Duke Wen Yan's Legacy

That made sense, and Luan Xin naturally understood it.

But he had another question.

"Wangchao, you're always acting on your own. Aren't you worried that one day it'll all come back to bite you?" Luan Xin asked, his expression unruffled, though his dark eyes held a complex emotion that was hard to decipher. "That people will condemn you as a flattering, obsequious sycophant?"

Gu Chi only laughed breezily. "And what if they do?"

That retort nearly left Luan Xin speechless.

After giving it serious thought, he arrived at a conclusion: as long as Gu Chi didn't care about his reputation, being condemned as a sycophant could do him no harm. He might even thrive. If people in this age judged him that way, what could future generations' judgment matter?

"When the cunning hare is dead, the hound is cooked; when the birds are gone, the good bow is put away." Luan Xin stared straight into Gu Chi's eyes, not giving him a chance to look away or hide. His words rang out like iron striking stone. "Wangchao, aren't you afraid you'll meet that fate one day? Sycophants never come to a good end."

Gu Chi only smiled. "Gongyi, are you worried about me?"

Luan Xin gave no answer.

Gu Chi didn't mind.

Then he said something astonishing: "Would it be so bad to be a cooked hound?"

Luan Xin's pupils quaked. "???"

"When the realm is at peace, the strategists die. If that's how things are, then being a cooked hound is a good omen. Gongyi, I never wanted a Way of Non-Self like this. If one day I really meet the fate of a bow put away once the birds are gone, then it will have been ordained by the times and fate." There was no gloom between Gu