The matter of children wasn’t urgent; they both had plenty of childbearing years ahead of them. But Tang Jianxi was very concerned about Yun Chuji’s vague tone. It seemed to be the real reason for her occasional somber expressions.
Tang Jianxi had always known it had something to do with her brother. Logically, a brother and sister arriving in this strange era together should have been a great stroke of fate. At least they wouldn’t be too lonely. But for some reason, a dispute had arisen between them, and they hadn’t contacted each other much for three whole years. Recalling how heartbroken Yun Chuji had been after finding her brother, Tang Jianxi naturally didn’t believe she could accept this fact as calmly as she appeared on the surface.
She attributed Yun Chuji’s melancholy and occasional insomnia to this.
But now, it seemed there was more to it.
Yet Yun Chuji refused to tell her the specifics. She was even unwilling to mention it.
After arriving at the tennis club, they expertly made their way to the court they had reserved. Once they had changed in their respective locker rooms, Tang Jianxi held her racket and said thoughtfully, “How about we make a bet today?”
Yun Chuji’s heart skipped a beat, but she understood this was inevitable.
She silently tightened her grip on the racket’s handle, the veins on the back of her hand faintly visible. “What are we betting?”
Just as she expected, Tang Jianxi said, “A secret. Whoever wins has to tell the other something they don’t know.”
Yun Chuji let out a laugh. “Are you so sure there’s only one thing I’m hiding from you?”
This was clearly not a good answer. At least for a lover, it showed a slight lack of emotional intelligence. Tang Jianxi’s eyebrows shot up. She strode forward and pinched Yun Chuji’s cheek. “What do you mean? You have other things you’re hiding from me?”
Fortunately, the Empire had no shortage of land. Each court at this tennis club was separated from the others, taking up a huge amount of space. It was a massive waste of land resources, but also very comfortable.
So, no third person witnessed this scene of wifely bickering that would make one grit their teeth.
Under the training of Tang Jianxi’s bad habit of pinching people’s faces without a word, Yun Chuji had developed the skill—of questionable usefulness—of being able to speak properly even with her face being pinched. However, right now, she had nothing to say.
To be honest, besides this one thing, she really wasn’t hiding anything else from Tang Jianxi.
But to be even more honest, she had a whole pile of things that couldn’t really be called “secrets” that she could use to bluff her way through this bet.
For example, she had never told Tang Jianxi that her mother had given her a small jade Buddha for her sixth birthday.
But, it was obvious Tang Jianxi was just playing a game. She gave her a little room to struggle, knowing full well she wouldn’t get far.
Yun Chuji lifted her eyelashes and shot Tang Jianxi a helpless glance. At the same time, she raised her free left hand and also fiercely kneaded Tang Jianxi’s face, her words muffled but clear, “You’ll have to beat me first.”
However, this was just another one of Tang Jianxi’s ploys.
Yun Chuji was a bona fide alpha, and Tang Jianxi was a bona fide omega. If they were strangers, an alpha competing in sports against an omega would be laughed to death by any other alpha.
Because their physical abilities were on completely different levels.
In other words, it would be as easy for Yun Chuji to beat Tang Jianxi as it would be for her to use a trivial matter to get out of the bet.
But in the end, after a fierce competition, our formidable little alpha, Miss Yun Chuji, narrowly lost to the champion of omegas, Miss Tang Jianxi, with a score of 6-7.
Tang Jianxi was all smiles, very attentively using the handkerchief Yun Chuji had embroidered for her to wipe Yun Chuji’s sweat. She said with false sympathy, “Darling, what a shame. How did you lose again?”
Yun Chuji slowly raised her eyes to look at her. Speaking of which, after three full years of living together day in and day out, Yun Chuji’s “fairy filter” for Tang Jianxi had been reduced to little more than a reluctant frame. She had switched to a new filter now.
The “cute” filter.
She loved how Tang Jianxi was so beautiful she looked like a fairy from the moon palace, and she also loved how Tang Jianxi looked when she was teasing and playing around.
Both were cute and beautiful.
Yun Chuji calmed her breathing, but there was a slight change in her eyes, one that hinted tonight’s wifely activities might be a bit more entangled than last night’s.
She obediently bent down slightly, letting Tang Jianxi wipe every drop of sweat from her face and neck, while replying, “So I have to tell you a secret now, right?”
Tang Jianxi’s hand paused for a moment, but she quickly resumed wiping the right side of Yun Chuji’s neck. Her tone was quite amicable. “It’s just a secret. You can just say whatever.”
Yun Chuji reached out and grabbed Tang Jianxi’s hand, saying helplessly, “You don’t have to be so smug, do you?”
Miss Tang’s expression instantly shifted, becoming the intimidating CEO Tang persona she used in public. With one hand caught, she switched to the other. But without a handkerchief, “wiping sweat” was really just smearing the sweat evenly across Yun Chuji’s skin. Strangely, though both of them were somewhat particular about cleanliness, they didn’t mind this at all.
