kvmb Chapter 278 Forbidden Circle
Chapter 278 Forbidden Circle
Luo An carefully instructed, "Nianyao, after the Shipyard Conference, you should return to Bianjing and bring Chenxi back with you. I will return to Bianjing directly from Bohai."
Nianyao said, "Then let Ninth Brother go with you; he's a good swimmer."
Xu Sheng said, "Chief Xue, rest assured, I guarantee he will return unharmed."
Nianyao pressed further, "What if he comes back incomplete and unwell?"
Xu Sheng said, "I will give myself to you."
Nianyao scoffed, "Who wants you?"
Xu Sheng turned and left, slamming the door shut behind him as he went, fully expressing his anger.
Luo An smiled and pulled her into his arms, kissing her deeply. Nian Yao's body gradually softened, and her hands unconsciously wrapped around his neck.
They seemed to always be like this, coming together and parting ways. Luo An thought that he would settle down in Heaven and Earth from now on and stop traveling like this.
Xu Sheng and Qin Jiu were chatting at the entrance of the teahouse when they saw Luo An approaching. Xu Sheng deliberately looked up at the sky and praised, "Good stamina."
Luo An ignored his teasing: "Ninth Brother, after the Shipyard Conference, are you going back to Bianjing with Nianyao?"
Qin Jiu thought for a moment and said, "Young Master, I will send the gang leader to Bianjing and then come back. I'm used to living on Chongming Island and I'm not used to the prosperity of Bianjing."
Luo An naturally didn't force them: "Take care of yourselves. If anything happens... go to Magistrate Jiang."
Xu Sheng said in a cool tone: "Prince Ming is stationed in Haidong County. Why don't you go to him when you need something? You only seek help from Zhong Wuyan, and only from Xia Yingchun when you don't need anything, right?"
Tiger appeared just in time at the edge of Xianzhou Garden, stopping Luo An from retorting. He called out, "Your Highness, didn't you say you'd be leaving soon? It's been several weeks already."
Xu Sheng said, "It's all your young master's fault for being so obsessed with women and wasting time."
Tiger corrected him: "Your Highness, that's called marital bliss. You, a lonely bachelor, wouldn't understand."
Xu Sheng said, "You understand?"
Tiger patted his chest: "Of course, I already have a child, how could I not understand?"
As Xu Sheng passed by Hu Zi, he suddenly raised his foot and kicked horizontally.
Tiger leaped back a large step to nimbly dodge, quite pleased with himself: "Your Highness, I know you're petty and have been prepared."
Luo An scoffed, "That sharp-faced little head is inhuman."
Xu Sheng was quite indignant: "Don't forget, you are the younger brother of the non-human being, the calamity brother!"
The two men faced each other three zhang apart, each concentrating their strength, and war was about to break out.
When something happens, these two are as mature as if they've lived for three hundred years; when nothing happens, they're as childish as three-year-olds.
Qin Jiu quickly called out to Hu Zi, "Is the boat ready? If we don't leave now, you won't be able to get back before dark, and see if Eighth Sister scolds you."
Tiger pushed Xu Sheng hard: "Go, go, go quickly."
Caught off guard, Xu Sheng stumbled and nearly fell. He didn't argue with Hu Zi, and headed towards the dock.
Tiger followed Luo An and said, "Young Master, my son cries every time it gets dark, and we can't soothe him. Eighth Sister said there must be something unclean on our island."
Every year, brothers die in the Jingjiang River; the resentment must be heavy. Before, the island was mostly men, so of course we weren't afraid. But now there are more and more women, elderly people, and children on the island. I was just planning to talk to the gang leader about building a temple and inviting some Buddha statues to suppress the evil spirits.”
Luo An said, "It's good for the child to cry more to strengthen his lungs."
Tiger trusted Luo An and muttered to himself, "So that's how it is. He trains his body during the day and his lungs at night. This kid knows how to plan things out. He's definitely my son."
Qin Jiu waited until the boat had gone far away before slowly returning to the tea room. He sat on the platform and fell asleep without realizing it.
