Princess Shaomin

Zhou Zhiruo let out a faint sigh. "Brother Wuji, I am Madam Song now. If you truly have feelings for me, then as long as you promise to marry me, I will leave my current husband and marry you, even if I must bear the ridicule of the whole world. On our wedding night... you can do whatever you want to me. I'll do as you wish." After saying this, Zhou Zhiruo's face seemed to burn like fire.

Zhang Wuji was overwhelmed with emotion. Rising to his feet, he wanted to go over and take her soft hand. "Zhiruo, I will definitely marry you!"

Zhou Zhiruo instinctively took a step back and clutched at her collar. "I said you could do whatever you wanted after we were married... not now. I am still Madam Song. Sect Leader Zhang, please conduct yourself with propriety."

"Yes, yes, yes. I was too presumptuous." Zhang Wuji nodded hurriedly.

"Brother Wuji, do you truly want to marry me?" Joy filled Zhou Zhiruo's heart as she asked again shyly.

"Of course! I want to take you as my wife." Zhang Wuji walked over to her and looked at her deeply.

Zhou Zhiruo sighed softly. "Brother Wuji, you're making this so difficult for me..." In this warm moment, both of them tacitly avoided mentioning Zhao Min.

The two sat quietly for a while. Then Zhou Zhiruo suddenly saw Song Qingshu lying on the opposite bed. Remembering that she was now Madam Song, her heart ached, and she sighed faintly. "I've wronged Qingshu."

Zhang Wuji comforted her. "Zhiruo, we were meant to be together in the first place. You never loved him, so how have you wronged him?"

"But we can't keep sneaking around like this." Zhou Zhiruo's eyes shifted as she looked at Song Qingshu, her expression turning cold. "How about I kill him, and you go back and kill Zhao Min? Then no one will be able to stop us from meeting in secret every day."

"How could that be?" Zhang Wuji was startled. He liked Zhou Zhiruo, but abandoning Zhao Min was absolutely impossible for him.

"Brother Wuji, I was only testing you." Zhou Zhiruo gave a sly smile. "I've already wronged my husband enough. If I harmed his life as well, how would I be any different from those wicked women in history? If you had truly agreed just now, I wouldn't have dared associate with you anymore. You may want to be Ximen Qing, but I don't want to be Pan Jinlian."

After his astonishment passed, Zhang Wuji broke into a smile. "My little Zhiruo truly is the kindest..."

The next morning, sunlight streamed into the room. Song Qingshu woke to find it empty, and the opposite bed was exceptionally neat, without the slightest trace of anything having happened. He let out a long breath, wondering, Could last night have been nothing but a dream?

Then Song Qingshu's expression darkened. He noticed that the bedsheet on the opposite bed had been changed. Though the difference was slight, he clearly remembered that it was not the same one from yesterday. Why had they changed the bedsheet? Song Qingshu looked up at the sky and muttered to the air, "If you have a spirit in heaven, then you should know it isn't that your brother didn't try hard enough. It's that your wife is too... well, she's already rolled in the sheets with Zhang Wuji."

How could Song Qingshu know that the bedsheet had merely been soaked by tea the night before, and Zhou Zhiruo had changed it for a clean one?

"Qingshu, you're awake?" Zhou Zhiruo entered carrying a basin of hot water. Seeing that Song Qingshu had awakened, she wrung out a towel and handed it to him.

Song Qingshu looked at her with some disgust. He thought that this woman had done something disloyal to her husband last night, and was now showing unprecedented tenderness and consideration out of guilt.

"Why was the bedsheet changed?" Song Qingshu accepted the towel without betraying anything, though he already knew the answer.

Zhou Zhiruo guiltily glanced behind her and replied hesitantly, "It got dirty by accident, so I changed it."

"Oh~" Song Qingshu did not press further. He did not dare push her too hard either.

When Zhou Zhiruo went out to pour away the water, Song Qingshu watched her walk with a graceful sway of the waist. Perhaps it was merely the power of suggestion, but the girlish innocence seemed to have faded from her face, replaced by the first hints of a married woman's charm. An inexplicable irritation rose in his heart.

