology that, to achieve one's goals, any means were justified. Not just Sheng Lanzhi, but all of her sisters had been raised with this very mindset. In a sense, Sheng Li had always regarded his daughters merely as tools to accumulate connections and influence for himself.

No one is born knowing how to scheme and calculate; they are merely molded by influences, little by little.

Ye Liuyun simply listened quietly from the side, nodding from time to time. He felt this situation was somewhat reminiscent of a corporate team-building event prior to his transmigration, where the boss would drink wine while droning on about how difficult things were for him.

They would drink until they were seven parts intoxicated, putting on such a tear-jerking performance that you would practically weep right along with them. In short, they would describe their hardships in every imaginable way, as if doing so would magically elicit sympathy from others.

Though he thought this to himself, Ye Liuyun had no intention of interrupting her. For no other reason than the simple fact that Sheng Lanzhi was exceptionally beautiful.

Such was the blunt reality.

Even if Sheng Lanzhi were replaced by some rugged, burly man, Ye Liuyun guaranteed he would have given them a swift kick straight out the door. Was he really that idle? He had no time to waste on such nonsense.

Moreover, as Sheng Lanzhi spoke, she would intentionally or unintentionally lean closer to him.

The more she did so, the more Ye Liuyun marveled at what a magnificent thing strength truly was. As long as one was powerful enough, whatever they desired would willingly and obediently deliver itself right to their doorstep.

"Hmm?"

However, when Sheng Lanzhi brought up the cause of her father's death, Ye Liuyun suddenly paused, casting a peculiar look in her direction.

"Your father was killed by a jianghu bandit?"

According to Sheng Lanzhi's account, Sheng Li had been murdered by a martial arts bandit who had escaped from the celestial prison, rather than anything related to Commander Wan.

"Is something wrong?"

Noticing Ye Liuyun's expression, Sheng Lanzhi grew somewhat puzzled herself.

"My father once served in the Ministry of Punishments, trying and sentencing numerous criminals. Naturally, he offended quite a few people along the way. Among them was a notorious martial arts bandit known as the 'Cloud-Overturning Dragon.' Because he lacked the money to bribe my father, I heard he was taught a brutal lesson. Word has it that the moment he broke out of the celestial prison, his very first priority was to exact vengeance upon my father."

No wonder. The maids and servants in the Sheng family estate had all been slaughtered that day—it was a textbook method of bloody retaliation.

"Tch!"

Ye Liuyun suddenly realized something.

If Sheng Li's death had nothing to do with that Commander Wan, then why on earth had Lu Quan come leaping out to provoke him in the first place?

Ah, right! The man must have simply loved acting like a贱人 (a cheap, courting-death provocateur)!

Look at that—meddling in something that had nothing to do with him, jumping out to stir up trouble, and now look where it got him. Dead by his own hands.

If Lu Quan hadn't jumped out to court death before his eyes that day, Ye Liuyun genuinely wouldn't have given it a second thought, nor would he have ever connected Sheng Li's murder to Lu Quan and Commander Wan.

"What is it?"

Noticing Ye Liuyun lost in thought and silent, Sheng Lanzhi called out to him with a hint of curiosity.

"It's nothing!"

Recovering his senses, Ye Liuyun chuckled and shook his head. "I just didn't expect that prisoners could actually manage to escape from a place like the celestial prison."

Logically speaking, security in the celestial prison should have been the most rigorous of all—even stricter than the Imperial Prison. To think someone actually managed to break out of a place like that, tsk tsk!

"Such is the impermanence of the world, I suppose!"

Sheng Lanzhi let out a soft sigh of her own. She didn't dwell on it; after all, the dead were already dead, and pondering it further served no purpose.

After chatting for a little while longer, seeing that the hour was growing late and there was no need to continue, Ye Liuyun watched as Sheng Lanzhi showed slight signs of intoxication, and promptly instructed a nearby maid to help her back to her chamber.

As for Ye Liuyun himself, he returned to the detached courtyard.

Along the way, he pulled out the lightness skill manual he had just acquired from Sheng Lanzhi.

*The Nine-Fold Phantom Body.*

A martial art that, once mastered to the pinnacle, allowed one's movements to become as ghostly and elusive as a phantom, leaving behind as many as nine illusory afterimages. With reality and illusion intertwined, it rendered it completely impossible for an enemy to discern one's true body.

As he walked back to the courtyard, he scanned the manual in his hand.

Meanwhile, Xing'er followed quietly and obediently by his side.

"Did you know all along?"

Right at that moment, Ye Liuyun suddenly spoke up.

"?"

Lost in her own thoughts, Xing'er was visibly startled by this abrupt question.

Without lifting his eyes from the manual, Ye Liuyun continued in a casual tone, "Did you know that I wasn't Ye Liufeng from the very beginning?"

Fully aware of what Ye Liuyun was asking, Xing'er hesitated for a moment before lowering her gaze and whispering softly, "Yes, Master."

Xing'er had indeed realized something was amiss with Ye Liuyun very early on. She simply hadn't mentioned it to a single soul.

"Is my acting really that terrible?"

Closing the manual, Ye Liuyun couldn't help but wonder if his disguise had truly been so abysmal. How was it that everyone seemed able to see right through it?

She had initially harbored some anxiety that Ye Liuyun might punish her for keeping this secret. But upon hearing his self-doubting tone, Xing'er couldn't suppress a small smile.

"In the beginning, this servant merely found it strange, but later on... it seemed the master had no intention of hiding it anyway."

It had nothing to do with acting skills.

Because he hadn't bothered to act at all.

"So that's how it was!"

Put that way, it made sense. As his strength had grown progressively formidable over time, Ye Liuyun's behavior had naturally grown increasingly unrestrained and bold.

He did whatever he pleased, with zero regard for maintaining his assumed identity.