Warm medicine emits fragrance

Fan Liuer never thought about betrayal or anything like that.

She wasn't ambitious; she only cared about whether she was doing well and had enough to eat. She didn't care which big shot controlled the world.

She didn't take Li Chenbi's words to heart, only concerned about her own safety later.

If Li Chenbi really intended to take her right there in the carriage, then she would never be able to leave the house again.

There's a huge crowd following outside.

Fortunately, Li Chenbi wasn't so depraved as to do anything to her in the carriage.

The carriage traveled for half an hour before leaving the city through the city gate.

Fan Liuer was somewhat surprised, "Shouldn't the city gates be closed by now?"

After asking the question, she realized she had asked a pointless question. Whether the city gate was closed or not made no difference to Li Chenbi, who could do whatever he wanted in Xingzhou City.

Sure enough, her words made Li Chenbi laugh.

"Money makes the world go round, haven't you heard that saying?"

Fan Liuer nestled in his arms and hummed softly, then asked curiously, "Second Master, how much money do you actually have? Won't you go broke spending it all like this?"

After a moment of contemplation, Li Chenbi said, "If I do nothing but spend money, and spend it like I did today every day, I should be able to spend it for five hundred years."

Fan Liuer: "...How many years?"

"Five hundred years," Li Chenbi repeated patiently.

At this moment, Fan Liuer's expression was beyond shock; she simply couldn't imagine how large that sum of money was.

Li Chenbi looked at her, a smile playing on his lips, his voice seductive. "Want to spend my money without restraint?"

Fan Liuer snapped out of her daze, her heart pounding wildly.

This isn't just spending money, it's practically lying on a mountain of gold!

Her desire to escape began to waver wildly again.

I started to compare the advantages and disadvantages of running versus not running.

Running away means she has freedom and won't have to live at the mercy of others anymore. Although life will definitely not be as comfortable as it is now, the money she got from Li Chenbi is enough for her to live a carefree life.

Not running away means she can spend money as she pleases, eat all kinds of delicious food from all over the world, see all kinds of beautiful scenery and wonders, and live a life of luxury and ease.

This is an advantage.

What are the downsides?

If she doesn't run away, it means she will become Li Chenbi's appendage, a woman in his backyard, living by depending on him, and her happiness will depend entirely on his conscience.

Running away carries the risk of being caught and brought back, or encountering untrustworthy people and being harmed along the way.

Hmm... this comparison really makes it hard for her to choose.

She remained silent for a long time, so Li Chenbi tapped her forehead. "What are you thinking about?"

Fan Liuer covered her forehead, suppressing the two conflicting thoughts in her mind, and whispered, "I'm thinking about how to spend this money."

Li Chenbi chuckled, "Then think it over carefully, and tell me when you've made up your mind."

As the two were talking, the carriage arrived at its destination, and Li Chenbi led Fan Liuer down from the carriage.

With Li Chenbi's help, Fan Liuer stood up and looked around, only to find that she was actually in a lake.

The lake is vast, stretching as far as the eye can see in the darkness of night. Only the shimmering surface under the moonlight and the scattered lights on it are visible.

She squinted and looked closely, only to discover that the lights were lanterns floating on the lake.

"People are releasing lanterns here too?" she asked in surprise. This place was nothing like the city; it was pitch black all around and looked quite frightening.

She had always thought that only someone like Li Chenbi, who had too much money and nothing better to do, would come out of the city late at night to release lanterns; no one else would have that kind of energy.

It seems that there are many people as idle as Li Chenbi.

"These lights drifted out from the city," Li Chenbi explained.

"The city's moat flows into this lake, and the lanterns will eventually end up in this lake."

"However, most of the lanterns are swallowed by the river halfway there, and very few actually make it here."

Fan Liuer turned her gaze to the lake. The magnificent lanterns on the river in the city were still imprinted in her mind. Compared with the few lanterns floating alone on the lake now, she couldn't help but feel a little sad.

"This world is really unfair; even praying for blessings has to be selected before it can be seen."

Li Chenbi scoffed lightly, "You think you'll be seen by the gods just because you've come here?"

"It has no other significance than proving that these lanterns are of good quality. There are no gods in this world. The only one who controls one's destiny is oneself."

Fan Liuer looked up at him, puzzled. "Since you don't believe in gods, why did you bring me here to release lanterns?"

Li Chenbi looked down at her and said, "Putting aside whether you believe it or not, other people's lanterns have to fight their way out of thousands of lanterns and go through many hardships to get here, while your lantern can get here directly without having to go through anything."

"Does it feel good to see someone else's finish line as your starting point?"

Without a second thought, Fan Liuer nodded, "Great!"

Li Chenbi smiled and said, "That's good. If you're happy, then this matter has meaning."

Fan Liuer looked at the smile on Li Chenbi's face. The night was dark, and only the lanterns carried by the guards illuminated the surroundings. The yellow light shone on his face, softening the sharp lines of his features and making his smile more gentle than usual.

The scales in Fan Liuer's heart began to slowly tip.

"Go ahead and put your lantern inside."

As soon as Li Chenbi finished speaking, the guards stepped forward with more than a dozen lanterns and stood in a row in front of Fan Liuer.

Some of these lanterns were bought by Fan Liuer after seeing them on the street out of curiosity, while others were won by Li Chenbi by solving lantern riddles.

"Should we put them all out?" she asked Li Chenbi.

"You can release everything if you want."

Fan Liuer thought for a moment, if there really were no gods in this world, then these beautiful lanterns would not be seen, and their final fate would be to rot in the silt at the bottom of the lake.

Rather than that, it's better to keep it; at least it'll make you happy to have it in the house.

Since she was already there, it would be a bit disappointing not to leave any lanterns, so she chose one of the more ordinary ones and carried it to the lakeside.

Carefully place the lantern into the water.

The lanterns spun around on the shore a few times before slowly drifting away.

Fan Liuer had originally thought of many prayers, but now she had no desire to speak them.

Li Chenbi is right; destiny is always in one's own hands.

Given her current situation, instead of praying to the gods, she should try to squeeze more money out of Li Chenbi.

After watching the lanterns drift away, she clapped her hands, stood up, and as she was about to turn around, her gaze fell on the other side of the lake. She stared wide-eyed at the tourist boat that had somehow moored not far away.