Chapter 493: Separate the Couple and Grind Them Apart!

Duan Rongshi heard the sound and immediately stopped his sword dance.

He turned his upright figure, stood still on the spot, placed the sword's back behind his back with one hand, letting her examine him.

Li Qingluo walked forward with disbelief all over her face: "Ah Shi, is it really you?"

"How did you become like this?"

"Heavens, what exactly have you done to yourself?"

Although the face before her was still handsome and extraordinary, compared with the breathtaking visage that Li Qingluo had long engraved in her heart, she simply could not get used to it.

From now on, with such a stranger's face, how would she eat, how would she sleep, how… sleep embraced with him?

Li Qingluo rose onto tiptoe, and when Duan Rongshi also slightly bowed and brought his face forward, she quickly cupped his face and examined it repeatedly.

Not a single trace at all.

"Exactly how was it done?"

"Is it Qin Ling's human skin mask? Did you perhaps prepare it long ago?"

"Wait!"

"Last time at Ningyuan Temple we also used that monk's human skin; it can't have been pre‑stocked, can it?"

"Did Qin Ling also come to Great Chu?"

Duan Rongshi: "He fears you will kill him, so he dares not appear."

"He just spends his days mixing within the Xiaoyao Sect."

So the entire Xiaoyao Sect has now come to Great Chu.

Li Qingluo was not surprised at all.

After Duan Rongshi's Prince Su identity was faked as dead, the only force he could wield was the Xiaoyao Sect of the jianghu.

Though his exact scheme is unknown, after he finishes the matter of Great Chu, he will certainly return to the borderlands.

Thinking of what Qin Ling and Li Yunchu couple had done to her before, Li Qingluo coldly smiled: "He still knows not to appear before me."

Duan Rongshi: "Luo'er, I didn't kill that couple because he is still actually useful to me."

"And I will never betray and kill him, unless he again commits some act that judges the master."

"But if you are unhappy, I can also stop using him."

Li Qingluo: "Then what do you intend to do? Will you hand him over for me to dispose of at will?"

"Or perhaps, I must kill them?"

Duan Rongshi: "Fine."

"This matter, you have the final say."

Li Qingluo curled her lip.

"Then wouldn't I be dragging you into an inhumane and unjust place?"

Duan Rongshi stared into her eyes and said: "I was never a saint to begin with; having more accusations on me wouldn't hurt or itch."

"I only want Luo'er to be free to follow her heart in the future; the two of us will no longer develop misunderstandings and grievances as before."

"Anything Luo'er doesn't want or doesn't approve, I will no longer do."

"Compared with other matters, having Luo'er accompany me for life is the most important thing in the world."

Facing his sudden, heart‑rending frankness, Li Qingluo's heart was struck hard.

At first, before she completely lost consciousness, the two of them had indeed developed deep rifts over the way the Zheng siblings, Zongzheng Wuheng and others were dealt with.

Later, they hadn't even had time to speak openly when she, because the Pei family had made a promise to the Witch Moon Sect and she herself fell into unconsciousness, had to flee far to MiaoJiang.

Before she lost consciousness, her heart had also been deeply lost and tangled over this matter.

She retreated.

She also intended to stop here with him, go separate ways, and never see each other again.

However, what Li Qingluo could never have imagined was that he would abandon everything for her.

He had plotted for years, and with great difficulty had gotten the imperial palace, Emperor Yan, and the whole DaLiang in his grasp.

The distance to his revenge for his mother‑queen, even after years of scheming, was now only a single step away.

Whose life or death, even that position, was probably then just a word from him.

Yet he resolutely, because of her, gave up everything and personally sent her to MiaoJiang.

He even, to retrieve her, searched the heavens and the underworld for her wandering soul, and finally found her past life.

Human hearts are made of flesh.

When Li Qingluo woke up and recalled everything, her heart had already let go of those obsessions.

Thus, at this moment she also believed in his sincerity.

"Enough."

"First, enslave him for a few years, not even pay his monthly wages; when he becomes useless, then send him back to reunite with Li Yunchu."

"Anyway, Li Yunchu now can't return from that borderland; the harsh cold there won't give her any good days."

"Just separate the couple and grind them apart; that counts as their retribution and fate!"

She planted her hands on her hips, deliberately speaking with a malicious grin.

Speaking of Li Yunchu, though she wasn't a good person, she did have a husband who was not only devoted but deeply loving.

Moreover, back then the second and third houses abandoned this younger sister for profit, yet when they fell into trouble, she still thought of ways to rescue them.

In this respect, she was indeed worthy of her family.

It is said that on the exile road, Li Kechuan and two others were burned to death in a cattle shed; after that, the second and third houses and Li Chao Jing's party were hurriedly sent to the borderlands.

Li Yunchu was also sent over when her face was disfigured.

Qin Ling was left behind to work.

The couple were thus completely separated; Qin Ling also dared to be angry but not speak out.

Who let him and Li Yunchu previously commit an unforgivable mistake against Li Qingluo; if he didn't still have the skill of disguise, he certainly wouldn't be alive today.

After all, Li Yunchu, after being sent to rely on her two brothers, her days were not very good.

The second and third branches going into exile was precisely to share weal and woe.

Although the family reunited, they also gave up the previously relatively stable wealthy life in Jinling; the wealth scattered along the way to the frontier is even more than what the two branches now have combined.

Now they are living in straitened circumstances, not to mention, and then Li Yunchu suddenly showed up.

They originally had some resentment about the matter where, due to Li Yunchu's involvement, the main branch targeted them; Li Yunchu actually still dared to show up thick-skinned.

Each additional person means an extra daily expense.

So Li Yunchu, having lost Qin Ling's protection, is now having a hard time under the roofs of her two brothers.

Li Qingluo thought: Then let them torment each other as a family.

Duan Rongshi, seeing her angry puffed-up look, was both amused and exasperated, bent over and gently held her in his arms.

"Lu'er, I was wrong before."

"From now on, we'll take things slowly."

Li Qingluo responded to his embrace, smiling and said: "Good."

However, that night, the two still did not successfully consummate the marriage.

Li Qingluo angrily hit the bed.

"In the middle of the night, what sword are you practicing again?"

"Duan Rongshi, are you really going to abandon me?"

"What exactly are you scheming again?"

She even began to doubt herself in her heart.

Could it be that I can only be his confidant in spirit, and we can never become husband and wife?

Is her beauty, Li Qingluo's, truly worth nothing in his eyes?

Seeing her even become spiritually wounded, Duan Rongshi hurriedly explained: "Lu'er, if nothing unexpected happens, should your menstruation come tonight?"

Li Qingluo:?

She carefully calculated, and it really might be tonight.

And her menstrual cycle has always been regular, rarely making mistakes.

She actually forgot about this tonight.

What surprised Li Qingluo even more was: "You, you when did you remember my little days?"