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

He was referring to the matter of the Princess Consort of Chu. It was confirmed last night that she knew about Chu Mingkong and even took the initiative to guide the subsequent events, but her current attitude has left Chu Mingkong at a loss.

Holding onto his trump card, letting things unfold as they will, leaving him clueless about his true intentions—this is probably what a woman named Bai Jie (a pseudonym) meant when she said, "The invisible blade is the most deadly."

Elder Ding pondered the other party's words carefully, then sighed:

“Indeed, Xiling is now facing threats everywhere. I don’t know if King Huai is possessed or what, but he actually attacked and killed the elders of Tianya Tower. If I were King Huai, I would choose to reappear as the King of Xiling, and then say that I don’t like those elders and get rid of them. Wouldn’t that be more appropriate?”

What does he mean by this? And what is the Buddhist community's arrangement with him? I really can't understand it!

We seem to be talking about different things... But Chu Mingkong had to admit the elder's words were correct. He also felt that his adoptive father was quite strange. After disappearing while hunting, had he become possessed or something, hiding his true intentions and making so many small moves?

The key question is why the elders he assassinated were his close confidants. Could it be that they were eliminated because they were on his side, Chu Mingkong?

The perplexing behavior, based on Chu Mingkong's current understanding of him, is nothing more than that the Prince Huai harbors hostility towards him, Chu Mingkong, does not want to show his face, and has been involved with the Buddhist sect for a long time, even mastering the Buddhist palm techniques to such a profound degree.

"Any other threats?" Chu Mingkong added, "The current threats."

Elder Ding said:

"The threats within Xiling have actually been largely dealt with under Your Excellency's attention these past few days. Some powerful families are still keeping a low profile and maintaining an ambiguous attitude, but if they do make a move later, Tianya Tower can handle it properly."

The current issue is simply the attitude of the capital. Xiling has changed hands; what is the emperor's stance? Before the disaster of the Abyss, Xiling possessed vast territory, numerous troops, and ample supplies, and would not have feared any attack from the imperial family. Now, if the imperial family truly treats Xiling as a rebellious vassal state, Xiling's situation is actually quite difficult. If the imperial family chooses to prolong the battle and wage a war of attrition, our situation will be even more precarious.”

Chu Mingkong had already anticipated these issues. What he could handle previously were minor internal problems; as for the looming threats, he could only watch helplessly. He asked:

"Is there a way to break this deadlock? The royal family's attitude towards Xiling is nothing more than a few things. It would be good if we could coexist peacefully and the people of Xiling could continue to live and work in peace. If they want to drag things out, we can drag things out with them. But we must not wait passively. We must come up with a countermeasure for every move they make."

He had already planned to steal Shangguan Rong from the capital and transport her to Xiling.

Elder Ding habitually stroked his goatee and said:

"Previously, Princess Chu had considered a solution. Her idea was to see if they could form an alliance with the Crescent Moon Kingdom, which is adjacent to Xiling and would not listen to the arrangements of the Tianji Royal Family. It was necessary to be on good terms with them."

However, a major problem is that the Crescent Kingdom itself is in chaos. A large power might prosper one day and be destroyed and absorbed into another tribe the next, or even split into several smaller tribes, repeating the chaotic cycle. It's simply impossible to find a partner to cooperate with or form an alliance with.

Crescent Kingdom...

Chu Mingkong looked out the window at the sky, his gaze stretching towards the direction of Baihu Plain.

The chaos there largely stemmed from the lack of a truly overwhelming leader to bring the scattered groups together, and also from the disorganized nature of their religious totems.

As long as they have differing beliefs, they can never coexist.

It seems I still need to go to White Tiger Plains. Following the clues I learned at the totem altar last time, I need to go to Thunder Pool to see where the secret realm corresponding to his totem jade is.

Regardless of what's inside, this altar can at least serve as a safe base.

No matter how badly things get in the future, he can still use this altar to house his confidantes.

Moreover, when you go to Baihu Plain, you can also take the opportunity to see how far the tribal power struggles have progressed. The strongest one seems to be the Leihu Tribe.

If the Thunder Tiger tribe is worth befriending, he should go and see if he can gain an ally.

Even if this ally may repeat the cycle of destruction in the future, it is still a very good thing for Xiling to gain another ally in ten years or even just five or six years.

The pressure that Princess Chu needs to face can be greatly reduced!

Chu Mingkong asked, "Elder Ding, what do you think of the Thunder Tiger Tribe over at White Tiger Plain?"

