After Xiao finished speaking, Guichen Studio fell briefly silent.
The sound of rain continued outside.
Fine and cold, like a damp net covering the entire Changning Alley.
Su Muchen stood beside the counter, watching Xiao take the mop and skillfully begin cleaning the bloodstains on the floor.
He looked casual, but his movements were actually very efficient.
First, he used an absorbent cloth to press away the blood that had not yet dried. Then he used disinfectant to scrub the gaps between the wooden floorboards. Finally, he somehow even found a bottle of mild-scented cleaning agent.
He didn’t look like an ordinary shop employee.
He looked more like someone who had dealt with similar situations many times before.
Su Muchen stared at him for a long while.
“You’re very skilled.”
Without even looking up, Xiao said, “It’s a shop. You encounter all kinds of customers.”
Su Muchen sneered. “Other shops encounter difficult customers. Mine gets a blood-covered ancient prince?”
Xiao’s movements paused slightly.
Only for an instant.
Very quickly, he returned to that careless expression.
“Young Master, you’re adapting pretty quickly.”
“I’m not adapting quickly,” Su Muchen said. “I’ve just received too many shocks today, so my brain has temporarily given up resisting.”
Xiao laughed.
Su Muchen did not.
He walked over to the door and reached out to touch the bronze ring.
Cold, silent, completely unresponsive.
It looked like nothing more than an ordinary old door.
If not for the blood remaining on the floor, the bizarre static-filled surveillance footage, and the faint rusty smell still lingering in the air, he would almost have suspected that everything that had happened earlier was merely an hallucination brought on by exhaustion.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
He looked at Xiao.
“What exactly is that door?”
Xiao stuffed the bloodstained cloth into a black garbage bag and leisurely tied it shut.
“A door is a door.”
Su Muchen said expressionlessly, “You can keep talking nonsense, and I can call the police right now and say there’s a suspicious long-haired man in my shop who appears to be destroying evidence.”
Xiao raised his head, amusement in his eyes.
“Young Master, if you really call the police, you’ll be in more trouble than I am.”
Su Muchen: “…”
That was true.
A floor covered in blood, a section of missing surveillance footage, a door that couldn’t be opened, and an ancient prince who didn’t know where he had come from or where he had gone.
How was he supposed to explain any of that?
Tell the police that a Seventh Prince of Great Sheng had fallen out of a door, that he had bandaged him out of professional responsibility as a medical student, and that the man had promised to return tomorrow with gold to pay his medical expenses?
The police might not believe him.
A psychiatrist definitely would.
Su Muchen took a deep breath. “Then tell me something I can actually understand.”
Xiao stood up and carried the garbage bag toward the backyard.
Su Muchen followed.
The backyard wasn’t large.
Rainwater dripped from the eaves, splashing into tiny droplets on the stone slabs. In the corner of the courtyard was an old well that had been sealed shut. Beside it grew a sparsely branched osmanthus tree, with several old ceramic jars beneath it.
Xiao threw the garbage bag into a metal barrel, poured some kind of transparent liquid over it, and set it on fire.
Flames suddenly shot upward.
There was no ordinary black smoke, nor any pungent smell.
The bloodstained gauze and shredded cloth quickly curled up, blackened, and collapsed, eventually becoming a small pile of ash. Even if it were sent for testing, they probably wouldn’t find anything.
Su Muchen watched the fire, his gaze growing colder.
“You really aren’t an ordinary shop employee.”
Xiao smiled. “An ordinary shop employee wouldn’t last long in a place like this.”
“So who exactly are you?”
Xiao did not answer immediately.
He raised his head and looked at the sky.
Yunjing’s night was darkened by the rain. In the distance, the neon lights of the new urban district and the flight paths of drones looked like the light of another world, unable to reach this old alley.
After a moment, Xiao slowly said, “I’m just the person who looks after this shop for the Su family.”
“Who hired you?”
“Your grandfather.”
Su Muchen froze.
His grandfather?
That had been many years ago.
His grandfather had died when he was in elementary school, at least ten years ago.
