Chapter 1203: Being a Good Widow King [Seeking Monthly Tickets]
Shen Tang waved her hand in front of Ji Moqiu's eyes.
A slight unease settled in her heart: "Why is the High Priest so distracted? But what's wrong with my body... these symptoms...?"
Her body was different from that of a normal person, and she had a close relationship with the Gongxi clan. As the high priest, Ji Moqiu might know things that even Shen Tang herself didn't know. Right now, the hegemony was paramount; if her body held her back, she'd be reduced to a mermaid in the whole world. Thinking of this, Shen Tang felt a pang of anxiety.
Nobody wants to be held back by such an unexpected event at a crucial moment.
Before Ji Moqiu could answer, Shen Tang grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the side of the road. There were plenty of sharp-eyed and sharp-witted martial artists and scholars around, and she didn't want to cause any trouble. Ji Moqiu didn't struggle, and followed Shen Tang's pull to squeeze through the crowd, disappearing into the throng in the blink of an eye. Tan Ting, in the private room on the second floor, watched them until they disappeared, lost in thought. Qi Miao and the others, however, had no interest in this.
They were still savoring the Lord's impromptu dance moves.
One of the ladies, who was also a member of the Gongxi Chou Conservation Association, couldn't hide her excitement: "Was that General Gongxi's son? The two look so alike, yet they have completely different styles."
The next sentence is: "I wonder what his cultivation level is!"
His companion chimed in, "Like father, like son; he's sure to be strong!"
Qi Miao couldn't help but laugh, then revealed a shocking truth: "What 'son of General Gongxi'? The one downstairs is the General's elder brother, his own brother from the same father and mother!"
Gong Xi Chou and Ji Mo Qiu's relationship was neither deliberately concealed nor widely publicized. The former had served as a nominal general in Kang State for many years, but the court officials only knew his name and never saw him. After Gong Xi Chou's return, aside from briefly appearing in the crowd for Gong Xi Lai's wedding to Xun Ding, he spent the rest of his time immersed in cultivation. If Gong Xi Chou was like this, Ji Mo Qiu, whose entanglements with Kang State were even less, was even more reclusive.
Therefore, only a minority of people know about the relationship between the two brothers.
The companion recalled the face he had just seen.
Although Ji Moqiu was the height of a young man, he was noticeably younger than Gong Xichou, so how could he be the elder brother? However, considering the influence of a martial artist's cultivation level and attributes on their appearance, those few years were obviously insignificant. He had previously seen an old man with white hair call a young man with black hair "uncle." Highly skilled martial artists and scholars all possessed the art of preserving their youth, making it impossible to discern their actual age.
Tan Ting turned her head to listen: "General Gongxi?"
Gongxi is a very rare surname.
Qi Miao naively thought that Tan Ting's reaction was due to hearing a rare surname, and laughed, "General Gongxi refers to Gongxi Chou, and the one who was dancing downstairs just now is called Ji Moqiu. He is especially skilled in Gu magic and is a distinguished guest in the inner courtyard of the Medical Bureau. He is a respectable elder with an excellent temperament."
Her father, Qi Shan, and Gong Xi Chou were childhood friends, and Ji Mo Qiu was Gong Xi Chou's elder brother. In this sense, Ji Mo Qiu was an uncle of the father's generation. Qi Miao had troubled Ji Mo Qiu several times during the process of developing the roundworm medicine, so the two had quite a lot of contact.
Based on our interactions, Ji Moqiu is indeed gentle and approachable.
Tan Ting then asked, "What is his relationship with Shen Jun?"
"I don't know, and as a subject, I cannot speak ill of my ruler."
"I haven't even officially started my shift yet?"
Tan Ting's words were undoubtedly an attempt to exploit a loophole.
Qi Miao's circle of friends wasn't all officials; those who were commoners didn't have as many concerns. They couldn't help but think of the widely circulated rumor from a few years ago—it was said that their Shen Jun's favorite husband was Gong Xi Chou.
Unfortunately, Gongxi Chou had been searching for his relatives for many years.
The group exchanged glances, realizing they were thinking the same thing.
Tan Ting also shared a segment.