Liang Qingcheng slowly walked over, squatted down in front of him, and suddenly reached out to grab his neck. Liang Qingcheng was very strong, and Qin Jiu couldn't pry her neck off no matter what he did.
Suddenly appearing out of nowhere, she grabbed Liang Qingcheng's arm and cried out, "Mother, that's Father! Let Father go..."
Liang Qingcheng said viciously, "He's not your father. He ruined me. He's a sinner..."
Liang Qingcheng tightened her grip, and Qin Jiu's vision began to black out. Suddenly, Bu Zhi rammed his head into Liang Qingcheng. Liang Qingcheng was thrown off balance by the impact, and she and Qin Jiu rolled to the ground together.
Qin Jiu jolted awake, realizing it was a dream. A dream so vivid and terrifying. Qin Jiu stared blankly for a moment, then sat up to find a blanket covering her.
It was completely dark when the lights were turned on in the tea room. Nianyao was writing something at the table, looking very serious.
Qin Jiu knew Nian Yao; she was very focused when she was doing something serious.
Nianyao didn't put down her brush until she finished painting. She looked at Qin Jiu sitting opposite her and said, "Brother Jiu, it's getting cold. It's easy to catch a cold if you sleep in the tea room."
After such a nightmare, Qin Jiu felt a warmth in her heart upon receiving such sincere concern: "Okay."
Nianyao glanced at him and joked, "Is it because your sister-in-law isn't here that you can't sleep alone in bed?"
Qin Jiu did try to treat Liang Qingcheng as his wife, to be serious and responsible in living a good life. But relationships are never something that can be achieved through effort alone, nor can they be achieved through the efforts of only one party.
Qin Jiu said after a long while, "Chief, you should know that I was with Liang Qingcheng for nothing. I have no feelings for her, and if she had any feelings for me, they should be hatred."
Nianyao was surprised, because Qin Jiu had been avoiding the topic before: "Brother Jiu, it's okay if you don't want to talk about it."
Qin Jiu said calmly, "There's nothing that can't be said. Once you think it through, it's just like that. From Bianjing back to Chongming Island, and then to Jingzhao Manor... you know."
Nianyao said, "But haven't you all been doing well during this time?"
Qin Jiu said, "I don't know why she's always sleeping between us. At first, Liang Qingcheng genuinely wanted to get married, and I genuinely wanted to settle down. We both had genuine feelings, but I always felt something was missing, and in the end, it's always been like this."
Qin Jiu had always been known for his resourcefulness on Chongming Island, and this was the first time Nianyao had ever seen him so dejected and powerless.
“Everything will pass, it will get better with time.” Nianyao felt a little dry, and then said, “Luo An and I were like enemies at first, but now we’re fine.”
Qin Jiu nodded and changed the subject: "Chief, what you drew was... that forbidden circle from the late emperor's shop?"
It's a ring-shaped structure, decorated with stones of various sizes, and it looks quite familiar.
Nianyao praised, "Ninth Brother has such good taste."
Qin Jiu laughed and said, "Just talk to me normally, I'm not that fragile. I just dreamt about Buzhi while I was sleeping, and I felt a little nostalgic."
Nianyao said, "Ninth Brother is overthinking it. I'm just being sincere in my praise."
Qin Jiu said, "Why are you drawing this? The young master said that the late emperor left something for him, but the prince couldn't find it. Could it be inside the forbidden area?"
Nianyao slowly turned the painting around, then asked expectantly, "Ninth Brother, did you discover anything?"
Qin Jiu said, "The Eight Trigrams?"
Nianyao said excitedly, "Yes, it's the Bagua. These pebbles aren't very big, but if you start looking from here, the three of them are evenly spaced, so you can see them as a whole horizontal line, which corresponds to the Qian trigram."
The one next to it, with the middle row of stones evenly spaced and a large gap between the top and bottom rows, can be seen as a Kan (坎) trigram. Similarly, Gen (艮), Zhen (震), Xun (巽), Li (离), and Dui (兑) can be represented.