Li Shiyan puffed out his chest and said with raised eyebrows: “With those words from you, if you ever get into trouble in the future, I, Li Shiyan, will help you even if it costs me my life.”

As he spoke, he raised his hand and patted Zhao Quanzhi’s solid arm.

“Uh!”

Zhao Quanzhi suddenly frowned and drew his arm back.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing!” Zhao Quanzhi immediately concealed his pained expression from just now and returned to normal. He pushed against Li Shiyan’s chest, saying: “Go, go, go! Don’t curse me. I don’t want anything to happen!”

The two looked like brothers with deep affection, chatting idly, completely ignoring the people beside them.

The elite soldier who had originally intended to lock the door urged: “Young Master Zhao, the wine has been delivered. You should leave now. Don’t make things difficult for us. If Lord Huang finds out, we’ll…”

His face wrinkled into a mass.

Zhao Quanzhi didn’t want to make things difficult for them either. He instructed Li Shiyan to stay here properly, then left the Water Moon Pavilion together with Su Ziluo. Li Shiyan watched them leave. He hadn’t expected that when he was in trouble, there would still be people helping him. Thinking about it, his usual conduct toward others wasn’t too bad. Thinking this, he actually felt a bit smug, though he concealed it beneath his eyelids without revealing a sound, hiding it sweetly in his heart.

The tall elite soldier held a lock in his hand and stood before him, saying: “Heir, please go inside. I must lock the door.”

Li Shiyan was too lazy to argue with him and turned to go inside. But just as the door had just closed, a wild cat suddenly darted in from outside.

“Meow~”

That cat’s cry was extremely mournful. Hearing it was like someone scraping a knife across bone, making one’s spine tighten with a start.

“Where did this cat come from?” He saw that black cat jump onto the table. Li Shiyan was just placing the wine Zhao Quanzhi had brought him there. With the cat’s jumping motion, the jar of good wine was knocked over. With a “clang,” it shattered completely. The fragrant wine inside all spilled out, flowing everywhere, mixed with jar fragments and dust all over the ground, appearing quite muddy.

“Oh no!” Li Shiyan’s voice rose sharply.

His whole person immediately froze. He had finally obtained a jar of wine with great difficulty, but now it had been knocked over by a cat that came from who knows where. Not only was it regrettable, it was truly vexing. A surge of anger rushed to Li Shiyan’s chest. He glared at that hateful black cat and swung his hand down at it. However, the black cat dodged in time. The moment his hand swung over, it instantly jumped to the ground. Its four paws stepped in the osmanthus wine flowing all over the floor. Perhaps attracted by the beautiful wine’s aroma, it greedily stuck out its tongue and licked several times, then contentedly scurried out through the door crack.

Fleeing far away!

Li Shiyan was furious to the extreme. However, once that black cat went out, it vanished without a trace. Finding it would be truly difficult.

“Damn cat! If I catch you again, I definitely won’t let you off. I’ll make you pay for this.” He rebuked loudly, his two sleeves swinging heavily several times.

The elite soldier who witnessed this scene was also angry. Just as he was about to speak words of comfort, Li Shiyan drove him out and wouldn’t even let him clean up the fragments on the ground. The elite soldier naturally couldn’t say anything and could only obediently retreat, locking the door.

Li Shiyan was so angry his whole face turned red. He kicked the fragments on the ground aside with one foot…

After leaving the Water Moon Pavilion, Zhao Quanzhi cautiously walked to Su Ziluo’s side.

More accurately, he was nervous! He knew Su Ziluo was a taciturn and indifferent person who usually didn’t like to talk much, but his mind was extremely sharp and could always grasp people’s pain points. When he and Li Shiyan had been doing as they pleased in the capital, he had seen Su Ziluo several times. Each time, he could hear him speak to Li Shiyan with penetrating insight. Therefore, he was terrified of losing propriety before Su Ziluo or saying something wrong, which made him extremely nervous, even becoming cautious.

Su Ziluo glanced at him and asked lightly: “Is Young Master Zhao very afraid of me?”

“Ah?”

He was stunned!

He hadn’t expected Su Ziluo would ask him this question. For a moment, only the sound “ah” burst from his nasal cavity. He completely didn’t know what he should answer. Instead, he felt a wave of awkwardness. After laughing embarrassedly, he quickly waved his hands and said: “How could that be? General Su is approachable. How could I be afraid of you? Besides, I haven’t done anything wrong, so why would I be afraid?”

