44: Their feelings for each other grew increasingly subtle (9)

She lowered her gaze for a moment, then took the seat beside it.

In truth, it had been quite a while since she last touched a cello. When she was very little, even shorter than the instrument itself, her parents enrolled her in piano lessons for a month. Every night, they would stand beside her with a teaching pointer, and after hours of practice, her hands would ache and her body would hurt.

Later, when she went for another lesson, she arrived early to find the classroom completely empty. She sat there daydreaming in front of the piano, and after some time, from outside the door that had been left open...

Gu Weian put on his gloves and picked up the phone. He tried to turn it on, but finding it powered off, he pressed the power button. Expecting no response at all, the screen suddenly flickered to life.

"However..." Seeing that Zhang Shan had made his decision, several elders whose hearts were filled with worry could not help but speak up again, urging him to reconsider carefully.

Zhao Qian said, "The Heavenly Stem *Zi* belongs to water of the *Yang* polarity, symbolized by great rivers, wide streams, vast seas, and lakes. Therefore, when *Bing* and *Zi* meet, combined with the heavy water element in the Eight Characters, doesn't it naturally transform into a cloud—drifting aimlessly without a fixed anchor?"

Zhang Kuo and his companions glanced over the fourteen headless corpses, then simultaneously cast strange looks toward Zhang Qilian.

"Hehe, congratulations to Mother and Father King on your grand wedding. This is my humble offering," Gu Yue said, beaming with excitement.

Because Jian Er had already mentioned that these people were suffering from a cold when he arrived, he had bought quite a few medicinal herbs at the medical shop along the way—all specifically for treating colds, and of better quality than the ones Yuanxiang had prepared.

"Don't! You fool, if you dare go up and ruin the Ghost Monarch's good time, he'll twist your head right off your shoulders!" The other demon envoys, hearing the commotion, already knew full well what was happening.

Many people in the mahjong parlor knew Chen Yuqi. Whenever she came to play mahjong in the past, she would lose money day after day, constantly whining that she had no money to pay it back.

"Hah!" Once the scout in the tree confirmed that the tiger had vanished into the distance, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "The tiger still shows a shred of reason; things seem a bit better than we anticipated," Zhang Xiong remarked as he ordered them to resume the journey, analyzing the situation with the other veteran hunters.

That said, Hou Yi had already made up his mind in his heart to follow Hou Zhi's proposal and summon the Huayin clan to the royal capital to bolster the strength of the Huashu clan itself.

Yet he still harbored a sliver of hope. After all, Zhao Yueru had not yet awakened; the moment she regained consciousness, he would still have a chance to make a comeback.

Because of my words, Nan Jiyun's expression grew increasingly gloomy as he lowered his gaze to scrutinize the fiery red insect.

Of course, there might be another outcome: the Empress Dowager would assume this was merely a ploy by Noble Consort Feng to avoid visiting Xuan Yanru.

Her voice was just as it had been when I first met her—crisp, melodious, and deeply gentle. Yet I could not produce the slightest sound. I knew that even if Sikong Gao knew I was lying here, and even if he saw me lying here, there was nothing he could do about it.

After a moment's wait, the skylight overhead creaked. The moment a crack opened, a figure in white flashed swiftly inside, followed by a loud *clang* as the prison cell door slammed shut once more.

As for Ye Kaicheng, he looked more like an indifferent bystander at the moment, gazing down apathetically at the ring on his finger.

"Mendaino, shut your trap, or else I'm reporting you to the editor for padding your word count," Sophie said, glaring at Ruan Meng.

Only her own subordinates and the ones who had abducted Yuhan knew of Zhong Yuhan's disappearance. Ye Kaicheng trusted his subordinates implicitly, which meant the culprit could only be whoever had taken her.

Ye Qiao clamped her mouth shut and said nothing more. The entire room fell so quiet that they could almost hear each other's breathing, while Ye Jintang simply focused on applying the ointment for her.

Yet in truth, monumental events had also transpired. On December 19th, China and Britain finally signed the Joint Declaration.

It was precisely based on this series of perceptions that she instinctively assumed Shui Linglong had come to the food stall because she could no longer afford a meal and was forced to beg for free porridge.

On the busy street, inside a speeding car, Tu Lian sat in the back seat with her bandages still unwrapped, gazing in puzzlement at Senior Sister Bian, who was similarly seated in the back and staring out the window.