Chapter 31
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Chapter 31:
Li Chunzhou had gotten used to his unpredictable behavior, so she nodded obediently and said, "I will remember, Second Master."
At that moment, Liang Changfeng touched her face, wearing his coat open, pulling up the corners of his mouth, revealing a satisfied smile.
The Second Prince had long been controlling Li Chunzhou’s life, or rather, when facing Li Chunzhou, unconsciously instilling his own thoughts, attitudes, and ways of doing things to her, and then observing and changing Li Chunzhou’s character according to his own will.
He showed her favoritism, then inflicted pain on her, watching Li Chunzhou twisting and struggling inside, Liang Changfeng seemed to see another side of himself.
…
Li Chunzhou snapped out of her memories of the first time she saw Liang Changfeng, in the flickering candlelight, she saw Liang Changfeng’s eyes were cold and bright.
She skillfully moved behind Liang Changfeng and gently massaged him, because she had practiced specifically for this, Li Chunzhou’s massage techniques and strength were just right.
Li Chunzhou leaned on his shoulder and asked softly, "Second Master, is the new thin horse good-looking?"
With his eyes closed, Liang Changfeng softly said, "Of course you are more beautiful."
"Oh, Second Master got his foot caught, he said he would come to see me yesterday but forgot about Lady Chun today." Li Chunzhou sounded sad, but her eyes behind the lowered eyelids seemed to want to bite a piece of flesh off Liang Changfeng.
When Liang Changfeng was not in the capital city, Spring Flowers Tower acted as his eyes and ears in Shengjing City. Li Chunzhou wrote letters to him daily informing him about the happenings and people in the capital. Yesterday, in front of others, she provocatively defended Liang Changfeng, acting like a sycophant. Liang Changfeng acted as if nothing had happened…
Although she was seething with anger inside, her smile on her face became even more radiant. Softly, she said, "Little General Gu mentioned that there are rumors of demons sneaking into the capital. Did Second Master read about these things in the secret decree he received yesterday?"
"You seem very interested in this matter," Liang Changfeng opened his eyes and glanced at her, his words were ambiguous, his gaze became inscrutable.
Li Chunzhou, unafraid, instead affectionately embraced Liang Changfeng’s neck, leaning her head on his shoulder, and asked, "Doesn’t Second Master want to tell me?"
She pouted, blinked her eyes, and they became watery. With a hint of grievance, she said, "I am just a little worried about Second Master."
"Indeed, it is about this matter," Liang Changfeng looked at her and pulled Li Chunzhou into his arms, making her sit down, chuckling, "But the Emperor does not want people to talk much about this matter… Even if the demons are found, the Emperor may not be willing to kill them, after all, he still hopes that these demons can fulfill his fantasies…"
Li Chunzhou had heard some rumors about this matter. It seems that the Emperor had an unattainable love, who is no longer in this world. The Emperor, in order to see her again, not only built the Star-Picking Pavilion but also gathered talents from around the world, all to meet her once more. However, there were rumors that the Emperor was seeking immortality under the guise of finding his love, recruiting alchemists, and searching for elixirs. The gossip from the palace spread to the common people, becoming wildly exaggerated.
However, it cannot be denied that Daliang really should find medicine to treat him well — a government cabinet with different opinions, sickly radical politicians, political groups attacking each other, extreme and numb lower-class people, openly corrupt local officials, plus the frequent wars in the northwest in recent years, the Emperor neglecting politics for many years, and all the court affairs piled up for many years handed over to Prime Minister Gu, Daliang has long been suffering, it is impossible to get better without strong medicine.
Although Liang Changfeng always acts like he has no desires, Li Chunzhou knows that he secretly commands ten thousand private soldiers, the large number makes Li Chunzhou wonder how he managed to keep it secret. Maintaining an army is costly, the current army of Daliang has less than five hundred thousand soldiers, scattered across the country, more troops are in the northwest due to continuous wars, and in the capital city, the Imperial Army stationed there is less than ten thousand people. In other words, if Liang Changfeng wants, he can seize power at any time.
