Chapter 10: Me and My Enemy Father and Brother

After being stunned for half a second, Chen Yunli reacted and pointed at the old... no, young man on the ground and said, "No wonder you look so old but can run so fast, it turns out you were just pretending!"

The man grinned at him dryly, struggling with his arm being held by Chen Wenjian, but failing to break free, he said cautiously, "Although I am... pretending to be an old man, I haven't broken any laws or offended you. Why are you arresting me?"

His excuse was quite reasonable, but coupled with his guilty expression and tone, it seemed strange and unbelievable.

"You haven't offended us, but," Chen Wenjian threw his wig and mask to the ground, his eyes narrowed, revealing a faintly gloomy and captivating aura, "Why did you look at me with shock in your eyes, and then run away when I looked back?"

"I……"

The young man was like a snake being pinched at the waist. He was already weak, and now he was completely deflated, with his head down and no words.

"Speak?" Chen Yunli poked him in the waist.

Perhaps his sore spot was touched, the young man jumped up as if he had been electrocuted, but was then forced to kneel on the ground by Chen Wenjian, like a dejected rooster with its wings pinched.

He looked up at Chen Yunli, then turned to look at Chen Wenjian. Although he still didn't speak, the surprise and fear in his eyes betrayed him.

Chen Yunli was angry and poked him in the waist again: "Tell me what's going on!"

This tickling was pure torture for him. He flinched suddenly and finally said, "No, nothing. I just thought... this guy behind me looked like a demon in a painting I've seen before, and I was frightened."

"You're talking nonsense." Ning Bufan was originally looking at the wig and fake face on the ground. Upon hearing this, he cursed without even raising his eyelids.

Chen Yunli thought this was bullshit and pointed at Chen Wenjian's face and said, "If you don't use your eyes, you can donate them to people in need. Look at this face, look carefully! How does he look like a demon?"

Chen Wenjian looked innocent - although it was nice to be praised, he seemed to have missed the point.

but……

Chen Wenjian glanced at Chen Yunli's indignant expression, but did not rush to remind him.

The young man rolled his eyes, glanced at Chen Wenjian quickly, and immediately decided to shut up. No matter how much Chen Yunli asked, he refused to say a word.

Chen Yunli was puzzled by his stubborn and unyielding attitude. He exchanged a glance with Chen Wenjian, stroking his chin and thinking about a solution.

At this moment, Ning Bufan suddenly picked up the fake face and shook it open, then casually smoothed his sparse and messy wig: "Old man Zhao?"

Hearing this familiar name, the young man's back stiffened.

"Hey, aren't you Old Man Zhao from Cuiye Village?" Ning Bufan poked his shoulder with his fishing rod. "You fainted at the entrance of Cuiye Village at the end of last year, and it was the village chief and his family who saved you. At that time, you said you were 52 years old, a widower, with no place to go, and the village chief took pity on you and put you up in an old thatched cottage at the end of the village. Usually, the villagers would give you whatever they had left over—and you turned out to be so young?!"

Ning Bufan became more and more angry as he spoke. Veins popped out on the back of his thin hands. He exerted force with the hand that was holding the fishing rod and slapped him hard on the back.

The young man let out a cry of pain, and Chen Wenjian quickly retracted his hand to avoid being affected.

Seeing this, Chen Yunli made a gesture to Chen Wenjian. Chen Wenjian understood and cast a spell to create a rope, tying the young man to a big tree nearby.

The young man felt guilty under Ning Bufan's glare. He didn't dare to struggle or argue. He just lowered his head and said, "I... I had my own reasons. I didn't mean to deceive them."

"Bah! You're a grown man, yet you're still pretending to be an old man and getting free food and drinks at such a young age. You're taking advantage of the kindness of the Cuiye villagers and eating and drinking for free, but you're not doing your job! What kind of hardship do you have? Even if you have a hardship, it's bullshit!"

Ning Bufan spat at him and picked up the fishing rod to hit him again.

"Hey, no, Brother Ning, no!"

Chen Yunli pretended to stop him, and after Ning Bufan hit the young man twice more, he took the fishing rod from his hand and patted him on the back to calm him down.

Ning Bufan was a weak scholar after all. His previous fight with the fish was a special case of his deep love for his brother. Today, he had exceeded the amount of exercise after hitting people a few times. He stood with his hands on his hips, panting and staring at the young man.

Chen Yunli walked up to the big tree with a fishing rod in hand. He met the young man's evasive gaze, and after a while, he suddenly smiled.

"I'm not interested in your difficulties. If you have any explanation, you can go and tell the villagers you deceived later." His smile was kind and lovely, and the young man looked at him, inexplicably losing his guard. "I have a question. As long as you answer truthfully, we will let you go."

The young man stared at him for a moment, then glanced at Chen Wenjian: "Can he be your master?"

When he said this, his tone and expression were a little strange, as if he was asking a ferocious beast: Does the food in your mouth determine whether you want to eat it?

Chen Yunli shook his head, getting rid of this strange association.

"Okay." Chen Wenjian nodded, calmly handing over the decision-making power. "When we're away from home, I'll listen to him."

Chen Yunli: “…”

Even weirder! But why is it a little bit cool?

That's the great demon king who will destroy the world in the future! He said he listens to you! He listens to you!

Hehehehe!

Chen Yunli pursed his lips, the corners of his mouth harder to suppress than AK.

The young man's eyes swept back and forth between the two of them: "Your relationship..."

