Looking at the entourage that greeted her, Gu Lingzhi smiled at Gu Rong who was leading the group. She then turned around and got onto the horse carriage that the Third Prince had prepared for her.
"Father, sorry to trouble you into making this long journey to pick me. Unfortunately, His Highness has been extremely hospitable to me, resulting in you having made a wasted trip."
Rong Yuan, who was standing beside the carriage, gave her a loving gaze as he chuckled, "Why are you still addressing me so formally? Isn"t it strange given our relations.h.i.+p?"
Gu Lingzhi pretended to hide her face in embarra.s.sment. Her eyes however, did not reflect any shyness at all.
Previously, Gu Rong had neglected her and only wanted to make use of her. Now that Gu Linglong disappeared and he was losing power, he was trying to make use of her as his last resort.
Seeing the look of benevolence on Gu Rong, she really wanted to ask him: If she did not possess the talent that she had and was not the Third Prince"s fiancée, would he even care about her?
The answer was obvious. In her past life, Gu Rong had pretended not to see and allowed Lin Yue-er to do whatever she wanted with her.
Closing her eyes, Gu Lingzhi pretended to look exhausted to prevent Gu Rong from fussing and asking over her. The Third Prince raised his eyebrows slightly as he intuitively knew to instruct the carriage to start moving. He smiled and signalled for Gu Rong to rest in his own carriage. It was as if to save him the trouble, when in actual fact it was to prevent him from getting closer.
Left with no choice, Gu Rong could only return to his carriage. Looking at the Third Prince"s carriage slowly moving, his face was gloomy as he instructed his driver to follow behind the Third Prince"s carriage.
"Leader, for all you know, the First Mistress might be missing you. It may be because of the Third Prince that is preventing her from coming and reminiscing with you." Sensing Gu Rong"s bad mood, Gu Yuan attempted to comfort him. His impression of Gu Lingzhi was stuck in the times when she was a shy and kind lady.
"Hmph, she thinks she has gotten wings and is ready to fly! Does she really think that I need to rely on her?" Gu Rong fumed as he glared ahead.
About a month after Gu Linglong had gone missing, Lin Yue-er who had lost contact with her, had gone personally to the Royal School. It was then that she realised something was wrong when she heard that Gu Linglong had neither been attending cla.s.ses nor returning to her dorm. After searching tirelessly to no avail, Gu Rong had also rushed over.
Lin Yue-er had then targeted Gu Lingzhi and blamed her for harming Gu Linglong. She wanted Gu Lingzhi to pay for Gu Linglong"s life as she heard that there were people that saw them eating together the day Gu Linglong went missing.
Gu Lingzhi had fervently denied all accusations claiming that after their meal, Gu Lingzhi had split up with Gu Linglong. She persisted that she had absolutely nothing to do with Gu Linglong"s disappearance.
In order to prove her innocence, Gu Lingzhi even swore on the heavens that if Gu Linglong"s disappearance had something to do with her, she would not be able to improve her cultivation any more.
To a Martial Artist, swearing upon the heavens was sacred. Once an oath was taken, there was no turning back. If not, they would suffer the consequences of breaking their oath. Gu Lingzhi was confident in making an oath like that. Alas, in less than a month, she was able to increase her cultivation and became a Level Nine Martial Student. This had caused another uproar in the Royal School.
At this point, he knew that Gu Linglong had probably met with a mishap. On the other hand, his only daughter left resented him, making him feel like it was going to be hard to mend their relations.h.i.+p. Could it be that Gu Lingzhi wanted him to beg for forgiveness before she was willing to accept him?
No way! After so many years of being a leader, he could not bear to lower himself to apologise to his daughter. All he could do now was to perform indirect acts of service, such as personally coming to pick her from the Royal School and hope that she got his subtle hints of apology. However, it was like Gu Lingzhi gave him a tight slap with her response to him. She did not need these kinds of goodwill.
"Leader, how can a father and daughter hate each other forever? Blood is thicker than water. The First Mistress is also very filial. I am guessing that she is behaving this way also because of the situation with the Second Mistress," Gu Yuan could not help but say a few good words for Gu Lingzhi as he knew how she was accused and questioned harshly by both Gu Rong and Lin Yue-er when Gu Linglong had gone missing.
On this point, Gu Rong became even more furious, "As an older sister, how could she not know that her younger sister went missing? What is wrong with me questioning her? Even if she had nothing to do with Linglong going missing, she is also to blame for being oblivious!"
In the other carriage, the mood was completely different. Since they stepped into the carriage, Rong Yuan ordered his servants to bring up fruits for them. A giant fruit, the size of a head, was then cut into small bite-size pieces for them. At this moment, Rong Yuan had taken up a piece of honeydew with a fork and placed it near Gu Lingzhi"s mouth, indicating for her to eat it.
"Your Highness, I…" Know how to eat it myself.
Her words were cut off as Rong Yuan pushed the honeydew into her mouth. Ignoring Qin Xinran, who felt like an utter lightbulb, Rong Yuan smiled gleefully, "Is it sweet?"
