“The same?”
“The same what?”
“The same fatness, or the same brawn?”
Jiang Fuyue looked at the petrified old man, rubbed her nose, and said, “Ahem… My grandmaster is Ye Qianji.”
“The sect master senior brother?!” The old man almost jumped up. “You call him grandmaster?! Impossible! He doesn’t have any grand-disciples…”
Except that one!
But that person had disappeared twenty years ago, and senior brother vanished along with them, never to be seen again.
Because of that, the sect leadership had passed to him.
“Bullsh*t—” The old man was furious. “Who the h*ll are you? Using Qinghui Mountain’s Shaoyang Sect’s name to bluff and cheat, you’ve got some nerve!”
Jiang Fuyue twitched her mouth. She’d never been to Qinghui Mountain, but—
“If you don’t believe me, check the Lineage Record behind the ‘Hao Ran Righteousness’ plaque. See if my name is on it.”
“Sure! Even know about the Hao Ran Righteousness plaque, huh? Con artists these days really do their homework.”
Jiang Fuyue twitched her mouth again.
“Wait a sec… you even know about the Lineage Record?” That was a secret only passed down among direct disciples of the sect head.
“I told you, my grandmaster is Ye Qianji. You just don’t believe it.”
Cen Huaishan snorted, “What, you think I’ve never read the Lineage Record? I’ll have you know, senior brother only ever officially recorded two disciples under his name. Neither of them had descendants. So where the h*ll did you pop up from?”
Jiang Fuyue raised her eyebrows. “You sure?”
“Heh, this old man’s memory is impeccable!”
“Maybe it was added recently?”
“Absolutely impossible!”
Jiang Fuyue spoke lazily, “If you haven’t verified it, don’t speak so confidently.”
“Fine! I’ll check right now!” He pulled out his phone, huffing as he dialed. “Hey, Little Eighteen, it’s me. Go look at the Lineage Record, see if there’s a grand-disciple under your Uncle Ye!”
The other side grumbled, “Right now? But the main hall’s closed, it’s pitch dark, and Eleventh and Twelfth Brother are already asleep…”
“Then look at the digital archive! Didn’t we hire some operations team to scan and digitize all our mountain’s documents?”
“Oh right! Let me check…”
While waiting, Cen Huaishan put the phone on speaker. After about 30 seconds of rustling—
“Found it!”
Cen Huaishan’s mustache lifted triumphantly, and he gave Jiang Fuyue a provocative glance: “Well? Is there a grand-disciple under your Uncle Ye? Say it loud!”
“Yes, yes there is!”
“?!”
“Name’s Jiang Fuyue. Added two months ago.”
The old man froze.
“Hello? Master? You still there? Hello?! Not saying anything? Okay then, I’m going back to sleep…”
With a long yawn, the call ended.
After Ye Qianji found Jiang Fuyue, given her new identity—and the unbelievable fact of her reincarnation—he simply registered her under a new name in the Lineage Record, listed as a grand-disciple alongside the “deceased” Lou Mingyue.
“Well?” She smiled sweetly. “Believe me now?”
“You… you really…” The old man stammered, the night breeze blowing chill across his forehead.
Wait a minute!
Only he and his senior brother can modify the Lineage Record, which means—
Ye Qianji, missing for 20 years, had resurfaced!
“Where is your grandmaster?!” Cen Huaishan’s eyes lit up.
Jiang Fuyue didn’t hide it. “The Imperial Capital.”
“I knew it! I knew he’d go back to find his little moonlight! I’ve sent people searching for years, came up with nothing… I can’t believe I’m hearing about him again in this lifetime…”
His voice choked with emotion. If not for Xu Yao calming him down, he might have performed a full-on “crying fat tiger” scene.
“Um… can you get in touch with your grandmaster?” the old man asked.
Jiang Fuyue said yes and called Ye Qianji on the spot—
“Little Moonlight, what’s up?” came the gentle voice, with the background click-clack of a keyboard.
Jiang Fuyue twitched her lips. “You’re gaming again, aren’t you?”
“It’s not that late. It’s just nine. Nightlife’s just starting! I swear I’ll log off by ten!”
Jiang Fuyue sighed. Internet-addicted elders are scarier than teens. Can’t be helped.
Ye Qianji chuckled: “Heh heh…”
“I ran into Uncle Cen.”
The keyboard stopped clacking. “You ran into who?!”
“Your junior brother. My great uncle. Old man Cen.”
