At this moment, Suo Lun was holding his daughter Qin Qin and drawing a picture.
Having restored his true appearance, he could fully display his artistic skill. His sketch portraits were executed with consummate mastery, practically making the subjects leap off the paper as if alive.
Right now, he was drawing A Shi Yuan Ba.
In the picture, A Shi Yuan Ba was looking at Qin Qin, that domineering yet carefully cautious little expression rendered vividly to life.
Suo Lun held his daughter while painting, while in a corner nearby stood Fu Yan Er with an ingratiating smile.
This shameless woman had discovered that trying to please Suo Lun was useless; he would never give her a good expression.
Pleasing the daughter was the proper way, because Suo Lun doted on his daughter. As long as her relationship with the daughter was inseparable, then her relationship with Suo Lun would also be inseparable.
All along, Qin Qin had been very well-behaved. Even though Fu Yan Er was not very good to her, sometimes hitting her to vent anger, often pinching her, and being perfunctory with meals.
But every time someone scolded Fu Yan Er or was unkind to her, Qin Qin would cry.
In her heart, no matter how bad Fu Yan Er was, she was still Mother, still her closest person.
But now, the situation seemed to have changed somewhat.
Little Qin Qin seemed not to care about her mother anymore, always clinging to Father, and not being so close to her mother Fu Yan Er either.
Suo Lun had always been cold and harsh towards Fu Yan Er, yet Qin Qin showed no intention of standing up for her mother.
Immediately, Fu Yan Er could not help but think inwardly, what an ungrateful little thing, having a father and forgetting mother, after all the effort of raising you so big.
…
A Shi Liren charged in aggressively. The first thing she saw was the portrait of her son, so full of spirit and lifelike, as if truly real.
Immediately, Liren’s heart softened slightly.
The second thing A Shi Liren saw was Qin Qin, this little girl who had almost become her daughter-in-law.
When Qin Qin saw her, she immediately gave a sweet smile.
This little girl was almost always silent, even melancholic.
Liren had never seen her laugh so happily, truly like a flower in bloom.
Qin Qin was very clever. Because her growing environment had been special, she had learned to read expressions at a young age. She could have easily seen that A Shi Liren was angry, was furious.
However, she was too happy and joyful now, already beginning to ignore everything around her, beginning to focus on her own happiness.
This was a good thing. Children should be self-centred; they should not have to pay attention to others’ expressions at such a young age. This showed that Qin Qin was recovering the mentality a little girl ought to have.
Seeing Qin Qin’s smile, A Shi Liren’s heart softened again.
She had originally planned to come up directly, deliver several slaps, then beat Suo Lun half to death before saying anything more.
But now, he was drawing a portrait of her son Yuan Ba, and still holding Qin Qin. How could A Shi Liren bring herself to strike?
“I have something to discuss with you. Come with me,” A Shi Liren said coldly.
Fu Yan Er immediately stepped forward and said, “Watch your tone. My husband is the City Lord of Tianshui, a vassal of the kingdom. You are merely the daughter of a vassal.”
She had long been displeased with A Shi Liren, so cold, so proud, and so beautiful.
Moreover, she felt this sentence was said with great sophistication, standing up for Suo Lun.
“Step aside.”
“Step aside.”
Suo Lun and A Shi Liren spoke almost in unison.
Qin Qin put away her smile, looked towards her mother, and showed sadness.
Oh, Suo Lun now understood.
Qin Qin did not not care about her mother. Rather, it was acceptable for Suo Lun to be cold to Fu Yan Er, but not for others.
“Darling, go play with Mother. Aunt Liren and I need to speak a few words,” Suo Lun said, then handed Qin Qin to Fu Yan Er.
“Husband, do not yield to her. Your status is higher than hers,” Fu Yan Er still said ingratiatingly towards Suo Lun, even putting on a coquettish tone.
Suo Lun was already at his wit’s end with this woman.
Cold treatment was useless, scolding was useless, sarcasm went ununderstood. He could not very well beat her up, could he?
In any case, no matter how you treated her, she still threw flirtatious glances at you, or came over to touch and feel, stealing kisses and groping about.
Suo Lun could see clearly that Fu Yan Er had long been trained at the Qiu Feng Academy, already completely immune to cold words and sarcastic speech, with a face thick beyond measure.
Now she only had one thing on her mind: get Suo Lun into bed again, then compete for favour, continuously raising her status in Tianshui City.
Fu Yan Er carried away her reluctant daughter, and only A Shi Liren and Suo Lun remained in the room.
…
Originally, A Shi Liren had charged in directly to beat him.
