Feng Man Lou’s business has been absolutely booming lately.

Packed to capacity every day, with crowds flowing like a tide.

As the little shopkeeper puts it: “Our establishment comes with fierce momentum, digging out all the rice from your competitor’s bucket.”

In just over a month, due to popular demand from the people, they’ve opened another branch in the southern part of the city.

Speaking of good business, there are also the boss’s unique reasons—who has ever seen a five-year-old shopkeeper? Who has ever seen such a shrewd five-year-old shopkeeper? Who has ever seen such a shrewd and shameless five-year-old shopkeeper?

On the second day of opening, he implemented limited sales for the most popular fragrant porridge and side dishes, selling only three hundred portions daily with absolutely no exceptions, and only one type of side dish per day—you want pickled long beans? Sorry, today we only have fermented bean curd sauce. Perhaps you could come back tomorrow? However, the master chef who is acclaimed as the capital’s finest culinary expert just took a portion of today’s fermented bean curd sauce… Today’s porridge is also a new variety… Are you certain you don’t need to try it?… Really don’t need it?… Ah, please, one seat in the upstairs elegant section—

The Cantonese dim sum from Qin Chang Ge’s modern world was also copied by shopkeeper Baozi, who learned by example. The people of the capital, who were accustomed to drinking tea, gnawing flatbread, and eating porridge in the morning, had just gotten used to the feeling of pickled vegetables when they suddenly saw a small child whose clothes were so clean they seemed freshly washed at all times, pushing a gleaming silver-inlaid cart strolling by. The cart held dozens of exquisite small bamboo steamers, and curious people would lift the lids to look—emerald crystal jade dumplings, pink translucent shrimp dumplings, red aromatic phoenix claws, golden sweet crispy taro rolls—the eye-catching colors and the enticing hot, steaming food aromas had unimaginable temptation for empty stomachs in the early morning, so the morning tea continued to sell tremendously.

Baozi’s mattress has recently been stuffed full of banknotes. The wonderful feeling of a banknote mattress has dramatically improved his sleep quality. Every night, Baozi listens to the rustling sound of banknotes beneath his body with excitement comparable to a lecher hearing a beauty moaning beneath him.

“Think of a money-making scheme each day, sleep on banknotes tomorrow night, how refreshing…” Every night Baozi performs his bedtime confession with a beaming smile, constantly simulating the feeling of being wealthy. When Youtiao’er washes his feet, she can see him spreading his arms in intoxication, making gestures as if embracing financial fortune.

Baozi no longer sleeps in anymore. Every day he rises at the crack of dawn, inspects both branch stores, returns to the palace in the afternoon to study and practice martial arts, and after spending evenings with his godfather reviewing intelligence from all walks of life collected by the two stores staffed by Huang Meng’s specially trained subordinates acting as servers, he goes to bed early.

He returns from the stores in high spirits every day, and today he seems particularly elated, ready to take flight.

Before even stepping into the room, his voice can be heard from afar: “Godfather!”

Chu Feihuan, who was carefully examining various intelligence reports sent from Huang Meng’s original commercial establishments and Feng Man Lou at his desk, gently looked up and smiled at the small figure bathed in bright sunshine, breezing in like the wind.

“What bargain did you strike again? Why are you so happy?” Chu Feihuan casually picked up a handkerchief from the desk and carefully wiped the rice grains that had somehow stuck to Baozi’s face. Baozi had already habitually occupied his usual spot—godfather’s knee—and smugly hugged his waist, shaking his beautiful big head. “Today I viciously fleeced a sucker once.” He even made a chopping gesture with his palm.

“Who was lucky enough to be fleeced by you?” Having spent so much time with this mother-son pair who speak like thunder, Chu Feihuan had somewhat learned their colloquialisms and would occasionally say a sentence or two when talking to Baozi. “I imagine it was someone familiar?”

“Godfather, you’re almost as smart as me,” Baozi praised in his characteristic style, grinning. “Guess?”

“That unlucky father of yours.” But it wasn’t Chu Feihuan who answered. The door curtain lifted and Qin Chang Ge strolled in, first handing the medicine she was carrying to Chu Feihuan, smiling. “Qin Chang Ge’s newly made Feng Man Lou exclusive delicacy, function: prolonging life and dispelling illness and disaster, honored customer please enjoy.”

