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Lu Li fell silent; this truly was something the past version of himself would have done.

Why the past? Back then, he hadn’t known that Xie Jianwei loved him. He had assumed he was inconsequential to Xie Jianwei, and if he didn’t matter, getting a divorce wouldn’t cause Xie Jianwei much grief—perhaps it would even come as a relief.

In that frame of mind, he naturally spared no effort in sabotaging the other personalities, and disguising himself as them to demand a divorce was completely par for the course.

Yet now, he would never do such a thing.

Xie Jianwei loved him. Not a passing fondness, but a profound, deep love.

For someone you loved deeply to demand a divorce; just how devastating of a blow was that?

How could he ever bear to hurt Xie Jianwei like this?

Looking at Xie Jianwei’s expression, Lu Li felt as though his heart and lungs were tearing apart with agonizing heartache.

What kind of reckless, cursed stunt did these bastards pull!

Xie Jianwei sat there in a daze, his mind in complete, buzzing disarray.

Lu Li didn’t want him anymore. No matter how hard he tried, Lu Li still chose to abandon him.

Xie Jianwei felt plunged into an icy abyss, a bone-chilling cold wrapping around his entire body. He forced himself to stay calm, but it was entirely futile.

The terror buried in the deepest recesses of his soul finally broke through its shackles and clawed its way out, gnawing at his heart and corroding whatever remained of his reason.

Why did it come to this?

Because of the split?

Why had he split in the first place?

A crushing wave of remorse and self-reproach flooded his mind; Xie Jianwei had never felt so utterly lost in his entire life.

How could he have allowed Lu Li to split? How could he have let such an irredeemable catastrophe transpire? How could he have remained so completely oblivious, with zero guard up, allowing the worst possible outcome to unfold?

He brought this upon himself… he truly brought this on himself.

How could one person face four people? Something was bound to go wrong.

Lu Li was bound to find it unbearable.

Previously, he had always feared they would kill one another, yet he had deliberately overlooked another possibility. Faced with a compromised, fragmented love, why would Lu Li bother holding on?

Lu Li could leave him. And now, he had made that choice.

Everyone harbored a vulnerability in the depths of their heart that they dared not touch, and Xie Jianwei was no exception.

He constantly told himself that Lu Li loved him, that Lu Li would never leave, that Lu Li would stay with him forever.

Yet if one was truly at peace, there was never any need for endless repetition.

It was self-hypnosis, merely another manifestation of insecurity. And when he finally discovered that this constant reassurance was nothing more than self-deception, the despair only deepened.

Lu Li called out softly, “A-Wei…”

Xie Jianwei’s frame trembled slightly, striving with all his might to maintain an air of composure. Looking at Lu Li, he offered a strained smile: “I know. You don’t need to say any more.”

Hearing it once was piercing enough; having heard it three times already, he truly didn’t want to hear it a fourth time.

Lu Li parted his lips: “I…”

The words reached his lips, only to be forced back down, because Yan Ke hastily reminded him in his mind: My Lord, please do not let the dream collapse.

Before entering, Yan Ke had already explained the rules.

Do not forcefully or crudely overturn something the dream master had firmly accepted as reality. Doing so would cause the dream to crumble, and a collapse would lead to the dream master himself undergoing a mental split.

None of them dared imagine what a fractured Military Advisor would be like.

It was simply too terrifying to contemplate…

Xie Jianwei had taken it as absolute truth, genuinely believing that Lu Li wanted to divorce him.

One, two, three… in Xie Jianwei’s mind, they were ultimately one person, and what one personality said represented them all.

They truly wanted to leave him.

So Lu Li couldn’t simply say: I don’t want to divorce you, let those three go to hell.

He even had to adhere to the dream’s logic and stage a divorce scene of his own.

Yet how could he ever bring himself to utter those words? Forcing him to plunge a dagger into Xie Jianwei’s heart was worse than chopping himself into pieces to feed the dogs!

Lu Li was both heartbroken and anxious, yet couldn’t devise a workable solution on the spot.

