As the night deepened, lights began to flow through the city, and groups of constables were cleaning up the marketplaces. Dispatch soldiers hurried through the dimly lit streets, and the night wind gently rustled the leaves of the trees.

On the corner tower of the Imperial Palace, Jun Wu was using a telescope to observe the situation at the Princess's residence. After watching for a while, his expression turned stern as he lowered the telescope.

"Outrageous..."

The distance made it impossible to see the details clearly. Jun Wu was just bored and wanted to see if his imperial sister was spying on the city's excitement. But when the excitement extended to the rear of the Princess's residence, the nature of the matter changed.

After a moment of thought, he waved to the eunuch who was accompanying him.

"Any cannon fire within the city requires reporting. Check with the Imperial City Division to see who's orchestrating this... If there's no seal from the Princess's residence, ask them why they're dragging my sister into this!"

The eunuch bowed and acknowledged, then left immediately.

...

At the training ground behind the Princess's residence, the originally intense scene was gradually calming down.

Yue Yun, ignored by everyone, moved closer to Cheng Zhouhai and the others. Yin Ping, carrying a spear, was also slowly retreating. After Zuo Wenxuan spoke, the information revealed indicated that Cheng Zhouhai was an old acquaintance of the "Four-Foot Pervert"'s elder, and this "Four-Foot Pervert" was, in fact...

"They really are from the Southwest..." Yue Yun whispered to his sister.

"We heard about it in Jiangning..."

"But..."

Before Yue Yun could finish, the scene unfolding in front of him caused even greater shock. He pointed forward.

Qu Longjun ran away from Cheng Zhouhai and rushed to Ning Ji, who opened his arms and embraced him. Ning Ji then used his knife to cut the strips of cloth binding his wrists and mouth, checking his physical condition. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine..." Qu Longjun shook his head, tears in his eyes.

"He-he-he-he-he..." In the dimly lit distance, Yue Yun opened his mouth in a huge circle, denouncing the world. "...Those two men are hugging like that--"

Yin Ping raised her hand and slapped him on the head.

"That's a woman... and she doesn't know martial arts..." Yin Ping explained in a low voice.

"Oh... I thought there was something fishy..." Yue Yun understood, thinking about many things. Then he looked at the scene and back at his sister, then back at the scene, thoughtfully. "Hmm... But... his sister looks like a man too..."

Yin Ping launched a flying kick.

"She's dressed as a man! She's dressed as a man!"

The siblings suppressed their fighting. Cheng Zhouhai's eyes twitched, and he rubbed them. Ning Ji, holding Qu Longjun, secretly observed the situation: the two fools were fighting among themselves, but Cheng Zhouhai and Zuo Wenxuan were old schemers. His side was currently at a disadvantage, so he didn't want to start a fight. Taking Qu Longjun's hand, he pretended that today's events hadn't happened.

"Let's go..."

"Nephew, you've come here without even greeting your elders. Leaving like this would be impolite, wouldn't it?"

From the distance, Cheng Zhouhai opened his mouth with a smile.

"Ignore him..."

Ning Ji said in a low voice, leading Qu Longjun further away. Cheng Zhouhai opened his mouth, laughing helplessly, and then said, "You can't leave."

He continued, "Outside the training ground, the Imperial City Division has prepared over two hundred men, all with bows and crossbows. The crossbow strings have been adjusted. If they fire together, Nephew, with your high martial arts, you might not die, but the Dragon Gentleman beside you is doomed. You only brought one person today, how can you escape?"

"I don't believe you'd dare to shoot at me." Ning Ji waved his hand. Since his identity had been exposed, he might as well act shamelessly.

"The order has been given. If you go out, they will shoot... Don't misunderstand, no one wants you to die, but your companion isn't that important. If he dies, the Chinese Army won't react at all."

"You dare!" Ning Ji turned around. "Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"

"Nephew, you have the ability to do that, but you won't believe it. In Fuzhou, your Uncle has some confidants who have already been given orders. If you kill me, they won't kill you, but just like when I fired my gun, they'll shoot this Dragon Gentleman and avenge me... Well, when you return to the Southwest one day, you'll probably get a beating from your family. This isn't a profitable deal for me, but at least I won't lose."

In the training ground, the night wind rustled past as Cheng Zhouhai stood there calmly, smiling slightly. Then he reached out and pointed at Ning Ji. "Look, now that I've grabbed your weakness, you have to listen to me. This is the first lesson your Uncle is teaching you."

