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

Chapter 150 Wei Qingning felt a lot of pressure (11.8/18)

Wei Qingning relayed Chu Mingkong's words to her mother and asked for her opinion:

“Mother, my brother said we should go over, but the situation in the capital has changed drastically and the future is unpredictable. Why don’t we ask for leave to pay respects to our ancestors and go back to Xiling together first?”

The dignified young woman in front of him handed the baby she was holding to her maid for the time being, and paced back and forth, her mind wandering.

The situation in the capital is indeed a bit strange now. Staying there makes it hard to predict the future. Things are completely different from before. But do they really have the right to go back to Xiling now?

Previously, the patriarch disregarded the clan leader's doubts and objections and forcibly led the clan to the capital. As a result, he himself disappeared without a trace. If he were to return to Xiling, he should at least give an explanation for what happened back then.

Under her daughter's expectant gaze, the young woman shook her head and said:

"You should go back to Xiling with Mingkong for a while."

"And what about you, Mother?" Wei Qingning understood her mother's unspoken meaning; she and her clansmen did not intend to return together.

“You and Mingkong have a very good relationship. Going back with him won’t be a problem. Without the Wei family’s stance, your friendship with Mingkong will still be there. But if the Wei family goes back with you, you will carry the Wei family’s stance with you, and you will feel burdened and pressured when you’re together. I’m planning to leave the capital for a while under the pretext that the Wei family is looking for a new summer residence. You don’t need to worry. We won’t be foolish enough to stay in the capital. Let’s wait and see.”

"..."

Wei Qingning understood her mother's predicament. If her father were still alive, and they could clearly explain why they left Xiling in the first place—that it wasn't for reasons like being enemies of Xiling—then returning to Xiling now wouldn't be a problem. But now that the most important person involved was gone, it would be strange for the Wei family to suddenly return.

It's like they run away when you're in trouble, but then run back to you for support when they're in trouble themselves.

The lithe young girl took out the note Chu Mingkong had given her and handed it to her mother:

“Mother, this is a communication tool my brother gave me. It’s very convenient. I can write in it and contact you anytime. I’m always worried about you not being by your side. With this booklet called ‘paper slip,’ I can contact my brother anytime if anything happens, and he will pass it on to me.”

The young woman smiled gently, stroked her daughter's head, and nodded, saying:

"Alright, then you can go ahead. You don't need to worry about me all the time. Even though your father has disappeared, don't let the clan leader be someone who can't fight back!"

"Ok!"

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

The spaceship that they used when leaving Xiling has been refueled and is ready to depart at any time, but their destination is still Wenqing Pavilion for the time being.

Chu Mingkong inquired among the women, asking who wanted to stay at Xiaoxiang Qin Academy to cultivate, explaining his current relationship with Xiaoxiang Qin Academy—they were practically inseparable.

Of course, some of the women wanted to stay and cultivate, not for any other reason than to keep up with Chu Mingkong's pace. However, cultivation was not something to rush into. It was far more important to travel with him for the time being. Having just escaped the whirlpool of the capital, who would want to part ways with him immediately?

So his suggestion was ignored for the time being, with everyone saying he was out of touch with romance.

Chu Mingkong waited for a short while before his younger sister, Wei Qingning, arrived. With everyone present, they could set off.

But why is Wei Qingning all alone?

Chu Mingkong, afraid that she would feel awkward, went up and hugged her, holding her delicate body in his arms... It had been a long time since he had hugged a girl who didn't use her chest to press against him!

"Qingning, where are the rest of the Wei family? Why are you the only one here?"

Wei Qingning wasn't good at hiding things from people close to her, and stammered as she spoke:

"My mother and the others are looking for a summer residence for the clan, and this is a good opportunity to get away from the capital..."

Gu Jungui was also by her side. She immediately understood what was going on and said:

"Long time no see! Qingning's grown into a beautiful young lady. Let Aunt Gu give her a hug!"

"Aunt Gu~"

Wei Qingning went up and gave the elder a bear hug, but was pressed against by Aunt Gu's ample chest, which made her feel a little uncomfortable.