He asked curiously, "And now?"
Qi Miao was clearly a career-oriented person, with a thriving ambition: "The Lord and General Gongxi get along normally."
Tan Ting then thought of Shen Tang's action of pulling people away.
He shook his head slightly inwardly.
He had seen through Ji Moqiu's gaze; it seemed the divine son harbored dreams, but the King of Xiang was uninterested. If he truly desired it, as the ruler of a nation, what difficulty would there be in taking both brothers into his harem and enjoying the bliss of having multiple wives?
But he observed that this Mr. Shen didn't seem to have that kind of sense.
and--
Although Shen Jun used a spell to prevent sound from leaking out, Tan Ting understood some lip reading and clearly saw Shen Jun mentioning something about unusual physical symptoms to Ji Moqiu. This was what concerned him.
Tan Ting lowered her eyes, sighed, and felt helpless.
He always said that the lords chosen by Qi Yuanliang wouldn't live long, right? If Shen Jun is truly being afflicted by Qi Shan, Qi Yuanliang should atone with his death!
This slight melancholy was quickly dispelled by the atmosphere.
The capital of the Kang Kingdom, Fengluo, had many things he had never seen before.
Two flowers bloom, each representing a different branch.
While Tan Ting was worried that Qi Shanke would finally cause problems for Shen Tang's health, Shen Tang had already pulled Ji Moqiu away from the overt and covert protection, and the two found a secluded rooftop with high ground and few people to settle down. She was still thinking about the problem from earlier.
"The High Priest of Jimo?"
Hey, why is this person spacing out again?
Ji Moqiu then came to his senses and tried to pull his wrist back.
Shen Tang abruptly released his grip and apologized, "I lost my composure just now, but it was a matter of great importance, so please forgive me, High Priest."
Ji Moqiu paused for a moment before remembering Shen Tang's question, and lowered his eyes: "Your Highness's heartache must be related to past events."
"Past events?"
"Um……"
Ji Moqiu seemed to hesitate whether or not to explain.
That matter concerns His Highness, but upon closer examination, it has nothing to do with the His Highness before us. Since it's a matter of the past, why bother the present with it? If His Highness wants to know, he will tell you everything he knows; if His Highness doesn't want to know, that's fine too, one less thing to worry about.
Clearly, Shen Tang's temperament is the former.
"Since it's a matter of the past, I'll just listen to it as a story. You tell me, and I'll listen." She had to figure it out to avoid it affecting her. It was fine on ordinary days, but what if it happened to her during a battle between two armies? Wouldn't she die an unjust death?
Ji Moqiu was mentally prepared for this.
He looked up and conjured a vine swing chair on the roof. Shen Tang sat down without ceremony, crossed her legs, and made room for Ji Moqiu next to her. She then took out a handful of walnut-flavored melon seeds from the sachet at her waist: "Try them. These melon seeds are roasted by Wu Hui."
Ji Mo Qiu thanked him and accepted the gift.
While peeling sunflower seeds, he recounted what he knew.
"Actually, my knowledge is not comprehensive either. There may still be misunderstandings that haven't been cleared up. Your Highness can just listen to this to pass the time."
Shen Tang wrapped her left arm around the left rope of the swing chair, cracked sunflower seeds with her right hand, and pretended to be listening attentively to the story.
Ji Moqiu told a story.
Or rather, a mythical story never heard of before.
The story can be summarized as follows: a powerful figure who descended to earth to undergo tribulation was reincarnated into the rival circle. The rival circle deliberately obscured the secrets of heaven, attempting to sabotage the powerful figure's tribulation. Coincidentally, the two families were at war, and the reincarnated powerful figure came face to face with his former self.
Ji Moqiu handed the peeled melon seeds to Shen Tang.
She tossed it into the air and caught it with her mouth.
"Mmm, and then what?"
Ji Moqiu glanced at her out of the corner of his eye: "It failed."
"What failed?"
"The tribulation has failed."
Shen Tang, sitting cross-legged, leaned towards Ji Moqiu and asked seriously, "...Did you fail to transcend the tribulation? Was it sabotaged by your rivals?"
Ji Moqiu shook his head: "There are many reasons."
