Chapter 73 The Return Journey: It's quite normal for a woman to have three husbands and four servants.
Xie Lanzhou recounted in detail his experiences over the past few days to Su Panyue, including how he fell off the cliff and was kidnapped by the queen to be her husband. He then emphasized how he fought back fiercely and refused to yield.
Su Panyue listened intently, as if she were listening to a storyteller, but this reaction was not what Xie Lanzhou wanted to see.
"Why aren't you jealous?" he finally couldn't help but ask.
Su Panyue blinked, puzzled. She was initially unhappy when she heard that the queen wanted Xie Lanzhou to be her husband.
But later, seeing that she herself couldn't even count how many husbands she had, Su Panyue stopped being angry. To the queen, men were just a way to pass the time, something she didn't care about.
She shared her thoughts with Xie Lanzhou, whose expression was strange. He said, "Here, women are revered. It's quite normal for a woman to have three husbands and four servants. As the queen here, it's also normal for her to have more than twenty."
Then he changed the subject: "But you can't do that. You can't even handle one of me. With your small frame, what would happen if a few more came?"
Su Panyue didn't know how he brought this up again, and looked at him helplessly, "Have you forgotten that you are the one most likely to have three palaces and six courtyards?"
Xie Lanzhou frowned. "I already said there wouldn't be any."
Su Panyue reassured her, "I won't have it either, don't worry."
Xie Lanzhou glanced at her and said calmly, "I'm not worried."
"Yes, yes, you have the most magnanimous heart, how could you worry about such a small matter?" Su Panyue said with a smile.
Looking at her bright smile, Xie Lanzhou finally couldn't resist lowering his head and kissing her.
He only released them when they were both panting heavily.
Su Panyue, her face still flushed, asked, "How is Seventeen? What should we do next?"
Hearing her mention Seventeen, Xie Lanzhou's expression was somewhat complicated. After hesitating for a long time, she finally shook her head, "He..."
His expression only made Su Panyue more curious. "What's wrong with him?"
"This queen has a younger sister named Zhuo Ya. Seventeen was... raped by her sister," Xie Lanzhou said.
Su Panyue stared wide-eyed in surprise, "Isn't Seventeen supposed to be extremely skilled in martial arts? How could this be?"
"He also used a muscle-relaxing powder, so he lost his martial arts skills, and he doesn't have my indomitable will to fight to the death," Xie Lanzhou explained, not forgetting to praise himself as well.
Su Panyue blinked, and it took her a while to process the information. A woman using force against a man was something she had never heard of in either Lu or Daqi. In this tribe where women were stronger than men, it seemed reasonable.
"Let's go see Seventeen. After all, he lost his innocence while trying to save you."
Xie Lanzhou nodded. Before that, they needed the Queen's approval.
The queen had already returned to her tent from the stone chamber. When the two arrived, they found that Gui Bo was also there. The resurrected middle-aged woman was lying on the bed, her eyes still closed.
Su Panyue looked at Gui Bo with a questioning look, and Gui Bo nodded slightly at her, giving her a reassuring look.
So she turned to look at the Queen sitting to the side. Her face was still pale and weak, but her posture was not weak at all.
Su Panyue asked, "It's like this, the seventeenth one who came with my husband is our friend. We don't know where he is. Can we go and see him?"
The Queen shifted her gaze from the woman on the bed, glanced at them lazily, and said, "My sister's new husband? Go ask her. Just walk a short distance east from here."
The two thanked her, and before leaving, Su Panyue glanced at the woman lying down again, seemingly noticing that her finger twitched.
The girl's place was easy to find: a huge tent in the middle, surrounded by tents of various sizes, and several handsome young men hanging clothes to dry.
As the two approached, several people with mischievous thoughts smiled at Su Panyue, but Xie Lanzhou coldly brushed them away.
However, they did not see Seventeen. Approaching the large tent in the middle, Su Panyue called out from the doorway, "Hello, is Zhuoya here? The Queen sent us."
A woman's voice soon came from inside: "Come in."
Su Panyue pushed open the door and was instantly stunned by the scene before her. Xie Lanzhou, who followed her in, frowned and immediately stepped forward to block her view.
Inside the tent, a woman who bore a striking resemblance to the queen reclined lazily on a fox fur blanket. Standing before her were seven or eight men, all shirtless, barely covered by small animal hides. Among them were muscular burly men and thin, fair-skinned young men—a diverse mix of types.
She looked up at Xie Lanzhou and asked, "Are you my sister's new husband? What are you doing here? Don't tell me you regret following my sister and want to come to me for help?"
Xie Lanzhou frowned and glanced at the men in front of him, each displaying their unique abilities, and said coldly, "We're here to find someone. Tell these men to leave."
Hearing his tone, Zhuo Ya laughed instead, "You have no right to speak here. Even if you are a male empress, you have no right to order me around."
Xie Lanzhou had never been provoked like this before, and he immediately clenched his fists, ready to strike at any moment.
Su Panyue, who was being shielded behind him, quickly grabbed his sleeve and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "No."
He then said to Zhuo Ya, "The divine physician I brought has just resurrected your previous queen and is currently treating her. Yet you are being so rude to us. Could it be that you have some ulterior motive?"
Zhuoya immediately sat up straight, seemingly not having heard what she was saying about disloyalty, and only asked, "Mother has been resurrected?"
