The next day, the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven began as usual.

Not only did hundreds of officials come to pay homage, but even thousands of people came to watch the ceremony. However, they did not go up the mountain, but only paid homage at the foot of the mountain.

The whole process was grand and complicated. Zhou Huaiyan himself did not believe in ghosts and gods, but he was able to come to this world, so perhaps ghosts and gods really did exist.

Hongdou wrote a detailed list of precautions, and Zhou Huaiyan took a look at it and memorized it. For the first time, he did not make any trouble in such a grand ceremony. During the whole ceremony, the Ninth Prince behaved very well.

The sound of the Buddha is profound, and people bow down to worship

Emperor Zhou was dressed in a yellow robe and looked majestic and powerful. Under the guidance of Master Jian Kong, he gradually walked up to the altar and begged for God's protection.

Zhou Huaiyan narrowed his eyes and looked carefully at the monk in the distance, whose status was comparable to that of a national teacher.

He has a tall figure, handsome face and a snow-white monk's robe, and he really has an otherworldly aura.

The other person seemed to notice the boy's gaze and smiled. The two people's gazes collided exactly.

The moment they looked at each other, Zhou Huaiyan clearly felt his back tighten slightly, as if he had encountered something extremely dangerous.

After a few seconds, the boy nodded slightly and looked away, and the latter also nodded with a smile.

The entire ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven lasts for three full days, with various complicated rules and rituals one after another, and it seems that there is no end in sight.

Zhou Huaiyan originally thought that he was just here for the formality, and it would be best if he could meet that Master Jian Kong to test the waters. However, he did not expect that except for the few seconds of eye contact from a distance on the first day when Emperor Zhou ascended the altar, he never saw the other person again afterwards.

The Chief Palace Maid was even more distressed. She had served her master since she was young, and the Ninth Prince had been pampered since he was born. This was the first time for her to do such hard work.

"Your Highness, you have worked so hard. Fortunately, today is the last day of the Heavenly Sacrifice Ceremony. The hot water is ready. Your Highness can go back and take a bath."

Zhou Huaiyan was too tired to talk, he just wanted to go back and hug his tiger cub and give him a good kiss.

The rooms in the temple are not as luxurious and spacious as those in Qiwu Palace, but they are still elegant.

As soon as I opened the door and walked in, I happened to see Ah Fei holding the cub and feeding it. Compared to the first night when she was at a loss, the kitten was now very skilled in feeding the little kitten.

Ah Fei seems to learn everything very quickly.

He was holding the cub in one hand and feeding the little white tiger with a spoon in the other. This scene caught Zhou Huaiyan's eyes as he opened the door, and it suddenly gave him the illusion of having a wife and children and a warm bed.

"Owner?"

Seeing him coming back, Ah Fei immediately stood up happily, holding the little white tiger and quickly walked over to greet him.

"How are you today, Master? Are you tired?"

"......"

Finished, it's more like the husband comes home from work and the wife comes to pick him up with the kids.

Zhou Huaiyan shook his head slightly, trying to get rid of the messy thoughts in his mind. He reached out to hug the coquettish tiger cub.

"Tsk, your belly is so round, you must be a glutton."

Although Zhou Huaiyan said this, he couldn't help but smile. He held the baby for a while, then let Hongdou take the baby to the nest to sleep.

A three-day-old tiger cub without its mother to take care of it can easily die, so be careful.

Originally, Zhou Huaiyan had not planned to keep a cat since Cuicui died, not to mention that his uncle was watching him closely, but this white tiger cub was unexpected. Since he had encountered it, he might as well keep it.

He had raised two cats, but had never petted a tiger, let alone a white tiger, which was extremely rare. When Ah Fei came back, she said that the tigress gave birth to six cubs, but only this one survived.

A tigress who had just given birth would never leave her cub. No one knew what the woman in plain clothes had done to make the tiger chase her so relentlessly and even willing to abandon its own cub.

