Li Wan Heng Jin
"Okay, I'll return it to you when I'm done."
"You don't have to pay me back. It will be more convenient to find me if you need anything else in the future."
Li Wan smiled and didn't respond.
She memorized both sides of every page of yellow paper deeply in her mind. Feeling the slight vibration at her waist, she asked, "Is there anything else the Emperor would like to discuss with me?"
"If I say no, will Ah Li start to chase people away?"
Li Wan's thoughts were revealed, and he hesitated before speaking again.
"Of the poems I'm reciting to you today, the one I want to recite the most is the line I haven't finished yet. 'A graceful lady, I long for her day and night. But I cannot obtain her, and I yearn for her day and night. So carefree, so carefree, I toss and turn. Ah Li, do you understand what I'm trying to express through this poem?"
"I know the original meaning of the poems you just recited, but I don't understand what you want to express through the poems, and I don't need to understand."
"It's okay. I'll tell you my original intention and my intention. My original intention is that I want to pursue a virtuous and beautiful woman day and night. But I can't get her, and I miss her all day and night. The endless longing makes me toss and turn and unable to fall asleep. And my intention is the same. Li Wan, I like you, but it's the love between a man and a woman, not the love between friends. Am I clear enough, A Li?"
Li Wan immediately refused, "I understand, but I only have friendship with the Emperor. You shouldn't say that to me, Emperor. I'm engaged. You didn't pursue me before, and you shouldn't have to pursue me in the future."
"Flowers are endless, moons are infinite, I only wish that our hearts are one. You haven't married yet, so who knows who will be the one sharing the same heart with you in the end? It seems that secret love is not suitable for Ah Li, who is slow to react. What's the saying? Casting a wink to a blind man. A passionate and sincere love may make Ah Li understand my feelings better."
His tone softened, the smile on his lips growing deeper, and the corners of his eyes and eyebrows curved into beautiful arcs as he felt happy. His eyes, filled with affection, stared at her intently, the deep love in them undisguised, surging like the sea.
"I already have a crush."
"Cha Suxun?"
"Um."
"Ari, Ari, the emotion contained in your eyes when you look at him is too pure."
"What's the meaning?"
"Literally. You have a lover and an engagement. As long as you're not married to someone else, it won't affect my pursuit of you."
"Since the Emperor has decided to go his own way, I won't say anything more."
She teleported back to the Qinzheng Palace to take out the Moon Whistle, then teleported back to Heng Jin and pushed the brocade box containing the Moon Whistle in front of him.
"Once I've dismantled the wooden house on the sacred peach tree, I'll send Heqi back personally. As for the ear feathers, they're necessary for the cooperation. I'll return them as a reward after the task is completed."
Heng Jin pushed Yue Ti Shao back toward her. "What I gave you is yours. No matter what the reason is, you don't have to give it back. There's no reason to take back what I give you. If you insist on returning it, I don't mind you giving it back once and me giving it back. If I cast a spell to root the sacred peach tree, no one can move. If you really don't like it, you can chop it down, burn it, or even have it struck by lightning. Just don't give it back to me."
"I've already refunded it. It's up to you whether you want it or not."
Li Wan stood up and gestured for an invitation, "If Emperor Hengjin has no other important matters to discuss, please proceed to the thank-you banquet."
"Didn't Tsurugi say that if I develop feelings I shouldn't have, he'd ask me to leave the Demon Realm immediately? Ari invited me to a thank-you banquet, so should I understand that Ari doesn't feel the same way?"
"I invited the Emperor to a banquet of thanksgiving. It was out of gratitude for the Emperor's assistance as the Lord of the Demon Realm, not out of Li Wan's true intention. I also ask that the Emperor not call me Ah Li in the future to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings."
"Is it to avoid Cha Suxun's misunderstanding? My mouth is on my body, I can call you whatever I want. If Ah Li is unhappy, you can beat me to death. After all, the only mouths in the world that won't say anything you don't want to hear are the dead."
"How dare I kill you, Emperor? Even if I have the intention, I don't have the ability, right?"
Heng Jin walked past her with a grin on her face. As she passed by her sideways, she said through telepathic communication, "Of course the Demon Lord has this ability. Otherwise, why would everyone praise the Demon Lord for his ability? Even I, who have fought against you several times, was fooled by you."
Li Wan sent a telepathic message: "Then I have to try and see if I can kill you."
Heng Jin transmitted the message through telepathy, "Yes, young people should be brave enough to try new things. Even if the Demon Lord can't be killed, you have to find a way to poison me to death. That way, the Demon Lord will have peace of mind."
…
Yuanli couldn't help but grumble, "You still look like a jerk asking for a beating?"
Heng Jin said, "We can't even be friends anymore, so we should at least find something to do again, right? Li Wan, for her long-planned yet unfinished grand plan, is really planning to kill me. She's already started plotting how I'll die, how I'll destroy my body, and where I'll be dumped. I've taken a lot of poisons and weapons from her, and I've been tricked by her many times. She almost tried to kill me. Heaven knows my sincerity!"
"Could Li Wan really beat you to death then?"