"You poor bastard, I'll definitely avenge you." Since it had already happened, he had to face it. Song Qingshu had never been one to run away from problems. But considering that he could not even defeat one of Zhou Zhiruo's disciples now, much less the peerlessly skilled Zhang Wuji, and that beneath Zhou Zhiruo's gentle appearance in the original story lay anything but a weak and kind heart, one careless move might leave him unable to avenge himself and cost him his life instead.

As he was lost in thought, a hearty laugh came from outside. "Senior Brother Song, your complexion is rosy now. It seems your injuries have nearly healed."

Song Qingshu looked up to find Zhang Wuji walking straight in. The veins at the corners of his eyes twitched as he said coldly, "What are you here for?"

Everyone present knew that Song Qingshu and Zhang Wuji had long been at odds, so no one found his tone strange. Zhang Wuji paid no mind to his attitude and instead smiled warmly. "I heard that Senior Brother Song has been troubled by his damaged meridians, so I came to see whether I might be able to offer what little help I can."

"Brother Wuji, it seems someone doesn't appreciate your kindness." At that moment, a crisp female voice, sweet and delicate, rang out. Song Qingshu had been so consumed by fury that he had not noticed Zhang Wuji's companions. Only then did he see that the woman who spoke had eyes as clear as water and a face as smooth as jade. A rosy glow colored her lovely features like drifting sunset clouds, as if a fresh flower were just beginning to bloom. She was so exquisitely beautiful that one could not help feeling inferior and unable to meet her gaze.

It was Zhao Min, speaking up because she resented Song Qingshu's sarcastic words toward the man she loved. Song Qingshu shot Zhao Min a fierce glare. Her noble status gave her an innate air of dignity that could easily make others feel inferior under her gaze, but Song Qingshu was a transmigrator, and with his hostility toward Zhang Wuji, he naturally felt no such pressure. After sizing her up, he withdrew his gaze. There was no need to quarrel over momentary pride now. Zhang Wuji truly had enviable romantic fortune, possessing two women of such peerless beauty. But when Song Qingshu thought of how Zhang Wuji already had such a beautiful County Princess and yet still came to provoke Zhou Zhiruo, his anger only grew.

When Zhao Min felt his gaze sweep over her, she had the strange sensation that she was naked and completely seen through. Extremely uncomfortable, she slipped behind Zhang Wuji, her impression of Song Qingshu worsening greatly.

"Qingshu, yesterday I heard you mention that perhaps the Four Great Divine Doctors could heal your meridians. I remembered that Sect Leader Zhang had inherited all of Hu Qingniu's medical knowledge, so I specially invited him here to see whether there might be a way to restore your meridians." As Zhou Zhiruo spoke, she did not even glance at Zhang Wuji. Even when mentioning his name, her tone was exceptionally cold. Zhao Min and the others all assumed that Zhou Zhiruo still bore resentment toward him; only Song Qingshu sneered inwardly.

"Didn't he say last time that there was no way to treat me?" Song Qingshu glanced at the two of them disdainfully.

"Senior Brother Song, I truly had no solution at the time. Afterward, I went back and searched through medical texts from every era before finding a method that may be worth trying." Zhang Wuji showed not the slightest anger. His bearing as a true gentleman made everyone inwardly give him a thumbs-up. What a modest and virtuous gentleman.

"Hm?" Song Qingshu was somewhat tempted. Ever since confirming that this was Jin Yong's martial arts world, he had been filled with ambition. Knowing the plot, the countless treasures and martial arts manuals in the world should have been as easy for him to obtain as reaching into a bag for something. But with his meridians completely ruined, all of it was no more than a reflection in water and flowers in a mirror. In these chaotic times, even if he found treasure, he could not keep it; even if he obtained secret manuals, he could not practice them. Now that he heard Zhang Wuji might be able to heal him, Song Qingshu even felt, in that instant, that if Zhang Wuji cured him, he could let the matter between him and Zhou Zhiruo go. After all, the one who had suffered the loss was that poor bastard, not him.