Several days later, Sun Fangzhi came to report that he had led people to catch up with the female Celestial Master’s group who were fleeing to the Celestial Master sect’s main altar in Wu Prefecture. When the other party fled to the riverside and saw no escape route, the sister and brother pair actually jumped into the water.

That Shao Fengzhi was already injured at the time, and the female Celestial Master was just a woman. The river was flooded with high tides, so he led people to search downstream for a long time. Though no floating corpses were found, they probably drowned and were swept out to sea by the tide, so he returned to report.

The shocking incident on Lantern Festival night also spread throughout Jingkou town.

Fortunately, after the fire ignited that night, the Jingkou Prefect and others arrived promptly and fought the blaze with all their might. No lives were lost – only over ten people trapped in the temple were injured, but after treatment, all were fine and were slowly recovering.

News spread like wildfire that the Celestial Master sect followers, dissatisfied with their previous expulsion, had deliberately set fire on Lantern Festival night and attempted to murder the Li couple.

The Celestial Master sect became completely like rats crossing the street in Jingkou – everyone shouted to beat them, and from then on, they could no longer find any foothold there.

Not only that, learning from this lesson, under Jiang Tao’s organization, the townspeople spontaneously formed militia groups. They patrolled in shifts daily without break, checking unfamiliar faces and maintaining local security to ensure no similar incidents would occur again.

In the first few days after the incident, Luoshen remained shaken, staying indoors even during broad daylight and not stepping out once.

Li Mu was even more patient in accompanying her. At night when sleeping, he would always hold her protectively in his arms. Short of personally carrying her to the toilet, his care was meticulous in every detail.

After several days like this, Luoshen’s tense emotions finally gradually settled.

Though she still couldn’t imagine how she had dared to grab that severed hand gripping a sword and personally kill someone, the enormous shadow that night had left on her was slowly dissipating with Li Mu’s companionship as time passed.

She told herself that Li Mu must have gone through the same process.

Though he hadn’t mentioned a word about it in front of her, and she hadn’t asked, she imagined that what he had experienced must have been far more brutal and terrifying than that night.

Since he had grown accustomed to it, she could only learn to gradually accept it too.

But thinking about it still made her feel very nauseated. She couldn’t even eat meat anymore and had been eating vegetarian meals for many days.

Life thus gradually returned to its original rhythm.

In the blink of an eye, Lantern Festival had passed and the end of the month was approaching.

This day was the birthday celebration for the Jingkou Prefect’s elderly mother.

The Prefect’s wife had personally delivered invitations early on, earnestly hoping Luoshen and Lu Shi would attend the banquet.

Though the Jingkou Prefect’s official rank was modest, he had always maintained good relations with Li Mu and cooperated fully with everything, so this courtesy had to be shown. That day, after Luoshen finished dressing up, she and A’Ting helped support Lu Shi into the carriage and were escorted by Li Mu to the Prefect’s residence.

The host family held lavish banquets that day – extremely lively.

The banquets were separated by gender. Luoshen and Lu Shi naturally sat in positions of honor at the women’s table.

During the feast, she saw Third Miss Xie, whom she hadn’t seen for some time.

Third Miss Xie looked somewhat thinner but was in very good spirits. Her tavern was supplying wine and food for today’s birthday banquet and she was very busy, but still made time to pay respects to Lu Shi and chat briefly with Luoshen, calling her “sister-in-law.”

After Third Miss Xie left, Shen Shi quietly told Luoshen that Sun Fangzhi had been interested in Third Miss Xie all along. Recently, he had again asked her to sound out Third Miss’s feelings. When she went over, judging by Third Miss Xie’s tone, she didn’t seem to refuse outright as she had before.

Perhaps the two of them might actually work out in the future.

Shen Shi was smiling as she said this.

After hearing it, Luoshen’s mood inexplicably improved somewhat.

But then thinking about it, since after Lantern Festival, apart from those first few nights when Li Mu had held her while sleeping, recently the two of them seemed to have returned to how they were initially.

Though he slept extremely alertly – every time she turned over or coughed, he would immediately wake up to check if she had kicked off her covers, or bring her tea and water with all manner of care.