Xiao looked no more than twenty-something. Even if he aged well, he shouldn’t have already been looking after the shop for his grandfather back then.
Su Muchen frowned. “How old are you?”
Xiao’s smile remained unchanged. “That’s a private question.”
“You don’t look like someone who cares about privacy.”
“I care about my age.”
“…”
Su Muchen was silent for two seconds.
“So you’re a scammer, an illegal overstayer, or some kind of anti-scientific long-lived species?”
Xiao’s eyes curved. “Young Master, you have quite an imagination.”
Su Muchen didn’t want to continue playing riddles with him.
“Can that door lead to Great Sheng?”
“Not necessarily.”
“What does that mean?”
“Where the door leads isn’t completely determined by Guichen Studio,” Xiao slowly explained. “It responds to the person capable of opening it. The person tonight came from Great Sheng, so the door connected to Great Sheng.”
Su Muchen immediately grasped the key point.
“So that man is the one who can open the door?”
Xiao glanced at him, seemingly somewhat surprised by his composure.
“At least tonight, he is.”
“Why him?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I’m not a god.” Xiao sounded very innocent. “I’m just a shop employee.”
Su Muchen’s patience was gradually running out. He reserved his patience for patients, not people who enjoyed toying with him.
After being stared at by him for a while, Xiao finally smiled and added, “However, people who can open the door usually aren’t ordinary.”
Su Muchen remembered Xiao Yuan’s eyes, cold as blades.
Ordinary?
There was nothing ordinary about that man.
“He said he’s the Seventh Prince of Great Sheng, Prince Su,” Su Muchen said. “What is Great Sheng?”
Xiao was silent for a moment.
“A dynasty that doesn’t exist in the history you’re familiar with.”
“Unrecorded?”
“You could understand it that way.”
“A parallel universe?”
“You could understand it that way too.”
Su Muchen felt a headache coming on. Xiao had been deliberately vague the entire time.
“Can you say something definite?”
Xiao spread his hands. “The door itself isn’t definite. What the Su family knows is only fragments. By the time the knowledge reached your father’s generation, basically all that remained was greed and stupidity.”
Su Muchen wholeheartedly agreed with that statement.
Su Jiancheng certainly possessed both, and in considerable quantities.
Su Muchen asked, “Did the Su family’s ancestors really become wealthy because of this door?”
“Yes.”
“Through trading?”
“Yes.”
“Trading with ancient people?”
“Most of the time.”
Su Muchen fell silent.
Then the sentence his grandfather had written on the paper was true.
“Guichen must not be abandoned. When the door opens, do not be greedy.”
It wasn’t a legend.
It wasn’t superstition.
It was a genuine warning.
Su Muchen said quietly, “If it’s so important, why didn’t my father know?”
Xiao smiled.
This time, the smile was faint and even somewhat cold.
“Because… your grandfather thought he wasn’t worthy of knowing.”
Su Muchen froze.
Rainwater dripped from the eaves.
One drop after another, striking the stone slabs.
Xiao said, “Su Jiancheng was greedy, selfish, stupid, incompetent, and convinced he was clever. If he had known the door was real, Guichen Studio would have become someone else’s property long ago.”
Su Muchen opened his mouth but couldn’t say anything.
After a long while, he said, “But in the end, he still nearly lost this place.”
“That’s why your grandfather left part of it to you.”
Su Muchen frowned. “Left it to me?”
Xiao did not answer. He simply turned and walked back toward the shop.
“You’ll find out later.”
Su Muchen stood in the rain and closed his eyes briefly.
“Again with ‘later.'”
Xiao looked back. “Because telling you too much now will only cause you more trouble.”
Su Muchen frowned. “I’m already in enough trouble.”
“No.” Xiao looked at him, his tone becoming unusually serious. “Young Master, right now you’re only in debt. When the people truly targeting Guichen Studio start making their move, that’s what you’ll call trouble.”
A faint chill could be seen in his gaze.
Su Muchen’s heart sank slightly. Something seemed wrong.