While smearing the sweat, Tang Jianxi said with a serious and proper expression, “I don’t force people. You’re my wife. How could I bear to force you?”
Yun Chuji clicked her tongue softly and tapped the corner of Tang Jianxi’s mouth. “That’s because you know I can’t bear to let you force me.”
The corner of her mouth that had just been tapped immediately curved up. Tang Jianxi didn’t reply, instead standing on her tiptoes to give her a firm kiss. Then she freed her captured hand, quickly wiped the sweat from Yun Chuji’s neck, and said admiringly, “Why is my Xiao Ji always so well-behaved?”
Heh. The face of a vested beneficiary. Always so exceptionally… cute.
Yun Chuji leaned down and kissed the tip of Tang Jianxi’s nose. There was a faint salty taste, but it wasn’t unpleasant. It could even make one happy. At least, Yun Chuji was smiling now.
“Let’s go home, then. I found a new recipe in an ancient text. You can see if it tastes good.”
“Okay. But honestly, how did you ancient people come up with so many complicated dishes without AI? That eggplant dish you made last time… if you hadn’t told me, I would have thought it was just ordinary eggplant, but it tasted really good.”
“There weren’t many forms of entertainment back then. For many people, fine food was a fascinating pursuit. Even now, don’t many people enjoy studying gastronomy?”
“But to study it to that extent is just incredible!”
“So, do you want to eat it or not…”
“Yes!” Tang Jianxi didn’t hesitate. It was a joke to even ask. Yun Chuji, this self-proclaimed master chef, had practically ascended to godhood with the help of AI kitchen appliances. Relying on the precise operations of the machinery, she was recreating dishes from ancient texts one by one. Apparently, this was her latest research topic.
This did make Tang Jianxi see some of the merits of ancient times.
The two chatted, just like on any other evening over the past three years. The orange-red light of the setting sun squeezed in through the open car window. S-District was as bustling as ever today. The new virtual idols, after anthropomorphizing all the animals, had now started on all the plants. Perhaps one day, when they ran out of plant material, they would have faces so beautiful they made you sigh, but with the jointed limbs and antennae of insects growing from their bodies.
Tang Jianxi shared this thought with Yun Chuji, and the two launched into a heated discussion about what insect-themed virtual idols would look like. Yun Chuji thought butterflies would be beautiful; Tang Jianxi felt cockroaches would have more impact. They didn’t reach a conclusion by the time they got home.
But it didn’t matter. It was just something they were talking about for fun.
After that came dinner, a walk, and a bath. Yun Chuji would have a glass of warm milk before bed, while Tang Jianxi would have a glass of red wine.
But today, before all that, they needed to settle the score of that carefully rigged bet.
Yun Chuji and Tang Jianxi sat together on the swing on the third-floor balcony. Above them was the same moon Yun Xuan had once invited her to watch.
Yun Chuji considered her words for a moment, then said, “Actually, I don’t know what Elder Brother is planning either. But based on my understanding of him, there’s no way he would just let the Third Princess go. Even if he forgave her, he wouldn’t stay by her side and bear three children for her. That’s not the Elder Brother I know. The only explanation is that he needs to use the Third Princess for something.”
“Are you worried your brother will self-destruct?”
“No, it’s not just that.” Yun Chuji shook her head, looking at the dim moon. “I’m worried he’ll want to drag many people down with him as a funeral sacrifice.”
“We ancient people do indeed have a tradition of burying attendants with the dead,” Yun Chuji said, making a light joke.
Tang Jianxi didn’t smile. She was very confused. “How could he possibly do that? Only the military has truly high-risk weapons, and the military never gets involved in succession struggles. He has no way of doing it.”
“That’s why I said I don’t know what he’s planning. But the longer he endures, the more I feel that Elder Brother’s ambitions are vast. For a man, the torment he has suffered is truly too unbearable.”
Tang Jianxi had no direct sense of how men were treated in ancient times. She only knew that ancient men could legitimately have three wives and four concubines. From that perspective, the idea of an ancient man bearing children for someone like the Third Princess was indeed quite shocking.
“But it’s also possible you’re just overthinking it. Maybe your brother just hasn’t moved on yet. Many people with psychological trauma can’t leave their abusers. Perhaps that’s the case with Yun Xuan.”
“Perhaps,” Yun Chuji said. Then she lowered her head from the moon and looked at Tang Jianxi, asking, “Jianxi, what’s on the moon?”
“Huh?”
“There’s nothing up there.”
No people, no cities, just machines. Utterly desolate.
“No. There’s grain up there. A lot of grain. Enough to feed the people of the Empire for decades, and it’s still being produced continuously.”
That’s right, the moon is one of the Empire’s granaries. But what does that have to do with what they were talking about?
Yun Chuji didn’t beat around the bush any longer. She voiced the greatest fear hidden in her heart, the most insane of all her speculations. “The ancients had a saying: ‘Before the troops and horses move, the provisions and fodder go first.’ Therefore, I suspect Elder Brother is planning a war.”
