At the very instant the skeleton was about to come crashing down.Chu Yunxi, who had been keeping his head down, focused on his work, suddenly flipped lightly out of the way.He didn't even turn to look at what had happened before the skeleton smashed down beside him with a whoosh of wind. Just as it was about to hit the table, he raised his hand with lightning speed."Crack—"His palm caught the skeleton's chest, producing a crisp sound of grinding bones.The two arm bones hung down, swinging back and forth, while the long nail stopped just barely—half an inch above the skull resting on the desk—almost piercing into it.Though the nail was covered in rust, its tip was razor-sharp. If it had landed on the back of his neck, he would surely have died.Chu Yunxi glanced at the sharp iron nail, then lifted his eyes to look at Shi Wuxie, catching the moment the curve of Shi Wuxie's lips rose and was pressed back down, the excitement in his eyes turning to disappointment.Chu Yunxi gritted his back teeth and sneered, "You were waiting for me to get crushed to death by this thing, weren't you?"Shi Wuxie showed not the slightest embarrassment at being exposed, but nodded with utter candor. "Yes."Chu Yunxi's brow twitched. Pointing at the long nail, he said, speechless, "Isn't… isn't that just the same as killing someone with your own hands?""Of course there's a difference," Shi Wuxie said self-righteously. "That was an accident. It has nothing to do with me."Chu Yunxi: . . .He had never met anyone so shameless.As if blind to his utterly speechless expression, Shi Wuxie went on solemnly, with an air of lecturing: "By the criminal law of our dynasty: should one encounter a sudden danger that another person has no ability to prevent—or where attempting to prevent it would surely place oneself in peril—that person shall be exempt from liability."Spreading his hands, he finished, "This was a sudden accident, which falls precisely under 'no ability to prevent.' So it doesn't count as murder."Chu Yunxi was so furious he nearly laughed.The Great Zhou Criminal Code must be this man-machine's highest operating principle!No moral constraints—only the law.Chu Yunxi looked at Shi Wuxie's ice-block face and shut his eyes deeply. "Deliberately engineering an 'accident' still counts as murder."Shi Wuxie's calm gaze finally stirred with a faint ripple. "I didn't.""You did."With a look that said "just you wait—I'll leave you no way to argue in a moment," Chu Yunxi half-crouched down and carefully examined the wooden frame.He picked at the wood at the break; his fingertips met a damp, rotten, soft texture, tinged with a faint smell of mold.The wood had simply rotted with age—there were no traces of deliberate tampering, as he had expected.Chu Yunxi froze for a moment. Refusing to believe it, he laid the entire wooden frame down and examined it carefully, back and forth, several times over.Half an incense stick's time later—Chu Yunxi had found no evidence—only a chest full of indignation with nowhere to vent it.Half-crouching on the ground, he looked up at Shi Wuxie and, swallowing his pride, finally waved the broken half of rotted wood. "The wood in the stand's legs rotted through ages ago, and the mortise-and-tenon joints came loose too."He demanded aggressively, "You didn't notice?"Shi Wuxie's gaze swept over the rotten wood, and he nodded. "Indeed, it's been some time. I never paid attention.""This was deliberate on your part," Chu Yunxi said with certainty as he stood up.Shi Wuxie's eyes flickered—most unusually—a flash gone in an instant. "Setting aside whether it was deliberate—even if it were, how could I have known when you would come here, and how could I have calculated with precision exactly when this wooden frame would break?"Chu Yunxi: . . .He strongly suspected this guy had done it on purpose, but he had no proof.After a long moment, his lowered eyes shifted as if he'd remembered something. He took out the marble, spread it in his palm, and held it out to Shi Wuxie."Then what about this? A hidden weapon that flew over the wall while I was on my way here." He gave a cold laugh. "Surely this can't be an 'accident' too?"Shi Wuxie glanced at the "hidden weapon," then reached out with two fingers to