As night deepened, a gentle breeze stirred the crystal lanterns of Cloud-Stepping Tower, casting a soft glow upon them.
Qin Yuzhi, wearing an eye patch on her forehead, yawned as she came downstairs. She then noticed that the table was empty, with Ying Bing drinking tea and glancing outside every now and then.
Shang Qinqing was eating sunflower seeds across from her.
Where's Xiao Li?
"He went to the Southern Pacification Prince Mansion," Shang Qinqing said.
"The Prince's mansion... what is he doing there? He hasn't even come back to cook."
Qin Yuzhi spoke with a touch of morning grumpiness.
She dreams of running business for Li Mo every day, and not only is she not paid, but now she's not even being provided with meals.
"I think he should have returned by now, but he hasn't, and yesterday he offended a nobleman from the Great Yu."
Shang Qinqing glanced at Ying Bing out of the corner of her eye.
Seeing her standing there like a statue waiting for her husband, he squinted and said in a low voice:
"Is it possible that he was secretly arrested as soon as he entered the Prince's residence?"
"!"
Ying Bing remained expressionless, yet couldn't help glancing outside again.
"It's just right to arrest him."
Qin Yuzhi snorted, "The day I restore the Demon Summoning Cult Sect to its original state and return it to the God Summoning Cult, making it bigger and stronger, I will arrest Li Mo, lock him in a dark room, whip him with a small leather whip, and not give him any food."
"Um?"
Ying Bing silently turned her head away, looking at her with Ice Block.
"Okay, okay, we don't need to whip him anymore."
"We can't starve him either."
Ying Bing said earnestly.
"I'm still waiting for him to cook for me."
Qin Yuzhi sniffed, feeling quite aggrieved.
Little Li is probably living the high life in the Prince's mansion, while she's starving here, and they won't even let her say a word. Is there no law anymore?
Shang Qinqing stared at Qin Yuzhi for a long time, then suddenly seemed to remember something and raised an eyebrow, saying:
"Are you Qin Yuzhi, who disappeared along with the Cloud Dream Hall of the Divine Cult?"
How did you know me?
Qin Yuzhi was taken aback. No one in the Demon Summoning Cult remembered her anymore, yet someone could recognize her.
"I am a pure-blooded Green Phoenix born three hundred years after you fell into slumber and disappeared. I am in charge of marriages and have met the sect leader." Shang Qinqing finally confirmed that it was him.
"I see. You know me. It seems my story continues to spread even after I fell into slumber."
Qin Yuzhi, with an air of maturity, put her hands on her hips and sighed.
It evoked a feeling akin to old friends meeting in the same hometown, their eyes welling up with tears.
Shang Qinqing's expression was complicated. "I have indeed heard of it..."
"That's not right."
Qin Yuzhi suddenly realized something and asked, "I instructed the higher-ups in the sect to awaken me every three hundred years."
"Since the Great Shang is still alive after three hundred years, why hasn't anyone come to summon me even once? Could it be that a major upheaval has occurred within the sect during this time?"
"No, that's not it." Shang Qinqing shook her head, hesitating to speak further.
But seeing that Qin Yuzhi was too curious, she still said:
"All the high-ranking members of the cult felt that you shouldn't have been awakened."
"It's a long story. At first, I heard from others that your slumber was accompanied by great terror, and that you should never touch you, much less try to awaken you, otherwise that being would wake up and the whole world would fall into eternal slumber."
Ying Bing listened with her eyes lowered.
These secrets from the Great Shang Dynasty were unknown even to her.
"What they said is true... but also not true."
Qin Yuzhi frowned. "That's precisely why I had them conduct regular inspections to find a way to completely seal the Cloud Dream Ancestral God and free me."
"Don't rush, let me finish."
"Oh oh..."
Shang Qinqing continued:
"It wasn't until later that I discovered they had another reason for not waking you up."
"For example, the ancestor of the Cry Dragon clan, who controlled the wind and rain, was about to perish because of the lack of Power of All Living Beings."
"On his deathbed, he told me that he had secretly hidden a lot of gold, silver, and precious treasures, including seashells and coral, in his secret stash. And the location of this stash, besides his own..."
Only you know.
Qin Yuzhi: "?"
So you're against waking her up because you don't want a second person to know about your secret stash of money?
"And the chieftain of the Heavenly Horse tribe, he's having affairs with several mares behind his wife's back, and only you know about it."
"??"
"The chieftain of the Luwu Clan actually prefers to wear human women's clothing; Yu Shigong is the most handsome man in the Great Shang, yet he suffers from hemorrhoids; Gongzi Shaoyun, whose poems and songs have been passed down through the ages, is still a model of gentlemanly conduct, but his greatest desire is for women's feet..."
"..."
Upon hearing this, Ying Bing lowered her head slightly and pinched the Big-Headed Doll.
"So they don't wake me up because they're afraid I'll keep those secrets to myself for the rest of my life? How could they do that?"
Qin Yuzhi was very angry, but also felt even more wronged.
She didn't even eat those secret foods many times, only three, four, five, or six times.
Shang Qinqing sighed, "Because you can know a person's face but not their heart. Who would have thought that he, a gentleman as handsome as jade and unparalleled in the world, would actually like feet?"
She was also shocked when she learned about these things.
If they hadn't been on the verge of death, she would have eaten five, six, seven, or eight times by now...
"Hey, Little Bing, your tea is about to spill!"
"..."
Ying Bing stared at the swaying sea lantern, the warm light making her eyes appear slightly unfocused.
"Little Bing, you also think they went too far, right?"
"Li Mo probably doesn't think so."
"???"
Qin Yuzhi still didn't understand what this had to do with Li Mo.
And... why isn't that kid back yet?
Looks like I'll be going to work on an empty stomach today.
"Master Qin, wait a moment."
Although Shang Qinqing and Qin Yuzhi were from different generations and had never met, they were still family and had a lot to talk about.
As she left, Qin Yuzhi couldn't help but turn back and say:
"Little Bing, he might not be coming back tonight, you should get some rest too."
"I understand, I'll have some more tea."
"All right."
Shang Qinqing curled her lips; this wasn't the first time she'd heard those words.
The Big-Headed Doll has been played with for so long, its forehead is practically glowing.
The two went upstairs.
The lobby fell silent. Ying Bing wondered if she should ask him about Sharing the Moon.
But last time, it was when Li Mo was doing something important that Taiyin 'Will Soul lit up, and now that it's this late, how am I supposed to ask him?
Should I ask him if he wants to sleep together?
At the same time.
On the Cloud-Stepping Tower, in the room of Ice Block.
Where did the Ice Block go?
Li Mo returned using the Somersault Cloud.
When he returned as usual, Ice Block should have just finished practicing his skills, so the timing was perfect.
If she were in Cloud-Stepping Tower, she should be back in her room by now.
When did she leave?
Li Mo decided to go to the main hall of Cloud-Stepping Tower and ask the manager.
Upon arriving at the lobby, he noticed that most of the lights were off, making the space dimly lit.
And the table where they often sat, the Ice Block sitting there quietly, happened to be under a bright lamp.
The dim lighting made her appear even more beautiful, but her brows were furrowed, as if something was troubling her.