Chapter 2: They'll say anything to get what they want.
The mask was lifted, and the boy kept saying something, but Jiang Zhishui couldn't hear a word he said.
His clothes were torn off piece by piece. He kept trying to dodge, but he was trapped at the back of the bed. The moment Jiang Zhishui clung to him and kissed his lips, he suddenly stopped moving.
"Your eyes are so beautiful."
"Don't move, okay?"
Red curtains fluttered, the dark cave was silent; two completely different spaces were replaying the same scene. Jiang Zhishui felt as if she had returned to her wedding night, even every word she uttered to the person beneath her was exactly the same.
She didn't know where she was, she only felt pain, an involuntary pain. She bit the person's shoulder and sobbed softly, "Ayu..."
The boy's hands, wrapped around her waist, trembled slightly. His eyes shifted, his dark pupils reflecting a chilling hatred. He tightened his grip on her waist again, his voice icy: "Who are you calling?"
As Jiang Zhishui's spiritual energy gradually stabilized, she collapsed limply into the boy's arms. She was naked and shivering from the cold, hiding in Jing Qianheng's embrace before quickly losing consciousness.
——
"Madam, have you ever seen the Emperor's face?"
In the afternoon, during a moment of leisure, several maids surrounded Jiang Zhishui. She sat on a swing with a smile on her face, but when she heard the maids' question, her smile froze, and she grabbed the swing rope and hurriedly put her feet down.
The maid couldn't push the swing. Seeing Jiang Zhishui's bad expression, she realized she had said the wrong thing and slapped her own mouth in annoyance.
Jiang Zhishui never wanted to recall what happened that night.
The thought of that night, how she used both soft and hard tactics to force that man to compromise... made her want to die.
They are arrogant and shameless. They will say anything as long as they can get what they want. They are so shameless that they have lost all humanity.
No one on Thousand Realms Peak knows what the Emperor looks like. The maids secretly guess that he must be an extremely ugly monster. Some people have seen him return injured, with some black scales appearing on his neck.
This suggests that his face was probably stained with filth, making him ugly and unwilling to show it.
It is said that his true form is a black dragon. Demons who cultivate to the point of enlightenment and receive divine assistance must pay a huge price.
That night, Jiang Zhishui did indeed remove his mask. She clearly saw his face, but she just couldn't remember what he looked like.
All I remember are those eyes: anger, sorrow, and then endless desire.
Jiang Zhishui thought he must have done something to his face so that even if someone had seen him before, they would only have a blurry image in their mind and would never be able to see him clearly.
When she was first reborn, she tried to draw the outline of those eyes, but she just couldn't draw the eyes she remembered. No matter how she drew them, they were wrong.
This time, the same loss of control, the same compromise, those eyes suddenly appeared in my mind, the boy's face overlapping with that of the person with reddened eyes under the red curtain.
"ah!"
Jiang Zhishui broke out in a cold sweat from the sight of the two equally angry faces in her mind.
She clutched her chest and murmured, "How could I have such a terrifying dream? It scared me to death."
Jiang Zhishui patted her chest a few times, then turned to look at the cave wall. She froze for a long while, her voice trembling, "...It's not a dream..."
Jing Qianheng was gone; she was all alone deep in the dark cave.
She covered her head, trying to calm herself down.
Is Jing Qianheng the future Qingyu Emperor?
How could it be him?
What exactly happened back then?
And... what do we do now? She made another mistake...
She was hoping to mend her relationship with Jing Qianheng, but now it's all ruined. Forget about being friends, he'll probably hate her to death!
Back at the Ziyang Immortal Abode, Jiang Zhishui heard from the disciples guarding the mountain gate that Jing Qianheng was sick and still running around. His attendants were frantic, and several disciples had to go out to look for him. Fortunately, they found him in a mountain cave.
Jing Qianheng hid her in the cave without anyone noticing, and then went back first.
Jiang Zhishui herself was also very flustered. She went back to her room, closed the door, and tried to pour herself a glass of water, but her hands were shaking.
This situation is absolutely terrible. She made the same mistake twice, and on the same person.
How can we make amends? How can we salvage the situation?
Besides, she also found it hard to accept that Jing Qianheng was actually the Jade Emperor.
Jiang Zhishui was tormented and could no longer sit still.
She went to knock on Jing Qianheng's door in the middle of the night.
The servant Su You opened the door, looking puzzled, and asked, "Miss Jiang, what brings you here so late?"
With a loud bang, the sound of shattering porcelain suddenly came from inside. Su You looked surprised and hurriedly ran back to see what was happening. When she came out again, she looked embarrassed and stammered, "Miss Jiang... His Highness told you to get lost..."
"..." Jiang Zhishui was stunned for a moment, but her face showed no anger. She asked with concern, "I heard he had a fever and had been unconscious. How is he now?"
This was the first time Su You had ever seen His Highness so angry. She whispered, "I've been watching over him the whole time. His Highness was unconscious for a whole day and only just woke up..."
Jiang Zhishui figured he must have been angry because he heard she was there. She hesitated for a moment, then said, "Then... I'll come see him again in a few days."
Jing Qianheng had a terrible headache and his ears were ringing. Jiang Zhishui's voice was muffled and hoarse among the noises. He couldn't help but listen carefully. When he heard that she was leaving, he slowly opened his eyes and breathed weakly.
His cheeks were flushed with a sickly red, his hair was soaked with sweat, his lips were pale, his whole body was burning hot, and he had no strength at all.
For several days in a row, Jing Qianheng's illness did not improve. He had a recurring fever and took several kinds of medicine given by the doctor. It was not until the fifth day that his fever subsided.
Su You took care of him day and night, and was so tired from preparing medicine for Jing Qianheng that she fell asleep leaning against the door.
