The number one spendthrift woman in the capital actually brings glory to her entire family?

Lord Sikong immediately wanted to teach Lord Diao a lesson—Do I look like the kind of person who can't resist temptation?

As if sensing Lord Sikong's thoughts, the sable let out a howl, its purple eyes turning sharp and cold, which annoyed Lord Sikong. He grabbed its leg and pulled it off, pressing it into the cool stream, saying, "I find you have a strange smell. You'd better wash yourself!"

As he spoke, he stood up.

Tuoba Yu, who had been waiting for Sikong Jin's answer for a long time, felt his heart sink in an instant. Staring at Xu Ran as she turned away, he couldn't help but ask again, "Sikong Jin... I invite you to be a guest in our Tian Sheng Imperial City. Would you like to go?"

Sikong Jin glanced at the sable thrashing and howling in the stream before turning back to wipe her hands casually on her robes. She looked up at Tuoba Yu, thought for a while, and then shook her head with a hint of helplessness. "I'm afraid it's not possible now. Once things are settled here, I estimate I'll have to return to Hangu Pass. But thank you, Your Highness the Third Prince."

Tuoba Yu's face suddenly stiffened, and the hope in his eyes vanished in an instant. He lowered his head and his hands, which had been behind his back, suddenly stopped moving. He murmured, "Is it not okay?"

"Your Highness possesses great vision and exceptional wisdom, which Sikong Jin has always admired. Although the battle in the Jiangxi Plain was not entirely satisfactory, I am still very happy to have cooperated with Your Highness and look forward to the next opportunity for us to continue our cooperation. It is getting late, so I will be heading back now. Your Highness should also go back and rest early."

Sikong Jin calmly and leisurely straightened her robes, which had been disheveled by the night wind, and spoke indifferently, her tone unusually light. She walked past Tuoba Yu like the wind.

However, just as she was about to step forward, Tuoba Yu couldn't help but reach out and quickly grab Sikong Jin's cold, delicate hand, his deep voice filled with extremely complex emotions—

Some felt disappointed, some helpless, and some uneasy.

“Sikong Jin, I know everything. From the moment I saw you fall into the Shenglan River, I knew you weren’t…”

"Tuoba Yu!"

Before Tuoba Yu could utter the next two words, Sikong Jin's icy voice immediately cut him off. Her unfathomable clear eyes turned sharp and cold in an instant, and her fists clenched unconsciously. When her eyes met Tuoba Yu's gaze, they instantly became somewhat gloomy and unpredictable, and her ever-changing face was constantly shifting between light and dark!

"If you dare to tell anyone about this, I'll kill you, understand?"

The thing she feared finally happened. After meeting again, she knew that Tuoba Yu had changed, especially after the battle at Shenglan River. She didn't know why, but some things inexplicably changed suddenly...

Tuoba Yu held her wrist tightly as she tried to break free, gazing at her intently, and said firmly, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, but... why..."

Not everything needs a reason.

Sikong Jin's free hand struck Tuoba Yu's wrist, causing Tuoba Yu to instinctively release his grip in pain. Sikong Jin rubbed her sore wrist and looked at him calmly, "Forget everything you know. We are still friends, still brothers."

"We can't be brothers, Sikong Jin! You know that very well!"

Tuoba Yu couldn't help but speak up.

"I don't believe that I, Tang Jingyao, and Ji Wuge will always be good brothers. Moreover, perhaps, in this life, I, Sikong Jin, can only be brothers or friends with you."

Sikong Jin looked at Tuoba Yu with clear eyes.

'Awooo! Awooo!'

The sable had somehow managed to wriggle out of the stream, its body soaking wet. It leaped swiftly onto Sikong Jin's shoulder, its purple eyes glaring, its sharp fangs bared, and howled at Tuoba Yu, as if it were desperately protecting its master.

"But things will change sooner or later..."

Tuoba Yu wanted to explain something, but Sikong Jin didn't give her a chance to continue. She withdrew her gaze and suddenly turned and left.

"That's my business. I hope you can keep these secrets, otherwise, I will never let you off the hook."

She uttered those words indifferently, then walked through the dappled shadows of the trees, her slender figure quickly disappearing into the silent darkness.

Tuoba Yu was momentarily dazed, silently watching her figure disappear from sight. His large hand, still warm from her touch, tightened slightly. He took a deep breath, blinked his calm eyes, and suddenly flicked his sleeve, striking the calm stream with his palm. A deafening roar erupted, and countless silver water swords rose from the surface of the stream, shattering the bright moon reflected in it…

Sikong Jin walked through the dim shadows of the trees, her heart heavy with a dull ache in her chest. She stopped trying to figure out when she had become so sensitive and perceptive. After Tuoba Yu's words surfaced in her mind, all the memories that came to mind suddenly transformed into scenes from that bamboo house outside Luoyang, and from those moments under the flower trellis in the backyard of the commander's mansion in Hangu City—

"Would you like to come back to the Great Zhou with me, Ajin?"

"Why? As long as you come back to the Great Zhou with me, you can command hundreds of thousands of troops on the western border, and you will still be... the supreme woman of the world..."

……

“Yes, after going through so much, I finally understand Brother Jin’s difficulties. If we’re talking about loneliness, Brother Jin, you are even more lonely. That’s why Hua’er asked Father to promise me that I can follow you back to Malan City this time.”

"Hua'er, what do you think of Ji Wuge? Also, I heard there are quite a few handsome young men among the garrison at Hangu Pass. Have you talked to them? That way you won't be lonely. It's nice to have someone to talk to, right?"

"Brother Jin...don't...leave..."

One moment her mind was filled with images of Xing Fuhua's bright and beautiful face, her eyes brimming with tears yet trying her best to hold them back, and the next moment with Di Beizun's cold and alluring handsome face. Many fragments that had been buried deep in her heart suddenly rushed to her mind like a surging tide, and she felt somewhat dazed for a moment.

I wonder how they are doing now.

After saying those hurtful things to Xing Fuhua that time, she never made a point of caring about her situation. After thinking it over, she felt that she owed Xing Fuhua the most.