The old house gradually fell into silence.
The lanterns hanging from the cracked wooden beams swayed gently with the passing night breeze, causing the shadows across the walls to stretch and shift as though they were living creatures watching everything that happened inside the room.
Fu Fong lowered his head and remained quiet.
Bao Li's proposal continued to echo over and over inside his mind.
Work with me.
Give me information.
Help me destroy the Fu family.
For a long moment, he did not answer because the truth was far more complicated than he wanted to admit.
He hated them.
He hated Su Long.
He hated Fu Sheng.
He hated the way the entire village seemed to revolve around them, praising their names wherever they went and speaking about them as though they were heroes who had descended from the heavens.
Meanwhile, whenever people looked at him, all he saw in their eyes was disappointment and ridicule.