She looked somewhat tired, but her gaze remained bright as pearls and jade, like a clear spring flowing gently through green mountain trees, slowly and omnipresently settling on Chu Feihuan’s countenance. Only that gaze held faint smiling intent, yet carried some reproachful meaning.

With a gentle smile, accepting the medicine bowl, Chu Feihuan seemed to hesitate for a moment facing the dark medicinal liquid, but ultimately drank it all without leaving a drop.

While he drank the medicine, Qin Chang Ge looked at Baozi and smiled. “How did you fleece him? Tell us about it.”

“You actually don’t know something,” Baozi said proudly. “He brought several people to the restaurant for lunch today. I still had the servers attend to them, but he said he wanted to see me. The server said personal service from the boss requires an additional fee, so we collected one gold ingot. Then he wanted to eat the restaurant’s most distinctive pickled vegetables. I said the restaurant doesn’t take orders, but if you want to order dishes, you must pay an ordering fee—another gold ingot. Then I said to match his noble status, we could arrange for someone to personally serve and explain each dish. Mm… this glorious task would be personally undertaken by the noble boss, me… This time he pulled out a dragon-head banknote…”

Baozi gnawed on his finger, his dark eyes gleaming brightly, savoring the moment and waiting for his mother to praise his shameless cunning.

“You’re wrong,” Qin Chang Ge said with a serious expression, patting the stunned Baozi. “Your money-making method is both tiring and stupid. I’ll teach you a labor-saving trick that will definitely work on your father. Didn’t he bring people with him? Don’t be stingy—serve dishes, serve frantically, serve the most expensive ones. After serving, don’t charge money.”

“Huh?” Baozi was bewildered.

Qin Chang Ge said seriously: “He’ll definitely ask why. You say you’re saving him money—it’s not easy, look at your subordinates, they look malnourished, so pitiful. They’re hungry, right? Following you around with nothing to eat, right? Consider this my charity!”

“I understand!” Baozi slapped his head. “A dignified emperor having his officials’ meal treated as charity—where does his face go? If he doesn’t immediately throw down a super large denomination banknote to prove he doesn’t need sympathy, I’ll change my surname from Xiao!”

“A teachable child!” Qin Chang Ge praised. “Speaking of which, I haven’t yet collected from that guy for the cost of your surname change…”

With a gentle smile, Chu Feihuan finished the medicine and interjected: “You two are more suited to be merchants. It’s really a waste for you to be crown prince.”

He set down the bowl. Baozi had already obediently climbed down from his knee, handed him a handkerchief, and took the bowl outside. Chu Feihuan dabbed the corners of his lips with the handkerchief and looked up at Qin Chang Ge, who was leaning against the desk watching him with a seemingly smiling expression, saying lightly: “Chang Ge, I promised I would honestly take my medicine. You don’t need to personally brew the medicine and watch me drink it. You’re already busy enough.”

Settling into a seat across from Chu Feihuan, Qin Chang Ge smiled brightly. “Feihuan, you are so intelligent that I surely don’t need to explain some things too thoroughly. Now I only hope you won’t give up, believe in yourself and believe in me.”

Lowering his gaze, his smile vanishing like morning dew, Chu Feihuan said: “I only know that those who don’t believe you are fools.”

He seemed slightly absent-minded, turning to look at the paulownia flowers outside the window. Those flowers were pale purple and pink-white, with rich and lustrous colors. Wave after wave of rich fragrance drifted through the window. In this prosperous age, everyone was jubilant, and even the flowers bloomed with such bold and passionate fragrance.

He remembered that his mother concubine loved paulownia flowers most, preferring them over those wealthy and elegant peonies. In her palace grew a paulownia tree that bloomed magnificently in June. Before long, fallen flowers would carpet the ground like a pale purple carpet. His mother concubine would lazily lie upon it and play the jade reed pipe. The music, like clear springs splashing jade, would pierce through the crystal-clear long sky, brightening the moonlight and awakening the starlight.

At that time, he would lie on the palace steps, quietly listening until he fell asleep.

He could sleep peacefully because the next day he would wake in his mother concubine’s embrace. She would pinch his nose with her snow-white fingers, smiling and asking: “Little lazy pig, why did you end up in my bed again?”

He would forever remember her smile—like a tree blooming with the most brilliant flowers, fragrant and sweet, never sad.