pick it up. He examined it carefully against the daylight coming through the window, rubbed its surface with his fingers, and even held it to his nose for the faintest sniff.Then he spoke calmly: "Ordinary iron, crudely polished. The surface has shallow pits and wear from repeated impacts, with a little dust on the edges."His tone was even and his reasoning clear: "This is an iron pellet used by street children with slingshots, for shooting down birds. At the general goods stores in the West Market, a copper coin buys a dozen or more. It is not a specially made hidden weapon."He handed the marble back to Chu Yunxi and delivered his conclusion: "Most likely children were playing in the alley outside the wall, and a stray pellet flew in by mistake. It was not aimed at you."Chu Yunxi couldn't believe it. "You're telling me this is another 'accident'?"Two accidents in a single day? Who did he think he was fooling?Shi Wuxie nodded as he looked at him. "Even if I wanted to arrange assassins to kill you, I wouldn't use a marble like this. It can kill birds, but not people. At most, it might give you a few bruises."Listening to Shi Wuxie's professional, airtight analysis, Chu Yunxi was once again left speechless.He drew a deep breath and raised his eyes again, staring at those eyes so calm they were nearly indifferent, his voice suddenly turning colder. "From the moment I left home to arriving here, I nearly died twice in the space of a cup of tea. Do you think I'd believe you?""I don't care what tricks you've used," he said, raising his voice in warning. "Don't think you can escape justice by manufacturing a few accidents. The Marquis Anping household is one of noble merit. If I die here, you will absolutely not escape blame!"At a time like this, he couldn't show weakness. He had to make Shi Wuxie retreat in the face of difficulty.Shi Wuxie seemed not to hear the threat in his words at all, and instead nodded as if in agreement. "Naturally. Now that we are married, we share weal and woe. If you were to die, I could hardly escape responsibility for the affairs that follow. When the time comes, I would naturally see to everything myself."Chu Yunxi froze.Wait… hold on…Before he could figure out how the man had suddenly jumped to funeral arrangements, Shi Wuxie continued, "It's just that your Fate Pattern is too weak. You are destined for constant calamity."As he spoke, Shi Wuxie gave a small inward nod and began murmuring to himself, making plans: "In that case, better to prepare in advance. I should have all the funeral items ready ahead of time, so that when the moment comes, there's no frantic scrambling."Chu Yunxi stared at him in stunned disbelief.It took him a moment to process it, and then his eyes went wide with shock. "You mean I'm the legendary unlucky-cursed type who could drop dead at any moment?"Shi Wuxie nodded solemnly.The Ghostly Shadow, who had been laughing so hard it was bent double, sent its eerie [Hahahaha] echoing in Shi Wuxie's ears.But after laughing a while, it suddenly paused. The black shadow whisked over to Chu Yunxi's side, its invisible "gaze" scrutinizing him up and down, full of puzzlement.[Yu Nu, something's off. When did this kid's skills get so sharp? He dodged both times. Wasn't he supposed to have been a sickly weakling since childhood, the kind who'd topple over in the wind?]At those words, Shi Wuxie paused slightly.In an instant, his pitch-black pupils lit up like a deep pool suddenly struck by a spark. He abruptly seized Chu Yunxi's wrist, while his other hand instinctively tightened around the scalpel, its tip pointed straight at Chu Yunxi."After you came back to life, did your body undergo any changes? Your strength, your speed, your five senses—how do they compare to before?"Chu Yunxi only felt his wrist suddenly tighten; the icy chill of those fingertips seeped through his skin, nearly freezing his heart still.Meeting Shi Wuxie's gaze, so full of earnestness and thirst for knowledge, he hallucinated himself as cornered prey—or a precious experimental specimen in the eyes of some mad scientist.He shivered, then instinctively retreated half a step, refusing. "What business is it of yours?"Shi Wuxie pondered for a moment, then picked up the record