“Who are you talking about?”
But Xiao did not immediately answer.
Just then, Su Muchen’s phone suddenly vibrated.
He took it out and looked.
It was a message from his lawyer.
At nine in the morning, representatives from the bank, creditors, and asset appraisers would arrive at Guichen Studio.
He was required to be present.
Su Muchen stared at those lines and suddenly felt like laughing.
An ancient prince, a mysterious shop employee, a door through time and space.
All of that was absurd enough.
Yet the thing pressing him into a corner first was still debt.
He put away his phone.
“Those people will be here this morning.”
Xiao said, “I know.”
“You know quite a lot.”
“Because I’m the shop employee.”
Su Muchen couldn’t be bothered with him anymore. He returned to the shop and began organizing the floor.
Xiao dealt with the bloodstains while he inspected the scene.
The door Xiao Yuan had crashed through was undamaged.
Most of the bloodstains on the floor had been cleaned away.
But the long sword had actually been left behind.
Su Muchen looked at the sword he had kicked into the corner and bent down to pick it up.
The sword was heavier than he had imagined.
The scabbard had apparently been lost somewhere, leaving only the blade. Under the light, the blade reflected an extremely cold gleam. There were several tiny chips along the edge, as though it had just been through an intense battle.
Su Muchen frowned.
“How did he forget to take this?”
He thought about how, if Xiao Yuan immediately encountered his enemies again after returning, what would he use to protect himself?
At that thought, he couldn’t help feeling somewhat worried.
Xiao glanced at it.
“He didn’t forget.”
“Then what is it?”
“Collateral.”
Su Muchen: “…”
He lowered his head and looked at the sword.
He had used his personal weapon as collateral for medical expenses?
What kind of cross-dimensional emergency-room deposit system was this?
Xiao said, “Keep it. It should be worth some money.”
Su Muchen asked in surprise, “Can this thing be sold?”
“Yes.” Xiao thought about it. “But it won’t be easy to sell. Its origin is difficult to explain, and it could easily cause trouble. You’d have to sell it through special channels.”
“Then why did you say it was valuable?”
“Being valuable and being safely convertible into cash are two different things.”
Su Muchen fell silent.
The thing he hated most right now was something that was “valuable but couldn’t be converted into cash.”
Like Guichen Studio.
Like this sword.
Like the mountain of bad debts left behind by his nominal father.
In the end, he wrapped the sword in cloth and temporarily stuffed it beneath the counter.
As dawn approached, the rain finally stopped.
The sky over Yunjing’s old urban district took on a damp gray hue.
Su Muchen had barely slept all night, and exhaustion showed beneath his eyes.
Fortunately, Xiao had come over to help clean up the scene. Otherwise, he really might have collapsed from exhaustion.
He washed his hands clean and sat behind the counter, looking at the shop that had returned to its peaceful state.
Yet he felt that everything was different now.
The door remained closed.
But he knew that behind it wasn’t a room that couldn’t be opened.
It was an unknown dynasty.
A man named Xiao Yuan.
And perhaps a road of gold that could truly save his life.
A thread of hope ignited within his originally desperate heart.
Eight-thirty in the morning.
Xiao somehow brought two breakfasts.
A cup of coffee and a rice ball—a rather strange combination.
He placed one portion in front of Su Muchen.
“Eat something.”
Su Muchen glanced at it.
“You bought this?”
“If not, then what?”
“I thought you were going to pull it out of your sleeve.”
Xiao laughed. “Young Master, I’m just a shop employee, not a magician. Have you been reading too many novels?”
Su Muchen picked up the coffee and took a sip.
It was warm.
Only when he felt some warmth finally return to his stomach did he feel like a living person again.
Nine o’clock sharp.
The bell above the shop door rang.
Ding-ling—
The first group had arrived.
There were bank employees, a lawyer, two asset appraisers, and several creditor representatives.
The leader was a man in his forties, dressed in a crisp suit, with neatly combed hair and gold-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. He looked very polite.
