Chapter 16: I Can Be Your Dog

“Oh, my heavens!”

Black Impermanence unexpectedly locked eyes with Song Lan, who was standing in the courtyard with a dark, displeased expression. His legs instantly went weak; he missed a step and nearly tumbled to the ground.

He feigned composure, straightening his tall black hat—which had tilted slightly from his stumble and bore the words "Peace Under Heaven"—and wiped his face. Avoiding eye contact, he stared up at the sky. "The moonlight is truly beautiful tonight, hahahahaha! Truly beautiful, truly beautiful."

The man pretending to admire the moon turned on his heel and bolted at top speed.

*Ahaha, he saw nothing.*

*He saw nothing.*

*Run, run!*

*Legs, move! Run!*

At this moment, Black Impermanence only wished time would flow backward so that he had never come here at all.

“Where is Lord Fan heading in such a hurry?”

Song Lan’s ghostly, ethereal voice drifted into his ears, making him swallow hard in fright.

Black Impermanence maintained his facade of calm.

*I can't hear, I can't hear!*

*Old Black here has forgotten to clean his ears lately; my hearing is terrible. I can't hear anything, nothing at all.*

*Legs, hurry up and run!*

Black Impermanence had arrived with great majesty and departed like a lightning bolt, vanishing in an instant.

The small courtyard returned to silence.

It was as if everything that had just happened was merely an illusion, and nothing had occurred.

Song Lan: "..."

*Am I some kind of malevolent spirit that eats ghost messengers?*

*Eh? Actually, it seems I am!*

The youth watched, dumbfounded.

Liu Yueniang had also regained her composure, though her soul had grown a few shades paler, looking as if she were about to turn transparent and vanish.

“Mother!”

The youth wanted to step forward but dared not. He feared that his ignorance and impulsiveness might inadvertently harm her.

He looked at Song Lan. “I can do anything you wish for me to do.”

“I will be your blade, I will be your hound.”

“Whomever you wish to kill, I will kill.”

“Whomever you need me to bite, I will bite.”

The youth spoke with resounding conviction: “I will become your most useful dog, your sharpest blade.”

“I only ask that you save my mother.”

He thought to himself: *This person even made Black Impermanence flee without looking back.*

*There must be a way to save my mother.*

Song Lan raised an eyebrow.

“You came specifically to my house, didn't you? I suspect you have a grudge against the Zhang family?”

The youth calmed himself, analyzing his own advantages to her.

“The Zhang family's actions today are likely a desperate attempt to find a cure for their crisis. However, it also proves that they are truly desperate for an offspring capable of placing first in the imperial examinations.”

“The great exam is approaching. Once I succeed, the Zhang family will undoubtedly exert the full strength of their clan to propel me to the heights of success.”

“Don't you think it would be even more satisfying to seek revenge by stabbing them in the back—to be the 'prize seedling' they poured all their resources into, only to turn against them just as they think they are reclaiming their glory?”

Song Lan let out a "Heh." “Are you so certain you can pass?”

“I am not certain.”

“There are always people greater than oneself, and mountains beyond mountains. Since the imperial examinations began, only about a hundred scholars have ever achieved the rank of Zhuangyuan.”

The youth straightened his back, showing no sign of cowardice.

“Since the Zhang family is capable of such deceit—replacing a concubine's child with a legitimate heir—it is clear their family discipline is corrupt.”

He sneered. “Beneath their so-called reputation for purity, there are likely countless layers of filth.”

“Even if I cannot become the Zhuangyuan and rise through the ranks, I have other ways to exterminate the entire Zhang clan!”

“Don't you want to see the ugly faces of those hypocrites when their crimes are exposed?”

Song Lan smiled, as if her interest had been piqued. “You?”

“I am willing to serve you with my life!”

The youth bowed with utmost sincerity, pressing his forehead to the ground.

Song Lan stared at him for a moment, feigning thought.

“I am not a person who enjoys testing human nature.”

She placed her foot on the top of the youth's head, her tone flippant. “If you want to be my dog, you must first let me ensure that after you finish biting the Zhang family, you won't turn around and bite me?”

Song Lan opened her hand, and a mass of black energy condensed in her palm, eventually shrinking into a small black pill.

“I have one of these here...”

Before she could finish, the youth beneath her foot spoke up urgently: “I am willing to eat it!”

Song Lan moved her foot and stepped back two paces, raising an eyebrow. “Aren't you afraid it's poison?”

“The Zhang family hasn't been exterminated yet; you wouldn't let me die just yet, would you, My Lord?”

The youth forced a smile. “Even if it's a bit of suffering... ah!”

As he spoke, Song Lan simply tossed the small black pill into his mouth.

Immense pain instantly surged through his entire body.

It felt as if his internal organs were being roasted over a raging fire; the agony made him want to tear himself apart.

A moment later, it felt as if he had fallen into an ice pit, his entire body frozen through.

The sensation of snakes crawling, ants biting, and sharp beaks pecking...

