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Moonlight brushed the blue roof tiles of the little courtyard's pavilion. A faint herbal scent hung in the air, mingling with the chill of the autumn night.
At the stone table in the pavilion, Zhu Wuneng slammed down his left fist, which no longer needed bandages. The dull thud made the tabletop hum.
"They've crossed the line! Heaven Dou Academy isn't even pretending anymore. They can't be bothered to pull up so much as a scrap to cover their shame." Sparks of anger smoldered in his voice, and his face flushed with indignation.
The layers of "mummy" bandages around his arms seemed ready to burst under the force of his fury.
Across from him, Chen Shurui leaned against a pavilion pillar. His right arm was still suspended in front of his chest, but his left hand leisurely held a sunflower seed, cracking it open with a click.
His smile remained sunny, as though nothing had happened. "Wuneng, that prince and team captain, Xue Shiming, doesn't strike me as someone who hides treachery behind slippery tricks."
"You can know a man's face without knowing his heart, Eighth Young Master." Zhu Wuneng pointed at his bandage-covered chest, his tone heated. "He's a prince. A prince of Heaven Dou City!"
"He's been splashing around in that vat of dye since childhood. How could his thoughts be any clearer than the moat outside the city? Treachery? That's his family's inherited craft!"
"Precisely because he's a prince," Chen Shurui said, spitting out the seed shell and tapping the tabletop lightly, "surely he needs to preserve some dignity? Would he do something this vile?"
Yet a barely perceptible thread of ice had seeped into that sunny smile.
Beside them, half of Chen