Chapter 447: Be a Good Girl, Regretting Exchanging for the Secret Technique

Ji Qingwu’s face was flushed and burning.

The mouth of the burrow was only three steps away. He had startled the she-wolf, and it had scrambled back inside.

But Zhao Mingyan listened closely and could hear the she-wolf huffing. It hadn’t fled; it was waiting for the right moment to act.

He released his hand from Ji Qingwu and walked toward the burrow.

Ji Qingwu’s legs gave out, and she nearly collapsed. She had to brace herself against the tent wall just to stay upright.

His palm had been supporting her waist for so long. Without that powerful support, she suddenly realized her hips and knees were aching and weak, as if all the strength had been drained from her body.

Ji Qingwu cursed the steadily walking figure in front of her.

’How is the one who did all the work completely unaffected?’

Zhao Mingyan gazed at the irregular, oval-shaped opening. Just as he expected, a pair of eerie green eyes stared back from within the darkness.

He observed the dampness of the sand, estimating the burrow’s depth. It seemed that shoving the wolf back in and driving it away was likely impossible.

"Ah Wu, call to it."

"What is it?" Qingwu craned her neck to see the burrow, but she couldn’t see anything from her angle.

She wanted to walk over for a look, but it wasn’t a matter of being unsteady—she couldn’t stand at all.

The tops of her thighs were especially sore, trembling uncontrollably with the slightest movement. Even her muscles deep inside ached.

Ji Qingwu shot his back a look brimming with both flirtatious anger and genuine resentment.

Zhao Mingyan turned to see her pouting, her expression full of deep resentment. He raised an eyebrow. "If Ah Wu doesn’t mind having a third party present, we can continue."

Ji Qingwu immediately cried out, "Little wolf! Come out!"

’Having the little wolf here is much better than facing this insatiable "hungry wolf" alone.’

At Qingwu’s call, the sound of fur scraping against sand filled the air, and a dusty gray wolf emerged from the burrow.

It shook the sand from its fur, and Zhao Mingyan glanced at the sand it had flung onto his boots.

Then, his expression unchanging, he reached out, grabbed the she-wolf by the scruff of its neck, and lifted it into the air.

The she-wolf whimpered. Seeing its pitiful state, Qingwu quickly said, "Your Majesty, it only wanted to see if I was all right."

Zhao Mingyan, however, lifted it higher. The she-wolf’s tail tucked between its legs in fear, its ears flattened, and its eyes darted to the ground.

He said, "Ah Wu, are you all right?"

Ji Qingwu said, quite voluntarily, "...I’m fine. Little wolf, don’t worry. You can go back now."

The she-wolf seemed to understand her words. Or perhaps it caught the scent inside the tent and knew what they had been doing.

It let out a few reluctant whimpers, and Qingwu said soothingly, "Be a good girl."

Zhao Mingyan called out, "Li Yuzong!"

The sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the tent. A moment later, Eunuch Li’s figure appeared at the entrance.

"Holy Emperor, this old slave is here!" Li Yuzong said, his face wreathed in smiles. "The water is ready. Do you wish to bathe now?"

His answer was the tent flap being thrown open by a powerful force, and a gray, lumpy object being tossed out.

After a THUMP, Li Yuzong and the she-wolf at his feet stared at each other, beady eye to beady eye.

The old eunuch exclaimed, "What? Weren’t you digging a hole over there? How did you get into the tent?"

The she-wolf licked its paw.

Li Yuzong said, "Why aren’t you saying anything?"

The she-wolf rolled its eyes at him.

Li Yuzong was completely baffled. ’When on earth did this wolf get inside!’

He had been standing guard a good distance away from the military tent.

Having served Emperor Wu Su for a long time, Li Yuzong knew something was about to happen the moment the ropes and cloths were brought out.

Sounds of a struggle had come from the tent, and he had worried that his Holy Emperor was about to be rejected again. But unexpectedly, after about fifteen minutes of silence, sounds that would make one’s face flush and heart race began to drift out.

Li Yuzong had immediately retreated even farther, beaming with delight. Not only did he order the guards to fall back as well, but he also thoughtfully shooed the she-wolf to the outer perimeter.

Based on his past experience, this sort of thing would take a very long time to conclude. With nothing else to do, he had grabbed a shovel and started filling in the holes the wolf had dug.

The wolf’s paws, it seemed, could not stay idle; it would dig several holes in no time. The two of them fell into a sort of rhythm: it would dig a hole, and Li Yuzong would fill it.

The sky gradually darkened. Li Yuzong was still panting and wheezing as he filled in the holes when he heard the Emperor call his name...

Before he could figure it out, Emperor Wu Su’s cold voice came from inside again.

"Lock it up. And bring some men to fill the hole in the tent."

’A hole in the Emperor’s tent?! This is going to cost me my job as Chief of the Internal Affairs Office!’

Li Yuzong’s eyebrows shot up. "Aha! They say a crafty rabbit has three warrens. You, a crafty wolf, have three burrows as well! To think you actually fooled me!"

The she-wolf snorted through its shiny black nose, unconcerned by his threat.

It turned around and began digging furiously with its front paws, kicking a spray of sand right into Li Yuzong’s face.

Li Yuzong wiped his face, spitting repeatedly until his mouth was clear of sand.

He glanced toward the tent, then pointed a finger at the wolf. "Just you wait until I’m finished here!" he fumed. "We’ll see how I deal with you then, you little monster!"

The she-wolf gave its tail a few flicks and darted away in a flash.

*

「Inside the tent.」

Zhao Mingyan turned back to see Ji Qingwu still pressed against the tent wall, waiting for him. "Such a good girl, Ah Wu," he said.

He glanced at the right hand that had just touched the wolf. "I’m going to wash my hands," he said, and headed toward the washroom.

Tear tracks still stained the corners of Qingwu’s eyes. The moment his figure vanished from sight, a wave of relief washed over her. Her survival instinct kicked in, and she began to inch toward the tent entrance, ignoring the aching in her body.

But she had overestimated her legs, which felt as weak as noodles.

Zhao Mingyan emerged a moment later. He stood at the entrance to the washroom, drying his fingers with a white cotton cloth, and watched her progress, which was slower than a turtle’s crawl.

A ghost of a smile played on his lips as he asked, "Ah Wu, where might you be going?"

The entrance to the tent was only an arm’s length away. Qingwu pushed his voice to the back of her mind. She wouldn’t be discouraged. Freedom was just ahead.

’Even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’

Zhao Mingyan’s voice drifted over again, his bland tone laced with an unyielding authority.

"Do you think I would permit you to take even a single step out of this tent? To disappear, time and time again?"

At his words, a chill ran down Qingwu’s entire spine. She turned around, trembling.

’He must have realized. That night in Zhaoyang Hall, my body felt like it was falling apart, and I could barely even sit up. Yet, half an hour later, I was able to slip away unnoticed by the Palace Attendants. That must have made him suspicious.’

’And yesterday served as further proof. He had been considerate and gentle, yet still inevitably left numerous marks on me. Today, however, those marks were completely gone. That’s why... this time, he didn’t hold back at all.’

’At this moment, Qingwu deeply regretted her impulsive decision to redeem all the secret techniques from the childbirth system. Even though she could repair her body afterward, the process itself was truly unbearable.’

The corners of her eyes red, Ji Qingwu said, "But I really can’t take it anymore."