Chapter Fifty-Two: Knots of the Heart

The darkness and silence of the surroundings magnified everything. Recalling the quarrel that morning, regret gradually filled Lu Yalan’s heart, rising up to her throat. She smacked her lips, tasting bitterness between her teeth and tongue.

Before meeting the old lady, she had prepared many arguments—logical, well-organized, rehearsed countless times in her mind. Lu Yalan didn’t expect to persuade her grandmother at once; as long as she could plant a seed of doubt, make her hesitate to marry her off in haste, the rest could be dealt with slowly.

In fact, the initial effect was quite good. Gao Heping’s questionable character had made the old lady feel some guilt toward her—even if only a little, it was a step in the right direction.

But when she saw with her own eyes that her grandmother, without much hesitation, chose to abandon her—

“I don’t blame you,” said Ye Feng. “What angers me is that you used your desire to learn the zither as a pretext for me to teach you, when in fact you had other motives. That is a desecration of the art. I cannot play with you anymore.” With that, he took Wang Wen’s hand and walked out, leaving Chen Siyu standing there, crestfallen.

The masked man saw Liu Moyan obediently boarding the carriage without resistance, and the shock that had momentarily frozen his limbs began to fade.

“What? You want me to go to Zhongnanhai?” At these words, the driver jumped up from his seat in fright.

I am willing to fall into hell for eternity. I want you to repay me in this life for all that I have lost. I want to see you fall from the highest heights. I want you to be utterly filled with regret.

“Let’s end this for today. His Majesty is tired and needs to rest. You should all leave now.” The voice was cold, carrying a hint of displeasure directed at Noble Consort Jing and Zhongli Shuo. Zhongli Shuo noticed that when the Empress spoke, she cast a fierce glare at Noble Consort Jing.

As I crawled over, I finally saw that it was Ye Yao. But her eyes were closed, as if she were merely sleeping.

At this moment, Nappa was completely out of control, caring for nothing but attacking Krillin relentlessly. And so, the three of them left the skies above the Western Capital.

Zixuan draped one long, slender leg over Li Ye’s sturdy hips and muttered in annoyance, “Husband, don’t move around.”

But this task was clearly exhausting, both physically and mentally. As time passed, Jiang Hu’s movements grew slower; his spiritual power was nearly depleted.

“All right, brother, let’s go upstairs. What Grandpa asked me to give you is still up there!” Nightingale said as she pulled Nightshade upstairs.

The Chengyi family’s dining room was designed with an original forest theme. Upon entering, one was surrounded by lush green trees and trailing vines.

The person who brought him the message hadn’t said what his second sister wanted, so he had a few guesses but never imagined it would be about hunting wild boar.

Suddenly, inspiration struck—he decided to cast out some bait, wanting to test how much those in the underground palace really knew about the crystals, whether the jelly-like state of the crystals was their doing, and after thirty years of studying the tomb, whether they understood the true origin of the crystals.

Teacher Hu was very pleased with this—not blinded by excellent exam results, still so earnest in politics class. She saw a bright future for this girl.

Take the map, for example. In Guo Bin’s mind, Yangdi County was southeast of the capital Luoyang, at the northwest corner of Yingchuan Commandery. He would embed the coordinates of Yangdi County into the map in his mind, and any other places would be added in the same way.

As the two discussed, Xiao Shaoping also returned. Hearing that something had happened to the fish in the reservoir, he was so distressed he didn’t know what to say.

But despite all his efforts, Liang Jiugong found no flaws in Wei Zhu’s story—only a vague suspicion that she harbored a great secret.

“Tortoiseshell, what are you doing?” Li Donghua called out, moving toward him. Tortoiseshell turned, gestured with his hand, making several quick motions. Li Donghua saw clearly, grew more puzzled, but in the end obeyed and did not approach.

The closer they got to the light, the more the shadows in the darkness began to reveal themselves. They hurled themselves madly at the massive array of runes.

Yet this man had clearly drunk a lot, his face flushed, eyes bloodshot, wielding a staff at eyebrow height, giving him an imposing presence.