Volume 1, Chapter 64: The Instance Begins, A Familiar Beauty

It was slightly better than he had anticipated; along the way, he stepped directly on the stones hidden beneath the water.

The stones were submerged to a depth of about half a calf.

Here, he had to plant his feet firmly, otherwise, he would easily be swept away by the current.

Fortunately, guided by his trusty thick wooden club, the stepping stones stretched across at least half the distance.

Ahead, the gap without stones was merely a dozen meters or so.

This was naturally good news for him.

Taking out a few small pebbles he had just gathered, he double-checked that there were no stones further ahead.

He took a deep breath, leaped directly, and soared two or three meters through the air.

However, the moment he hit the water, his heart skipped a beat...

If the Imperial Transport Commissioner were to meet with any unexpected mishap within his jurisdiction, and the imperial court decided to assign blame, he would undoubtedly be the first one held accountable. Thinking of this, cold sweat continuously beaded on his forehead, and he cursed his wretched luck inwardly.

While three thousand yuan might not even amount to a drop in the bucket for the wealthy elite, as an extra bonus, it was truly a delightful income for the working class.

Fu Yu felt somewhat embarrassed; usually, he could only score around 235. That last attempt was definitely an over-performance, yet even though it should have been something to celebrate, he couldn't bring himself to feel happy at all.

The brand-new mobile phone was bought with his own allowance. The price was not high—a domestic brand costing several hundred yuan, with stable quality and perfectly fine for making calls, browsing the internet, and watching videos.

You must be joking; no one here had ever dared speak to him like that. Haotian was simply courting death. Immediately, a crowd of people rushed forward. These individuals were servants of the Zhou family, endowed with extraordinary martial arts skills; otherwise, they would not have qualified as bodyguards.

Huasen exchanged intelligence with them, while at the same time, his internal energy had already been projected outward to scout the surroundings.

Wasn't speaking like that a sign of high emotional intelligence? Could I really tell them, "You're so dark that even a pangolin couldn't recognize you"? How did it turn into me being a sweet-talking, deceptive swindler in your eyes?

With this thought, Gao Jian suddenly felt enlightened. Then, he decided that he was actually quite magnanimous, knowing how to repay grievance with virtue.

He made a motion to jump into the river, but suddenly had a second thought: "Wasn't I heading home? Why am I picking a fight with river-jumping?" Upon this second thought, he managed to check his momentum mid-jump.

There was, of course, a major reason why he doted on her so deeply. To trace the origin of the matter, it went back many years when Chen Tianyun had just entered his first year of high school. He had gone on a picnic with his classmates near Qing Lake.

"No! Your Highness..." Hearing Xiao Lang's icy words, Qi Chenchen's heart was gripped by utter despair. It wasn't like this, it clearly wasn't like this! "It was all Lady Lian's fault..." If not for what Lady Lian had said, her father would never have believed he needed to take risks to secure the position of imperial consort for her.

"Count, what about that outfit?" Not until the carriage slowly drifted out of Roy's line of sight did the butler tentatively inquire.

"Child. Child. No. I am not afraid of Dongfang Ji being by my side. I am not afraid of those things. I am not afraid." Xuanxuan's dream once again descended into terror. She could only call out Dongfang Ji's name, and gradually, her heart grew much more at ease. That night, the two fell asleep in each other's arms, in a sleep so sweet and beautiful.

In the darkness, the man remained silent, pressing his lips tightly together as his arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer, and closer still.

"I will send someone to keep an eye on her. I will never let her fall into trouble!" Ah, he had thought that once she became empress she would be safe from danger, never anticipating that she would still encounter such trials.

"Let's make it another day!" Chen Tianyun temporarily had no wish to maintain any connection with You Qian'er. Especially after learning that she had hired people to move against Hu Xixi, he viewed her as vicious-hearted and difficult to get along with.

Looking at the golden eight-winged ancient god angel, whose right hand was striking toward him, he immediately reached out with his left hand to grab it firmly. Following that, a surge of purple electric arcs erupted from his right hand, fiercely slashing toward the gripped arm.

Huang Tiancheng undoubtedly doted on You Qian'er. The two of them being inseparable was long no secret. You Qian'er was actually happier with him than she had been with Chen Tianyun. Although Chen Tianyun also treated her like a precious treasure, he ultimately lacked the bone-deep indulgence that Huang Tiancheng showed her.

Old Mai smiled and shook his head without speaking. His divine sense expanded point-to-point, reaching a thousand miles away. Being less than a thousand kilometers from the scene, it was effortless for him to see things clearly, though it somewhat resembled the night-vision effect of infrared imaging.

Not until the old master departed did Chu Qianning feel the pressure lift, prompting him to let out a long breath of relief.

Witnessing this scene, the guards stationed on both sides of the path turned pale with fright and fled in panic. Ever since the Flying Star Sect ascended to a thirty-five-star influence, casting its terror across the entire Canglang star system, no one had ever dared to brazenly barge directly into the sacred grounds of the Flying Star Sect.

Recalling these matters, Qin Yibai felt somewhat embarrassed. That old ghost Peng had entrusted his family to him with his dying breath, yet he himself had managed to forget all about it for so long, carelessly tossing this bead into his private realm.

Thus, Ryoma's birthday gift was decided: a custom tennis racket. Though the gift might not be terribly original, Chuna still hoped Ryoma would like it.

"Good!" Huan'er beamed with joy and grabbed a passing maid, asking her to guide her to the kitchen.

When Chuna woke up, she found herself in her room, waking up in Ryoma's arms... Discovering that Ryoma had been staring at her the whole time, Chuna felt a bit embarrassed by his gaze.

"My surname is Qiao, you can just call me Doctor Qiao!" Dongying replied casually while carefully taking her pulse.

He had merely spoken on a whim, but to his surprise, the large dog before him lit up its eyes. Fang Dunchen's heart skipped a beat as well—could this yellow-furred giant dog actually possess some kind of treasure?

Last time, Qinglan had observed clearly. Although she hadn't witnessed the exact moment the medicinal pill formed, the underlying principles were already clear to her: all varied manifestations stem from the same root.

However, the probability of this was low, and it usually depended on the mood of the Unity Realm experts of each sect. Generally speaking, Unity Realm experts had little interest in the empty title of Martial Arts Alliance Leader, which was a source of great helplessness for various sects.

Xiang Fang had just been pondering the matter of the wheelchair. He intended to install prosthetic limbs for the young master of the Liu residence, but Luhua had instructed Ju Zi to tell him to first take a wheelchair for the young master's use, adding that she herself would take charge of marketing these wheelchairs. At the time, Xiang Fang had found it odd—once he fitted people with prosthetic limbs and they could walk, why would anyone still need a wheelchair?

"It's fine, take your time preparing. It's been a while since I did any needlework, I suppose my hands have grown rusty," Cheng Yang said with a smile.

After hanging up the phone, Wen Yang decided that when Yin Langge returned, he would confess voluntarily that he was the one who mailed the package.

The hibiscus flower hairpin bestowed by the empress and the pair of pure gold filigree pomegranate hairpins inlaid with gemstones were handed over to Qiaohui for safekeeping, while the jade hairpin meant for Xi Mohuan was separately entrusted by Luhua to Hongyi to keep.

Su You was also running around dealing with architectural firms for the construction of the new ALRAD branch in Shangcheng. She and Ye Tangyin took turns caring for the child every other day.

"Father, let me offer you a piece of advice: you'd better hurry up and groom another successor. I believe he probably doesn't want to be this wretched emperor anymore. Don't hang yourself on his tree." Liyue pondered for a moment regarding Muyang. She already understood her man quite thoroughly.