Even when she was lonely, homesick, and unaccepted by others, that sweet smile never withered.

Mother concubine… was the most beautiful consort in the Li Kingdom’s harem, and also the most special.

That woman without schemes, who didn’t understand worldly matters, who at nearly thirty and having lived deep in the palace for so long, miraculously maintained the innocent and pure heart of a child. In the ghostly depths of the palace, she was surprisingly clean as snow silk and pure as a young child. Ten years in the imperial court, yet she never learned to compete for favor.

Compared to those women who, upon entering the palace, were forced by harsh reality to develop cunning and deceit, she persisted in her youthful innocence, unchanged by reality and time.

However, it was precisely such a woman who lived peacefully without competing with the world who, on father’s fiftieth birthday, was violated by his drunken second brother who burst into her chambers while she was bathing.

This woman, gentle yet proud, could not tolerate her purity being defiled, and chose to end her own life.

That night the starlight was magnificently beautiful. Under that brilliant starlight, the pure woman breathed her last breath in his arms.

Before parting, she said to him: “Life is but a scene of right and wrong joy…”

From then on, he changed his name to Chu Feihuan, abandoning his original name, Chu Zhaosheng, with disgust.

Zhaosheng, Zhaosheng—two suns shining together, radiance for thousands of miles. But this world is so dark and ugly, where is there light?

That night he burst into his second brother’s chambers, killed dozens of palace servants, his long sword dripping blood all the way, winding like a ferocious red dragon.

His second brother cowered in the corner of the bed, tears and snot flowing as he begged for mercy. He just coldly looked at him, coldly inserting his sword into his brother’s lower body.

Amid the heart-rending screams, he said: “Why must you be a man? I really don’t like that you and I are both men.”

After castrating that beast, he sat down calmly to wait. He thought he would be imprisoned, severely punished, after all his mother concubine was just a lonely girl from the southern borderlands of Li Kingdom, while his second brother’s mother concubine was the Grand Marshal’s eldest daughter.

But that night, under the siege of the Imperial Guards, his father exiled him from the palace.

Under the illumination of torches, thousands remained silent as birds and cicadas. He sheathed his sword and departed under the gaze of the multitude. Before stepping out of the palace gates, he couldn’t help but look back one last time, seeing his father’s back that had suddenly become hunched overnight.

At that moment he finally knew that his father had loved his mother concubine.

He didn’t favor her, only because he feared that this simple concubine, if she received favor but couldn’t protect herself, would be killed by the other consorts.

But what good were ten thousand loves kept hidden in the heart? With the beloved already gone, she would never know.

On that dark, endless road before the palace gates that night, he walked step by step. He said to himself: From now on, I want to love someone, love her wholeheartedly, protect her, let her know I love her, but never force her to accept or be grateful.

Love is fulfillment, not imprisonment and plunder.

Then, he met Chang Ge.

He fell in love at first sight but never thought of taking her from Xiao Jue’s side.

Let her choose for herself…

Clear light like blue water swayed in Chu Feihuan’s eyes.

Today the paulownia flowers bloom so brilliantly… Perhaps they’re celebrating mother concubine’s birthday?

“Feihuan,” Qin Chang Ge suddenly crouched down, looking up and leaning close, carefully examining his eyes. “What are you thinking about?”

Caught off guard by the interruption of his thoughts, Chu Feihuan couldn’t help but startle, instinctively lowering his head.

He lowered his head.

An unconscious kiss fell precisely upon the pristine forehead that rose to meet it.

Like butterfly wings settling on flower petals, or a breeze brushing across calm water, or perhaps a cloud casting its reflection on the crystal waves.

Beneath the calm surface hid turbulent emotions known only to himself.

Chu Feihuan closed his eyes.

Perhaps it was because the paulownia flowers bloomed too beautifully today, perhaps because thinking of his mother concubine brought too much melancholy, perhaps because he feared this moment wouldn’t wait, perhaps because he suddenly felt weary.

He suddenly thought to indulge himself for a moment.

Just for that moment.

Through all these years of trials and tribulations, through all those years of constant companionship, the closest distance they had ever achieved was this very moment.

Could he be allowed to treasure it a little more?

He let his lips, almost imperceptibly, linger just that tiny bit longer.

Not immediately pulling away.

