Chapter Forty-Eight

Si Yanmo was bewildered, not understanding where his words came from, "Me and Brother Zihe..."

"You don't need to say it, I understand." Zhou Yanqing hurriedly interrupted her, not wanting to hear anything she didn't want to hear.

He admitted that he had fallen in love with his boss, Yan Mo.

He was willing to leave her to make her happy, but he didn't want to hear about her love affairs with other men.

"What do you know?" came the girl's speechless voice. "Zihe and I have been siblings since we were little, and there is no difference between us."

"Then why did you give him a sachet? I saw it." The puppy looked aggrieved.

"That kind of thing can be given to family members! I've been giving them to people since I was little, you can ask my sister if you don't believe me!"

The puppy seemed somewhat convinced, but quickly shook its head again, "No!"

"You liked the things he gave you before so much, but you don't like the things I give you now."

"You'll take me..."

Si Yanmo recalled the pile of knives and poison from before, and incredulously asked, "You mean those were really... gifts?"

"What else?"

Si Yanmo almost vomited blood, "Big brother, who would give poison as a gift? I thought..."

Thinking of the fear and trepidation she had been experiencing these past few days, Si Yanmo was too embarrassed to continue, but Zhou Yanqing, always eager to get to the bottom of things, asked, "What did you think?"

"I...I thought you were going to give me a warning, to make me behave myself, or to kill me."

Zhou Yanqing never expected such a big blunder to happen, and she was so embarrassed that she wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground.

The two then realized that the strange behavior they had experienced these past few days was all due to this damned "gift" causing a misunderstanding. They looked at each other and laughed at themselves for the past two days.

Si Yanmo laughed so hard that she accidentally bumped her head on the headboard, and a dull pain shot through her head. "Ah...hiss..."

Zhou Yanqing rushed to help her up, but froze when his thumb touched her shoulder, a blush spreading from his cheeks to his ears.

"What's wrong?"

Hearing Si Yanmo's voice, he snapped out of his daze, helped her adjust her posture and sat down, then sat down beside her. He was momentarily at a loss for what to do with his hands and feet, and it took him a while to find his voice before he quickly got down to business, "I guess it's Zhou Junsong."

Zhou Yanqing had spent many years on the battlefield and had interrogated many enemy soldiers; the man's expression just now was clearly suspicious.

But Si Yanmo felt it was unnecessary. "If he wants me to help him, what good would killing me do him?"

In her previous life, she had spent a year with Zhou Junsong, and she didn't think he could be that ruthless.

"We'll find out when we have a chance to talk." A hint of murderous intent flashed in Zhou Yanqing's eyes.

Fortunately, Si Yanmo was alright today. Otherwise, he wouldn't care whether the other party was a prince or his half-brother; all that would be left for the Southern Emperor would be a corpse.

Si Yanmo reminded him not to be too impulsive. There was no need to make enemies if it wasn't the other party, especially since his sister couldn't know about this.

Torn between her younger sister and her husband, she didn't want to put her older sister in a difficult position.

Zhou Yanqing had Wu Guanxian see Zhou Junsong and his wife off first, and then invited the girl who had saved Si Yanmo in, thinking of repaying her kindness.

Only then did the two realize that the girl was the "sacrifice" from the previous divination ceremony, named Zhao Wan.

Although she was rescued by the two men during the divination ceremony, she knew she could never return to Wei Jingzhong's den of wolves, and had no other place to live, so she could only wander and had to guard against being found by Wei Jingzhong's men.

It was a coincidence that Si Yanmo was saved today.

"Your Highness and the Princess have been very kind to me, and this is what Zhao Wan should do."

Si Yanmo looked at the girl in front of her. She was actually not much different from herself. If she hadn't been kidnapped by human traffickers, she would probably be a family's darling.

She said, "Since you have nowhere to stay, why don't you stay here? I happen to need a bodyguard, and you know martial arts."

Zhao Wan immediately knelt down, "Thank you, Your Highness."

"Get up quickly!" Si Yanmo was too injured to help her up, and her tone was extremely urgent. "You're still injured. Get up quickly and ask Wu Guan to find a witch doctor to take a look at you, and then find a room for you to stay in."

Soon, Wu Guan came in and took the person away.

Zhou Yanqing, however, remained doubtful. "Aren't you afraid she might be Wei Jingzhong's spy, or an accomplice in killing you?"

Si Yanmo raised an eyebrow and chuckled softly, "Have you forgotten my abilities?"

"Don't worry, she's not. It's just..." she changed the subject, "...if it really were the Third Prince, what about my sister's side..."

In the stillness of the night, the sounds of horses' hooves and wheels were exceptionally clear.

The carriage swayed, and the enviable couple remained silent.

"Did my husband make this?" Si Yunyun broke the silence.

The person opposite was startled at first, then coughed a few times, "Madam is too clever, making things difficult for me."

His voice was soft, slightly hoarse, with a slight upward inflection at the end, as if the person in front of him would become his stepping stone in the next second.

But no...

Zhou Junsong raised his hand and placed it on Si Yunyun's hand. He wasn't annoyed when Si Yunyun shook him off. "I've already given my aunt the best possible ending. If she were the Empress, I'm afraid no one would ever see her again."

"But that's my own sister!"

Si Yunyun growled, her eyes already red.