Su Panyue peeked out from behind Xie Lanzhou, wanting to say something, but was stopped by the man again, who repeated, "Let these people go down first."
Zhuo Ya waved her hand, and everyone in the tent withdrew.
"You all go too, I'm going to see my mother." She jumped off the fox fur and couldn't wait to leave.
Su Panyue quickly stopped her, "Could we see Seventeen first?"
"Seventeen?" Zhuo Ya pondered for a moment before asking, "You mean that new girl, Xiao Qi?"
"I feel sorry for him because he worked hard last night, so I'll let him rest today and let him stay in the tent closest to me. You can go find him yourselves. I'm leaving now."
After saying that, she hurriedly left the door, leaving Su Panyue and Xie Lanzhou looking at each other in bewilderment.
When they arrived at the tent she mentioned, there was no sound inside. Having learned from their previous experience, Xie Lanzhou took the initiative this time and said, "I'll go in and take a look first. You wait for my message outside."
Su Panyue nodded and waited obediently at the door.
But Xie Lanzhou went in and didn't come out for a long time, and there was no movement inside. Finally, she couldn't help but ask through the tent flap, "How is it?"
A response came quickly from inside: "Wait a moment."
It was Xie Lanzhou's voice, so Su Panyue waited for a long time. Just when she was about to barge in, the tent flap finally opened from the inside, and Xie Lanzhou came out with Seventeen.
Su Panyue quickly looked at him with concern. Since Xie Lanzhou had assigned him to her, Su Panyue would treat him the same as Feixue and Feiyan.
He was still dressed in black, but he had taken off his mask. Unexpectedly, he was quite handsome, which was completely inconsistent with his powerful appearance. His eyes were red, as if he had just been crying.
Su Panyue coughed awkwardly and hesitated before saying, "Um, I'm sorry to have troubled you."
Seventeen lowered his head and shook his head, saying nothing more.
At dinner time, the group that had set off together finally gathered and were given a proper reception by the Queen.
Her attitude was much better than before, but she only said a few words before leaving in a hurry, giving the five of them time to discuss things.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Su Panyue asked, "Uncle Ghost, can you really bring the dead back to life?"
Gui Bo chuckled and stroked his beard, then said mysteriously, "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed!"
Su Panyue pouted, "So what do we do next?"
"We need to leave as soon as possible." Xie Lanzhou and Gui Bo spoke at the same time this time, and Fei Xue nodded in agreement. Only Seventeen sat silently to the side.
Su Panyue pursed her lips, noticing his unusual behavior, and tilted her head to ask, "Seventeen, what are your plans?"
Seventeen slowly exhaled, "I have to take responsibility for her."
"Huh?" Su Panyue thought of the room full of men in that Zhuoya girl's house, and really didn't know who he should say "take responsibility" to.
"It's settled then. We'll set off tomorrow," Xie Lanzhou said, cutting off her question.
Su Panyue glanced at him sideways, then nodded hesitantly.
The next morning, they greeted the Queen, but she paid no attention to them, busy taking care of her mother in bed.
Su Panyue frowned as she looked at it, feeling that something was amiss.
Uncle Gui still gave each of them a Hundred Poisons Pill, and the four of them successfully walked out of the miasma-filled forest.
Once back on the carriage and off again, Su Panyue asked her question once more, "Has she really been resurrected?"
Gui Bo raised an eyebrow, looked at the sky, shook his head, and said, "As the old saying goes, how can the dead be brought back to life?"
After saying that, he felt it wasn't precise enough and added, "Of course, those destined for greatness are an exception." He then gave Su Panyue a meaningful look.
The latter felt a chill run down his spine and then asked, "Then why did she actually wake up?" However, her eyes were very dull, and she didn't seem to have said anything.
Gui Bo said, "She is controlled by Gu worms. I will put the Gu worms into her body and nourish her with the blood of her closest relatives, which will wake her up and make her able to do some simple actions, making her look like she has been resurrected. In fact, she is just being manipulated by Gu worms and is just a memento left for the living."
Su Panyue exclaimed in shock, "So you're saying you'd trade six months of a living person's lifespan for it!"
Gui Bo smiled and shook his head: "Of course not, it's just to see if she really has such a deep obsession. The loss is just a little bit of blood and energy, which is nothing for a robust woman like her."
Su Panyue nodded, agreeing with his point.
Xie Lanzhou, who had been sitting quietly listening, suddenly spoke up, "Take her pulse and see how her blood and qi are doing lately."
Uncle Gui chuckled as he took Su Panyue's pulse, but she protested, "Why are you dragging me into this again! I'm fine!"
Uncle Gui stopped and nodded. "There's really nothing wrong now. The Scrophularia used to treat you is an extremely rare medicinal herb. Even a single slice is a great tonic, let alone a whole one. It has replenished all the deficiencies in your body and blood that you've suffered over the years."
Su Panyue exclaimed in surprise, "Really? Then I won't need to take any supplements anymore?"
Gui Bo nodded, turned his head to look at Xie Lanzhou and said, "No need to eat anymore, getting pregnant and giving birth is no longer a problem."
Su Panyue blushed, while Xie Lanzhou lowered his eyes, seemingly lost in thought. When the carriage passed a lake, he suddenly stopped, intending to get out and catch two fish to eat that night.
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Author's Note: This is so hard to guess! Why does it have to be fish? [doge]
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