Chapter 65: The Pretended Affection Hides a Scheme; The Calculating Mind Wears the Mask of Love

The customary return of the bride to her parental home on the third day after the wedding.

The Junior Minister's mansion had returned to its usual tranquility, save for the fact that Chi Guiwan had claimed illness and failed to make an appearance. However, the customary congratulatory gifts had long been dispatched ahead of time, leaving the Chi family with no grounds for complaint.

In the floral pavilion, around the dining table.

The last time she had dined here, she was still an unmarried daughter, but this time she had returned accompanied by her husband. Chi Gui莹 felt a boundless wave of emotion stirring within her, yet she maintained a calm and composed exterior on the surface.

Especially regarding the deep affection she and her husband, Lu Yi, outwardly displayed.

With a loud crash, a bowl-sized hole was punched straight through the solid brick wall. In that instant, Zhou Huafeng's entire fist was embedded deep within the cavity. The mortar plastered on the brick wall shattered and fell off in a flurry, cascading down over his arm in a steady stream of debris.

Earth-First selectively relayed to everyone what Camp Commander Guo had told him, before advising them to return to rest early so they could greet the new superior tomorrow with boundless enthusiasm and leave a stellar first impression. Earth-First asked Zhou Yunhai to stay behind to review whether anyone had any accumulated questions for the day.

Before long, four heavenly soldiers walked over from the barracks. The one in the lead, still some distance away from the entrance, shouted heartily, "Welcome, heavenly soldiers selected from the Class-A Camp of the Southern Heavenly Gate! Welcome, brother Earth-First!" As he spoke, he extended both hands and walked toward Earth-First.

After a journey of roughly half a month, Banzhou and his entourage finally reached their destination: Nuremberg, the capital of the Holy Roman Empire.

At eight o'clock in the evening, the large courtyard was brightly illuminated when, for reasons unknown, with a sharp click, the power abruptly cut out.

...Another round ensued. Xingyang, who had completely turned technique into brute force, once again inexplicably sent the black horse crashing to the ground. Then, he followed up with a heavy grand-Buddha sprawl, slamming his elbows viciously against the fallen steed, a move that once again elicited a wave of thunderous applause.

Sisi felt a creeping chill down her spine and hurriedly squeezed out a friendly smile toward Seventeen, then stealthily shot a glance at Su Yaya behind her, signaling her to wrap things up swiftly.

"It must have been composed by Oppa himself." Im Yoon-ah then recounted every single detail of the previous trainees' gathering to Park Sun-joo, even rattling off the complete lyrics of that song, "Angel's Wings."

"Damn it, could these bastards be setting up an ambush right here?" Liu Kehong found it hard to believe such a thought had crossed his mind. If the Poison Bees' actions were truly as he suspected, then these creatures were simply too terrifying.

"Stop! Get to the point!" He was clearly doing this on purpose, knowing full well that she was already embarrassed enough yet deliberately steering the conversation in this direction. Ling Yong hurriedly interrupted Zhang Lianjie mid-sentence, looking as though he was ready to pounce forward and physically cover the other man's mouth.

Had it not been for the detachment of two thousand cavalrymen sent to assault the Han army's flank, they might have held out considerably longer.

Having said that, Hong Tianyang turned and walked away. He had witnessed everything clearly earlier when Xue Dabao and Murong Yu dealt with Tan Yangxun: Murong Yu's venomous snake had killed Tan Yangxun with a single bite. With such a serpent in play, Zhong Bulin was likewise destined to die without a doubt.

At a loss for what to do, he could only drown his sorrows in alcohol. It was only after waking up from a deep sleep that he remembered he had yet to report the latest developments to Liu Hu.

"When meeting an evenly matched opponent, one must naturally strike first, lest you be given an opening," Chen坤 said with a smile, clearly intent on defeating me in this match.

Wang Yueshan was also completely dumbfounded. Standing dozens of meters away from Zheng Chen, he could clearly perceive the incredulity in Zheng Chen's gaze. Immediately afterward, that look of disbelief morphed into dense fury; the right hand gripping his sword trembled faintly, as if he longed to tear Zheng Chen to shreds.

Thinking along these lines, Wang Xuelan and Li Mei's hearts finally settled, let alone Liu Guihua and Li Tiezhu, who gave it no further thought at all.

"I feel quite well provided for—we have both rice and vegetables. Outside the walls of Luoyang, there are countless displaced citizens; having fine yellow rice to eat makes us immeasurably better off than those starving masses. As a local official, it is I who have failed the people," Liu Fan said candidly to Liu Hong.