What evil intentions could an evil god possibly have?

"you……"

Su Yan stared at her back, looking at her smooth and flawless skin, took a deep breath, snuggled into the quilt, and hugged her again.

Gu Yuqiu frowned slightly and asked softly, "Have you changed your mind?"

The so-called idea, of course, was Su Yan's decision to have her sit quietly and read, ignoring everything that was happening in the outside world, and handing over all the problems to her.

Last night, she opposed the idea with unprecedented fervor, but the result was only momentary, not a clear-headed one, and ultimately, it didn't matter much.

Only conversations conducted at this time can yield truly accurate results.

"If I say no."

Su Yan pressed her face against her back, her voice much lower: "Aren't you going to do anything about it?"

Gu Yuqiu said, "No."

Su Yan asked, "Then can I stop you and lock you up here until everything settles down?"

Gu Yuqiu was quiet for a moment, then said, "You can try it. I've never encountered anything like this before. It sounds very interesting."

Su Yan ignored the mockery in the conversation and said indifferently, "If you are unwilling, my decision is meaningless, so what's the point of persisting?"

Gu Yuqiu thought for a moment and said, "Self-satisfaction, self-pleasure, and... arguing with me every day?"

Su Yan's tone remained flat, as if she hadn't heard anything, and continued, "So I'm too lazy to care anymore. Do whatever you want, but you..."

Gu Yuqiu thought to herself, "Isn't this a victory for me?"

She turned around, looked into Su Yan's eyes, lowered her head and kissed him, silencing the unfinished words.

Only a faint, hesitant voice remained.

……

……

At noon, the sun was shining brightly.

Songtang lay on the sofa, feeling quite comfortable in the sun, and was dozing off when she quietly heard the sound of the door hinges turning.

It subconsciously opened its eyes and saw Gu Yuqiu walking out, looking quite content. Next was Su Yan, whose face looked rather pale and who was biting her lower lip, seemingly angry.

Upon seeing this, it closed its eyes without hesitation and was about to squeeze into the gap in the sofa...

Gu Yuqiu's hand landed on its body.

To be precise, it was his neck, the flesh at the back of his neck.

Even the most extraordinary cat, when faced with this innate and terrifying attack, no matter how angry it is and how much it wants to swing its claws, can only rage helplessly in the end.

Just as it was about to meow, a wave of warmth suddenly washed over it.

"Meow?"

Looking at the endless darkness before it, Songtang found itself in a warm place. Instinctively, it stretched out its front paws, ready to poke forward, but then it finally realized what was happening.

Its entire body became extremely stiff, and it slowly raised its head, and sure enough, it saw the woman it feared most.

"Why are you afraid to move?"

Su Yan lowered her head slightly, looked into those deep blue eyes, and said gently, "I like hot pot, not dragon soup, so you don't need to be afraid."

Upon hearing this, Songtang bristled instantly. Just as she was about to push off with all her might, she realized that she was using the wrong place for leverage, so she quickly gave up and fell out of Su Yan's arms.

It's like a dandelion seed that has fallen to the ground.

At the same time, an extremely shrill cat meow suddenly rang out!

This meow means: Don't come any closer!

The painful memories Su Yan brought on her years ago are still vivid in Songtang's mind, a shadow deeply buried in her heart.

From a certain perspective, its relationship with Su Yan is another version of Gu Yuqiu and Shen Hong, both of which are indelible dark histories.

Gu Yuqiu sighed and looked at it, saying, "Stop barking, she's not going to eat you."

Su Yan smiled but remained silent.

Looking at that smile, Songtang couldn't believe it at all. In a panic, she stumbled and crawled back behind Gu Yuqiu, hiding herself completely.

Then, it suddenly discovered a problem.

—The person who threw it over earlier was Gu Yuqiu.

Is this betrayal?

"of course not."

Gu Yuqiu understood its thoughts, picked it up and held it in her arms, smoothing its ruffled fur, and said, "I just have to go out and need to take you with me."

Songtang thought to herself, "What kind of logic is this? You're going to throw me into her arms as soon as you leave? Isn't that murdering me?"

Gu Yuqiu smiled and said, "I saw you were about to fall asleep, so I helped you wake up. See, isn't it working well?"

Songtang was about to retort angrily when she suddenly fell silent.

The next moment, Su Yan's voice rang out.