But there was nothing polite about his eyes.
“Mr. Su, hello. I’m Manager Liu from Huaxin Bank’s Non-Performing Asset Management Department.”
Su Muchen stood up. “Hello.”
Manager Liu swept his gaze across the shop and smiled.
“You’re young, and we certainly understand that it’s difficult to suddenly encounter this kind of situation. However, Mr. Su Jiancheng has several overdue debts, and Guichen Studio is currently one of the assets used as collateral. Procedurally speaking, the situation is indeed rather urgent.”
Su Muchen understood.
Understanding was understanding, but the money still had to be repaid.
He said, “I need to know the exact amount of the debts, how the interest is calculated, and the current valuation of Guichen Studio.”
Manager Liu’s smile faded slightly, seemingly surprised that the young man had been so direct as soon as he opened his mouth.
A creditor representative beside him said impatiently, “Why do you need to ask so many questions? It’s a fact that your father owed money. Debts must be repaid. That’s only natural.”
Su Muchen looked at him.
“Did I say I wasn’t going to repay them?”
The man was momentarily speechless.
Su Muchen continued, “You can demand your money, and I can demand to see the detailed records of every debt. Those things don’t conflict.”
The man’s expression darkened.
“Kid, don’t think dragging this out will help.”
“Whether dragging it out helps or not, I don’t know.” Su Muchen said calmly, “But if you continue shouting in my shop, I can ask you to leave first.”
The atmosphere immediately became tense.
Xiao sat behind the counter playing with his phone, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, as if he were thoroughly enjoying the show.
Manager Liu raised a hand to smooth things over.
“Everyone, calm down. Mr. Su’s request to verify the details is reasonable.”
He had his assistant hand over a stack of documents.
Su Muchen took them.
The more he read, the darker his expression became.
The numbers were even more frightening than he had imagined.
Su Jiancheng didn’t just owe the bank.
There were also private loans, investment guarantees, installment payments for luxury goods, default penalties on overseas asset mortgages, and even several large transfers of funds with unclear purposes.
All of them added together amounted to a figure enough to make an ordinary person’s vision go black.
Su Muchen stared at the documents, his fingertips slowly turning cold.
He had thought he was mentally prepared.
But seeing it for real still felt absurd.
A group of people who had enjoyed themselves while they were alive had died.
Yet the bills they left behind had to be faced by him.
Manager Liu spoke at the appropriate moment. “Considering Guichen Studio’s current location, condition, and commercial value, even if it is successfully sold through a court auction, the proceeds may not be enough to cover all the debts.”
Su Muchen looked up tiredly. “How much will be left?”
Manager Liu gave him a figure.
Su Muchen fell silent instantly.
In that moment, he even calmly calculated how many years it would take him to repay the debt on the salary he would earn working at a small hospital in the future, assuming he didn’t eat or spend a single cent.
The answer was: he might as well reincarnate.
Seeing his silence, another asset appraiser spoke up. “Actually, if Mr. Su is willing to cooperate voluntarily, there is a buyer interested in this property. The price could be considerably better than a court auction.”
Su Muchen raised his eyes slightly. “A buyer?”
Manager Liu’s expression shifted.
The appraiser seemed to realize he had let something slip and immediately fell silent.
Su Muchen put down the documents. “Who?”
No one answered.
A moment later, a voice came from the shop entrance.
“Me.”
The bell rang again.
Su Muchen turned to look.
A young man stood at the entrance.
He wore a dark suit. His figure was tall and straight, his features handsome, his bearing cold and distinguished. Two assistants stood behind him, their umbrellas still dotted with droplets from the rain.
He didn’t look like he had come to buy a rundown shop.
He looked more like he had come to acquire the entire street.
When Manager Liu saw him, he immediately greeted him politely.
“Mr. Sheng.”
Mr. Sheng.
Su Muchen’s heart stirred.
The Sheng family, a major conglomerate in Yunjing City.
Even though he didn’t pay much attention to business news, he had heard of this surname. After all, the shadow of this conglomerate could be found behind most industries throughout Yunjing City.
