Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

Having received Chu Mingkong's approval, Yongzhen no longer bothered to compete with Jinyu. Thinking of the lingering sensation of the man's lips on her toes, Yongzhen felt a ripple of emotion. Suppressing the turmoil within her, she said calmly:

"This is the mausoleum of a concubine; I won't indulge in your whims and antics here."

The concubine's mausoleum is near the imperial mausoleum, but it is much less well-guarded, with only a few veterans guarding the entrance.

It is said that when a person dies, everything is empty, but the tombs in this world all have some "residual traces". The concubine's tomb was originally a royal garden. The scenery is not oppressive, but once you enter it, your mood will be tinged with a little melancholy.

These emotions can be understood as the resentment of the deceased, the loneliness and sorrow accumulated during their lifetime. They will become a candle after death, spreading those sorrows as they burn. When the resentment is exhausted, it can be said that the traces left by this person in the world have completely disappeared.

However, this resentment seems to be selective. Chu Mingkong, an outsider strolling around, felt uncomfortable with the resentment left behind by the dead.

However, Jin Yu and Yong Zhen didn't seem to have that feeling.

Jin Yu walked to the tombstone of Consort An, carefully cleaned it, and placed offerings. Yong Zhen had come on a whim, but fortunately Jin Yu had prepared many offerings before she arrived, so she took a few and placed them in front of several tombstones.

Chu Mingkong kept the two of them in his sight at all times, and asked Jin Yu in a low voice, "Who is this Consort An...?"

Jin Yu shook her head gently and said, "I don't know. My mother sent me here. She said that Consort An took good care of me when I was young and asked me to come to sweep the tombs and offer sacrifices to the other consorts."

Chu Mingkong: "..."

He then went to Yongzhen's side. Yongzhen first simply placed offerings at several concubines' tombs without looking at them much, but she stood in front of a tombstone for a long time, no longer just placing offerings and leaving.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" he asked.

Yongzhen stared at the tombstone in front of her for a while before turning to Chu Mingkong and saying:

"Please help me put the extra offerings in a few graves later."

"Alright, then I'll stand here with you now."

Yongzhen added, "Mingkong, now that you've been approved to leave the capital, you should leave as soon as possible to do what you need to do. Don't delay."

Chapter 129 Do You Dare to Swear? (25/26)

"It really is time to go," Yongzhen suddenly said to him, probably because she sensed something.

All preparations for leaving were completed. He had Zhong Feihuang help dispose of the body he prepared for the Han woman, creating the illusion that the woman had died unexpectedly. However, he did not notice anyone paying attention to the burning of the body. He wondered if it was because Chu Mingkong had casually removed the mechanical puppet when Baili Mi arrived at the mansion, which prevented the monitors from sending a new mechanical puppet to keep watch.

If the people monitoring the survival status of the Han woman don't notice that the Chu King's mansion has taken out a corpse and think that the two women are still alive, that would be ridiculous.

"Yongzhen, do you know which factions still like mechanical puppetry these days? As far as I know, very few people use mechanical puppetry anymore, right?"

"It is relatively rare. It is said that a long time ago, the most prosperous puppetry sect gathered the strength of the entire sect to try to break through to the immortal realm of puppetry, but failed. This made people think that the potential of puppetry was not so great, and puppetry declined afterward."

However, during the reign of the previous emperor, he also privately maintained a contingent of puppet masters, keeping them for clandestine use. The Night Blade Division operated in the open, while the puppet masters remained hidden. This was likely the puppet masters' last moment of glory.

This is why Chu Mingkong had no clue what to do with the core of the mechanical puppet back then. Mechanical puppetry is no longer popular now, and those that are occasionally seen in the martial arts world are not very advanced and can basically be ignored.

If it were a sword technique or martial art from a major sect, its origins would be immediately recognizable by its reputation.

Yongzhen suddenly pointed to the tombstone and asked:

"Mingkong, you are not allowed to lie in front of the royal concubines. What did you and my mother do yesterday?"

Perhaps it was psychological, but Chu Mingkong felt that the tombstones were emanating a menacing warning, reminding him not to lie...

However, if it were during the day, there would be nothing to be ashamed of, because Madam Zhen and I really didn't do anything during the day.

