After receiving it, Luo Zhao gave it a cursory glance.
Her brows knitted together, but she said nothing. Instead, she handed the new whereabouts report to Lin Qingyan beside her.
Lin Qingyan accepted it quickly. Her gaze settled on the report.
She read from the first character to the last, then from the last back to the first. After that, she read through it once more from beginning to end.
Lin Qingyan’s expression shifted from calm to focused, from focused to astonished, and from astonished to gritting her teeth.
From gritting her teeth to… still gritting her teeth.
“Damn it. Chengcheng has never knelt on one knee for me.”
Lin Qingyan’s lips puckered slightly, though she did not seem genuinely angry.
Rather, she looked jealous. Cui Zilu had actually received something even she had never gotten.
When Lin Qingyan reached the part of the report stating that Cui Zilu had merely kissed Gu Chengyin on the cheek and had not made any more intimate advances, she finally relaxed.
Her expression changed from gritting her teeth to relieved, from relieved to calm, and from calm to one that seemed to say, You know your place.
“It seems Cui Zilu is quite clever after all. Then let her assist you properly, Zhao'er.”
Lin Qingyan knew that Cui Zilu liked Gu Chengyin, and she also knew why Cui Zilu had returned this time.
But she did not care.
As long as Cui Zilu knew what she should and should not do, Lin Qingyan would leave her alone. A kiss on the cheek was basically the limit.
Any further would be crossing the line, issuing a provocation, and courting death.
Cui Zilu had not done anything foolish, so she was very smart.
Seeing Lin Qingyan being so lively and expressive, Luo Zhao found it rather amusing.
By comparison, she almost wished Cui Zilu would do more.
Preferably, enough to draw all of Lin Qingyan’s attention away. That way, Luo Zhao could carry out her own plans more safely.
“All right, Auntie. Zilu should be on her way to see me now. I just don’t know where he’ll go afterward.”
The first half of her sentence sounded perfectly normal—so normal that it resembled a work report.
As the newly appointed Chief Female Official, Cui Zilu would certainly have to report to Luo Zhao. That much had already been decided.
But the second half sounded different. It resembled someone who was eager to know the answer yet deliberately pretending to ask casually.
After all, the whereabouts report had ended the moment Gu Chengyin and Cui Zilu parted ways.
Where Gu Chengyin had gone next would not be known until another report arrived.
There was also another way to find out: Lin Qingyan knew where Gu Chengyin would go.
Thus, Luo Zhao asked tentatively. After all, compared with the others, her aunt understood Gu Chengyin better.
Lin Qingyan gave Luo Zhao a knowing, faintly teasing look.
“This is only the first day, and you already miss Chengcheng? Are you afraid he’ll go out and flirt with someone else?”
Luo Zhao froze. A faint blush spread across her face as she turned away and stubbornly replied, “I-I don’t miss him.”
Lin Qingyan looked at Luo Zhao’s clearly reluctant yet stubbornly coy expression.
The curve of her lips deepened, and her expression shifted from teasing to something far more mischievous.
“So Zhao'er doesn’t miss him after all? Then are you going back to the Crown Princess’s Palace tonight?”
That left Luo Zhao speechless, caught between two impossible choices.
Normally speaking, once today’s affairs were over, she really should return to the Crown Princess’s Palace.
The Crown Princess had her own palace, her own bedchamber, her own bed and bedding, as well as her own habits and schedule.
Luo Zhao had lived in the Crown Princess’s Palace for many years and rarely spent the night elsewhere.
Spending one night in Lin Qingyan’s Tranquil Heart Pagoda might be a little strange.
But given her relationship with Lin Qingyan, no one would say anything—nor would anyone dare to.
So it was perfectly normal.
But what if it became two nights? Three? Four?
If that happened, those people hiding in the shadows, watching her every move and listening to every word she said—
those who tried to find something they could use against her in every decision she made—
would certainly have something to say.
Rumors and gossip would inevitably spread through the streets and alleys of the Divine Capital.
Though they would not cause any real harm, they would be incredibly annoying.
Like flies buzzing relentlessly around her ears.
But if that was the reason Luo Zhao truly had to return to the Crown Princess’s Palace…
To be honest, she was not particularly willing.
Why should she?
Why could Lin Qingyan and Shangguan Yunying enjoy themselves together while she had nothing?
Why should she be left alone to guard the empty Crown Princess’s Palace, the empty bedchamber, and the empty bed?
Just because she was the Crown Princess?
That was unfair!
So Luo Zhao wanted a share as well.
Whatever Lin Qingyan had, she wanted. Whatever Shangguan Yunying had, she wanted too!
Lin Qingyan saw the conflict in Luo Zhao’s expression.
She set down the whereabouts report, turned slightly, and leaned a little closer to Luo Zhao.
Her beautiful eyes gleamed with the unmistakable look of someone who had already seen through everything. The corners of her lips curved into a mischievous smile.
“So Zhao'er really can’t bear to leave him? Is it Chengcheng you can’t bear to part with, or is it being bullied that you can’t bear to give up?”
Luo Zhao’s face turned scarlet.
“Auntie!”
Her voice was an embarrassed, indignant whine—the kind that came from having one’s feelings exposed and being too flustered to deny them.
Looking at Luo Zhao, who was both shy and irritated, wanting to argue but unable to find the words, Lin Qingyan finally burst out laughing.
She reached out and ruffled Luo Zhao’s hair, saying gently, “All right, all right. I won’t tease you anymore. How about this?”
Lin Qingyan suddenly seemed to think of something. The flash of inspiration on her face made her look remarkably like Shangguan Yunying.
She first glanced around, her eyes sweeping over the busy female officials, guards, and servants one by one.
After confirming that no one was paying attention to them, she leaned closer to Luo Zhao and lowered her voice.
“Tonight, we’ll sleep separately and see whom Chengcheng goes to first after he returns. What do you think?”
The suggestion made Luo Zhao’s heart stir.
This was not merely a question of who came first.
It was a question of who mattered more, and whom Gu Chengyin held closest in his heart.
If Gu Chengyin went to Lin Qingyan first, it would mean that Lin Qingyan ranked first in his heart.
If he went to Shangguan Yunying first, it would mean that Shangguan Yunying ranked first.
And if he came to Luo Zhao first…
Luo Zhao did not dare continue that thought.
That possibility was simply too wonderful—so wonderful that she was afraid she would not be able to stop herself from laughing.
Naturally, she could not help but feel tempted.
She truly wanted to know, between herself, Lin Qingyan, and Shangguan Yunying, whom Gu Chengyin liked best.
Just as Luo Zhao was about to agree, Lin Qingyan continued, “If Chengcheng comes to me first, then you’ll come and be my mattress.”
“If Chengcheng comes to you first, then I’ll go and be your mattress.”
“If Chengcheng goes to Yunying first, then the two of us will go and be Yunying’s mattress together.”
Lin Qingyan’s voice remained as gentle as ever, as though she were suggesting something utterly trivial.
But her beautiful eyes sparkled with anticipation and excitement.
“Well? Are you willing to bet?”
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!
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
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.