When he returned after decocting the medicine, he saw Jiang Zhishui bringing a lot of people to visit him, including Liu Chuxi and Lin Ye.
After Su You went in to report, the group was indeed allowed to enter.
Jing Qianheng's face was still a little pale, but he was already able to get up and walk around. He put on his coat and sat in the outer room talking with the others.
Jiang Zhishui sat in the outermost seat, hunched over, and secretly peeked at Jing Qianheng from among the disciples.
Several medical disciples were particularly interested in some rare and difficult diseases. Although they came to visit Jing Qianheng, they actually wanted to take the opportunity to learn more about his physical condition.
He has had this illness since childhood, and the cause cannot be found. He doesn't show any signs of illness normally, and seems no different from an ordinary person, but it always flares up randomly and suddenly.
Therefore, he always found it difficult to make breakthroughs in cultivation. His spiritual root was unique, and even if he cultivated more diligently than others, his spiritual energy would always be scattered when he cast spells, and he could not control his spiritual power freely.
The healers kept asking Jing Qianheng questions, while Lin Ye turned to see Jiang Zhishui awkwardly hiding to one side. He got up and walked over to her.
How do you feel after taking this medicine?
"You can come to Jade Peak more often in the future. For Junior Brother Jing's condition, learning more about pharmacology will also be helpful."
Jing Qianheng took a sip of water, lowered his eyes, and responded to everyone's concern with a faint smile. Setting down his teacup, he looked up and saw Jiang Zhishui tilting her head back, her gaze fixed intently on someone.
She smiled shyly and nodded slightly. The two of them seemed to be talking about something. Lin Ye stood behind her, leaning down, while Jiang Zhishui clasped her hands together, fidgeting nervously as if she was very nervous about Lin Ye's approach.
Jing Qianheng was so engrossed in watching that he didn't even hear Liu Chuxi speaking to him.
"Junior Brother Jing...Junior Brother Jing!"
He snapped out of his daze, and his hand inadvertently knocked the teacup off the table. With a clatter, the talking inside the room stopped abruptly, and Jiang Zhishui turned her gaze, instantly meeting those angry eyes.
The moment she saw those eyes, exactly the same as in her past life, a chill ran down her spine. She abruptly stood up, and everyone turned to look at her.
"Should we...should we go?" Jiang Zhishui swallowed, forcing herself to remain calm. "He's still sick and needs more rest."
Lin Ye glanced at the broken teacup on the ground and said to everyone, "It's getting late, so we won't disturb Junior Brother Jing any longer."
Everyone noticed that Jing Qianheng looked unwell, nodded, and turned to leave.
Jiang Zhishui came alone, afraid of being turned away, so she had to bring a group of people. She originally wanted to find an opportunity to talk to Jing Qianheng, but when she actually saw him, she was very scared.
She mingled in the crowd, silently moving outwards.
Jing Qianheng was helped to his feet by Su You. He stared at the figure that was eager to get away, his eyes filled with deep hatred.
He suddenly started coughing violently, and Su You quickly helped him to bed to rest.
Lin Ye walked ahead, and the group passed Jiang Zhishui one by one. She heard coughing coming from inside, so she slowed down and kept looking back.
Lin Ye glanced back at her, and Jiang Zhishui quickly ran two steps to catch up.
She was still worried and came over again in the middle of the night.
Su You came out yawning, carrying a bowl in her hand. She was going to the kitchen to brew medicine again.
Jiang Zhishui hid behind the artificial hill and watched Su You walk away before tiptoeing in.
After entering the room, she stood by the bed for a while before gently parting the bed curtains.
The boy's skin was naturally fair, but when he fell ill, all the color drained from his face, leaving it deathly pale. His eyes were closed, his brows slightly furrowed, and his breathing was punctuated by murmurs, as if he were suppressing pain; his voice was very low and weak.
After that incident, Jiang Zhishui narrowly escaped the crisis, and her cultivation level also improved.
The Xuan Yin Technique's cultivation method was too evil; she dared not practice it anymore. If Jing Qianheng hadn't been there, she feared she would have lost control of the rampant spiritual power within her and self-destructed.
Jiang Zhishui sat carefully on the edge of the bed. After hesitating for a moment, she made a hand seal, and a faint light emanated from her fingertips. Just as she reached out to touch Jing Qianheng's forehead, her wrist was grabbed.
Jing Qianheng opened his eyes and said angrily, "What are you trying to do?"
Jiang Zhishui was startled, her expression filled with panic, and the wisp of spiritual energy at her fingertips extinguished. His palm was burning hot as he gripped her hand tightly, forcing himself to sit up. "You want to kill me? You still want to kill me?"
"No, no, no, no, that's not it," Jiang Zhishui stammered. "I...I am..."
The more anxious she became, the more her voice trembled as she spoke, “...I wanted to transfer some spiritual energy to you, but I was afraid your body was too weak to handle it, so...I wanted to help alleviate your pain.”
Jing Qianheng abruptly shook off her hand and said angrily, "It's none of your business."
"I'm sorry..." Jiang Zhishui rubbed her wrist, which had been gripped so hard, and said again, bowing her head, "I'm sorry..."
"..." Jing Qianheng sneered, "You make it sound so easy. You think that no matter what you do, all you have to do is say sorry?"
Jiang Zhishui had lied to him more than once before. Every time her lies were exposed, she would apologize very sincerely, bringing all kinds of delicious food and exotic items, and keep begging for forgiveness.
But he never truly repented.
Jing Qianheng really didn't want to look at her face, and shouted, "Su You! Su You!"
Seeing how agitated he was, Jiang Zhishui quickly stood up, moved a little further away, and whispered a reminder, "He...he went to brew your medicine."
Jing Qianheng clenched his fists, his neck veins bulging with anger.
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