The First Venerable of the Prosperous Age

Wen Ying rushed forward to help him up, saying, "What are you doing? You're too kind. Please...please get up."

No matter how she tried to help her up, Fu Rou refused to get up and knelt straight down in front of the token.

Seeing this, Wen Ying put away the token, and Fu Rou slowly stood up. Her demeanor and tone became much more respectful. She said seriously, "So it's from the Three Venerables Palace... Your father must be a very important person in the palace to have this token."

“My father…” Wen Ying frowned slightly, looking helpless.

“I know very little about my father, and as for what you’re talking about… the Three Palaces… I know even less about them.”

Fu Rou smiled gently, "It's alright. As long as you hold this token, you will be the most honored guest of my Immortal Pavilion."

This smile was quite different from her usual professional smile; it lacked the charm and the calculating nature that always kept a degree of shrewdness in everything, and instead showed only boundless gentleness and respect.

Wen Ying blushed and quickly waved her hands, "No, no, no, you don't need to be so polite to me. I won't eat and drink for free... Also, please don't call me 'sir' anymore, just call me Miss Wen."

“Miss Wen is the most noble of the Three Palaces. It would be fine to give the entire Immortal Pavilion to Miss Wen. If Miss Wen is too polite, it will only make things difficult for us,” Fu Rou said.

"Ah...this...this..."

"Since Miss Wen has come to the Immortal Pavilion, we should treat her to the finest food and wine in the entire establishment." With that, he ordered someone to prepare the food.

Wen Ying quickly interrupted, "No need, no need, I'm here to help my friend."

Fu Rou's expression shifted with suspicion. "A friend?" Then her brow relaxed, and she chuckled softly, "You actually consider him your friend..."

"Hey! Where is my little beauty?" At this moment, Lu Xiaosan came from the kitchen with a cup of tea and a plate of desserts to question Fu Rou.

Only then did I see that he had indeed followed Fu Rou's instructions: there was no tea leaves in the tea, and the desserts were leftovers.

He wanted to take something better, but Sweet Cake wouldn't allow it no matter what, so he had to give up and make do.

He placed the desserts and tea on the table, and Fu Rou quickly pulled him aside with a smile, her expression turning stern: "These are all leftovers from other guests?"

"It wasn't you who told me to take the leftovers... mmm..." Before she could finish speaking, her mouth was covered by a soft, fragrant hand.

Her brows furrowed, her cherry lips parted slightly, and she looked surprised. "Didn't you say she was your friend? How could you bear to give your friend leftovers?"

As Lu Xiaosan inhaled the fragrance from her hand, he felt dizzy and extremely painful: "You...you..."

Fu Rou increased the pressure on her hands and leaned forward, saying, "Take those leftovers back now, and then go back and tell Tian Gao that I asked her to prepare the best food." After saying that, she pushed Lu Xiaosan in front of Wen Ying.

Lu Xiaosan hurriedly took a deep breath and saw Wen Ying chewing on a dessert, looking innocent and happy.

He hurriedly said to Wen Ying, "Little Golden Retriever, stop eating! These are all from other guests... mmm..."

He was only halfway through his sentence when Fu Rou covered his mouth and pulled him behind her.

Wen Ying chewed on her dessert, looking at them with a happy expression. "So you two get along really well. It's completely different from what I thought."

Lu Xiaosan broke free from her hand, jumped to the side, her face flushed red, "I haven't had time to settle my scores with them yet."

"Huh?" Fu Rou put her hands on her hips, looking arrogant. "Tell me directly, what grudge do we have against you?"

"Hmph, there are too many examples. For instance, you tricked me into going to the kitchen just now. This kind of trickery isn't the first time," Lu Xiaosan said, pointing at Fu Rou.

Fu Rou gently tossed her hair aside. "The smell on you is making the customers complain. As someone in business, it wouldn't be good for anyone if I just kicked you out. So I came up with a way to please everyone."

Lu Xiaosan sneered, "Fine, I also heard from Little Beauty that you all hate me quite a bit. Hehe, I'd like to know what it is about me that makes you all so obsessed with me."

Fu Rou remained calm and continued leisurely, "You suffer from a serious illness. No one knows whether your illness is contagious, and no one is willing to take that risk."

