“Because… before it flared up, I would pleasure myself to your portrait, Minister Cui.”
The woman’s words lingered like a fairy’s whisper in his ears, leaving Cui Wangshu’s heart in turmoil, her breathing even more disordered.
However, such panic did not last long, as the Mid-Autumn sacrificial rites were fast approaching.
That morning at court, the Emperor inquired again about the Mid-Autumn preparations. Cui Wangshu had everything arranged properly; they just awaited the day itself.
The Cui family harbored wild ambitions, wielding immense power in the court. Even though some of the Emperor’s faction disliked the father-daughter duo, most of the court ministers were still under the Cui family’s control.
Lately, the Cui family had been paving the way for Prince Cheng’s return to the capital. Currently, with the Empress Dowager’s influence dominant in the court and Prince Sui’s forces in the Yellow Path Palace matter utterly uprooted, the situation was ripe.
Cui Wangshu had asked Jiang Chenbi if framing Prince Sui with the Yellow Path Palace was unwise. Jiang Chenbi had blinked and informed her that Prince Sui was afflicted with Love Gu.
Cui Wangshu understood. Prince Sui had already been sidelined, and the ministers who were removed were simply replaced with even more loyal ones.
The only exception was the Northern Frontier army, which now lay entirely in Jiang Chenbi’s hands.
Meanwhile, the Yellow Path Palace had gathered those demonic cultivators and strange experts scattered among the common folk and as advisors to court heavyweights.
Cui Wangshu was astonished at the extent of Jiang Chenbi’s hidden influence; she always felt as if everyone around her belonged to Jiang Chenbi.
On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Jiang Chenbi said she wanted to meet the person who had treated Cui Wangshu.
After much deliberation, Cui Wangshu brought the man to her: Wang Lao.
In Xiaoyun Pavilion, Jiang Chenbi idly toyed with Cui Wangshu’s Onyx Iron Fan. Half a shichen later, she finally met the so-called “Wang Lao.”
Jiang Chenbi sized up the spirited old man before her. His shrewd eyes reminded her momentarily of that old fox Liu Xuan.
She wondered where Liu Xuan had gone after his tribulation transcendence.
Wang Lao was also scrutinizing Jiang Chenbi.
The woman before him had a beautiful face and dignified bearing, exuding an air of a mother to the world—befitting someone who had been Empress for half a year. Yet, upon closer inspection, she carried a hint of the soft allure typical of Southern Frontier women.
Wang Lao sat down and asked, “I’ve long admired your name, Huangdao Palace Lord. How fares Ma Gu Po?”
Jiang Chenbi raised an eyebrow, her vermilion lips parting: “My master… passed away years ago.”
Wang Lao’s hand trembled as he held his wine cup, spilling a few drops, though his face remained composed: “Is that so? How… did she die?”
Jiang Chenbi harbored some suspicions and feigned sorrow: “Master… was poisoned to death and now rests in Huan’an Mountain in the Southern Frontier. Could it be… you were old acquaintances?”
She hoped her master would forgive her irreverent lie; she was only trying to rekindle their past connection, after all.
If Ma Gu Po heard her “good disciple” say such a thing, she would have surely broken Jiang Chenbi’s legs with her cane.
Wang Lao’s lips twitched, but he said nothing. Seizing his distraction, Jiang Chenbi lowered her voice: “How did you determine that Minister Cui’s Gu poison came from my master?”
There were many kinds of Love Gu; the Poison Gu Sect alone had over a hundred varieties, and the differences between them were subtle. The one Jiang Chenbi had implanted in Cui Wangshu was a hybrid, concealed among various strains.
Most people would diagnose it as the traditional Love Gu.
If she was not mistaken, Cui Wangshu had learned of the Love Gu first, triggering its outbreak, rather than being diagnosed after symptoms appeared.
Thinking of Cui Wangshu’s resistance to the Love Gu, a surge of irritation welled up in Jiang Chenbi’s chest.
Wang Lao took a sip of wine and glanced lightly at Jiang Chenbi: “You don’t need to know.”
Recalling Cui Wangshu’s condition, Wang Lao frowned: “She shouldn’t have been afflicted with Love Gu. You’ll ruin her.”
Jiang Chenbi arched a brow, her eyes glinting darkly beneath a false smile: “Oh?”
Wang Lao knew the Yellow Path Palace belonged to Jiang Chenbi and that she held the Northern Frontier troops. Yet he wondered: with her capabilities, why did she not simply become Empress herself? Why help Cui Wangshu?
Love?
Wang Lao sneered. Southern Frontier women were the most heartless.
He asked, “Her emotional desires are incomplete. Forcibly drawing them out will drive her mad.”
Jiang Chenbi fell silent. She knew what “mad” meant in Wang Lao’s words.
Seeing her quiet, Wang Lao mocked: “What exactly are you trying to do? Why prop her up to the throne?”
Jiang Chenbi narrowed her eyes, her emotions unreadable.
After a long pause, she sneered coldly: “Her emotional desires are incomplete, yet you refuse to treat her, letting her languish alone in that barren, desolate world. What right do you have to accuse me?”
Jiang Chenbi’s emotions flared briefly before she masked them: “All I’ve done is give her the emotions of a normal person. You can’t even resolve a single Love Gu— what makes you think I’m wrong?”
Wang Lao glared: “You—!”
“Ignorant child, don’t think that picking up a few parlor tricks from Ma Gu Po makes you a master healer. I’ve been managing her condition for years. What do you know?”
As tension crackled between them, Jiang Chenbi defused first, her expression shifting to a smile: “Very well, please enlighten me, Wang Lao.”
