The hand of Worryless striking the wooden fish froze, to be precise, his whole body froze in place, but only for a moment. The wooden fish rang out again in the Buddhist hall.
Just when Lousi thought he wouldn't speak, he saw his thin lips parting, and his cold voice echoed in the Buddhist hall.
"Princess, you have taken a wrong turn."
"Not at all, this is where I came to find the Grandmaster." The Prince Consort approached, lifted the small incense burner on the altar and sat on it.
She shook her legs, staring at the angry Wuyu, and the smile on her lips grew deeper.
"After all these years, do the grandmaster not miss me? I miss you so much."
"Each time I wake from a dream at midnight, I can't help but wish to skin you and pull out your tendons!"
Her gentle tone was like that of someone saying love notes to a lover, but the words she spoke made one's back shiver with coldness.
The sound of the wooden fish stopped, Wuyou raised his eyes and looked at her with a complicated expression. The fingers that twirled the Buddha beads trembled slightly.
Then, he turned his gaze away, stepped forward to pick up the small incense burner, and said in a calm voice as still as water, "Princess, if you have any grievances with this humble monk, there is no need to show disrespect to the Buddha. It only adds to your sins."
Lou Si's lips curled in a mocking smile, with one leg crossed over the other, hands supporting her knees, and one hand propping up her chin to look at him.
"If this princess decides to be disrespectful to the Buddha of the Grandmaster, will the Grandmaster still, as in the past, say that I am cursed and that my presence will bring about the fall of the Lingjiang Empire?"
Wuyou's hand stopped in mid-move, a hint of pain flashed across his eyes. After he closed his eyes again and opened them, he had already regained his composure.
"One year ago, it was the humble monk who was sorry to Princess. Today, if the princess wishes to kill or mutilate me, I have no complaint. I only ask that the princess can put her grievances behind her and start anew."
Lou Si shook her head, laughing with a bloodthirsty glee: "I don't even have time to think about killing the Grandmaster; how could I possibly harm you?"
After saying that, she leaned back, supporting herself on the altar and gently swaying her legs, the fiery red skirt swaying along with it. The peach blossom blooming in the corner of her eyes, under the candlelight, added a few more enchanting powers of bewitchment.
"This princess has something that I have never been able to understand, and I wonder if the Grandmaster can enlighten me."
Wuyou knew very well what she meant, so he remained silent.
Lou Si also didn't intend to wait for him to speak. She jumped down from the altar, walked over to him, and a smile that seemed harmlessly innocent spread across her face: "If this princess hasn't mistaken, the Grandmaster once had a liking for me. However, I don't understand why you would push me to the brink of despair if you truly have a fondness for me. Is it really because of my mother's saving grace?"
Wuyou's pupils widened abruptly, and he stared at her with a look of disbelief, so startled that he forgot to speak for a moment.
Wuyou took a few steps back, turned around, and walked out with a somewhat disordered gait, unable to stay any longer with her.
Lou Si was not in a hurry. She played with her fingers, taking her time to say, "This princess has heard that the Grandmaster's master is also in the palace. Do you think that if these elderly people accidentally fall into the Lotus Pond or fall into a well, they still have a chance to live until they are discovered by others?"
Wuyou stopped in his tracks, his face pale as paper, but his voice remained as calm as water: "Princess, if you wish to do something to this humble monk, you may come directly at him. Why involve innocent people?"
"Innocent people?" Lou Si couldn't help but burst out laughing: "They are innocent, am I not innocent as well?"
After speaking, she also didn't bother to care about him, taking a step outside without hesitation. He didn't want to say it's okay, but she had plenty of ways to make him say it.
Fearful that she would truly harm his master, in a panic, Wuyou reached out and grabbed Lou Si's wrist.
Feeling the warmth of her skin, he quickly pulled his hand back and mentally recited a few "Amitabha" mantras.
Lou Si stopped her steps, turned around, and smiled or frowned at him: "How about it, the Grandmaster is this unwilling to let this princess go, and wants to keep this princess for the night?"
Wuyou took a step back, putting some distance between them: "That incident years ago was all due to a moment of poor judgment on my part, and had nothing to do with others. I hope Princess Lou Si will not involve the innocent."
"If this princess insists on involving the innocent, what will you do?" Lou Si smiled with a hint of amusement, but the smile did not reach her eyes.
Wuyou lowered his eyes without speaking. He knew he had done wrong years ago, so for these years, he had been repenting before the Buddha and praying for Lou Si's well-being.
But now, facing Lou Si's question, he couldn't find a word to say. Especially when his hidden sin was pointed out by her, he felt deeply ashamed, yet he showed no trace of it on his face.
Lou Si's eyes showed a hint of impatience. She stepped forward and reached out to raise his chin, saying, "I've heard that there are hundreds of people in the Jinglong Temple now. What do you think can be cleaned up by a single fire?"
Wuyou grabbed her hand at once, his eyes cold and terrifying, his voice a few degrees colder: "Don't touch them."
Lou Si's eyes narrowed menacingly: "So the Grandmaster also cares about someone, I thought you had no desires or wants."
Wuyou's hand holding her wrist kept tightening: "What else do you want to do to avoid involving the innocent?"
"Very simple." Lou Si looked at him, taking her time to say: "You beg this princess, maybe with one soft heart, this matter will just pass by."
Wuyou stared at her for a long time, then let go of her hand, took a step back, pulled off his monk's robe, and knelt down.
"Please, Princess, spare the innocent people."
Even while kneeling, his back remained upright, and his expression remained cold, as if nothing could affect him except for the Buddha and his fellow monks.
The more he remained unaffected, the more Lou Si wanted to trample him into the mud. Why should he be able to stand clean on the altar after pushing her onto the brink? He should have fallen with her from the pedestal into the mud, rotting, stinking, breeding maggots...
Lou Si stepped forward, lifted his chin, and smiled extremely enticingly: "You see, as soon as you knelt down, this princess felt soft-hearted."
Wuyou opened his mouth to say something, but before he could utter a word, a cold male voice rang out from the doorway,
"Princess Chang, you're so thirsty and desperate that you can't even spare the Grandmaster."
Wuyou saw that the person who had come was Xiao Rん, and his face flashed with a trace of embarrassment. He dodged Lou Si's hand and turned his head.
Lou Si made a sound of disapproval, turned around, and looked at Xiao Rén with a playful expression: "My dear, are you feeling jealous?"
Xiao Rん knew that he shouldn't offend Lou Si at this time, but for some reason, when he saw her and Wuyou being so intimate, he couldn't help but want to get angry.
"Princess, you've been thinking too much. The palace banquet has ended. The emperor has asked the minister to escort you back to the general's mansion for a rest."
Lou Si looked at Wuyu with a gentle smile: "Grandmaster, we'll meet again."
As soon as she finished speaking, she raised her foot and walked out, followed by Chu Weiyi to inform Luo Zheng and then followed Xiao Rén out of the palace.
Wuyou watched the back of Lou Si, unconsciously tightening his hand in his sleeve, closing his eyes and then opening them again, the complex emotions in his eyes had already returned to calmness.
