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

Thinking about the method of using the dragon vein to attack, Chu Mingkong had many doubts. He had never heard of the royal family being able to manipulate the dragon vein in this way before. However, this might be related to the long-term stability within the Tianji Empire. Such methods were not needed within the territory, and once outside the Tianji Empire, one would be outside the range of the dragon vein.

Chu Mingkong worried that this method might affect Xiling. He felt it wouldn't, and hoped it truly wouldn't, rather than the emperor holding back like he was constipated in the palace, waiting for a sudden, major urge to act.

Leaving aside distant events, the recent turmoil within Xiling provided the perfect opportunity to utilize the dragon vein attack method. If it had been used, Tianya Tower would likely have been forced to passively evade, unable to even muster any countermeasures.

It's unclear how this so-called national dragon vein compares to the Abyss. Perhaps it's because Xiling possesses the Abyss that it was spared such a sneak attack.

Yongzhen stopped pinching his cheek, and asked thoughtfully and curiously:

"Didn't you say you wanted to use my marriage as a pretext to seize power in the Crescent Moon Kingdom? Why are you planning to kidnap me?"

If my whereabouts are recorded as missing, it would be equivalent to losing my legitimate status in the New Moon Kingdom through a marriage alliance, and I would be unable to leverage the historical prestige of the Moonlit Royal Family to achieve my goals.

Chu Mingkong was certainly aware of these principles and had analyzed them before. He explained:

"That's the plan, but that's assuming everything goes smoothly. If things go smoothly, we can use this opportunity to find a way out, but that's just a side thing. The more important thing is to get you out of the current situation, Yongzhen."

Your safety is my top priority. We don't know what might happen in ten days or so. If something unexpected happens then, kidnapping you is my most important task. We can always find another way, but if Yongzhen is gone, she's truly gone!

Yongzhen savored the sincerity in Chu Mingkong's words, her calm face revealing no momentary shock.

The world's moral principles always criticize those who lack ambition severely. In the stories of heroes and heroines that are praised, there are many beautiful women by their side. However, when their great ambitions conflict with the beauty of their wives, abandoning their wives becomes a universally praised act of true heroism, while excessive attachment to personal feelings is considered a shameful thing.

Yongzhen had received similar teachings before, but now, faced with Chu Mingkong's words about personal feelings, she felt a sense of relief and appreciation, thinking it was good that he was such a considerate person.

It seems that those morally upright people who sing praises of heroes of great undertakings are merely hoping that someone will sacrifice for the cause. As long as they are not the ones who sacrifice their personal feelings or make sacrifices, it doesn't matter if they waste a few cups of tea and ink to praise those "heroes," and they can even gain a good reputation for themselves in the process.

"Yongzhen, why are you spacing out and not talking?" Chu Mingkong patted her thigh.

"It's nothing. I just heard you say, 'If Emma is gone, she's really gone.' I thought you were going to say something like, 'If Emma is gone, I can only play with dolls from now on!'"

"That won't do. If I can have the real person, why would I need a puppet? Besides, can't I have both?" Chu Mingkong chuckled.

"You're such a chatterbox!" Yongzhen rolled her eyes at him. Since he was small now, she took the opportunity to rub his cheeks until his fleshy cheeks felt hot in her palms before she stopped and asked, "Mingkong, do you have any grand ambitions or anything like that?"

"Yes, I want a really big flower girl!" he said in Japanese.

Yongzhen didn't understand. She repeated it in her mind, but still didn't get it. She asked:

"What do you mean?"

"It means I want a pretty girl."

Yongzhen defined it as follows:

"That's a small ambition."

"Is this considered a small ambition? Then I'd like lots of pretty girls, wouldn't that be a big ambition?"

Yongzhen was even more annoyed. She said helplessly:

"Go ask around on the street, who would consider this a grand ambition? It's a miracle if they don't get scolded. Doesn't Mingkong have any grand aspirations for the well-being of all people?"

"If it gets in my way, I can deal with it casually, but if it takes too much effort, then forget it. My level of thinking is not high enough."

I'm not one to steal credit. There will always be someone determined to be a saint or hero. If I were to take that role, wouldn't they starve to death with nothing to do? For the sake of saving the world, I must leave some work for them to do. This is my kind of generous sacrifice.

Yongzhen was truly impressed:

"Hey, your twisted logic is really impressive, but it's not entirely unbelievable... What are your plans for the next few days?"

Chu Mingkong smiled smugly, shrugged, and said:

"Just dealing with the Cui family's affairs, that is, wrapping things up, but there's still something I'm not happy about."