"For example?"
Ji Moqiu replied, "As far as I know, none of those with similar backgrounds to that person have successfully transcended the tribulation. They all fail for various reasons. It's actually normal. Even if the students of the academy study diligently and memorize the key points of the doctrines, the one who sets the questions is still the academy's teacher, and the answer is up to the teacher. If you answer incorrectly, you answer incorrectly, and there's nothing you can do about it."
Shen Tang: "...That's a really simple and easy-to-understand analogy. Isn't this just like the exam questions being beyond the syllabus? That big shot is really wronged."
She still didn't understand what this story had to do with heartache!
Ji Moqiu lowered his eyes and said, "It's related. After that person's reincarnation went out of control, it was... the grand formation that was in charge of... used a portion of the remaining remains of His Highness's current body... You have no memory, but there are remnants in your body, so..."
Shen Tang became more and more puzzled as she listened.
Why are your words censored with mosaics???
Some parts were completely inaudible, and when she tried to decipher them using lip reading, she found that Ji Moqiu's mouth was also obscured by a hazy, pixelated white mist. This made the conversation fragmented and frustrating to listen to.
Ji Moqiu looked up at the sky and said, "Heavenly secrets cannot be revealed."
He said, "Cheating in the exam room will get you caught by the proctor."
The examiner only has one pair of eyes, but the secrets of heaven are everywhere. Ji Moqiu can reveal a lot now. If we go back a few years, when His Highness's power was weak, he might have been punished by heaven for even having the thought of revealing something, let alone speaking it out.
Shen Tang: "...You didn't give me an answer either!"
Ji Moqiu: "..."
When she first transmigrated, Shen Tang probably wouldn't have believed these nonsense stories. But as the mysteries were unraveled, she discovered that the background of the persona she was using might be far more complex than she had imagined; this place was a deep quagmire. However, it seemed useless.
Her seemingly impressive background did not help her achieve great success in her career.
She asked a straightforward question: "I'm curious, what role does the high priest play in the examination hall? Is he the proctor? Or the exam paper?"
Ji Moqiu thought for a moment, his cheek muscles twitching slightly.
Shen Tang: "..."
She could neither hear nor see; all she saw was a mosaic.
Upon seeing her reaction, Ji Moqiu knew he had been blocked by the heavenly secrets again and didn't know how to comfort her: "Actually, Your Highness doesn't need to worry about these things. You are Your Highness, but you are also Shen Youli. If you want to know about the past, you will naturally know in the future. If you don't want to know, those were just a dream you inadvertently had, a dream that will leave no trace..."
"Will I always be Shen Youli?"
Ji Moqiu said, "You always have been."
It is the sky, the earth, all living beings and all things, and also herself.
Shen Tang had another question: "And what about you?"
A smile spread across Ji Moqiu's eyes: "As Your Highness wishes."
He is whoever he is, depending on who he is needed to be.
Shen Tang: "..."
These words didn't enlighten Shen Tang; instead, they confused her even more. By the time she came to her senses, she had already returned to the palace, taken a hot bath, and was now lying sprawled on her familiar bed, dressed in her nightgown.
I tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
"Sigh, aren't these worries a bit too much for me?"
He clasped his hands behind his head and stared blankly at the roof beam.
"Simply make Kangguo bigger and stronger, and open two branches to boost business... Isn't it better to just focus on building a career? Why is there such a strange mythological background? If I were a god, I could turn the sun and moon upside down with a wave of my hand, would I still be here working like a slave?" Shen Tang thought about his more than ten years of working like a slave, and the more he thought about it, the more he got stuck in a rut, and he was worried over and over again.
This is like what?
It's like she started as a beggar, collecting bottles, struggling to build a small company, and painstakingly growing it to a certain size by bowing and scraping. Then someone comes along and tells her that her real identity is actually the world's richest person, and that even a tiny glimpse of her identity could make the entire company rich. They ask for her account password? Absolutely none!
Even the world's richest person wouldn't give angel investment to a small company.
Finally, he also told her—
Want the password to the world's richest person's account?
The first step is for a small company to grow into the world's number one.
