Chapter 1122 - 325: Feng Zhaoyang Arc (8)
It sounds simple enough when you say it, but when you actually try to do it, it’s insanely hard.
You give birth to a kid, and if this kid doesn’t cut it, you immediately switch, adopt someone else to raise, then let that adopted one replace your own flesh and blood as the leading figure—this whole process runs against ethics and morality, directly violates the selfish gene in the human body. It’s a kind of great enlightenment.
If all those in power under heaven could pull this off, would there be any worry the realm wouldn’t prosper?
But the reality is, everyone clearly knows their own kid is just ordinary, yet they refuse to admit their child’s mediocrity and still try like mad to push them up into a high position, dreaming they’ll inherit their own status and power. In the end they just sit on the toilet and can’t shit, bad money drives out good, and as the world keeps "developing," it rots right down to the bone.
"Why does the world keep sliding downhill?"
"Because the genuinely capable people get squeezed out by pre-selection."
"The ones left are all blood relatives."
"And in reality—"
"Most of them are useless trash who don’t do anything. The poor talented people are all squeezed down among the common folk, not a sliver of speaking power, forced to just watch a bunch of stupid dogs let this great state slowly decline."
"What a damn tragedy."
So once you figure certain things out, you can see through a lot more. Why is the Celestial Craft Workshop the Celestial Craft Workshop, why is the Third State so badass? Because they really are that badass.
But would someone as badass as the number-one figure of the outer section of the Celestial Craft Workshop, Wang Haoran, really get played by some woman?
Is that even possible?
Yuchi was increasingly convinced it wasn’t. That old fox definitely had other ideas!
So what exactly is he thinking?!
And Wang Haoran, helpless, opened his mouth and said, "Fellow Daoist Zong, your disguise really is impressive. This time it was purely a stroke of luck on my side that I discovered your existence. Otherwise we’d still be thinking Zong Liangqing and Yuchi were two different people, when they’re actually the same person."
"I really didn’t expect I’d be the one to discover it first. If she over on that side also found out this news, would she maybe feel a bit regretful, think that you’ve been lying to her?"
The "she" Wang Haoran was talking about naturally referred to Bu Huoran.
Yuchi stayed perfectly calm. Since there was nothing real between Wang Haoran and Bu Huoran—just the name of husband and wife—then the next time he ran into Bu Huoran, he was definitely going to give her a proper lesson on what it means to not go around telling others the sect your daughter belongs to.
"So will Lord Wang be choosing to help Fellow Daoist Feng now?" Yuchi asked.
"I’ll help. After all, we share the same goal—why wouldn’t I help my own companion?" Wang Haoran was comfortable now.
What he feared most was some inexplicable person suddenly appearing at his side. But now that Yuchi’s identity had been confirmed, and confirmed as someone who wasn’t going to screw him over, then he could just agree right in front of Yuchi.
But just as Yuchi’s gaze grew deeper on him, Wang Haoran didn’t answer the question in Yuchi’s eyes. Instead, he turned and said directly to Feng Zhaoyang, "It’s tonight?"
"Yes, at the first quarter of the Chou hour, at Yunxiang Pavilion," Feng Zhaoyang nodded to confirm.
"Alright."
Wang Haoran stood up, and Yuchi and Feng Zhaoyang had no choice but to stand up with him. "Then let’s meet at Yunxiang Pavilion tonight. I still have some matters I need to busy myself with now, so I can’t chat more with the two of you. But it’s fine, there’ll be plenty of time later."
"Okay."
Yuchi and Feng Zhaoyang nodded, then left the Celestial Craft Workshop in the State Capital one after the other.
They headed straight back to the inn near Yunxiang Pavilion and just waited for night to come. Walking side by side, Yuchi didn’t say anything. He was trying to figure out what Wang Haoran and Feng Zhaoyang were really trying to do.
"Those two obviously knew each other beforehand. You can tell Wang Haoran trusts Feng Zhaoyang quite a bit. So is there some unspeakable secret between them? How far has their cooperation on this matter already gone?" Yuchi was pondering this.
After Wang Haoran learned his identity, Yuchi had thought Wang Haoran would share some inside information with him. But Wang Haoran clearly had no intention of saying anything; obviously he was hiding something. If you said it was because he didn’t trust Yuchi? That was possible too, just not very likely.
Or is it because of some other reason?
"I don’t get it. But I’ve already started gradually collecting clues, and judging from the current situation, with Luohua being my disciple, they shouldn’t have any intent to harm me."
"Not to mention that in this whole incident, I’m just playing some small money-grubbing role, I’m not going to affect how things unfold."
Yuchi saw things very clearly. He was a newcomer here, and with this Li Ruolan affair still shrouded in fog, there was no way he’d act all high and mighty and shoot his mouth off everywhere.
His understanding of the State Capital had to be deepened one case at a time. When you don’t know how deep the waters in the State Capital run, if you jump in recklessly, the consequences are bound to be extremely serious and dangerous.
Yuchi: Going out to sea isn’t easy—you never know if you’ll run into a kappa or a pretty merman.
Walking next to Yuchi, Feng Zhaoyang was also mulling over things related to him. Only after the two of them boarded the train, and when there happened to be no one else around, did he lower his voice in disbelief and ask, "So Brother Zong, you really did take Bu Luohua as your disciple?"