Of course it was sweet! Every fruit on this carriage was personally inspected and selected by Rong Yuan before being sent in - all to prevent Gu Lingzhi from being bored on the journey back home. As she bit into the fruit, her mouth burst with flavour as the juice seeped out from the honeydew coating her entire mouth, rendering her unable to say anything. Taking this opportunity, Rong Yuan held up a grape, that had been skinned before, and pushed it towards Gu Lingzhi.
The Third Prince must not be used to serving people! Gu Lingzhi looked to decline him as she swallowed the honeydew that was in her mouth. She had yet to finish the fruit in her mouth and was already presented with a new fruit. Did he want her to choke?
Sensing that Gu Lingzhi did not want it, Rong Yuan realised something was wrong and brought his hand back to his mouth, eating the grape. Just as Gu Lingzhi breathed a sigh of relief, a shadow covered her eyes as she felt something warm touch her lips. This shameless prince actually dared to do something so intimate in front of Qin Xinran!
Soon enough, Gu Lingzhi realised her mistake. She had wrongly guessed how thick-skinned the Third Prince could be. This guy had actually stuck out his tongue, requesting for entry between her teeth.
b.a.s.t.a.r.d, had he no shame?
Her eyes were filled with fury as they clearly showed what she meant.
Rong Yuan did not care as he raised his brows. At the corner of his eyes, he caught the side of Qin Xinran who was staring dumbfounded. Lifting his arm, he threw a blanket over her head.
"Now, n.o.body is looking at us."
"…" That wasn"t the point!
In actual fact, Gu Lingzhi rejecting him just made it more exciting in Rong Yuan"s eyes. His eyes were filled with l.u.s.t as he grabbed the back of Gu Lingzhi"s slender neck with one hand. His fingers started to stroke her neck.
With her most vulnerable spot in someone else"s hands, Gu Lingzhi was shocked to realise that it was not a life-threatening feeling that she felt, but an indescribable thirst. Rong Yuan was experienced and was able to find her sensitive spot and stroke it, causing Gu Lingzhi to suddenly feel impatient. With their two lips still together, this action and thirst involuntarily caused her lips to open, allowing Rong Yuan to feel her mouth with the sweet grape flavour.
As the sound of them kissing floated into Qin Xinran"s ears, the dazed expression faded as her eyes was filled with subtle agony.
After the sound stopped, Gu Lingzhi"s angered voice could be heard and Qin Xinran then pulled the blanket off her head. In front of her, the Third Prince was s.h.i.+elding Gu Lingzhi, whose face had turned red either from embarra.s.sment or shame.
"Your Highness, please mind yourself! You"re only engaged and should not be so intimate."
Rong Yuan did not even blink. With regards to "minding himself", ever since he had met Gu Lingzhi, he had heard it so many times it did not have an impact on him anymore. As for the back part of her sentence, he had something to dispute, "If Lingzhi is willing, I am very willing to move on from being engaged."
Shocked once again by how thick-skinned Rong Yuan could be, Gu Lingzhi had to remind him, "I have yet to be of age."
There was a law in the Xia Kingdom preventing anyone under the age of 18 to get married. In her previous life, when Gu Lingzhi was set up, she was only given to Bi Lingcan as a concubine in name only, without any formal procedures. In other words, she was just given to Bi Lingcan to play with and did not even have a formal t.i.tle.
"Don"t worry, if you are willing, I will send someone to the Royal palace now and ask them to change that rule. How about we change the legal age to 16?"
"…" She wondered what the King of the Xia Kingdom, who was currently still in seclusion, would think when he realised that the marriage laws of his kingdom were changed so easily. Would he become so enraged that he might go crazy?
Gu Lingzhi felt compelled to say, "No, thank you. 18 is a rather suitable age. If it"s possible, changing it to 30 would be even better."
"We can"t do that." Rong Yuan shook his head as he looked slightly serious, "The higher the cultivation, the harder it will be to have children. With your talent and mine, if we wait until you are 30, we might both be Martial Sages and won"t be able to have children."
When faced with the Third Prince who was not afraid to take liberties, what more could Gu Lingzhi say? She could do nothing but turn her head and pretend not to know him.
The Gu Clan was not far from the capital city and within three days, they had reached Tai-an City. As the Third Prince was sending Gu Lingzhi back to the Gu Family, under the expectant gaze of the clan members, he stayed behind. Not sure if it was a coincidence or on purpose, but the residence of the Third Prince was just beside where Gu Lingzhi stayed.
At this moment, Gu Lingzhi was extremely grateful that Qin Xinran had followed her back. If she was alone and had to face the shameless Third Prince, she was afraid that she would slowly succ.u.mb to his continuous attempts at seducing her.
In a flash, ten days had gone by in the Gu Family. In that 10 days, other than on the first day where they met, Lin Yue-er had been avoiding her. When she thought about it, she guessed that Lin Yue-er already knew what happened on the day that Gu Linglong took the entrance examinations for the Royal school. Now, she was just avoiding her to delay whatever was going to happen.
Although Gu Linglong had already been dealt with by the Third Prince and was already gone. Gu Lingzhi was not about to let Lin Yue-er the main culprit off easily.
At this time, the opening of the Cangwu Realm was imminent. Every Martial Student and Martial Pract.i.tioner in the clan was waiting expectantly to enter the Cangwu Realm and Gu Lingzhi was no exception.