The youth felt as though he had endured dozens of tortures. He was drenched in sweat, looking as if he had just been fished out of water.

“If you regret it now, I can still give you a quick death.”

Song Lan’s voice was seductive.

“No—regrets!” The youth squeezed the words out through gritted teeth, exceptionally firm.

“Making a deal with an evil spirit means your soul will be annihilated after death, and you will never enter the cycle of reincarnation again!”

“No—regrets!”

No matter how many times Song Lan asked, the youth’s answer was a resolute "no regrets."

She was almost moved by the sheer ferocity of this "predator in its youth."

“Then—so be it!”

Black Impermanence, who had just returned to the Underworld and was about to breathe a sigh of relief, suddenly felt a massive suction force behind him. In the blink of an eye, he was dragged out of the Underworld.

*Eh?*

*Eh, eh, eh?*

*What's going on?*

Black Impermanence hit the ground with a thud. After a few groans of pain, he began cursing without thinking. “Which blind fool is trying to scheme against your grandfather? Are you tired of living—ah! Ahhh!”

He looked up, locked eyes with Song Lan, and wished he could die on the spot.

“Lord Fan.”

Song Lan greeted him cordially. “Good evening!”

“Seeing you, I'm not feeling good at all!” Black Impermanence muttered under his breath, near tears.

“What did you say?”

Song Lan narrowed her eyes, looking at him with a gaze that hid a blade within silk.

“I said, Great Goddess, did you summon me for some specific instruction?” Black Impermanence approached obsequiously, wearing a fawning smile.

“Arrange a reincarnation for her.”

Song Lan pointed to the side, at the wandering soul of Liu Yueniang, who had returned to a state of confusion.

Black Impermanence looked troubled. “Oh, Great Goddess, the matter of reincarnation and the cycle of rebirth is not under my jurisdiction.”

Song Lan gave him a cold, chilling glance.

Black Impermanence swallowed a non-existent lump in his throat. “Besides, this new soul escaped halfway through. According to the law, she must be sent to Hell to serve three hundred years of punishment before being arranged for reincarnation based on her merits and faults in life.”

“Doing it like this—”

*It's against the rules!*

Meeting her gaze, Black Impermanence didn't dare finish his sentence.

Song Lan said expressionlessly, “Can—or—cannot?”

“Can, can, can!”

Seeing the resentment radiating from her grow even heavier, Black Impermanence immediately gave in.

Why should he try to be brave against resentment that even the new Little Yama couldn't handle?

“I wonder, what kind of status would you like her to have?”

“A noble lady? A princess? Or perhaps Her Majesty the Empress?” Black Impermanence rubbed his hands together, smiling obsequiously.

Song Lan: "..."

She kicked the youth, who was being tormented by resentment and looked as if he were "half-dead" while still alive.

“I am asking you: what kind of family should she be reincarnated into?”

The youth felt his consciousness being pulled from the chaos, granting him a brief moment of clarity.

“I leave everything to your decision, My Lord.” He gave a flattering answer.

Song Lan: "..."

*Asking was as useless as not asking at all.*

***

The Xie Family.

In the brightly lit main courtyard, the legitimate masters of the Xie family all had grim expressions.

“Hasn't Song Lan returned yet?”

Lady Lu shook her head. “The gatekeeper just reported that she hasn't returned.”

“Send more people out to look! Find her immediately!”

Just as the angry voice of the eldest son, Xie Shangqi, fell, someone rushed in, panting heavily. “She... she's back!”

“The cousin lady is back!”

Xie Shangqi glanced at the Old Madam Xie sitting nearby—Song Lan's biological maternal grandmother, Lady Zhou.

Lady Zhou glared at the gatekeeper and slammed the table twice in anger. “Hurry up! Make that unfilial, wicked girl roll into the main courtyard this instant!”

“And make her come on her knees!”

She clutched her chest, acting as if the rage caused by Song Lan had given her chest pains.

Xie Shangqi offered some performative concern, his expression anxious. “Mother, please do not let your anger harm your health.”

“Lan'er is just young and lacks understanding. If you speak to her properly and teach her well, she will realize her mistakes.”

Lady Zhou beat her chest a few times, groaning. “Fine, fine. Children are nothing but debts of karma. As long as she recognizes her errors, she is still a cousin lady of our Xie family. I shall, in her mother's stead, teach her how to conduct herself in the world.”

She spoke as if being a cousin lady of the Xie family were some grand charity.

While the mother and son were busy performing, the gatekeeper returned.

“Where is Song Lan?” Lady Lu asked with a frown of pure disgust when she didn't see her.

The gatekeeper looked hesitant. “This...”

“Just say what you have to say! What is this stammering nonsense!”

Lady Lu scolded him, venting some of the anger that had been festering in her heart since the Spring Banquet.

The gatekeeper looked at Lady Lu, then at Xie Shangqi and Old Madam Zhou sitting above.

“The cousin lady said... said—”

(End of Chapter)