Tell Xie Jianwei directly that those three bastards were all impersonating one another, and their goal wasn’t actually a divorce, but to knock their rivals out of the running?

Would Xie Jianwei believe it?

A thought struck Lu Li, and realization dawned. Words might not convince him, but seeing it with his own eyes definitely would.

After a brief internal struggle, Lu Li steeled his resolve.

Tomorrow, he wouldn’t use the puppet substitute; he would let Clone #4 face the real Xie Jianwei. Although watching a replica act intimately with Xie Jianwei would make him explode with jealousy, compared to Xie Jianwei suffering, nothing else mattered.

As long as it wasn’t a puppet tomorrow and the real Xie Jianwei took the stage, he would inevitably witness today’s spectacle repeat itself. The other Lu Lis coming to demand a divorce.

The reasoning was simple. The replicas wouldn’t compare notes on how they sabotaged each other. Each believed he had stolen the march on the others, thinking he had three roles to play, convinced that once he ruined the other three, he would be the sole survivor.

As long as the scene repeated, with Xie Jianwei’s keen intellect, he would unearth the truth immediately. When that happened, he wouldn’t have to hurt like this anymore.

Yet Lu Li still felt miserable. Thinking about #4 kissing Xie Jianwei tomorrow morning, perhaps even being intimate with him… his jealousy detonated into blazing fireworks.

Yan Ke genuinely felt for the Lord Marshal. What a predicament… In the Lord Marshal’s own dreams, his head is draped in green; in the Military Advisor’s dream, the Lord Marshal is forced to dye his own head green.

This truly lived up to the old saying: To keep life going smooth and seen, you’ve got to wear a little green.

The Lord Marshal truly didn’t have it easy.

Imagining what might transpire tomorrow, the more Lu Li dwelled on it, the worse it felt, and his expression darkened noticeably—even while reminding himself it was only a dream, and those replicas were merely constructs of Xie Jianwei’s subconscious, he still felt sour and aggrieved from head to toe.

No matter how omnipotent Military Advisor Xie was, he couldn’t possibly read Lu Li’s exact thoughts right now, but he could see his demeanor.

He saw his grim face, saw the restless irritation in his eyes, and saw his foul mood.

Xie Jianwei managed a faint, fragile smile, murmuring, “I’m heading back first.”

With that, he rose and walked toward the bedroom.

Snapping back to his senses, Lu Li hurried to follow, yet Xie Jianwei walked ahead without looking back. Entering the manor, he headed straight for his own bedroom.

The Marshal’s Manor had two master bedrooms: one was Lu Li’s, and the other was Xie Jianwei’s.

All along, Xie Jianwei’s bedroom had been purely ornamental. From the day the manor was completed until now, the times Xie Jianwei had stepped inside could be counted on one hand.

And those few instances had only occurred when Lu Li threw a tantrum; Xie Jianwei would hug a pillow and head there, but before long, Lu Li would sneak over, having left not only the door unlocked, but a spot in bed reserved for him.

Lu Li would slide under the covers, wrapping his arms around him to sleep soundly.

It was fair to say he had never once stayed alone in his own room.

Yet today, the moment he entered, he locked the door behind him, shutting Lu Li firmly outside.

Lu Li: “…”

Yan Ke: “…” If I tell the Lord Marshal not to cry, will he beat me to death QAQ!

Standing outside the door, despite the fine, needle-like ache in his chest, Lu Li felt a faint trace of relief.

This dream was a near-flawless recreation of reality. Had Lu Li truly split, this exact scenario would have unfolded.

And since he hadn’t known Xie Jianwei loved him back then, if he had truly been shut outside, he would only have thought. Xie Jianwei has finally grown disgusted with me.

With both sides trapped in misunderstanding, the ultimate fallout was too terrifying to contemplate.

Thank goodness it was a dream. Thank goodness Xie Jianwei had intervened to stop his split. Thank goodness Xie Jianwei loved him.

At that thought, Lu Li rallied his spirits once more.