However, after one hundred and twenty cycles, he never did such a thing.
Expanding territorial borders, establishing power, gaining fame in history, there seems to be no temptation for the Second Prince, he isn’t interested in any of these.
People can be controlled as long as they have desires, but Li Chunzhou can’t understand what Liang Changfeng really wants to do.
Secretly maintaining ten thousand private soldiers is not suitable to be discussed openly, Li Chunzhou also won’t show any signs of knowing about this, she looked up and asked, "Is that fortune teller accurate? Can Second Master take me to see him?"
When Li Chunzhou acted coquettishly around him, Liang Changfeng held her waist but refused to agree no matter what. Eventually, Li Chunzhou lost her temper and bit Second Prince hard on the face, leaving a noticeable teeth mark. She regretted it afterwards, but luckily it was night time, so it wasn’t very clear.
Liang Changfeng burst into laughter, playing with her like teasing a little cat or dog, rarely spending more time with her. When Li Chunzhou asked the same question again, Liang Changfeng, smiling, asked meaningfully, "Lady Chun, you are a smart child, if you want me to spill the beans, should you offer something in return?"
Li Chunzhou quieted down, remained silent for a long time, it was unclear whether she was pondering or hesitating.
Liang Changfeng thought she didn’t want to answer, lowered his head, but suddenly met a pair of innocent and sincere eyes, "Does Second Master mean love you? But I have always been doing."
He stood still, quietly looking at her for a while, then raised his hand to gently cover Li Chunzhou’s dark eyes.
***
The weather was getting hotter, Li Chunzhou tossed and turned all night without sleeping well, she hadn’t rested properly for two nights in a row. The next morning when she got up, she had dark circles under her eyes. Chihong brought rouge and powder to help cover them up for her.
Although Mama Li did not verbally support it, she acted without hesitation. Early in the morning, Ming Niang was brought to Li Chunzhou’s yard.
When Li Chunzhou came out in different clothes, Ming Niang was squatting under the shade of a willow tree in the yard, smiling foolishly.
The idea of having Ming Niang come to comb her hair is made up to deceive people. Even if Ming Niang knows how to comb hair, Li Chunzhou wouldn’t dare to trust her with her own hair.
Ming Niang said she had a special connection with red beans.
The young master of the Qi family committed suicide by hanging himself because of a prostitute. It caused a commotion in Shengjing City. The prostitute worked in a second-tier brothel. It is said that after the young master hanged himself, he also went crazy and stayed at the door babbling nonsense every day.
Ming Niang is the prostitute in the story, and Ming Niang’s cause results in the fruit of red beans.
Li Chunzhou fixed her gaze on the "crazy woman" at the door. Ming Niang was squatting on the ground counting ants like a child. Suddenly, Li Chunzhou thought that fate had never been kind to anyone.
Countless times before, the four of them spent their days in the courtyard, always stuck in the summer courtyard. This time, however, there was an added presence – Ming Xiang.
Thinking of Ming Xiang, Li Chunzhou looked around and didn’t see Ming Xiang anywhere. She asked Chihong, who nodded towards the corner of the wall. Li Chunzhou then saw Ming Xiang sneaking around in the shadows.
Li Chunzhou: …
She unexpectedly said, "Ming Xiang isn’t used to living here yet…"
Qi Leyuan thought that Ming Xiang was avoiding the curse of the red beans, which he could understand. After all, the red beans were the curse in the first sub-dungeon. Even though Ming Xiang looked like a normal girl now, who knew if she could still change back?
As a player who had also been scared by the red beans, Qi Leyuan, following his principle of wanting to take revenge on others after getting wet in the rain, was happy to watch the excitement. But as he watched, Qi Leyuan gradually became puzzled and asked in confusion, "Wait, why does she seem to be avoiding Chihong rather than the red beans?"
Li Chunzhou didn’t pay much attention to Ming Xiang’s actions and speculated, "Maybe she was scared by Chihong that day?"
Chihong, who was originally not involved, paused in her sweeping, hesitated to speak a few times, as if wanting to explain herself, but ultimately silently took the broom and went into the house.