Sanqing used its sharp beak to methodically groom the feathers behind it, occasionally glancing at Minghong leisurely perched on the roof beam, completely ignoring Lu Zigang who was pacing anxiously in the room.

During this past year, Lu Zigang had initially desperately calculated how the Luoshu Nine Stars Compass actually operated, then harbored other thoughts and began practicing jade carving techniques according to his past-life memories. Now, having given up using the compass to find the Boss and with the Doctor no longer dropping by, the idle Lu Zigang finally remembered he should take time to check the antiques in the Dumb House – airing what needed airing, replacing mothballs for pest control, and dusting what needed cleaning. As a result of this spring cleaning, he discovered a serious problem.

In the room with the woven skirt, only the small-leaf rosewood standing clothes rack remained. The woven skirt that should have been hanging there had vanished without a trace.

If it were other antiques, Lu Zigang might have thought the Boss had put them away or sold them to someone with the right connection. But he clearly remembered that after he and the Doctor had time-traveled back to the Tang Dynasty and met Princess Anle Li Guoer, they had come to this room and seen that unparalleled woven skirt. Now only an empty clothes rack remained!

Lu Zigang paced back and forth in the room like a caged beast. When his peripheral vision caught sight of Sanqing, he rushed over like grasping a lifeline, touched its back gently, and asked in as soft a voice as possible: “Sanqing, have you seen the woven skirt from here? You know, a skirt made from many bird feathers.”

Sanqing innocently shook its head. It naturally knew about that skirt, but had always detested humans using bird feathers for decoration, so it had always disliked this woven skirt and rarely wandered in here, thus not knowing when the skirt had disappeared. Minghong, standing on the roof beam, seeing Lu Zigang’s questioning gaze directed at it, also hurriedly shook its head. Though it was also unusually arrogant, fighting with Sanqing daily had nearly made its feathers bald, and now under someone else’s roof, how could it not bow its head?

Lu Zigang’s thick eyebrows furrowed deeply. The Doctor never entered the inner rooms of the Dumb House, and the painter who came daily wouldn’t arbitrarily touch other rooms. Had it been stolen? Who could have such ability? Things could actually go missing from the Dumb House? This was unheard of!

Rubbing his aching temples, Lu Zigang felt this past year had been absolutely terrible. Indeed, only the Boss could manage the Dumb House. He now didn’t dare to thoroughly check how many antiques were missing from the Dumb House, or perhaps even if he checked, he couldn’t figure it out – he had no inventory list of all the antiques in the Dumb House.

Minghong stood on the roof beam with its head tilted for a while, then suddenly seemed to sense something, spread its wings and flew out of the room. This time Sanqing didn’t chase after it, but watched it fly out of the Dumb House. Sanqing called twice, indicating that silly bird had finally left and it was satisfied.

Lu Zigang had no intention of stopping Minghong. This little red bird had flown over on its own originally, and now it was flying away on its own – was it sensing its master’s return?

Standing in the small room where the woven skirt should have hung, Lu Zigang stood dazed for a while, then searched everywhere possible in the Dumb House but couldn’t find that woven skirt. He could only walk out of the room dejectedly, but after turning around the screen, he saw someone completely unexpected.

“Boss! You’re back?!” Lu Zigang stood frozen in place, utterly shocked.

The Boss sat behind the counter, holding a Ming Dynasty purple clay Gongchun teapot to warm his hands. His expression was gentle and indifferent, his movements leisurely and calm, just as he had done for countless days and months before, as if he had never left. Seeing Lu Zigang emerge from the inner room, he curved his lips in a faint smile, nodded and replied: “I just came back to get something. Thank you for your hard work, Zigang.”

Lu Zigang’s expression changed several times, but he finally exhaled softly and sighed: “Boss, Zigang has failed in his duties.”

“Sit first.” The Boss didn’t mind, gesturing for Lu Zigang to sit down and taking out two purple clay cups. Fu Su had gone back to find Hu Hai, so he had time to hear about Lu Zigang’s situation over the past year.

Lu Zigang sat down and first drank a cup of hot tea to steady his nerves, then confessed about his unauthorized use of the Luoshu Nine Stars Compass.

“Oh? I came back precisely to get that compass. You’re quite bold – weren’t you afraid of not being able to return after traveling through time?” The Boss raised an eyebrow with interest. “Tell me, which dynasties did you visit?”

Lu Zigang honestly recounted the entire itinerary of their year’s time travel from beginning to end, not even omitting his final trip to find Xia Zelan. In fact, Lu Zigang had accumulated much pressure internally and didn’t know whom to confide in. The Boss’s timely appearance made him completely relieved, and regardless of consequences, he poured everything out.

Seeing Lu Zigang’s anxious expression after finishing, the Boss didn’t reproach him further, but smiled slightly: “If I hadn’t returned, would you have gone to the Ming Dynasty again this month?”

Lu Zigang froze. He wanted to shake his head in denial, but under the Boss’s piercing gaze, he couldn’t lie and could only nod with difficulty. Indeed, he couldn’t accept that previous outcome. What if he had taken Xia Zelan away from the capital earlier? Could they have avoided the Imperial Guard’s pursuit? Or what if he had met Xia Zelan earlier and thoroughly persuaded her to leave the Imperial Food Service… Lu Zigang couldn’t help thinking this way. Even if there was only a one-in-ten-thousand possibility, he wanted to keep trying.

