I raised an eyebrow. Clearly, he didn't want me to see Yue Linghe, or he was just bored and looking for trouble.
"Do I need your permission to see her?"
"I don't mind if that's how you see it, Miss."
Interesting, very interesting. I want to beat him up first, then leave his body in the wilderness for wild dogs to eat clean, leaving not even a bone fragment.
"I do have something to say to her. Could you do me a favor?"
Sometimes, being direct is better than going around in circles. You can always learn a lot of tricks from Yun Zhi. Only by achieving your ultimate goal can you be the real winner.
After I said that, he was really stunned. It took him a while to react, and his eyes still showed disbelief.
"oh……"
Ghost in Red Robe, it's rare to find someone with such a frightening name and a terrifyingly red python robe, yet you're so easily dealt with. You're a typical example of someone who's all bark and no bite.
I walked straight in and didn't encounter many people. Those I did meet avoided me and disappeared from my sight.
The child's amber eyes were red and swollen from crying, no longer as bright and clear as when they first met. His face was pale and haggard, and he looked like he was in a very bad state.
The moment I stepped into the room, Yue Linghe suddenly raised her head and stared intently at me, her eyes filled with a fierce intensity that seemed to want to devour me. I was prepared, so I didn't stop walking. With each step I took, Yue Linghe's frail body trembled, not from fear, but from anger.
"What are you doing here?" The voice was hoarse and broken, unbearable to hear.
"..." I looked at her silently for a while. Jealousy and resentment caused by emotions were truly tormenting things. "I'm not here to laugh at you, I just want to ask you some questions. I don't think you're brave enough to drug me, and you have no reason to help Yun Zhi use drugs to keep me alive. Or maybe you yourself don't know that Guanghan Powder won't kill you. Tell me, who told you to drug me?"
A slow smile crept across my lips as I stared at her. Through her swollen, red eyes, I glimpsed a chilling, captivating smirk. I had to get to the bottom of this; otherwise, how would I know whether you, Nangong Ling, were protecting your little cousin or shielding the person who ordered her to drug him?
Chapter 67
She lowered her eyes, her bangs casting a shadow that made the smile on her lips look indescribably eerie.
"Hmph, you don't believe me..." She raised her eyes halfway, then suddenly fell silent, her expression stiffening.
"Yes, she doesn't believe me, she's never believed me." Along with the voice came a hand that had dropped to freezing point, wrapping around the neck and chilling to the bone.
I am most afraid of the cold, but his casual remark felt like a thousand pounds, pressing down on me so that I couldn't move.
"If you want to know, why not just ask me? Why bother coming all the way to this remote place in the cold wind of the night?" I couldn't tell whether he was happy or angry from his voice.
At that moment, I didn't even have the courage to look up at him. I took a deep breath, and the faint, cool fragrance that wafted over calmed me down a bit.
"Can I get the answer I want by asking you?"
"So what kind of answer do you want?"
He tightened his grip slightly, his fingertips icy cold. I felt uneasy and didn't know how to respond for a moment.
“Brother, this person has never understood your good intentions, why do you keep doing this…”
"Shut up." The voice was still relatively flat, but the force was a bit stronger.
The person opposite him had a dimmed look in their eyes, and their thin body began to tremble again. Their red eyes blinked a few times, and tears streamed down their face.
"Junior brother!" Jing Tianxiang, who was carrying a bowl of bird's nest, came in and saw this scene. He couldn't help but feel sorry for him and shouted out.
As the hand on my neck slowly loosened, I felt the intense pressure dissipate. When I looked up, I saw him smile gently, the curve of his eyes possessing a captivating and alluring charm.
"That's rare. You still acknowledge me as your junior brother?"
He spoke softly, yet it made Jing Tianxiang's face turn ugly.
"Master was forced into this situation; if you think about it carefully, he was doing it for your own good."
"He knows better than I do what Guanghan Powder is. Although it won't kill you, can it be administered in large doses?"
So I got an unexpected answer, but why Nangong Yi? I felt a little depressed, so I grabbed his fair and jade-like hand and started playing with it.
Jing Tianxiang was speechless because of my sudden remark, while he was startled by my unexpected action and didn't react for a moment.
"Jun Guan, you really have some skills. You even managed to command the head of the prestigious Nangong family. It's really not easy. You've held a grudge for so long. You don't want to kill me, but you want me to suffer a fate worse than death. Don't you think this person is despicable?"
"So you stabbed the wrong spot with your sword, leaving a seed of trouble."
It turns out he still held onto the father-son bond and didn't go all out, but during the time I was away, he had severed ties with the Nangong family and was no longer their eldest son. Unfortunately, Jun Guan had calculated this perfectly, and had already taken action before Nangong Ling left, when the Nangong family was in decline. How could Nangong Yi now possibly be a match for the Grand Master of the Tianjue Sect?