Zhou Huaiyan knew that the person behind that woman was not a simple person, but he didn't know which side he was on.

He carefully pondered the strangeness of the whole thing, and casually raised his hand, letting Ah Fei help him take off his clothes and prepare for a bath. Zhou Huaiyan loved cleanliness, so he was naturally not used to the bathtub in the temple, so Hongdou also brought a bathtub specially.

Ah Fei had seen his master's body before, but every time he saw it, he couldn't help but blush. Especially when he was bathing his master, he had to help him take off his clothes piece by piece.

Zhou Huaiyan has never learned martial arts, but probably because of the saying that nephew resembles uncle, his appearance is similar to Jiang Xun, but his body frame is very much like Jiang Yi.

She has a slender figure, broad shoulders and back, well-proportioned muscles and bones, and is as beautiful as a work of art carved out of white jade.

Kneeling down to help the young man take off the last piece of clothing, Ah Fei's Adam's apple moved slightly, and her breathing became rapid. Since entering the slave camp at a young age, Ah Fei had seen many men's private parts, and he always thought that they were the ugliest things in the world, and even had a foul smell. But last year's New Year's Eve completely changed Ah Fei's deep-rooted impression.

It turns out that there are people in this world whose every inch of their body is as beautiful as if created by God.

His master was born weak, and his sexual desires were very weak in the past 18 years. He was also too clean and bathed every day. There was always a cold woody fragrance on his body, and when you got close, the fragrance became stronger, more like winter plum.

When Ah Fei smelled it for the first time, he couldn't help but indulge in it. At that time, he hugged the boy's cloak and buried his face in it for a long time. Moreover, his master was tall, and even his fingers were longer than those of ordinary people, not to mention that part, which was not only beautiful, but also very well matched with his body shape. Maybe this space was too small, or because of the rising heat, Ah Fei obviously felt a little hot.

Zhou Huaiyan didn't notice that there was a bunch of color waste in the little cat's mind. He was so busy these days that he was still thinking about the woman in plain clothes and Master Jian Kong.

He entered the bathtub and submerged himself in the water. The warm water flooded over his chest and the rising hot steam enveloped the room. It was as if all the muscles in his body could not help but relax. Zhou Huaiyan tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and let out an overly comfortable sigh from his throat.

The sound was particularly clear in the slightly cramped room, not to mention the cat's excellent hearing, it was as if the sound was right next to its ear.

"Are those people still watching you today?"

Zhou Huaiyan's sudden words startled Ah Fei, who was stunned for three seconds before replying immediately,

"yes."

“That’s to be expected.”

——It seems that she is indeed on guard against him.

The boy leaned in the bathtub with his eyes closed, resting. His voice was lazy and low, making the kitten's ears turn even redder.

"Did you see the grand ceremony of offering sacrifices to the heavens on the first day?"

Ah Fei nodded, recalled a little, and answered,

"Yes, there are more than ten thousand people coming to worship at the foot of the mountain."

Hearing this, Zhou Huaiyan curled his lips and chuckled. The warm air made his beautiful peach blossom eyes sparkle and add a bit of beauty.

"Tell me, are they here for the emperor's sacrifice to heaven, or for the sacrifice presided over by Master Jian Kong?"

"This......"

Ah Fei stared blankly at the boy's overly handsome profile, and finally shook her head honestly.

"I don't know."

The kitten guessed that his master was secretly playing a big game of chess, but even though he knew a few moves made by the boy, he could not guess the latter's ultimate goal.

His master was extremely intelligent and a natural superior. People like him, who had been trained to be tools and implements since childhood, should be used by his master.

Although he was so self-deprecating, Ah Fei's heart began to tremble with excitement. But soon, he lost his temper again. The master had been busy with the Heavenly Sacrifice Ceremony for three days. According to the original rule of once every two days, he should have done it last night. But now, the master kept talking to him about serious matters, so he was afraid that he would have to sleep well again tonight.

