"...?"
"As for the Puppet, I've decided to adopt your idea." By the time Qu Xin looked up, her face was cool and indifferent again. She carefully tied the other Puppets to their threads. "But those examples you gave weren't very good. I'm not close to Yan Feiqing, Yang Zhenbing, or Zhu Gaoyang, and I can't beat them."
"Then who will you make one of?"
"Never mind that."
Pei Ye was a little bewildered, but getting such a precious wooden Puppet for free was rather nice. He smiled and waved it. "You're really giving it to me?"
"Yes."
"...Sorry, Qu Xin. I always thought you were pretty black-hearted." He sounded a little embarrassed. "When you said in the hall yesterday that you wouldn't accept a high salary, I thought you were putting on an act. Turns out you really are this generous... Just don't trick Piao Qing and me like last time."
"Yes."
Pei Ye carefully put the wooden Puppet away, sat cross-legged with his hands braced on his ankles, and looked toward Guo You, who now had six Puppets attached to his threads. The old man seemed to have entered that state of oblivion to the outside world again.
Still driven by his Chi Flame, the six Puppets actually stood up before his astonished eyes. Pei Ye immediately turned his head. "Little Cat, hurry and get Li Xizhou."
Li Xizhou arrived a little later than expected, evidently having gotten out of bed, but it hardly mattered, because the six Puppets' main performance began even later than expected.
Sometimes they all moved separately; sometimes the others collapsed to the floor while only one or two performed inexplicable actions. Apart from Qu Xin, who kept taking notes, none of them could understand the old man's memories... until the sky outside the