Chapter 45 Revised

Was anything wrong?

When Fu Shuxing heard the seriousness in Ji Xun’s question, he answered, “No.”

“Something definitely is. Think carefully.”

Fu Shuxing remained silent for quite a while, but in the end still said there was nothing wrong.

Ji Xun turned toward him and pointed at himself in emphasis.

Fu Shuxing raised a brow slightly. “What?”

“You haven’t insulted me today.”

Fu Shuxing: “…”

“You haven’t mocked me, put me down, or said anything sarcastic. You even gave me candy this morning, and made a special trip to the Guide Building to bring me a bottle of juice. Brother Xing, are you possessed?”

Fu Shuxing said, “I was wrong before.”

“!!!”

Ji Xun’s heart jolted. He sprang to his feet and backed away repeatedly, stopping only when he was three steps from Fu Shuxing. Then he stared at him and said, “Are you really Fu Shuxing? Since when do you know how to apologize?”

Fu Shuxing pressed his lips together, then stood up as well.

Ji Xun instinctively retreated another half-step.

Seeing this, Fu Shuxing did not move. “Go home first. I still have something to do.”

“Okay!”

Ji Xun could not have been more eager to leave.

Fu Shuxing was far too strange today. Ji Xun was certain there had to be a trap.

He reached beneath the White Tiger and fumbled around until he retrieved his Big King’s Egg, then fled the Fu residence as if his life depended on it.

Fu Shuxing walked to the entrance of the main hall and watched the little guide run farther and farther away, eventually disappearing behind the fence.

The White Tiger, displeased, rammed him hard from behind.

Fu Shuxing stumbled half a step forward before regaining his balance. He turned to look at General. To his surprise, he was not angry at all. He merely said coolly, “You’re useless yourself.”

General immediately roared at him.

Who, exactly, was useless? Explain yourself!

“Given two people, A and B. A was originally as heartless toward B as the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. Then, one day, with no warning whatsoever, A changed his attitude and became as warm toward B as a spring breeze. Question: Why?”

Ji Xun’s mother ladled out a spoonful of soup and said, “What else could it be? He has ulterior motives.”

Ji Xun’s father gave a different answer. “It could also be that his conscience finally caught up with him, or that he felt guilty and wanted to make amends.”

Ji Xun held his chopsticks between his teeth, trying to match Fu Shuxing’s behavior to one of those possibilities.

But the explanation was too general, and he could not figure it out. “Could you elaborate?”

His mother glanced at him. Without first asking who A and B were, she said, “Perhaps A discovered something about B that he had not known before—something that made A wary of him, or something A could make use of. Family background, connections, abilities, financial resources… Any of those could cause someone’s attitude to change completely.”

Ji Xun thought—

Family background and connections? I have always been the same.

As for ability, Brother Xing already knew I had the Big King’s Egg, and there has been no sign of it hatching lately.

And financial resources are even less likely. My allowance is only two thousand. That would not even be enough to replace a screw cap on a mecha.

So it should not be any of those reasons.

Pass!

Ji Xun looked toward his father.

His father knew that the person looking at him was not merely his son. He coughed once, suddenly feeling that what he was about to say might be dangerous.

But he had already been pushed onto the stage.

He had no choice but to speak vaguely. “There could be many reasons. Perhaps someone else criticized A for having a bad attitude. Perhaps A himself realized that his behavior had been wrong. Or perhaps A had done something dishonorable and, out of guilt and a desire to make amends, lowered his pride and treated B well.”

At those words, Ji Xun’s mother withdrew her gaze from her husband.

His father began picking up food and eating, saying no more.

Ji Xun, meanwhile, pondered those words as he poked at his rice.

Taking advantage of the moment, his mother asked, “Xunxun, who is this A?”

“Brother Xing.”

“And B?”

The word “me” had already reached the tip of Ji Xun’s tongue, but he caught himself in time and changed his answer.

“Stone.”

His mother looked puzzled. “Why would Little Xing be as heartless and cruel toward Little Lei as the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves?”