Ning Ji looked at him, his eyes conflicted and twisted. Qu Longjun came over from the side, holding his hands in his own. After a moment, Ning Ji finally stamped his foot. "What do you want to do!"

Cheng Zhouhai laughed, looking at Zuo Wenxuan. "See, now we can finally talk properly." Then he turned to look at the siblings on the other side. "Yue Yun, you're injured. Let Miss Yin Ping take you to get it treated?"

Yue Yun's eyes widened as he looked at his sister. The next moment, Yin Ping bit her lip and stepped forward, cupping her fists in a salute.

"Lord Cheng, can we listen in on the reason for today's events? We really have some history with these two in Jiangning City, and we have many questions in our hearts that we can't understand..."

The siblings had crossed paths with the Four-Foot and Five-Foot Perverts in Jiangning City. After arriving in Fuzhou, Yue Yun had even been defeated by Qu Longjun's verbal attacks. This afternoon, Cheng Zhouhai and Zuo Wenxuan suddenly set up a situation for the two of them to participate in, and they didn't have time to ask the reason. Yue Yun originally hated the Five-Foot Pervert because of Yan Yunzhi, but now that he heard his sister say that the other party was a woman who didn't know martial arts, this hatred suddenly mixed with more questions. He was also confused, and when he saw his sister step forward, he quickly jumped out as well.

"That's right, that's right, Lord Cheng, who are they? We had a feud with two perverts in Jiangning City... Also, my injury is minor..." Yue Yun flexed his arm, trying to show off his muscles.

On the other side, Ning Ji frowned and also jumped out.

"Ha, what feud? Who are you? I don't even know you two. Um... Uncle Cheng, how high is the secrecy level of this matter? What are their identities? Are they qualified to listen?"

"Don't know us? Tell us what you did to Miss Yan Yunzhi--"

"Yan Yunzhi? Who's Yan Yunzhi? I only know the Blood-Spraying Slingshot Sword. She slandered me and ruined my reputation-- besides, we didn't even meet in Jiangning City. I don't even know if you were there..."

"Ha, you two, the name of pervert is known throughout the world, do you need others to slander you! Also, we haven't met, right? You don't know if we were there, right? Don't be scared, the head of 'Mountain-Opening General' Luo Yan was taken by our siblings!"

"Haha, what Opening General? What Luo? You're bringing out nobodies. Let me tell you, the head of 'Mad Tiger' Wang Nantuo was blown off by yours truly. Later, Lin Zongwu chased me all over the street, but he didn't kill me--"

"Pah, anyone who doesn't know would think you killed Lin Zongwu..."

"I'll kill him sooner or later..."

"Remember, that's what I'm going to do--"

"I'll blow up your dog head along with him--"

"..."

"..."

The two of them barked at each other from a distance. Cheng Zhouhai and Zuo Wenxuan both rubbed their foreheads. After a moment, Cheng Zhouhai spoke, "Alright, I'll decide, stay." He looked at Ning Ji, who wanted to retort. "Also, to prevent this Brother Sun from getting hotheaded and wanting to kill me. You'll get a beating when you get back."

"Hmph, who dares to hit me!" Ning Ji put his hands on his hips, glancing at Qu Longjun, and said in a low voice, "Any ideas?"

Qu Longjun shook his head with difficulty.

Over there, Cheng Zhouhai's expression had become serious.

"Alright, Sun Xiaoer, our two families have been friends for generations. Although we're on different paths now, our friendship hasn't faded. Your arrival in Fuzhou was originally a great thing, but you're relying on your identity, acting recklessly and causing trouble, so I have to come out and teach you some things..."

"What do you mean acting recklessly and causing trouble?" Ning Ji jumped up. "What are you doing in Fuzhou? You can't do anything about a few bad guys, you still need me to take action..."