“Foolish child, if the Luoshu Nine Stars Compass were so useful, why wouldn’t I use it?” Seeing the shocked expression on Lu Zigang’s face, the Boss couldn’t help but smile bitterly: “Ever since I obtained the Luoshu Nine Stars Compass, I continuously traveled back to the time before Fu Su’s death. But no matter how many times I used the compass to return to history, even if I saved Fu Su, he would soon die from other causes. This is completely unchangeable – it’s history that has already happened.”

Lu Zigang suddenly remembered when he and the Doctor were in General Qi’s military camp, the Doctor had treated many soldiers, most of whom soon died in the ensuing battles. He hadn’t thought much about it then – could the reason really be history’s irreversibility?

“I always thought I hadn’t done enough, always felt I would do better next time.” The Boss looked down at the tea gently swaying in his cup, his words carrying indescribable bitterness. “But watching him die in front of me for various reasons time and again, like a nightmare from which I could never wake, finally I could only helplessly surrender, seal away the Luoshu Nine Stars Compass, and never use it again.”

Lu Zigang’s face turned pale as he finally realized how naive he had been.

Yes, history was always just history. What had happened had become established fact. No matter how much effort he put in, nothing could be recovered.

Lu Zigang stood dazed for a while, then wiped his face with his hands and said dejectedly: “Boss, I may have done another foolish thing.”

He then told about using Hengwu incense on the Doctor. He couldn’t hide it and didn’t try to justify it too much. Lu Zigang vaguely felt his mental state had been somewhat dangerous recently. Perhaps being around so many strange antiques, being able to easily travel through time with a gesture, and arbitrarily control others’ fates had given him an illusion of omnipotence. He was also just an ordinary person, unable to maintain himself in the face of such powerful temptation.

Fortunately, the Boss had returned in time, otherwise he might have done something even more regrettable.

As Lu Zigang spoke, he watched the Boss’s expression, but found no clues – the Boss didn’t even move his eyes or eyebrows a fraction.

“Oh, that’s fine.” After Lu Zigang finished, the Boss slowly nodded. “That’s fine. The Doctor should return to a normal person’s life. Even if you hadn’t used Hengwu incense, I would have used it on him.”

Hearing this, Lu Zigang finally breathed a sigh of relief, his hanging heart settling back in his stomach. He had thought so – the Boss had used that Hengwu incense countless times over two thousand years. Hadn’t he seen that only a tiny bit of incense powder remained in that jar? This time was naturally no different from all those previous times.

The Boss still smiled as usual, bringing his tea cup to his lips, but the ice-cold tea that entered his mouth made his brow furrow.

Silently swallowing the cold, astringent tea, the Boss smiled helplessly.

So although he could no longer feel pain or its absence, he could still distinguish warmth from cold…

Fu Su felt under the doormat at the entrance and found the spare key, opening the apartment door. The moment the door opened, Fu Su couldn’t help touching the burned area covered by his bangs on half his face with his hand. His fingertips encountered only uneven textures. He wasn’t someone who cared about appearance, but now he wondered if Hu Hai would recognize him when seeing this stranger.

Actually, Fu Su didn’t like this younger brother at all. He had been deliberately spoiled by their father since childhood, and after growing up had usurped his throne. Though it was all due to Zhao Gao’s instigation, the fact that he died because of it couldn’t be changed. But now that he had even let go of his obsession with restoring the Qin Dynasty, what couldn’t he forgive about this blood-related brother?

After all, over two thousand years had passed, hadn’t they? Even the Great Qin in his memories had turned to dust – what could prove they had ever existed?

Only a few scattered people remained.

The apartment was completely silent. Fu Su could already smell the musty odor of a place long uninhabited. He tried the light switch by the door, but the lights didn’t turn on. The electricity had probably been cut off for unpaid bills. Fu Su frowned, finding thick dust had settled throughout the house. The living room window wasn’t properly closed, and there were marks on the floor near the window where rain had soaked and warped the boards – the source of the musty smell.

It looked like Hu Hai hadn’t been back for several months.

Fu Su walked to the table, where there was a half-burned moon musk incense seal that had been extinguished, but what caught his attention was a square-shaped mark on the table. The dust thickness here was completely different from the surrounding area, as if something had been placed here and later taken away.

There were no notes or other information in the room. The clothes in the closets were all there with no signs of being packed. Even the bedding hadn’t been folded. One of the black umbrellas Hu Hai often carried was missing from the entrance. The entire room looked as if the owner had casually gone out and then never returned.

Fu Su’s doubts grew. Hu Hai didn’t use phones, so he didn’t know how to contact him. Only at times like this did he realize how advanced modern communication methods were. In ancient times, no news for several months was quite normal – why would being unable to contact someone for a moment feel so unbearable? He wondered how Hu Hai had spent this past year… Thinking this, Fu Su felt somewhat guilty about leaving without a word.

Just then, Fu Su heard the fluttering sound of wings. Following the sound, he saw the little red bird squeeze through a gap in the living room window. Fu Su immediately approached and asked: “Minghong, where is your master?”

Minghong tilted its head looking at the stranger who had suddenly appeared in the house, but didn’t rush to peck at him. It hurriedly flapped its wings and circled the room once, not seeing its master’s figure, and couldn’t help crying out anxiously.

Seeing Minghong’s reaction, Fu Su’s heart sank. What had happened to Hu Hai that he hadn’t even taken Minghong with him?