Not far away.
Han Dong stood alone in silence, her brows deeply furrowed. Her cold, beautiful face showed no trace of impatience or worry, only endless confusion.
She had been pondering one question: why had her master reacted so intensely when Lao Jiu was spouting nonsense? She had looked utterly incredulous, as if Lao Jiu wasn't talking nonsense at all, but speaking of something that had truly happened.
If her master had truly treated Lord Chixiao's injuries back then, how could she, Han Dong, not know about it? And how could Lao Jiu, this fake Young Lord Chiyan, possibly know?
She didn't understand.
Han Dong racked her brains but couldn't figure it out. Instead, the more she thought, the more muddled her mind became.
She also had no idea why her master had kept Lao Jiu behind alone.
"Sister Han Dong, I'm afraid that bastard Lao Jiu will spill the truth," Ouyang Ye ventured tentatively. "Should I... release my divine sense to quietly probe inside?"
"It's useless. The Cyan Casket Garden is enveloped by a formation. Divine sense simply can't penetrate it."
Hearing this, Ouyang Ye quickly tried. Sure enough, her divine sense was blocked by the formation surrounding the Cyan Casket Garden, utterly unable to detect the situation inside.
"Damn it! What do we do then?"
Although Ouyang Ye was a bit rough around the edges, she held immense respect for Daozun Feiyan in her heart. Naturally, she wouldn't force the door open. But just waiting here wasn't a solution either. The young girl walked to the door of the Cyan Casket Garden, pressed her ear against it, trying to hear any sounds. As she listened, she began to feel something was off. It seemed like... there was crying inside?
How could that be?
She listened a little longer. There was definitely crying, and it sounded like someone was sobbing while saying something like 'I was wrong'...
And it seemed like a woman crying, weeping quite loudly.
A woman?
Only Daozun Feiyan and Lao Jiu were inside the Cyan Casket Garden. If there was a woman crying inside now, could it be... Daozun Feiyan?
This...
Ouyang Ye could hardly believe it. She quickly called Han Dong over. Han Dong leaned close and listened carefully. The moment she heard the crying, her expression changed drastically. She no longer cared about rules or propriety and directly pushed the door open.
However, the moment the two of them stepped into the Cyan Casket Garden, they witnessed a scene that left them even more incredulous.
They saw Daozun Feiyan kneeling on the ground, utterly broken, wailing and sobbing, crying out 'I was wrong' between her tears...
Opposite her, Gu Qingfeng sat on a chair, his expression calm and indifferent, leisurely drinking by himself.
Seeing this, Ouyang Ye was completely stunned, unable to believe her eyes, even wondering if she was seeing things or hallucinating.
Just moments ago outside, she had been worried about whether Daozun Feiyan would expose Lao Jiu's fake identity, and whether Lao Jiu would be so scared he'd collapse on the floor.
Now, the situation was completely reversed.
Why was Daozun Feiyan kneeling and crying before this guy Lao Jiu?
What had happened?
Why was it like this?
Ouyang Ye didn't know. Han Dong knew even less. At this moment, Han Dong had no mind to ponder these questions either. Seeing her master kneeling and weeping, she immediately rushed over to help her up. However, it was no use. It might have been better if she hadn't tried to help. With her assistance, Daozun Feiyan only cried even more bitterly.
"Little Dong! It's your master who has wronged you!"
"It's all my fault!"
"Your master was too selfish... too selfish!"
Beside them, Han Dong was also badly frightened by this scene. She had never seen her master cry so sorrowfully before and had no idea what had happened.
At that moment, Gu Qingfeng said slowly, "Sister Han Dong, let your master cry for a while first. Sometimes, crying it out makes the heart feel better."
"You..." Han Dong stared at Gu Qingfeng, then looked at her master, completely at a loss. She could only ask instinctively, "You... what did you do to my master!"
"Sister, what kind of talk is that?" Gu Qingfeng smiled wryly. "What could I possibly do to your master?"
"But... I... why would my master... why..."
"Didn't you ask me to come here to untie your master's heart knot? Now it's untied. Your master has already come to terms with it. The reason she's crying is because she feels she owes you too much. Let her cry. Crying will make her feel better."
Gu Qingfeng tilted his head back and drained the wine in his cup in one gulp, sighing with emotion. "Being able to cry is a blessing, a good thing. Someone like me, even if I wanted to cry and vent, I couldn't squeeze out a single tear."
At this moment, Han Dong's thoughts were utterly thrown into chaos. She couldn't understand what was going on at all.
"Lao Jiu! Just what kind of shady business have you been up to?" Ouyang Ye demanded. "How could you make Granny Feiyan so angry!"
Gu Qingfeng was speechless. "I say, Sister Ouyang, which eye of yours sees that Senior Feiyan was angered into this state by me?"
"Then what else could it be!" Ouyang Ye rushed over, grabbed Gu Qingfeng by the collar, and hissed in a low voice, "Tell me, did you spill the truth? Does Daozun Feiyan know we deceived her, and she's overcome with grief... that's why..."
Gu Qingfeng glanced at her and chuckled. "Sister, your imagination is way too rich, isn't it?"
"You bastard, tell me or not? If you don't, this lady will slap you to death with one palm!" Ouyang Ye raised her hand, intending to teach this guy a lesson. But at that very moment, Daozun Feiyan's crying voice rang out:
"Don't you dare be presumptuous! Don't you dare be disrespectful! Don't you dare be disrespectful!!"
Daozun Feiyan's voice was a loud, almost throat-tearing cry, truly startling Ouyang Ye. She turned around, looking at her in disbelief, especially seeing Daozun Feiyan's flushed face and panicked expression, as if Ouyang Ye had violated some terrible taboo.
"Yeye, what are you doing!" Daozun Feiyan rushed over, forcefully pulling Ouyang Ye's hand away from Gu Qingfeng's collar, and scolded harshly, "Ignorant! So ignorant! Hurry up and... and kneel... kneel to the... to the Young Lord and apologize!"
The sound of the harsh scolding struck Ouyang Ye like a thunderbolt, making her feel the world spinning.
Apologize?
And kneel?
Why?
Hadn't Daozun Feiyan exposed Lao Jiu's identity?
Why was she being told to apologize?
Taking a step back, even if she hadn't exposed him, why would she need to apologize?
Never mind that he was a fake; even if he were the real Young Lord Chiyan, she had no reason to apologize to him!
Besides?
She hadn't done anything much, just grabbed his collar a bit. Why should she apologize?
And kneel?
What was this?
Was he some untouchable god?
Just why was this happening?
"Little Dong, hurry! Hurry and kneel to the Young Lord and kowtow!!"
Daozun Feiyan pulled Han Dong over as well, making her kneel. Han Dong wasn't much better off than Ouyang Ye, completely bewildered by this inexplicable scene.
She neither knew why her master was crying so uncontrollably, nor could she understand why her master was making her kneel. If making Ouyang Ye kneel was an apology, then why was she kneeling?
Just to kowtow?
What in the world was all this?
What exactly had her master talked about with this guy during their private conversation?
How could her master seem like a completely different person in such a short time?
Seeing both Ouyang Ye and Han Dong frozen in place, Daozun Feiyan grew frantic, loudly scolding them. Then she knelt on the ground first herself, crying out, "Young... Young Lord... Little Dong and Yeye are young and ignorant... I beg you, please don't hold it against them!"
"Little Dong, Yeye! What are you still standing there for? Kneel and kowtow! Kowtow!"