Jiang Ci swallowed the food in her mouth with difficulty and asked, “This is what she left behind, isn’t it?”
Cui Wangshu glanced at her faintly and said, “Don’t waste food.”
Jiang Ci: “……”
A person steeped in extravagance actually spouted such nonsense.
Jiang Ci grinned lecherously. “Dumplings bitten by Jiang Chenbi—got you all dazed with delight, huh?”
Cui Wangshu narrowed her eyes. “Your expression is disgusting.”
Jiang Ci rolled her eyes and continued eating her buns.
After dinner, Cui Wangshu went to look for Jiang Chenbi, who had vanished somewhere earlier.
After searching for a while, she found her standing by the railing on the second floor. Moonlight softly illuminated her face, making the already pallid woman look as if she might collapse at any moment. A gentle breeze brushed her cheeks, tousling a few stray strands of hair.
Cui Wangshu lightened her breathing, afraid to disturb her, and walked over to Jiang Chenbi’s side. She softly asked, “What are you thinking about?”
Jiang Chenbi turned to look at her, her gaze somewhat scattered and dazed. She stared at Cui Wangshu’s lips and said, her voice fluctuating in volume, “What did you say? I didn’t hear you clearly just now.”
Cui Wangshu repeated herself. Jiang Chenbi fixed her eyes intently on the movement of her lips and only after a long moment replied, “Nothing.”
Cui Wangshu said no more and quietly accompanied her as they enjoyed the evening breeze.
After some time, Jiang Chenbi turned back, somewhat absentmindedly staring at Cui Wangshu’s lips. Her voice was louder as she said, “I’m a bit tired. I want to go back and rest early.”
Cui Wangshu’s brows furrowed slightly; she found Jiang Chenbi’s inappropriate volume odd, but she nodded anyway. “I’ll walk you back.”
Jiang Chenbi grabbed her arm, an apologetic look on her face. “I’ll head back to Qingcang Mountain later. You go first.”
Cui Wangshu’s probing gaze swept over her face. Seeing that Jiang Chenbi kept staring at her lips without speaking, she made a soft “mm” sound.
But Jiang Chenbi showed no reaction, as if still waiting for her to speak. Cui Wangshu narrowed her eyes, opened her mouth, and enunciated slowly, word by word, “You can’t hear.”
She wasn’t asking Jiang Chenbi; she was stating it as fact.
Jiang Chenbi studied her lip movements for a long time before realizing what she had said. She paused, then replied, unable to control her volume, “I can hear.”
A cold smile tugged at Cui Wangshu’s lips. She pulled Jiang Chenbi close and deliberately sped up her speech. “Then lift the Love Gu from me, alright?”
She slowed down the final three words—”alright?”—allowing Jiang Chenbi to make them out. A flicker of struggle passed through her eyes, as if she were trying to guess what the previous sentence had been.
Unable to figure it out, she could only hesitate and say, “Alright.”
Cui Wangshu’s lips curled in a cold smirk. Her gaze slid over Jiang Chenbi’s ears, her eyes darkening imperceptibly. She pointed downward. Jiang Chenbi turned to look in that direction.
In the next instant, a sharp palm strike landed on the side of her neck, and Jiang Chenbi’s body went limp as she lost consciousness.
Cui Wangshu caught her in her arms, her expression unsightly. As she left, she ran into Jiang Ci, who was out for a stroll to aid digestion.
Jiang Ci blinked and asked, “What’s wrong with her?”
Cui Wangshu subtly pulled Jiang Chenbi closer into her embrace, blocking Jiang Ci’s view of her face. “She’s asleep. I’ll take her back.”
Jiang Ci scratched the back of her head, baffled by whatever game the two were playing.
Back at the residence, Cui Wangshu cleaned Jiang Chenbi’s body and changed her into nightclothes before carrying her to bed.
Lying on her side at the edge of the bed, Cui Wangshu propped her chin up with one hand and stared fixedly at Jiang Chenbi. Her pupils were already darker than most people’s, and in the dim night light, her unblinking gaze gave her an eerie, sinister air.
Those pitch-black eyes fixed on Jiang Chenbi, filled with complex emotions—doubt, worry, and a faint, barely perceptible anger.
Time ticked by. The moon slowly climbed to its zenith, and the room was so quiet that only their breathing could be heard.
Jiang Chenbi frowned and slowly woke up. Her neck ached; before she could reach to rub it, her eyes met Cui Wangshu’s inky black stare.
Startled, Jiang Chenbi broke out in a cold sweat. She instinctively pushed herself up to retreat, only to find Cui Wangshu’s arm still firmly around her waist, holding her in place.
As her senses returned, she glanced around in lingering shock and realized where she was.
She swallowed and turned to look at Cui Wangshu.
The woman’s face was expressionless, just staring at her motionlessly.
Jiang Chenbi took a breath, not daring to speak— she still couldn’t hear a thing.
Finally, Cui Wangshu moved.
Her fingers twitched, untying the sash. Her tone was cold. “Still can’t hear?”
Jiang Chenbi could sense the low pressure in the room and knew what Cui Wangshu wanted, but she had no mind for such things right now. Nor did she want to endure lovemaking that stemmed only from venting anger, devoid of desire.
She shrank back, turning her face away, and instinctively pleaded softly, “Don’t touch me…”
The moment the words left her lips, the atmosphere froze.
Cui Wangshu paused, making no further moves. Jiang Chenbi panicked under her stare and belatedly realized what she had said.
Cui Wangshu leaned closer, her cool nose brushing Jiang Chenbi’s neck. After a moment, her voice low and icy, she said, “You’re avoiding me?”
Jiang Chenbi couldn’t hear her, which only heightened her panic. The unknown danger felt like a sword hanging over her head.