The knot had to be untied. He had to reassure Xie Jianwei that no matter what happened, he would never leave him—this was something that didn’t even require a second thought.

Lu Li didn’t stubbornly force his way in to see Xie Jianwei. A temporary separation was actually beneficial; considering the dream’s constraints, avoiding Xie Jianwei for now was for the best. He didn’t have much faith in his own self-restraint; if he had to stand there watching a heartbroken Xie Jianwei, he couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t crack.

—He wanted far too desperately to make him happy.

Confining himself to the room for the entire afternoon, as dusk deepened into night, Xie Jianwei finally regained a measure of composure.

He shouldn’t be like this; he shouldn’t accept it so easily.

Lu Li wanted a divorce, but he didn’t.

He could salvage this—it wasn’t that Lu Li no longer loved him, but that being fractured into four made him incapable of loving him properly. That had to be it.

Since the root cause was the division, then as long as they integrated, wouldn’t everything return to the way it was?

They were supposed to integrate in the first place, Xie Jianwei thought. From the very beginning, they should never have split.

What had already transpired could not be undone, but what had yet to unfold could still be mitigated.

He could not lose Lu Li. Xie Jianwei knew with absolute clarity that he could never afford to lose Lu Li.

“Keep an open mind. Don’t lock yourself away like this,” Xie Jianwei told himself.

Stepping out of the bedroom, he walked through the manor, but saw no sign of Lu Li.

Where was Clone #3?

His chest tightening, Xie Jianwei tapped his right wrist to check Lu Li’s whereabouts.

Lu Li was working. All four Lu Lis were busy with official duties.

Xie Jianwei stared at the readout, unable to describe the emotion in his chest.

None of them were coming to keep him company?

So what if there were four? In the end, he was still all alone.

Xie Jianwei ate dinner by himself and returned to his bedroom in absolute silence.

This time, he didn’t lock the door. He waited for Lu Li to sneak inside like he used to, waited for him to hold him, waited for him to give him a sweet dream.

Yet he waited for a very long time, staring unblinkingly at that door, longing for it to open, longing to see the person he yearned for. But it stood like an impassable chasm, cruelly shutting his hopes outside.

Lu Li truly had no idea the door was unlocked. When he returned that night, he had wanted to sneak inside, but paused at the threshold. First, he assumed it was locked; second, he feared ruining the plan, so he simply sat outside the door through the entire night.

Lu Li didn’t sleep a wink all night, and Xie Jianwei remained sleepless until dawn.

Sometimes love was tragic in this way; after all, without love, where would the agony come from?

Fortunately, after the storm, a rainbow was bound to descend.

The next morning, Clone #4 arrived right on time. Having acted as #1 yesterday, he believed he had flawlessly eliminated #1 from the running, giving himself two consecutive days of private time—an absolute triumph.

Seeing him approach, Lu Li wanted nothing more than to pin him to the wall and beat him senseless.

Was his own face truly this irritating? Lu Li genuinely wanted to throw a pair of punches.

Clone #4 noticed nothing amiss, feeling victory was well within his grasp, looking at #3 as if looking at a fool.

“It’s seven o’clock. Where is A-Wei?”

Lu Li said, “He should be waking up soon.”

Imagining that they had surely spent a sweet, romantic night together, #4 felt his teeth ache with jealousy: “Show some restraint. A-Wei’s body can’t take that kind of exhaustion.”

Lu Li couldn’t even be bothered to reply. Could his double standards get any more shameless!

“I’m leaving,” Lu Li muttered in a dull tone.

#4 said, “You should have left long ago.”

Lu Li: “…” I will endure it. He’s just a fictional construct in a dream, why take him seriously!

The moment Lu Li stepped away, Xie Jianwei’s bedroom door opened. Having stayed awake all night, Xie Jianwei looked terribly exhausted, freezing visibly upon spotting #4.

Clone #4 misinterpreted the situation completely, assuming Xie Jianwei’s fatigue was the result of a passionate night, feeling both heartache and bitter resentment, torturing himself thoroughly.

Xie Jianwei’s lips parted slightly, but no words came out.

