Zu An took the opportunity to say, “Brother Gao, so much time has passed, and yet Pei You has still preserved your remains so well. I believe he's paid quite a considerable cost to achieve this.”

After a long silence, Gao Ying finally opened his mouth and said hoarsely, “Many thanks.”

Pei You got even more worked up. “This was just something I did to atone for my crimes. Why would you need to thank me?”

Zu An knew it would take time before the two parties buried the hatchet, so he said, “Let’s not waste any time right now. Let’s have brother Gao return first.”

Pei You hurriedly nodded. Gao Ying took a deep breath. He looked extremely nervous right now. After all, coming back to life was something unheard of.

Zu An reminded him, “The head is the leader of the six yang, and your soul has left the body for too long. So even if your soul returns to its body, you need to rest for a period of time before the body and soul join together in recovery. But I still have other things to take care of in the meantime…”

Pei You hurriedly said, “I will take care of brother Gao!”

Zu An gave him a look. “You're covered in alcohol right now, and even a random hoodlum could take your life. Would you really be able to take care of him?”

Embarrassment covered Pei You's face as he said, “Don’t worry, from now on, that won’t happen anymore.”

“Alright.” Zu An nodded in appreciation. He didn’t want Pei You to sink into absolute despair, and also wanted to use this opportunity to ease their relationship.

Sure enough, Gao Ying said to Pei You, “Thank you for your trouble!”

Pei You immediately felt overwhelmed with favor. “I'm only doing what's right.”

Zu An chuckled. Then, he used a secret method to guide Gao Ying’s soul back to his body. The entire process made Pei You exclaim in amazement. When Gao Ying’s soul entered the body, Zu An arranged formations in the vicinity so it wouldn't accidentally leave again.

After the whole task was complete, Pei You suddenly cried out in amazement, “He’s breathing! Brother Gao is breathing!”

Zu An wiped away sweat from his forehead. “He might have to sleep for some time. I’ll be entrusting him to your protection.”

Pei You showed Zu An a deep bow. “Brother Zu, I am truly thankful to you this time. If not for you, brother Gao wouldn’t have been able to revive, and I would never have been able to forgive myself in this life.”

“It’s already all in the past, and time will heal everything.” Zu An supported him up and patted his shoulder in encouragement. The rest would be up to him.

When he left the courtyard, Zu An went straight to the Sang manor. He had to get more information before entering the palace. He didn’t know how he was going to face Bi Linglong either.

However, the Sang manor had some hidden spies around it. Zu An frowned slightly and wondered which force had planted them.

Are they monitoring Sang Hong, or are they here to check if I’ve returned or not?

Even so, his heart was already set on going home, and he didn’t feel like bothering with those people. With his current cultivation realm, if he wanted to enter the Sang manor silently, the spies wouldn’t detect a single thing.

The young ladies inside were playing with baby Sisi when she suddenly pointed behind them and began to laugh. She began to murmur unclear baby talk.

“Sisi seems to be laughing at something…” The two women turned around and saw Zu An standing at the entrance. Both of them were stunned, but then they cried out in surprise.

“Ah Zu!”

“Big brother Zu!”

Sang Qien and Zheng Dan both rubbed their eyes in disbelief. When they were sure that they weren't just seeing things, they both cried out in happiness and rushed into his arms. However, Sisi was scared by their screams and frowned. Just a moment before, she had been smiling, but she immediately began to cry.

The two ladies hurriedly returned in alarm, but Zu An was even faster than them. He immediately took the chubby little girl into his arms. It really was strange, but Sisi's cries of distress immediately gave way to happy giggles.

Zheng Dan couldn't help but comment mockingly, “You really are too lethal against women. Whether they're over a thousand years old or merely female infants, none can escape your charms.”

Sang Qien rolled her eyes and retorted, “Dandan, what are you saying? Sisi clearly sensed her father returning.”

Zheng Dan finally reacted. She couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh.

“Little Qien, little Dan, what happened?” Sang Hong and Mu Yi heard the disturbance and rushed over. There were too many things that had been happening in the capital, after all. In several ways, they had no choice but to remain vigilant.

When they saw Zu An, both of them were stunned. “Ah Zu returned?”

“I greet respected uncle and aunt.” Zu An smiled toward them.

Aunt Mu immediately blushed, while Sang Hong had a big smile on his face as he said, “Then I’ll leave you youngsters to chat. We won’t be disturbing you.”

He then led Aunt Mu away in embarrassment.

Aunt Mu asked in confusion, “Master, shouldn’t we tell Ah Zu about what happened recently?”

Sang Hong smiled. “As long as he's returned, even the worst things aren’t a big deal anymore. I can finally get some good sleep.”

Aunt Mu figured that made sense as well. She didn’t worry anymore. In fact, she felt much happier after hearing Zu An call her 'aunt'.