"You're interested in the situation in Fuzhou. If you follow me for a while, you'll naturally see the difference. As for what's reckless and causing trouble..." Cheng Zhouhai looked at him, his tone becoming serious. "Do you know what position the Zuo family holds in the court after returning from the Southwest! What responsibilities do they bear! They want to promote the methods of the Southwest in the court, to build a bridge for the integration of ideas from both sides. Their identities are sensitive, and even when nothing is happening, many people are watching them at all times, wanting to label them and accuse them! You think your identity is just a small matter, you think you haven't caused trouble for anyone, but if the person who recognized you today wasn't me, but a conservative official in the court, do you know that the entire Zuo family would be threatened and manipulated? Even if they were lucky enough to escape a disaster thanks to His Majesty's tolerance, they wouldn't be able to take on major responsibilities in the court in the future, and the door for communication between the Southwest and the court would be closed--"

Cheng Zhouhai looked at Zuo Wenxuan. "Zuo Wenxuan, you too, when you encounter such a thing, you can still hesitate and be indecisive. The correct way to handle it was to immediately call people to surround him and take him down as soon as you saw him. If you had acted decisively, why would you have had to wait until today for me to clean up this mess for you."

"Hey, you also like to clean..." There was an opportunity to make a dirty joke, and Ning Ji's veteran attributes kicked in, but halfway through, he saw Zuo Wenxuan's twitching eyes and realized that Cheng Zhouhai wasn't so easy to mess with, so he held back.

Zuo Wenxuan cupped his fists and said, "Mr. Cheng is right."

Ning Ji said, "--So what do you want to do?"

"As I said before, everyone is a friend of the family. Since you've come to Fuzhou, I'll take some time to be your teacher for a few days. In the coming days, you can continue to be naughty, unreasonable, and wild, but the Dragon Gentleman beside you will stay with me as a hostage. His treatment will depend on your performance. As for your ideas and curiosity about the situation in Fuzhou, it's okay, I'll take you to see it all in detail. Then you will naturally understand."

Cheng Zhouhai threatened Ning Ji with Qu Longjun. Ning Ji gritted his teeth and was about to shout, but Qu Longjun, who had heard that the other party had no malice, pulled Ning Ji's hand and nodded. "Let's do that first, it's okay..."

Cheng Zhouhai smiled and nodded, turning to walk inside. "Then come with me."

Yue Yun and Yin Ping, and Zuo Wenxuan followed. Ning Ji and Qu Longjun also walked hand in hand, following behind. After a few steps, Yue Yun couldn't help but ask, "Lord, Lord Cheng, which family in the Southwest is he from? It wouldn't be the Qin family, would it? Is his father General Qin?"

Back then, many key figures who followed Ning Yi in the Xiangfu, Secret Intelligence Division, and other systems rose up, and Yue Yun guessed as high as possible, but naturally did not dare to guess that he was a son of the Ning family.

Ning Ji jumped out. "My dad is your long-lost grandpa!"

Yue Yun glanced at him, then looked at his sister and Zuo Wenxuan, and said, "See, it turns out his dad is dead."

He was also an old fox who had grown up in the army, and he was not afraid of this kind of shameless verbal attack, which hurts the enemy and hurts himself. Zuo Wenxuan rubbed his forehead, and Ning Ji's face flattened, then he pulled Qu Longjun and chased after him.

"Yue Xiaoer, you were in the vanguard, right?"

"So what? I'll take your dog's head in the midst of ten thousand troops!"

"Do you know that I was in the medical corps?"

"So what?"

"Look at all the blood you're bleeding, you're almost dead. Everyone is a brother, and if you don't want to see a doctor, I happen to have brought needles and thread and wound medicine. Come on, I'll give you a free treatment later..." As he spoke, Ning Ji waved his hand, pulling out a bag of scalpels and needles and thread, then looked ahead. "That Uncle Cheng, I'll treat his injury..."

Yue Yun cursed, "I don't believe your lies, you clearly said you were a scout, you liar--"

Cheng Zhouhai also looked over and nodded. "That's good, you two should get close."

Yue Yun's eyes widened. "What, even if I die--"

Cheng Zhouhai said, "If you want to hear secrets, you should show some effort."

Zuo Wenxuan said, "Let me say something fair, Sun Xiaoer is indeed a doctor."

"I don't believe your mother's fairness..."

"Wahahahahaha--Doctors are like parents, Yue Yun, don't worry! Uncle, I'll definitely give you the prettiest bow today--"

The clamor in the city continued, and evil laughter echoed in the night sky. The group passed through the training ground and went to the depths of the Princess's residence. After a while, Cheng Zhouhai set up a tea stall in the courtyard, listening to Ning Ji, unwillingly and amidst Yue Yun's screams, telling the various things he had encountered on his way out of Sichuan.

In the night, they affectionately closed the distance...