Elder Ding pondered for a moment, recalling that he seemed to have heard news about the Thunder Tiger Tribe recently, but his attention had been mainly focused on the affairs of Xiling, and he couldn't remember what the news was for the moment. He said:

"Oh—the Thunder Tiger Tribe, is that the most powerful tribe over on White Tiger Plain?"

"Yes, I had also heard that this tribe was the strongest."

"It's gone. It split up. It happened just two or three days ago. The tribal chief died of illness, and his sons seized power, splitting into several small tribes."

"..." Chu Mingkong.

No, you really just disappeared like that? I was thinking you guys could have lasted for at least another ten years!

It's so heartwarming. The Thunder Tiger Tribe was worried that Chu Mingkong would waste his time looking for them, so they just disappeared.

Chu Mingkong urged them to improve the paper templates again, asking if they could change it to a one-to-many model. Elder Ding said that he really had the will but not the ability. They were able to produce paper templates so quickly thanks to the unique jade from Wenqing Pavilion. If it weren't for that jade, they would probably still be scratching their heads and making no progress.

Elder Ding suddenly said again:

"Ultimately, it's still about the pressure of funding and materials. Your Excellency, the organization that has handled the most rare treasures in the world right now is probably the Immortal Treasure Pavilion, right? If we can get support from the Immortal Treasure Pavilion, the subsequent progress will probably be faster."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Chu Mingkong said.

"Cooperating with the Immortal Treasure Pavilion is difficult, mainly because it's too hard to impress them. Could it be that Your Excellency has connections within the Immortal Treasure Pavilion?"

"You should rush to make a batch of paper templates first. I'll talk to the people at Xianzhen Pavilion when I have time."

To be honest, given Tianya Tower's current manpower, even if they manage to develop a new generation of communication paper, Chu Mingkong might not dare to use it.

If a malfunction occurs and the flirtatious words exchanged with the Wind Shadow end up with his sister or master's wife, it would be a serious problem.

------------

After supervising the construction downstairs, Chu Mingkong returned to the City Lord's Pavilion on the top floor with slightly heavy and uneasy steps.

Upon arriving at the door, he secretly observed and glanced inside. He saw Consort Wan and Princess Chu sitting together processing memorials, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

If Consort Wan were also present, then this would be equivalent to a truce, with everything proceeding smoothly as usual.

After Chu Mingkong walked over, they had already made room for him in the middle, silently urging him to sit there. He sat between the beautiful buttocks of his two mothers, briefly glanced at the memorials, and said:

"Does Consort Wanhua also know how to handle these matters?"

Consort Wan laughed and scolded:

“I don’t know about the big things, but there are many trivial and mundane matters involved. I can still offer some suggestions to Zhi’er. If she thinks it’s okay, then let’s make a decision. This will relieve some of Zhi’er’s pressure. How can you really treat your mother like a child who doesn’t know anything?”

The model of these two sisters and their mother reminded Chu Mingkong of the imperial cabinet he had read about in his textbooks in his previous life. The cabinet scholars had no real power; they were only responsible for annotating the memorials for the emperor, who would then glance at them and decide whether to mark them with a checkmark or an X.

After a while, once the elders below have cleared their class backgrounds, it's possible to adopt a cabinet-like model, handing these matters over to the elders for their initial review and processing before finally delivering them to the Princess Consort of Chu. This would greatly ease her workload.

Compared to an entire country, Xiling is just a small place. Small places have their advantages. As long as the Princess of Chu holds the power over the army and the grain, and with him and Xiao Yunhan behind her, no one in Xiling can shake her.

"I'm just curious, not doubting Consort Wan's abilities. What can I do to help? Let's finish this quickly so we can leave this office and relax." Chu Mingkong's pig's trotter quietly landed on Consort Wan's jade buttocks.

The Queen Consort of Chu suddenly said:

“Mingkong, the memorial just mentioned that recently, taking advantage of the minor turmoil in the situation, there have been many charlatans who use supernatural divination to swindle money. They can even charge hundreds of taels just for reading palms. I’m curious about the differences in palm readings. Can you let me see your hand?”

Chu Mingkong stretched out his free hand in front of the Princess of Chu.

"I want to see Mingkong's other hand." The Princess of Chu looked up at her son.

Chu Mingkong: "..."

Chapter 244 I want to wear her clothes too!

Could it be that she noticed his little pig's trotters making some subtle movements and then got upset?

Chu Mingkong cleared his throat, and without making a sound, withdrew his hand from the peach and extended it to the Princess of Chu.

Princess Chu held her son's large hand, her soft, white fingers stroking his fingers, her fingertips tracing the lines on his palm, and occasionally touching the calluses on his palm. It seemed as if she was studying his palm lines and palmistry, but Chu Mingkong himself felt as if she was teasing his palm, making it ticklish.