book beside the desk. Lowering his eyes in concentration, he thought briefly before writing rapidly with his brush.Chu Yunxi frowned, full of wariness, yet unable to suppress his curiosity. He leaned his neck slightly forward, casting a glance over.He had intended to look at the book, but his gaze inevitably fell instead on Shi Wuxie's collar. It was fastened with meticulous neatness, yet from his oblique angle, he happened to catch a glimpse of a slender line of neck, flowing smoothly down from the jaw into the thin, delicate hollow where it vanished into the shadow of the collar—exquisitely, almost unfairly beautiful.He hastily looked away, closed his eyes briefly, and deleted that image from his mind before turning to the book.There, in sharp, vigorous small regular script, was a line: [Observation Record—Chu Yunxi][Physical function mutation. One, evasion reflex: reaction time to sudden lethal threats extremely short, far surpassing an ordinary person. Two, instantaneous burst: able to arrest, with a single arm at close range, an object weighing dozens of jin in free fall; arm strength and core stability abnormal…]The more Chu Yunxi read, the tighter his brow furrowed.This madman—he really was recording him like a lab specimen!He closed his eyes, drew a long breath, then turned to leave.Shi Wuxie was still absorbed in his records when The Ghostly Shadow gave a timely reminder: [Yu Nu, he's leaving.]Shi Wuxie hastily wrote the final stroke, then looked up to see Chu Yunxi already striding resolutely out the door. As if possessed, he asked, "Where are you going?"Without looking back, Chu Yunxi called out loudly, "Back to my parents' home!"Shi Wuxie processed the meaning of "back to my parents' home" in his mind, then blinked. "Are you coming back?"Chu Yunxi's steps faltered for a moment, then he continued striding away. "No!"Shi Wuxie froze.The Ghostly Shadow stared blankly at Chu Yunxi's retreating figure, then suddenly said to Shi Wuxie, [Yu Nu, go after him!][If he doesn't come back, what if he dies out there?][What if he has an accident that injures his brain and damages the sample?]Before the last sentence was even finished, Shi Wuxie had already bolted out the door.Chu Yunxi walked ahead; Shi Wuxie followed behind.The guards outside only saw a blur before their eyes—a red figure swept out like the wind. Before they could make out who it was, their lord came hurrying out after it, gaze locked ahead."My lord, where are you going?" a guard hurriedly asked.Shi Wuxie was about to catch up, but that flash of red flickered a few times and vanished into the bustling crowds of the long street, impossible to distinguish again. He stopped short and called back urgently, "Ready the carriage.""Yes, my lord!" Not daring to delay, the guard turned and sprinted toward the stables.Chu Yunxi walked ahead, occasionally tilting his head slightly to observe the movement behind him.Not sensing Shi Wuxie's figure, he couldn't help but furrow his brow, his steps faltering.Was that little madman no longer following him?Could he really just let him walk away like this?As he was pondering, the sky suddenly darkened.The sky, which had just been drenched in warm golden sunset light, seemed to have been splashed with thick ink. Dark clouds came rolling in from all directions, swallowing the dying sun in an instant. The long street might as well have plunged into night."It's going to rain! Pack up quickly!"Street vendors' shouts mixed with the sounds of hurriedly gathering goods as pedestrians scrambled for shelter. Before long, the clamor died down as the crowds vanished, replaced by silence.Chu Yunxi paused, lifting his eyes to the sky. The clouds hung low, as if rain could fall at any moment.He raised a hand toward the heavens, sensing the humidity rising sharply in the air. Before long, a single raindrop landed in his palm.But at that very moment, a shiver that made every hair stand on end swept through him, instantly spreading to his limbs.Then came a faint but scalp-tingling crackling sound, right beside his ear, making Chu Yunxi's blood run cold.Static electricity?His pupils contracted sharply—he understood almost in an instant. Immediately, he pushed off hard with his feet and leaped