Chapter Forty-Two: Tusu Wine

New Year’s Eve, Lou Family Manor.

The ancestral land and ancestral hall of the Lou family were not in Hedong, yet the ritual of honoring their ancestors could not be omitted. When Matron Cui first brought her family to Hedong, she had set aside a special courtyard within the vast Lou Manor to temporarily serve as their ancestral hall. In the main hall, three rooms stood with tier upon tier of ancestral tablets, each commemorating a Lou forebear.

After Dugu Mingyue arrived in Hedong, on the very next day, she followed Matron Cui’s lead.

He relied on nothing but his own hands to carve out a future. Perhaps one day he might truly reach such heights, but when would that be? Would it have to wait until his face was as deeply lined as his father’s?

Usually stern, the homeroom teacher stormed out of the house in a fit of temper. Ning Xia had never realized that one could behave so differently at home than outside.

The weather was fair, so the cotton quilts from the guesthouse had all been spread out to air in the courtyard. As the sun gradually sank, they were just about to gather up the quilts and bring them back inside.

“All these years, whenever my brother was away at war, these people never missed a chance to bully me,” Yan Yue said, her beautiful features twisted with anger as she spoke through clenched teeth.

He spread his fingers and gently combed them through her hair, finally releasing the fire that had been simmering within him.

“Let go of me, let go of me…” Her dark hair was a wild, tangled mess as Lan Naixue screamed like a madwoman, yet the man before her had the power to break her and make her yield.

He was about to leave for work, and Leng Che was nowhere to be found—how had they managed to bring the mother and son here?

As a member of SNU, though technically part of the military, his special status meant he rarely had occasion to wear a uniform.

That night, Biyue retrieved a cloth pouch from under her bed, glanced at the sleeping Zhiyan, and quietly made her way to Xia Wannin’s courtyard.

“Let’s go to the back of the temple then—it counts as leaving Ci’en Temple all the same,” Xia Wannin suggested.

At last, she could surrender the shadowed corners of her heart to him, but he… he harbored secrets he could not share.

Among the renowned, Tian Yizi, Ou Yezi, and Xiaoyaozi stood out, not only for their skills but also for their close friendship. In his quest for immortality, Xiaoyaozi took an unorthodox path, harnessing the world’s magical treasures for his cultivation.

Outside the window, Diao Manrong could no longer sit and wait. She suddenly gathered all the fire in her hands, unleashing it at full strength to shatter Xuemeng’s icy flames, putting Xuemeng in grave peril.

After breakfast, she parted ways with Jin Feng and the others and embarked on her first day back at work since her vacation.

The appearance of Fenghua Palace these days was no secret; though no one spoke of it openly, everyone within the palace knew. Thus, on the third day after Ming Shiyun’s return, she received an invitation from the Noble Consort Hua to dine together at Birou Palace.

That night, Ling Mo was busy. After Ning Yuanlan finished her bath, she sat beside him with her sketchbook, sometimes drawing, sometimes resting her chin in her hand as she gazed at him.

The tabby cat blinked its jet-black eyes, a faint blush coloring its cheeks as it looked at him, yet its gaze brimmed with disdain.

But the more things went on this way, the more Gu Tianlang’s heart ached. Trouble had come again and again; he was truly too ashamed to face them.

Without hesitation, Xuemeng let go with one hand to shield herself from the flaming magic pearl, tossing it beneath the tree. Though she managed to deflect it, her palm was scorched and numbed, stripped of all sensation.

“You were amazing today.” As he lay down, she moved closer, wrapping her arms around his strong waist and resting her head upon him.

“Wait! How did we end up back on the main road?” Li Siguang planted his broadsword firmly in the earth and finally noticed—the night and fine rain had made it almost impossible to see.

As the identity of the middle-aged drunkard was revealed, Xu Jiangnan, the true culprit, kept his head bowed, an innocent look on his face. Dealing with the other two, he showed little panic; after all, in situations like this, the principle that sheer strength can overcome all else was on full display.