Chapter 145 Different Fates for Different People

Ah Jiu went faster and faster, "Ah...it's coming out...it's coming out...ah..." Ah Jiu roared as he thrust into Guan Ye's abdomen, one thrust after another, so hot that Guan Ye trembled.

"They're out," A-Jiu whispered. "They're out..."

In the darkness, Guan Ye touched herself, her fingers drawing out silver threads. "A-Jiu...this..." A-Jiu's face flushed, and she hurriedly jumped out of bed, fumbling for her handkerchief. The lights were all out, and it was pitch black; she had no idea where the handkerchief was.

"Light the lamp," Guan Ye said, peeking out from under the covers.

A-Jiu, still dazed from her gluttony, was suddenly jolted awake by Guan Ye's words. She hurriedly lit the oil lamp, and as the light shone, she saw the naked, muscular man before her. The very spot that had just assaulted her was now erect again. Guan Ye, her eyes burning with desire, quietly shrank back under the covers. A-Jiu followed Guan Ye's gaze and looked down. One glance, and her handsome face flushed crimson. She'd just come out, and now this again… Could something be wrong with him?

As she was lost in thought, a soft hand reached out from under the covers. Ajiu froze for a moment, picked up the towel on the table, turned around, hesitated for a moment, lifted the corner of the covers, and stared at Guan Ye's white body, her dark eyes blazing with fire again.

"Are you still looking?" Guan Ye raised her palm to scare him.

Ajiu shook his head self-deprecatingly, grasped Guan Ye's raised hand, and gently wiped her lower abdomen with a handkerchief. Seeing it was clean, he was about to get up when Guan Ye pulled the handkerchief from his hand, turned it over, and held it to his leg, wiping away any remaining residue. Ajiu froze, his breath coming in short gasps, motionless. Guan Ye's movements were very light, as if she too was nervous about something, afraid of accidentally waking him again.

Seeing Ah Jiu's stiff body, tensing and relaxing with her movements, looking rather uncomfortable, Guan Ye found it quite amusing. She pretended to casually brush her fingertip across the tip, and Ah Jiu felt a sharp pain all over her body as her private parts suddenly snapped against Guan Ye's palm. Guan Ye curiously grabbed it with one hand, and the two of them groaned at the same time.

"You're coming again?" Ajiu asked, panting.

Guan Ye held on and said, "It's you who's not being honest."

Ajiu was both amused and annoyed. "Do you think he'll behave if you treat him like this? Is it okay to hold onto someone's manhood like that?"

Guan Ye slowly loosened her grip, and A Jiu let out a sigh of relief. Guan Ye heard this, turned her head to look at him, and the two looked at each other and laughed again.

Ah Jiu put on her undergarments, glanced back at Guan Ye's flushed face, and felt a surge of satisfaction. She walked closer to the bedside and gently touched her forehead, "Next time, I will never forgive you."

Guan Ye chuckled, "I'm afraid next time it will be the same as this time."

Ajiu's expression darkened. "You're laughing at me?"

Guan Ye wasn't afraid of him, meeting his dark eyes head-on. "What? Can't I say anything now?"

Ajiu's brows relaxed, a smile appeared on her lips, and she touched Guan Ye's forehead with a finger, shaking her head and saying, "It can only be you, it can only be you. If it were anyone else..." Ajiu poked her forehead, "I'll make sure he doesn't get away with it."

Ajiu reluctantly stood up, his brocade robes replacing his usual imposing demeanor. Guan Ye rested her chin on her hand and gazed at him intently. How could the disheveled beggar on Hu Xian's boat have become so handsome? Back then, she was indistinguishable as a man or a woman in the eyes of others. How could she now be doing great things with him? The more Guan Ye thought about it, the more amazing it seemed. She covered her head and chuckled again.

Ajiu picked up the scattered items on the table. "You really don't want them? I can take them back for Ji Fang and the others to play with." As she spoke, she suddenly remembered something and tilted her head, saying, "What did you say you wanted earlier?"

“I want…” Guan Ye stared intently into A Jiu’s eyes, “You will always be you, and I only want you.”

"If I'm not me, then who am I?" Ajiu paused and smiled again. Although reluctant, she had no choice but to leave. She pushed open the door, and a cold wind carrying snow rushed in. Ajiu took a deep breath of it, glanced back at Guan Ye, and then closed the door.

In bed, Guan Ye stroked her flawless skin. Just now, they almost, almost did *that*. What would that mean? She and A-Jiu would never be apart again. Thinking this, Guan Ye gradually grew sleepy. In her hazy state, she seemed to see A-Jiu return and hug her tightly…

The people in the east wing were still awake. Ajiu looked around the room. It was past 7 p.m., and Lou Cangyu still hadn't returned to the ward. Just as Ajiu was about to speak, Ji Fang, playing with the jeweled dagger, pointed at the gems with envy in his eyes and said, "This thing must be very valuable."

"Malachite, pigeon blood red, and adorned with pearls and jade, one piece is enough to buy land and a house in Rongdu. Isn't that valuable?" Xiao Ma glanced at it. "No tribute item is ever bad."

Ji Fang's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He was so frightened that he returned the dagger. "Ajiu, put it away. If you break it in my hands, I won't be able to pay for it even if I lose my life."

Ajiu pushed it back to him, saying, "It was originally a gift from the Emperor, so it doesn't matter who it's given to. If you like it, just accept it and you can give it to Ayuan later."

"Really?" Ji Fang looked delighted, then carefully picked up the jeweled dagger and tucked it into his pocket. Suddenly, he added, "You can't go back on your word once you've given it to me."