"First I went to a tea shop, bought a tea set, enjoyed some tea for a while, and then went to a jewelry shop to relax."

"really?"

Chu Mingkong solemnly raised his middle finger to swear, looking directly into Yongzhen's eyes, and said firmly:

"If I did anything that was detrimental to Madam Zhen at that time, may I be struck by lightning!"

凸(⊙▂⊙)

boom--

A sudden clap of thunder from a clear sky made Chu Mingkong even more uneasy.

See, as expected, God is completely useless, as if He's blind. He didn't do anything at all, and Madam Zhen was even pleased with his shopping accompaniment and showed filial piety, as it's still recorded in the account book!

What the hell is this thunder that's going off for no reason?!

Yongzhen looked at him suspiciously, but Chu Mingkong explained without changing his expression:

"Look, although the thunder roared, it didn't strike me, which means that even God thinks I'm telling the truth!"

"Alright, it's just a question. The more nervous you are, the more suspicious you seem."

"I'm nervous because I'm afraid you'll be unhappy."

Chu Mingkong felt relieved when he saw that Yongzhen was no longer pursuing the matter. However, the fact that Yongzhen asked this question meant that she still had some doubts about the closeness of his relationship with Madam Zhen.

It seems I really have to leave now. If Madam Zhen can't resist calling him over for a late-night rendezvous, I feel like Yongzhen will really find out!

"I'll go check on Jinyu."

Jin Yu had finished sweeping the grave and was using scissors to clear the weeds around the area, thus completing her grave-sweeping task. She was now preparing to return to her carriage and head home.

Seeing Chu Mingkong approaching, and Yongzhen not paying attention to them, Jinyu waved to Chu Mingkong, urging him to come over quickly.

When Chu Mingkong walked up to her, Jin Yu whispered:

"Chu Lang, what's your relationship with that girl Wei Qingning like? I heard that your relationship with the Wei family of Xiling isn't very good?"

Is Jin Yu trying to improve his favorability and help him suppress Wei Qingning? Luckily, Jin Yu asked now, otherwise it would have been a real blow to an ally.

He shook his head and said:

“I used to think it wasn’t good, but now I think it’s okay. My relationship with Wei Qingning is alright, but because of her status as a Nightblade Guard, it’s not good for me to meet with her.”

"Our relationship is fine. I'll ask the Empress Dowager to bring Wei Qingning over to be my bodyguard. That way, I'll be her backer, and no one will be able to suppress her in the future."

"Thank you so much for Princess Jinyu's kindness," Chu Mingkong smiled and continued, "If you don't mind, please also help look after my elders in the Cui family in the future."

"That's no big deal, just a word from me."

After leaving the concubine's mausoleum, Chu Mingkong personally escorted the two women to their destination and watched them enter their respective residences before returning to his own royal palace with peace of mind.

Think about it, who else needs to be said goodbye to? It seems there isn't anyone else; I've already said everything I needed to to them beforehand. If I were to go and say goodbye to each of them again before leaving, it would be a bit tedious, and more importantly, I might have to lean against the wall to leave.

I might as well leave a letter saying that I've already left.

Chu Mingkong took out paper and pen, afraid that they wouldn't recognize his rapidly improving calligraphy. So, he used his old, dog-chewed cursive style to write a few words of farewell.

However, there are only a limited number of people who can deliver the message. It's not easy to get the message through Consort Wan's side, and it's also not easy for Jin Yu to deliver it. Naturally, it's impossible to ask someone else to help deliver it, otherwise, wouldn't our relationship be exposed?

Therefore, he can only be a ruthless and spontaneous Running Man member who can just pull off a dio and leave whenever he wants.

He found Ping'er and gave her the letter and some silver.

“Ping’er, I’m leaving the capital soon to take care of some business. Please have these letters sorted out by the envelopes. This one is for Miss Shangguan Rong. Give it to her when she arrives at the Cui residence. You can’t deliver letters through the academy. The money is for your wages. Afterwards, take care of the Prince’s residence. The monthly allowance for Madam Han is also here. Take the two of them to the Cui residence and remember to tell them to make themselves look older before going out.”

