Chapter 156: One after another!

The Qilin sat outside Mu Yuanzhi's room, holding a fearsome sword, leaning against the pillar and sleeping soundly.

Suddenly, a faint footstep, almost inaudible, appeared vaguely in the silent night!

The Qilin's eyes snapped open, he drew his sword, and in a flash, the blade was at the intruder's throat.

"Who goes?!" his eyes sharp.

In the night, the backlit figure smiled, lightly pushed aside the Qilin's sword with his hand, and teased: "Not bad, not bad, my little disciple is very alert, quick and ruthless in attack—no wonder I taught him!"

Hearing the familiar voice, the Qilin's eyes lit up: "Brother-in-law!"

Gu Rongjin raised a finger to signal silence, glanced around furtively like a thief, seeing no one else, then said: "Don't shout, I can't let anyone know I've left the capital."

Of course, his "shadow" is currently in Jingcheng.

How could he let his wife go on a long journey alone?

Without him by her side, even with many others around, she's still alone.

The Qilin hastily covered his mouth and whispered: "Can't I even tell Senior Sister?"

"Better not tell her, lest she worry." Gu Rongjin glanced at the room and said.

The Qilin understood: "Brother-in-law, you truly are a model husband of twenty-four filial piety."

Gu Rongjin liked that, patted the Qilin's shoulder, and said: "All right, little brother, go to sleep; I'll keep watch here."

As he spoke, he pointed to the roof, indicating he would stay up there.

"That reasoning is sound, but what if someone creates a diversion to lure the tiger away from the mountain? I still can't be careless," the Qilin said.

"You're also a model junior brother of twenty-four filial piety," Gu Rongjin summarized, "Your senior sister truly didn't dote on you for nothing. All right, let's divide the work: you guard the door, I'll watch the roof."

"Mm-hmm!" the Qilin sat back down by the door.

He glanced back at the room, confirmed there was no movement, then continued sleeping.

Asleep until midnight, the Qilin was startled awake by a burst of footsteps.

Brother-in-law?!

The Qilin stared, listening intently.

It didn't sound like his brother-in-law's footsteps!

Who is it?!

The Qilin instantly went on alert, gripping his sword's hilt, ready to draw.

They're getting closer!

The Qilin saw a flash of a figure, and without thinking drew his sword and slashed: "Take this!"

The intruder's evasive skills were good, but the Qilin had long been ready, launching a continuous assault!

"Qilin! It's me!"

Hearing the voice, the Qilin didn't speed up his retreat; his blade barely grazed a lock of hair, a cold flash—he saw Pei Shangling's surprised face.

"Hmph, so it's you. Good thing you spoke up early, otherwise I'd have chopped you and wouldn't blame anyone." The Qilin snorted, sheathing his sword.

Pei Shangling ground his back teeth: "You little brat, you definitely did that on purpose!"

"If I'd meant to, your head would be on the ground, not just your hair." The Qilin snorted.

"You think I can't beat you?" Pei Shangling said with a grim face.

The Qilin disagreed: "It's not that I think so; you simply can't beat me!"

Their noisy quarrel outside soon disturbed Mu Yuanzhi inside.

The door creaked open; Mu Yuanzhi threw on a coat, hair loose, and upon seeing Pei Shangling, her face sank: "What are you doing here?!"

Uh-oh!

Pei Shangling gave the Qilin a harsh look: "If I were arguing with this dead brat, I wouldn't have woken A Zhi!"

"A Zhi, I'm not here because I'm worried about you, am I?" Pei Shangling's tone and the glint in his eyes conveyed an undeniable sense of grievance.

Mu Yuanzhi's scalp tingled; she truly found Pei Shangling's smarmy face disgusting.

How, does he think he can do evil, then just apologize and be forgiven? She must accept that? No way!

"Get out!" she said, then slammed the door shut with a bang.

Pei Shangling barely avoided being caught in the door, stepped back half a pace, and sighed at the closed door.

A Zhi...

"Didn't you hear? My senior sister told you to scram, so hurry up!" the Qilin snapped, arms crossed: "You're not needed here; with the National Teacher and me, you'll only annoy my senior sister!"

Pei Shangling couldn't refute, but he truly couldn't rest easy letting Mu Yuanzhi go to the Black Sea, otherwise he wouldn't have furtively followed.

Forget it, better to keep secretly tailing her.

The Qilin watched Pei Shangling's retreating back and added: "Don't sneak after me again, or next time I won't be polite!"

Pei Shangling, really angry, turned and glared at the Qilin: "I at least saved you; if it weren't for me, you'd have poisoned the prince and lost your head long ago!"

"Then you should die too; either way I don't lose." The Qilin shrugged.

Pei Shangling gritted his teeth, stared at the Qilin's smug face for a while, then flicked his sleeve and left.

"Damn it!" the Qilin spat.

Senior Sister knew Pei Shangling had come, but didn't know her brother-in-law had also come out of concern for her.

The Qilin silently sighed, then sat back down to sleep.

Surely no one else will come, right?

Leaning against the pillar, the Qilin drifted off, when a strange fragrance hit him; he jolted awake and hastily covered his mouth and nose.

What is this? Someone's poisoning?!

He had taken Bailing Grass, which wards off insect poison, but ordinary gas is ineffective, so he tightened his cover over mouth and nose before daring to push the door open.

The door was bolted from inside, but it posed no obstacle to the Qilin.

He didn't dare to speak, fearing to inhale these odors; after kicking the door open, seeing Mu Yuanzhi sit up, he finally relaxed.

Mu Yuanzhi was alert; as soon as she saw Qilin's appearance, she knew what was going on. She held her breath, waved her hand to let Qilin leave, and with her gaze signaled him not to make a fuss.

Qilin understood instantly; he didn't go out, but instead, taking advantage of the moment, fell flat on the ground.

Seeing her junior brother so clever, Mu Yuanzhi also hurriedly lay back down, pretending to be unconscious.

At that moment, on the roof, Gu Rongjin sat there bored; he suddenly heard a heavy object landing downstairs, and immediately became alert.

What happened?

Gu Rongjin lifted a piece of rubble and lay down to look.

The narrow view couldn't quickly make clear the situation in the room just now; as soon as he lay down, his ears heard a whoosh, and then he could hear footsteps moving toward the downstairs room.

It seems there's more than one thief!

Gu Rongjin didn't even turn his head; he raised his hand and instantly caught the flying arrow, then with a backhand flick he heard a faint cry; he had no time to worry whether that person was dead, and with lightning speed he flung aside a series of rubble, leaping downward.

At that moment in the room, the black-clad figure who had tiptoed in saw Mu Yuanzhi lying motionless on the bed, as if dead asleep; he curled his lips in a cold smile, about to approach, when he heard a commotion from above; startled, before he could react, he was seized by a powerful force, slammed hard onto the table, shattering it outright.