Ji Xun shoveled rice into his mouth while staring wide-eyed and telling an outrageous lie. “Maybe it’s because sentinels are just incompatible by nature.”

That was not entirely a lie.

“They’ve never gotten along, have they? They’ve been fighting since they were little. Just recently, I even saw Stone getting beaten up by Brother Xing at the Sanctuary.”

Ji Xun’s father found that easy enough to understand. “They’re children. Roughhousing with each other is normal.”

Besides, they were sentinels. If they did not have a couple of fistfights a day, their hands would itch.

His mother said, “Is that so? But they shouldn’t be getting serious about it. Little Lei is such a good child. No—Little Xing has always been quite well-behaved too.”

Ji Xun picked up a piece of bone and gnawed at it. “Which child isn’t well-behaved in front of adults? They’re all pretending!”

His mother laughed. “All right, all right. You’re the only one who understands everything.”

“That’s because I’m a child too!”

“Yes, yes, you are.” His mother placed a piece of meat in his bowl. “Then this child should eat more meat.”

Ji Xun looked at the two fragrant pieces of braised pork in his bowl, their fat and lean layers glistening beautifully. He set down the bone he had finished gnawing and ventured, “Mom, if I eat something this greasy at night, can I skip the herbal medicine?”

His mother was merciless. “Drink some sour plum soup afterward to cut the grease. You’ll take the medicine before bed.”

Ji Xun: “…”

“Then I’d rather drink it right after dinner. I don’t want to lie in bed with my mouth full of herbal medicine and have such bitter nightmares.”

Then he complained again, “Does this medicine even work? I’ve been drinking it for more than a week, but the Big King’s Egg is exactly the same as before.”

“Patience,” his mother said. “Herbal medicine is meant to help regulate the body. It has few side effects, so of course it takes a little longer to show results.”

Ji Xun whined, “Then I want something that works faster. I don’t care if it has side effects.”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

Ji Xun gave a sheepish grin. “I’m only joking, only joking.”

After dinner, and after drinking his sour plum soup, Ji Xun no longer had room for the herbal medicine, even if he had wanted to drink it.

He went upstairs to his bedroom first.

After pulling open the window, Ji Xun raised his binoculars and investigated what Fu Shuxing was doing across the way.

As for what his parents had said at the dinner table, Ji Xun had already begun leaning toward his father’s explanation.

First, Uncle Gao had returned last night.

Perhaps Uncle Gao had discovered something about Fu Shuxing’s behavior and reprimanded him, telling him to improve his attitude from now on.

Or perhaps Fu Shuxing had finally developed a guilty conscience.

After all, back in District Ten, Fu Shuxing had acted high-handedly and single-mindedly, ruining Ji Xun’s plan to meet Bai Huancheng.

There was a saying: When the enemy does not move, one does not move either.

But now the enemy had made a move.

He had to think of a countermeasure.

Ji Xun watched through the binoculars for a long time, but saw no one in the bedroom across the way.

He hissed softly.

Where had he gone in the middle of the night?

He lowered the binoculars, and as his gaze wandered, he suddenly spotted Fu Shuxing leaning against the white fence outside the Fu residence.

“Ah!”

Ji Xun jumped.

At this hour of the night, that scare had nearly taken half his life.

A hundred meters away, he could not see clearly, but he had the distinct feeling that Fu Shuxing was looking directly toward him.

With the guilty air of someone trying to hide a conspicuous secret, Ji Xun lowered the binoculars and gave him an awkward wave.

Fu Shuxing had not expected Ji Xun to pull the curtains open so suddenly.

Nor had he expected him to be holding something that looked like binoculars. He had no idea what the boy had been using them to look at.

Now that he had been discovered, Fu Shuxing did not bother hiding. He took out his communicator and sent Ji Xun a message.

The communicator on Ji Xun’s desk chimed.

He picked it up and opened the message.

Fu Shuxing: Come downstairs for a walk.