But the first burst of energy is strongest, the second weaker, the third exhausted. Having failed to beat him upon charging in, she could not beat him now.
“The edict ennobling me was prepared by you long ago?” A Shi Liren said coldly.
“Yes,” Suo Lun said. “I wrote it last night.”
A Shi Liren was startled.
She had assumed that this edict was written by the King long ago, merely brought over by Suo Lun. Not only she thought this, everyone thought this.
She had not expected that this imperial edict was actually written by Suo Lun last night.
The significance this represented was extraordinary. Drafting imperial edicts was the King’s power. And now Suo Lun had actually written an edict, which meant the King had given him blank edicts with all seals and jade stamps, for Suo Lun to fill in as he pleased.
This was heaven-defying trust, heaven-defying power.
This completely represented that within the Ji Yan faction, Suo Lun possessed absolute authority where what he said went.
But this was not the purpose of A Shi Liren seeking him out.
Liren said coldly, “This edict could clearly have been issued to me several days later, yet you specifically had the three Gao eunuchs deliver it to me today, precisely to let everyone see the flaw. To make everyone think that I am in collusion with you, in collusion with Princess Ji Yan, is that right?”
Suo Lun nodded and said, “Yes.”
A Shi Liren was startled. The previous Suo Lun had been such a gentleman, always cultured and refined at any time.
Now when he nodded and said yes, how could it be so shameless and roguish?
A Shi Liren said, “This is forcing yourself upon me, compelling me to stand on Princess Ji Yan’s side, on your side, is that right?”
“Yes,” Suo Lun nodded.
A Shi Liren said, “Then the secret of Suo Lun impersonating Yan Zi Yu and infiltrating the A Shi Liren residence, you also leaked it yourself? The purpose was to make everyone feel that I have an ambiguous relationship with you, is that right?”
“Yes,” Suo Lun nodded.
“Shameless…” A Shi Liren could endure no longer and delivered a slap.
“Smack…” A crisp sound.
Suo Lun’s face went cold, then hurt, then numb, followed by burning pain.
A Shi Liren once again looked at Suo Lun in disbelief. Had this person not always been a gentleman before? How had he suddenly become such a shameless rogue?
“You are simply beyond shame…” A Shi Liren said through gritted teeth. She truly did not know how to curse.
Suo Lun rubbed his slapped face, shrugged his shoulders, and acknowledged his roguishness.
A Shi Liren was about to deliver another slap.
As a result, Suo Lun had already turned his other cheek and was waiting there. She had hit the left cheek just now, so now he offered the right.
A Shi Liren was truly about to go mad with anger, her bosom heaving continuously.
As she breathed heavily, the air became charmingly fragrant, though the temperature in the air also dropped considerably.
Before this, she truly would have slapped him to death with one palm.
For someone like Suo Lun, she could kill ten a day without blinking an eye.
But now, he was not only her son’s teacher, but had completely won Yuan Ba’s worship and admiration.
Moreover, he had become connected to her family through their children’s betrothal.
A Shi Liren could be without feeling towards others, but Qin Qin had been with her for a month or two, so cute, so lovable.
In her heart, Qin Qin was the same as A Nan. Especially since she and Suo Lun had previously agreed to a marriage alliance, to marry Qin Qin to Yuan Ba in the future.
So now she truly could not bring herself to act against Suo Lun. If she truly beat him to death, how sad Yuan Ba would be, how sad A Nan would be, and Qin Qin would be heartbroken. Moreover, he had twice saved her life!
Suo Lun knew precisely this point and thus acted with utter shamelessness, shameless, shameless, shameless…
A Shi Liren said coldly, “Are you not afraid that I will publicly declare allegiance to Ji Li?”
Suo Lun shrugged and said, “It would be useless. The moment you, as a woman, succeeded to the position of City Lord of Rouan, you violated Ji Li’s great taboo, trampled upon his bottom line. Because this is the zero breakthrough of the Raging Wave Kingdom, paving the way for Ji Yan to inherit the throne. This is a matter of principle, ten times more important than the allegiance of three or five vassals.”
A Shi Liren closed her eyes.
Suo Lun said, “Liren…”
Before he could finish speaking, A Shi Liren said coldly, “Do not call my name. Our relationship has not reached that point.”
Suo Lun nodded, then still unrepentantly said, “Liren, we have no way back…”
“Do not say we. You are you, I am I…” A Shi Liren said.
“Neither of us has any way back,” Suo Lun said. “From the moment you became City Lord of Rouan, you became Ji Li’s enemy, unless you abandon this position.”