For some reason, he could tell at a single glance that this was the real #4, not #3 disguised as #4.

Clone #3 had deceived the other three personalities with a puppet, monopolizing him for over a month, yet today… had he finally grown tired of him today?

If his feelings last night were mere sorrow, the emotion surging up right now bordered on pure despair.

For some inexplicable reason… learning that Clone #3 had left left Xie Jianwei feeling as though he had lost everything.

#4 asked him, “A-Wei, what would you like for breakfast?”

Xie Jianwei stood there desolate, unable to fathom why the man who had demanded a divorce yesterday was standing here today.

#4 said, “Would you like cherry pie? We happen to have fresh cherries.”

This was normally Xie Jianwei’s favorite, but right now it only felt like a needle to the chest. Shaking his head, he said, “No.”

#4 was somewhat surprised: “You don’t want it?”

Thinking of how sweet cherry pie tasted only made Xie Jianwei’s heart feel more bitter. In such a foul state of mind, why desecrate such wonderful food?

Exhaling softly, he looked at #4 and said, “I’m a bit tired.”

#4 paused, then gritted his teeth in fury at #3. That bastard had done this intentionally—wearing Xie Jianwei out to this degree, what was he supposed to do today? Be intimate or not? If he was intimate, he feared Xie Jianwei couldn’t handle it; if he wasn’t, he would have to wait another three days!

So infuriating, yet I still have to keep a damn smile on my face!

Xie Jianwei moved to turn back to his room.

Clone #4 said, “Even if you’re tired, you still have to eat. If you don’t want cherry pie, how about some porridge?”

Xie Jianwei thought for a moment and agreed, “Alright.”

They headed to the dining room, where an exquisite breakfast was served shortly. Looking at the dazzling array of dishes on the table, Xie Jianwei had zero appetite.

Yet one had to eat; sleep could be skipped, but meals could not.

He ate in silence, finding no flavor in the food.

He wanted to ask Lu Li, yet hesitated to speak.

The man before him was clearly Lu Li, yet an overwhelming sense of estrangement washed over him.

It was an impression he found unacceptable even to himself, as though this was no longer the Lu Li he knew… Was it because of yesterday’s divorce demand?

It shouldn’t be.

Throughout the meal, Xie Jianwei’s mind was consumed by Lu Li. Staring straight at Lu Li, yet longing for Lu Li all the same.

He didn’t know what had come over him. Perhaps splitting was fundamentally wrong; perhaps he shouldn’t have indulged #3 so recklessly.

He missed Lu Li, but not the Lu Li before him.

He missed the one from yesterday, the one who had kept him company for over a month, missed… Clone #3.

Xie Jianwei snapped awake with a jolt. How could he think like this? Wasn’t this only accelerating their conflict!

Numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4—only when integrated were they truly Lu Li.

How could he be so blatantly biased toward #3?

As if… as if only #3 was the real Lu Li.

Xie Jianwei sat in a daze for a while until #4 asked, “Eat a little more, you’ve barely touched anything.”

Snapping out of his thoughts, Xie Jianwei murmured, “Mm.”

After breakfast, they moved to the study.

Xie Jianwei flipped through documents absently, his mind entirely detached from the information before him.

Clone #4 reached out to embrace him, but Xie Jianwei actually leaned away.

Both froze.

Xie Jianwei looked somewhat uncomfortable, yet offered no explanation.

A chill crept through #4’s chest, not daring to press further.

The two remained in quiet stillness for an hour, neither taking the initiative to speak.

What finally shattered the silence was the door being kicked open.

An almost identical scene from yesterday played out once more: Clone #2, who had demanded a divorce yesterday, strode in to demand it again with the exact same lines, followed by #1, followed by…

Oh, #4 was sitting right beside him.

Once the fake #1 and fake #2 departed, #4 sat frozen in his chair, completely dumbfounded.

This is terribly awkward.

Xie Jianwei paused in surprise as well, and then comprehension clicked in an instant…

All the gloom was swept away, and even the exhaustion from a sleepless night vanished without a trace. Turning to #4, Xie Jianwei asked, “So… none of you actually want to divorce me?”

