It took quite some time before the effects of the drug finally wore off, and Qiao Xueying’s eyes finally regained their clarity. 

As she looked at the man on top of her, she bit her lips tightly and wondered how Chu Chuyan had been able to endure him back then. Even though her body had been stimulated by the drug, she was still almost unable to recover from the impact.

Back then, Chu Chuyan’s ki meridians had been in tatters and her cultivation crippled, which meant that she had been receiving him with nothing but her weakened body. Just the thought of it filled Qiao Xueying with respect for her.

“What in the world am I thinking about?!”

The embarrassed Qiao Xueying lowered her head and leaned in to hug the man in front of her. She felt so embarrassed that she dared not meet his eyes.

… 

The following day, Zu An woke up refreshed. He subconsciously reached out to the person beside him to hug her, but his hands passed through empty air. The soft sensation that he had gotten accustomed to last night wasn’t there. 

Shocked, he quickly sat upward, only to find that the woman who was beside him had disappeared without a trace. It was only the lingering fragrance in the blanket that proved that the events last night weren’t just a dream.

“Snow!” Zu An called out and quickly looked around.

“Don’t bother wasting your strength. She’s already gone,” a cold voice sounded. He saw Mi Li’s soul lying casually on the wooden bed opposite his own bed, her fair, smooth legs vaguely visible through her robe. Her beautiful face was covered over in a layer of frosty anger.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 233 Rage points!

Zu An was stunned.

She left? Just like that? More importantly, though, why are you getting mad?

“Big sis empress, what’s wrong?” asked Zu An.

“You still dare to ask!” Mi Li immediately straightened into a proper sitting position. “You licentious bastard! How dare you force me to watch such a hideous scene the entire night?!”

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 513 Rage points!

Zu An felt his goosebumps rise. “W-wait a moment, who told you to watch us? You could have just closed your eyes! Not to mention, you watched for the entire night? Gosh, I feel like I’ve just been taken advantage of.”

He quickly picked up the blanket and wrapped it tightly around his body, as if guarding himself against a lecher.

Mi Li was less than amused by his reaction.

“You said that I was taking advantage of you?” Mi Li darted straight to the side of his bed and stomped a foot onto the bed frame. She gazed down on him coldly, a dangerous glint in her eyes.

Zu An couldn’t help but notice that Mi Li’s clothes were much more revealing this time around, exposing the humps on her chest. Do the women of the Qin Dynasty dress so boldly?

After all, Mi Li’s clothes were fashioned out of her consciousness, so her dressing was entirely based on her preferences and habits.

Wow, she’s actually wearing a low collared dress. It looks like this big sis empress is quite the frisky one.

“What are you looking at?” Mi Li was furious to see Zu An staring at her instead of answering her question.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 256 Rage points!

“You’re exposing your cleavage right in front of me. What choice do I have other than to look at it?” Zu An wondered why Mi Li was still so hot-tempered despite having been reduced to a soul. “Besides, aren’t you wearing such clothes to show them off? You should be glad that I’m appreciating your fashion sense.”

Mi Li couldn’t fault his reasoning there.

“You sure have a glib tongue. It’s no wonder why you can dupe those little girls into falling for you.” Even though Mi Li’s words were still biting, her expression had clearly lost some of its edge. She straightened her body and tugged on her dress a little, seemingly feeling a little uncomfortable under his stare.

This man really is a strange one. In the past, no one would dare to look at me with such fearless eyes no matter what I wore.

Even now, though the Great Qin Dynasty was destroyed and she was no longer an empress, she would still have ripped off the eyes of anyone who dared to gawk at her.

It was a pity that her own life was currently bound to this fellow’s, which meant that she couldn’t afford to kill him, or even punish him. It was incredibly frustrating for her to see that nothing seemed to work on him, leaving her at a loss as to how to handle him.

“You said that Snow left earlier? Where did she go?” asked Zu An.

“How am I to know?” Mi Li grumbled. She pointed to the side and said, “You were sleeping like a dead log, she even had time to write a letter to you.”

“A letter!” Zu An noticed the letter on the table, and he quickly rushed over to pick it up.