“I am only holding Rouan City in place of Yuan Ba for a few years, not the true City Lord of Rouan,” A Shi Liren said.
Suo Lun said, “In the King’s edict, there are no words like ‘acting on behalf of.’ You could say you are a transitional City Lord, but not an acting City Lord.”
On the edict, Suo Lun had written it very clearly. This was deliberate.
A Shi Liren was immediately trembling with anger, her hand involuntarily twitching, about to deliver another slap.
But she knew that hitting someone was a sign of incompetence, especially hitting someone whose martial arts were far inferior to yours.
Then, she sneered and said, “Suo Lun, were you not a gentleman before? How have you become so shameless now?”
Suo Lun said, “When gentlemanly means do not work, use the means of a petty man.”
Liren truly wanted to say, for petty men like you, I could kill ten a day.
But she could not truly kill him.
“Suo Lun, besides helping me ascend to the position of City Lord of Rouan, your task also includes making me publicly support Princess Ji Yan, is that right? This point is indispensable, is that right?” A Shi Liren said.
Suo Lun nodded.
Though A Shi Liren holding Rouan City as a woman was already breaking tradition, naturally standing on Princess Ji Yan’s side.
But Rouan City’s public declaration of allegiance was also extremely important, even serving as a weathervane.
So, until Rouan City publicly declared support for Ji Yan, Suo Lun’s mission could not be considered complete.
A Shi Liren said coldly, “I absolutely will not support Ji Yan. In this struggle I am absolutely neutral. Give up this notion.”
Then, she said resolutely, “Rouan City does not welcome you. Before dawn the day after tomorrow, all of you must leave here, or the consequences will be at your own risk. If I discover you in Rouan City again, do not think I will not act to kill. I will use military force to expel you!”
Having spoken, A Shi Liren turned and left.
…
That night, in a certain secret house in Rouan City.
“Woof woof woof…”
Suo Lun looked at the two beautiful human dogs on the ground, extremely restless, showing agitation, constantly pacing around the room.
One of them was the daughter of the sorcerer Yao Meng. The identity of the other girl was unknown.
This was A Shi Luo’s secret base in Rouan City, but now it was completely deserted.
Some people had been captured by the Divine Dragon Temple, some had been taken away by A Shi Liren.
In the end, two beautiful human dogs remained, handed over to Suo Lun.
Because Suo Lun had promised the sorcerer Yao Meng that he would bring her daughter home.
Suo Lun had once had a female warrior try to liberate the two girls from their dog skins.
But it was as if this would kill them. They desperately howled, even biting people, refusing to remove the fur on their bodies at the cost of their lives.
Since A Shi Luo’s death, these two beautiful human dogs had been in extreme unease, constantly howling, pacing frantically back and forth. No one could calm them down.
Suo Lun looked at the two little beauties’ red eyes, and their constantly expectant gazes towards the door, as if waiting for their master to enter.
What a sin. These two beautiful human dogs completely considered themselves dogs, and with what loyalty and dependence a dog has towards its master, they had that same dependence.
On Earth, Suo Lun did not know how many times he had seen it. When a master was in a bad mood, they would casually deliver a fierce kick to their dog.
But the dog would not know resentment, still shamelessly rubbing up to please.
These two beautiful human dogs, A Shi Luo had raised for over ten years, beginning to condition them from when they were a few years old.
That is to say, in their limited lives, the vast majority had been spent as dogs. Whether they could become human again in the future was truly hard to say.
Suo Lun now understood one thing clearly.
A Shi Luo was very pitiful, very tragic, very admirable, but he also deserved to die.
His death held no injustice. The crimes he committed truly deserved death. This point would not change because of his feelings towards his sister A Shi Liren, nor because of his loyalty to Suo Lun.
But the Demon Continent’s master Demon Sect, and the Divine Dragon Temple, who had turned A Shi Luo into what he was, deserved to die even more.
The two beautiful human dogs before him were A Shi Luo’s sins, but even more so the sins of the Divine Dragon Temple, the sins of the Demon Continent.
Suo Lun gently stroked their necks and said softly, “I will do my best to seek justice for you.”
At this time, a high-ranking Shadow Pavilion expert beside him said, “Count Suo Lun, if these two girls continue like this, they will not last a few days. They completely refuse to eat, drink, or sleep.”
There was one thing Suo Lun had said wrong. The two beautiful human dogs before him might be even more loyal than real dogs.
With their master A Shi Luo dead, they would also follow by refusing food and sleep until death.
“Drug them unconscious, force-feed them, bring them back to Tianshui City, and hand them over to her biological mother,” Suo Lun said.
