Chapter 56
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW
Chapter 56:
Mi Hongbao stood there like a statue, his heart pounding loudly. In disbelief, he touched the cheek that had been kissed. Then, he suddenly hugged her tightly, lifting Li Chunzhou off the ground, shaking her lightly as if in a frenzy.
A big smile spread across Mi Hongbao’s face, looking like he wanted to twirl around in excitement.
Li Chunzhou, lifted off her feet by him, couldn’t help but laugh cheerfully, her hands resting on his shoulders.
***
Jinwei Guard told the news to Spring Flowers Tower, but Jian Hou never appeared near the tower.
At night, Li Chunzhou carried Qi Leyuan back into the house. Qi Leyuan looked at the crowded street outside and asked Li Chunzhou, "What should we do? Keep waiting like this forever?"
"It depends on you. If you can solve the case sooner, the martial scouts outside can leave early too." Li Chunzhou looked out the window and said, "Let me guess, since Jian Hou asked the emperor for the right to move troops, he must give the emperor an explanation… So he probably prefers to use the method of ‘killing the evil spirits’ to solve the Sub-dungeon."
"Indeed, but then why didn’t he do it himself? And why rely on the Jinwei Guard by the emperor’s side?" Qi Leyuan shook his wings, turned away from the window, and looked at Li Chunzhou.
"Because he can’t use skills and items, Jian Hou is not confident that nothing unexpected will happen, so he doesn’t want to come in person, probably afraid of encountering evil spirits and the Time Beast here."
Finally leading the conversation where he wanted, Qi Leyuan took the opportunity to ask, "But why can’t they use skills?"
Li Chunzhou looked at Qi Leyuan briefly, didn’t mind him knowing, and said directly, "Do you remember the Sub-dungeon in the palace? There is a barrier in the Peaceful Heart Courtyard that prevents people from leaving. Not only can’t they leave, players inside the Peaceful Heart Courtyard can’t use any skills or items… It’s just that you couldn’t use them outside the Peaceful Heart Courtyard, so you didn’t notice."
Qi Leyuan’s eyes sparkled as his thoughts became clearer. He had gained some weight recently, becoming a round and plump chicken, feeling good to the touch. Li Chunzhou continued, "…This entire Dungeon World is actually covered by a barrier, from the moment you entered, it was destined that you couldn’t easily get out."
Qi Leyuan felt like his brain had never been so clear in the past eight days. He logically followed Li Chunzhou’s words and reasoned, "So the reason Jian Hou didn’t come is because he’s worried he might also die in this Dungeon…"
"But what he fears is not death, but that his consciousness will be devoured by the Time Beast after death. He is the Administrator, and the Time Beast can obtain quite useful information from his memories… As for the Time Beast, it is probably…"
Qi Leyuan paused suddenly at this point, his eyes appearing confused for a moment.
Huh, strange, what were they just talking about…?
Li Chunzhou calmly averted her gaze, looking towards Li Zhexuan who had reappeared behind her.
Li Zhexuan approached Li Chunzhou like a shadow, his voice disjointed as he asked her, "Lady Chun… Do you like… Mi Hongbao?"
Li Chunzhou set Li Li down and gazed earnestly at Li Zhexuan’s face, noticing a hint of childish discontent flicker across it, lacking the possessiveness of a man, more like a child unhappy about losing a playmate, almost immediately reminding Li Chunzhou of what he looked like as a child.
However, this faint hint of jealousy was too weak to be considered jealousy, quickly suppressed by his usual dependence.
Li Chunzhou fixed her gaze on Li Zhexuan’s dark, impenetrable eyes and said, "Yes, I seem to… indeed like him a bit… What about you, A’xuan?"
"I understand, Lady Chun, I also like the person you like." A slight smile appeared on his face, mimicking Li Chunzhou’s usual smile.
***
The next day, thanks to the intentional publicity from more than ten players, almost everyone in Shengjing knew that the Jinwei Guard were arresting people at the Spring Flowers Tower.
No matter what kind of rumors, as long as they were related to prostitutes, they would always be widely spread. The matter escalated and even reached the palace, and even the emperor’s close ministers heard about it.
Gu Jianxi arrived at the small courtyard with a sword at his waist and came face to face with Chihong.
Chihong remembered him, squinted his eyes as if about to attack, but Gu Jianxi spoke first, "Wait, I’m here to find your lady. Let me in first, and then you can continue fighting."
Hearing this, Chihong hesitated for a moment, then actually stepped aside to let Gu Jianxi pass.
The group of Jinwei Guards behind Gu Jianxi were dumbfounded. They had thought Little General Gu was there to help, but he just walked in as if nothing mattered…
When Gu Jianxi saw Li Chunzhou, she was playing with a cat under the willow tree in the courtyard. A beam of sunlight shone through, making Li Chunzhou’s ears glow red and white. The breeze lifted the fine short hair at her temples. He stood at a distance, arms folded, watching. Suddenly, he felt the urge to grab her and give her a playful bite.
Someone as delicate as her would probably cry if he bit her.
Gu Jianxi’s light skill surpasses ordinary people by far, but Li Chunzhou with her back towards him did not notice his arrival.
Even though she dislikes the Second Prince, Li Chunzhou quite likes the calico cat that the Second Prince sent her. She held the kitten under her arm, lifted it up, rubbed her face against its head, then sneakily looked around and, finding no one nearby, secretly nibbled on the kitten’s round head.
The kitten struggled in her hands, meowing weakly and pitifully.
Gu Jianxi chuckled, walked over and stood behind Li Chunzhou. His tall figure blocked the sunlight, casting a shadow that completely enveloped Li Chunzhou. When Li Chunzhou turned around, she saw Gu Jianxi smiling mischievously with a rebellious look on his face. He met Li Chunzhou’s gaze, raised his eyebrows and said, "Well… forcibly picked fruits are not sweet."
