Chapter 1: Chapter 189: I Miss You

Returning to the 'King's Altar,' Long Zhantian glanced at Yan Zijiao, then turned his gaze toward Long Zijie, which brought Long Zijie a surge of joy. Then, his eyes remained fixed on Feng Jiuge, refusing to leave her for a long time.

Feng Jiuge also knew who was watching her, so she met Long Zhantian's eyes. Long Zhantian knew that although they had only been apart for three days, and he could still use his mental power to observe Feng Jiuge's situation during these three days, to lovers, these three days felt as long as a century.

Feng Jiuge could see the words in his eyes.

They clearly said: "Jiuge, thank goodness you're back, otherwise I would have gone mad."

He was only a single, blunt sentence away from saying, "Jiuge, I missed you."

Feng Jiuge also missed Long Zhantian very much, and she told him silently through lip-reading

"Zhantian, I missed you!"

Standing on the stage in a fiery red robe, Long Zhantian faced the three of them—Long Zijie, Yan Zijiao, Feng Jiuge—as well as all the members of the Fengmo Academy. He flicked the sleeve of his red robe and announced with grand passion

"The winners of this semi-annual ceremony are Long Zijie, Yan Zijiao, and Feng Jiuge. As promised, the three of them will graduate simultaneously. As a reward, they are permitted to leave the Fengmo Academy."

Below, the crowd expressed their admiration and envy for the three graduates through cheers and overwhelming applause. However, there were always some agitators who grew red-eyed at others' success, suspecting that their victories were due to inside connections.

It was a classic case of judging a gentleman with the heart of a petty man.

"This Feng Jiuge has only been here for how many days? How could she graduate so quickly?"

"I heard that Dean Long Zhantian likes Feng Jiuge. Perhaps there is some improper business between the two of them."

"Exactly, maybe Feng Jiuge seduced the Dean just to ensure her victory and graduation!"

"But, I heard this Feng Jiuge came from the Canglan Academy, and the Dean of Canglan Academy, Qian Cang, values her greatly. Perhaps she really does have genuine talent, right?"

The discussions below were noisy; though the voices were low, almost everyone present could hear them.

Long Zhantian could naturally hear them as well, but he had no intention of getting involved. He wanted to see how Feng Jiuge would handle it.

Feng Jiuge looked at Long Zhantian and found that he had no intention of clarifying things for her. Feng Jiuge felt a bit dissatisfied. Why did she have to endure the finger-pointing of others despite relying on her own strength, while Long Zhantian, the one who caused the misunderstanding, remained aloof?

Guli, standing to the side, naturally knew that Feng Jiuge kept looking toward the stage, and clearly, she was staring at Long Zhantian. Guli endured it, but eventually couldn't help himself; he laughed so hard his whole body seemed to convulse, unable to stop until his face turned blue from holding it in.

However, seeing Long Zhantian's expressionless face, Guli felt great "admiration" for him.

Standing to the side, Yan Zijiao understood clearly that Long Zhantian was doing this specifically because he didn't want to deepen the misunderstanding. If he stepped in, Jiuge would fall into the "fraud trap"; if Long Zhantian acted, it would only confirm their suspicions.

Seeing the displeasure on Feng Jiuge's face, Long Zijie also knew that his Imperial Brother had not stepped forward to resolve this misunderstanding.

"As for Feng Jiuge's opponent in this graduation test, do I, Long Zijie, not have the most say? As is well known, Long Zijie and Feng Jiuge fought on the very first day we met. Furthermore, Feng Jiuge and I are the most incompatible. Would I really go easy on her just to let her win the chance to graduate and leave the Fengmo Academy?"

"Besides, I believe that since you all were able to enter the Fengmo Academy to study, you must be smarter than the average person. You shouldn't be unable to grasp even this simple logic, should you?"

Clearly, Long Zijie's words won many people over. After all, even between opponents, it was difficult to let the other person win, especially since Feng Jiuge and Long Zijie had a history of grievances. Consequently, many people stopped targeting Feng Jiuge and, at the same time, changed their perception of her.

"It seems this slender woman's strength cannot be underestimated. To stand out like this and even catch Long Zhantian's eye, she must be quite extraordinary!"

"Look, the person who came with her is also quite strong. What was his name?"

"Yan Zijiao."

