PPPP

Luo Zhao’s eyes narrowed slightly.

But she said nothing.

She did not even let her gaze linger on Lin Qingyan for a moment longer. Her eyes simply swept past her with calm indifference.

As if she were looking at a piece of furniture that was not worth paying attention to.

Luo Zhao’s gaze shifted to Gu Chengyin, her expression still the flawless standard expression of a Crown Princess.

Neither distant nor intimate, neither cold nor warm, neither servile nor overbearing.

It was as though nothing had happened on the third floor.

As though she had never called him “Master,” never blushed, never hidden beneath the covers like an ostrich.

There was nothing between the two of them. Everything was clean and proper.

They were simply a Crown Princess and her Royal Tutor maintaining the most ordinary relationship imaginable.

Maintaining the poise expected of a Crown Princess, Luo Zhao walked over and stopped three steps away from them.

“It’s getting late. I should return to the palace.”

Every word she spoke was crisp and precise, like a diplomatic statement she had carefully rehearsed.

“As for the matters concerning the Taihe Battle, I’ll urge the Ministry of Internal Affairs to handle them properly.”

After saying this, she tilted her head slightly and shot Gu Chengyin a meaningful look.

Then Luo Zhao withdrew her gaze and turned to leave.

Her movements were elegant, every detail impeccable.

The hem of her dress lifted lightly as she turned, tracing a graceful arc across the floor.

But at that moment, Lin Qingyan suddenly reached out and grabbed Luo Zhao.

The movement was so swift that Luo Zhao did not even have time to react.

Or rather, it was so unexpected that Luo Zhao had never imagined Lin Qingyan would do such a thing.

Her hand shot directly out from Gu Chengyin’s embrace and seized Luo Zhao by the wrist with pinpoint accuracy.

Luo Zhao turned around and looked at Lin Qingyan in confusion.

Her brows drew together slightly—not by much, but enough to make her bewilderment clear.

First, she glanced at the wrist Lin Qingyan was holding. Then she looked at Lin Qingyan’s face.

Her lips parted slightly, as though she wanted to say something, but she swallowed the words back down.

Luo Zhao waited, waiting for Lin Qingyan to give her a reason.

Why had she stopped her? Why would she not let her leave? And what exactly was she planning to do?

Lin Qingyan did not speak right away.

After grabbing Luo Zhao, she first turned her head and glanced at Shangguan Yunying beside her.

Shangguan Yunying stood there quietly, like an orchid growing silently in a corner.

She had not said a word from the moment they came downstairs.

It was not that she did not want to speak. She simply had no idea what she could say.

Everything that had happened on the third floor—the absurdity, the outrageousness, the blush-inducing scenes—still revolved in her mind like a flock of startled birds, beating their wings desperately and refusing to leave.

Shangguan Yunying was doing her best to maintain a calm expression, but in truth, her mind was already a complete muddle.

When she noticed Lin Qingyan looking at her, her lashes trembled faintly. She lowered her eyes and avoided the other woman’s gaze.

Lin Qingyan withdrew her eyes and looked back at Luo Zhao, the corners of her lips slowly curving upward.

Her smile was gentle, as gentle as a spring breeze.

But there was something hidden inside it that made Luo Zhao’s back tense instinctively.

“Zhao’er, you’re all alone in the Crown Princess’s Palace. Won’t it be awfully lonely when you go back?”

“Why don’t you stay here tonight?”

Luo Zhao’s brows drew together even more tightly.

Her first reaction was to refuse.

She should refuse. She had to refuse. There was no reason whatsoever not to.

The miserable state Lin Qingyan had reduced her to earlier was still fresh in her mind.

If she stayed the night, who knew what this aunt of hers might do?

Luo Zhao was not foolish enough to knowingly leap into a pit of fire.

But Lin Qingyan did not give her a chance to refuse.

Having said this, Lin Qingyan turned her head and cast Gu Chengyin a glance.

There was amusement in that glance, along with a teasing look and a hint of pride, as if she were asking to be praised.

Her eyes danced with the excitement of someone preparing a particularly entertaining game.

Then Lin Qingyan turned back to Luo Zhao, her smile deepening.

“Besides, the bed in the Meditation Pagoda is big enough. Four people can sleep on it comfortably.”

Silence.

That suffocating sort of silence once again.

This was not the stunned silence from before, frozen in place by shock and disbelief.

This was the kind of silence in which no one knew how to respond.

It was like someone suddenly telling an inappropriate joke during a solemn court assembly.

Everyone wanted to laugh but dared not. Everyone wanted to say something but had no idea what.

All they could do was remain awkwardly silent and wait for someone to break the deadlock.

Luo Zhao’s face reddened at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Her lips pressed together and then parted, only to press together again, as if she were engaged in one final struggle with her emotions.

She fought desperately not to let the words at the tip of her tongue spill out.

Four people?

Which four people?

Her, Gu Chengyin, Lin Qingyan, and Shangguan Yunying?

Four people sleeping on one bed?

Something seemed to explode inside Luo Zhao’s mind, crackling and popping as sparks flew in every direction.

The images she had forcibly suppressed all came surging back at once.

Like a pack of starving wolves, they pounced upon her reason, tearing and devouring it.

They gnawed the psychological defenses she had painstakingly built into a hopeless wreck.

Luo Zhao’s ears turned so red they looked ready to bleed.

She opened her mouth a few times, wanting to say something, but not a single word came out.

It was not that she did not want to speak. She simply had no idea what to say.

Agree?

What would that make her?

Refuse?

Wouldn’t all the restraint she had shown earlier have been for nothing?

Luo Zhao drew a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

After that, she turned her eyes toward Gu Chengyin.

Her meaning was complicated: there was a plea for help, helplessness, and even the tiniest sliver of… anticipation.

Gu Chengyin: “…”

He felt that he might need to reassess the situation.

He had originally thought that eloping had finally appeased Lin Qingyan.

He had thought that, at long last, he would be able to spend the evening quietly sorting out his thoughts and make his final preparations for the Taihe Battle two days from now.

But it seemed he had been far too naïve.

Lin Qingyan had never been the sort of person who could be appeased.

She only jumped from one outrageous idea to another, even more outrageous one.

And now, her latest outrageous idea was: PPPP.

Gu Chengyin looked at Lin Qingyan. She was smiling at Luo Zhao, the smugness of a successful prank gleaming in her eyes.

Then he looked at Luo Zhao. Her face was still red, and so were her ears. Her lips were pressed together ever so slightly.

Her fingers were unconsciously twisting the edge of her sleeve, and she looked like a little cat that wanted to run away but was reluctant to leave.

Then he looked at Shangguan Yunying. She still wore that same quiet expression.

But it seemed she had been inspired by something and was now brewing a new mischievous idea.

Three women, three different states, three different thoughts.

And all three of their gazes were fixed on him.

Gu Chengyin suddenly felt that, compared to this, the Taihe Battle would be a piece of cake.

No matter how powerful a Golden Core cultivator was, none of them could be as difficult to deal with as any one of these women.

But since things had already come to this, Gu Chengyin decided he would no longer indulge Lin Qingyan.

So he first wrapped an arm around Lin Qingyan’s waist, then looked at Luo Zhao and asked,

“Your Highness, would you like to see your aunt crying and begging for mercy?”

Lin Qingyan: “Huh?!”