Empress Dowager Guo was blindfolded and gagged. At the sound, she turned her head and made two muffled noises. What she said was unclear, but her expression was plainly unhappy. Xie Jinhuan could scarcely help himself, yet noticing that Sister Guo's qi meridians seemed sealed, he grew somewhat puzzled. After a moment's thought, he went over and first removed her gag.
"Sister Guo, did you seal your qi meridians to put yourself entirely at my mercy? Then I won't stand on ceremony..."
"How dare you!"
While fighting Mei Conggao earlier, Empress Dowager Guo had carelessly let herself be knocked unconscious with a pressure-point strike. When she woke, she found herself in this utterly shameful state, her qi meridians sealed tight with Seven-Star Nails. Fury burned within her. Seeing Xie Jinhuan's wandering hands, she frowned.
"It's a long story. Untie me first."
His eyes full of puzzlement, Xie Jinhuan asked,
"You didn't do this yourself, Sister Guo? Then who did? You're Northern Zhou's Goddess of War..."
Empress Dowager Guo was momentarily speechless.
After all, losing a fight to Mei Conggao was humiliating enough. If she told Xie Jinhuan too, wouldn't her image as an imposing queen collapse completely? She hesitated for an instant, then merely said,
"Yuehua came by earlier. When I came back, I ended up like this. Who knows what madness got into that wretched girl..."
"Really?"
Xie Jinhuan was dubious, though he had no mind to investigate the cause just then. He simply comforted her.
"Perhaps Yuehua felt sorry for me and wanted to give me a surprise. Don't be angry, Sister Guo. Mm... speaking of which, we agreed last time that once we got out, I'd use my real body to help you recover. We don't have anything else to do right now..."
Empress Dowager Guo squirmed,