CHAPTER 431: 427

"Lord Dumpling, are you tired?"

"Hm?"

Tuanzi turned her head at this, looking at him with confusion.

Zhou Li repeated the question.

"Yes, tired!" Tuanzi hurriedly replied, "Are you going to pick up Lord Dumpling now, meow?"

"If you’re tired, let’s take a rest for a while," Zhou Li suggested, pointing to the shade of a nearby tree. He continued, "As Lord Dumpling, Your Highness’s Close Attendant and a powerful Great Demon, you can’t get tired so easily. You’ll be laughed at by humans who don’t know any better."

"Lord Dumpling is... because..." Tuanzi’s face fell, and her voice grew soft, "because there are so many stray cats in the Imperial Palace, and they all stare at Lord Dumpling, envious because I’m better looking and cuter than they are."

"Those are palace cats..."

"Male cats!"

"A Great Demon can’t be afraid of stray cats."

"Male cats!"

"Nor palace cats..." Zhou Li said, but he still picked her up, held her in his arms facing forward, and sat down on a stone bench in the shade of the tree.

The afternoon sun was a bit scorching. The sky was a clear blue, seemingly offering no barrier to the light and warmth. So much so that, even though it was mid-October, the sunlight in the Capital still stung the skin slightly when it fell upon it.

"Wearing that coat over your clothes, you’ll overheat," Huai Xu commented with a sideways glance. "I told you to take it off just now, and you didn’t listen."

"It wouldn’t look good," he responded.

"Tsk!"

"Has the Royal Family ever produced a Heavenly Master?"

"Not that I know of. Maybe one or two, but it’s unknown," Huai Xu yawned and glanced at the tourists in the distance. He saw a girl who he thought barely met his standards—suitable to enrich his template database. "Why do you ask?"

"Just curious."

"Why be curious about that?"

"It just occurred to me," Zhou Li responded, looking into the distance, but his gaze went beyond the crowd and towards the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which was surrounded by people.

"It is said that a very long time ago, the earliest rulers—who are now venerated as deities and monsters—were Heavenly Masters, and they were very powerful. Only those with great strength could become tribal leaders and then compete for domination of the world," Huai Xu seemed to have infiltrated his free-ranging thoughts, privy to his daydreams. "But that was an earlier era, and even then, they didn’t call themselves Emperors. The last era was different."

"Why was it different?" Zhou Li was very curious.

"In many ways," Huai Xu waved a hand and caught a flying insect that zipped past his face, offering it to Tuanzi to eat. "The Heavenly Masters of the last era were very upright. At least, the top ones were. You weren’t alive then, so you wouldn’t know. They all took it upon themselves to protect human legacy and fight against the Demon Clan invasions with no idle thoughts, so much so that conspiracy theorists would find it unbelievable."

"I see..."

"Plus, the Heavenly Master thing is too random. Even if a Heavenly Master became an emperor, by the next generation—oops, are we to have another internal war leading to widespread disaster? This is why Heavenly Masters absolutely shouldn’t meddle in large-scale human conflicts."

"..." Zhou Li thought for a moment, then looked down at Tuanzi and said, "Lord Dumpling, say ’human internal’ for me."

"Human in-in-ternal~"

"PFFT!"

"Are you an idiot?" Huai Xu was not amused; he was seriously sharing his knowledge to show off his erudition, and here Zhou Li was, playing with a cat?

"Please continue," Zhou Li requested.

"I’m done talking!"

"Didn’t you say there were many aspects?"

"I’m not talking anymore!"

Huai Xu stood up abruptly, patted his backside, faced forward, and pretended to leave without actually moving. "Let’s go! The sooner we finish touring, the sooner we can go eat lamb scorpion!"

"Alright."

Zhou Li also stood up with Tuanzi in his arms.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Huai Xu finally started walking, striding quickly and with large steps.

They visited the museum where, besides the antique items Zhou Li had expected, he saw some unexpected things like exquisitely crafted clocks and golden bird guns, which gave him a sense of temporal dislocation—the world of that era was not the same as it was portrayed in period dramas about the Qing dynasty.

After leaving the Forbidden City, they ate lamb scorpion.