Su Muchen calmly glanced at the corner of the documents Manager Liu had placed on the table. The conglomerate’s logo was printed there as well.
The first regional hospital he had originally planned to join had also been operated by the Sheng family. But because of certain circumstances, he had instead applied to work at other smaller medical institutions.
The young man walked into the shop, his gaze falling on Su Muchen.
There was scrutiny in his eyes.
It wasn’t overt, yet it made people extremely uncomfortable.
It was like looking at something that should already belong to him.
“Su Muchen?”
Su Muchen did not answer immediately.
Behind the counter, Xiao raised his eyes slightly, the smile fading from his face.
Sheng Chengxiu acted as though he hadn’t noticed anyone else and looked only at Su Muchen.
“I’m Sheng Chengxiu.”
Su Muchen said, “So?”
Someone beside them drew in a sharp breath.
Clearly, very few people dared speak to Sheng Chengxiu in such a tone.
Yet Sheng Chengxiu did not become angry. Instead, he smiled faintly.
“I’m interested in Guichen Studio.”
“Not selling.”
Su Muchen answered quickly.
So quickly that even he was somewhat surprised.
Just a few hours ago, he had still been wondering whether the shop could fetch a good price.
But when Sheng Chengxiu stood here, looking at Guichen Studio with that determined-to-have-it gaze, he suddenly felt uncomfortable.
As though something had been violated.
Sheng Chengxiu’s smile deepened. “Mr. Su, why don’t you hear the price first?”
“No need.”
“Oh?”
Sheng Chengxiu still wore a false smile, but his gaze was cold and sharp.
“Could it be that you intend to shoulder the debts left by those family members who didn’t care whether you lived or died?”
The shop instantly fell silent.
Everyone looked toward Su Muchen.
To someone who had just graduated, was carrying enormous debts, and had nowhere to turn, Sheng Chengxiu was practically a lifeline descending from heaven.
All he had to do was nod.
His debts could be reduced, perhaps even disappear completely.
He could return to work at a hospital.
He could return to his former life.
He wouldn’t have to guard this strange rundown shop, face banks and creditors, or wait for a prince he didn’t even know was still alive to return.
Su Muchen lowered his eyes, his fingertips gently rubbing the edge of the documents.
He was indeed struggling internally.
Sheng Chengxiu watched him and softened his tone.
“Mr. Su, this is the best choice for you.”
Su Muchen remained silent.
Xiao said nothing.
He simply watched him quietly.
Su Muchen had only ever wanted to live an ordinary life.
A small home, a potted plant, an ordinary job, an ordinary life.
But now his father had turned everything into a complete mess.
Now someone was extending a hand toward him. All he had to do was nod, and he could return to how things had been.
Yet the words Xiao Yuan had spoken before leaving surfaced in his mind.
“Wait for me.”
That resolute, unquestionable gaze seemed almost like a warning that he absolutely could not break his promise.
He found it somewhat ridiculous.
Why should he keep a promise to a prince whose survival he didn’t even know for certain?
But then he thought about all the things he still hadn’t figured out. Sheng Chengxiu clearly wasn’t simply trying to help him either. If he handed this place over just like that, his grandfather—who had treated him exceptionally well when he was young—would probably be heartbroken.
After a long while, Su Muchen raised his head.
“Mr. Sheng.”
Sheng Chengxiu said, “Yes?”
Su Muchen asked, “Are you running a charity?”
Sheng Chengxiu froze, then quickly concealed his emotions.
“No.”
“Then why are you willing to pay off so much debt for me just to buy a rundown shop in an isolated location, one that loses money every year and has such low commercial value that it’s about to be auctioned off?”
Su Muchen stared directly at Sheng Chengxiu.
The shop fell silent once again.
Sheng Chengxiu’s gaze changed slightly.
Su Muchen continued, “Is what you really want this shop itself?”
Sheng Chengxiu smiled.
This time, there was a little more sincerity in his smile.
“You’re smarter than I expected.”