The afternoon sunlight was serene, illuminating the room spacious and bright. A ray of clear light slowly unfurled like a painting scroll. In the scroll sat a beautiful man with lowered head, bending toward a clear-spirited woman kneeling and looking up. His lips gently fell upon her forehead, his hair flowed like water over her shoulder. He closed his eyes, and in this moment of intoxication hid a faint deep tranquil blue, blue as the unchangeable vicissitudes beneath fate’s background.

The long wind came rushing from the distant horizon, slowing its pace here. All things in heaven and earth held their breath and stopped for a certain slightly bitter hope. Flowers slowly bloomed with reserved and dignified postures. Such tranquility.

After a moment, he gently moved away.

The so-called prolonged indulgence was merely an indescribable delay within his heart.

He had always been a man of restraint and self-reflection.

That lightning-flash moment passed in an instant.

Already self-consciously extravagant.

But from now on, whose heart bears an invisible mark?

Wind rolled the light curtain. Before the curtain, the blue-robed man gently lowered his head, smiled at Qin Chang Ge who was staring at him in a daze, casually picked up the intelligence reports from the desk, and said lightly: “There have been unusual movements in the capital recently. I suspect various countries have all sent agents to the capital. Among them, Li Kingdom’s Flying Shark Guards were dealt with by you, you extracted what you wanted from them, then threw them to Pingzhou’s coastal harbor, forcing them to return home. Of the two groups from Nanmin, one is temporarily too busy to cause trouble, the other has also gone silent recently. Northern Wei is experiencing internal political upheaval and won’t act for now. What I’m worried about now is Bai Yuan. I’ve never been able to figure out what his arrangement of hidden agents would look like.”

“I’ve never met Bai Yuan,” Qin Chang Ge said slowly, “but this person is definitely not easy to deal with. I’ve collected all available information about him and discovered he truly has mysterious origins. Moreover, before becoming Eastern Yan’s national advisor, he was extremely patient—so his forces are definitely present in the capital, and they must be long-term sleeper agents.”

“I suspect someone,” Chu Feihuan raised his face, his beautiful features clearly outlined and lovely in the sunlight. “Wait a few more days, and we’ll have results.”

“Good,” Qin Chang Ge didn’t ask further, saying: “I still need to go to the government office to handle some matters. Don’t overwork yourself, rest more.”

Just as she was about to turn around, a big head poked through the doorway, saying sneakily: “I have some news, selling cheap, who wants it?”

“I do,” Qin Chang Ge said lazily. “One copper coin. If you don’t sell it, I’ll confiscate Feng Man Lou.”

Pouting, Baozi said helplessly: “Wang Laosan, the poorest man who lived under the stone bridge in the west city, suddenly became wealthy and moved to the north city, buying a small courtyard.”

This seemingly random statement—he originally thought mother and godfather would find it boring and wouldn’t want to listen, so he wouldn’t be blamed for not reporting things in future. Unexpectedly, both turned their heads and asked: “Where did the money come from? Who gave it?”

Rolling his eyes, Baozi suddenly felt it wasn’t fun living with people who were too smart. “Don’t know. Wang Laosan has been missing recently. Today someone eating at the restaurant mentioned it, suspecting the money came from improper sources. He said with Wang Laosan’s scarred face and triangular eyes, how could he deserve to get rich?”

After listening thoughtfully, Qin Chang Ge patted her son’s big head as a reward, nodded to Chu Feihuan, and went straight out.

She was going to see Xiao Jue.

According to Xiliang law, only officials of fourth rank and above could be summoned by the emperor. Qin Chang Ge wasn’t yet qualified, so Xiao Jue had to arrange to meet her outside the palace.

It had been several days since the Li Li case, and Xiao Jue hadn’t contacted her. Qin Chang Ge knew perfectly well that this man had developed some reservations. She was too lazy to explain and let him think quietly by himself.

This time Xiao Jue arranged to meet at Shang Mountain. June’s Shang Mountain was cool and shady with lush greenery and fragrant blooming flowers. Flying birds occasionally chirped past, stirring the pine waves, creating a different kind of tranquility in these quiet mountain forests.

Following a winding clear spring upstream, the water tinkled like pearls falling on a jade plate. At the source of the water flow, halfway up the mountain, stood a pavilion named: Fufeng.