"Come, let me introduce you to some people. Some of them are from my Cui family, your muddle-headed brother's sister-in-law, and some are girls he's been involved with outside."

However, there are some people I'm not very familiar with either. You'll have to ask Mingkong to introduce you to them. I'll introduce you to his two sisters-in-law.

"it is good."

Chu Mingkong wanted to take Wei Qingning for a walk on the boat, but since Aunt Gu was already with that girl, he decided to go and prepare to set sail.

The spaceship float slowly rose into the air. Chu Mingkong caught a gaze watching him and looked over to find that it was Senior Sister Qu Wuyue from the Sect Master Peak.

Their eyes met, and the graceful woman standing outside the hall waved goodbye. Chu Mingkong nodded in acknowledgment.

Inside the cabin, after a slight tremor at the beginning of the spacecraft's startup, everything was smooth as if walking on flat ground.

Wei Qingning couldn't say he didn't recognize all the people in the spaceship. He knew Princess Jinyu, Madam Zhen, and the second young lady of the Shangguan family. He had never seen Empress Pei before, but he could guess her identity just by looking at her clothes. He could only marvel at his brother's abilities... He had stolen away the emperor's most important female relatives!

When greeting these people, Wei Qingning felt dizzy, short of breath, and had difficulty breathing.

Why are all these women's breasts so ridiculously large? If it were just Aunt Gu, it would be fine, since she was used to it. But when she went over to greet them, all she saw were big, round breasts, and it made her feel a little heavy-hearted.

"Qingning~ Come here, come here!" Jin Yu saw Wei Qingning from afar and quickly waved to her.

With Yongzhen not around, and apart from Sister Rong'er, there were few other girls her age on the ship who were easy to talk to. So when she saw Wei Qingning, she was a little excited and jumped up and down, her heavy breasts bouncing.

Wei Qingning: ( 'o︵o` )

Gu Jun Gui was somewhat surprised, because they were all people brought by Chu Ming Kong. They had already introduced themselves to each other, but she was still not very familiar with the royal family members. There was a sense of distance due to their different statuses, and she couldn't get used to it for a while.

"Qingning, do you know Princess Jinyu?"

“I know her. I used to be Princess Jinyu’s bodyguard.” Wei Qingning nodded and led Aunt Gu to Jinyu.

Jin Yu gave Wei Qingning a warm hug, then noticed she looked a little disappointed and asked:

"Qingning, what's wrong? Why do you seem so listless?"

Gu Jungui explained for her, "Princess Jinyu, you don't need to worry. Qingning is just worried that her family isn't around."

“I see. Aunt Gu, you don’t need to call me Princess anymore. I lost that title the moment I left the capital. Just call me Jinyu from now on!” Jinyu then comforted Wei Qingning, “Qingning, you don’t need to worry about your family so much. If you encounter any danger, just have Mingkong go and bring your people over.”

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

PS: (Interpretation) ← Do you feel anything when you look at this pattern?

Doesn't it look like a butt and fleshy thighs? I discovered it by accident!

Chapter 151 The Nine-Aperture Soul-Nourishing Bead Necklace (12/18)

Chu Mingkong had already informed his master's wife in the note that he would be visiting her for a while, and his master's wife had agreed.

However, Chu Mingkong did not intend to stay for too long. In fact, since escaping from the palace yesterday, he had not been able to rest peacefully. He met with the women and then began to prepare for his departure.

The spaceship and floating vessel are now moving at full speed, and the consumption of spirit stones is like throwing silver into water. However, with Qingse as their backer and a source of wealth, this consumption is nothing. If money can save time, then it's definitely worth it.

After arriving in Xiling, it wasn't the final stop. He just settled Aunt Gu and the others there. He still had to rush to the Crescent Kingdom as soon as possible, because Yongzhen was still there.

However, with Yun Nongyu's promise to take care of Yongzhen, Chu Mingkong can rest assured for the time being.

"Oh, it's been a while since we had a raffle."

Chu Mingkong lay alone on the deck, gazing at the vast night and the boundless stars. He suddenly remembered that after working tirelessly on matters concerning the palace for a while, his account was nearing its maximum limit. If he didn't spend it soon, it would be a waste.

