Chapter 2140: Sisters of One Heart Pt. 1
Zu An was startled when he heard the music; it was the sound of an ocarina. Only someone like Shang Liuyu could perform with such great technique and emotion.
Sure enough, after he pa.s.sed through a coral forest, everything in front of him suddenly opened up. There, a beautiful woman sat by a windowsill. Her blue dress was woven from Darklight Cyan Beast scales and Rainbow Frost Silkworm silk, which were extremely precious materials used by the Ocean races, and it was decorated with beautiful coral that had sparkling pearls embedded within. Despite that, she looked extremely simple and elegant, as if her very existence was detached from the mortal world.
What drew even more attention were her fair and beautiful feet. She was clearly bare-footed, and yet her soles were completely untainted by any dirt. It was as if the world’s finest essence had gathered to form their perfect curves. Those small and delicate feet were exceptionally elegant.
For some reason, the word ‘frozen treat’ suddenly appeared in Zu An’s mind.
Could this be a talent of the Mermaid race? They clearly weren’t born with feet, but once they turned into human form, their feet were always extremely beautiful. Shang Hongyu"s were no exception; Zu An had already played around with her all night. But Shang Liuyu’s feet were even more beautiful, as if they were the world’s most perfect work of art.
Just then, the music came to an abrupt stop. Shang Liuyu had clearly noticed their arrival. As if sensing Zu An’s gaze, she reflexively bent her knees and pulled her feet into her dress. A hint of disgust also flickered through her beautiful eyes.
“You can give up on your schemes. I won’t tell you where the crown is,” Shang Liuyu said indifferently. Even though she was quite displeased and disgusted, her voice was still graceful and beautiful.
Ka Qier said with a smile, “The third princess is overthinking things. The Dragon King and Mermaid Queen came to pay you a visit.”
When she heard the first half, Shang Liuyu’s expression didn’t change at all, but when she heard about her older sister, she reflexively sat up straighter.
Shang Hongyu stepped out from behind Zu An. The moment she saw her sister, her eyes immediately reddened. She said, “My dear little sis, you’ve really suffered…”
“Big sis!” Shang Liuyu’s calm expression also changed a bit. A layer of watery mist covered her eyes as the two sisters quickly hugged each other.
“Big sis, you were also caught by these guys?” Shang Liuyu asked with concern as she helped her older sister wipe away the tears at the corners of her eyes.
However, there was actually no need to ask this question at all, because the current situation was already clear enough.
Sure enough, Ka Qier said, “The queen has agreed to cooperate with us. The princess should abandon your incorrect ways and change as well.”
“What do you mean, "incorrect ways"?” Shang Liuyu said with a sneer.
Ka Qier’s expression changed. “You"d better wake up to reality! If not out of respect for the Dragon King and Mermaid Queen, do you think you would be allowed to leisurely play your instrument here like this?”
Shang Liuyu completely ignored Zu An and held Shang Hongyu’s hand instead. “Big sister, you’ve really had it hard.”
She figured that all the comfort she"d enjoyed was due to the work of her older sister. She had no idea just how great of a price Shang Hongyu would have had to pay in such a terrible situation.
Shang Hongyu shook her head slightly. “It wasn’t hard, not at all.” In reality, what she was saying was the truth. To be honest, with Zu An here, she really hadn’t suffered at all, and had instead experienced a ton of joy.
But to Shang Liuyu, it only made her think that her big sister had suffered even more, and yet was forcing herself to say otherwise so that she wouldn’t worry. She immediately felt grieved and broken-hearted. Her eyes also brimmed with tears.
Shang Hongyu turned around and said to Zu An and Ka Qier, “I wish to talk to my little sister alone.”
Ka Qier harrumphed. “It’s all the same if you say it right now.” He clearly didn’t agree to the thought of letting the two stay together alone.
Just then, Zu An spoke up and said, “These sisters have finally reunited and must have a lot of private things to say to each other. Let them spend some time talking to each other, and then we can talk about more important matters.
Ka Qier hesitated, but then he reluctantly agreed. “Fine. Since that’s what the Dragon King said, then you two can stay together for a bit.”
Shang Liuyu sneered. She clearly didn’t believe him when he called Zu An the Dragon King.
Ka Qier frowned. He walked outside the courtyard with Zu An and said quietly, “The effects don’t seem to be that great.”
All of this had been a deliberate act between him and Zu An, but Shang Liuyu didn’t seem too convinced.
Zu An smiled. “Don’t panic, all of this is just preparation for Shang Liuyu to later suddenly realize that I"ve actually been secretly helping her.”
Ka Qier nodded. “Right. I guess I was being a bit too impatient. We’ll now have to see if the queen can convince the third princess.”
Then, his divine sense immediately expanded to cover the entire courtyard. Every word and action of the people inside was within his detection. That was part of the reason why he had been willing to exit. The two inside probably had no idea that his real strength was this great, giving him the perfect chance to check if they were still hiding things from him.
Shang Hongyu held her little sister’s hand as they went into the inner room. Shang Liuyu suddenly asked curiously, “Big sister, why is your mouth swollen? Your voice also seems to be a bit rough.”
Outside, Ka Qier couldn"t help but give Zu An a look. His expression was a bit strange as he gave him a thumbs up.
Zu An chuckled as if he was proud of himself, but he was actually extremely embarra.s.sed inside.
The guilty-hearted Shang Hongyu was worried that her little sister would continue to ask about that, so she anxiously helped Shang Liuyu comb her hair while changing the topic. “LIttle sis, you weren’t hurt, were you?”
“I wasn’t. It’s only been a few days since I was captured. At first, that fake Dragon King planned to interrogate me, but then a messenger arrived, and after hearing the message, he left in a hurry; he was most likely held up by something. He hasn’t had the chance to do anything to me yet,” Shang Liuyu said calmly, as if such dangers were completely unrelated to her.
“I think I know the reason why…” Shang Hongyu was about to say something when she stopped and asked, “Right, how were you captured?”
“A few days ago, I was wandering around in search of ancient songs when I suddenly heard about your arrest order,” Shang Liuyu replied. “Even though your relationship with brother-in-law isn’t all that great, you still treated each other with great respect as husband and wife, and yet things actually got so out of control. That had to mean something huge had happened for things to have reached that state.
“The conclusion I came to was that it wasn’t something wrong with you, but rather brother-in-law. The one who was forced to run away as a fugitive was you, which meant something definitely had to be wrong with the Dragon King. That was why I chose not to return to the Dragon Palace.”
When she heard her sister"s calm a.n.a.lysis, Shang Hongyu said with a sigh of admiration, “As expected of you.” Her little sister was, as always, cool-headed and reliable.
Shang Liuyu suddenly said with a chuckle, “Everyone in the Ocean races was wondering what happened to you, and some of those rumors were quite ridiculous. They actually said that brother-in-law walked in on you cheating with Zu An, so that was why he went after the two of you furiously.” That was the only thing she"d heard recently that made her laugh.
“Those people’s imaginations really are wild, but their conclusion really does at least make some sense.” Shang Hongyu chuckled in embarra.s.sment. Perhaps that had really just been a joke before, but after what happened last night, the rumors had become the truth!
Sigh, I don’t even know how to tell little sis about this in the future.
“It"s mainly because Ah Zu’s reputation is really too poor and he really would do something like that. But I know big sis is definitely not someone who would do something like that, let alone the fact that you’ve never even met each other.” Shang Liuyu’s expression became much more lively when she mentioned Zu An.
Shang Hongyu was speechless. She was now even more embarra.s.sed. If everything was exposed in the future, wouldn’t she end up experiencing complete social suicide?