“Do you and Madam Wu know each other? She tried to secretly get information about you several times, and seems to care about you a lot. She thought that she was being sneaky about it, but how could she escape the detection of this empress’ discerning eye?!”
Zu An felt his scalp go numb. The sixth sense of women really was too strong. She was even able to sense something like that?
However, that couldn't be blamed on Yun Yuqing. No matter how careful she was, there was no way she could have known that he and Bi Linglong had a special relationship. That was why it was hard for her not to give away her real intentions.
“I've recently sensed that some undercurrents are brewing in the capital. I wonder if it's coming from the empress dowager’s side or... I hope I'm overthinking things.”
...
Zu An frowned as he read the later parts. At first, she was talking more about how she missed him, but later, something different had clearly happened. The conversation even became serious. Could it be that something had ended up happening in the capital? Now that communications were cut off, though, there was no way for him to contact her immediately.
He quickly replied on the jade strip and shared the recent events with her, telling her not to worry. Of course, he also typed a lot of words of affection. Otherwise, if he only replied with a few words when she had typed so much, that really would be a bit too trashy. He hoped that his message would be delivered immediately, or else if something else happened in the Ocean races' territory, he wouldn't be able to re-check and send the messages again.
Huanzhao and Youzhao also sent him a lot of messages.
“Brother-in-law, I really want to go to the battlefield too... Even Qinghe can go, and yet I can’t. I feel so ashamed.”
“Second sis really is annoying. She just keeps mocking me about this. But later on, I gave her a good beating and she didn’t dare to shoot her mouth of anymore.”
Zu An’s expression became really strange when he saw this message, because he had just seen Huanzhao tell him a different story. He changed to Huanzhao’s chat box and sure enough, she'd talked about the same thing too.
“That kid Youzhao keeps taking advantage of my weaknesses. Eventually, though, I finally taught her a good lesson and let her know a big sister’s terror! Now that we’re talking about it, brother-in-law, I need your help. Unless you help me change my aptitude, winning against her might not be so easy.”
Zu An was speechless. He really wondered who was beating up whom here. The two sisters were pretty similar. Apart from expressing that they missed him, it was about their fights. As he read their messages, he had a knowing smile, and his mood also unknowingly improved.
However, he suddenly noticed another message from Huanzhao.
“Brother-in-law, my mom used to be really mean to you in the past. Will you end up hating her for it?”
Zu An was stunned and didn’t know why she would ask about that. After all, Huanzhao was always the carefree sort and wouldn’t be so considerate as to try to mediate his relationship with her mother. However, he quickly remembered that Huanzhao seemed to have mentioned that Qin Wanru really wanted a communication jade strip. She had asked for it several times and was always refused.
Could this be...
When he thought about how Qin Wanru had used the jade strip to write ‘brother-in-law’, Zu An shivered and didn’t dare to think any more about it.
She definitely thought I wouldn’t know, or else she wouldn’t have done this.
Unfortunately, he had messed around with all types of chatting apps in his previous world, where there were many grown men pretending to be cute girls, girls making new accounts to pretend to be fans of themselves... He was just naturally more sensitive about these types of things.
He decisively chose to pretend not to know when he thought about such things. He continued to chat with her as if she was his sister-in-law. Of course, the way he typed was a bit more careful.
Sigh, isn’t this just a shoddy version of QQ messenger? I wonder why they’re having so much fun with it.
Then, there were messages from Sang Qien and Zheng Dan.
“Sisi seems to have called me mama today. Even though Dandan said that she only said it accidentally, I’m still really happy.”
“Big brother Zu, I went to the temple to ask for a peace charm for you. Dandan said that she was just keeping me company, but she secretly asked for one for you too, and yet she was too embarrassed to admit it.”
“Big brother Zu, I miss you so much.”
“The capital looks calm and peaceful recently, but something seems off. King Wu entered the capital, and Madam Wu was trying to get closer to all kinds of influential clans. When I discussed this with my father, we just felt that King Wu is scheming something big. I really wonder where he gets his courage from after King Dai and King Jin’s examples.”
“I found out that his entrance into the capital seems to have been the work of the Bi clan. What is the empress thinking? Could it be that she's trying to defeat the empress dowager?”
...
When he saw these messages, Zu An’s brows furrowed.
Bi Linglong is bringing King Wu into the capital?
I don’t think she would do something like that. It seems completely pointless. Could it be to go against the empress dowager?
But I’m clearly close to her. There’s no reason for her to do all of this. Don’t tell me that she's already guessed my relationship with the Empress Dowager?
She is a really smart woman, after all. She might have really managed to guess the truth from the clues.
When he thought about that, Zu An started to get a headache. He didn’t know how to face these two women later.
“Ah Zu, Qienqien keeps trying to teach Sisi to say 'daddy', but Sisi couldn't say it. In the end, Qienqien ended up saying 'daddy' all day for nothing. I’m about to die from laughter!”
“Before we knew it, you were already gone for so long. I even dreamed about you, and yet when I woke up in the middle of the night to change clothes, Qienqien asked me what was happening. I was too embarrassed to tell her what happened. It really is embarrassing...”
“Are things going well for you in the Fiend races' territory? I asked around and it seems the sealed land is really dangerous. But with your skill, you should be fine, right?”
“Why haven’t you responded to my messages all this time? Don’t tell me that something really did happen to you in the sealed land, right? If something happens to you, I’m going to find a man tomorrow and remarry immediately!”
“Hey... I was joking, so please don’t get mad. Qienqien was really worried about you, but I always believed that you would be safe. After all, I watched how you defeated those big shots while you were still so weak, and even I lost to you. Hmph, how could a bad guy like you ever really get done in?”
“Sigh, I really miss those days back in Brightmoon City. Even though you weren’t as strong as you are now, you were always with me... That was the happiest period of my life.”
...
As he read Zheng Dan’s messages, Zu An remembered that stunning young woman who'd spoken those embarrassing yet brazen words from back then, ‘the place where not even the sun can shine into, big brother, you can enter’. He felt endless emotions fill him. He began to reply to those messages one by one, while simultaneously expressing his own love.
Compared to Zheng Dan’s fiery and daring personality, Xie Daoyun’s messages were much more reserved and proper. She mainly asked if he was safe, or asked him about some things regarding formations and runes. He could sense her sweet-tempered personality between the lines. When he thought about how they hadn't been able to talk that much the last time they met, Zu An sighed. He replied to those questions seriously, and he also gave them a lot of concrete advice on their paths of cultivation.
It hadn't been so long since the time he wished for all of the beauties of the world to be his, and yet he now discovered that a single sentiment weighed more than a thousand catties. It wasn’t something so easily done.
Just like that, he hurried along while replying to his sweethearts one by one. He traveled day and night for several days in a row, and then he finally arrived at the shore of the eastern sea.