We're no longer in the frugal period of tightening our belts and cutting back on food like before; we can smoke freely now.

"Pay for Dad!"

Although the interface of the filial piety system appeared in his mind, he still covered his eyes and deceived himself after he started opening blind boxes.

The previous few failed attempts at ten consecutive drops were probably due to incomplete repayment of bad luck from the past period, which was to be expected. Chu Mingkong's mood fluctuated but remained calm.

"I've lost so much, it feels like I've fallen into a pig butchering scam. The higher the system breaks through, the worse my card-drawing experience gets, even though I'm the one who puts in the effort to upgrade and break through the system."

As if sensing his dissatisfaction, the long-dormant blind box finally arrived. The exquisite outer shell held no appeal for him anymore; he was eager to see what his luck had brought him...

"...Hmm, why does this look so familiar?" Chu Mingkong fell silent.

The items shipped this time look strangely familiar. Just looking at the parts, they're reminiscent of the crystal mouth ball... no, the mouth bead, that we gave to Yongzhen back then!

It is very similar to the single pearl, except that this time the product is an enhanced version of the single pearl, consisting of five or six pearls strung together.

From an ordinary person's perspective, it looks like a string of candied hawthorns; from a Buddhist monk's perspective, it looks like a string of prayer beads; from Chu Mingkong's perspective...

It's a bit like... pulling beads.

Chu Mingkong tried to infuse spiritual energy and discovered that the string of transparent and lustrous beads could change size. This was a different level of gameplay, right?

"Let me take a look at the instructions... It's also about cultivating the soul, and the name is quite nice, 'Nine Apertures Soul-Nourishing Bead Chain.' It makes the beads bigger so that they can adjust the effect of cultivating the soul. It doesn't say what the specific usage is. Normally, you would wear it on your wrist, or if you go too far, you would put it in your mouth, or even worse, you would put it somewhere else."

He stopped overthinking and asked directly, "My goodness, how do you use this?"

Have you ever heard of Nine-Aperture Jade?

"I have a vague recollection of it. It seems to be something used in burials?" Chu Mingkong had never handled such matters before and couldn't remember clearly.

Yes, this is a saying passed down among the secular nobility and royalty: sealing the nine orifices to prevent the soul from dissipating and to seek rebirth and immortality. However, this saying originated from some ancient cultivators' soul-nourishing treasures, which the nobles overheard and imitated, creating jade artifacts to express their thoughts after death.

He's now comforting himself by thinking that this string of beads is equivalent to several pearls, so does that mean he's gotten a multi-yolk egg in one go?

Yongzhen's pearl was shipped out separately back then!

"Who to give it to is a problem. It seems like no one around me needs this. If I give it to Yongzhen, she's not around... Speaking of which, will Yongzhen just have a pearl in her mouth and a string of soul-nourishing beads stuffed in other places?"

After hesitating for a while, Chu Mingkong took out the Yongzhen doll. The elegant and aloof doll lay there quietly, without moving for a long time.

"Uh? Could something have happened?" Chu Mingkong gradually tensed up from his relaxed state, took out a piece of paper, quickly wrote two words and sent them to Yongzhen.

Fortunately, Yongzhen responded to the note very quickly.

[Mingkong, what do you mean by writing 'one or two' so vaguely?]

Chu Mingkong breathed a sigh of relief:

I thought something had happened to you, so I hurriedly wrote this note to check on you. Are you alright?

Yongzhen was now more interested in learning about the situation in the capital and the palace from Chu Mingkong, but that was the downside of handwritten correspondence—it wasn't convenient to bring up the topic at will. So she had to reply first:

[It's nothing. But why do you think something happened to me?]

I've been playing with your doll for ages, and you haven't jumped up and yelled at me, so I'm worried something might have gone wrong on your end.

Yongzhen clenched her fists, her temper already provoked by his few words. But when she calmed down, she tried to communicate with the puppet through her soul, but to no avail.

I didn't feel like I could communicate with the doll; perhaps it was too far away.

"Too far?" Chu Mingkong scratched his head, suddenly remembering that there seemed to be a similar situation before.