When Gu Chengyin stepped through the night and arrived at the bedchamber once again, most of the palace lanterns had already been extinguished.
The doors to the Crown Princess's bedchamber were left slightly ajar, with dim yellow candlelight spilling through the crack.
As expected, there was not a single female official on duty.
Gu Chengyin gently pushed the door open. The candlelight from within poured out, casting a warm yellow halo on the ground.
Having gained experience from last time, Gu Chengyin did not bother checking the side hall and headed straight for Luo Zhao's inner chamber.
Passing through the outer hall, the scene of the inner chamber came into view.
The furnishings were as familiar as ever, but Gu Chengyin's footsteps came to a halt three feet away from the bed.
He blinked, thinking he had seen it wrong.
He blinked again.
The scene remained unchanged.
Luo Zhao and Shangguan Yunying were lying side by side on the bed.
This in itself was not a problem, but the issue was...
Why were they wearing the exact same nightgowns?
The moon-white cloud brocade was soft and form-fitting, with necklines cut slightly lower than everyday wear and sleeves as wide as clouds.
Under the candlelight, the fabric shimmered with a gentle luster, looking like silk woven from condensed moonlight.
Furthermore, both of them had long hair cascading over their shoulders, spreading across the pillows like black waterfalls.
They shared the same unparalleled beauty and the same peaceful sleeping expressions.
Gu Chengyin stood by the bed, his gaze shifting back and forth between their faces. For a moment, he could hardly tell which was Luo Zhao and which was Shangguan Yunying.
Luo Zhao's features were more delicate, her contours deeper; even in sleep, she carried an innate noble air.
Shangguan Yunying's brows and eyes were softer, her lines gentler; her sleeping form resembled a defenseless little kitten.
But at this moment, as they lay side by side, the candlelight cast similar shadows across their faces, and the rhythm of their breathing was almost synchronized.
Gu Chengyin fell silent.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind.
Wasn't Shangguan Yunying supposed to be waiting for him? Why was she asleep now?
Moreover, why was she wearing the same nightgown as Luo Zhao?
What kind of game was this?
Gu Chengyin furrowed his brows slightly.
His main purpose for coming tonight was to coax Shangguan Yunying, considering how angry she had seemed during the day.
But looking at it now, Shangguan Yunying was sleeping so soundly that she didn't seem to need any coaxing.
Since that was the case, he might as well go back and cultivate.
At this thought, Gu Chengyin decisively turned around, ready to slip away.
He had just lifted his foot, not yet letting it fall.
"Gu Chengyin?"
A sleepy, somewhat groggy voice sounded from behind him.
Gu Chengyin's figure abruptly halted.
He froze in place with his back to the bed, momentarily unsure whether to keep walking or turn around.
Three breaths later, Gu Chengyin resigned himself to his fate and turned around.
On the bed, Shangguan Yunying had already sat up.
She was rubbing her eyes, her movements natural, as if she really had just been woken up.
The moon-white nightgown slipped off her shoulder with her movements, revealing a small patch of fair skin and delicate collarbones.
With her long hair draped loosely, she subconsciously raised a hand to brush it aside, her eyes still a bit hazy.
"It is me."
Gu Chengyin walked back to the bed, keeping his voice very soft.
He glanced at Luo Zhao beside her. The latter was still sleeping quietly, her breathing steady, her eyelashes not even fluttering once.
"How is Lady Jingzhe?" Shangguan Yunying asked casually.
Gu Chengyin answered truthfully, "She said her inner demons have weakened quite a bit. It was very effective."
Shangguan Yunying nodded gently, a relieved expression appearing on her face, and then... there was no then.
She sat on the bed, her hands absentmindedly gripping the brocade quilt, her gaze wandering as if she were thinking about what to say next.
Gu Chengyin waited for three breaths. Seeing that she still had no intention of speaking, he had to take the initiative to break the silence:
"Are you... still angry?"
The moment he asked this, Shangguan Yunying's eyes visibly lit up.
But she quickly covered it up.
Then she puffed out her cheeks, crossed her arms over her chest, and turned her head away, showing her profile to Gu Chengyin as she put on an adorable appearance of still being mad.
In reality, only Shangguan Yunying herself knew that she was not angry to begin with.
Or rather, whatever little anger she had felt had dissipated the moment Gu Chengyin explained things clearly.
She had just been purely displeased seeing Lin Qingyan being so intimate with Gu Chengyin.
But now that Gu Chengyin was here, it proved that he cared about her in his heart.
For Shangguan Yunying, this was enough.
After all, Gu Chengyin was not flirting with Lin Qingyan; he was handling official business!
Even if this official business was a bit improper, it was still official business!
