"But......."
When Song Jinnian heard this, his brows furrowed slightly, as if he subconsciously wanted to refute something. His lips moved slightly, but in the end he stopped talking.
Then, he slowly lowered his head and fell into silence, as if he was confused about something.
Seeing this, He Lanzhi patted his shoulder gently as if to comfort him, and then turned her gaze to Gu Qingze and Chu Lingxiao.
"Junior brothers, can we talk alone?" His voice was calm and firm.
Gu Qingze and Chu Lingxiao looked at each other, saw the same agreement in each other's eyes, and then nodded tacitly.
He Lanzhi led them into another room with swift movements.
Once inside, he methodically set up soundproofing throughout the room to ensure no one could hear their conversation.
"Sister Song Ya mentioned in her letter that you were forced to go to the Xuanyin place in the demon world because of a special mission assigned by Master. Is that true?"
There was a hint of strangeness in He Lanzhi's tone. He slowly turned around, his narrow and lively fox eyes staring at them intently.
"Other demons may not understand our master and may be deceived by your words, but as her disciple, I know her temperament very well and will not be easily deceived by you."
He Lanzhi took a few steps towards them as she spoke, and a strong sense of oppression came over her.
"Master has always been indifferent to everything and never bothered to meddle in other people's affairs, let alone assign you any tasks."
Gu Qingze and Chu Lingxiao looked at his extremely determined expression, knowing that their lies could not be hidden from him, so they had no choice but to admit it.
"That's right, this is indeed not the task assigned to us by Master."
Seeing that they were frank, Helanzhi's expression relaxed slightly. The corners of her mouth raised, revealing a light and gentle smile. The scrutiny in the fox's eyes disappeared without a trace in an instant.
"That's right, be good and don't lie to me. I'm a kind-hearted demon and I will never harm you."
You never know...
Gu Qingze and Chu Lingxiao couldn't help but quickly review in their minds the bad things they knew Senior Brother Helan had done, and were full of doubts about what Senior Brother Helan said at the moment.
He Lanzhi didn't care about their reactions. She just gently placed her hands on their shoulders, still with a smile on her face.
"Junior Brother Gu, Junior Brother Chu, could you please tell me the real purpose of your visit to Xuanyin? If you don't tell me, it will be difficult for me to handle this matter."
Huh? Is his memory faulty?
Didn't Senior Brother Helan say before that the matter had been settled? Why is he saying it's difficult now?
Gu Qingze was full of doubts and fell into self-doubt. He turned his head and looked at Chu Lingxiao beside him with a questioning look.
Chu Lingxiao just happened to turn his head and look at him, and their eyes met.
At that moment when their eyes met, they miraculously understood what the other wanted to express.
Senior Brother Helan might be asking this question out of pure curiosity.
Chu Lingxiao curled his lips slightly and chuckled, but there was more of a bitterness in that smile. He looked extremely embarrassed, as if he had been struggling for a long time before he slowly spoke.
"Brother Helan, we are indeed going to Xuanyin to deal with a very important matter. This matter concerns our future, but what exactly is it..."
"...It's really hard for us to say it right now. Once everything is settled, we will tell you everything we know."
When He Lanzhi heard this, he suddenly laughed for some reason and gently covered half of his face with the folding fan in his hand.
"Okay! I'm waiting for my fellow apprentices to tell me in person one day, but... I hope I won't have to wait too long."
"Well, don't worry, brother."
However, Gu Qingze's focus was not on his words, but on the folding fan in his hand.
He always felt that the folding fan in Senior Brother Helan's hand looked familiar. After all... this familiar feeling could not be false.
Where have you seen it before?
Almost in an instant, he recalled it with his amazing observation and memory.
He had seen it when he met the owner of Hualou, Yi Chen, and talked with him.
The folding fan in Yi Chen's hand and the folding fan in Senior Brother Helan's hand are exactly the same except for some minor details, as if they were copied and pasted.
Is this just a coincidence?
Gu Qingze couldn't help but murmur in his heart.
Chu Lingxiao seemed to have noticed something was wrong with Gu Qingze and nudged him lightly with his elbow.
He Lanzhi also noticed where his gaze was focused. She put away her folding fan and raised her eyebrows at Gu Qingze: "Junior Brother Gu, what's wrong? What's wrong with my folding fan?"
Gu Qingze came back to his senses and quickly shook his head: "There's nothing wrong, I just think this folding fan is a bit unique."
He Lanzhi looked at him with interest, her fox eyes brightening surprisingly. "Oh? Unique? Junior Brother, have you thought of something? Or perhaps, have you seen it somewhere before?"
Gu Qingze nodded and replied, "Brother, you may not believe this, but I saw a similar one at the owner of the Flower House."
He Lanzhi stared at Gu Qingze thoughtfully for a moment, then returned to her smiling face.
"You mean Xiaochen? It's normal to see him there. After all, he is my collateral relative, and this folding fan was given to me by him."
"So, he is also a fox?" Gu Qingze's face showed a little surprise.
"A fox blooming in a flower building, isn't that strange?" He Lanzhi noticed his expression and said half-jokingly.
"Of course not." Gu Qingze quickly waved his hands to deny it.
Unexpectedly, He Lanzhi suddenly changed the subject and asked casually while he was relaxing his guard.
"I remember that Xiaochen rarely shows up and doesn't meet guests easily. Even I haven't seen him for hundreds of years. How did Junior Brother Gu meet him?"
The alarm bells in Gu Qingze's heart suddenly rang loudly, but on the surface he still maintained a calm and composed appearance.
"Ah, actually I don't know the reason, but it was actually Master Yi who personally invited me to meet him."
He wasn't actually lying, he just cleverly concealed some key details.
For some unknown reason, Yi Chen wanted to force them to do something and lead them into a trap he had carefully set up.
Therefore, it was basically inevitable for Yi Chen to meet him, and Yi Chen came uninvited. After all, he wanted to meet the chief courtesan, not to meet him.
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