A Joke

"You owe me a favor," Shangguan Ru said with a straight face. Hong Fu nodded beside her in encouragement.

"I owe you more than one favor," Gu Shenwei replied with equal solemnity. Han Fen nodded incessantly like a pecking chick.

Long Fanyun and Nie Zeng stood guard at the door, looking slightly awkward, but without orders, neither of them could leave.

Shangguan Ru laughed. "I thought pulling such a huge prank on Prince Dudun would change your personality. Turns out you still don't understand a thing."

Gu Shenwei knew she was joking, but he had lost the inclination to play along years ago. "Either way, your message helped me avoid Dudun's trap."

"It was the least I could do. Don't mention it." Shangguan Ru adopted the manner of a wandering martial artist, and pulled it off rather well. "Even without my warning, you wouldn't have gone in, would you?"

"I would have hesitated." Gu Shenwei certainly wouldn't casually enter an enemy's tent, but Shangguan Ru's warning had given him a definite reason to stay away.

"Heh. I seem to have become an informant."

"You're an instructor in the Dragon Army, not a Northerner. So this doesn't count as informing."

Shangguan Ru worried about the man's safety. Even if she had to live through it a hundred times, she would choose to "inform" without the slightest hesitation. But face-to-face with him, she seemed composed and reserved. She could even easily hear the meaning behind the Dragon King's words, something she had once been quite bad at. "Do you still have doubts?"

Gu Shenwei neither nodded nor shook his head. Long Fanyun, Nie Zeng, and Hong Fu understood what the Dragon King meant and left the room.

As Hong Fu passed Long Fanyun, she gave him a reproachful look.

Han Fen watched