Chapter 178: One Face, One Life

The long alley was quiet and still, the night dark and heavy.

Ahead lay an empty narrow alley with no one; behind, Chinu was lost in thought, worrying that someday his own children might be suppressed by Yu Baobao's children and unable to hold their heads high......

Du Shanü held the paper, gazing at the sky for several breaths, finally letting out a long sigh and said:

"This person is sick."

Chinu didn't respond, so Du Shanü could only feel embarrassed while finishing her solo performance:

"When questioned, he rambles on about irrelevant things, dodging the point."

"I've never heard of any main star and auxiliary star business! Earlier he said I needed to sign and seal, but then he wanted nothing, and now he says the knee agreement is already settled......"

One hammer strike east, one club strike west.

He really has been confused by this person!

Who now remembers that they once planned to hold the Celestial Master hostage to command the prefect?

Moreover, the most crucial point is that this Fouzouzi actually managed to stir up her servant Chinu's feelings of inferiority again!

Originally she could still embrace a beauty, play with jade, taste lips......

All right, all right, now it's ruined!

Never mind the moonlight that only appears at nightfall; now who knows how long we'll have to coax Chinu!

Du Shanü was quite vexed, and for a moment felt a faint anger:

"...... I see his fragility is nothing but a deceitful paper!"

She was angry.

Du Shanü could usually put on an act and behave like a person, but this time Fouzouzi really forced her Lingnan accent out of her blood!

Chinu still gave no reply; after a few dazed breaths, a hint of thought faintly appeared between his brows, and he murmured:

"Wife Master said, when Fouzouzi said '【this matter is concluded here】', did he mean this alley...... or this city?"

Du Shanü had still been dazed in the wind; hearing this, she paused briefly, then her expression suddenly tightened.

She has always been someone who can cause a ruckus and also get serious work done.

Now hearing her servant say this, she naturally sensed the difference at once——

If it's this alley, then he probably just realizes that using words here won't get him any advantage, and wants to return to the prefect's side to enjoy his wealthy days.

But if he means 'this city', then everything is completely different.

If Fouzouzi changes location, will there still be the same reverence for him here? Will the prefect still trust and value him?

Difficult!

Extremely difficult!

However, if he truly disregards all consequences, abandoning all his previous arrangements here just to divinate two hexagrams with them today......

Then, his prophecy......

Do the two of them believe it or not?

Du Shanü's carefree expression on her face gradually withdrew, as she focused and pondered.

The night was still long, but this time Du Shanü had no mood for jokes.

She slowly pinched the paper into her palm, uttering each word with a pause:

"Seek."

"Tomorrow, no, let's start looking for people now."

"This person keeps kneeling back and forth; he doesn't seem skilled, I don't believe he could still sprout wings and fly away."

Du Shanü stuffed the paper ball into her sleeve and led the way deeper into the alley.

Chinu said nothing more, following behind her, his gaze sweeping the walls on both sides and every possible hiding spot.

The alley isn't long; one glance can see its end.

Both sides are high walls, with withered grass growing on top, nowhere to climb.

On the ground, aside from their own footprints and the knee mark left by Fouzouzi's kneeling, there were no other traces.

Du Shanü reached the alley's end, where a dead wall stood, its base piled with a few broken bricks covered in moss.

She reached out and pushed the wall; it was solid, not moving an inch.

"This way."

Chinu's voice came from the side.

Du Shanü walked over and saw him standing at the mouth of an even narrower side alley, just wide enough for one person to slip through sideways; looking inside, it was pitch black, unknown where it led.

The two went in one after the other, walked about a hundred steps, and the side alley opened up into a clear space——

It turned out to be another street, with people coming and going, the bustling atmosphere blowing toward them.

Du Shanü stood at the street entrance, scanning every passerby's face, but none matched that smiling doll-like face.

They searched the nearby alleys again, even turning over the corners piled with miscellaneous items, but still found nothing.

After half an hour, the two returned to the original narrow alley; Du Shanü had to admit that the person was indeed gone.

But at this moment, deep at the alley's end, beneath the riverside wall, the water surface twitched slightly.

A reed tube protruded from underwater, so fine it was hardly visible, only half an inch showing above the surface, mixed among dry twigs and fallen leaves, indistinguishable from an ordinary reed stalk.

Below the reed tube was a face, slightly red from holding its breath.

Fouzouzi was completely submerged in the water, with only a reed tube held in his mouth; his clothes were soaked through, clinging to his body, and a few strands of waterweed tangled in his hair.

He dared not move or make a sound, his breathing extremely shallow and slow, relying solely on that reed tube to draw a breath from the surface.

He watched the two people's footsteps pacing back and forth along the bank, waiting until he could see nothing, then waiting longer before finally rising a little.

Fouzouzi's nose tip broke the surface, and he drew a deep breath.

A look of triumph too strong to suppress rose on his face, the corners of his mouth curling; afraid to laugh out loud, he pressed his lips together, only letting his wet eyes curve into two crescents.

He silently muttered a sentence, his lips moving only slightly, as if talking to himself underwater.

"This time I'll definitely put on the full aura of a master......"

This maiden whose whole body emits golden light—the Heaven's Mandate maiden—will surely never forget him in this lifetime!

With that, his future cultivation path will be so bright he simply won't be able to sleep, won't be able to sleep!

Fuzouzi's throat let out an extremely soft, muffled laugh underwater, gurgling up a few bubbles.

He slowly lifted his head from the water, looked around, confirmed that the two people were no longer on the shore, and then finally let out a full breath of relief.

He reached to the bank, broke off a fresh reed, cleared its middle node, held it in his mouth, then sank back into the water, leaving only the reed pipe floating on the surface, drifting slowly with the current.

The water was cold; the deep‑autumn river water clung to his skin, making his teeth chatter slightly, but he dared not go ashore or travel overland—he could only drift along this river, inch by inch, away from the city.

The reed pipe bobbed lightly on the water's surface, drifting farther and growing smaller with the current, until it finally vanished into the glimmer and dusk at the river's bend.

"Ghosts!"

"Really, ghosts!"

Night was waning, dawn just breaking.

Having searched all night, the red‑eyed Du Shanü was nearly driven to despair, muttering curses nonstop.

"Where is the person?"

"How could someone that big just vanish right under our noses?"

Chinu had been searching all night, his face drawn and weary; when he lowered his gaze, he looked even more pitiable.

"It's Anu's fault; if Anu hadn't been distracted back then, he might have noticed some clues."

Just saying that would soften even a god's heart.

Du Shanü couldn't really blame her own Anu, especially since back then it wasn't just him alone.

She was changing the subject, taking Nunu out for a morning tea to calm her nerves, but before the two could even catch their breath, a commotion came from the end of the street.

Someone shouted with a voice like a broken gong, loud enough to be heard down the whole street.

"This morning the prefect wanted to consult the Celestial Master for divination, only to find that the Celestial Master hadn't returned all night!"

"Who has seen the Celestial Master? Report it at once—everyone will be rewarded!"

?? This chapter is also entitled 'Face Can Be Lost, Style Cannot' and 'A Life Spent Exerting Every Effort to Cultivate Demeanor'......