"Grandfather." A cautious yet worried voice came through.
Fu Feng rushed to Fu Tian and hugged him tightly, as if afraid he might disappear the next second.
"Cough, cough." Fu Tian swallowed the blood rising in his throat, but unexpectedly choked on it, unable to suppress a couple of coughs.
Hearing his cough, the others finally noticed how terrible his complexion looked. Although Si Kongkuang wasn't close to him, they were still living in the same courtyard. Not helping him with treatment now would be hard to justify. He fumbled around on himself for a while before pulling out a bottle of pills. Wincing at the loss, he poured out one pill and handed it to Fu Tian.
"Thanks." Fu Tian took the pill and swallowed it down with blood, then didn't say another word. He radiated an aura of displeasure, so no one dared to disturb him for a while.
"How did the Holy Land people find you? I remember the makeup I gave you shouldn't have been discovered." Actually, she had wanted to ask this question for a long time, but the urgency of the situation had kept her from bringing it up.
Fu Feng sobbed as he spoke: "The Holy Land people were searching house by house, very strictly. We wouldn't have been exposed if it weren't for me. It's all my fault—I shouldn't have been playful and gone swimming in the lake."
Seeing him so sad and distressed, Fu Tian immediately softened his voice: "It's okay, no one here blames you. Who could have predicted the Holy Land people would suddenly burst in, right?"
With that explanation, Ye Lanshan understood everything. It turned out that while Fu Feng was playing in the water, the Holy Land people had barged in, and that's how they got caught.
"Yeah, you can't blame yourself. Although my makeup isn't that waterproof, as long as you weren't deliberately rubbing it off while swimming, it basically wouldn't come off."
"And the fact that they suddenly burst in while you were playing in the water—maybe this was all premeditated?"
Despite Ye Lanshan's attempts to console him, he still whimpered softly.
"It looks like we can't stay here anymore. Miss Ye, do you have another place?" Si Kongkuang glanced around. Almost everything else had been reduced to rubble, leaving only this one room barely habitable.
"Of course I do, but you'll have to bear with it here for a few more days." Ye Lanshan knew this place was hardly suitable for living, but there was no other choice.
The newly prepared courtyard had already been turned into a training base for Tao Yao's assassins, completely unsuitable for them.
And if she let them stay at the Ye residence, that would be far too conspicuous—absolutely out of the question.
"You're kidding, right? Ye Lanshan, are you sure you're not joking? This is already a ruin—how are we supposed to live here?" Even though Yun Di liked Ye Lanshan, the thought of staying in a ruin for several days was unbearable.
Ye Lanshan took out a few paper figures from her space, bit her finger, and dabbed a drop of blood on each figure's brow. She muttered a spell softly, and slowly, those little figures transformed into paper people as tall as she was.
"Clean up the rubble here," Ye Lanshan quietly instructed the little figures.
"What kind of amazing thing is this? It can change size like a divine artifact and move around like a normal person?" Yun Di marveled at the little figures, unable to hide his envy.
The others wanted to ask too, but out of pride, they held back. Yun Di, however, voiced what they were all thinking.
"They're just a few paper figures—what's so surprising about that?" Ye Lanshan used her magic to direct the paper people, answering their questions while working.
"Paper figures? How did you make them move so freely and with such strength?" This display truly piqued everyone's curiosity.
"This kind of spell isn't easy to master. If you want to learn, I can teach you someday." Ye Lanshan directed the paper figures, looking quite relaxed.
"Alright." Watching such a convenient spell, Yun Di's interest was piqued.
In just an hour, the rubble was barely tidied up enough to live in.
"I'll arrange for you to move somewhere else as soon as possible. Bear with it here for now." Ye Lanshan was a bit troubled by their accommodation.
"Since the Holy Land has already found us, we won't impose on you any longer." Fu Tian, who had been silent for a while, suddenly spoke up: "Thank you for taking us in during this time. My injuries are mostly healed now—it's time for us to leave."
"Leave now? Are you just walking into the Holy Land's trap?" Ye Lanshan was almost amused by this.
"The Holy Land already knows where we are. What difference does staying here make?" Fu Tian had already analyzed the situation.
Ye Lanshan said softly, "Don't you know that the most dangerous place is the safest?"
"If you can think of that, so can the Holy Land." Fu Tian had fought them for years and knew exactly how clever and terrifying they were.
"In that case, let's pull off a switcheroo." Ye Lanshan knew staying here any longer would be too conspicuous.
"Switcheroo?" Clearly, everyone didn't quite understand the phrase.
"I'll use paper figures to impersonate the two of you, moving around in the ruins, while you move into the new courtyard." Ye Lanshan explained briefly.
"I see—using fakes to confuse the real ones. That's a great plan. But how can these flat paper figures pass for them?" Yun Di looked at the flat paper figures with doubt.
"Isn't that simple? Just make paper figures that look like them." Ye Lanshan shrugged helplessly.
Seeing she didn't get his point, Yun Di quickly clarified: "No, I mean, such flat paper figures probably won't fool the Holy Land people, right?"
"What's so hard about that? Making three-dimensional paper figures is a piece of cake for me." Ye Lanshan hadn't expected that to be his concern.
Ye Lanshan glanced at the sky, which was just beginning to lighten: "It's almost dawn. I need to head back. Bear with it here for today."
"Sigh!" Fu Tian let out a sigh, not knowing what to say. He had been angry just moments ago, but now, seeing everything Ye Lanshan had done, he couldn't stay mad.
"You haven't returned to the mansion yet?" Mu Ziming was about to visit Ye Lanshan at the Ye residence, but before he even reached the gate, he saw her rushing over urgently. Morning dew still clung to her hair, making it look damp—clearly, she hadn't been home all night.
Ye Lanshan hadn't expected to run into Mu Ziming here. She asked with a puzzled look, "What are you doing here?"