Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 581 - 13: The Funeral Without Tears (Part One)
After the meeting ended, Si Wenji sat in the back of the car, hugging her shoulders and closing her eyes to rest.
Peacock, who was in the driver’s seat, glanced at her in the rearview mirror and smiled, "Si, who’s made you angry?"
"Drive your car."
Si Wenji gave her a look.
While they were speaking, Zhan Yuejin opened the door and sat in the passenger seat, and Peacock wisely shut her mouth, silently starting the Ford.
"How did you decide? Twenty-nine votes against, one in favor, and still Taishuai gets past the preselection?"
Si Wenji asked.
"Sometimes the number of votes doesn’t tell the whole story. The preselection is always dominated by a minority, not to mention Taishuai. Take Jingang Zhi and Weiyue Yan for example; even if they are behind in votes, do you think Wuwei Sanzang and Su Ling would let them fail to be selected? It’s not a formal public election at the Yan Zhao Club, no need to take it so seriously."
Si Wenji frowned deeply upon hearing this, "Who insisted on letting Taishuai pass the preselection? Su Ling? It must be him!"
Zhan Yuejin shook his head: "It was Zhao Jianzhong."
"Why?"
Si Wenji’s eyes widened, unable to understand, "I understand your wish to reintegrate Taishuai into the Yan Zhao Club, I’m sensible about that. But there are plenty of slots open for the third and fourth positions. She is ultimately an outsider. She doesn’t even qualify as a human, you understand what I mean, don’t you?"
Si Wenji didn’t like that woman named Lady Dan, possibly due to the unpleasant encounter at the Red Mountain enclosure, or perhaps because she inherited Yu Shu’s Yan Fu Heritage.
"I’m not clear on Zhao Jianzhong’s thinking either," said Zhan Yuejin, taking a sip from his paper cup.
"Everyone at the meeting is the core of the Yan Zhao Club; they don’t like Taishuai, neither do you, Su Ling, nor Hou Tu supports her. Even if she passes the preselection, it doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll get through the public election. In the end, it might just be a wasted effort."
"If I were you, I wouldn’t be so optimistic," Si Wenji said with knitted eyebrows.
"How so?"
"This preselection thing is basically a way for everybody to show their intentions. Taking into account the background of the new Taishuai, Yu Shu’s precedent, and that inexplicable Li Yan who messed with everyone’s interests, it’s very normal to have twenty-nine votes against. But the formal election involves too much interest bargaining. Did you notice the looks in everyone’s eyes when the meeting dispersed?"
"What do you mean?"
"Let me put it this way, if the old man truly wants the new Taishuai to take the second seat, Hou Tu would support him as well, Su Ling is unpredictable, and as for the rest, no one will want to make a slip. The tide will change, no matter what. The new Taishuai holds a position of the Six Ministries level and possesses a complete Yan Fu Heritage, with a promising future. Any clear-minded person can see that the days of peace are over, not just because of Sifan, the natives are also not to be taken lightly. Zhang Yichu started a very bad precedent..."
At this point, even the usually calm Zhan Yuejin’s eyes showed a hint of unusual vigor, "The benefits the Yan Zhao Club has enjoyed over the years are not something they’d willingly give up—that would be a wild fantasy."
"Are you really going to allow that woman to take the second seat? That would mean yielding a portion of the leader’s authority. Are you aware of the Mountain Spirit’s origin, aren’t you afraid of some catastrophic mistake?"
"Taishuai’s ascension to the second seat might not necessarily be a bad thing for you, and her failure to ascend might not necessarily benefit you," Zhan Yuejin put the steaming paper cup in the cup holder, "The public vote hasn’t started, Zhu Jiuyin has yet to arrive in Luoyang, it’s too early to take sides..."
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"Do you want to take the second seat?"
Li Yan sat on the soft mattress, asking Lady Dan who was seated on a chair.
"Do you want me to move up to the second seat?"
Lady Dan asked in return.
Li Yan thought for a while, then shook his head, "I don’t know. I just came here because I didn’t want you to be wronged."
Lady Dan’s eyelashes fluttered. "The woman who picked me up from the train, the one named An Jing, told me that if I could make it into the second seat, I would be able to see the true face of Yan Fu."
Li Yan listened and gave a wry smile. "True face, what does that mean?"
"It means, the birth of Yan Fu, the significance of Yan Fu’s movement and growth, as well as many other questions that have troubled most people, all can be answered by entering the second seat."
As Lady Dan spoke, her eyes shone with a clear desire and curiosity, a look Li Yan had seen many times before. The first time she saw that half-human-height gramophone, when she saw that drummer with short hair and bangs on a promotional poster, and the first time she saw a 24-piece set of YSL limited edition lipsticks on a shopping website, all had elicited a similar expression.
"When I first entered Yan Fu, I was indeed like a curious baby," Li Yan said. "I engaged in a lot of conspiracy theories. I would ponder from time to time, why did Mo save me? What is the meaning of my fighting through seeming reality and illusion in Yan Fu events, my life, the power I hold, is it real or just a dream. But now, I have no interest in these things anymore."
Lady Dan looked very surprised, "Why not?"
"Because I’ve slowly understood something. If one day I have the ability to encounter these things, even if I don’t want to, I will have to face them. Or maybe, I’ll never understand these things in my lifetime, but that’s not so bad."
Lady Dan lowered her head and thought for a while, trying to explain something, "But, don’t you feel anxious? You’ve experienced so many bizarre worlds, are they real? Diao Xiayan, Zhang Yichu, are they real? How do you see those people? How do you see me?"
Li Yan was taken aback. He licked his lips, unusually hesitant, "You don’t need to get caught up on this. I, I’ve never felt that, I mean, I’ve never thought..."
"But I’ve thought about it," Lady Dan interrupted Li Yan. "I really want to know what exactly Yan Fu is, what the meaning of my existence is."
Li Yan blinked and couldn’t think of anything to say for a moment, and the two fell into a long silence.
Suddenly, Cha Xiaodao walked in excitedly. Just as he was about to open his mouth, he quickly sensed the mood and closed it again awkwardly.
"What’s wrong?"
"I was thinking, it’s getting chilly, we could all have hot pot together, wondering whether you two prefer sesame paste or dipping oil?"
"Sesame paste. Ah never mind, I’ll go with you to buy it."
Li Yan stood up.
"I’ll have whatever you’re having."
Lady Dan looked at Li Yan as he stood up.
"Okay."
Cha and Li left the door, and after walking quite a distance, Cha Xiaodao asked in a low voice, "You two didn’t have a fight, did you?"
Li Yan didn’t speak. After a long while, he took a deep breath, and the temperature on the street seemed to drop several degrees.
"She asked me some questions that I didn’t know how to answer. Actually, I should have thought carefully about these questions long ago." 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖
Li Yan had an indescribable look on his face, frowning as he looked at Cha Xiaodao, "I feel like, I haven’t given her enough sense of security."