But that was all!

Even during those nights when he held her while sleeping, he only held her – nothing else happened at all!

When they left Jiankang earlier, A’Niang had instructed her to consummate their marriage with him early.

It was almost the end of the month now. Before long, Li Mu would probably be away from home again.

These past few days, even A’Ju seemed unable to contain herself, asking indirectly several times about that kind of thing between her and Li Mu.

This made her both ashamed and annoyed – it was simply unspeakable.

Her confidence in herself plummeted even further.

Looking at his attitude, did he expect her, Gao Luoshen, to throw herself at him and actively request he perform marital duties with her?

That was absolutely impossible. She’d rather die!

Carrying this frustration that she couldn’t tell anyone about, and with many people coming to toast her, after casually eating a few bites, she became somewhat overcome by the wine. The Prefect’s wife personally brought her to a back room to rest.

Luoshen rested briefly. As the wine’s effects wore off somewhat, thinking that Lu Shi and the others were still in front and it wouldn’t be good to stay away, she tidied her appearance and returned to the banquet with her maidservant.

When passing through the corridor, sounds of clinking cups and noisy chatter came from the men’s side. Luoshen quickened her pace and was about to walk past when she suddenly heard a voice from that direction – it sounded like Sun Fangzhi, but his tongue was thick, apparently already somewhat drunk.

She heard him boasting: “…You haven’t seen it – the women of Shu all have delicate fair skin, and are naturally passionate. After we won the battle in Ba Prefecture, when we brothers entered the city, countless women lined the roads to welcome us, each wishing she could pounce on us and devour us alive! The Ba women admired our brothers’ might – they’d rather not take money than have a good time with us! A local chieftain even sent a woman to Commander Li, claiming she was unparalleled in beauty and skill, especially at drum dancing. Locally, she was a beauty everyone wanted to get close to! It’s said that beauty admired the general’s reputation and begged the chieftain herself to get this opportunity. How could our great Commander Li, such a hero, lack beautiful women drumming and cheering after victory…”

He chuckled lewdly.

Envious sighs arose all around.

Someone else called out: “Brother Fangzhi, you speak so knowledgeably – why don’t you talk about yourself? Did you also make connections there?”

So everyone started teasing.

“I wouldn’t dare!”

Sun Fangzhi’s voice came through, full of pride.

“I’m waiting to marry a wife. If people knew I left romantic entanglements outside, who would dare marry me in the future?”

A burst of laughter followed, then booing sounds arose.

The little remaining intoxication from the wine just consumed now all transformed into anger, bubbling up endlessly from the bottom of her heart.

Luoshen walked through the corridor with her head held high and swept away.

…

That night, Li Mu returned home.

Recently, whenever he had no business, he returned quite early. Today wasn’t late either. Entering, he saw Luoshen already lying in bed with her back turned inward, apparently asleep.

When he came in, she didn’t move at all, seeming to have fallen asleep.

This was different from recently when she would always wait for him to return before they lay down together.

Thinking she was tired from attending the banquet today, he didn’t think much of it. He lightened his footsteps, tidied up in the bathhouse, came out, and lay down beside her on the bed.

After closing his eyes briefly, he slowly opened them and let his gaze fall on the slender figure of the girl beside him, gradually becoming lost in thought.

That night, facing the inhuman Celestial Master sect assassins, though she had been badly frightened, what he never expected was that when the Celestial Master disciple behind him got up to attack him, the person who protected him was actually her.

She thrust a sword into the Celestial Master disciple’s heart, the blade piercing through to his chest. Then she stood there motionless, face pale, eyes closed, tightly gripping that severed hand holding the sword. Even now when he thought of that scene, he still felt shaken.

Initially, the Gao family daughter in his memory was a kind, beautiful little girl.

Later, when she appeared before him again, her gentleness and understanding had so deeply moved him.

That night, even though it was because of her that his lifelong ambitions were buried and he would harbor resentment unto the underworld, she still made him unable to forget her.

And now, the her before his eyes was still just an innocent girl who knew nothing of the world.