“What the h*ll—how’d you run into that guy?!” As soon as he said that, Jiang Fuyue switched on speakerphone.
Cen ‘That Guy’ Huaishan: “?”
“Ahem… the old man wants to talk to you.”
Ye Qianji: “Can I say no?”
Cen Huaishan: “……”
“Um,” Jiang Fuyue braced herself, “Speaker’s already on.”
“…Oh.”
“Senior Brother! So you are still alive!” Cen Huaishan grabbed the phone. “When are you coming back to the mountain? I want to return the sect head position to you! The ancestral hall needs repairs, the Three Pure Ones statues have to be redone, and the younger ones—like Little Eighteen—are ready to go down the mountain for training. We also need to talk about funding—”
Beep beep beep!
“Senior Brother?! Hello?! Hello?!”
Xu Yao whispered, “I think… he hung up…”
Cen Huaishan: “?” About to cry from rage.
Ye Qianji: If we don’t talk about money, we’re still friends 🙂
Jiang Fuyue couldn’t bear to watch. “Um… I’ll just go now.”
“Stop right there!” The old man stomped after her, moving surprisingly fast for his build. “Leave the contact info and address!”
Judging from that angry little glare, he was dead set on going north to find Ye Qianji in person for “a nice little chat.”
Jiang Fuyue obediently left her info, then quickly left with Liu Sisi.
The brotherly grudge between those two? Better let them settle it themselves.
Time to disappear…
—
Cen Huaishan immediately dialed the number.
It rang for a good while before being picked up sluggishly. Not quite the warm reception Jiang Fuyue got.
“Who is it? I’m busy. Talk tomorrow.”
Click—call ended.
Cen Huaishan: “?” …What the h*ll?!
He tried calling again.
He was already blocked.
The old man took a deep breath. “Xu Yao brat—”
“Huh?” Xu Yao perked up. “Yes, what can I do for you, sir?”
“Book me the earliest flight to—The—Im—pe—rial—Capital—!”
Murderous intent: activated.
—
The next day, Jiang Fuyue—now not wearing her disguise or mask and back to her true appearance—predictably ran into a luggage-dragging, grumpy Cen Huaishan at the airport.
Xu Yao had personally escorted him there. Once the old man passed security, he turned and left, brushing shoulders with a young woman in the crowd.
A crisp citrus scent hit his nose. Xu Yao glanced back involuntarily, only catching a slender silhouette walking away.
He frowned, unsettled by the vague familiarity, but shook it off and strode away.
Jiang Fuyue passed him without a glance, every step calm and poised.
As expected, he didn’t recognize her.
“Got your boarding pass?”
Liu Sisi nodded.
Jiang Fuyue smiled, “Let’s go. Time to go home.”
—
12:37 PM. The flight landed smoothly.
They retrieved their luggage and went separate ways.
Liu Sisi returned to Yufeng Kitchen, Jiang Fuyue to Yutian Huafu.
As soon as she exited the arrivals hall, she ran into Xie Dingyuan coming from the other terminal.
The man was tall, in a silver-gray trench coat that made his legs look impossibly long.
Their eyes met—they both froze.
“You just got in?”
Spoken in unison.
Xie Dingyuan nodded. “Just got back from a business trip. You?”
“Had some things to take care of.”
“If I remember correctly, it’s Tuesday. Shouldn’t you be in class?”
“Don’t you know good students can get leave easily?”
A faint smile curled his lips. “Well, once you’re in the project group, don’t expect No.1 High to let you off so easily.”
Jiang Fuyue raised an eyebrow. “You’re serious?”
“I already sent you all the materials,” he said seriously. “Do I look like I’m joking?”
“…Not really.”
“Wait for my news. It won’t be long.”
Jiang Fuyue didn’t expect Xie Dingyuan’s “soon” to be this soon!
The very next day at school, she and Xu Jing were summoned to the principal’s office.
On the way, Xu Jing lowered his voice, “What did you do?”
Jiang Fuyue thought for a moment. “…Nothing?”
“Why are you using ‘nothing’ with a question mark? That’s an interrogative sentence—it implies uncertainty. Aren’t you the one who scores perfect marks in Chinese?”
“…Oh.”
“So there is something! You, you, you—you better fess up. What exactly happened?!”
Jiang Fuyue had a bit of a hunch. She rubbed her nose, “I think… I’ve been conscripted.”
“What?!”
