Chapter 89: Chapter 89: How Can He Compare to My Man?

"I know why you have come."

In front of him, Emperor Wu Su dispensed with the royal "We," speaking to him plainly.

Master Liao Ran sat in quiet meditation. "The red lotus flared," he said. "This old monk sensed it, and so I rushed here to remind Your Majesty to sever your attachment in a timely manner. Do not become lost in it."

For the red lotus to flare, two conditions must be met. The first is finding the woman who arrived in accordance with the Heavenly Way.

The second is... the Emperor’s heart being moved.

Master Liao Ran had sought an audience that day to offer a word of caution.

Emperor Wu Su picked up a white Go stone, holding it between two fingers. "Only by not being controlled by the world can one control it," he said dismissively. "Only by entering the game myself can I command all corners of the realm."

The last of his words coincided with the CLACK of the stone hitting the board.

Master Liao Ran sighed deeply and placed a black stone in turn. "I still hope Your Majesty will reconsider. An Emperor must align himself with the Heavenly Way. The path you should cultivate is one of heartlessness."

The black and white stones on the board were in a state of balance. Emperor Wu Su raised his hand and, with the force of a rainbow piercing the sky, placed another stone.

’She was the one who burst into my campaign tent.’

’She was the one who reappeared in Lin’an City.’

Emperor Wu Su looked up, his gaze sharp. "The path of heartlessness? The union of yin and yang is also part of the Heavenly Way."

*

Ji Qingwu walked on with her head down until she could go no further.

A small, yellow sandalwood door, about six feet high, appeared before them.

"This shouldn’t be the way we came in."

Mo Lingling, who had a terrible sense of direction, scratched the back of her head. "Huh?" she said, bewildered. "I really don’t know. I was just following you."

They had arrived through Hanshan Temple’s main gate, which was wide enough for a carriage, not this narrow door that only one person could pass through at a time.

By sheer luck, they had stumbled upon a back entrance to Hanshan Temple.

Thinking of Ji Qingrong and Jiu Jiu waiting for them in the carriage, Ji Qingwu frowned and gave an order. "We’re turning back the way we came."

Mo Lingling read her expression, then clutched her lower abdomen. "My stomach hurts a little."

Ji Qingwu pulled her by the wrist and placed her fingers on her pulse point for a moment. The pulse was agitated; she wasn’t lying.

"Let’s rest here for a bit first."

There were a few relatively clean bricks near the yellow sandalwood door, so the two of them sat down.

Ji Qingwu said, "Give me your arm."

Mo Lingling didn’t know why, but she obediently extended her arm.

Ji Qingwu’s fingers found the acupressure points for stabilizing a pregnancy, and she began to knead them firmly.

Mo Lingling gazed at her pale, slender neck and the wisps of her dark hair, enjoying the care with mixed feelings.

Ji Qingwu’s voice was as soft as a feather brushing against her heart.

"Are you feeling any better?"

Mo Lingling nodded quickly. "Much better." She stared at the other woman’s profile and added, "Fifth Miss Ji, I have a question for you."

Ji Qingwu assumed it was about the child in her womb. "Go ahead."

Having spent a long time at Liangxiang Pavilion, Mo Lingling had met women of all kinds, but she had never encountered someone like Ji Qingwu, who looked soft and pliable on the outside but was actually uninhibited and free-spirited.

’What would a woman like that be like if she were trapped by love...?’

Mo Lingling was extremely interested in her love life.

"Your former husband... you must have spent a long time choosing him, right? You must have loved him very much, didn’t you?"

"Were you heartbroken when he died? You’ve raised your child all by yourself to this age. If he knows, from the underworld, he must be very grateful to you."

Ji Qingwu looked up at her, her gaze wavering.

Seeing her silence, Mo Lingling’s curiosity peaked.

"But people have to move on. That man we saw in the private room at the teahouse last time, is he your new lover? Don’t be shy, I saw everything. The way he looks at you is anything but innocent."

"You have to trust my eye for men. He’s definitely into you."

Ji Qingwu looked at her with a half-smile. "Your eye for men?"

With a deft press of her fingers...

A scream tore through the mountain’s silence, startling several resting birds into flight.

Ji Qingwu really couldn’t agree with Mo Lingling’s taste in men.

The thought that Mo Lingling had witnessed the scene that night agitated her. The smile that had been playing on her lips faded, and her eyes grew sharp.

Mo Lingling’s eyes filled with tears. "You... you... you..."

she wailed. "That look in your eyes is just like Duan Mingfeng’s!"

Being compared to the sinister and ruthless head of the Imperial City Envoy didn’t anger Ji Qingwu. Instead, she seized on the key part of her words.

"You know Mr. Duan?" she asked.

Mo Lingling didn’t answer. Ji Qingwu pressed down hard again. The sharp, numbing sensation shot straight to her brain, and she immediately gasped, answering honestly, "We’re from the same hometown, too."

That word, "too"...

In a flash, a guess formed in Ji Qingwu’s mind. She let go of her hand in surprise.

She recalled that a certain high-ranking official who had entered service with great prestige also seemed to be from Xianyang.

Mo Lingling rubbed the acupressure point, muttering, "You look so gentle and easy to talk to, but you’re not weak at all when you play dirty."

But after Ji Qingwu’s firm pressure on the point, not only did the pain in her abdomen disappear, she even felt her qi and blood flowing more robustly. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The pain now gone and forgotten, Mo Lingling tried to fight back with words.

"Your former man probably did something to displease you and got bullied to death for it!"

At this, a wide arc formed on Ji Qingwu’s lips, and her smile was exceptionally sweet.

"Mm, you guessed it. Anyone who displeases me gets bullied to death."

Mo Lingling’s eyes suddenly widened. This time, she couldn’t even scream. Her entire arm had suddenly gone numb.

「Inside the small door, half an incense stick of time ago.」

Two people were just about to reach the door when they heard a woman’s shrill scream.

Duan Mingfeng drew the Soft Sword from his waist, immediately flashing in front of Emperor Wu Su and staring warily in the direction of the door.

Then he heard the woman mention his name. His expression changed; he had clearly recognized the voice as Mo Lingling’s.

Emperor Wu Su raised a hand, signaling for him to sheathe his sword.

Inside the door, both being martial artists with sharp hearing and sight, they could hear the two women’s conversation perfectly clearly.

Mo Lingling, still not convinced, rambled on, "Your former man must have been a henpecked weakling, incapable of accomplishing anything great. That’s why you developed this personality—sweet-faced on the outside, but scheming and unreasonable on the inside."

Then, the clear, sweet female voice spoke.

In a casual tone, she said, "The father of the child in your belly is the real coward. How could he possibly compare to my man?"

Duan Mingfeng nodded. The first half of her sentence was spot on; that man was indeed a coward.

Emperor Wu Su also gave a slight nod, but for the second half of the sentence.

Both physically and verbally, Mo Lingling was completely suppressed by her, able to do nothing more than glare at her with resentment.

"He’s not a coward!" she argued. "He just has his reasons!"

Ji Qingwu looked at her indignant expression and continued, "It’s not that he doesn’t have time to see you. He just doesn’t want to."

Seeing Mo Lingling still glaring at her, cheeks puffed with anger, Ji Qingwu shattered the dream she had woven for herself.

"Li Chengxun is about to marry Princess Qingyun. The preparations for the grand wedding ceremony are already underway."