…

Inside the room, Zu An teased his daughter while looking at the two women. He couldn't help but feel a bit broken-hearted as he said, “Both of you seem to have slimmed from exhaustion.”

“Hmph, we were so scared while you were away that it’d be hard to get fat even if we wanted to.” Zheng Dan harrumphed.

Even the way Sang Qien looked at Zu An was a bit strange.

Zu An was stunned. “Just what happened?”

Zheng Dan gave Sang Qien a little push. “You’ve always been clever and eloquent, so you should tell him.”

Sang Qien was a bit moved. She was very smart herself, so how could she not know that Zheng Dan was trying to give her an opportunity? After all, her relationship with Zu An hadn't started as a natural one of mutual consent.

But thankfully, after more than a year passed, they'd become more and more familiar with each other. They weren’t as reserved as in the beginning. As such, she cleared her throat and began to explain what had happened. “There was a rumor that the Fiend races set up a trap to eliminate the reinforcements we sent north, and that even you… perished because of that.”

“I’ve made all of you worry.” Zu An had been in a rush to find the Divine Dragon Immortal Medicine to save Qiu Honglei, and hadn’t expected something so major to take place in the capital.

“I did feel as if I was at my wits' end, but it was still Dandan who understood you more. She was absolutely sure that nothing bad had happened to you,” Sang Qien said in embarrassment.

Zu An reflexively gave Zheng Dan a look, but he only saw her raise her chin and remark, “Hmph, we all know that good people don’t live long, but disasters continue for a thousand years. How could someone like you die so easily?”

In that instant, he felt as if he had returned to the time he spent with her in Brightmoon City. Zu An felt a sense of comfort fill him. “It's still you who understands me best.”

When she saw the tacit look of understanding between them, Sang Qien had a faint smile on her face. She would still have felt sorry for herself if she'd seen such a thing in the past, but Dandan treated her so well, so how could she maintain any feelings of jealousy? She only wanted their relationship to become better and better. After all, the two of them were already pretty much one entity. The other fish big brother Zu had raised in the pond were all sharks, so how could two little shrimp like them not ally together?

Then, Sang Qien began to explain the events that had played out in the capital while Zu An was away. What she knew was far more detailed than Pei You’s explanation; she started with the fact that the Liu clan had been pulled up by the roots. As for the main culprits, they were the Bi clan; King Wu; Imperial Tutor, Zhao Chen’s faction; and King Yi, Zhao Huang’s faction.

Zu An was a bit surprised. “You even know who the main culprits are?”

Sang Qien smiled. “Even though the Bi clan acted in secret and used King Wu as a shield, it was easy to figure out by seeing who had the most to gain from this.

“After the Liu clan was overthrown, these clans took over most of the Liu clan’s vacant positions. The Bi clan gained the most benefits, while Zhao Chen’s faction was just furious that you killed Zhao Chen and just followed along. King Yi likely joined in because they were never on good terms with the Liu clan, and was worried that imperial power would fall.

“Of course, after the fact, the Commandant of Justice Jiang Boyang was also promoted, but he doesn’t have a motive for participating in the coup. It was most likely the Bi clan who borrowed his prestige to stabilize the situation.”

…

Sang Qien’s explanation was clear and orderly. She recounted all of the details of the capital’s changes. Naturally, Zu An felt much of his confusion resolve.

Sang Qien really is an extremely outstanding strategist and secretary, and she really can help me do many things. When there is some free time, we can…

He quickly gathered his thoughts and didn’t utter the famous quote from his previous world; instead, he focused on more important affairs. “By the way, where is the empress dowager right now?”

Sang Qien and Zheng Dan exchanged a look. Both of them had strange smiles on their faces.

While Zu An was feeling confused, Zheng Dan said in annoyance, “And here I was, wondering how much longer you would hold yourself back. You were worried about her after all.”

“Um… The empress is from the Liu clan and has a respected position in the palace. It’s normal for me to be concerned about where she is, right?” Zu An replied, thinking,

Why do I feel a bit weird?

“Keep acting, why don’t you?” Zheng Dan sneered, “Isn’t your worry because she is your woman?”

Zu An was speechless. He chucked in embarrassment before saying, “So you already knew.”

He'd already had his suspicions. But the tone Zheng Dan had spoken with prevented him from denying it further. After all, if they didn’t really know, why would they associate him with the empress?

“You really are something. You even dared to mess with the empress dowager.” Zheng Dan had a weird and extremely complicated expression. There was a bit of admiration mixed into the disdain that was really hard to describe with words.

Zu An was about to say something when Sang Qien said quietly, “It’s not just the empress dowager, either. You even dared to mess with the empress…”

Zu An was dumbfounded.

Just how long has it been since I left the capital? When did the capital become so unfamiliar all of a sudden?!