Chapter 287: Duoduo, Is It Really That Bitter?
The man beside her seemed to have just woken up as well. He slowly opened his eyes, leaned closer, and asked, “Duoduo, what were you secretly smiling about just now?”
Nan Xun’s lips curved slightly. When he spoke, his breath brushed against her face, so she knew the big boss was talking.
She didn’t know what he was saying, so she simply said everything she wanted to say. “With you by my side, my lord, I slept very well. My lord, did you miss me? I really missed you too. It was clearly only one day apart, but it felt like a whole month without seeing you. My lord, I think I can’t live without you anymore. If you have time, could you stay with me a little more?”
Gong Mo Ran looked at her indulgently and gently patted her head, responding in a low voice, “All right.”
Suddenly thinking of something, Nan Xun said with a bright smile, “My lord, I can’t hear you when you speak. How about this—when I ask you a question, if you think it’s okay, kiss me once. If you think it’s not okay, kiss me twice. Is that all right?”
Gong Mo Ran flicked her forehead with his finger and laughed helplessly. “Mischievous.”
“My lord, are you calling me mischievous?” Nan Xun asked immediately.
A glint passed through Gong Mo Ran’s eyes. He leaned in and kissed her cheek once.
Nan Xun was delighted. “I guessed right, didn’t I? That’s why you kissed me once. This really is a great idea!”
Seeing her so happy, the smile in Gong Mo Ran’s eyes deepened.
From then on, the National Preceptor of Southern Yun rarely appeared at court. Even when the emperor summoned him, he would find excuses to decline. With no other choice, whenever there was truly an important matter to discuss, the emperor would personally come to Mo Ran Hall to seek him out.
In just half a year, the disciples of Mo Ran Hall watched with their own eyes as their lofty National Preceptor became someone utterly unable to leave a woman’s side. They harbored resentment in their hearts, yet no longer dared say a word.
Because Nan Xun rarely went out, the disciples had no idea she was blind and deaf. Even when she went to the lavatory, the lord would support her all the way. Whenever he appeared, the disciples would immediately avert their prying gazes—how could they possibly notice anything amiss?
The current lord was no longer the lord of the past. For that woman, he would go to the kitchen every day to instruct the cooks on preparing her favorite dishes. He even personally sat in the kitchen brewing medicine. He used to be so obsessed with cleanliness—before, he would never have set foot in such a place!
Seeing the National Preceptor emerge from the kitchen again with a bowl of medicine, the disciples immediately withdrew their gazes. Only after he entered the main hall did they quietly discuss among themselves.
“What illness does Nineteen actually have? The lord has been brewing medicine for her every day for half a year,” Gong Liu said, frowning.
Beside him, Gong Eighteen curled his lips. “She’d better just die of illness. That way she won’t keep harming the lord.”
Gong Liu’s expression changed sharply. He barked in a low, stern voice, “Eighteen, you must never say such things again. Do you want to suffer the agony of heart-devouring and brain-eating gu once more?”
Gong Eighteen shrank back in fear, but still couldn’t help muttering, “She’s a femme fatale. Seventeen was killed because of her, Gong Da was killed by her, and now the lord has become like this…”
Gong Liu said gravely, “Seventeen and Gong Da both acted of their own free will. As for the matter between the lord and Nineteen, we should merely observe and say no more. I, Gong Liu, owe everything I have today to the lord. No matter what he becomes, his kindness is enough for me to brave fire and water for him without hesitation.”
Hearing this, Gong Eighteen silently nodded.
Inside the main hall, Nan Xun lifted the medicine bowl and drank it in one go, grimacing as bitterness twisted her face.
Gong Mo Ran hurriedly handed her some candied fruit. Seeing her exaggerated expression, he couldn’t help but feel amused.
“Duoduo, is it really that bitter?”
Under his treatment, Nan Xun’s ears had begun to faintly recover some hearing. She grinned and said, “If my lord kisses me once, it won’t be bitter anymore.”
Gong Mo Ran hooked her nose with a finger. “You’ve already eaten candied fruit and you still want a kiss from this seat? That’s not a very good deal for me.”
Though he said so, he still gently sucked on Nan Xun’s lips.
Nan Xun instantly turned into a shy little wife and buried her head in his arms.
Little Eight clicked its tongue. “Can you two show a little restraint? I have to watch you two shower each other with PDA all day long—I’m about to drown in your dog food.”
Nan Xun’s voice carried a hint of gritted teeth. “You little brat, Little Eight. You tricked me into going to Qi Hengqing’s residence back then—this account isn’t settled yet.”
Little Eight immediately went silent. Self-inflicted disaster. This was all because it had accidentally let something slip. That day, it had woken up to find itself back in Mo Ran Hall and exclaimed in shock, “Huh? Weren’t we at the Child of Fortune’s place? How did we come back just after I took a nap?”
Nan Xun’s expression at the time had been wonderfully complex, eventually boiling down to a single urge—to hang Little Eight up and beat it.
Little Eight coughed. “I did it for your own good back then. You were blind and deaf— even with me navigating, it would’ve taken you at least a day or two to get out of that forest. The Child of Fortune isn’t some flood beast. That was way better than you being unable to get out and starving to death, right?”
Nan Xun let out a dry laugh. “You were just too lazy to navigate for me, weren’t you? There are several hunter households near that forest—you think I didn’t know? Even crawling, I could’ve reached them within a day. If I’d known it was Qi Hengqing, I would never have gone with him.”
Little Eight: …
Damn it, even that was seen through.
In truth, Nan Xun didn’t mind owing the Child of Fortune a favor. What she cared about was whether Gong Mo Ran would overthink things after learning she’d stayed at Qi Hengqing’s place—and how he had taken her away from that residence that very night.
The Child of Fortune in this world was no kind soul. He was shrewd and calculating, and there was no way he would easily let go of Southern Yun’s “all-powerful” National Preceptor.
Nan Xun suddenly recalled that brief pause Gong Mo Ran had made back then. Had he confronted Qi Hengqing that day?
And if so, why had everything ended peacefully afterward? Had they reached some verbal agreement, or… had he used immense witchcraft?
She wasn’t afraid of anything else—only of the latter possibility. The backlash from the big boss’s witchcraft was already severe enough. She didn’t want him to use any more heaven-defying witchcraft. Doing so would not only shorten his lifespan but also intensify the backlash.
During the several episodes of backlash over the past half year, the big boss had weathered them through intimate moments with her. He’d been fully conscious the entire time, though his movements were still as fierce as a wild beast. Because of this, Nan Xun wasn’t sure whether his witchcraft backlash had worsened. She wanted to ask him directly, but didn’t know how.
After months of observation, she felt he should be fine, which finally allowed her to relax a little.
According to Little Eight, three months ago, the old monarch of Eastern Lin had breathed his last.
The once-glorious ruler had died at a woman’s hands. He’d been slowly poisoned by Consort Chen, the woman beside his pillow. By the time it was discovered, it was already too late.
Consort Chen was the most favored concubine and the mother of the Fourth Prince. Once the poisoning was exposed, Consort Chen was thrown into the cold palace, the Fourth Prince was reduced to a commoner, and the old monarch, clinging to his final breath, passed the throne to the Seventh Prince—Qi Hengqing.
Everything was unfolding exactly as it had in the original world. Qi Hengqing ultimately ascended the throne. And afterward, his sights would gradually turn toward the other three nations.
The big boss’s reaction to all this was very calm.
Nan Xun felt that the big boss was playing a very big game of chess—and that in two or three more years at most, this game would reach its conclusion.
In her heart, she wished for that final move to come sooner… yet she was also afraid of the ultimate outcome.
