At the mention of Hongyi, the Princess Consort's pretty face filled with wistfulness:
"Hongyi left. She isn't coming back!"
Chu Qing was startled. "Dead?"
The Princess Consort gave a soft snort. "She wouldn't die!"
"She's become a big shot in her own right now, living happily every day. She can't bear to come back!"
Chu Qing grew interested. "How did she become a big shot?"
The Princess Consort curled lazily on her reclining chair and muttered, "Many years ago, when that big eyeball was hunting us down, she fled to the Endless Sea."
"Later, after going through some things, she got to know some Free Overlords."
"Now she runs around with those Free Overlords."
"She's even become a captain."
"She has several hundred Free Overlords and over a thousand otherworlders following her."
"Ordinary experts are even more numerous than the hairs on an ox."
"She even asked me to go join her!"
Chu Qing's heart stirred. "You want to go?"
A glimmer appeared in the Princess Consort's eyes. "Yes, I do!"
"But I can't bear to give up your bloodline investiture."
"That investiture benefits me enormously."
Chu Qing's heart stirred. "Then come back once a year, and I'll invest you."
The Princess Consort's pupils shrank. "What do you mean?"
"You want to drive me away?"
"Chu Qing... I never thought you were this kind of man."
Chu Qing wrapped an arm around her slender waist and said affectionately, "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"I just see how bored you are at Stone Ridge Mountain and worry that you'll feel stifled."
The Princess Consort chuckled. "Stone Ridge Mountain is huge. I'm not stifled at all."
"Still, I really want to see Hongyi."
"Although she's riding high on the wind and breaking the waves now, she's run into trouble too."
"If