At his question, #4 understood immediately: Damn it, yesterday some bastard definitely disguised himself as me to demand a divorce.

Realizing this, #4 lost his nerve on the spot. Watching the other personalities stage divorces had been entertaining, but when it boomeranged back onto himself…

#4 said hastily, “That wasn’t me! How could I ever divorce you!”

Xie Jianwei remarked dryly, “Yesterday, aside from #3 who was present, every single one of you came.” Though each had disguised himself as another.

Figuring this out brought absolute clarity to Xie Jianwei. No one wanted to divorce him; it was merely the Lu Lis playing petty tricks on each other… This truly sounded like something Lu Li would do.

He loved him; he had no desire to leave him. That realization alone made Xie Jianwei’s lips curve upward, unable to suppress his smile.

Clone #4 was still flustered: “A-Wei, I… I…”

Unable to hold it back, Xie Jianwei laughed aloud: “Whom did you disguise yourself as?”

Wilted like a deflated balloon, #4 mumbled, “#1…”

Xie Jianwei tallied them up: “#1 disguised as #2, and #2 disguised as you?”

#4: “…” What a magnificent mess…

He had assumed Xie Jianwei would be furious, but Xie Jianwei merely let out a soft sigh, murmuring, “Thank goodness.”

Clone #4 looked up at him, somewhat bewildered.

A barely perceptible trace of redness rimmed Xie Jianwei’s eyes: “I actually took it seriously.”

Clone #4 couldn’t truly grasp the depth of his feelings, muttering dejectedly, “They were too despicable.” (And “they” included himself.)

Xie Jianwei was in splendid spirits. Just as he was about to speak, the genuine Lu Li made his timed entrance.

He had waited past the point of endurance, practically an ant on a hot pan, unable to sit or stand still. The mere thought that the replica might take advantage of Xie Jianwei filled his world with the pungent stench of aged vinegar.

Hold out… I must hold out.

Yet after holding out for an hour, Lu Li could barely maintain his composure. Why hadn’t #1 and #2 shown up to demand a divorce yet? What kind of efficiency was this!

Lu Li had been on the verge of storming in personally.

Yet he hadn’t dared. Even disguised as another self, he refused to utter the word “divorce.”

Even if saying it now would bring Xie Jianwei relief rather than sorrow, he still refused.

Divorce… it was divorce.

Two cursed words. He was terrified that saying it even once would hoist a massive, inescapable flag.

He could never say it. No matter what happened, under no circumstances would he ever speak those two words to Xie Jianwei!

If it truly came to pass, he would loathe himself to death.

Lu Li had waited and waited, his mind running rampant with jealous fantasies, souring himself from the inside out, until #1 and #2 finally made their move!

The moment they finished reciting their lines, Lu Li charged inside without a second’s delay.

Speed was of the essence. Having figured it out, Xie Jianwei would surely be as sweet as honey right now, perhaps even taking the initiative to kiss him!

How could he let that bastard #4 reap the benefits for free?

Speed was paramount in warfare; if the Lord Marshal lacked in other areas, military strategy was something he had memorized backward and forward.

Lu Li arrived at the absolute perfect moment.

Clone #4 spotted him immediately, deeply displeased: “What are you doing here?”

Lu Li sneered, “I was just about to ask what you are doing here!”

#4 said, “Today was supposed to be my turn.”

Lu Li finally dared voice it aloud: “Didn’t you say yesterday that you wanted to divorce A-Wei? Then get lost! Who do you think wants you around?”

Xie Jianwei: “…”

Lu Li hastily patched his own logic: “Originally, I figured we were all one person and wanted to give you a chance to make amends, but now I’ve changed my mind. Since you don’t want A-Wei, then scram! I want him, and I alone am more than enough!”

The patch was so crude that Xie Jianwei almost laughed.

Clone #4 panicked: “That wasn’t the case at all!”

Lu Li countered, “Seen with his own eyes, heard with his own ears—could it be fake?”