"What’s it to you?" Li Chunzhou didn’t have a good impression of him. Whenever she saw him, she would pull a sulky face, shift her position and continue ignoring Gu Jianxi.
"Where did the cat come from?" Gu Jianxi squatted down beside her and also began to play with the cat. Even when squatting, he was still much taller than Li Chunzhou who was squatting.
Gu Jianxi rescued the struggling kitten from Li Chunzhou’s hands, casually picked a piece of grass as a toy, and quickly made friends with the cat.
"Amazing…" Li Chunzhou looked at the completely transformed calico cat and asked surprisingly, "Has General Gu ever raised a cat?"
Gu Jianxi’s eyebrows softened surprisingly, "My mother really liked keeping cats. We had dozens of them freely roaming around the house."
Li Chunzhou couldn’t believe her eyes as she saw Gu Jianxi looking at her like a cat. He playfully waved a toy in front of her eyes and tapped her head.
Li Chunzhou’s eyes followed the grass in Gu Jianxi’s hand unconsciously, then she stopped abruptly and pushed away the toy in front of her eyes in annoyance.
Although Li Chunzhou had lost interest in this encounter, whenever she met Gu Jianxi, she felt like a firecracker.
She wondered how there could be such an annoying person in the world, and she couldn’t openly drive him away.
Watching Gu Jianxi skillfully handle the cats, Li Chunzhou asked, "Does the Prime Minister mind having so many cats in the mansion?"
Gu Jianxi glanced at her and smiled, "My parents have a good relationship, they rely on each other, respect and love each other. How could they mind?"
Li Chunzhou looked at Gu Jianxi, who seemed much warmer when talking about his family, and she was truly surprised. It was strange that someone as arrogant and frivolous as Gu Jianxi could come from a warm and kind family.
However, Li Chunzhou quickly thought that maybe it was because he had such a family that he despised and looked down on women like them who were seen as breaking up families in society.
But which man visiting the brothel had been forced to come by a prostitute?
Li Chunzhou got mad again, looked at the little cat beside Gu Jianxi, and slyly said, "Small Cake was given to me by the Second Prince, isn’t it cute?"
Indeed, when Gu Jianxi heard the words "Second Prince," his interest faded quite a bit. He silently stared at Li Chunzhou’s pretending face, his eyes regaining a domineering look, coldly scrutinizing her.
Gu Jianxi smiled wryly to himself, thinking it was strange how Liang Changfeng, someone with no blood relation to him, valued Li Chunzhou so much.
Moreover, considering Li Chunzhou was raised by him personally, the fact that he still had feelings for her was… what was driving his emotions? Possessiveness? Or illicit desire?
Gu Jianxi turned back, glanced down at the cat on the floor, and suddenly said, "He doesn’t respect you."
Li Chunzhou rolled her eyes at him.
Gu Jianxi continued poking at Li Chunzhou’s sore spot, saying, "The Second Prince treats you like how you treat this cat."
Li Chunzhou couldn’t bear it anymore, grabbed Qi Leyuan who was lying nearby, pointed at Gu Jianxi, and angrily said, "Li Li, go peck him!"
Qi Leyuan looked puzzled, glanced at Li Chunzhou’s expression, then at Gu Jianxi’s well-dressed and imposing appearance. He gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and charged aggressively towards Gu Jianxi.
But before getting close, Gu Jianxi grabbed and threw him away by the neck.
Li Chunzhou glared angrily at Gu Jianxi, she could tell that Gu Jianxi was interested in her, but his slight liking meant nothing to her, she could easily get power and money from others without having to talk to Gu Jianxi and be irritated after just a few words.
Besides, he looked like someone not easily fooled, she didn’t know how much trouble she would get into by taking advantage of him. Li Chunzhou wanted to draw a clear line with him immediately.
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the courtyard, and the Jinwei Guard who were surrounding the Spring Flowers Tower gradually began to withdraw.
A martial scout ran into the crowd, looking very concerned, bent down and whispered a few words to Gu Jianxi.
After listening, Gu Jianxi’s face changed, he stood up and was about to leave.
Li Chunzhou quickly grabbed him, skillfully holding his arm, and pretending, "General Gu, why are you leaving? Is something wrong?"
The martial scout who came to deliver the message looked embarrassed as if caught his superior flirting, avoided eye contact, wished to disappear, Gu Jianxi knew she was trying to find out information, smiled wryly at Li Chunzhou who clung to him.
He felt a bit helpless yet amused, thinking to himself that this girl was quite daring.
Gu Jianxi wanted to pull Li Chunzhou off his arm, his hands were rough from years of martial arts practice, and he accidentally tore a patch of Li Chunzhou’s soft skin red without much effort. Li Chunzhou refused to let go, so Gu Jianxi dared not use more force.
Although he acted calm, his subconscious reaction couldn’t fool himself. When Li Chunzhou hugged his arm, his heart was also pounding. When she came close, Gu Jianxi actually smelled a sweet scent of rouge and powder on her.
"If Gu Lang doesn’t tell me, I won’t let go today!" Li Chunzhou continued to pretend, just now she was fierce, but now she turned into sweet talk.
"Alright, I’ll tell you." Gu Jianxi lowered his head to meet her gaze, his eyes fixed on Li Chunzhou like a leopard. He said playfully, "But remember, you owe me a favor."
Li Chunzhou agreed readily, promises made verbally were easily made and without evidence, promising a hundred or a thousand more didn’t matter.
"The enemies from the northwest have reached Yinjiang County," Gu Jianxi put away all expressions on his face, not optimistic about the war. After a pause, he said, "The news should reach Shengjing in two days, prepare what needs to be done, find a way out early."