Mu Feng climbed into Yang Qing's carriage, naturally delighted. Even his face, which had long seemed not to know what a smile was, took on faint traces of one.
Yet those traces faded with remarkable speed once he entered the carriage and sat down.
Facing Yang Qing, Bu Er, and the others, Mu Feng suddenly felt his throat tighten. He did not know what he ought to say.
It was Yang Qing who broke the strange silence. "You didn't suffer at the city lord's hands, did you?"
Mu Feng's back tensed at the question. He hurriedly looked up. "I didn't suffer, exactly. At first, they took me to a dark room and kept me there for a few days, but they released me soon afterward."
Mu Feng himself was quite puzzled. Given what he had done before, Gongsun Ru ought to have been furious with him. Even if she did not punish him, she certainly should not have looked kindly on him.
This time, however, she had only locked him up for a few days, then released him without a word. Now she was even letting him accompany Yang Qing and the others to the Sacred Mountain.
Wasn't she afraid he would join forces with Yang Qing and the others again?
The whole affair reeked of something strange. After a moment's silence, Yang Qing suddenly smiled. "Interesting. I suspect they're waiting for us to join forces again."
Mu Feng froze at that. He abruptly raised his head and opened his mouth to speak, but Yang Qing pressed a hand over the back of his, signaling him to remain quiet.
Mu Feng settled down and watched in silence as Yang Qing used his finger as a pen, tracing something stroke by stroke on the carriage's little table.
Yang Qing wrote very