#4 defended himself, “That wasn’t me at all.”

Lu Li scoffed, “Do you dare claim you never demanded a divorce?”

Clone #4 choked on his words. He had… though disguised as #2.

Lu Li promptly seized the high ground to display his loyalty: “I would never engage in such filthy antics! Since you treat marriage like child’s play, throwing around divorce whenever you feel like it, you might as well scram right now. Who needs you?”

Clone #4 was ready to explode. What are you pretending for? If yesterday hadn’t happened to be your shift, wouldn’t you have joined in? Now you act like the only innocent saint!

While the two bickered fiercely, Xie Jianwei watched with curved, smiling eyes.

Catching sight of him out of the corner of his eye, Lu Li’s heart settled completely, knowing Xie Jianwei was fine. Reinvigorated, he seized upon #4’s missteps with ruthless verbal dominance.

Right in the middle of the racket, the door opened again, and another “#3” walked in. Having acted in two scenes already, this Lu Li had grown proficient, opening his mouth ready to demand a divorce.

Yet before he could speak, his eyes landed on #3.

Two #3s locked eyes. The genuine Lu Li sneered, “And who might you be?”

The fake #3 (the real #1) was rather flustered. What is going on? Why is #3 here? Isn’t today #4’s turn? Did that spineless #4 actually let #3 crash his shift? Where is his dignity? Eaten by dogs?!

Clone #1 grew nervous, and stealing a glance at Xie Jianwei only heightened his panic, sensing the jig was up…

Today, the study door was fated to see endless traffic: opened and closed, closed and opened, and now it swung open once more!

Yet another #3 charged inside, ready to launch into his lines without preamble…

Taking a closer look at the room full of people, the lines on the tip of his tongue were forcefully choked back down.

What was happening?

Clone #4 looked on with bitter contempt: What a bunch of absolute idiots!

Lu Li sneered, “And who might this one be?”

Clone #2, disguised as #3, couldn’t tell which was the real #3 either, but one thing was undeniably clear: their cover was blown!

Unable to hold it back any longer, Xie Jianwei burst into laughter: “Stop fooling around, all of you.”

Numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 all turned to look at him.

Eyes curving into crescents, Xie Jianwei asked, “Do you truly want a divorce?”

The real and fake Lu Lis chorused in unison: “No!”

With his lips tilted upward, Xie Jianwei said, “Then never speak those words again.” He didn’t want to hear them either; even knowing the truth, he despised hearing those words, which felt like a curse.

The moment he spoke, numbers 1 through 4 never brought it up again.

Smoothing things over, Xie Jianwei said, “Let’s have lunch together.” Having had no appetite in the morning, he had barely eaten, and now that his mood was restored, he felt ravenous.

Clone #4 was deeply disgruntled: “Today was supposed to be mine.”

Xie Jianwei looked at him in silence, simply gazing into his eyes.

Clone #4 yielded instantly: “Fine…” sounding terribly aggrieved.

Lu Li was irritated too. A grown man, acting aggrieved over what! completely forgetting that he loved playing pitiful to secure perks just as much.

The five of them shared a rare meal together, which naturally devolved into chaotic bickering.

Fighting over dishes went without saying (their tastes were identical); the real headache was that all of them piled food onto Xie Jianwei’s plate simultaneously. Even when Xie Jianwei agreed to eat everything, they still demanded a priority order.

Clone #4 felt immensely wronged: “This meal was supposed to be mine alone!” Therefore, Xie Jianwei ought to eat the food he served first.

Lu Li dropped a chilly remark: “I wonder who it was yesterday that…”

Clone #4 wilted on the spot.

Numbers 1 and 2 were in the wrong as well, possessing zero standing to speak; but if they couldn’t talk, they simply kept their mouths shut, stubbornly refusing to lower their chopsticks.

Xie Jianwei smiled throughout, but having regained his calm, his mind turned over countless thoughts.

They must integrate. Otherwise, latent hazards will remain; this matter cannot be delayed any longer.