Riding the wind, soaring thousands of miles on great wings—such a grand name perfectly matched the surging waters below the pavilion that crashed against the shore, creating an extraordinary atmosphere that reminded Qin Chang Ge of her nighttime visit to Shang Mountain last year, when atop the peak Su Xuan slowly poured Eternal Spring into the Xia River as an offering to Mo. That day his robes were white as snow, his expression sorrowful, his floating ethereal bearing seeming as if he too would ride the wind away.

Thinking of Su Xuan, Qin Chang Ge couldn’t help but sigh again.

Since returning to the capital, this man had been elusive like a dragon showing its head but not its tail, truly strange…

Before her sigh was complete, someone in the pavilion said: “You walk quickly. Your martial arts have indeed improved.”

Qin Chang Ge looked up to see His Majesty the Emperor backlit, wearing light black brocade with silver dragons embroidered dancing on his sleeves, coordinating perfectly with the silver dragon-carved wine cup in his palm, raising the cup toward her in an inviting gesture.

Sunlight delicately outlined a brilliant golden rim around him, making him appear radiant as a god.

Qin Chang Ge’s eyes swept the surroundings and she smiled. It seemed Xiao Jue had learned from the lesson of their previous outing alone when they nearly lost their lives, and had honestly brought quite a few personal guards.

Sitting across from Xiao Jue, he silently poured wine for her personally, and she silently drank it.

The wind carried the fresh scent of pine needles and surrounding flowers, but none compared to the rich wine fragrance. The two seemed to have fallen in love with this wine, stubbornly competing with it, cup after cup, and in the blink of an eye, half the wine jar was gone.

Xiao Jue had always had a good tolerance for alcohol, and Qin Chang Ge was someone who became more clear-headed the more she drank. Both stared intensely at each other, only drinking without speaking.

Finally, Xiao Jue couldn’t bear it and said helplessly: “Chang Ge, Li Han hasn’t attended court for several days.”

Qin Chang Ge made a faint “mm” sound.

“He looks much older,” Xiao Jue stared at Qin Chang Ge. “Chang Ge, don’t misunderstand that I blame you for Li Li’s matter. He had to be killed, but can you tell me how you made Li Li confess?”

How did she make him confess? Qin Chang Ge stared at the wine cup in her palm, revealing a faint smile.

Nothing more than those conspiracies and schemes. With your bright nature, why must you know those dark and shameful things?

Fine… if you insist on knowing, so be it.

“I bought off a highly trusted household steward of the Li family,” Qin Chang Ge said slowly. “He brought a woman I had arranged, one skilled in seductive arts, to the Ministry of Justice prison. That woman used her charms to bewitch Li Li completely. During their passionate encounter when he was intoxicated with lust, the woman told Li Li that the Duke was indignant at the emperor’s coldness and wanted to raise troops for independence. The Duke had already sent people to infiltrate Youzhou, everything was ready except for the final step. The only difficulty was that the young master was now detained in prison, and the other side was biting down hard, unable to release him as innocent. If he continued to refuse confession and remain imprisoned, once the Duke raised his rebellion, Li young master would definitely be beheaded by the emperor. The Duke’s meaning was for him to quickly confess. He had already bribed all parties, and in the end he would be sentenced to exile to Yanzhou. To reach Yanzhou, one must pass through Youzhou. At that time, they would arrange for people disguised as mountain bandits to kill the escorting officers and soldiers, rescue him, and immediately start the rebellion in Youzhou. When the Duke seized this realm from that boy Xiao Jue, Li young master would be our dynasty’s crown prince…”

She smiled mockingly, imitating that woman’s tone: “…This servant congratulates Your Highness the Crown Prince in advance. When Your Highness ascends to the great throne in future, please don’t forget this servant…”

Turning to look at Xiao Jue, Qin Chang Ge smiled slightly. “Tell me, how could Li Li not be moved by such beautiful words? He was overjoyed at the time, wanting to laugh aloud. His mind, already lost to seductive and mind-control techniques, was easily overwhelmed by the crown prince’s beautiful dream. How could he bear not to believe her words? So when he gave testimony in court, he was impatient and eager. I think when he pressed his seal, he must have imagined he was using the imperial seal, that the yellow silk wrapping the long shackles had become golden dragon robes. I heard that when he confessed, he was almost laughing with happiness.”

With a slight sigh, Qin Chang Ge said: “In any case, he was happy before his death. Perhaps you think it was tragic and laughable that when his brush touched paper and ink fell, he sealed his own fate, but at that moment, he was very happy.”