Zhou Huaiyan did not notice the cat's abnormality and was still immersed in his own thoughts. He rarely told others about his findings and deployments, and each time he would only issue the simplest orders.

But for some reason, he wanted to tell Ah Fei about it. Even though Ah Fei didn't understand sometimes, the blank expression on her face made Zhou Huaiyan happy.

"The Heavenly Sacrifice Ceremony is indeed a long and complicated process, but this time I followed the rules and completed the three-day ceremony, but I only met Master Jian Kong, who presided over the ceremony, once."

——That is to say, the other party deliberately avoided him.

Zhou Huaiyan seemed to have thought of something, and a smile appeared on the corner of his lips.

"Tsk, I was skeptical at first, but now it's really coming to me."

He recalled what he had learned from his uncle about the Empress' past. In fact, the person the Empress loved was not Emperor Zhou, but an unknown scholar.

When the two got married that year, for some unknown reason, the bride left home an hour late and almost missed the auspicious time. Later, some people said that the bride had eloped with someone and was caught halfway.

As for the adulterer, he was naturally beaten to death with clubs and thrown into a mass grave.

However, Duke Wei said that he had only heard some rumors about these things at the time and had never witnessed them with his own eyes.

The scholar story is not necessarily true, the elopement is not necessarily true, and the adulterer being beaten to death is certainly not certain.

Most of the rumors were fabricated, but the only thing Zhou Huaiyan could be sure of was that the empress did not love the Zhou emperor and even resented him. Then think about the private meeting with a monk on New Year's Eve...

"Well, that makes it clear."

【clear??!】

Ah Fei really didn't understand, but she still nodded thoughtfully along with the boy.

Foreigners admire the strong, but most of them admire those who are strong in physical fitness and martial arts. However, Ah Fei is different. He likes people who are extremely intelligent like his master.

Even if he doesn't know martial arts, with just a few simple words or even the movement of his fingers, he can make plans and control the lives and deaths of countless people.

Such terrifying strength cannot be achieved by people who only rely on brute force.

As he watched, Ah Fei's body began to heat up again. He suddenly pinched his hand, secretly warning himself in his heart not to be too obsessed!

The master obviously had more important things to do. However, even with his hands pinched purple, he was still a little unhappy.

The little cat couldn't help wondering if his master was really busy with the White Horse Temple, or if he was losing interest in him. If it was the latter...

"A Fei?"

Zhou Huaiyan frowned, his eyes fell on the little cat's hand, with a puzzled look on his face.

"Why are you pinching yourself? Are you feeling sleepy and want to go to sleep?"

I do feel sleepy, but not because I’m sleepy.

Hearing the young man speak, Ah Fei was so surprised that she immediately let go of his hand. But, she didn't know how to explain, so she just mumbled and tried to pass it off.

At this time Zhou Huaiyan stretched out his arm, pulled his hand over and saw that it was already blue and purple.

"Tsk, how can you be so cruel to yourself?"

"......"

Ah Fei couldn't answer, but in his heart he was happy about his master's concern. He looked at Zhou Huaiyan's movements and thought that the boy would give him a massage.

But suddenly, she was pulled hard by her master, and Ah Fei staggered forward, and then the warm water splashed on her face.

Blah--

"How are you, are you awake?"

There was an obvious smile of a successful prank in Zhou Huaiyan's voice.

"......?"

Ah Fei was stunned, with a bewildered look on her face, as she had never expected that the Ninth Prince would actually do such a childish thing.

childish......

But the meaning behind this intimate gesture made Ah Fei's heart burn. Although he couldn't understand the chess game set by his master, he had learned to read people's hearts.

People only become childish in front of the people closest to them. This shows that Zhou Huaiyan put him in a very close position.

Regardless of whether he is a pet or something else to his owner, this closeness will make the owner show more tolerance and patience.

Maybe...even if he made some small mistakes, they could be forgiven.