Did the divorce farce simply blow over like that?

Too naive.

When it came to sabotaging himself, the Lord Marshal never held back, always going for the jugular.

Did they stop at demanding a divorce before Xie Jianwei? They had disguised themselves as each other and paid visits to a circle of trusted confidants to voice their grievances as well!

The core message could be summarized as: I (the impersonated #1, #2, or #4) am a scumbag. I’m going to abandon him and divorce your beloved Military Advisor, so hurry over to comfort him, hurry to pledge allegiance to him, hurry to overthrow me! And make sure to console him properly so he sees through my wretched nature!

Even the Military Advisor couldn’t tell the Lu Lis apart, let alone the confidants. Most of them belonged to the dual-loyalty faction—what did dual loyalty mean? Their reverence for the Military Advisor was in no way inferior to their loyalty to the Marshal. The Marshal dared mistreat the Military Advisor? Outrageous! They had to mobilize as the “bride’s family” to demand justice!

And so, an aggressive delegation stormed the Marshal’s Manor in full force.

Leading the charge was Admiral Loren, who had rushed back from an outer star system.

Loren desperately wanted to pry open the Marshal’s skull to see what was inside. Divorce? What kind of madness is this! The spouse you risked your life to pursue, barely married for a few years, and you want a divorce already?!

Our worldviews are completely shattered!

What happened to being a role model? What happened to never giving up? What happened to being the saint of devotion?

Has it all been ground into dog dirt by the passage of time?!

Loren was a quintessential pro-Marshal loyalist, yet even he couldn’t stomach this. Was this still the Lu Li he knew?

Many shared his outrage, with several pro-Military Advisor factions sharpening their blades, ready for regime change.

What kind of joke was this? Hadn’t the Military Advisor sacrificed enough? Retiring to the Marshal’s Manor in the prime of his life just to avoid suspicion—what was that for? Wasn’t it solely to preserve their relationship?

And now Lu Li wanted a divorce!

Did he truly believe the Military Advisor had no backing, that he could be bullied at whim?

So what if he stepped down from power? The person they revered was the Xie Jianwei who had braved life and death alongside them, granted them boundless glory, and pulled them from the jaws of death time and again!

As long as this man drew breath, they would never forget the grace of those years!

They respected the Military Advisor’s choice, but not so the Marshal could trample upon him like this!

Now things were truly in an uproar.

Looking utterly heartbroken, Loren cried, “Boss, what in the world are you…”

Clones 1, 2, and 4 fell completely silent.

This was genuinely impossible to explain. Could they shamelessly announce: Oh, don’t worry, I was just framing myself. Stay calm, how could I ever bear to divorce him?

Never mind how mortifying that would be to say; whether anyone would believe them was another matter entirely.

If only one Lu Li had approached them, they might have bought it; but three Lu Lis had approached them in sequence…

This looked like a one-hundred-percent guaranteed divorce!

Xie Jianwei stood stunned; evidently, he hadn’t anticipated the fallout would escalate to this scale.

Lu Li was thoroughly impressed with himself as well.

He had never realized he could be so ruthless toward his own person.

Leaving himself zero room for retreat.

Fortunately, resolving this was straightforward. All it took was Xie Jianwei stepping forward to say a few words, and everything would calm down.

Knowing the truth, Xie Jianwei naturally wouldn’t let the misunderstanding fester.

He stepped in to placate the agitated crowd, ultimately hosting a banquet where everyone drank and feasted into the late hours of the night before dispersing.

Clone #4 had spent the entire day feeling suffocated beyond measure.

Lu Li had been watching closely throughout. Toward the latter half, when Xie Jianwei stepped away to the restroom, Lu Li promptly fetched the puppet substitute and delivered it before #4.

Excusing himself under the pretense of having drunk too much, Lu Li moved to slip away, only to run right into Loren. Plastered out of his mind, Loren rambled incoherently: “Boss… you must never break my heart.”

Pressed for time, Lu Li had no patience for his nonsense, brushing him off: “Alright, alright, go enjoy yourself.”