Chu Mingkong told Yongzhen about the Cui family's affairs, including the "refined" Cui Lian and the doting old lady...

After listening, Yongzhen nodded slightly. She had never experienced such family struggles before. The lives of royal daughters were generally simple. Since they had nothing to do with the throne, they basically only needed to maintain their image as royal daughters and get married when they reached a certain age.

Now, listening to Chu Mingkong talk about the Cui family's affairs, I realize that these affairs are quite complicated and interesting. If someone who likes to join in the fun were to inquire about a prominent family every day, they would certainly have plenty of entertainment.

“Mingkong, although you are not short of money and may not care about the Cui family’s businesses, your sisters-in-law still have hard work and dedication in those shops. They must be resentful that they are giving them away to that Cui Lian.”

Yongzhen, you're calling them "sister-in-law" based on our generational hierarchy? That seems a bit disrespectful. In the royal family of the Tianji Empire, Yongzhen is his aunt, which is a generation older than Chu Mingkong's sister-in-law. If Aunt Gu and the others hear Yongzhen addressing them like that in the future, they'll probably be terrified.

Chu Mingkong asked:

"What does Yongzhen think we should do?"

“That guy named Cui Lian spends money so lavishly, he probably wants to continue pawning his shops to raise money. You guys pretend to be the ones buying the shops, fool him a bit, and get the shops at a low price.”

He treated his sisters-in-law like housekeepers managing his business. Don't housekeepers get paid?

That makes sense. Consider it a reward for Aunt Gu and the others' hard work, a way to get some wages. Although the money from a few shops isn't worth worrying about, giving it away to Cui Lian for nothing would be disgusting.

He nodded:

"Okay, I'll talk to them about it later. Once I've figured out the situation around here, I'll take Yongzhen out for a stroll sometime!"

Chapter Fifty-Nine: Night Raid on the Eastern Mansion

Chu Mingkong chatted with Yongzhen, and the conversation covered a wide range of topics, from the safest way to sneak out of the Princess's residence, to where to go after sneaking out, and what the safest and most dignified way to make a appearance when they were about to take action.

It seemed like a serious topic, but the atmosphere during the conversation wasn't very serious; it was more like letting your imagination run wild and having a whimsical chatter.

Chu Mingkong's stomach was getting warm from Yongzhen's warming words. He checked the time and said:

"Yongzhen, loosen your grip a bit. It's time. I can turn back now."

Yongzhen wasn't as fixated on Chu Mingkong's appearance as Shen Xuejun was on boys, but since it was her first time seeing Chu Mingkong as a child, the novelty hadn't worn off, and she said:

"Don't rush to change, let me play a little longer~"

Chu Mingkong: "..."

After letting Yongzhen hold him for a while, Chu Mingkong thought it was time to go to the Cui family. He told Yongzhen about his plans, and Yongzhen did not force him to stay in the child's form. Instead, he jumped down from his arms and took out clothes from his storage ring.

She remembered something and asked curiously:

"By the way, Mingkong, have you shown this appearance to the Cui family's wives? What were their reactions?"

"No, but I showed it to my master and the others, and their reactions were quite lewd," Chu Mingkong added in his mind, especially to his master's wife, Shen Xuejun.

Should we go back and show this to Aunt Gu and the others now? Or should we forget it and focus on the important matters first? There will be plenty of opportunities like this in the future.

Hearing his answer, Yongzhen smiled faintly, and could vaguely recall the reactions of the masters that Chu Mingkong had mentioned. Putting aside the child's appearance, if it were an ordinary child, being too close would seem presumptuous. These were people of status, and it would be embarrassing to make a child cry. Besides, spoiled children are indeed not fun to play with; they throw tantrums if you try to amuse them, and you end up with a mess before you've even had a chance to make them happy.

But if this child is Chu Mingkong, it doesn't matter. He has a good temper, is fun to play with, and is very interesting.

The tall and slender princess looked at the little boy by the bed. He had placed his large robes beside him beforehand, and then, afraid of damaging the children's clothes he was wearing, he carefully took them off one by one, folded them neatly, and put them into his storage ring.

Yongzhen looked at his delicate, pink arms and short legs, and felt even more delighted. However, when she noticed something about him that was completely unlike a child's, her expression froze for a moment, and she wondered if she was seeing things.

"Mingkong, are you starting to revert back to your old self...?"

"No, I can grow back to my original size in one breath. What's wrong?" Seeing her seriousness and confusion, Chu Mingkong temporarily stopped his plan to grow bigger.

"Why... it seems like there are some places where you haven't changed, except that your skin is a bit pinker." Yongzhen thought that since their relationship was already like this, she no longer shied away from looking at him and stared straight at his penis, then reached out and gently flicked it.

