That afternoon, Qiqi set out for the Heavenly Dragon Temple under the escort of Hu Xiaotian and his party. She was clearly rather tired and drifted off to sleep soon after settling into the carriage. Quan Dean ordered the procession to slow down so the princess could rest along the way.
Hu Xiaotian slowed his horse and drew alongside Quan Dean, giving him a chuckling smile. In ten years, the river could shift from east to west; fortunes changed. Quan Dean had never expected the fake eunuch he had personally sent into the imperial palace to rise so swiftly into the full glow of success, becoming, like himself, one of the Little Princess Qiqi's most trusted men. Indeed, she relied on Hu Xiaotian even more than she did on him. The grudges and favors between the two of them had become so tangled that even Quan Dean could no longer sort them out.
Seeing Quan Dean's indifferent expression, Hu Xiaotian coughed and said, "Eunuch Quan, that artificial leg of yours is quite impressive. If I hadn't known beforehand, I'd never have guessed it was fake."
He just had to lift the kettle that wouldn't boil. Quan Dean rolled his peculiar eyes. "If you hadn't mentioned it, I'd almost have forgotten. I owe this leg entirely to you."
"Different people see the same thing differently," Hu Xiaotian said. "Any normal person would say I saved your life, but you think I'm the chief culprit who cut off your right leg."
"When have I ever thought that?" Quan Dean said. "If I'd truly considered you an enemy over that, would you still be alive today?"
Hu Xiaotian chuckled. "I knew long ago that you weren't so petty, Eunuch Quan. Otherwise, you wouldn't have given me ten years' worth of internal power for