“Yes,” the Shadow Pavilion expert said.
…
Another day passed.
Rouan City was still in an uproar. Under A Shi Zhuo’s串联, forces opposing A Shi Liren were restless, ready to erupt at any moment.
Moreover, rumours about A Shi Liren and Suo Lun had grown increasingly fierce.
In the rumours, A Shi Liren and Suo Lun had already battled three thousand rounds, sleeping together repeatedly in the Raging Wave Kingdom.
Even, in the rumours, A Shi Liren was already pregnant, and people swore that in the future she would kill A Shi Yuan Ba and let her own son with Suo Lun inherit the position of City Lord of Rouan.
Such despicable rumours were of course spread by opposing forces like A Shi Zhuo.
By now, news of the dramatic changes in Rouan City had been spread in all directions by countless messengers and countless carrier pigeons.
Clearly, this place had already become a battlefield.
A Shi Zhuo would use all his strength to overthrow, even eliminate, A Shi Liren.
Now, he was still fighting independently.
But soon, Ji Li would join this battlefield, attacking A Shi Liren from inside and outside with A Shi Zhuo, thoroughly eliminating her.
Though Liren had now become the transitional City Lord, she was absolutely surrounded by crises, in extreme danger.
…
Today was the final deadline set by A Shi Liren, and she had already issued a final ultimatum to Suo Lun in her capacity as City Lord of Rouan.
Before the sun rose tomorrow, Suo Lun and his people must all leave Rouan City, or A Shi Liren would completely turn hostile, even resorting to killing.
Liren was a woman who loved and hated clearly, with no room for sand in her eyes. She truly would do so.
Tonight, she had already dispatched several thousand troops to surround the Heavenly Sea Pavilion.
If Suo Lun did not leave by dawn, she would use military force to drive him out.
Tonight’s A Shi Yuan Ba was the happiest, and also the saddest.
Sad because Mother and Teacher had fallen out, and she was even driving Teacher and Qin Qin away.
Before the sun rises tomorrow, they must leave!
And happy, because tonight he could finally sleep together with Mother.
A Shi Yuan Ba displayed a level of good behaviour beyond description, lying in Liren’s quilt, sometimes unable to help laughing out loud, sometimes unable to help feeling sad.
And A Nan had long since fallen asleep. She was still young and did not know what was happening, only often asking why Qin Qin was not coming, begging Mother to bring Qin Qin back. Of course, she would also mention Teacher.
However, her feelings towards Suo Lun were not as deep as A Shi Yuan Ba’s.
“Yuan Ba, let Mother tell you about A Shi Luo, alright?” Liren said softly.
A Shi Yuan Ba nodded. He knew that was his biological father.
Liren thought for a moment and said, “A Shi Luo was the worst person in the world, and also the best person in the world.”
A Shi Yuan Ba suddenly said, “Mother, why don’t you wait until I grow up to tell me? Teacher said that when people are young they do not yet have the ability to distinguish right from wrong, but they will still form first impressions.”
A Shi Liren was startled. Suo Lun and her son had only spent a month or so together, but had already left an indelible mark in his heart.
“He is not your teacher,” A Shi Liren said coldly.
A Shi Yuan Ba stuck out his tongue. Whatever Mother said was whatever, but in his heart he understood everything.
Moreover, he had a little secret he had not told.
Liren had asked him to return the flintlock pistol to Suo Lun, and he had returned it in front of Liren. But in the turn of an eye, Suo Lun had Qin Qin secretly give the flintlock pistol back to A Shi Yuan Ba.
So now this flintlock pistol had been secretly hidden away by A Shi Yuan Ba. When he wanted to play with it in the future, he would have to be careful not to let Mother discover it.
A Shi Liren gently sighed and gently stroked A Shi Yuan Ba’s little face. This child was truly very clever, understanding everything. Ordinary people found it hard to win him over, but once won over, it was hard to shake his position in their heart.
A Shi Liren knew that this little rascal still regarded Suo Lun as the closest person in his heart. And this was something even she, as his mother, could not change.
“Sleep, you little brat…” Liren rarely called out affectionately, then patted his little face with slightly more force, making a small punishment for his disobedience.
A Shi Yuan Ba immediately closed his eyes to sleep with nearly exaggerated effort.
After a good while, his breathing became calm and peaceful, truly asleep.
A Shi Liren looked at her son’s face with tender love. Her younger brother A Shi Luo was dead. The child before her was not only his only flesh and blood, but also A Shi Liren’s only family member, truly her lifeblood now.