toward the nearest eave.Almost simultaneously, a bolt of ghastly white lightning tore through the firmament, descending from the pitch-black clouds and striking precisely where he had just been standing."BOOM—!"The thunderclap exploded practically at his ear. In the blink of an eye, the bluestone path mere inches away was blasted to rubble. A shallow pit smoked with wisps of char, the stone slabs around it glazed with a vitrified sheen, and the air filled with an acrid stench.A breath later—"Whoosh—!"The long-gathering downpour came crashing down.Thick sheets of rain wove into a dense, impenetrable curtain, lashing the empty street.Chu Yunxi stood frozen, watching the rainwater cascade down the upturned eaves like a waterfall, forming a transparent curtain of water before him.Had he just nearly been struck dead by lightning?An absurd chill crept quietly up his spine, and a layer of cold sweat beaded on his forehead.At that moment, the sound of horse hooves broke through the curtain of rain. A carriage with dark blue curtains stopped before him.The indigo curtain was lifted from within by four slender, scallion-white fingers, and the pouring rain immediately drenched the fingertips.Chu Yunxi's eyes darted, and he reacted in a flash. With a sudden muffled groan, he clutched his chest tightly and collapsed to the ground.By the time Shi Wuxie stepped down from the carriage with an umbrella, that striking figure in red was already lying motionless in the shadow beneath the eaves.Rainwater streamed down the tiled eaves, gathering into thin rivulets around his body.[Yu Nu! Did you see that? A lightning strike!] The Ghostly Shadow's voice was brimming with barely contained excitement.Shi Wuxie's gaze swept over the charred shallow pit not far away, into which rainwater was now pouring.He nodded. "A direct hit would likely have been fatal."[Quick! Go take a look! If there's still a breath left in him, perfect chance to finish him off with a blade.]Shi Wuxie walked into the rain. The water instantly soaked through his boots and the hem of his robe.He came to Chu Yunxi's side and, lifting his robe, crouched down.He watched quietly for a moment. Rainwater trickled down the man's pale cheeks, his long lashes pressed shut, his lips so faintly colored they were nearly transparent—he truly looked like a puppet that had lost all breath of life.He extended his fingers beneath Chu Yunxi's nose. The breath was faint, but it was there. He then pressed fingers to the side of his neck, feeling the pulse beating beneath the skin.The cold fingertips, still carrying rainwater, touched his skin. Chu Yunxi's tightly closed lashes trembled almost imperceptibly, but Shi Wuxie didn't notice.Shi Wuxie frowned slightly and murmured, "He's actually not dead."That trace of surprise and disappointment was heard clearly by Chu Yunxi even with his eyes closed. He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, held his breath, and lay his body even flatter.With such a perfect opportunity, he refused to believe this little madman could resist making a move.Just wait—this time he would catch him red-handed!The Ghostly Shadow egged him on from the side: [Do it! Finish him off now, and it'll be seamless! If we report it, he was just struck dead by lightning—who could ever suspect us?]Shi Wuxie hesitated, then took out a small jade bottle from his robes and extracted a pill.The Ghostly Shadow didn't understand: [Yu Nu, you're not going to kill him?]Shi Wuxie replied through his thoughts: "Something's off. I didn't see any lightning burns on his body—perhaps he's merely fainted. If I act rashly, I'll only leave traces behind." As he spoke, he brought the pill to Chu Yunxi's lips.[Then why are you feeding him this?]Shi Wuxie's eyes sparkled with excitement, brighter than ever before, and his thin lips curved into a faint arc."Not killing him doesn't mean I can't study something else first."Just as the pill touched his lips, his wrist was suddenly seized by a force.The man lying on the ground abruptly opened his eyes, fine raindrops still clinging to his long lashes, his fox-like eyes now clear and sharp.Amid the pattering rain, a voice sounded softly: "Caught you."
Chapter 4
My Cold-Faced Wife Wants to Kill Me Again