"There's nothing I can do; my shrinking technique is incomplete, and a part of my body hasn't been taken care of..."

Chu Mingkong slapped away the fair hand that was bothering him, and knowing that Yongzhen had nothing important to say, he quickly returned to his normal posture.

Yongzhen watched the whole time, and just as he said, it grew bigger in one go. Just a moment ago it was a tiny little thing looking down at her, but now it had grown so big that she had to look up at it.

Throughout this process, because one particularly noticeable source of trouble remained unchanged, Yongzhen's attention was entirely focused on it.

"It really is the same thing that hasn't changed..." she muttered to herself.

Hearing her murmur, Chu Mingkong deliberately let the blood flow down his face, mentally recalling his master's buttocks, and said:

"Yongzhen, look, this place can actually get bigger too, do you see?"

Yongzhen, feeling both embarrassed and annoyed, lightly slapped the naughty thing, then scolded it with a stern face:

"Put it away, you're so irresponsible!"

Chu Mingkong smiled as he put his robe back on. Yongzhen was angry with him, but when she saw that he had even straightened his robe crookedly, she still got up and helped him fix it.

"Where have you been spending the nights during this time?" she asked.

"Let's observe things at the Cui residence first. If things are stable, I'll come and keep you company."

"...What do you mean, 'accompany me'? I only asked because I was worried you wouldn't have anywhere to stay!"

Chu Mingkong left the Princess's residence. The guards outside the residence had changed from a simple Imperial Guard to a mixed force of Nightblade Division and Imperial Guard. The Nightblade Division members were also carrying those flesh-and-blood jars. However, the outcome would not be any different. Chu Mingkong passed by casually.

However, since the drawbacks of the colorless and shadowless technique had not yet disappeared, he dared not linger among the guards and quickly ran away before slowing down.

"I might be able to use this kind of jar. If it is discovered one day, I can release some of the extremely yin energy to cause the embryo in the jar to develop directly and cause the ferocious beast of the extreme abyss to retaliate against these people. But I'd better not use it in the capital, as it may easily harm innocent people."

"But surely the royal family wouldn't be researching how to control the abyssal beasts that emerge from these embryos?"

Chu Mingkong stopped thinking about it in vain and decided to take it one step at a time.

-----------

Before returning to the Cui family, Chu Mingkong took a detour to the former Xiao family mansion. It was deserted; the Xiao family had slunk back to their hometown, abandoning their expansion into the capital. Only an empty gatehouse remained, and even the stone lions at the entrance had been pawned, which was quite a sad sight.

After leisurely inspecting the various arrangements in the capital, Chu Mingkong felt that his investigations over the past few days had given him a thorough understanding of the city, more than he had during the long period he spent as a hostage.

Chu Mingkong returned to the Cui family's East Mansion. Night had already fallen, and the courtyard was quiet and peaceful, with the occasional sound of koi splashing their tails in the pond.

In the past, when visiting the Cui family, I would usually go straight to Aunt Gu's place, but now that Zhong Feihuang has moved to the East Mansion, it's a good time to visit her and Keqing.

However, the tranquility along the way was something he wasn't used to. Chu Mingkong deactivated his concealment, regretfully took out the Dust-Free Talisman, and sighed inwardly:

It's a pity that the spiritual power of this Dust-Free Talisman is gone. It would be great if there was even a little bit left.

Suddenly, Chu Mingkong sensed Cui Lian sneaking into the East Mansion. Chu Mingkong stopped in his tracks, staring at the Dustless Talisman with a shocked expression.

"Hmm? This Cui Lian actually has the nerve to come to the East Mansion. What is he doing here? Isn't he afraid of running into Sister-in-law Huang and causing embarrassment?"

Chu Mingkong turned and walked towards Cui Lian, secretly observing from the side. He noticed that Cui Lian stopped at the small door, hesitating.

It must be a coincidence. Chu Mingkong put away the Dustless Talisman, and Cui Lian began to mutter to himself.

"If I were to run into that shrew Zhong Feihuang, it would only add to the embarrassment. Besides, what kind of status do I have now? Why would I need to come looking for her in person?" After saying that, he turned around and prepared to go home.

Chu Mingkong took out the Dustless Talisman again, and Cui Lian hesitated and came back because he heard the You sisters talking in the East Mansion.

"Since we're already here, if we just leave like this, wouldn't we be putting ourselves at a disadvantage compared to that shrew? She should be the one giving way to me!"

Chu Mingkong stared at the Dustless Talisman in his hand in even greater shock. How could it be so terrifying even without spiritual power?