She had been careful enough in her life by the Third Prince's side. Lin Jiao'er was always finding fault and framing her. She had only punished her as she should, and had not wronged her in any other way.

She would help with matters of state whenever she could, and would never ask a question that was out of line.

She thought they loved each other enough that he wouldn't hurt his family, but she was wrong.

Zhou Junsong simply raised his hand, cupped her face, and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. "It's my fault."

Si Yunyun was most afraid of his act of loving her like this, just loving her without paying attention to her hysteria.

She grabbed the man's sleeve and knelt in the cramped space, almost humbly.

"Your Highness, I beg you, that's Mo'er, my own sister. Without her, I might have died long ago, or I might have been the one who's been mentally impaired for over a decade. I'll help you with anything. You want the Chamber of Commerce to stand by you, you want the Prince of Qi's support, I'll help you with anything. I only beg you, please, spare Mo'er."

Zhou Junsong silently helped her up, coughed a few times, and said in a calm yet icy voice that seemed to come from hell: "Why doesn't Yun'er call me husband?"

"Husband!" Si Yunyun gripped his arm tightly. "Husband, I beg you!"

"She is now the Qin King's diviner."

The implication is that Si Yanmo must die.

As the carriage came to a stop, the woman slumped inside, while her husband stood up as if nothing had happened, extending a hand and saying, "We're home."

Si Yunyun looked up and saw that the hand still bore the scars left from their wedding day. It was clearly a symbol of their love back then, but now it looked particularly terrifying.

She raised her hand tremblingly, and grasped it tightly when she touched those cold fingertips. Her eyes hardened. "I have a way to get Mo'er to assist my husband. Please give her another chance, okay?"

Zhou Junsong suddenly smiled; this was exactly the reaction he wanted.

That's why his wife is so clever.

He always knows what he wants.

What Si Yunyun didn't know was that when Zhou Yanqing sent Zhou Junsong to the divination hall, his guard Guan Heng had already reported that the mission had failed.

It wasn't Zhao Wan who ruined it; someone else beat her to it.

This means that someone else is already looking for Si Yanmo.

Since he's so sought after, it would be a waste to kill him. He was still looking forward to the surprise that Mo Li would give him.

——

As night deepened and the candlelight went out, Zhou Yanqing's gaze remained fixed on the person on the bed, like a puppy eagerly awaiting its meal, making Si Yanmo feel a little uneasy.

Why are you staring at me?

Upon hearing this, he barely managed to avert his gaze, his ears turning slightly red, almost imperceptibly. "I was just worried that you were still in pain."

Si Yanmo raised her hand and touched the bump on her head; it hurt quite a bit, and her hand also hurt a little.

Wait... a hand?

She suddenly remembered something, got up and started rummaging through the cabinet next to her.

"What are you looking for?" Although Zhou Yanqing didn't know what had happened, he still lit a candle to help her with lighting.

Under the warm candlelight, a sachet with emerald green and lotus root color was turned out. The stitches on it were crooked and messy, making it impossible to tell what was embroidered. Only upon close inspection could one vaguely make out that it should be a few flowers.

Si Yanmo handed it to him, "Here, this is for you. I originally wanted to embroider a puppy, but my skills aren't good enough, so I could only embroider two simple jasmine flowers."

"Given to...me?"

The man hesitated to raise his hand, afraid that he had misheard, but then he saw the sachet being stuffed into his hand, exuding the fragrance of jasmine and mugwort, enveloping his fingers.

"Yes, it's for you. I spent ages embroidering it! Look at my hands, they're practically sieves from all the embroidery!"

The girl mumbled as she opened her hand to show him, then realized it was late at night and the candlelight was dim, so she probably couldn't see clearly. Just as she was about to put her hand down, the person in front of her grabbed it.

The man's hands were warmer than hers, and his palms were larger. His hands gently rubbed against hers, making her feel ticklish.

"Don't do so much next time."

His voice was hoarse, tinged with heartache and self-reproach.

I have to give gifts to everyone, and I don't know how many times I'll have to do it.

She also has blood disorders, and I still asked her to rub my back; it's absolutely despicable.

Zhou Yanqing even wanted to travel back a few hours to beat herself up.

Si Yanmo looked puzzled. "You only made this one?"

After she finished speaking, she realized that Zhou Yanqing had no idea about her lazy little trick, and explained, "The ones I sent to my sister and the others were all semi-finished products that I bought."

Three days ago, she tried to learn embroidery from her sister, but she couldn't get it right no matter what she did, so she complained to Zhong Zihe.

Who is Zhong Zihe?

He's not good at anything else, but when it comes to business, he's a genius.

Hearing her words opened up a new way of selling goods.

He took Si Yanmo to his newly opened clothing shop, found a few skilled embroiderers, and in no time they embroidered several sachets of different styles. After filling them with mugwort and other spices, they became sachets.

Remembering the tradition of the Shangsi Festival, he asked the embroiderers to leave a blank space for the seller to embroider a small flower or a name, so that the tradition of personally sending blessings to family members during the Shangsi Festival could be preserved, and the female workers could be spared the unpleasant hardship.

He also said at the time that if this business was successful, he would open shops in Sak and Orchid Island as well. It was cold and difficult to work, and women had little time due to their status as women. Wouldn't he make a fortune during the Shangsi Festival?