"Foolish." Xiao Ma shook his head, glanced at Ajiu and said, "This is nothing. Even a blind man can see that the Emperor likes Ajiu. He even personally selected him for the New Year's Eve family banquet. Today's reward is just a drop in the ocean. Ji Fang, why go back to Canglang Island? Bring Ayuan here. Following Ajiu from now on will definitely not be a loss."

Ji Fang chuckled and patted his chest. He then pulled out a wine flask from A Jiu's bundle and gestured with a puzzled expression, saying, "This flask is too small. Even if it's filled with wine, it won't be enough to fill a tooth gap. It looks nice but is useless."

“That’s a glass pot,” Xiao Ma said leisurely. “It looks ordinary now, but if you take it out again tomorrow and hold it up to the sun, it’ll definitely dazzle your eyes.”

"Oh." Ji Fang clicked his tongue in amazement. "Little Ma, how do you know everything? It's like you've been in the Emperor's treasury."

Xiao Ma was too lazy to explain to him. His father had said that the Ma family's storeroom also had a lot of good things. Even though their house had been confiscated, they still had 100,000 taels of silver. Ji Fang had never seen the world, but the Ma family was a wealthy family. They wouldn't be fooled by such things.

“But…” Ji Fang scratched his head, “Why does the Emperor like A Jiu? Just because A Jiu looks like the Crown Prince? That’s really strange…” Ji Fang muttered, “Wu Shuang looks like Jiang Muyun, and everyone is terrified, but A Jiu looks like the Crown Prince, and the Emperor likes her very much… It’s really… Different people have different fates.”

Feng Shisan, who had been lying still for a while, suddenly sat up. "After all this talk, what did you bring me?"

Ajiu took out a box and opened it for Feng Shisan. Feng Shisan rubbed his eyes and looked closely. He saw that it was a pair of women's pearl pendants and waved his hand, saying, "You're just trying to fool me. Women's jewelry, you're trying to fob me off? No, no, you can keep it and give it to Guan Ye."

“Guan Ye doesn’t like these things.” As soon as the words left her mouth, A Jiu realized something was wrong. Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, not only Xiao Ma, but Ji Fang also stopped what he was doing and smiled knowingly.

Xiao Ma chuckled dryly. "No wonder you came back so late. It turns out Guan Ye had already seen the things, and she didn't like them, so she left them for us."

Ajiu didn't hide anything, picking up the sea pearl pendant and shaking it, "Then I'll leave this to Lou Cangyu..."

"Why give him the Azure Jade?" Ji Fang reached out and snatched it away. "If you give it to him, he'll just turn around and use it to fool someone else. It's better to give it to me. I'll take it back to A Yuan, and my sister and I will remember your kindness..."

"Wushuang?" Ajiu's dark eyes flickered slightly. "Cangyu went to see her again?"

Ji Fang picked up his sleeve and wiped the sea droplet, which was the size of a fingernail, without looking up, and said, "It was Wushuang who came to find Cangyu."

Ajiu looked at Xiaoma, who nodded slightly. "Ajiu, what do you think? Jiang Muyun died right before our eyes. We both saw it with our own eyes."

Ah Jiu closed her eyes and recalled that breathtaking scene. If she hadn't witnessed it with her own eyes, she might have truly believed that Jiang Muyun was still alive... Wait... Ah Jiu suddenly froze, "Ji Fang, on the day Jiang Muyun sacrificed himself in the furnace... were you at the foundry?"

"Me?" Ji Fang put away the sea pearl pendant. "I didn't go. Burning people is so terrifying. I wouldn't go if I hadn't slept with them before."

Yes, the day before the sacrifice at the furnace, Ji Fang and Lou Cangyu were on duty. They didn't sleep for a day and a night. If I remember correctly, Lou Cangyu wasn't present when Jiang Muyun sacrificed himself at the furnace. Lou Cangyu didn't see Jiang Muyun throw himself into the furnace.

Before Ajiu could speak, Ji Fang continued, "Not only did I miss it, Cangyu also overslept. He complained to me several times afterward, saying that everyone else saw it except him, and he was so regretful he kept hitting his head. Everyone else was chatting so enthusiastically, but he couldn't get a word in edgewise..."

Ah Jiu looked at Xiao Ma again, and Xiao Ma's relaxed face slowly tightened. "You mean..."

Lou Cangyu didn't witness Jiang Muyun's death by sacrificing himself in the furnace. When he saw Wushuang at Lingbo Terrace, her face, so similar to Jiang Muyun's, didn't evoke fear in him. In other words... in his heart, he might have thought Jiang Muyun... was still alive...

"No way..." Xiao Ma saw what A Jiu was thinking and sat up straight. "Who is Lou Cangyu? A similar face is not enough to fool him."

"Does Cangyu think that Wushuang is Jiang Muyun?" Ji Fang put down the box in his hand in a daze.

Feng Shisan's eyes widened like copper bells, and his heart even stopped for a moment. "What a disaster! Is that a ghost?"

That was a face that was rare and precious, a face that made Lou Cangyu sigh with regret, a face that made Lou Cangyu feel as if he could start over... In Lou Cangyu's eyes, she was Jiang Muyun, who could live even in death, and also the unpredictable Wushuang. On Lingbo Platform, he broke his Flowing Gold Sword because of this face, and today, because of this face, he could draw his sword against his comrades... What will happen in the future...?

The night was deep, the snow gleamed like blades, and the group looked out the empty window. Lou Cangyu probably wouldn't be coming back tonight.

Rongdu, by the pier

Lou Cangyu didn't know why Wushuang had brought him here. Xingguofang landed at Rongdu Wharf. Lou Cangyu still remembered the scene that day. It was almost evening. They were lying on the edge of the boat, looking at the mist rising slowly above the ancient imperial city, and the oil lamps that lit up one after another on the wharf. The bright lights guided the large ship toward Rongdu.