Su Ziluo smiled: “If it’s not fear, then it’s nervousness.”

“Uh… this… General Su is a capable person. My meager skills naturally make me nervous before you. Moreover, you know about all those absurd things the heir and I did in the capital, so seeing you makes me feel somewhat awkward.”

He was indeed an honest person!

The smile at the corners of Su Ziluo’s mouth deepened. The two men’s courtyards weren’t in the same direction, so when they reached a fork in the road, they bid each other farewell and parted. Unexpectedly, a dog emerged from somewhere and charged over. Its front legs leaped up, lunging straight at Su Ziluo. Fortunately, Qi’er had quick eyes and fast hands. He turned the wheelchair and moved it to the side, causing the dog to miss.

“Woof woof woof…” The yellow dog wasn’t willing to give up and wanted to continue pouncing. Su Ziluo’s hand was already on the mechanism on the wheelchair, just waiting for when the dog pounced to press it down. But unexpectedly, before the yellow dog could leap up, Zhao Quanzhi pressed down on its head, then scratched it a few times behind the ears and patted it on the nose. This strange behavior left people completely confused, not knowing what meaning there was in doing this.

But in an instant, that frantic yellow dog actually quieted down. It suppressed its fierce nature and obediently lay on the ground without moving, only making a few “hmph” sounds from its mouth.

Seeing this, Su Ziluo moved his hand away from the mechanism, his expression calm, unaffected by what had just happened.

Qi’er asked: “Young Master, are you alright?”

Actually, even if Su Ziluo hadn’t acted, Qi’er could have used force to restrain that maddened dog, but Zhao Quanzhi had been one step faster.

Su Ziluo responded softly: “I’m fine!”

Zhao Quanzhi patted his hands and stood up, then straightened the wrinkles in his clothes. His sharp gaze stared at the dog lying on the ground. Unintentionally, he reached out to touch his arm again and spoke: “How are all the dogs in this Ning’an Manor like this? Opening their mouths to bite people at the slightest provocation, as if we owe this bunch of beasts something.” Having said this, he looked at Su Ziluo and inquired: “General Su, are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Thank you, Young Master Zhao.”

“It’s a small matter—just a dog.”

“Seeing your movements when catching the dog just now was rather peculiar. This dog clearly had a fierce nature, but how did it become so docile after you handled it?”

“My family has raised quite a few dogs, so I understand dogs fairly well.”

“I see.” Su Ziluo looked at him deeply.

Zhao Quanzhi didn’t think there was anything special about this. It was merely subduing a dog.

A manor servant ran over from afar. When he reached Su Ziluo, he was flustered and panicked. He quickly knelt on the ground and said: “General Su, Young Master Zhao, this humble one didn’t watch this dog properly. It’s this humble one’s fault. Please forgive me!”

His voice was trembling.

Zhao Quanzhi glared sideways and rebuked: “How are you watching the dog? Running out to bite people for no reason—if it had actually injured General Su just now, would you use your life to atone?”

“It’s this humble one’s negligence. Please spare this humble one’s life, General Su!”

“Negligence and that’s it? What a bunch of useless slaves.” Zhao Quanzhi burned with fury.

The servant trembled all over.

However, Su Ziluo had no angry feelings. He only asked: “Is this one of the dogs that bit the corpse?”

“No, those dogs that gnawed on the corpse have all been confined.”

“Could it be that the manor’s dogs are usually this frantic?”

The servant said: “Usually they’re fine. I don’t know what’s been going on these past few days? They always like to bark and run around wildly.”

Su Ziluo’s eyes darkened, as if pondering something. Then he waved his hand: “Never mind. Take this dog away.”

“Yes.” The servant stood up and quickly led the dog away!

However, Zhao Quanzhi was still indignant, saying: “If you ask me, we should have beaten that dog to death to prevent it from coming out to bite people again.”

Su Ziluo said in a cool tone: “Since it’s a beast, why bother fussing over it so much?”

Zhao Quanzhi’s face stiffened.

He didn’t know what to say.

Su Ziluo thanked him again, then parted ways and left.

However, before leaving, Qi’er deliberately glanced at Zhao Quanzhi.

…

On the way back to the courtyard, Su Ziluo’s gaze stared ahead persistently before he turned his head and instructed Qi’er behind him: “Go investigate.”

Qi’er understood his meaning: “Yes.”