“Thank you for the compliment.” Su Muchen’s tone remained flat. “I simply don’t like people treating me like an idiot.”
Sheng Chengxiu stepped closer, the corners of his lips curling into a cold smile.
“Su Muchen, you don’t have the leverage to refuse me right now.”
Su Muchen looked up at him.
Sheng Chengxiu’s voice was low, carrying the habitual sense of control of someone accustomed to having power.
“The bank wants its money. The creditors want their money. The court-auction process will begin soon. Even if you refuse to sell, you may not be able to keep this place in the end.”
Su Muchen’s fingers tightened.
Sheng Chengxiu was completely right.
He didn’t have a single cent to his name right now. He couldn’t even pay the interest.
Seeing his pale face still stubbornly maintaining its composure, a trace of interest flashed through Sheng Chengxiu’s eyes.
“Rather than having it auctioned off cheaply, sell it to me. At least I can let you walk away cleanly.”
Su Muchen remained silent for a long time.
So long that everyone assumed he was about to give in.
In the end, he said, “I’m not selling.”
Manager Liu sighed.
Sheng Chengxiu narrowed his eyes slightly.
“If you don’t sell, do you have the money to repay them?”
They had already investigated everything about Su Muchen, including the money remaining in his bank accounts and the flow of his finances from the past until now. They knew that there was no way Su Muchen could raise the money within a short period.
Furthermore, Su Muchen himself was already burdened with debt and had no other assets under his name. It was impossible for anyone to lend him money.
“One day. Give me one day.”
Sheng Chengxiu looked at him. “You can find another solution within one day?”
Su Muchen said calmly, “If I can’t, I’ll kneel and beg you then. It won’t be too late.”
His life was already bad enough. Kneeling before someone wasn’t something he couldn’t do.
Behind the counter, Xiao couldn’t help letting out a soft laugh.
The expression of Sheng Chengxiu’s assistant changed.
Sheng Chengxiu, however, did not get angry.
He merely stared at Su Muchen for a moment, as if this were the first time he had truly become interested in him.
“Fine. At this time tomorrow, I’ll wait for your answer.”
Before turning to leave, he glanced back toward the depths of Guichen Studio.
The glance was brief.
Yet it made Su Muchen’s heart sink.
…Sheng Chengxiu knew!
At the very least, he knew that there was something inside this shop.
After everyone left, Guichen Studio fell silent once again.
Su Muchen stood where he was, his expression even uglier than it had been when he saw Xiao Yuan charge into the shop with a sword the previous night.
As a fresh graduate, he had never dealt with such a major situation, much less people he normally would never have had the opportunity to meet.
He should probably be grateful.
If he hadn’t encountered Xiao Yuan, Prince Su, last night—a man whose presence was even more overwhelming than anyone he had met today—he might not have been able to remain calm while dealing with these people.
Only after everything was over and his tension finally relaxed did he realize that his legs were already somewhat weak.
Xiao put down his phone and clapped his hands.
“Young Master, you’ve got quite a backbone.”
Su Muchen said coldly, “You really did nothing but sit there and watch the show!”
“I’m just a shop employee.” Xiao reminded him once again.
It made Su Muchen angry, yet he couldn’t argue with it.
“If this shop is gone, you’ll be unemployed!”
Su Muchen finally thought of this point.
Xiao, however, said indifferently,
“Doesn’t matter. It just means I’ll have a different master.”
Then Xiao put away his frivolous expression and slowly said, “The Sheng family has wanted Guichen Studio for more than a day or two. Every one of those debts your father incurred has the Sheng family’s shadow behind it.”
Su Muchen’s pupils contracted.
“You knew all along?”
“Of course.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”
Su Muchen was genuinely furious with him. If he had told him earlier, he could at least have been mentally prepared to deal with them.
Xiao smiled.
“Would it have helped? Would you have believed me? Besides, you didn’t have any leverage to negotiate with them.”
To be honest, Xiao had absolutely no confidence that Su Muchen could protect Guichen Studio from the Sheng family today.