Her Dragon Yin Death Vein would not let her live many more years. In the limited precious years to come, she would live only for her son.
“Little Ba, for you, Mother is willing to do anything, anything at all,” Liren gently stroked A Shi Yuan Ba’s sleeping little face, murmuring to herself.
But immediately after, A Shi Yuan Ba’s sleep-talk made Liren both flush red and feel incomparably heartbroken.
In his sleep, A Shi Yuan Ba kept talking in his dreams, pitifully begging and crying out.
“Teacher, Daddy please don’t go…”
“Daddy, Teacher please don’t go…”
“Teacher Daddy please don’t go…”
Undoubtedly, the Daddy and Teacher in A Shi Yuan Ba’s mouth were the same person, that was Suo Lun.
A Shi Yuan Ba had never felt what a father was. This position had always been empty.
In the short less than two months of interaction, his admiration and worship of Suo Lun, plus Suo Lun’s meticulous education and care for him, caused A Shi Yuan Ba to elevate Suo Lun in his heart to fill the vacant position of father.
Hearing A Shi Yuan Ba’s pleading sleep-talk, A Shi Liren’s heart was incomparably bitter and sad.
If before this, she could still conjure a figure in her heart, she could still say that Yuan Ba had a father, that was Yan Ping.
And now, Yan Ping had already become an ugly name.
A Shi Liren’s heart was already completely empty.
Now Suo Lun had already become the other half of A Shi Yuan Ba’s dependence.
And this was a role that A Shi Liren could not play well no matter how hard she tried.
Should she really drive Suo Lun away? Should she really be so heartless, making the child sad?
Immediately, A Shi Liren could no longer endure the pain in her heart. She left the quilt, came to the window, and gazed up at the moon outside.
She had not expected that A Shi Yuan Ba, who should have been fast asleep by now, opened his eyes, rolled them around, and naughtily stuck out his tongue.
This child was truly something else, absolutely a little demon.
At such a young age, he actually knew to use sleep-talk to change his mother’s mind, to keep Suo Lun.
It could not even be called keeping anymore, but rather matchmaking Mother and Suo Lun.
This child could no longer be described as small in person but large in spirit.
…
Early the next morning, the sky was slightly bright, the sun had not yet risen.
A Shi Liren’s final ultimatum was that before the sun rose, Suo Lun and his people must leave.
At this time, a female warrior was waiting respectfully outside.
A Shi Liren got up and asked in a low voice, “Have Suo Lun and the others left?”
The female warrior said, “Not yet. He still had someone pass a message, requesting that you retract your order.”
A Shi Liren fell silent.
The female warrior said, “Master, there is less than an hour until the sun rises. Our troops have already surrounded them. You, are you certain you want to drive Count Suo Lun away?”
At this time, A Shi Yuan Ba and A Shi Nan got up and looked at A Shi Liren pitifully.
“Mother, please don’t let Teacher go. He was so good to you, so good to me,” A Shi Yuan Ba begged pitifully.
A Shi Nan simply hugged Liren’s neck and burst into tears, throwing a tantrum. “Mother, I won’t let Qin Qin go, I won’t let Qin Qin go.”
A Shi Liren’s eyes heated up, holding back tears. She said towards the outside, “Pass a message to Suo Lun. He must leave before dawn, or the consequences will be at his own risk. Give the order to the troops surrounding the Heavenly Sea Pavilion. The moment the hour arrives, immediately use military force to expel Suo Lun.”
At these words, the two children immediately burst into loud crying.
And the female warrior was startled, then said, “Yes.”
Then she left the residence and headed towards the Heavenly Sea Pavilion to deliver the order.
Even with A Shi Yuan Ba’s pleading sleep-talk, even with A Shi Nan’s tantrum crying, A Shi Liren’s heart remained hard and unchanged, still insisting on expelling Suo Lun.
And once Suo Lun left, it meant this mission had failed.
A Shi Liren had successfully become the master of Rouan City, even if only a transitional City Lord.
But she had never publicly declared support for Princess Ji Yan, so it could not serve as a weathervane, could not change the absolutely passive situation for Ji Yan and Suo Lun.
If this first domino could not fall, the entire game could not fall.
Now, the children’s final efforts had also failed, still unable to change A Shi Liren’s coldness and resolution.
Half an hour later.
The female warrior came to report, “Master, Count Suo Lun has already begun packing his things, preparing to depart. But… he requests to bid a final farewell to you, to Young Master Yuan Ba, and to Miss A Nan.”
“A final farewell?” A Shi Liren said. “Very well, then let us go bid him a final farewell.”