Chapter 1041: Dare to love, hate, and ac (1/2)

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“Aunt, this is something good I found by chance, they say it nourishes the skin. I kept some just for you,” Han Yunxi not only called her aunt, but offered up a gift. Lady Tang had liked her to begin with, so it didn’t even matter what kind of gift she gave. This was an expression of her feelings, so of course Lady Tang would dote on her even more.

Lady Tang was a woman who loved beauty and had ways to maintain her looks. She was infatuated with things like rouge and powders, so she was stunned as soon as she opened Han Yunxi’s present.

“Aiya, isn’t this white jade smoothing lotion? Tsk tsk tsk, this is a good thing!” Lady Tang crooned.

“As long as aunt likes it,” Han Yunxi smiled. She had no intentions to offer a second gift, so Aunt Ru was left standing awkwardly on the side. In all her years at the Tang Clan, everyone who gave a gift to Lady Tang gave her one too. Tang Li and Long Feiye used to do the same, buying portions for both her and Tang Li’s mother.

Yet today, Han Yunxi had called Lady Tang “aunt” and given her a present right in front of her face. She was simply tossed to the side despite being a maternal aunt. In terms of bloodline, she was far closer related to Long Feiye than Lady Tang!

Baili Mingxiang was secretly laughing up her sleeve from the sidelines. That white jade smoothing lotion was something the princess had asked from her off the mountain. Princess preferred not to wear makeup, so she wasn’t interested in cosmetics. She had no idea what the princess was planning until she saw Aunt Ru’s expression, which was seven parts embarrassed and three parts disappointed.

What kind of special gift was this? The princess was simply slapping Aunt Ru in the face while gifting Lady Tang something to make her happy. The princess is getting more and more evil, Baili Mingxiang mused. But she admired and esteemed her all the same. A person who dared to love, hate, and act was something she could never be.

Aunt Ru turned aside and refused to look! But nobody was paying her any attention anyways. If this was any other day, Tang Zijin would be considerate of her feelings, but his thoughts were all with Lady Tang now. Seeing her so happy made him feel like he’d just eaten a honey-dipped sweet.

After exchanging a few civilities, it was time to get down to business. Tang Zijin had prepared a table full of food as a welcome dinner for them to wash off the dust of the journey, but Long Feiye refused. They ate a simple meal before Long Feiye had Aunt Ru lead the way into the Tang Clan’s poison grounds. Neither Tang Zijin nor Lady Tang accompanied them, so Aunt Ru was the only guide. Everyone was rushing to see the Fire Spring before night fell, so she didn’t delay either. As she walked, she explained to Long Feiye’s group about everything they didn’t know.

“Your Highness, princess, Consort Wan suspected in the past that Fire Spring was poisonous, so she fed its flames to various beasts and prisoners. All of them died on the spot with their bodies turning black,” Aunt Ru said seriously.

“Did she identify the poison?” Han Yunxi asked quickly. She was afraid that was the case, because it’d mean that the Fire Spring wasn’t the Fire of Ten-Thousand Poisons.

Aunt Ru shook her head helplessly. “No. They invited a few poison doctors over as well, but none of them could figure it out. Consort Wan named the waters of Fire Spring ‘scorch poison’ but never found its antidote. Later on…” her voice grew hoarse. “Later on, she was delayed by the Perplexing Butterfly Illusion and then...aye, she lost the life to ever see the Fire Spring again.”

Long Feiye tightened his grip on Han Yunxi’s hand without a word. Gu Qishao and Tang Li walked behind them, the former chewing a piece of grass between his teeth as he gazed uninterested at their surroundings; the latter staring gloomily at Aunt Ru’s back. Although she had been acting normally and very civil during this whole walk, his instinct told him that she was a dog who couldn’t stop eating sh*t.[1] She definitely had bad intentions at heart!

Seeing no one reply, Aunt Ru remarked, “Your Highness, it’ll be Consort Wan’s birthday in a while. You should give more attention to that date.”

The matter of their dual cultivation and impending visit to Celestial Mountain was unknown to everyone at the Tang Clan besides Tang Li. Naturally, Aunt Ru was ignorant too. Long Feiye remained silent, while Tang Li grew incensed. Aunt Ru clearly knew that Consort Wan’s matters made big brother the saddest, but why was she bringing them up? Especially in front of others like Gu Qishao and Baili Mingxiang!

But before he could speak, Han Yunxi beat him to it. She changed the subject and said, “No one’s gone to see whether the flames at Fire Spring were real after all these years?”

In an earlier letter, Aunt Ru had said that no clear flames had ever emerged from the depths of Fire Spring, nor had anyone found any big furnaces in the area. But Aunt Ru didn’t answer Han Yunxi, wanted to continue the topic of Consort Wan. She simply wanted to remind Long Feiye of his parents’ sacrifices. Although the enmity between East and West Qin was a misunderstanding, Han Yunxi was still a West Qin princess. The West Qin faction would definitely vie for power against the East Qin faction! Long Feiye couldn’t forget about the good of East Qin just for the sake of a single woman.

But as soon as Aunt Ru turned, it was to meet Long Feiye’s icy eyes. Indignant yet helpless, she could only shut up.

Long Feiye said icily, “She’s asking you a question.”

Han Yunxi had a cold smile in her heart. A person like Aunt Ru was simply seeking death. Although Long Feiye had noble status, he wasn’t disrespectful. Aunt Ru was nothing like a proper senior besides her age.

“Princess, if there really is earthly fire, your skills would find it in just one or two days. No need to worry,” Aunt Ru replied.