"Everyone has the power to choose, as long as you don’t regret this choice in the future, then it’s the right one."
At this moment, facing Su Qingdai’s self-assured declaration of war, Zhao Rong, caught between the intense gaze of the two women, neither agreed nor disagreed and simply nodded lightly.
"If you want to stay, then stay."
Zhao Rong lowered his eyelids, not looking at their gazes, and turned back to his seat.
He returned the ’stage’ to Zhao Qian’er and Su Qingdai.
Qian’er’s pretty face held a frosty expression as she silently stepped forward.
Su Qingdai instinctively stepped back at this moment, but quickly seemed to recover and straightened her back, casting a defiant and proud look at Qian’er.
"Ziyu is right beside us. What skill is there in your sneak attack? Release me and let me get dressed, and we can go again, hmph, but it doesn’t matter now. I admit my loss tonight, kill or maim, just make it quick."
"Fine, I’ll release you, and we can go again." Knowing it was provocation, Qian’er still nodded in agreement, suddenly calm. As she stepped forward to release Su Qingdai’s constraints and untie the ropes, she muttered to herself:
"We’ll need to change the method of tying... maybe ’spread-eagle’ tied to the four corners of the bed..."
"......." Su Qingdai.
At this moment, Zhao Rong, as if he had suddenly remembered something, spoke, "Qian’er, Fairy Su, wait a moment. I have something to ask."
He raised his hand, spreading his fingers to reveal the two Nine Heavens Cold Palace Flowers in his palm, smiling at Su Qingdai:
"Tell me all you know about this."
Zhao Rong always felt the halo on them seemed familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
Su Qingdai slightly tilted her head, "Ziyu, don’t call me Fairy Su. You can... call me Qingdai or Dai’er."
Zhao Rong nodded, "Very well, Miss Su."
Su Qingdai thought for a moment, made no comment after all, and nodded, as ’Miss Su’ seemed closer than ’Fairy Su’, as for intimate nicknames like Qingdai, Dai’er... well, slowly.
She nodded, "This flower comes from Sacrificial Moon Mountain."
"Sacrificial Moon Mountain?"
"Yes, the highest mountain in the Li Territory, yet it never accumulates snow, and the sky is always clear within a thousand miles, but though the peak reverberates with the sound of thunder, the lightning is invisible to the naked eye, presenting a spectacle... the mountain is covered with Nine Heavens Cold Palace Flowers, like dandelions, blown by the mountain wind, only, it has been a long time since a moon last appeared over Sacrificial Moon Mountain..."
Zhao Rong, supporting his chin with his hand, listened quietly.
Within the time it took for an incense stick to burn.
Su Qingdai paused then resumed, and after being asked and asked again, she finally finished telling everything she knew about Sacrificial Moon Mountain and the Nine Heavens Cold Palace Flowers. Now looking at Zhao Rong touching his chin thoughtfully, Su Qingdai couldn’t help but stare a few times more.
"Are you done talking?" Qian’er asked calmly.
Su Qingdai moved her glance away from Zhao Rong, then smiled lightly and nodded. "Ziyu should be fine now, we can go again."
This ’Ziyu’ in someone’s ears was quite provocative.
At this moment, Zhao Qian’er nodded again and reached out...
Suddenly, Su Qingdai was freed by Qian’er from her constraints and the red ropes.
This woman, clad in a white midriff and exuding a cold yet enchanting aura, twisted her jade wrist and glanced at Zhao Qian’er, snorting softly.
Qian’er glanced at Zhao Rong, who seemed lost in thought, her eyes refocusing.
An odd atmosphere started settling among the three of them.
At this moment, Su Qingdai bent her legs to kneel on the bed, reaching out to don the stardust-emanating vestment robe. As she dressed, she narrowed her eyes, cautiously observing the beautiful young girl yawning boredly, waiting for her.
Between the two women, the atmosphere gradually quieted down as time passed, as if someone would suddenly burst into action the next second.
"Hey, are you ready yet? Make a sound." Qian’er, growing impatient, called out, "All this dawdling, are your hands and feet always this clumsy? How are you supposed to serve me?"
Su Qingdai straightened her tangled hair and tied it back with a white ribbon, "Come on then."
Qian’er’s impatient expression instantly softened, tilting her head with a smile.
The next second, inside the pitch-dark room.
Ten paces from the bed, a pot of greenery was cloven, losing one-third of its leaves.
A slender waist was bound by a black belt that snapped.
A bed shifted slightly downward.
All this occurred in the blink of an eye.
However, Zhao Rong was sitting steadily in his chair, leaning to one side, one hand resting on the chair’s armrest, supporting his chin, squinting thoughtfully, oblivious to the second combat for dominance between the two women on the bed, absorbed in his own thoughts.
Handing Su Qingdai over to Qian’er for instruction, allowing the young girl to manipulate her as she wished, went beyond the rules of the Old Zhao Family he had casually made up. The deeper reason, as Zhao Rong and Qian’er had discussed earlier, was that regarding every word the stunning fairy spoke, he maintained a principle of only believing half, hence keeping her under Qian’er’s watch was the safest.
"Sacrificial Moon Mountain... the thunder heard but not seen... I wonder if this year’s event will be any good; I’ll have to ask that lazy bones..." Zhao Rong muttered, sinking into thought.
The young Confucian Scholar hardly glanced at the familiar scene on the bed: a beauty who had just donned a black skirt, her statuesque figure readily stripped clean again, her ’spread-eagled’ jade arms and legs tied to the four corners of the bed, resembling a little lamb with a vibrant, petite, and beautiful young girl astride her.