“Enjoy myself?” Loren was truly drunk. “Enjoy what? What is there to enjoy?” His tone sounded profoundly desolate.

Lu Li couldn’t be bothered with him. Whenever this fellow got drunk, he insisted on pouring his heart out; having harbored an unrequited crush for so many years yet remaining a coward, Lu Li’s ears had grown calloused from listening to it.

Sure enough, Loren began rambling again: “Why haven’t I seen him? Didn’t he come? Such a major occasion, why didn’t he…”

Lu Li paused, suddenly realizing this might be an opportunity.

After all, Yan Ke was currently watching from an omniscient perspective; if Loren took this chance to confess…

Yet Admiral Loren lived up to his cowardly reputation. Muttering a phrase, he whined pitifully, “So what if he came? He wouldn’t look at me anyway, he only ever… only ever…” Looks at women… The mere thought left a bitter taste in his mouth, prompting him to down an entire flask of liquor…

This particular brew was equipped with neural safeguards, and chugging it yielded only one result.

With a heavy thud…

Admiral Loren collapsed flat on his face.

Lu Li: “…” It’s not that I didn’t help you; you’re simply too hopeless!

Worried that Xie Jianwei exiting the restroom might collide with the puppet at the banquet, which would blow their cover and cause a catastrophic scene. Lu Li ignored the drunkard, summoning an AI caretaker to look after him while he strode off immediately.

Yan Ke in his mind couldn’t help asking, “The Admiral has someone he likes?”

Lu Li: “…”

Yan Ke clicked his tongue, “Having someone he loves yet still playing the field, quite impressive.”

Lu Li: I can only light a silent candle for you, pitiful coward Loren.

In reality, Loren sneezed, wondering why he felt a sudden chill. Was he catching a cold? Would Doctor Yan treat him for a minor cold? Well, probably not; his household medical AI was already scanning him… How depressing.

Lu Li intercepted Xie Jianwei right on time, having naturally changed into #4’s clothing beforehand.

Yet Xie Jianwei recognized him at a single glance.

Lu Li had to apologize on #4’s behalf: “Yesterday was my fault.”

Xie Jianwei shook his head, “It’s fine.”

Seizing the opening, Lu Li drew him into his arms, pressing a kiss to his soft hair: “I was too much of a bastard.”

Xie Jianwei smiled, “A little bit.”

Lowering his head to look into his eyes, Lu Li said with solemn earnestness, word by word, “Regardless of the reason, I should never have spoken those words to you.”

Xie Jianwei’s heart thumped, his voice feigning lightness: “It was just a joke.”

“Even as a joke, it was wrong.”

Xie Jianwei stared at him in a daze.

Lu Li murmured, “It will never happen. No matter what occurs, even offhandedly, I will never speak them.”

You truly never said them… Sweetness flooded Xie Jianwei’s heart. The #3 before him had indeed never spoken them; he hadn’t impersonated the other personalities, and even now, he dared not utter those words.

It seemed almost comical, yet Xie Jianwei understood his feelings all too well.

Divorce… just contemplating it made one’s scalp tingle. He truly dared not utter those two words to Lu Li in any form either.

Lu Li spoke, articulating the exact thoughts residing in Xie Jianwei’s heart: “You have no idea how happy I was when I married you. If I ever lost that joy and bliss, I wouldn’t know the purpose of my existence.”

“Me too,” Xie Jianwei couldn’t resist murmuring.

Lu Li smiled, his voice tender: “I know.”

He leaned down and sealed his lips, and Xie Jianwei responded with passionate warmth, the two seemingly melting into one beneath the pale moonlight.

In truth, Xie Jianwei had been reflecting deeply, and today’s events brought him a sudden revelation.

Had everything he had done all along truly been right?

Relinquishing power… was that genuinely what was best for Lu Li?

Not necessarily. He had whole-heartedly stepped down from authority, staying out of politics and military affairs, but what was the point? As long as he was still here, power would never truly vanish simply because he laid it down.

Rather, it looked like a transparent attempt to cover up reality.