"I don't know. I haven't given it my all, but I really want to try." There was even a hint of nostalgia and anticipation in Heng Jin's tone.
Yuanli looked at him with a puzzled look as if he were a madman.
Memories of the past quickly shifted and flowed away again. In later memories, they rarely met again, as friends. He often asked Xiang Yao to send small gifts and a branch of peach blossoms from the sacred tree, tied with a fluttering red ribbon. On the red ribbon were short love poems, just like the Guanju poem, written by ancient mortals.
Heng Jin often appears when Li Wan goes out to fight against evil spirits, and intervenes to help without waiting for her to express her opinion.
After the fight, they would still present a branch of peach blossoms from the sacred tree tied with a red ribbon with a love poem written on it.
Li Wan always destroyed the red ribbons with love poems written on them, and ordered Jiuwei to return the peach blossom branches from the sacred tree that Heng Jin had left behind to the god, along with the small gifts he sent from time to time.
However, after two or three times, the angels among his gods seemed to have received a unified order and dared not accept it.
Li Wan just threw Jiuwei at the door and left.
But gradually, rumors began to spread and even reached the demon world.
No matter what, there is always a nine-tailed fox coming to the Emperor Hengjin's immortal palace to deliver peach branches from the sacred tree and gifts.
Everyone was discussing who the owner of this nine-tailed fox was and what his relationship was to Emperor Hengjin.
Li Wan used her ear feathers to convey that there was new progress in the matter of Xie Yuan, and asked him to go to the Demon Realm to discuss it when he was free.
Heng Jin, who happened to have nothing to do, replied immediately and went to the demon world immediately.
We agreed to meet at the glazed tile house where we met last time. She arrived early. There were three plates of exquisite cakes on the table, and three cups of freshly brewed tea in front of the plates, still steaming.
As soon as he sat down, Li Wan said, "The last time we met, the Emperor said that young people should be brave enough to try new things. If I can't kill you with my fists, I'll at least poison you to death. That way, I'll be free from all worries. I think that makes sense. So, for today's meeting, I've personally prepared three plates of cakes for you, adding a little bit of poison to them. Please try them, Emperor."
"Since A-Li did this for me personally, how can I refuse A-Li's kindness?"
Heng Jin picked up the pink flower-shaped cake in the middle without hesitation and ate it, not forgetting to drink the corresponding tea before the cake.
"It's sweet and has a peach blossom aroma. It's delicious. Do you add the peach blossom petals from the sacred tree?"
"Well, I thought about it, instead of letting the Nine-Tailed Fox run around, it would be better to make a poisonous cake for the Emperor to eat, so it wouldn't be a waste."
"Ari is really frugal. However, the poison seems to be taking a long time to take effect."
"Don't worry. None of my three poisons take effect immediately, and it's best to take them all. The taste is most wonderful when they take effect together. If I poison you immediately, how can I talk to you later, right?"
Heng Jin praised: "Ali is very clever."
"This dish is called Touhuaci. It's made with fine glutinous rice, pounded into a translucent cake. Then, it's filled with red bean paste shaped into a flower shape, and the flower shape is faintly visible, hence the name. This dish is called Ghee Abalone Snail. This one is a bit more elaborate, and the Emperor must eat it all. Milk is poured into a vat to ferment, then boiled into curds. It's stirred vigorously to separate the curds, mixed with honey and cane sugar, and once it solidifies, it's squeezed onto a small dish. As you squeeze and rotate, tiny pastries appear, round at the bottom, pointed at the top, and spiraling in circles. These are all exquisite tea cakes from the mortal world. Try them."
Hearing her describe the complicated production process, Heng Jin's smile grew wider. "Ari is willing to spend so much time on this for me. No matter how poisonous it is, I will eat it all."
"Then Your Majesty, please eat while I tell you about the progress. I've investigated all the demon kings' territories and have indeed discovered many of the scouts who are followers of Xie Yuan, including two demon kings. The scouts are determined to die and are incredibly tight-lipped. The two demon kings also refused to reveal the consequences of exterminating the nine clans, but their heirs did provide some very useful information."
Li Wan took out two thin and small booklets. The first half was more like an account book, recording the so-called achievements of the demon king, that is, how many "own people" he had planted or how many offerings he had made to Xie Yuan.
"The fruit offerings mentioned here don't seem to be as simple as the ones mentioned in temples. I suspect they might be the heads of demons executed in prison. Executed demon heads are usually collected and buried together in cemeteries, but we've visited many cemeteries within our jurisdiction and found many headless bodies. But what could a demon head be used for?"
"That's what I came here to tell you. Last night, Xiang Yao and I tracked down a group of followers and followed them to Flame Mountain. We discovered they were disguised as a funeral procession, carrying coffins up the mountain. Flame Mountain is full of lava pits and volcanoes, with frequent collapses and shifting terrain. Logically, no one would choose to settle there or bury their dead. Sure enough, a fire snake woman lurked on the mountain. The followers carried the coffin to the lava pit at the top of the mountain, knelt, and waited for the fire snake woman to appear. The leader opened the coffin lid, revealing dozens of heads neatly stacked inside."
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