He knew her innocence, her willfulness, her unreasonable loveliness – all her qualities could inadvertently evoke his tenderness toward her, making him completely unable to remember the cup of poisoned wine she had personally given him in his previous life. He only told himself that she too was a pitiful person used by others, and wanted to do everything he could to protect her in this life, keeping her free from worry and fear.

But he had never known that within her body, at such a critical moment, such courage could burst forth.

Heartache, guilt, self-reproach, and the amazement she brought him.

These days, Li Mu was always surrounded by such emotions.

What was even more troubling was that he found his possessive desire for her seemed to grow stronger day by day.

But she toward him seemed to still have only complete trust. When he held her, she would always fall asleep quickly and sleep so sweetly…

As he was staring at her back, he suddenly saw her lift her foot in her sleep, seeming to feel hot, and kicked off the covers with one foot, immediately exposing half a leg.

A section of snow-white jade leg pressed on top of the covers.

Li Mu dared not look closely. He sat up and gently held her foot, putting it back under the covers.

After a moment, she kicked again and threw off the covers once more.

Li Mu helped her cover up a second time.

Unexpectedly, a third time, she kicked off the covers again.

Li Mu finally sensed something was wrong. He moved closer to look at her and saw that though her eyes were closed, her lashes were trembling slightly. Knowing she was already awake, he again helped her cover up while saying: “What’s wrong? Sleep properly, don’t kick off the covers randomly.”

Luoshen suddenly opened her eyes, sat up, and said coldly: “Who asked you to cover me? Get down and sleep in your old place!”

Li Mu was stunned: “A’Mi, what’s wrong with you?”

“Don’t you dare call me A’Mi!”

Luoshen frowned tightly and pointed at the couch: “Get down!”

Li Mu smiled and reached out to her: “What are you angry about? Come here and tell me.”

Seeing him seemingly about to pull her over, Luoshen’s heart flared with anger. She slapped his hand away with a smack, scrambled up from the bed, got down, walked to the chest storing bedding, opened it, pulled out bedding and threw it onto the couch.

“Are you going to sleep or not? If you won’t sleep, I’ll give you the bed – I’ll sleep here!” She made as if to climb up.

“Fine, fine, I’ll sleep, I’ll go sleep—”

Li Mu smiled bitterly, shook his head, got down from the bed and walked toward the couch.

Luoshen climbed back onto the bed with a cold expression, lowered the bed curtains, and covered herself completely.

Li Mu turned to look at her vague figure lying down in the curtains, hesitated, and said: “A’Mi, what exactly happened?”

Luoshen closed her eyes and ignored him.

After a moment, she heard rustling sounds – he seemed to have actually lain down on the couch.

The room became quiet, but her heart gradually felt incredibly empty. Unable to help it, her heart ached and she wanted to cry again.

She turned over and lay face down on the bed, burying her face in the pillow.

After a while, she heard footsteps outside the curtains, followed by the soft tinkling of curtain hooks vibrating. The curtain door opened, and a palm gently stroked the beautiful hair scattered messily across her back.

“A’Mi…”

Accompanied by his gentle call, Luoshen was completely lifted up like a child by Li Mu.

He also smoothly lay back down facing her.

Luoshen closed her eyes and struggled desperately, but was held tightly by him – how could she break free?

Suddenly, she felt her knee seem to bump into something rather hard. Hearing him make a pained hissing sound, she was startled and quickly opened her eyes. She saw his brows furrowed, his eyes dark as he stared at her. Not knowing what was happening, she paused, then began struggling again.

With spring’s lingering chill, Li Mu was driven by Luoshen in his arms to gradually break out in sweat on his forehead. Unable to bear it anymore, he rolled over and pinned her beneath him.

To prevent her legs from kicking and hitting him again, he used his knee to firmly hold down both her legs, then said through gritted teeth: “What is wrong with you tonight? Making trouble with me as soon as I return?”

Luoshen stared at him for a moment, then couldn’t hold back anymore and angrily said: “The Ba Prefecture beauties’ drum dancing was very good, wasn’t it? Go find them then – why bother with me?”

As she shouted, grievance welled up in her heart, her eyes reddened, and tears were about to fall.