"Stop playing."

"Ah."

Gu Yuqiu sighed with some regret, picked up Songtang and walked towards the door, saying, "Let's go then."

Songtang wondered, "Where are we going?"

Su Yan said, "Go take care of important business."

……

……

In the dead of winter, the sun shines brightly, and on such a beautiful day, the Hakusui Shrine should be bustling with people coming and going, with people everywhere coming to pray for blessings.

However, the Shiramizu Shrine was unusually quiet today, even quieter than it was four days ago when it was closed.

As if affected by this deathly stillness, the snow in the shrine never melted, and a thin layer of ice still covered the pond.

In the shrine corridor, around every corner, one sees one extraordinary person after another dressed in formal attire.

These people, who usually hold high positions, now resemble statues, gazing at every corner with cold and murderous eyes.

Inside the main hall behind them, a dozen representatives from various factions in Yingzhou knelt on the floor with the most dignified bearing, their eyes slightly lowered, silently watching the end of the hall.

At the end of the path was a white cloth, which covered the remains of the monk Jiehai.

The beautiful shrine maiden sat before the white cloth, her head bowed.

Such scenery possesses a strange and inexplicable beauty, making one think of the word "wabi-sabi" and the concept of "mono no aware" (the pathos of things).

Just then.

The people sitting inside the shrine's main hall suddenly heard the sound of the hall door being pushed open.

Then, no footsteps were heard.

A long silence.

In this long, deathly silence, someone finally couldn't help but raise their head and turn to look at the palace gate.

There, the sunlight is gentle and the wind is soft, possessing a kind of beauty that humans yearn for most.

That kind of beauty is Gu Yuqiu.

It was the white cat sitting on her shoulder.

Su Yan stood in front of her, welcoming all eyes.

The hall was completely silent.

Everyone was waiting for Su Yan, or Gu Yuqiu, or even for the white cat to let out a soft meow.

"really interesting."

Su Yan spoke softly, a slight smile playing on her lips.

Her gaze fell on the far end of the hall, never once glancing at the people kneeling on either side, and she said with a sigh, "You invited me here, but you expect me to find a seat myself?"

After saying this, she put her hands behind her back and walked towards the end of the hall.

In front of outsiders, Gu Yuqiu always gave her face and said nothing.

The two walked through the middle of the road, under the gaze of the kneeling people, until they finally stopped in front of the priestess who had her back to the crowd.

Just when everyone thought she was going to say something polite, or at least offer some perfunctory condolences, she bypassed the body covered by the white sheet.

Behind the body, where there had been nothing before, two chairs had appeared out of nowhere.

That was the chair that Su Yan and Gu Yuqiu had sat in four days ago, and it suddenly came into everyone's view as if it had always been there.

Su Yan had seen too many dead people, and many had died at her hands, so she naturally had no psychological barriers to corpses. Besides, there was a white cloth covering them, so she sat down naturally.

Not to mention Gu and Qiu.

As the former ruler of death, even though she has now left her divine throne, how could she possibly fear a beheaded corpse? She sat there without any psychological pressure whatsoever.

She even crossed her legs, rested her elbows on the armrests, lazily propped her chin up, yawned wearily, and acted completely oblivious to everyone else.

Su Yan glanced at her, then looked away and at the faces kneeling on the ground, saying, "Speak your mind, don't put on this act."

The adults kneeling on both sides did not step forward after hearing this; instead, they lowered their heads even further, as if it were none of their business.

So the shrine maiden, who stood up from in front of the white cloth and faced the two of them, became particularly conspicuous.

Seeing this scene, Gu Yuqiu raised her eyebrows slightly, a hint of mockery in her eyes.

"Good afternoon, Your Majesty."

Unlike four days ago, Qiuye Chunhai was no longer clumsy, and her manners were almost impeccable.

She lowered her eyes slightly, avoiding direct eye contact with Su Yan, and said softly, "My father was assassinated last night. The reason I invited you here today is not for revenge, but to ask you to step forward and take charge of the situation, and to maintain the peace that Yingzhou has finally achieved."

Su Yan calmly asked, "And then?"

Akiha Harumi said blankly, "In addition, Harumi hopes that Your Majesty can find out the murderer and take precautions to prevent similar things from happening again."

From any perspective, this is a reasonable request, and there is no reason to refuse.