On the contrary, Sheng Chengxiu’s willingness to agree so readily to Su Muchen’s one-day deadline had surprised him.
He vaguely sensed that Sheng Chengxiu’s gaze toward Su Muchen was not innocent.
It was like a hunter taking an interest in its prey, deliberately wanting to toy with it for a while.
Su Muchen had no way to refute him.
If Xiao had told him before last night that a conglomerate was plotting against the Su family because of a door leading to another world, he probably really would have thought Xiao was mentally unwell.
But now, all he felt was cold.
The coldness of being watched by someone.
Su Muchen sat down, picked up the stack of debt documents, and began reading through them again, page by page.
The numbers had not become smaller.
The pressure had not become lighter either.
Sheng Chengxiu had given him one day.
Xiao Yuan had said he would return at this time tomorrow.
The two things were like two ropes, each tightening around his neck.
One came from the modern world.
The other came from ancient times.
Su Muchen suddenly found it absurd.
He was only twenty-four.
At this time yesterday, he had still been filling out employment forms.
Today, he had to choose between a conglomerate acquisition, overwhelming debt, the secret of an ancient door, and the promise of a seriously wounded prince.
“Young Master, are you waiting for him?”
Su Muchen didn’t look up.
“Who?”
“That prince from Great Sheng.”
Su Muchen’s hand stopped as he flipped through the documents.
Then he said indifferently, “I’m waiting for the medical expenses.”
Xiao laughed.
“Mm. The medical expenses.”
There seemed to be another meaning hidden in his words, but Su Muchen didn’t want to bother with him.
Yet he knew Xiao was right.
He really was waiting for Xiao Yuan.
Not because he trusted him.
Nor because he was looking forward to it.
But because he genuinely had no other path left.
When night fell once again, Guichen Studio was even quieter than it had been during the day.
Su Muchen sat behind the counter. On the table were the debt documents and the long sword wrapped in cloth.
Time passed minute by minute.
Nine o’clock.
Ten o’clock.
Eleven o’clock.
The door remained completely silent.
Xiao sat by the window, leisurely drinking tea as though he wasn’t anxious at all.
Su Muchen, however, grew increasingly silent.
He told himself not to trust someone he had met only once.
Even less should he place his hopes in the words, “If I am still alive.”
After all, Xiao Yuan had been so seriously injured, and his situation was fraught with danger.
He might already be dead after returning.
He might have been captured by his pursuers.
The door might never open again.
Perhaps last night had been the only miracle.
And miracles were things the poor should never expect to happen twice.
Eleven fifty-nine.
Su Muchen stared at the door, his gaze slowly darkening.
He tugged at the corner of his mouth in self-mockery.
“Of course…”
As soon as the words left his mouth—
A very faint sound suddenly came from the depths of the corridor.
Click.
Su Muchen abruptly raised his head.
The wooden door that had remained silent all day once again began to emit cold white light through the crack.
The next moment—
Someone stepped out from within the light.
Xiao Yuan had changed into a clean black robe. His face was still pale, and his lips were frighteningly colorless, yet he stood perfectly straight.
In his hands was a heavy wooden chest.
Xiao Yuan raised his eyes toward Su Muchen.
Through the dim yellow lamplight, his gaze remained cold, but compared with the previous night, there was considerably less of that intense murderous intent.
Xiao Yuan’s gaze swept through the room and noticed another person sitting by the window.
He wasn’t surprised.
When he had asked Su Muchen about it yesterday, Su Muchen had hesitated for a moment before answering, “Tonight, yes.”
That meant that tomorrow night there might not be only one person.
Although the other man’s eyes carried a hint of amusement, and his entire body exuded an aura that was difficult to fathom, Xiao Yuan was quite certain today that the two people in the room alone were incapable of subduing him.
He placed the chest on the counter.
It landed with a heavy thud, as though it contained something extremely heavy.
“Su Muchen.”
His voice was low and hoarse as he stared at Su Muchen.
“I’ve come to pay the medical expenses.”