Wang Lao snorted coldly: “Her vital energy is depleted. A life without emotion or desire is best for her. All these years, she has lacked the ability to process those feelings. If she becomes entangled in emotional and desirous struggles, do you know what her personality would drive her to do?”
Jiang Chenbi knew. Cui Wangshu had issues processing emotions; hints had appeared during the Zhang Sanshui incident.
She claimed to be at peace, but deep down, she could not let it go. She hated losing control most of all. Without guidance in those moments, she regressed like a child, lashing out.
Sober afterward, she could not accept her “madness,” leaning heavily toward self-destruction.
Damn Cui Daoyuan…
Jiang Chenbi gritted her teeth. She would make Cui Daoyuan suffer a fate worse than death. She definitely would…
Jiang Chenbi bit her lip: “I know, but… if she lacks those abilities, can’t they be taught? Cui Daoyuan ruined her… I’m not the one ruining her. I’m teaching her.”
Wang Lao frowned and suddenly examined Jiang Chenbi closely.
Seeing her eyes held no deception, he realized she truly believed this.
But what gave Jiang Chenbi the right to stubbornly insist that Cui Wangshu needed normal human emotions, or to position herself as a savior?
Wang Lao sighed: “Have you asked her opinion? Does she even need it?”
“If you hadn’t appeared, if you hadn’t implanted the Love Gu without permission, her path was already laid. She could have lived a bland life, free from emotional torment, remaining the lofty Minister of Rites, no?”
Wang Lao’s words struck like thunder, freezing Jiang Chenbi in place.
But she was unwilling…
She refused to let Cui Wangshu and herself pass their lives without intersection. She had orchestrated this grand chessboard with painstaking effort. If Cui Wangshu wished it, she could hand her the highest seat.
She would not allow Cui Wangshu to marry and bear children with another. The mere thought of someone else at Cui Wangshu’s side made her want to tear them to shreds.
They were meant to be together… they had only been separated for a few years midway.
Cui Wangshu… her A Wan had been hers from the moment she emerged from her mother’s womb. Even as Cui Wangshu, she was hers.
Madness brewed in Jiang Chenbi’s eyes as she sank into obsessive fervor.
Wang Lao noticed something off and frowned: “Palace Lord Jiang?”
Jiang Chenbi blinked, suppressing her emotions, and took a light sip of wine with breezy calm: “I’ll ask her opinion. If she prefers a bland life like a chess piece, I won’t force it.”
Wang Lao frowned distrustfully; he doubted she would let it go easily.
But Jiang Chenbi said no more, so Wang Lao warned: “Remember your promise.”
Jiang Chenbi finally looked up, smiling sweetly: “Of course. We all want the best for Minister Cui. It’s merely the throne. If she doesn’t want it, I can prop up a puppet. Great Zhao… no, Da Yong will always be hers.”
A chill crept up Wang Lao’s back, like a venomous snake coiling overhead.
This woman was truly mad.
Casually, Wang Lao probed: “The Northern Frontier troops alone aren’t enough, are they? Prince Cheng is returning to the capital soon. If the Cui family arranges a marriage with Wangshu and controls him with Gu worms, then the armies…”
Jiang Chenbi stared at Wang Lao, her smile unchanged, as if she hadn’t heard: “What?”
Wang Lao opened his mouth, but before he could repeat himself, a cold, slimy sensation drenched his arm. Looking down, he nearly fainted.
Somehow, a small snake had silently coiled around his wrist, fangs poised mere inches from his skin.
!!! So there really was a snake!! Not just a feeling!
Jiang Chenbi still smiled as she asked: “What did you say? I didn’t catch it.”
Wang Lao swallowed hard, forcing the first smile of the night: “Nothing. You misheard.”
Jiang Chenbi nodded with a smile: “Yes, my hearing isn’t great.”
Only then did the suffocating pressure on his arm ease.
Jiang Chenbi raised her cup: “Look, we’ve been so caught up chatting that I forgot you’re an important elder to Minister Cui. I’ve always respected you. Here’s to you.”
Wang Lao clinked cups with her, his heart still racing.
Did she really respect him?
If he wasn’t mistaken, that was a Southern Frontier Leaf Snake. One bite, and death came in moments—no saving it.
They fell silent, discussing Cui Wangshu’s condition a bit more before Jiang Chenbi prepared to leave.
Before departing, she pulled a medicine box from her bosom and smiled: “A meeting gift. Watch your words in the future, Wang Lao.”
Wang Lao watched her retreating figure, then opened the box and gasped.
This… this was a Soul Preserving Pill?
The genuine article, refined with Drought Fiend Heart’s Blood!
What kind of person was this Jiang Chenbi?
Was a mere Huangdao Palace Lord this formidable?
If he knew Cui Wangshu and Jiang Chenbi had treated Soul Preserving Pills like snacks in the imperial mausoleum, he would lose his mind.
Back at the Shangshu Residence.
Cui Wangshu sat in the main hall, idly flipping through a book to pass the time. Jiang Chenbi’s lips curved as she approached, plucked the book from her hands, and settled into her lap.
Cui Wangshu instinctively wrapped her arms around Jiang Chenbi’s slender waist.
The maids, long accustomed to this, kept their heads down.
“Were you waiting for me, my lord?”
Jiang Chenbi’s nose brushed Cui Wangshu’s cheek, her gaze intense.
Cui Wangshu narrowed her eyes: “It seems… you desire it?”
With that, Cui Wangshu scooped Jiang Chenbi into a princess carry and headed to the bedroom.
Once inside, she set Jiang Chenbi down and fixed her with a stare: “You met Wang Lao. What did you discuss?”