"Why are you talking so much nonsense!" Ning Bufan was impatient. Seeing him dithering, he got angry and kicked him. "What's wrong with their relationship? I listen to my brother when I'm out! If you keep talking nonsense, I'll beat you!"

Knowing he was in the wrong, the young man lowered his head in front of Ning Bufan and said with his head hung low, "Okay. What do you want to ask?"

"Tell us your name first." Chen Yunli emphasized: "Real name."

The young man hesitated and said, "My name is... Lou Zhixi."

Chen Yunli nodded and got to the point: "Regarding the tragedy that occurred at Jiangnanchun Restaurant, do you know any inside information or clues?"

It is a common negotiation trick to ask what you know instead of whether you know it.

Lou Zhixi thought for a moment and looked at Chen Wenjian: "Aren't you the murderer?"

Chen Wenjian: “…”

Chen Yunli: “?”

"What nonsense are you talking about!" After coming to his senses, Chen Yunli kicked him. "When the crime happened yesterday, we had just bought dinner from Shayan Restaurant and went up the mountain. We even had dinner together. The case has nothing to do with him. Stop accusing him of something wrong!"

"You...you two are so close, how do I know you are not protecting him?" Lou Zhixi stiffened his neck and spoke stubbornly. When he saw Chen Wenjian's indifferent eyes, he shrank back again, obviously very afraid of him.

Although Chen Yunli was annoyed by his nagging, he also sensed something intriguing in his attitude and immediately suppressed his anger: "Why do you think he's the murderer? Did you see it yourself? Or do you have any clues or evidence?"

"I... I saw it." Lou Zhixi frowned as he recalled something, "In 'Tianzhao'."

Chen Yunli was stunned, and Ning Bufan looked confused: "A sign from heaven?"

Before the two could react, Chen Wenjian suddenly reached out and untied the rope on Lou Zhixi.

Lou Zhixi looked up blankly. Chen Wenjian was reeling in the rope and wrapping it around his palm in circles. His eyebrows were lowered, and he looked calm and indifferent, and difficult to approach.

"You know?" Chen Yunli asked him as he got closer.

As soon as he approached, the coldness and alienation on Chen Wenjian's face quickly melted away, and a smile appeared on his face.

He nodded and explained briefly what a sign was.

When the art of divination is practiced to a certain level, practitioners will occasionally enter a state of unity between man and nature. In this state, they will see some scenes of the future. This phenomenon is called a celestial omen.

"The omen of heaven cannot be wrong! Since you know the omen of heaven, you should understand this." Lou Zhixi turned his aching wrist and looked directly at Chen Wenjian. "In the scene I saw, you were sentenced by the government as the murderer of the Jiangnanchun Restaurant Massacre."

Chen Wenjian raised his eyebrows, then chuckled and shook his head.

Lou Zhixi sensed his sarcasm, and was immediately irritated by the fact that he was being mocked in his most accomplished field. "What are you laughing at? Did I say something wrong?"

"Idiot." Ning Bufan rolled his eyes and offered a sharp comment. "The heavens won't lie, but people can. The footage of the yamen's verdict that you saw only means it will happen, but it doesn't mean the yamen's verdict is necessarily correct."

"That, that doesn't prove that he's definitely not the murderer!"

Lou Zhixi jumped up and down: "He is a big devil! He will kill many people in the future! I saw it with my own eyes! Maybe he just likes killing people for fun! ... Ouch!"

Before he could finish his words, Chen Yunli punched him on the head. He squatted on the ground with his hands on his head, seeing stars.

"Fuck you, you big devil." Chen Yunli squatted in front of him, his expression stern. "I'm telling you, as long as something like this hasn't happened yet, there's a chance it could change in the future. You're pretty confident in your divination abilities, right? Then let me make a bet with you."

"Bet, what to bet on?" Lou Zhixi covered the swollen bump, overwhelmed by his aura, and spoke weakly and stutteringly.

"I bet the scene you saw in Tianzhao—the government's verdict that Chen Wenjian was the murderer of the Jiangnanchun Restaurant tragedy—won't happen."

"...The omen from heaven cannot be wrong." Lou Zhixi still insisted on his opinion.

Chen Yunli shrugged. "Since you're so confident, I'll take it as your agreement to this bet. During this time, you can follow us and see if he's the murderer, and whether he'll be suspected and summoned by the authorities. How about that?"

“…”

Lou Zhixi glanced at Chen Wenjian cautiously, and he also shrugged like Chen Yunli, indicating - listen to him.

"Okay, the bet is established." Lou Zhixi nodded. "If I win, you must apologize to me for what happened today! If I lose... although it's unlikely, if the omen doesn't come true, I will apologize to him and then... give up divination."

For those who practice divination, if the future predicted by celestial omens can be changed, then there is really no need to continue on this path.

"Okay. Let's high-five each other three times."

Chen Yunli raised the corner of his mouth, brought out the fantasies he had when watching martial arts dramas in his middle school years, and reached out to him.

Lou Zhixi scratched his head and clapped his hands three times, thinking that although he didn't understand, he must have his own reasons.

"I'm done discussing my affairs." Chen Yunli stood up, patted his trouser legs, and made a "please" gesture to Ning Bufan, "Now, you can go and settle the score with him."

Lou Zhixi: “…Ah?”

Before he could react, he heard gentle footsteps, and then a dark cloud appeared above his head. The next moment, Ning Bufan grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him up.

"Come back to Cuiye Village with me and apologize to the villagers—" Ning Bufan smiled like a villain, "Apology!"