After the meal, they strolled around, snacked on some street food, walked back to Tiananmen, took a couple of photos of Tiananmen against the evening skyline, and then went to eat hotpot lamb.

Zhou Li did not have Huai Xu’s appetite or cravings. He basically played the role of an accompanying guest, mostly watching him eat in silence, or ordering dishes and drinks for him. Occasionally, at Huai Xu’s insistence, Zhou Li would take a taste and agree with him that it was delicious. Even so, he did not find it boring.

「Back at the State Guesthouse.」

Zhou Li sat at the desk in his room, with a QQ chat window open on the laptop in front of him. He had sent a video call invitation, but the other party had yet to respond.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK...

The face of Brother Nan suddenly appeared on the screen.

It was quite late. Brother Nan had already showered; her hair was let down, and she was wearing pajamas. She had her headset on, running her fingers through her hair while glancing over at him.

"Back so late?"

"We went out today to tour the Forbidden City and Tiananmen, and also ate a lot. There was..."

"Don’t you dare tell me!"

"Oh."

"Last time you said you’d take us to visit the Forbidden City, Tiananmen, and climb the Great Wall!" Brother Nan frowned. "Men are so unreliable!"

"Next time we come, I could be your tour guide," Zhou Li reflected. "You’re always the one worrying, so next time you can take it easy for once."

"Awesome!" Brother Nan gave a thumbs up. "That reply is awesome!"

"..."

With his lips pressed tightly together, Zhou Li couldn’t help but ponder. Do other girls talk to their boyfriends in a video chat with the same buddy-like tone? This question probably reflects the awkwardness of a first love, having no point of reference or comparison.

As he was silent, Brother Nan glanced by chance and finally noticed his attire.

"Whoa, you’re wearing a suit!"

"Yeah!"

"Where’d you get that?"

"They issued it."

"Back up and let me take a look!"

"Oh."

Obediently, Zhou Li got up and stepped back until his entire upper body was visible on the screen.

Just then, two heads suddenly popped up beside Brother Nan—one on the left and one on the right. It was Mianmian and Qian Qian, both staring at him unblinkingly.

"You even look like a proper man!"

"Handsome Zhou looks so handsome!"

"Yeah, yeah, super handsome!"

Zhou Li immediately felt very embarrassed; he had intended to show the suit only to Brother Nan. These quirky cuties sure are curious.

As he was thinking this, another head slowly rose above Brother Nan’s, showing just half of its face and eyes before stopping. It just peeked at him quietly.

After a few seconds, that head slowly sank back down and disappeared without a trace, like submarine maneuvers.

Zhou Li sat back down in the chair, straight-backed. Just as he opened his mouth to say something to Brother Nan, a knock sounded from outside.

"Someone looking for you?" Brother Nan heard it too.

"Yeah."

"Then go open the door, don’t keep them waiting. Come back and find me later."

"Alright."

The video call ended, and Zhou Li turned off the computer to answer the door.

The well-fed old monster lounged lazily on the bed, half-squinting at him, "Look at how pathetic you are. If it were any other guy, a knock on the hotel door at night would have his girlfriend too anxious to sleep. Yet your girlfriend doesn’t suspect a thing. She thinks you’re not capable..."

"She thinks I want to stay alive."

"You’re too weak!"

"..."

Zhou Li couldn’t be bothered with the old monster.

Yin Le was standing outside the door. Zhou Li had already guessed who it was from the old monster’s posture.

Yin Le looked exhausted, sighing as he saw him, then asked, "Haven’t you rested yet?"

"Not yet."

"Can I come in?"

"Sure."

"Oh." Yin Le followed him into the room, glancing at the limp Huai Xu. "Where did you go today?"

"The Forbidden City and Tiananmen," Zhou Li replied. "Ate a lot of food."

"Jealous," Yin Le pouted.

"Didn’t your talks go well?" Zhou Li asked.

"They went fine, just too mentally draining, nothing like what I had imagined," Yin Le rubbed his head. "I’m not good at this. I originally thought that after setting up the Celestial Master Department, my job would be to lead people in fighting demons every day, just like in the novels."

"Give it a rest," Huai Xu’s voice interjected. "You can handle bullying little demons, that’s about it."

"..."

"Ignore him."

"Let me tell you about tomorrow’s plans..."