The sudden exposure of Zu An’s naked body made Mi Li blush slightly. She quickly turned her head aside as she said, “Can’t you at least put on some clothes first?”

Zu An rolled his eyes. “You already spent the whole night taking in everything. It doesn’t make any difference whether I wear any clothes now or not.” 

Mi Li was rendered speechless.

This fellow really is infuriating!

She turned back around to say something to him when she suddenly noticed a certain part of his body, and her heart skipped a beat. It was so overwhelming that it actually caused her words to stick in her throat.

However, Zu An paid her no heed. He picked up the letter Qiao Xueying left behind and began reading it carefully.

‘I’m leaving now. Now that I’ve fallen out with the Shi clan, I need to relocate my people before the Shi clan finally decides to make a move. About what happened last night… Thank you. Also, don’t tell Miss Chu about it. If you aren’t happy staying in the Chu clan, you can look for me at the capital.’

… 

Her handwriting was a little messy, seemingly reflecting the hesitation in her heart as she wrote the letter.

“She’s really gone…” Thinking about the warmth they had shared last night left him with a sudden feeling of unfathomable emptiness inside.

He stowed the letter away before turning to look at Mi Li. He couldn’t help but grumble in an accusing manner, “Since you were around, why didn’t you try to stop her? You should have at least woken me up so that I could bid her farewell.”

“Why should I do that?” replied Mi Li.

Zu An’s mind stopped in its tracks.

Wow. That was such a good point, I can’t even find a single word to refute it.

However, the more Mi Li thought about it, the more infuriated she became. “Do you know how much trouble you put me through last night?”

“Trouble?” Zu An was astonished. What did you even do for me at all?

“Hmph! You caused a huge commotion last night. I would never have imagined that that petite little girl would be capable of producing such a loud scream. If I hadn’t set up a barrier around the house, the whole Chu clan would have known about your affair by now!” 

The thought that an empress like her actually had to lower herself to clean up after him as though she was a eunuch or maidservant made her feel incredibly frustrated. 

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 627 Rage points!

Zu An broke out in cold sweat. He had been so engrossed in the act last night that he’d lost track of such details.

“T-thank you…” Zu An wasn’t sure what he should say at a moment like this.

“You’d better not make me clean up after you again. I won’t be so patient next time.” Mi Li was still angry about the unwelcome performance last night.

Zu An laughed sheepishly before changing the topic. “Since you’re awake, why didn’t you respond to my calls last night?”

“Aren’t you still alive and kicking now?” Mi Li rolled her eyes.

“I nearly died!” exclaimed Zu An. “I had to use all of my trump cards in order to survive. If not for Old Mi, the two of us would have been dead by now.”

“Do you know why I didn’t come out?” asked Mi Li coldly.

Zu An hazarded a guess. “Is it because you can’t defeat Shi Lezhi?” 

Mi Li resisted the urge to scream.

You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 314 Rage points!

This fellow’s mouth really is… Argh!

With a cold snort, she said, “A mere early eighth rank cultivator can’t possibly be a match for me. I didn’t appear because I didn't want you to become dependent on me. You’ll never become strong once you become dependent on someone else. Also, if you adopt the mentality that I’ll always be around to clean up after you, you might just start to foolishly leap into danger at every opportunity you get.

“For me to at least live a few more years, I think it’s wiser for me to take some risks at the start. If you can’t even survive such a trivial ordeal, I might as well end things here so as to not prolong my suffering.”

Those words hit Zu An right in the heart like the loud chiming of a bell. He had indeed gotten much bolder than before thanks to Mi Li’s presence, believing that there was no way she would be able to turn a blind eye if danger were to befall him.

He took a few moments to process his thoughts, then bowed deeply toward her and said, “I’ve been enlightened. I won’t rely on you anymore, and I’ll try my best to resolve my problems on my own.”

“You can’t try your best; you have to be able to do it. Next time, unless it’s an opponent of Master rank and above, you shouldn’t even dream of making me save you. I hope that you can at least understand that much,” said Mi Li. “Also, can you at least wear your clothes properly before speaking to me in the future? Stop flinging your junk around!”