"Mother Xiao Zhi, if they are using the guise of fortune telling to make money during the chaos, they should be dragged out and their entire clan executed. Their deaths are not a pity. Why would Mother Xiao Zhi need to learn palm reading? Are you afraid of wronging them?"

In this kind of world, palmistry might actually reveal something, but using it to make money is absolutely despicable. But then again, if someone truly possessed such abilities, would they need to resort to this method to amass wealth?

The Queen Consort of Chu put down her son's pig's trotter, turned her gaze back to the memorial, and said as she read:

"I'm just curious, Mingkong, your two hands look a bit different. Is it because one hand often does things it shouldn't do, while the other hand doesn't do things it should do?"

A bead of sweat trickled down Chu Mingkong's forehead. These words were definitely an implication that his hand had just touched Consort Wan's buttocks.

So what do we do now? Should we treat everyone equally and touch Princess Chu's wife?

Consort Wan heard her sister's words and said:

“Mingkong didn’t do anything. It’s normal for two hands to be different. Everyone has a dominant hand when practicing swordsmanship. Since there is a distinction between left and right, why do the same thing? Since the things they do are different, they will naturally be different.”

What was said in jest may have been unintentional, but what was heard by Princess Chu was not without meaning.

This sounds like it's right for Chu Mingkong to be close to Wan Hua, but wrong to be close to Xiao Zhi.

Chu Mingkong felt ashamed, his eyes constantly watching Princess Chu. She looked down at the memorial, her beautiful and noble profile flashing with displeasure, her delicately drawn eyebrows furrowing, clearly indicating that she had misunderstood Consort Wan's meaning.

To be honest, he's very worried that if Consort Wan stays in Xiling, she might be targeted by the Princess Consort of Chu. He's quite anxious...

Is there any way to improve their relationship? It's not realistic to always rely on his "fair treatment" approach.

Because this method seems fair and impartial, showing no favoritism to anyone, it will breed more troublesome situations over time, and Chu Mingkong has already sensed some signs of this.

In interpersonal relationships, it's truly impossible to treat everyone equally. Some people are talkative, while others aren't. If you simply try to be impartial, it will eventually turn into Chu Mingkong forcing conversations with Princess Chu.

The most important thing in a relationship is to be natural. Over time, Princess Chu will feel that his attitude towards her is not natural, as if he is forcing conversations. She will wonder if he no longer values ​​her as his mother and is just maintaining a facade.

Therefore, the key to solving the problem may not lie in how he treats the two of them, but in whether the two of them can truly accept each other, especially since they have to see each other every day...

Chu Mingkong didn't dare to think for too long. Judging from this, Princess Chu definitely wanted him to "do what he should do." Even if he was overthinking and misunderstood, Princess Chu probably wouldn't openly express her anger.

I'll just consider this a test of her attitude.

Taking a deep breath, Chu Mingkong's right hand remained still, but his left hand had already casually placed on Consort Wan's slender waist, slowly moving down to rest on her round and firm breasts.

The Princess of Chu's gaze swept over in an instant. Although her face still held a faint smile and a conciliatory expression, her eyes were filled with deep dissatisfaction.

Just then, Chu Mingkong lowered his right hand from the desk and quietly hooked the soft, plump, and tempting peach.

Chu Mingkong heard a soft "humph" from the Princess Consort of Chu, and his dissatisfaction disappeared as he refocused on the memorial.

He breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed his gamble had paid off. He thought to himself:

"This must be her attitude towards what happened last night, right? She doesn't say it outright, but she tacitly approves of everything?"

The room suddenly fell silent. Two stunningly beautiful noblewomen sat on either side of the man, quietly reading the memorials on the table, indulging his caresses and fondling of them under the table.

There seemed to be a slight discord, but the atmosphere was so harmonious that it was as if nothing had happened. Everyone was doing their own thing, without interfering with or disturbing each other.

By the time Chu Mingkong had almost finished processing the memorials, his hands were tired. Just as he was struggling to find the right words, there was a knock on the door.

After Chu Mingkong changed back into his armor, the Princess of Chu said, "Please come in."

The maids who came in were originally working in Qingxin Mansion. Some of them had been following Princess Chu for a long time. Now that the investigation of them was completed, they were sent to the City Lord's Pavilion to serve Princess Chu.

Consort Wan did not want these maids to come. Although having maids would make her life much easier, it would affect her closeness with her son. Chu Mingkong already didn't have much time left in Xiling, and now he would have to be bothered by these servants...

She would rather do more tedious things in her daily life in exchange for the comfort she felt when she was with Chu Mingkong.