Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 348 Nightmare Appears

Time flies.

In the blink of an eye, it's already June.

The summer heat in the capital city is gradually intensifying, with cicadas chirping incessantly. Occasionally there is wind and rain, but it is difficult to bring relief from the heat.

The auspicious joy brought by the Empress's unborn child had not yet dissipated within and outside the palace when the arrival of the Xiz delegation added to the commotion. Strict checks were conducted both inside and outside the imperial city, and many more guards were added to the palace, creating a tense atmosphere, much like a taut bowstring.

Xue Yueying returned late last night and secretly brought back the Wei King's token.

Gu Jie clenched his fists tightly in his palms, sitting listlessly in his study. He hadn't slept all night, his eyes were bloodshot, but his mind was in an unusual state of excitement. It wasn't until the servant came to report that the young mistress had left the manor with the young master at the crack of dawn that his tense nerves relaxed slightly.

"The young mistress said that Princess Wei has been troubled lately about the Empress Dowager's birthday gifts, and asked the young mistress to visit often and offer some suggestions..."

The excuse was so lame it was laughable, and Gu Jie didn't bother to call it out.

"Got it." He smiled and waved.

"Prepare the car, let's go to Zuixian Pavilion."

The servant acknowledged and withdrew.

The young master's whereabouts have been unusually strange lately. He has been frequently visiting the Tianshui Inn and has also been going to the Zuixian Pavilion for entertainment much more often, spending most of the day there each time.

The servants didn't dare ask any more questions and went to prepare the carriage without saying anything more.
-
Zui Xian Ge (Drunken Immortal Pavilion)

The doors and windows of the private room on the third floor were tightly closed.

The crimson curtains hung low, keeping the noise outside the door shut.

Only one glass lamp was lit inside, its light lazily spilling onto the gilded eight-immortal table...

Gu Jie stood with his back to the door by the window, gazing at the bustling street below, his chest pounding with intense agitation…

Half of it was the excitement of impending success.

Half of it was fear of being exposed.

almost.

soon.

He could almost see Xue Yueying's face, which always held a look of disdain, now filled with terror, and he could see Li Yan's utter defeat and ugly state after being tricked...

The thought tickled his heart like a hook, making him feel itchy all over.

At this moment, he desperately needed the perfumes and allure of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion to ease the anxiety in his heart and give himself a moment of relaxation...

suddenly!

A faint, yet strangely familiar fragrance wafted into his nostrils without warning...

Rich, expensive, and extravagant...

Gu Jie's blood froze instantly!
He turned around abruptly...

The heavy curtains were lifted at some point...

A woman walked in silently.

The leaping flames distorted and twisted her figure, which was wrapped in a dark cloak, casting it onto the wall like ghostly figures.

She was not one of the charming courtesans of the Drunken Immortal Pavilion.

Rather, it was the nightmare that haunted him for countless nights...

"You...you are..."

Gu Jie's face turned deathly pale, and his back was instantly soaked with cold sweat.

"Ah……"

A short, hoarse laugh came from beneath the cloak.

The woman's voice carried a chilling, sinister quality.

"What? You've forgotten your old master after less than two years?"

Gu Jie's eyes widened suddenly.

The soul is gone.

"You've got some ambition!" Ping Le slowly lifted his cloak, sneered, and sat down in the chair that Gu Jie had just sat in. He raised his chin slightly and curled his lips into a strange arc.

"Gu Wulang... how have you been?"

That arrogant and haughty face now seemed to be covered with hideous dark patterns.

Her skin had lost its luster, and the fine lines around her eyes were deep. The most striking thing was her eyes—once bright and beautiful, now only filled with resentment, ruthlessness, and a kind of excitement as if she had spotted her prey…

“Princess Ping…Ping…Le…” Gu Jie’s lips moved as if the name was stuck in his throat.

"Shh..." Ping Le raised a pale finger and put it to his lips, like a ghost twisting and laughing.

“That person is dead. What you see before you now is just a... wandering ghost that has come back to collect a debt.”

All those past events felt like a red-hot branding iron, making Gu Jie's vision blur and even his breathing tense.

"Princess...how did you come back?"

Why can't I come back?

"His Majesty has decreed..." "Even a tiger doesn't eat its cubs. Do you really think His Majesty would be willing to put me to death?"

Ping Le's elbows dangled casually, his fingertips tapping the table intermittently, producing a chilling tapping sound, his face bearing an innate arrogance.

"Even when a pearl is covered in dust, it is still a pearl. Unlike you and Xue Liu, who are raised by courtesans. No matter how high you climb, you can't change your base nature."

That voice, that posture...