"Or maybe it's just waiting for you to remove it."
He smiled and squeezed my hand, then turned to Jing Tianxiang.
"Senior Brother, I have always respected you, but if you help outsiders to deal with your junior brother, don't blame your junior brother for being ruthless then."
Jing Tianxiang's face hadn't looked good since he came in, and his hands holding the bird's nest soup were trembling slightly.
This sentence completely severed his ties with the Nangong family, and also warned him not to make any unnecessary moves. He was told to stay here obediently and nothing would happen, but if he tried to contact people outside, it would be a matter of life and death.
As I left, I glanced at Yue Linghe. Her face was deathly pale, her eyes were red-rimmed, and her gaze was so fierce that she didn't look like a woman at all.
"She's changed," someone next to her suddenly said.
"What? You want to say it's your fault?" I sneered. "You made it very clear to her from the beginning that her current state is entirely her own problem. Jing Tianxiang is really suffering. The more you try to persuade her, the less she will change her mind. You've all done what you could. There's no right or wrong. If she insists on going her own way and being stubborn, there's nothing you can do."
I knew you'd say that.
He gripped my hand tightly, with more force than usual.
We didn't bring up the initial question again, about trust and distrust—it was too sensitive.
Chapter 68
He said they should get married once things calmed down.
I was stunned for a long time, and I didn't know how to answer. It wasn't that I was unwilling, but rather that I wasn't mentally prepared.
Just as I was frowning over this matter and planning to think it over carefully, the people outside finally couldn't hold back any longer.
"Forget it, let's put this aside for now." He sighed, his expression revealing nothing.
As expected, he still cared. Although he didn't say it or I didn't bring it up, we both understood. He was even more afraid that if he asked, the scar in his heart would be torn open again, because he knew my answer, so it was better not to ask to avoid adding to the pain.
But what can I do? These are habits I've developed over the years, and then there's my father's story as an example. I'll also have unresolved issues that I can't let go of.
"The second young master of the Feng family is here. Would you like to go see him?"
I frowned. "Why would I go see him? He's only somewhat interesting when he's painting. What else is there to see about him?"
His hand, which was stirring the tea leaves, paused slightly, and his eyes, which he raised, showed a hint of surprise.
“…Gemini Ann did make some good points.”
"What did you say?" As soon as the words left my mouth, I knew I'd fallen into a trap.
"You heartless little brat."
If I act too enthusiastically, you'll definitely be unhappy, and besides, my heartlessness isn't a new thing.
"You don't like it?"
He slowly smiled, leaned down and lightly pecked my lips, then stared at me with his phoenix eyes filled with laughter.
"Besides me, who else could put up with your temper?" He stroked my hair with his long, slender fingers, the scent of tea mingling with the fragrance.
I shoved him. "Aren't you going to go out and see what's going on? It's probably in complete chaos outside."
"The bigger the commotion, the better. Ideally, they should be able to break in."
"Speaking of which, how did you come to set your sights on the capital?"
"Where else besides the imperial city can house a phoenix like you?"
"Go to hell, Phoenix!" I glared at him and opened my mouth to bite down on his crescent-shaped collarbone.
A soft groan escaped his lips, tinged with suppressed emotion. Looking up, he saw the strange, dark gleam in his obsidian-like eyes.
Hmm, then I sensed danger and tried to jump away, but he grabbed me.
"You think you can escape after lighting the fire?" The voice was slightly hoarse, low and almost seductive.
Why shouldn't I run away? Am I supposed to just wait to be eaten by you?
"I'm not playing with you anymore, I'm going out to see what's going on." He tried to pull his hand away, but it still clung tightly.
"You broke your promise. Who was it that just said there wasn't much to see?"
"I'm saying Feng Moru isn't very interesting, but I can look at other people, like the Gemini An, who is a joke in itself."
He paused, a look of near-dejection creeping onto his face. In the bright sunlight amidst the lingering morning mist, the boy's brows furrowed slightly, his dark eyes held a childlike stubbornness, his skin as white as jade, his lips a touch of crimson. Though so clean and pure, a strange, eerie aura emanated from him.
"I'm bored anyway, why don't you come with me?"
In the end, he couldn't resist my insistence and went with me to join in the fun.
The crowd below the city gate was huge. It could not be compared to a thousand troops, but it was still a few hundred or a thousand people at a glance.
"Hey, look, even the Shaolin Temple has come to join the fun." I grabbed his hand and shook it hard.
"Master Huizhi..." He narrowed his eyes slightly, a faint smile appearing on his lips, and a breathtakingly eerie aura swept over him.
"What's wrong?"
"He once said that the imperial city is a place of hegemony."