Bai Xiaochun was starting to feel even more guilty, especially considering how visibly pregnant Song Junwan and Zhou Zimo were. Although the two of them were smiling broadly, the ill will in their eyes caused him to wail in his heart.
As for Hou Xiaomei, she had no idea whether or not she was pregnant, but for some reason she kept her hands resting on her belly as she stared at him.
Song Junwan was the first one to speak. “Xiaochun, why did the Saint-Emperor come to visit?”
She spoke in a warm tone, and sounded very mature. If it weren’t for the daggers she was staring, she would have seemed like the picture of womanly virtue.
“Um… well it’s that darn little turtle! He ran away! You know the little turtle, right? You don’t! Well, let me tell you how I met him. You’re actually part of the story, Junwan!” Blinking, Bai Xiaochun prepared to go into detail, but before he could, Zhou Zimo snorted coldly and cut in.
“Don’t try to avoid the elephant in the room, Bai Xiaochun. Come on, tell the truth. Are you jealous of Master God-Diviner?”
“Jealous?!” Bai Xiaochun said loudly. “Are you kidding me?!” Although he was nearly trembling with anxiety, he put on a look of righteous indignation, and even a bit of confusion.
“I would never be jealous of him! Actually, he’s the one who’s jealous of me! Although, now that you mention Master God-Diviner, you have to admit that the poor kid really has it rough. Zimo, do you remember those tribes from the Wildlands? Back when I was heading back to the Heavenspan region, you escorted me some of the way, remember? I--”
As he prepared to continue with his story, Hou Xiaomei planted her fists onto her hips. Fuming like a hot pepper, she said, “Big Bro Xiaochun, you’re the Arch-Emperor now! Although times are peaceful now, you can’t slack off. You need to work hard on your cultivation. You need to focus!”
“I--” Bai Xiaochun began, but Song Junwan interrupted him.
“Xiaomei is absolutely correct. Xiaochun, you have a lot of important responsibilities! Although the three of us can’t do much in that regard, we can at least help you with some of your menial tasks. Come on. Hand over your love letters. We’ll take care of them from now on.”
“I….” Before he could offer any further explanations, Zhou Zimo, who of course had the worst temper of all of them, stalked over, keeping one arm under her belly as she grabbed his bag of holding. And of course, he didn’t dare to interfere as she… completely emptied out all of the love letters….
His heart was fairly dripping with blood as he looked on, feeling like he was being strangled. It was as if Zhou Zimo wasn’t taking away his love letters, but rather, all the romance that existed in his heart….
Looking very pleased with themselves, the three women left with his love letters, leaving him standing there alone in his private chamber, scowling on the verge of tears. As they left, he reached out morosely as it to grab ahold of something, except, there was nothing to lay his hands on.
“My love letters!”
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Chapter
1218: A Child Is Born!
Moonlight tumbled in through the opened door of his chamber onto Bai Xiaochun as he stood there in a daze for a very long moment. Finally, he sighed, his life seemingly devoid of meaning.
“If I’d known this was going to happen, I wouldn’t have pissed off so many women….” Depressed, he couldn’t help but think that having one wife was definitely the best thing. Two was incredibly annoying, and three or more… was simply too dire of a situation to even think about.
“Xiaomei used to be great, but now she’s been led astray by the other two.” He had originally wanted to focus on meditation, but now simply couldn’t focus. Eventually the sun began to rise. At that point, he looked down at his bag of holding and thought about the collection of love letters that had once been his pride and joy, that he had so often poured out of his bag of holding to dramatic effect, evoking looks of envy from onlookers.
But now his love letters were gone. Feeling miserable, he flew out to Gongsun Wan’er’s secluded meditation facilities. He could sense that she was inside practicing cultivation, and he was tempted to just go in. But he knew that she was at a critical juncture, and that he shouldn’t disturb her.
After a moment, he sent his divine sense out into Arch-Emperor City, hoping to find someone to talk to. He saw Big Fatty Zhang, who was meditating. He saw Xu Baocai, who was in the middle of dramatically boasting to a group of friends. And he saw Master God-Diviner, lounging in the midst of a group of concubines….
He saw Patriarch Spirit Stream, sadly looking at the command medallion of a dead disciple. He saw Li Qinghou off in the distance, holding a handkerchief in his hand.
He even saw Shangguan Tianyou, who had once been so spectacular, but who was now quiet and reserved. He still looked like an unsheathed sword, but now he sat alone, quietly drinking and muttering about Zhou Xinqi.
As he looked out at all the familiar faces, his expression suddenly flickered as he realized there were two auras in the city that were somewhat familiar, but that he hadn’t encountered for a very long time.
“Those two….” he murmured. With that, he vanished, to reappear outside of a mansion somewhere in the city. It was a two-story building, with a fragrant osmanthus tree in the courtyard. As he stood beneath that tree, he looked up at one of the windows in the building, which was lit with lamplight, framing the silhouette of a graceful woman.
Perhaps she sensed that something had changed outside, as the window slowly opened, and a beautiful face appeared.
When she looked down at the osmanthus tree and saw Bai Xiaochun, her eyes widened, and mixed emotions played out on her face. Instead of clasping her hands in greeting, she simply looked at him.
“Chen Manyao….” he said softly. All of a sudden, he realized that he had not been paying attention to who had arrived in the new Arch-Emperor Dynasty. For one thing, he had been very wrapped up with worrying about the balance of power with the Vile-Emperor and the Saint-Emperor, and for another, he had been very focused on his unborn children.
He wasn’t sure when Chen Manyao had come, and had it not been for his frustrated, fidgety mood, he wouldn’t have sent his divine sense out to check on everyone.
Presumably the Grand Heavenmaster knew that Chen Manyao was here. After all, she was his apprentice. And the fact that he hadn’t said anything to him was very telling.
The Grand Heavenmaster had lived for many years, and had a lot more life experience than Bai Xiaochun. Obviously, he didn’t want Chen Manyao causing problems in the imperial harem…. [1]
When Chen Manyao heard him say her name, she bowed her head. A somewhat blank look could be seen in her eyes as she thought back to events of the past, but after a moment, she sighed, and gave him a curtseying bow.
“Greetings from a humble commoner, Arch-Emperor!!”
Her form of greeting instantly caused the gap between them to widen.
The two of them stood there quietly for a long moment before she quietly closed the window and blew out the lamp, casting her room into silent darkness.
Bai Xiaochun stood there under the osmanthus tree for a while, unsure of what he was feeling. Finally, he sighed and vanished, reappearing outside of the Spirit Advent King’s official residence.
The second familiar aura he had detected earlier came from a woman named Xu Shan.
Years ago, she had been like an explosive dragon, and after becoming completely infatuated with him, had chased him relentlessly. Although she was still beautiful, she was now visibly older than before. She was unaware of his arrival, and he didn’t speak to her. He just watched her for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, then left.