Black Owl is carefree by nature and not one to linger.
To show that he had no lingering feelings for Lin Shuang, Lin Shuang brought him some wine, which he readily accepted and drank.
"Oh……"
Seeing that he had drunk it, Lin Shuang twitched her lips slightly, it was hard to tell whether she was going to cry or laugh.
Until this point, because she was someone close to Xiao Yao'er, Hei Xiao did not suspect her.
He assumed she was heartbroken and at a loss for what to do.
"Come on, Brother Xiao, drinking on an empty stomach is bad for your health. Eat some food before you drink," Lin Shuang said considerately, picking up a piece of food with her chopsticks and feeding it to Hei Xiao, treating him like her husband.
Black Owl awkwardly dodged away, then simply sat down and picked up his chopsticks to eat: "Miss Lin Shuang, you eat too. There's no distinction between us."
It was merely a polite greeting from Black Owl.
Lin Shuang felt a surge of sweetness in her heart. She thought that for the rest of their lives, this would be how they would eat together every day.
“Okay, let’s eat together.” Lin Shuang took a bite of food cautiously. Seeing that Hei Xiao’s expression was still normal, she was afraid that one cup of wine would not be enough to have the effect of the medicine, so she kindly filled his cup again and said, “Brother Xiao, this is the second cup. There is one more cup.”
"Hmm," Black Owl drank it with great gusto.
On Ji Fengyao's side.
Having experienced all seven emotions—joy, anger, worry, contemplation, grief, surprise, and fear—the Empress Dowager's face had returned to calm, with few expressions left to represent her emotions.
Ji Fengyao was afraid that she would not be able to withstand the power of the seven emotions and six desires erupting at once and would suddenly become a fool; if the emperor investigated, it would implicate Jin'an Temple, so she gave her acupuncture to relieve the effects of the medicine.
After the Empress Dowager confessed to the bad things she had done to Shang Xiye and the little bandit, she fell silent.
She simply lost her emotions, not her reason.
"I know all that you're saying. Now tell me something I don't know," Ji Fengyao said, sitting on the edge of the bed with her legs crossed, her roguish air pressing down on the Empress Dowager.
His nonchalant demeanor seemed to say, "You'd better tell the truth, or the local bandits won't hesitate to take your dog's life!"
"Say, say what..." The Empress Dowager was very reluctant to talk about this topic.
But her expression was very calm, as if she were just pretending to be calm.
"Tell me about your grudges with Consort Lian, how you framed and drove her away; when the Emperor ascended the throne, did you use any dishonorable or improper means?" Ji Fengyao smiled, her tone cool, playful yet threatening: "You can choose not to speak, but if I were to take action, you would probably wish you were dead."
After saying that, Ji Fengyao raised her hand and sucked up the candlestick on the table in the distance.
This ability to retrieve objects from a distance is something that cultivators above the Foundation Establishment stage possess. Although she has not yet reached the Foundation Establishment stage, she already has the strength of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, so using these tricks is naturally as easy as taking something out of a bag.
The Empress Dowager's heart pounded: This bandit is not human! This bandit must be a monster!
Ji Fengyao threw the candlestick back, brandishing the silver needle between her fingers: "Tell me, shall I do it?"
"I say, I say," the Empress Dowager said hastily, her face blank, "At that time, the late Emperor was critically ill, and the late Emperor had not yet ascended the throne. I was just a concubine in the late Emperor's residence..."
According to the Empress Dowager's narration, Ji Fengyao learned that Shang Xiye's birth mother, Consort Lian, was a woman whom the late emperor had encountered and rescued on his way back to the capital from guarding the western pass. It was a very melodramatic story: "The emperor fell in love at first sight, the woman became pregnant, and she was locked in the palace, deeply involved in the palace intrigue."
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