After a long daze, Xiao Jue suddenly drained his wine cup and murmured: “Good, good. To kill and harm people while making the victim happily go to their death—I… admire you.”

As if not hearing his tone, Qin Chang Ge also raised her hand and finished the wine in her cup.

“Then what about Li Han?” After a long silence, Xiao Jue asked about the doubt that had been weighing on his mind.

“The moment Li Li appeared in court, he had already been restrained by the expert I sent, his acupoints sealed, unable to move.”

The shocking origin of the tragic drama was stated lightly by its orchestrator, immediately scattered by the mountain wind.

But some impacts and gloom that had crashed into his heart were difficult to dispel for a while.

Xiao Jue stared blankly at the drifting clouds hanging on the mountain peak, unable to speak for a long time. He knew he should be grateful to Chang Ge, grateful that she had cleanly resolved the difficult problem with thunderous force and ice-cold efficiency, powerfully deterring all parties, winning popular support, killing those who deserved death, and upholding the justice of the law—it could be called a rare beautiful accomplishment. But somehow, he suddenly felt his heart grow cold, bone-deep cold.

He had heard about everything that happened at the time—Li Li being tricked into confessing, the shock and surging emotions when Li Li was killed, his corpse being trampled by thousands until only white bones remained… All this falling before an old father’s eyes, yet he could only watch helplessly, unable even to close his eyes to escape the sight of his own son being torn apart by ten thousand people—how cruel.

So cruel it nearly exceeded the limits of what he could accept.

Li Han was his savior. Years ago, when he was framed and made a wrong military pledge, and in the final battle as time was running out, he had no choice but to lead death warriors to storm the camp. He was struck by a hidden arrow, and it was Li Han who risked the arrow rain to desperately rescue him, carrying him from the battlefield. By the time they returned to camp, Li Han, exhausted and struck by three arrows, collapsed headfirst. Even as he fell, he didn’t forget to push Xiao Jue aside first, afraid of aggravating his arrow wound.

These were all things his subordinates told him after he awoke. From that day on, he swore to himself: if I achieve wealth and honor, I will never be ungrateful—absolutely not be a cold and ungrateful ruler!

Now, he had killed Li Han’s only son and made him watch helplessly, unable to escape his beloved son’s horrifically brutal death.

Even if Li Li was wrong, he had never planned to spare Li Li, but no matter how many wrongs, death was already the greatest punishment.

Killing Li Han’s only heir, while he felt no regret, he already felt uneasy.

He had never thought it would turn out like this, never imagined she would treat his savior and founding minister so cruelly.

He sat in silence.

The waters of Xia River flowed tirelessly eastward.

How much joy and sorrow does it carry?

After a long while, Xiao Jue grabbed the wine jar and drained it in one go.

Then he stood and left without a word.

Rationally, he knew she was right, but emotionally he couldn’t accept such vicious actions toward his savior. He hurried along Shang Mountain’s paths, quickly departing amid the swift assembly of surrounding guards. His steps were so rapid they stirred the fine soft grass beside the mountain path. The grass bent beneath his black-backgrounded, gold-bordered robe with flying silver dragons, like this realm and all its people and officials bowing before him. Yet at this moment he thought only of those past years of killing like cutting grass and traveling thousands of miles without leaving survivors, thought of that rough man who had carried him from mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Once he had thought that after founding the nation, he could be an upright and bright good emperor, abandoning all cruel, bloody, and cold conspiracies and calculations. But he finally understood that after establishing the new dynasty and becoming emperor, because circumstances forced it, those involuntary actions, those ghostly killings, would only increase.

With slight melancholy he thought: why couldn’t you have stopped him from coming to the Ministry of Justice court?