Shen Tang gave the ceiling the middle finger!
The guard crouching on the roof beam at night: "..."
Shen Tang couldn't figure it out, so she turned over again.
Various elements kept swirling in my mind.
The apocalypse caused by the world war, the extinction of species due to rampant radiation, the supernatural abilities of Wenxin and Wudan, the ancient remnants of the Gods Society, the entanglement between the Gongxi clan and the gods... Shen Tang clutched his chest, the feeling of being pierced by a wooden rafter becoming more and more obvious, and countless phantoms seemed to be flashing rapidly before his eyes.
In a daze, she heard someone whispering in her ear.
[The vine and wood are without heart, devoid of infatuation, and free from delusions.]
Shen Tang's consciousness gradually blurred, and drowsiness overwhelmed her.
She murmured, "What does that mean?"
The voice sounded somewhat malicious.
This means that—
The sound became increasingly muffled.
The other person's voice seemed to come from a distant horizon.
This is a calamity of slaughter, a calamity of slaughter, a calamity of slaughter, slaughter—
[Don't you dare mess this up again, you bastard!]
——
As the sound cleared, Shen Tang vaguely heard someone whispering nearby: "How could this be a love tribulation?"
The speaker appeared to be a woman.
The language used was one that Shen Tang had never heard before.
Strangely, Shen Tang seemed to have a built-in language pack; the unfamiliar language flowed smoothly into her ears without any communication barrier. Just as she was wondering, a rather childish voice came from that direction: "High Priest, what is a love tribulation? What happened?"
The woman, known as the High Priestess, sighed.
[The vine is without heart or nature, and naturally, without feelings. How can something without feelings withstand the trials of love?] The voice carried a hint of weariness.
The child disagreed: "How could Your Highness be heartless? Didn't the High Priest also say that Your Highness remembers the kindness of watering us years ago and has protected our people for countless years? Isn't kindness an emotion? How could you be heartless?"
The high priest said, "That's different."
The young child obviously couldn't understand.
Of the three thousand paths in the world, and the myriad forms of love, is it only the love between men and women that can be called a tribulation of love? And yet, this tribulation has fallen upon the diligent and earnest prince; it is truly unfair. The child said something else, and the high priest whispered a few words to him.
Shen Tang frowned, wanting to hear more details.
A short while later, two sets of footsteps approached.
The woman with long braids wore a mysterious and magnificent high priest's robe that trailed on the ground. She held a wooden staff in her right hand and led a small child dressed in narrow-sleeved cloth with her left. The child's appearance was indistinguishable between male and female, with red lips and white teeth. He was quite cute and pitiful, and obediently followed the woman inside.
The woman knelt on the prayer mat to pay her respects.
The young children also bowed in greeting.
Shen Tang watched this scene with confusion.
I had a vague feeling that the child's face looked somewhat familiar.
Just as she was about to call out for help, suspecting this was the territory of the Gongxi clan—she was probably seeing some scenes from the past due to her physical condition—she heard her own voice: "[Yin, your lifespan hasn't ended yet, why did you bring this child here?]"
The high priest said, "Previously, divination revealed that this child has a connection with His Highness, and given his exceptional talent, we intend to send him here to serve in the temple, so that he may succeed His Highness in the future."
When you came last time, I told you I didn't want to raise any more children... The temple is desolate, and only my avatar is there. Isn't it boring? I remember you also tried to escape many times back then...
Times have changed.
The voice ultimately did not refuse.
This is the last time. You know my calamity is coming soon. Getting too close to me could easily get you caught up in it.
Even so-called gods will fall one day.
Nothing in the universe can remain forever in the heavens.
The cycle of fortune is the natural order of things.
The High Priest said, "His Highness mentioned this matter in a divine decree, but after much discussion within the clan, we still feel that our clan and His Highness are of one blood, sharing both prosperity and adversity. We have been fortunate to receive your care for many years, and our clan cannot stand idly by at this time."
If necessary, it should be used as a sacrifice.
|ω`)
Fujiki, heartless and emotionless, goes through the tribulations of love.
It's almost equivalent to wishing eunuchs many children and much happiness _(:з」∠)_）
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