Chapter 39: Will You Stay With Me Tonight?

“To be his lawful wife, or his mistress?” Shen Liangyan’s lips curled in a smile that was neither warm nor cold. His face, still pale as white wax from a recent allergic attack, was ghostly, and his lips were dry and cracked. Xu Yu handed him a glass of water with an expressionless face. “No matter what it is, I can’t refuse him outright, can I?”

Shen Liangyan didn’t take the glass, his icy gaze sweeping over her.

“What sort of martial art is that?” a martial king suddenly cried out. Such an attack was far beyond anything they could withstand.

The old ministers, who had earlier been riled up by the emperor’s mood, fell silent one after another. The impulsive young men, seeing their elders mute, dared not utter a word themselves. The banquet hall was soon enveloped in silence.

“Le Yuan?” Le Qing’s heart gave a jolt. She lifted her head to scan her surroundings, but all was a haze of white—Le Yuan was nowhere to be seen.

The clear voice echoed across the empty fields, and several farmhands looked up in their direction.

Yuanfa said, “Yan Hua competed in the ‘Gu King’ tournament. If we can find the gu insect that once survived a duel with the golden silkworm, I believe it could lead us to Yan Hua.” Old Mo asked, “Why?” voicing the question on everyone’s mind.

Facing the hotel’s main entrance was a massive bronze cauldron, surrounded by flowerbeds. Hai Kui circled the cauldron once. He had seen such cauldrons on the street before, but today, for some reason, it all felt strangely out of place.

“Summon him.” Li Longji’s long brows furrowed slightly. Raising his hand, he motioned and stepped toward a nearby couch. Seeing this, Lady Wu followed and sat respectfully at his side.

The mention of the dark cave made Leng Ye shudder. She gazed in silence toward its shadowy depths.

“Can you act a little more dignified?” Le Qing withdrew her hand and stretched lazily. “What’s happened? You wouldn’t have come at this hour otherwise. Both our parents are at home—this is hardly appropriate.”

The two weapons struck the shimmering barrier, but to no avail. Ripples spread across its surface, and then, incredibly, the barrier rebounded the weapons, flinging them aside. Their strength was not enough to break through.

Lin Ke scrutinized Yang Yuanshan for a while, then insisted on dismissing the others for a more thorough private examination. Seeing there was no major harm, the rest dispersed, leaving only Lin Ke and the two nursemaids in the room.

That day, Song Zheyi was so agitated that he wrung Li Tan’s collar into a mass of wrinkles. Li Tan stood there, his face set, enduring the grip without a word or protest, as though resigned to anything, yet refusing to change.

That day, Han Tanmeng, irritated, yanked the needle from her wrist and glared coldly at the two police officers and a man in a suit and tie, whose demeanor was grave and exacting, as they entered her hospital room.

Once, for Bai Jinghong, I would have scaled the heavens and plunged into the earth. I was certain, whether in this life or the next, I existed for him alone. If I betrayed that, I would have been deeply ashamed. But after I truly did, I realized that feelings pass like wind over the ear, like falling blossoms and flowing water. To live in the mortal world with a heart adrift is not so shameful after all.

For Heng Yanlin to point the finger at such a moment, there was no denying that something was off about him.

Time slipped by, yet Fei Fan had still not uncovered the root of Han Tanmeng’s predicament.

Why go to the ancestral hall for no reason? The Chu family’s ancestral hall was reserved for punishment—Liu Dong had always known that well.

Yet, as he pushed open the bar’s door, ready to confront the bald man with a torrent of curses, he suddenly froze in place.

Because of her performance in the first half, many had been watching Kong Yixian. Seeing her growing flustered, they shook their heads and looked away.

Had Imperial Physician Jiang not inquired about the inner chambers: the marquis’s private quarters, though built according to Dayong’s Ministry of Works’ strictures, lacked the emblems that only a marquis could use. At most, this was a breach of etiquette, not a violation. Otherwise, not even the Empress Dowager’s presence could have restrained Su Yan from making an immediate scene.