Poisonous Goddess: I'm just lazing around in the mortal realm.

Zhou Jinghuai sat down at the round table, his expression somewhat indifferent.

It was as if after the last conversation

Zhou Jinghuai has changed a lot.

He had shed his former frivolous demeanor, replaced by a serious and earnest air, which ironically drew frequent sidelong glances from Thirteen.

"Why are you so serious? Has something gone wrong with Sui Sui again?"

Thirteen looked up at Zhou Jinghuai, his expression somewhat tense.

She thought

What happened to Pei Suisui again?

Zhou Jinghuai shook his head upon seeing this.

"No, that's not it. The second young lady of the Pei family is very lively in that villa. Every day she either scolds and beats the guards or stands by the lake in a daze. My men have already infiltrated the villa and are just waiting for your orders."

He remembered that Thirteen had only asked him to send someone to take good care of Pei Suisui.

We cannot rush to rescue them.

Upon hearing Zhou Jinghuai's words, Thirteen composed himself, his earlier tension subsiding, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"So you came to see me just to talk about this?"

She remembered that Abao was too cunning. Although he said he trusted her, he would always send one or two people to keep an eye on her.

I was afraid of doing something out of line.

after all

She is now the hope of the entire Crown Prince's residence.

Although the Crown Prince's residence had kept the news under tight control, the Emperor still had spies within the army, and eventually learned of the Crown Prince's injury.

Furthermore, someone deliberately reported that the Imperial Medical Academy had delayed treating the Crown Prince, which enraged the Emperor.

The Emperor ordered that all the imperial physicians accompanying the army be suspended from their salaries for three years and punished with twenty strokes of the cane.

Suspending my salary isn't a big deal.

But those solid twenty strokes of the cane nearly sent the elderly imperial physicians, already exhausted from their journey and still unaccustomed to the weather on the southern border, to their deaths, to meet the late emperor.

"I heard that the imperial physicians who have been punished are left without anyone to care for them, but you went to help them?"

Zhou Jinghuai keenly noticed that Thirteen's wrists were somewhat swollen.

It must be due to overwork these past few days.

Thirteen rubbed his wrist and nodded.

"Those old imperial physicians were already quite delicate, and the bumpy journey had nearly killed them. Then Prime Minister Pei's laxatives took effect to the extreme, plus those twenty strokes of the cane..."

Thirteen couldn't help but shake his head.

It almost cost these old doctors their lives!

Now, she has no choice but to treat the wounds of the old imperial physicians during the day and sneak into the Crown Prince's bamboo garden at night to change his dressings.

It truly exhausted her!

"Take this medicine; it's the wound medicine I always carried with me."

Zhou Jinghuai silently took out a porcelain bottle from his pocket and handed it to her.

Thirteen took the porcelain bottle, glanced at it in his hand, then looked at the other person and said...

Is there anything else you want to say?

She felt that Zhou Jinghuai's demeanor today was quite unusual.

Zhou Jinghuai pursed his lips, unsure how to begin, then touched his nose and looked to the side.

"Aunt Qin came to see me."

Thirteen nodded slightly, holding the porcelain bottle in his hand as he answered.

"She's urging you to return to Xichen? If it's inconvenient for you..."

"I will not leave until I have resolved what I promised you. Even if Aunt Qin holds a knife to my throat..."

Zhou Jinghuai stubbornly interrupted Thirteen, wanting to stay by her side and protect her.

"It's not that bad. After all, she's your aunt, an elder who watched you grow up. She...wouldn't harm you."

Thirteen poured him a cup of tea, abruptly interrupting Zhou Jinghuai before he could finish speaking.

She understood Zhou Jinghuai's feelings.

But now she

I can't accept this!

A flicker of pain crossed Zhou Jinghuai's eyes, then he looked at the hot tea in Thirteen's hands.

"This is my own decision, and it has nothing to do with you."

"But you stayed because of me. As for Aunt Qin... she is your elder after all. You shouldn't disobey her. Go back to Xichen as soon as possible."

Thirteen pushed the tea along the edge of the table toward Zhou Jinghuai.

Zhou Jinghuai did not accept the cup of hot tea, but instead looked up at the thirteenth path.

"Do you really dislike me that much? You want me to leave the mortal realm, but now that your divine power has dissipated and Shen Mu is not by your side, how can I leave you at ease?"

"But the people of the Western Star God Realm need you too, don't they?"

Thirteen understood that unless something serious had happened in Xichen...

They wouldn't be so insistent on Zhou Jinghuai returning.

Something big is definitely going to happen!

Upon seeing this, Zhou Jinghuai's expression immediately betrayed his hurt. He stood up, wanting to vent his anger, but then noticed the gaze Thirteen was giving him.

Cold and unfamiliar

A temperature he had never felt before

He raised his hand and then just barely lowered it.

Is that how you see me?

"How should I view you? Zhou Jinghuai, I made it very clear to you before that there are some things I don't remember. Now that you have found Pei Suisui's whereabouts, it is enough to let Xie Qiao stay."

Her meaning was very clear.

They wanted him to return to Xichen as soon as possible.

Zhou Jinghuai clenched his hands weakly inside his sleeves.

He utterly loathed himself now, as if he had returned to two hundred years ago, to that useless version of himself who had lost her in the same way.

for a while

He then spoke.

"I will leave the mortal realm tomorrow, and I will tell Xie Qiao about Pei Suisui's whereabouts."

"Then I'll have to trouble you. If there's enough time... we might not even finish this battle by the time you return to the mortal realm."

Thirteen looked somewhat forlorn, and for some reason, her heart suddenly clenched.

Perhaps it was due to her being overworked these past few days.

Or perhaps for other reasons

Ultimately, she hoped that Zhou Jinghuai wouldn't stay in the mortal realm alone and delay things in Xichen because of her.

Just after Thirteen saw Zhou Jinghuai off

The window bars inside the house were pushed open.

"Who?"

Thirteen reached for his waist, but before he could draw his sword, a familiar scent wafted towards him.

A large hand descended, directly grasping her small hand that was trying to draw her knife.

"it's me."

The man's voice made Thirteen frown, and in a panic, she turned around abruptly.

Suddenly, I was met with those deep, cold eyes.

Shen Mu leaned down and closed the window behind her.

Thirteen blushed instantly at his actions and quickly moved to the table where the candles were still burning.

"You...why are you here?"

She tried to suppress her excitement, but her voice was still somewhat hesitant.

Shen Mu thought he had offended her with his actions and quickly apologized.

"I'm sorry, I thought..."

"no!"

Thirteen abruptly interrupted Shen Mu, tilting his head back with a flustered expression.

"I mean, shouldn't you be in the Southern Barbarian lands? Why are you looking for me here? How did you know I was here?"

She frowned slightly, assuming that Xie Qiao had informed him of the news.

Shen Mu licked his lips; he hadn't known Thirteen's whereabouts before.

He arrived in Philadelphia well in advance, as early as evening.

However, because it took some time to find her, if he hadn't met Xie Qiao, he probably wouldn't have imagined that Thirteen would actually be staying at the Gu Marquis's residence.

As for Thirteen, she also didn't know.

Philadelphia is hundreds of miles away from Shen Mu's camp. If he hadn't used his divine power, there would have been no way he could have reached Philadelphia tonight.

The reason for all this

Just because he wanted to see her