Baiheng was unhappy. Her ears unconsciously flattened backward. Even her tail drooped down.
Foxians did not like letting others see their true emotions. She flicked her ears and looked toward the friends at the banquet.
After hearing Elder Zero's lecture, Jingliu showed no dissatisfaction at all. Instead, she seriously made a promise. When their eyes met, she slowly blinked at Baiheng in response.
Baiheng instantly felt powerless.
When she learned that her friend had fallen for Zero, who had only just reached the legal marriage age, she had been shocked, but she had still comforted and encouraged her.
At the time, she told Jingliu that age and seniority didn't matter.
Although if the two of their ages were converted into those of short-life species, it would be rather shocking...
If it were posted on the star network, even Baiheng would curse at it.
But Jingliu was her good friend.
If she, Baiheng, didn't support Jingliu, then who would? Surely they couldn't expect Dan Feng and the others, who had come up with the "man pursues woman" guide, to help?
Now, she regretted it.
'How did Jingliu actually take it to heart?!'
'You really don't care about age or seniority?!'
Jingliu, even if we take ten thousand steps back, even if you don't care about those things, even if you use the "man pursues woman" guide and successfully win over Zero...
'You can't keep playing the so-called male role in the relationship forever, can you?!'
The more Baiheng thought about it, the angrier she became.
She considered herself well-connected and experienced, but a scene where the man's elder lectures and advises the woman...
She had truly never seen that before.
As for the Marshal and the Generals, Baiheng had no comment.
That elder's seniority was even higher than Zero's. How could they possibly say anything?
Looking only at Zandar's actions...
He was being far too disrespectful toward Jingliu.
Baiheng looked at the others.
Jing Yuan was the youngest, so naturally he couldn't say anything.
His gaze landed on the Marshal and the others across from him, then quickly returned to the appetizer that a servant had just replaced for him.
The foxian glanced at the teacup by Jing Yuan's hand, which was less than half full. She softly declined the servant's help, picked up the teapot, and refilled her friend's tea.
Then she looked at Yingxing. He had already finished three appetizers and was now eating the pre-meal dessert.
Baiheng could only place her last hope on the Dragon Sovereign, who had the highest status and the strongest position to support Jingliu.
Dan Feng's perception was sharp. He quickly noticed Baiheng's gaze.
He slightly turned his head, revealing half of his expressionless face.
One look was enough for Baiheng to know Dan Feng was unreliable too.
The Dragon Sovereign saw no problem whatsoever.
Baiheng sighed inwardly.
'Even Jingliu herself had no complaints. What could Baiheng do? What could she say?'
The foxian poked at the cold dish in front of her with her chopsticks, completely lacking any appetite.
She had many friends and had witnessed countless romances, arguments, breakups, and reconciliations.
When dealing with friends, Baiheng could empathize with them, then quickly separate herself emotionally and provide a suitable solution.
But Jingliu was different.
She was her best friend.
Unlike some stories on the market, real best friends didn't fall for each other's lovers. They only found fault with them.
They believed their friends deserved the best and purest love and sincerity in the world. Because of that, they didn't feel jealousy, anger, or other negative emotions.
'When you feel happy, I may cry before you do.'
Baiheng finally understood why best friends on the star network were always telling people to break up.
'You love that person deeply, so you endure everything and forgive his lies.'
'To maintain the relationship, you compromise and even accept criticism from elders.'
'You love him, so you're willing to swallow the bitter fruit and forget every grievance you've suffered.'
'But I still remember.'
Baiheng tried her best to control her ears, afraid she might reveal some emotion in public and affect the banquet.
When she looked at Jing Yuan again, he had already started on the main course.
She could only pick up her chopsticks, hastily eat a few bites of the cold dish, and signal the servants to skip dessert and bring the main course directly.
At the banquet, the elder named Zandar raised his wine glass.
Seeing this, Tengxiao followed suit. Smiling, he looked at Baiheng and the others, urging them with his eyes.
Holding her wine glass, Baiheng looked at Jingliu.
A faint smile hung on her friend's face. Her burning gaze remained fixed on Zero. Only after Zandar urged her did she look away and raise her glass.
Everyone finished three main dishes and clinked glasses three times.
Then Zandar suddenly asked about Zero and Jingliu's relationship history.
Baiheng and the others who knew the truth all felt their eyelids twitch.
First there was the Abundance abomination, then sword practice after getting drunk, then the patrol credits, and then sending him to the Alchemy Commission...
How were they supposed to explain that?
Even if their genders weren't reversed, people would still criticize it.