Gu Jie is all too familiar with him!

Even after so much time had passed, even though she had changed into coarse clothes, that deep-seated, mad and destructive sense of oppression still clung to him like a bone-deep sore, instantly dragging him back to that abyss of humiliation and fear, dominated by Ping Le...

"What? Fifth Young Master Gu?" Ping Le's voice was deliberately lowered, carrying a strange hoarseness, yet it couldn't hide the familiar arrogant tone that belonged to royalty.

"Are you nervous? Are you scared? You never thought I'd come back alive to find you?"

Gu Jie shook his head, his throat feeling as if it were being tightly gripped by an invisible hand, unable to utter a sound.

He never dreamed that this wicked woman, who had long been demoted to Shuozhou, would return to the capital without a trace and appear before him.

When did this happen?
Why is there absolutely no news...?

“Gu Lang, oh Gu Lang.” Ping Le glared at him coldly. “Back then, when you knelt at my feet like a dog, wagging your tail and begging for my protection, how docile and adorable you were! The moment I lost power, you couldn’t wait to pledge your allegiance to a new master and help that bitch trample on me? Hmm?”

She suddenly stood up and moved closer, half of her body nestled against Gu Jie's chest, her icy fingers suddenly rising and pinching Gu Jie's chin hard.

The force was so great that the fingernail almost dug into his flesh...

"say!"

Gu Jie groaned in pain, his eyelids twitching spasmodically, unable to meet her gaze.

"Princess, there were reasons for what you did that day..."

"Look at me and say that!" Ping Le's voice suddenly rose. Seeing his gaze linger on her face for a moment before quickly turning away, she became even more furious and hysterical.

"What's wrong? You can't look? Do you find my face disgusting? Terrifying? Am I not pretty anymore? It's all your fault..."

The violent flames in her eyes were almost bursting forth as she stared intently at Gu Jie's pupils, which were dilated with fear, and spoke each word as if it were a curse.

“I’m suffering in hell, and none of you… will have an easy time. Especially you, Gu Jie! You treacherous dog… you owe me, and I’ll make you pay it back a hundredfold, a thousandfold!”

She grabbed Gu Jie by the collar and slammed him against the wall.

Then, standing on tiptoe, she bit his lip hard...

A furious, tearing attack, sweeping wildly across the lips...

The candlelight flickered on her face, like a ravenous demon ready to devour Gu Jie.

The air froze into ice.

Only Gu Jie's suppressed panting and Ping Le's chilling, low laughter echoed in the deathly silence.

"Don't you like scheming and wealth?" She narrowed her eyes, then gently kissed him again, her voice seductive, "I'll show you the way..."

Gu Jie's body trembled violently.

"Princess... what do you mean by that?"

Ping Le wiped her mouth with lingering pleasure, tasting a hint of blood, before letting out a satisfied sneer and sitting back down in her chair with an eerie languor, as if the passionate kiss from before had been nothing but an illusion.

"Gu Wulang, you must be having a hard time these days, right? Your good wife is obsessed with currying favor with the Prince of Wei's family, does she even consider you?"

She accurately struck at Gu Jie's deepest pain and those hidden desires.

Gu Jie's face turned deathly pale, his lips moved but he couldn't utter a sound to refute.

"Didn't you want to turn your life around..." Ping Le narrowed his eyes slightly, his voice filled with a controlling malice, "Didn't you want to take the Xiz trade route? Didn't you want to smuggle ironware? Didn't you want to make a fortune off Li Yan's head?"

Gu Jie felt as if he had been electrocuted.

How could Ping Le have known?!

He stared incredulously at Ping Le, who was smiling.

"Don't be so surprised." Ping Le scoffed, lazily playing with her nails. "What secrets could that idiot Li Yan have in his mansion? And what could that stupid woman Xue Yueying possibly be hiding?"

A bone-chilling coldness shot from the soles of my feet straight to the top of my head.

This crazy woman has caught me red-handed...

It's no different from meeting the Grim Reaper's snare.

Gu Jie stammered, "Princess...I...I was confused for a moment..."

"Foolish?" Ping Le thought he had heard the biggest joke in the world.

She lowered her voice and mocked, her face full of cruelty, like a cat toying with a mouse.

"With such a small amount of courage, you dare to gamble your life on someone? Don't worry, even a fleeting affair is a favor, and you used to serve me 'dutifully'..."

She emphasized those four words deliberately, with endless humiliation in them, and her bloodthirsty eyes gleamed with a venomous light.

“I won’t tell Li Yan, nor will I… expose you now. On the contrary… I will help you… expand this gamble even further…”

　See you tomorrow!

　　(End of this chapter)