After he left, in the Fufeng Pavilion, the copper bells at the pavilion corners swayed slightly from the wind of his footsteps, ringing crisply. Halfway up the mountain, a wisp of floating cloud drifted and swayed like smoke and light. Behind the light and shadow, Qin Chang Ge’s expression remained unchanged as she picked up the wine jar, gently shook it, and said helplessly: “Really stingy, not willing to leave even a drop for me…”

Her clear, beautiful face held a faint smile, her calm eyes full of transparent understanding—she had known, had known it would be like this…

She had known that the kindhearted and sentimental Xiao Jue would feel cold dread toward her after hearing the truth, would feel melancholy about worldly affairs. After all, he wasn’t a child raised in the imperial palace, learning imperial techniques from childhood, facing sinister killing schemes, already forged with cold, hard, and fierce deep composure. He was just an ordinary child raised in a prince’s mansion with a kind nature. Harsh circumstances and rejection only created his tenacity and courage, battlefield campaigns only trained his iron-blooded daring. But those conspiracies and schemes had always been handled entirely by Qin Chang Ge. He was only a war god, belonging to light and victory, a young emperor. His innocent heart would make him unable to accept when directly facing cruelty, and might even… resent her.

She clearly knew this.

She simply couldn’t bear to see his melancholy expression.

But you left too early. Why didn’t you ask what you wanted to ask?

I… actually did send people to stop Li Han.

But that night, Li Han wasn’t at his mansion at all. Even my subordinates couldn’t find where he was.

After a long while, Qin Chang Ge stood up, leaning against the lonely pavilion, gazing at the endless long sky deep in the clouds and sunset. Suddenly she smiled and with a flick of her hand, threw the wine jar into the sea of clouds.

A silver flash, like a meteor disappearing into the bottomless abyss of layers of clouds and mist. Gone in an instant.

Yet faintly could be heard a clear ringing sound.

White clouds suddenly parted, and mist rose. From the deep layers of clouds came the clear sound of crane calls.

The sound was clear and high, like phoenix dance, born from Penglai, descending from the nine heavens, starlight piercing through, immortal energy vast.

Before the cry ended.

Long robes flying, immortal bearing transcendent, like a deity splitting primordial chaos and emerging from the world, carrying endless brilliant radiance, one person slowly rose from the cloud-wrapped, mist-encircled deep mountain abyss.

With only empty air and floating clouds beneath his feet, yet as if supported by something solid, he slowly ascended, finally stopping motionless in mid-air, directly facing Qin Chang Ge.

He raised his hand.

Sunlight was born anew, moonlight suddenly rose.

That radiance instantly reached Qin Chang Ge’s eyes!

Shangguan Qingxun!

In this world, besides the Sword Immortal, who else could have such shocking martial arts, with crane-like calls?

Qin Chang Ge’s first reaction was relief.

Relief that Xiao Jue had already left and his guards had gone with him, otherwise more people would die needlessly.

Her second reaction was to immediately make a gesture, signaling her own guards not to act.

Clang!

Sword light stopped before her eyebrows and lashes, the cold qi overwhelming.

The middle-aged man opposite, extremely well-maintained, clearly far away yet seeming close at hand, clearly at eye level yet seeming to look down arrogantly, was looking at her.

But… there was no killing intent.

Shangguan would not kill easily.

Qin Chang Ge was desperately putting on a face full of terror, her legs shaking like sieves, her lips trembling as she couldn’t get out a single word.

From afar, Shangguan Qingxun pointed his horizontal sword, frowning as he looked at her, and after a long time made a sound of surprise.

Qin Chang Ge continued acting like a coward, crawling and rolling to hide in the corner of the pavilion.

Shangguan Qingxun’s gaze flickered uncertainly.

This person… strange…

Should he…

But someone suddenly laughed loudly and cursed: “Which bastard is randomly throwing things and hitting my head, making me lose a sparring match to my master uncle?”

Within the voice, a brilliant white line like gunpowder smoke suddenly shot straight up from the deep abyss at tremendous speed. The thick clouds immediately seemed cut by a sharp blade, splitting neatly in half into orderly heavenly cloth, then swept into his sleeves by the man with fluttering robes and flying black hair.

Unlike Shangguan Qingxun’s graceful dancing ascent, he came swiftly, lightning-fast and startling wind and thunder, yet with elegant bearing and overwhelming radiance.

Qin Chang Ge’s eyes flashed. That person held the wine jar Qin Chang Ge had thrown down, not even glancing at her. He casually made a gesture of scooping white clouds with the wine jar, laughing loudly as he presented it to Shangguan Qingxun, declaring in a clear voice: “Master Uncle, since there’s no wine, how about using the mountain cliff as our table, the Xia River as our mat, drinking white clouds, accompanied by clear wind, swallowing mist and clouds, drinking deeply of the vast sea, then you and I can battle another three hundred rounds, only then will we not disappoint this magnificent spirit?”