Ping'er was dizzy from being told so much all at once:

“Young Prince, this farewell is so important, why don’t you go and tell the grandmothers yourself? The Cui residence isn’t far from here.”

"No, Aunt Gu will definitely want me to stay for a farewell banquet before I leave, which will delay my trip. You can arrange it for me. If you're worried that you can't do it, just repeat my words to your Grandma Huang, and she can take care of it."

Ping'er nodded: "Yes, Ping'er will take good care of it for the young prince."

If the emperor wakes up after this departure from the capital, it will be difficult for them to continue being hostages peacefully upon their return.

That balance barrier—almost no one knows of its existence, even after asking so many people. If he can't break it, even if he gets permission to leave the capital from the Empress today, he'll probably still be trapped there.

His departure this time was tantamount to telling those who knew about the balance barrier that he had the ability to break free from its constraints.

Chu Mingkong arrived at Yunhai Taoist Temple and found Zuo Qiuchi, who was still fast asleep, and pulled her up:

"Master, it's time to set off."

Zuo Qiuchi: "zzzzzz..."

Chu Mingkong: "The Xiaoxiang Qin Academy that we are going to is a female sect with many girls."

Zuo Qiuchi instantly appeared on the path leading down the mountain: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Chapter 130 Is there nothing normal in this blind box? (26/35)

Besides displaying the holder's noble status, the Elder's Token has another major use, similar to teleportation, but it doesn't actually teleport instantly. It simply activates the spiritual power stored in the Elder's Token in advance, helping the holder to get to the sect faster, similar to the "automatic pathfinding" function that Chu Mingkong knew, so that the holder won't be blocked by the sect's protective maze formations.

Chu Mingkong activated the spiritual power within an elder's token, jumped onto Zuo Qiuchi's Extinction Heavy Sword, and sat down. This great sword became the vehicle for the master and disciple, and they flew towards the sect's sacred ground, Xiaoxiang Qin Academy.

"Where did you get that elder's token from Xiaoxiang Qin Academy? It's a rare find," Zuo Qiuchi asked lazily, sitting behind Chu Mingkong.

"It's a long story. Do you remember when we went to Xianzhen Pavilion to buy jade dildos?"

Zuo Qiuchi corrected him, "Watch your mouth. You're the one going to sell yourself. Don't drag me into this shameful thing. Your old face can't stand you making such a fool of yourself... And then what?"

"Then......"

Chu Mingkong hesitated for a moment, wondering whether he should reveal the situation of those elders. But then he decided to embellish the story.

"Then, I guess when Qingse was selling the jade pendant, she made up some exaggerated story that moved the elders of Xiaoxiang Qin Academy, so they gave me an elder's token as a way of taking care of me. I never expected that this friendship would come in handy in a place like this."

It's strange, I don't know what's wrong with those elders, whether they're tired of using the jade dildo or busy with other things, they haven't shown him any filial piety these past two days!

incredible!

It's possible they're tired of his products and haven't participated in any giveaways in a while, so they're looking to try their luck with blind boxes.

However, since he hadn't been intimate with Zuo Qiuchi for a long time, Chu Mingkong naturally had to find a way to cultivate the master-disciple relationship. As an ambitious and high-quality human disciple, he had been close to Zuo Qiuchi, such a beautiful master, for so long, yet he had only let her bite him once.

It was a complete failure.

Previously, Zuo Qiuchi could use the excuse of not being used to the crowds in the Prince's Mansion to go to the Taoist temple for a leisurely life. Now that he has returned to the world of master and disciple, he must seize the opportunity.

He first bought a bottle of aged wine called "Dancer's Liquor" from the Filial Piety Mall, then tossed it to Zuo Qiuchi behind him. Zuo Qiuchi, using the wine gourd as a reference, marveled at it.

"This wine gourd is quite beautiful, carved from pure jade. It's a grand piece, and the wine tastes good too."

"Drink up, this is a gift from your disciple!" Chu Mingkong said generously.

However, having learned her lesson the hard way, Zuo Qiuchi was worried that this little bastard would offer her the aphrodisiac again, so she returned the gourd to him cautiously, saying:

"Try a bite first."