"Plus your body odor, the girls in the building have to entertain guests, how can they be allowed to smell like you? So they all stay far away from you, wishing you would leave as soon as possible."

"I see. Well, I'm really sorry to have troubled you. Hahahaha."

With her mouth full of dessert, Wen Ying looked at Lu Xiaosan with a hint of helplessness and said, "What the pretty sister said... makes a lot of sense."

"Don't rush, I still have a lot to ask."

Fu Rou raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead and ask."

Lu Xiaosan pondered for a moment longer. What had been causing him the most pain these past few days was the lack of freedom. Yes, it was freedom, and the reason for that…

So he asked, "Then why did you deceive us, the people from the Immortal's Pavilion, into believing we could go anywhere?"

"You're the ones who need to get your documents verified when you enter the city; nobody forced you to buy them."

"Besides, it's written very clearly on it. Who can you blame for not being able to read?"

Lu Xiaosan stomped her foot angrily, "It was clearly your scheme that forced us to this place by the guards!"

"No one forced you. It's because you were treated like servants that you took your anger out on the Zhexianlou restaurant in your carriage."

"Keeping you here to work is also to compensate for the losses of Zhexianlou."

"Compensation for losses? Why are you taking the Blue Fluorescent Pearl as compensation for losses?"

Fu Rou's face darkened again, and she slowly said, "Because our Lord wants the Blue Fluorescent Pearl."

Lu Xiaosan's lips curled up. "So you finally admit it?"

"Hmm," Fu Rou nodded, then said pitifully, "We took Xiao Mei's things, and we feel really bad for him, so I asked all the girls in the building to treat him very well."

Fu Rou changed the subject, "As for you, you're already suffering from a serious illness. Not only did we not take advantage of your illness, we also provided you with a place to live and food and drink. You didn't even get a thank you, and you've even developed hatred?"

Lu Xiaosan's eyes were icy cold. "Little Beauty is my little brother. If you keep him, you're taking my things! I'm going to get them back."

Fu Rou smiled gently, "No one will actively think about who Xiao Mei is. It's you who subjectively thinks he's yours, so in the end, the suffering you endure because of him is all your own choice, isn't it?"

Lu Xiaosan was stunned after hearing this. He couldn't find any reason to refute it. Ning Konglou had given him three choices before. He could have gained freedom, but he chose to stay and suffer.

Wen Ying glanced at Fu Rou, then at Lu Xiaosan, "Brother Lu, should we..."

Lu Xiaosan wouldn't listen, and gritted her teeth, "Then why did you put me in the hearse?"

Fu Rou countered, "If the dead aren't put on the hearse, where are they put on?"

"But I'm not dead yet!"

"But you were almost dead back then, and you survived, so you must have had some kind of miraculous encounter."

A cold smile crept across Fu Rou's lips. "And if I remember correctly, you promised that you couldn't stay in the building when you're about to die, right?"

Hearing this, Lu Xiaosan became even angrier, "That's true, but I didn't put the poison in!"

“I can testify that this is why we came here,” Wen Ying said, raising her hand.

"Oh dear." Fu Rou feigned shock. "If you didn't poison me, why are you admitting it?"

"I..." Lu Xiaosan was speechless. He wanted to say that he was taking the blame for Chang'an, but he refused to put the blame on Chang'an.

Fu Rou said sternly, "Since you have the audacity to say that you poisoned him, you shouldn't be afraid of what will happen to you."

"Now that so much time has passed, you're only now saying that the poisoner was someone else?"

Lu Xiaosan lowered his head, looking unwilling.

"After hearing what she said, it seemed that all my grudges were just wishful thinking. They not only had no hatred for me, but had actually done me a great favor."

"That's right. I am destined to die, and my fate will not be good. I have no relation to them, so how can I ask them for anything?"

"What would have happened if I had never brought Chang'an into the Immortal's Pavilion?"

"The only thing we know is that he really had a tough time during that period."

"Could it be because my treatment is so much worse than Chang'an's? Please, how could that be? Hehehe." Thinking of this, he felt somewhat relieved.

Seeing the anger on his face gradually subside, Fu Rou said, "Let's get back to the main topic."

"You just said the poisoner was someone else?" A cold glint flashed in her eyes. "Who was it?"

Wen Ying shook her head. "I don't know... but if I'm not mistaken, many people in the building have probably been poisoned too..."