Jingliu's gaze drifted away for a moment. She pressed her lips together but said nothing.
Zero put down his chopsticks and said with a smile, "At the very beginning, Jingliu gave me a gift. That's our secret. I can only say that it was a gift no Xianzhou person could resist."
Baiheng's eyes widened. Her mouth opened, but she was speechless.
Looking around, everyone else wore equally stunned expressions.
Zandar raised a brow.
"Oh? Impossible to resist?"
Zero nodded, "Yes. If it were someone else, obtaining such a treasure would be enough to earn them their own branch in the family genealogy."
"Some people might even propose on the spot."
Baiheng fell into thought.
'That's right. What Xianzhou person could resist the severed remains of a mortal enemy?'
'As long as it wasn't worth five hundred thousand patrol credits, nobody would refuse such a gift.'
If any Cloud Knight brought back something like that from the battlefield, the family genealogy would definitely dedicate an entire page to them! During ancestor worship, they'd receive the first incense offering every time.
Baiheng realized there was nothing wrong with what Zero had said.
But what about everything else? How would he explain those?
While she was thinking, Zandar asked again, "Besides that gift, what else did she give you?"
Zero answered seriously, "The gift isn't important."
"The thought behind it is."
This time, Zandar understood.
In other words, she hadn't given him anything valuable.
Zandar looked at his student.
He still had doubts about certain details.
Eric had said he had only seen Jingliu practicing swordsmanship at the camp.
Zandar didn't believe that. He felt she might have violent tendencies.
He automatically ignored the fact that his student could stab over a dozen Aeons without getting tired and continued thinking.
The most serious problem between them was marriage fraud.
Why hadn't they broken up? Why had they gotten married instead?
Zandar thought for a full three seconds and finally reached a conclusion.
When he first met Eric, the latter had not been mature.
In all kinds of youth-themed works, that was exactly the age where one liked flashy troublemakers.
Each cycle, the system automatically erased past memories and guided him to conquer the universe.
How could a student have the time to date? Going straight from dating to marriage now was perfectly normal.
Zandar should be satisfied.
At least Jingliu wasn't some flashy delinquent.
She was highly capable, had an excellent record, shared many topics with his student, had been to war, had blood on her hands, and possessed strong willpower. She wasn't the stereotypical woman.
Zandar sighed inwardly.
After a brief pause, Zero continued, "As long as she's thinking about me all the time, that's enough."
Setting the results aside, hadn't Jingliu been thinking about him all the time when she gave him an abomination, sparred with him while drunk, transferred patrol credits to him, and brought him hotpot, peach blossoms, and flower wreaths?
Baiheng silently picked up her wine glass.
While drinking, she thought back.
Jingliu had dragged Zero into sparring. She wondered whether he'd gotten hurt...
Then she had sent him to the Alchemy Commission...
Ignoring the results and looking only at the intentions, didn't that count as thinking about Zero all the time?
At this moment, Baiheng had no choice but to remove her filter regarding Jingliu.
'Either one of these incidents alone would have made people advise them to break up.'
'And yet you two got married?'
Baiheng's feelings were complicated.
'You really are made for each other!'
After everyone finished the main course, the servants brought soup.
Zero picked up his wine glass and stood up first.
He extended his other hand, and Jingliu used it to stand.
A servant holding a bottle of wine stood beside them.
Zero withdrew his hand, held his glass with both hands, lowered it slightly, and clinked glasses with Zandar.
"Teacher."
"I offer you this toast."
Jingliu likewise raised her glass with both hands and touched it to Zandar's.
Knowing that neither of them was good with words, Zandar simply tilted his head back and drained his glass.
He took out a red envelope and handed it toward Jingliu. Before the usual back-and-forth refusal could begin, Zero intercepted it and stuffed it into Jingliu's hands.
Zandar withdrew his hand and said to Zero, "Once I meet your parents, you can formally become my student."
They still lacked a proper apprenticeship ceremony.
Therefore, Zandar would not attend the wedding as the elder of the groom.
Looking at the two of them, Zandar smiled.
"According to Xianzhou customs, you two can't meet again before the official wedding."
No matter what, separating them first was the safest option, in case Eric suddenly got carried away and started cutting flesh and bleeding himself.
A person with a clotting disorder should have been careful at all times and avoided injury. Once hurt, the mild outcome would be medication and treatment, while the severe outcome could be disability or death.
Yet in the end... such a person had willingly cut his own flesh and bled himself.
It really felt like a setting created by some author out of personal amusement.
Zero, "..."
He really wasn't some lecher crossing the line before marriage.
