^^ ^^

On the contrary, while Le Yao Yao was continuously working hard, Nangong Jun Xi was spending his time slacking off in Leng Jun Yu's Study. He was either drinking tea senselessly, or walking around looking bored.

Leng Jun Yu was reading a book on military strategies and tactics, but suddenly he looked up at his junior brother.

"Didn't you make a bet with Xiao Tu Zi?"

"Senior brother, don't worry. I'm extremely confident of my abilities. Although Xiao Tu Zi is very courageous, he's still young and foolish. I do not consider "him" as competition!" Nangong Jun Xi boasted.

Hearing this, Leng Jun Yu calmly responded, "An arrogant army is bound to lose."

"*cough cough* Senior brother, how could you view your junior brother this way? I may not be as intelligent as you, but I'm definitely smarter than the little eunuch! I admit the little eunuch is very special and he does have some street smarts, but I have read thousands of scrolls. Do you think I would lose to a little eunuch who's only good at mouth battle?!"

Leng Jun Yu only lowered and shook his head. He tried to put his focus on the book, but his mind was elsewhere.

Since Le Yao Yao and Nangong Jun Xi made a bet, Leng Jun Yu generously allowed Le Yao Yao a few days off for him to prepare.

For the past few days, the moment he closed his eyes, his mind would be filled with the cute little guy.

Leng Jun Yu thought of "his" smile, and how determined "he" was to win. In addition, he also thought of "his" wonderful scent...

Even though he hadn't spent too much time with the little eunuch, Leng Jun Yu already knew "his" personality.

"He" enjoyed pretending to be innocent and pitiful. Also, he loved money and hated losing. He was good with reasoning and had some street smarts. He wasn't afraid of authority figures...

Because he was the way he was, Leng Jun Yu couldn't help but like him. Whenever Le Yao Yao was around, he would always be pleasantly surprised.

Seeing how senior brother had directed all his attention on his book once more, Nangong Jun Xi felt bored again. So, he went over to the wicker basket and began to take out the different scrolls of painting.

All the ink paintings were priceless. But Nangong Jun Xi only took a quick glimpse of each. He didn't find them appealing at all.

If the painters knew, they would definitely be crying on the inside.

This continued until Nangong Jun Xi randomly revealed another painting.

Originally, he thought he would react the same way. But surprisingly, Nangong Jun Xi felt like he had been shocked by lightning. His dull peach blossom eyes immediately lit up like candles. His eyes were wide. "Senior brother, this picture is....."

Leng Jun Yu realized Nangong Jun Xi was holding onto the painting that he had hand painted. Except...

"Senior brother, how come this woman doesn't have her five facial features?"

In regards to Nangong Jun Xi's question, Leng Jun Yu didn't respond. Instead, he reached over his long ape arms and took the painting from his junior brother's hand.

This was the first painting he had failed to complete. It was also the first painting that he didn't know how to complete.

Because he had forgotten what the woman looked like....

He could still recall that night. It was his mother's death anniversary.

Normally, he would never allow himself to get drunk. But each year on that particular night, he would allow himself to get dead drunk. That was the only way he could suppress the pain in his heart.

He remembered he was so drunk that he was swaying while he walked. He couldn't even see things clearly.

At the time, he just wanted to keep drinking because he wanted to numb the pain.

But ultimately, he felt more depressed after drinking.

The more he wanted to forget, the clearer his memories became.

At that moment, he wanted to hysterically laugh and cry at the same time. Then, he wanted to physically vent on something.

Afterwards, he happened to encounter a small person. He could not remember all the details, but he recalled being on top of the person. Although the little person was crying and screaming, he still continued to physically vent on her.

He violently released all of his frustrations and sufferings.

But he could not remember what the person looked like. At the time, his mind was spinning rebelliously. He could vaguely recall a pair of watery eyes. They looked rather familiar, but he could not say where exactly.

The strangest thing of all was that aside from a few of the old ladies that worked in the kitchen, there were no women in his residence.

Yet, he was sure it was a very young maiden.

Who is she?

Leng Jun Yu tried very hard to remember, but he was still clueless.

However, Nangong Jun Xi was way too curious. If it were anyone else, he wouldn't find it strange at all. But this was his senior brother!

His unsmiling senior brother that was like an icy mountain!

In addition, everyone knew how much senior brother loathed women! It was all due to his mother abusing him when he was little.

As a result, his senior brother demanded that all women must be at least five steps away from him.

Yet, his senior brother personally drew a picture of a maiden?

"Senior brother, could this maiden be someone you fancy?"

Leng Jun Yu slightly crinkled his sword-like brows as he opened his mouth and coolly stated, "Do not make assumptions."

Then, Leng Jun Yu rolled the painting back up and returned it into the wicker basket.

He knew what happened that night wasn't a dream though. It was real. But the next day, the woman had already left.

Leng Jun Yu tried to investigate which woman entered Ya Feng Ge, but no one knew who she was. It was as if she appeared out of nowhere and disappeared into thin air.

If there wasn't virgin blood on his bed, he would've thought it was a lustful dream.

But he took a woman's virginity. How come this woman wasn't looking for him?

So strange! Truly so strange! Leng Jun Yu really couldn't figure it out.

Nangong Jun Xi was still super nosy though. He continued to ask.

"Senior brother, just tell me! I'm your junior brother. Is it something you can't even tell junior brother?! You really give me no face!?"

Nangong Jun Xi nudged Leng Jun Yu with his elbow. His face was filled with a gossip hunger.

Who says women were natural gossipers? Sometimes, men also enjoy gossips too!

Leng Jun Yu raised his brows and gave him a sideway cast glance. Then, he returned back to reading his book.

"Pssh! So secretive! You're so stingy!" complained Nangong Jun Xi. Since Nangong Jun Xi couldn't dig anything out of his senior brother, he gave up.

After all, he knew senior brother's personality well. If senior brother didn't want to say, even if one were to smack his mouth, they will never get anything out of him.

So Nangong Jun Xi was forced to suppress his curiosity. But there will be ample of time in the future. He will eventually find out all the details.

--

Three days were neither long nor short. But it went by in a blink of an eye.

Today was the day of the annual talent show.

Although people were frightened over the scooped heart mystery, there had been no incidents these past few days due to an increase of guards patrolling.

But this type of peace gave the feeling that a rainstorm was about to arrive.....

After three days of practicing, Le Yao Yao was very satisfied with herself.

However, she wasn't arrogant. After all, an arrogant army was bound to lose!

In this world, there are more talent than oneself!

For the past three days, Le Yao Yao rarely saw the 7th Prince. Aside from briefly serving the King of Hell, she was given the remaining time to practice.

Le Yao Yao could tell that the King of Hell was purposely giving her time to do her own thing.

Thinking of this, Le Yao Yao had good feelings towards him. After all, a boss that cares about his workers deserved to be respected!

In order not to leak any information to the evil cult, no one else knew the talent show was fake aside from the eunuchs and imperial guards. The ten maidens, judges, as well as the citizens all thought this was a real talent show.

𝙉𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙚:

𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 50+ 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗛𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝘂𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵. 𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 50+ 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗳 𝗜'𝗺 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲.

-𝘛𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘭𝘦𝘴~