Gu Chengyin crouched by the bed, bringing his line of sight level with Shangguan Yunying as she sat there.
This action made Shangguan Yunying pause slightly, but she did not turn her head, only glancing at Gu Chengyin from the corner of her eye.
She saw Gu Chengyin raise a hand, holding up four fingers, and say with an incredibly serious expression:
"Yunying, I swear."
"My little aunt and I are completely innocent. There is absolutely nothing going on between us."
Shangguan Yunying's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
She secretly turned her head and stole a glance at Gu Chengyin.
The moonlight filtered in through the window lattice, shining on Gu Chengyin's face and making his features look exceptionally clear in the interplay of light and shadow.
Those eyes were full of sincerity.
He was afraid she would misunderstand.
He cared about her.
This realization made a surge of warmth rise from the bottom of Shangguan Yunying's heart.
But she immediately turned back around, maintaining her angry posture, and spoke at the same time:
"I... I am not someone who makes a scene over nothing."
"As long as you kiss Her Highness once, I will forgive you."
Gu Chengyin nodded immediately:
"Alright."
One word, without the slightest hesitation.
Then he stood up and prepared to lean over and kiss Shangguan Yunying, but halfway through the motion, his entire body froze.
He blinked.
He blinked again.
His mind rapidly replayed the sentence he had just heard.
"...As long as you kiss Her Highness once."
Her Highness?
Luo Zhao?
Gu Chengyin slowly turned his head to look at Luo Zhao, who was still fast asleep beside them.
He then turned back to look at Shangguan Yunying.
The latter still had her face turned away, but the corner of her eye was clearly stealing glances at him. Her lips were slightly pursed, as if she was holding back a smile?
"You..."
Gu Chengyin opened his mouth, his voice a bit dry:
"Who did you just say to kiss?"
Shangguan Yunying finally could not hold it in anymore and burst into a fit of giggles.
But she quickly put on a straight face again, turned her head back, looked straight into Gu Chengyin's eyes, and repeated word by word:
"Kiss, Her, Highness."
She then pointed at Luo Zhao beside her:
"You are not allowed to kiss me. Kiss Her Highness once, and I will forgive you."
Gu Chengyin: "..."
He looked at Shangguan Yunying, then at Luo Zhao, his mind in a state of utter chaos.
What was this?
A punishment?
A perk?
Or was Shangguan Yunying playing some new trick?
"Yunying..."
Gu Chengyin tried to reason with her:
"Even if I hypnotized Her Highness, I cannot keep bullying her."
"Otherwise, when she wakes up, she will definitely fight me to the death."
"She will not."
Shangguan Yunying said with absolute certainty:
"It is not like I have never been hypnotized by you before. I do not remember a single thing that happened."
"As long as you do not tell, and I do not tell, who would know?"
Gu Chengyin: "..."
He stared at Shangguan Yunying for three breaths, trying to find a flaw in her expression.
But Shangguan Yunying's expression was incredibly serious, and her eyes even carried a hint of encouragement?
"Are you serious?"
s + Rent Collection Wealth】 At the start, he inherited a rundown house in the urban village from his grandfather. The house had no tenants, but the moment he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, a self-proclaimed empress from the Tianxuan Continent arrived as his first tenant. Ye Chuan soon discovered that with every new tenant moving in, not only did he receive massive daily payments, but he also obtained unique items related to their backgrounds. 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Tiger Strength Pill—dramatically enhances physical power!】 【Acquired Bai Qianshuang’s related item: Deer Blood Pill—significantly boosts vitality!】 …… From that day on, all sorts of bizarre tenants began appearing in the house: the empress from Tianxuan Continent, an apocalyptic sorceress from the Magic Realm, a mysterious scientific girl who fell through a spacetime rift… Every single day, he received strange, powerful items and endless money. Then one day, he suddenly realized—he had become invincible. Enough, enough! Stop giving me more!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
u Chenyuan transmigrated into a female-oriented novel about a real and fake heiress, becoming the CEO elder brother of both. Unfortunately, the entire Lu family—including himself, the CEO—were mere cannon fodder in the story. Determined to save himself, Lu Chenyuan took action. The spoiled, attention-seeking fake heiress? Thrown into the harsh realities of the working class to learn humility. The love-struck real heiress? Pushed toward academic excellence, so lofty goals would blind her to trivial romances. As for the betrayed, vengeful arranged marriage wife… the plot hadn’t even begun yet. There was still time—if he couldn’t handle her, he could at least avoid her. "CEO Lu, are you avoiding me?" Mo Qingli fixed her gaze on Lu Chenyuan. For the first time, the shrewd and calculating Lu Chenyuan felt a flicker of unease.