The woman’s cool nose tip was like a viper’s flickering tongue, poised to strike her vulnerable neck at any second.
Cui Wangshu turned Jiang Chenbi’s face toward her. That expressionless face carried even more oppressive force than usual.
Forced to meet her gaze, Jiang Chenbi watched the displeasure in her eyes slowly turn to amusement, desire rising and sending a chill down her spine.
No one knew better than Jiang Chenbi what that look meant.
Cui Wangshu slowed her speech so Jiang Chenbi could read her lips. “Avoiding me, deceiving me.”
Jiang Chenbi didn’t know what to say. She opened her mouth, struggling for a long time before managing, “It’s just temporary…”
She knew this woman’s temper—unpredictable, calm and indifferent about most things, but nearly obsessive when it came to them.
Avoiding her, deceiving her, rejecting her… all would anger her.
Cui Wangshu stared at Jiang Chenbi, a destructive urge rising in her heart. She wanted to ravage her thoroughly, make her never dare push her away again under any circumstances.
In the past, she wouldn’t have cared about Jiang Chenbi’s feelings. But ever since understanding her own heart, besides still wanting to make her cry out in ecstasy, she felt a newfound tenderness.
She couldn’t bear to see her suffer, yet she was angry. And with Jiang Chenbi unable to hear, Cui Wangshu felt like she was punching cotton.
After a long standoff, Cui Wangshu couldn’t bear seeing her lost and helpless expression. She softened first, releasing her hold and rolling off the bed.
Jiang Chenbi’s heart jolted. Thinking she was being left behind, she instinctively grabbed Cui Wangshu’s sleeve.
Cui Wangshu paused and looked down at her. That deathly pale face wore a pitiful expression.
With a resigned sigh in her heart, Cui Wangshu bent down, scooped her up horizontally, and carried her to the desk.
Sitting in the chair, Cui Wangshu picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and gestured for her to write. Jiang Chenbi shifted, wanting to get down.
Cui Wangshu pressed her waist and gave her a faint, downward glance.
“……” Jiang Chenbi stilled, silently taking the brush. After hesitating, she wrote a line on the paper:
It happened before. It’s temporary. It’ll recover by tomorrow.
Cui Wangshu’s eyes scanned the words, emotions swirling unclearly in her gaze. After a long moment, she wrote another line:
What caused it?
Jiang Chenbi pursed her lips and wrote:
Imperial Mausoleum.
Cui Wangshu narrowed her eyes. Could it be that bianzhong…
She closed her eyes, an uncontrollable wave of self-blame surging in her heart. Cui Wangshu rested her forehead against Jiang Chenbi’s back, her arms wrapping tightly around her waist.
Jiang Chenbi pursed her lips, placing her palm over Cui Wangshu’s hand, threading their fingers together.
As if silently telling her: It’s fine.
Cui Wangshu tightened her arms briefly, then lifted her head after a long while. She kissed Jiang Chenbi’s shoulder through her clothes.
On the paper, she wrote: I’ll have Wang Lao come to Luozhou.
Jiang Chenbi lowered her gaze to the words, her lips curving soundlessly, though no mirth reached her eyes.
……
The next morning, a letter was sent to the Capital City. At the same time, another confidential missive arrived in Luozhou—the Emperor’s approval.
Cui Wangshu looked at the Emperor’s decree. As expected, it had passed. But her current worry was Jiang Chenbi’s condition. That morning, her hearing still hadn’t recovered, and she stubbornly returned to Qingcang Mountain.
Though she desperately wanted to keep Jiang Chenbi by her side to care for her, Cui Wangshu knew Yellow Path Palace was more suitable for her situation right now. Besides, once the decree arrived, preparations for the Myriad Nations Conference would begin.
Cui Wangshu specifically instructed Ying Lan to notify her immediately of any developments. Whenever she had free time, she would visit Qingcang Mountain.
Glancing at the decree in her hand, Cui Wangshu rose, prepared a carriage, and set out to find Wang Jin.
Meanwhile, at Yellow Path Palace on Qingcang Mountain.
Ying Lan watched Jiang Chenbi worriedly. The Palace Lord had suddenly gone deaf, and they knew it stemmed from the Imperial Mausoleum, but the exact cause remained unclear.
Jiang Chenbi opened her eyes and switched to her other hand to take her pulse. After a long while, she fetched silver needles and administered acupuncture to herself. She had diagnosed herself the previous time she lost her hearing.
Back then, her hearing had recovered quickly, so she hadn’t pinpointed the cause. This time, with it persisting, she finally identified it.
She had suspected before that the deafness wasn’t from external injury, but poison.
This outbreak confirmed it—it was indeed poison. Jiang Chenbi narrowed her eyes in thought. When had she been poisoned?
Her gaze shifted as she recalled the Bone-Eroding Acid dripping from the bianzhong. In the urgency, she had focused on excising the corroded flesh to stop the acid’s spread, forgetting to check if it contained poison.
Though it would take time and repeated efforts, fortunately, she had a way to detoxify it.
Jiang Chenbi breathed a sigh of relief and continued her acupuncture.
As the needles pierced her skin, her arm gradually turned bluish-purple. The Poison Blood was forced to her arm. She took a dagger, singed it over a flame, avoided the artery, and sliced open a cut, draining all the toxic blood.
Having lost too much blood, Jiang Chenbi’s face grew even paler, her lips bloodless.
Seeing the black blood gradually turn red, she finally staunched the flow. The poison had lingered in her body for a long time; it couldn’t be cleared all at once.
Thinking of the medicinal meals she’d have to eat to replenish the lost blood, Jiang Chenbi’s stomach began to ache.
Ying Lan, seeing her troubled expression, could guess the reason and secretly pondered how to get Cui Wangshu to supervise her eating them.
