Chapter 54: Marriage of Convenience, Three-Year Term

As if scalded, she quickly pulled her fingers away.

Xu Tanxi remained silent, mechanically applying the ointment over and over again, her face burning bright red.

Yet Shang Hejing had no intention of letting her off, pronouncing each word deliberately: "Xu Tanxi, you are taking advantage of me."

This scoundrel of a man was most skilled at using the calmest tone to utter the most shameless words.

That strange sensation still lingered on her warm fingertips as Xu Tanxi feigned composure to defend herself.

"I didn't—"

As young people, especially those within the legal community, they had all heard their elders recount the legendary cross-border legal battle from a decade ago.

By conceding just another three percentage points, he could force the majority of domestic rare earth resource companies to surrender without a fight.

After waiting a moment with no movement, the man's long, dark, sword-like brows knitted together, his eyes flashing with impatience.

Hearing this, Guo Dashang instantly regained a measure of confidence, assuming Zhao Zichen truly had no intention of settling accounts with him.

Over these past ten months, she had gone to pay her respects at her mother's grave and uncovered her true cause of death: she had been murdered by Tang Meiling.

***

They shattered into individual fragments of internal energy, vibrating outward in the low altitude. "Is it still going to end in death?"

The colossal Heavenly Temple of the Worshipful Heaven Cult acted like the nerve center within Yujing City, second in status only to the resplendently glittering palace of the Zhao Dynasty.

They contemplated what they were about to face—obstacles that seemed practically insurmountable to them.

"It doesn't matter. If you don't know how to play the zither, I can play it for you." Such tender affection seemed as though it wanted to drown a person.

"Do you feel like no one truly understands your thoughts? Everyone thinks you're disobedient and rebellious, but that's not actually who you are, is it?" Lu Jianuo had heard from Ye Yizhou that his family had always viewed Wu Xunyu that way.

Although the wound on her neck was rather large, to a symbiote agent, it was by no means fatal.

If Massey and the others were to find out that she had been targeted by an orange-tier assassin, and that even more powerful figures would arrive hereafter, it was inevitable that certain complications might arise.

"Wuwu..." Kotori, who had initially fought desperately to snatch back her ribbon, ended up with her face stained with tears as she began to sniffle.

Fang Min immediately replied that she had time, subsequently making a phone call back to her husband to inform him that a client was treating her to discuss business, so she wouldn't be returning home for lunch. Since their child was already over two years old and no longer needed nursing, it didn't matter if she didn't return at midday.

Jiang Jianye brought the news back, and the old matriarch listened with a satisfied smile, feeling that her judgment had not been mistaken.

Qingya's eyes were dry and strained. Having sat hunched over the embroidered stool for a long time, she raised her head upon hearing Mingshan's coughs, watching Wanyan Yong gently stroke her back in solace.

***

The mere fact that he could not fly doomed Hulk to gain no advantage whatsoever in his skirmish with Kara.

It wouldn't be a truly vicious beating; Gu Sanqiu merely intended to treat Rosalynd to a high-speed, rope-free bungee jump, utilizing the force of gale winds as kinetic energy to plunge her into Cider Lake.

He gently parted the velvet curtain and saw Qingru lying quietly in the carriage wrapped in thick velvet blankets, covered by two layers of brocade cotton quilts, resting her head on the finest soft pillow.

Xiao Wei made no attempt to conceal his detailed scrutiny of the person before him. Cuiqiao wore no jewelry today, her hair only half-coiled, and she was dressed in a jade-colored floral gauze skirt, standing slender and graceful like a newly sprouted white magnolia. Gazing at this unadorned face, Xiao Wei's gaze remained captivated by the cinnabar mole at the outer corner of her eyebrow, finding its crimson hue dazzlingly striking.

Yet now Su Wei refused to let go, and her right arm was bound to be strained, while the Su and Ye families still shared friendly ties.

Old Man Wang wrinkled his chrysanthemum-like elderly face in utter impatience, so irritated by her endless dawdling that he trembled all over.

With a smiling gesture, she poured some more tea for Xiao Teng, and ceased to disturb his meal, turning instead to tidy up things with Old Uncle Qiao in preparation for closing up the stall.