Jingliu, "..."
Were they really going to wait ten years? Eight years?
At that moment, Hua stood up with her wine glass.
"Come on, Father. It's your turn to toast me."
Zero raised a brow and followed her lead.
"Sure. Where's the red envelope?"
The corner of Hua's mouth twitched. She sat back down.
"Who asks a junior for a red envelope?"
Zero smiled, "And who asks an elder to toast them?"
He pulled Jingliu along and stopped beside Guanliang.
The latter had already stood up.
Zero said softly, "Guanliang, my peer, and formerly my Chief Strategist."
Guanliang wore a professional smile and nodded to Jingliu.
The three clinked glasses and drank.
"Happy marriage."
Guanliang drained his glass in one go.
Looking back on the years he had spent alongside Zero, he had many feelings.
Guanliang had originally thought Zero would live for a very, very long time. Long enough for Guanliang to be killed by him and buried in the Forest of Ultimate Loyalty, worshipped countless times by different Xianzhou people...
Only then might the uncrowned emperor ruling the Xianzhou finally leave.
Guanliang had never expected that one day their roles would reverse.
Instead, he had started looking forward to Zero's death.
What a dramatic reversal.
Until the day before the funeral, Guanliang had always believed he was different.
He was not like those colleagues who trusted and depended on Zero completely.
But once the funeral officially began, Guanliang began to hate himself.
He realized he was no different from anyone else.
In fact, like the Marshal, he was equally selfish and willful.
After offering his blessing, Guanliang's expression changed. He looked at Zero with obvious disdain.
"So you actually managed to find someone."
The other man smiled and nodded.
"Yeah. I think I'm pretty lucky too."
Zero paused briefly, his gaze shifting.
Guanliang couldn't help himself and rolled his eyes.
What else could come out of Zero's mouth?
Most likely another suggestion that Guanliang should die.
"Alright, I know what you're going to say."
"From beginning to end, these were all my own choices."
'Whether it was choosing immortality, agreeing to be killed by you, or preserving your blood and giving up on ending my own life.'
'Every single thing was my own choice.'
Had he hated the Marshal?
Yes.
He hated the Marshal for being selfish and willful.
Did he hate Zero?
No.
Zero was not the Marshal. He should not keep punishing himself for past mistakes.
Guanliang let out a long sigh.
Zero couldn't handle hearing others express sincere feelings toward him. The moment he heard anything sentimental, he'd immediately say something strange and ruin the mood.
Guanliang chose to take the initiative.
He would be the one to ruin the atmosphere instead.
Guanliang repeated the words he had spoken when he and Zero had been tricked by Aha and eaten the Fruit of Abundance.
"Treat me like a person, Zero."
He was human.
He only wanted to be human.
Not an eagle fed with flesh cut from a god's body.
Zero frowned slightly, "Don't make me sound like some villain..."
Guanliang sat back down and nodded perfunctorily.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're the greatest saint in the universe."
Seeing this, Zero turned his attention to Hua.
"Come on, Hua. Didn't you want to drink with me?"
Hua stood up again and somehow produced a red envelope.
Zero felt helpless.
So this had been planned in advance.
Hua placed the red envelope on the table, raised her glass, and teased, "If you dare to toast me, I'll dare to drink it."
With everyone watching, Zero could only lightly scold her.
"No respect for your elders."
Then he asked, "You've made up your mind?"
Hua smiled in return. Holding her glass with both hands, she lowered it and touched it to theirs.
"How could I not? I'm not like you."
She would never exploit child labor.
Jing Yuan had earned military merit while still in his teens. His future was limitless.
Hua thought highly of Jing Yuan.
She had indeed considered having him take over her position.
Most importantly, Jing Yuan was a normal person.
Among the vast Xianzhou, normal people were the rarest thing.
And his status was suitable as well.
A talent like this... was truly hard to come by.
Of course, Hua believed she was different from her father.
She could never endure thousands of years under that kind of workload like he had.
Even if she couldn't surpass her father in years of service, she should at least exceed half of it, right?
Hua drank the wine and offered her blessing.
"Father, happy marriage."
"I wish you and Mother a long life together."
Hearing this, Jingliu looked awkward for a moment and gave her a slight nod.
With lightning speed, Zero grabbed the red envelope from her table, pulled Jingliu along, and leisurely walked away.
Guanliang, "..."
'I take back what I said. Talking about how the brat had matured...'
'He hadn't grown up at all!'
Hua, "..."
She froze for a moment.
Only after sitting down did she come back to herself.
Hua couldn't help but laugh.
He really hadn't changed at all.