Ji Xun: “…”

Oh no!

The enemy had made another move!

He had not thought of a countermeasure at all!

The Big King’s Egg rolled over to Ji Xun’s feet with a gurgling sound, reminding him that it was almost time for his exercises.

Ji Xun picked it up.

He still had no plan, but as long as the Big King’s Egg was with him, he felt at ease.

He went downstairs and reported his itinerary to his mother. “Mom, Brother Xing wants to see me. I’m going out for a while.”

What if Fu Shuxing intended to rob him and murder him?

His mother said, “All right. It’s cold tonight, so put on another layer.”

“Okay, okay!”

Ji Xun turned around and ran back upstairs, grabbed a jacket, and put it on.

He tucked the Big King’s Egg into his pocket and left the house. Fu Shuxing was still leaning against the fence.

Ji Xun walked over. “What made you think of going for a walk? Are you done with your work, Brother Xing?”

Not long ago, when he had told Ji Xun to leave, Fu Shuxing had said he still had something to do.

“Mm.”

With both hands in his pockets, Fu Shuxing said, “It’s been a long time since we went for a walk together.”

Ji Xun remained fully alert. “That’s true. It feels like everyone became busy after entering the Sanctuary.”

Fu Shuxing said nothing.

Ji Xun said nothing either. He thought that if they simply walked around once and came back, Fu Shuxing would have no opportunity to set a trap for him.

The direction was decided by Fu Shuxing.

Ji Xun followed him around half of the government compound, glancing this way and that. They seemed to be walking farther and farther away from home, and he could not help growing nervous.

Suddenly, Fu Shuxing said, “The jujube tree.”

Ji Xun looked at Fu Shuxing, then followed his gaze. Sure enough, he saw a large jujube tree in the Chen family’s yard, its branches extending over the wall. Most of the fruit had clearly already been picked, leaving only a few scattered jujubes, along with some high up that were difficult to reach.

Ji Xun suddenly remembered something from his childhood.

Every autumn, when the jujubes ripened, all the children in the government compound loved climbing the tree to pick and eat them.

Ji Xun loved eating jujubes, but he had never unlocked the skill of climbing trees. He would stand beneath the tree, stretch both little hands upward, and beg the children perched in the branches to throw a couple down to him.

Stone, standing on one of the branches, would say, “Why are you asking us? Go find your Brother Xingxing and have him pick some for you!”

Ji Xun would stamp his feet in fury. His Brother Xingxing clearly did not know how to climb trees either!

Fu Shuxing really could not climb trees.

But one night, when Fu Shuxing came to find him, he pulled several large, round jujubes—some green, some red—from his pocket.

“Here. Jujubes for you.”

The palms of his small hands were scraped raw, and even his clean clothes and trousers were streaked with dust.

From that day onward, Ji Xun had all the jujubes he could eat.

Ji Xun was still lost in the memory when the person beside him suddenly moved. In just a few swift motions, Fu Shuxing climbed the Chen family’s wall, which was more than two meters high. Though tall and powerfully built, he moved with remarkable speed and lightness. Once he had reached the top of the wall, he leaped onto the jujube tree and plucked several fruits.

The Chen family had apparently heard the noise, because the lights inside the house came on.

Ji Xun tensed and called softly, “Brother Xing! Someone’s coming!”

Fu Shuxing returned to the wall and jumped down lightly. He grabbed Ji Xun’s hand.

“Run.”

After they had hurried some distance away, Ji Xun still felt a little thrill.

He began to laugh and looked at Fu Shuxing.

Seeing the little guide’s eyes curved into crescents, dimples deep in his cheeks, Fu Shuxing paused for a moment. Then he placed a handful of green-and-red jujubes in Ji Xun’s hand.

“Here. Jujubes for you.”

Ji Xun accepted them and looked at Fu Shuxing again.

Fu Shuxing asked, “You’re not going to eat them?”

Ji Xun was a little full, but he rubbed the jujubes against his clothes, then bit into one.