At this moment, countless thoughts flashed through Ah Fei's mind. He looked at the boy's overly handsome face and suddenly had some urge to pamper him.

So the next second, Zhou Huaiyan only heard a slight slipping sound from the ground, and then the kitten fell directly into his bathtub.

The huge splash of water splashed all over his face.

Zhou Huaiyan: “.......?”

This familiar scene made him think of New Year's Eve.

Sure enough, the kitten started to float in the water.

Zhou Huaiyan didn't pull him, just watched him prance.

Fortunately, he was used to the big bath in Qiwu Palace, so the bathtub that Hongdou brought was also quite large, more than enough to accommodate two adult men. So it was also enough for the kitten, who had grown a lot taller, to plop up.

After a moment, Ah Fei stopped her poor acting skills in the face of the boy's half-smile.

"Master... Master..."

He still wanted to fight back, and stammered out even more clumsy lies.

"The ground...the ground is too slippery."

Ah Fei wanted to kneel down, but the water level was higher when he entered. If he kneeled down, he would drown. So he could only squat down with grievance.

“Too slippery?”

Zhou Huaiyan raised his eyebrows. He looked at the trembling little cat nonchalantly. After entering the White Horse Temple, the servants were all wearing white clothes. Ah Fei had a hot body and only wore light clothes since the spring. Once she fell into the water, her white clothes got wet and stuck to her body, easily revealing the color of her skin, especially the places that had been sucked by the cub with particular pleasure before, which were even brighter red.

Ah Fei was about to cry. He had just gotten carried away and had such an evil thought. Seeing the boy's expression of "I've seen through it a long time ago, but I won't expose it, so I'll just watch you perform quietly", the little cat couldn't help it.

"Please... Master, forgive me, I just fell in here on purpose."

"Oh, on purpose."

Zhou Huaiyan casually placed his arms on the edge of the barrel and squinted his eyes.

"Fell in on purpose and made my water dirty?"

"No! It's not!"

Knowing that his master loves cleanliness the most, how dare he? !

Ah Fei was trying to explain, but was interrupted halfway. Zhou Huaiyan especially liked to tease cats, and his temper was particularly bad. He clearly saw through everything, but he deliberately teased Ah Fei to tell it herself.

"Then why did you fall in here on purpose?"

"......"

The little cat blushed, and he couldn't explain it. When he was in that "hell", he trained in everything to win the championship, but he always failed in this kind of speech, which was necessary for fine work. Zhou Huaiyan stretched out his long arm, grabbed Ah Fei's collar and pulled her in front of him.

"Have you been feeding the tiger cub these days?"

Not understanding why the boy suddenly brought this up, Ah Fei nodded honestly.

"yes."

Because when Zhou Huaiyan first saw the little white tiger, he said -

[That's the cub of Ah Fei and I. ]

Even though it was just a casual joke, starting from that night, the white tiger cub's position in Ah Fei's heart became special. So, he has been taking good care of it for the past three days. Ah Fei didn't realize what Zhou Huaiyan wanted to say, but suddenly he felt his chest tighten. He arched his back reflexively, but he quickly overcame his body's subconscious reaction and tried to stand up straight to cater to the boy's fingers. This posture made him slightly taller than the boy sitting in the water. Zhou Huaiyan's face was normal, and even his tone did not change at all.

"Tell me what you feed it with."

"With... goat's milk."

The little cat's voice was a little trembling. Zhou Huaiyan said "hmm" and continued to ask slowly,

"Did you spill it on yourself again?"

"No...never."

"That means stealing my paint."

"Eh?! No... no, Ah Fei doesn't dare."

"I see..."

The young man pretended to be distressed.

"That's strange, why is it so popular?"

"......"

Ah Fei was stunned.

After a moment, he tentatively reached out to hook his arms around the boy's neck and tried to get closer, almost touching his face.

"Then... Master, do you want to check again?"

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ps: Read the last paragraph with the title.