“My… what awakened you?” Meng Ruji appeared extremely confused as she looked at Mo Li, as if she couldn’t understand his words. “And when did I ever fish you out of the river?”

Mo Li blinked his eyes: “I sensed the aura of the Inner Core.”

“It wasn’t me.” Meng Ruji immediately denied it. “You should go find…”

She paused, still deciding to hide Mu Sui for now. Having this “old immortal” go look for Mu Sui now would essentially be the same as looking for her!

So Meng Ruji spoke without hesitation:

“My Inner Core was stolen. It’s not with me. You’ve got the wrong person. It has nothing to do with me. Go find whoever has the Inner Core.”

“I gave you my Inner Core, and you used it to achieve great things. I don’t care about what happened after, but I only recognize you. As for whether that Inner Core was lost or stolen while in your possession, I don’t care about that either. Whether grandchildren should support their grandparents is debatable, but children should always support their parents.” Mo Li spoke with complete seriousness. “You need to take responsibility for me and support me until I no longer want to live.”

Meng Ruji looked at Mo Li. She wanted to refute him, but her lips seemed glued together. Despite twisting them for a long time, she couldn’t open them, simply because she couldn’t think of any counterargument.

The Inner Core was given by Mo Li!

Hengxu Mountain was built because of the Inner Core!

She had survived countless dangers relying on the power of the Inner Core!

Rounding it all up, this life of hers was saved by Yan Tianjun!

He wasn’t wrong at all!

And his request seemed reasonable at any time – just elderly care! Give him food to eat, a place to live, take him to see a doctor when sick, and find him a burial plot when he dies!

Nothing difficult about it!

If this had been in the past, Meng Ruji would have agreed immediately. But! Now wasn’t the past!

Her difficulty was that she had no money for elderly care!

She was still living day to day, and at home, there was Mu Sui who needed to be fed! How could she have money to support him in his old age?

“I’m dirt poor.” Meng Ruji gave up, directly taking out the medicinal pill wrapped in oil paper from her hand. “This is all my worldly possessions. What am I supposed to use to support you in old age? At this rate, I might not even live to be old myself.”

Mo Li looked at the pill in Meng Ruji’s hand, examining it for a moment: “Eight silver?”

“That’s it.”

“What’s it for treating?”

“Accidental ingestion of Nai River water.”

“Nai River water is indeed somewhat toxic.” Mo Li examined Meng Ruji: “You don’t look like you drank it.”

“I bought it for a friend.”

“Good friend, very loyal. You’re good to Mu Sui.”

“Saving a life… hmm?” Meng Ruji pondered for a moment, then suddenly reacted. “What did you say?”

Did he just say the two words “Mu Sui”?

Mo Li looked at Meng Ruji with a grinning smile: “You’re good to Mu Sui.”

Meng Ruji was stunned, staring at him blankly: “How do you know about Mu Sui…”

“Last night, in his arms, I heard you calling him.”

“You…”

This sentence, at first hearing, had some ambiguous implications.

Meng Ruji rubbed her temples, and at the same time, confirmed in her heart that it was indeed last night when Mu Sui fell into the Nai River, and the Inner Core aura in his body awakened this Mo Li stone; then, in the panic, he was probably brought ashore.

“Speaking of which, if you don’t have money to support me in old age, that’s also fine. Mu Sui has it. Since you’re such good friends, you could just ask him for some.”

Meng Ruji heard this but ignored Mo Li, only calculating on her own how to get rid of this persistent pest before going back.

“He’s the Lord of Zhuliu City. He should have the money to support me in old age.”

It was precisely when Mo Li said this sentence that Meng Ruji’s thoughts about “knocking Mo Li unconscious, then digging a hole to bury him” suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

She looked toward Mo Li.

“What did you say?”

“Hmm? The matter of Mu Sui being the Lord of Zhuliu City…” Mo Li looked at Meng Ruji as if watching a show. “Little Meng, don’t tell me you don’t know?”

Meng Ruji, of course, didn’t know.

“He came to the Realm of No Retention with me. Yan Tianjun, you must have mistaken him for someone else.” However, when Meng Ruji said this, another somewhat noisy voice penetrated her mind—

“We can ferry people across.”

“Just a while ago.”

“The Lord of Zhuliu City crossed over.”

The Lord of Zhuliu City, wealthy beyond measure.

Many past voices and scenes entered Meng Ruji’s mind, and she fell into irrepressible contemplation.

“Although I didn’t see his appearance yesterday, I know that in the Realm of No Retention, there’s only one person with that name.”

Mo Li looked at Meng Ruji, quite playfully tapping the pill in Meng Ruji’s hand again: “Little Meng, you’re loyal, but your friend doesn’t seem very honest. He didn’t even reveal his own identity.”

“It’s just a name; they could be the same.” Meng Ruji seemed to explain, yet also seemed to murmur to herself. “Besides, Mu Sui can’t remember anything.”

“Does he remember nothing at all?”

Mo Li’s voice was somewhat ethereal and drifting. Falling on Meng Ruji’s ears, it seemed like a question, yet also like some kind of confirmation.

Meng Ruji looked up at Mo Li.

On Mo Li’s pale face, his red thin lips curved into an alluring arc.

Does he remember nothing at all?

Meng Ruji thought of Mu Sui’s somewhat strange reactions after climbing out of the Nai River last night.

Today, he had admitted to her that he remembered some things, but what he said was only about stealing her Inner Core, something she already knew.

Seeing Meng Ruji lost in her thoughts, Mo Li took the opportunity to say:

“Supporting me in old age wouldn’t cost much money either. I can also transform into the appearance of a stone. You can carry me, keep me in your embrace, warm me up a bit, and that’s enough. I only need to eat a meal and drink some wine occasionally. I’m easy to care for.”

Meng Ruji examined Mo Li.

“I’ve stayed in the Realm of No Retention for a long time. There are many rules you don’t know, people you don’t recognize – I know them all, recognize them all.”

Meng Ruji raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t have to agree to support me in old age right away, either. Try out my usefulness first.”

“Try what?”

“You keep me in your embrace, let me go see Mu Sui. I’ve seen the Lord of Zhuliu City before. Having the same name could be called a coincidence, but looking the same couldn’t be a coincidence, right?”

Meng Ruji remained silent, somewhat tempted.

She indeed wanted to know who Mu Sui was.

If she were that lucky and Mu Sui was the Lord of Zhuliu City, then Zhuliu City making money would be faster than her making money! At worst, eating wouldn’t be a problem, right?

When the time came, she’d bring the Lord of Zhuliu City back. Using Zhuliu City’s capabilities to make money, since Zhuliu City could send their city lord to the mortal world once, they could send him a second time – it was just a matter of time.

In any case, it would be much faster than her fighting alone!

Meng Ruji remained silent for a long while, then spoke: “I’ll keep you in my embrace, you quietly look at him. If he looks the same as the Lord of Zhuliu City, you bounce twice in my embrace.”

“Alright.”

Meng Ruji extended her hand toward Mo Li: “Come here then…” Halfway through speaking, she pulled her hand back. “This doesn’t mean I’m agreeing to support you in old age.”

Seeing this, Mo Li smiled: “Fine. After we confirm it, you can discuss it with me again. There are still many things about the Realm of No Retention and Zhuliu City that you don’t know. You absolutely must not rashly confess everything to Mu Sui.”

“How I act, I’ll have my sense of propriety. Yan Tianjun, you do your job first.”

Mo Li looked at her with a grinning smile: “Little Meng, you’re indeed different from when we first met.”