"Right, Yan Zijiao. To be able to outsmart our Princess Yuehua through wisdom shows he is exceptionally intelligent!"

"I heard that even now, Princess Yuehua's body is still very weak. It seems the Medicine Immortal Guli had to exert a great deal of effort to stabilize her condition."

"It seems this Yan Zijiao is different from his appearance; he looks quite refined and scholarly, yet he doesn't seem to know how to cherish a delicate lady at all."

"You wouldn't know about that! The truth isn't what you think it is!"

In truth, although they could see what happened on the small island in the West Lake through the mirror, because Long Yuehua was Long Zhantian's sister and a princess of the 'King's Altar,' Long Zhantian had used his spiritual power to shield the scene where he had poisoned Long Yuehua for Yan Zijiao, only for Yan Zijiao to poison him back.

Thus, what the onlookers saw was Long Yuehua trying every possible way to please Yan Zijiao, only for Yan Zijiao to treat her with indifference, even going so far as to be excessive—such as spilling the water she handed him or insulting her.

But to everyone's surprise, when Long Yuehua lost her footing by the lake and fell into the water, Yan Zijiao jumped in despite the numerous and dangerous magical beasts in the water, risking his life to save her and performing breathing techniques to stabilize her, which was how she was initially saved.

At that moment, seeing Yan Zijiao risk himself to save her, Long Yuehua was deeply moved. She grabbed Yan Zijiao's clothes and said shyly and coquettishly,

"Zijiao, I... I love you. I knew you loved me too, otherwise you wouldn't have risked your life to save me."

Falling into the water was actually not a threat to people like them, but because the magical beasts known as Black Mu Lice were startled by the splash from Long Yuehua's fall, they sprayed their venom into the water.

This venom could concentrate in one place and was not easily dispersed; usually, the Black Mu Lice did this intentionally around those affecting their sleep.

Naturally, Long Yuehua was caught in the crossfire.

Regarding this venom, it enters the human bloodstream through the skin of the person immersed in it. If the immersion time is within ten minutes, it is not a major problem, only causing mild unconsciousness.

However, if it exceeds fifteen minutes, the contaminated blood flows through the entire body and enters the heart. At that point, a full blood transfusion is required to wash the blood in the body before re-injecting it.

Just as people were finding it difficult to accept the possibility of such a situation, Xiao Feng pointed out the underlying mystery.

It turned out this was Stockholm Syndrome. The Stockholm effect, also known as Stockholm syndrome, occurs when someone who has been ignored by Yan Zijiao suddenly experiences a change in his attitude, showing even a tiny bit of care, and Long Yuehua easily falls for him.

Therefore, Long Yuehua saying "I love you" to Yan Zijiao was an unsurprising display of both normalcy and abnormality.

Of course, in reality, Long Yuehua had succumbed to her own "Three-Day Joy" drug; her body was filled with an unbearable heat, and she needed to find a man immediately to release herself.

As a princess, Long Yuehua could not simply find any man. Moreover, even if the potency of "Three-Day Joy" was strong, Guli was there to handle it.

After Guli brought Long Yuehua to his residence, he ordered the servants to prepare a large tub of cold water, and female servants immersed Long Yuehua in it. After the cold water initially suppressed the heat in her body, they changed to another tub of water—which was not ordinary water, but one brewed from precious medicinal herbs.

This medicine was a highly Yin-natured remedy called Cold Night Flower, specifically designed for women who had been drugged with aphrodisiacs. Its pharmacology worked by slowly neutralizing the discomfort brought by the aphrodisiac. This treatment required five days, and during this time, the patient could not come into contact with sunlight.

This was because sunlight would greatly diminish the medicinal properties of the Cold Night Flower, rendering the previous treatment futile. Not only that, but it could cause a backlash where the patient's body would be affected, turning them into a person of extreme Yin, with coldness invading their marrow and collapsing their body.

This was the reason for the rumors that Long Yuehua had been severely injured. Although Long Yuehua was conscious, her freedom was restricted; during the five-day treatment period, she could not step a single foot out of her room.

When Yan Zijiao and Feng Jiuge returned to their own villa, Cuiye expressed that she was a bit reluctant to finally leave this place. Cuiye did not state the reason explicitly, but as a woman, Feng Jiuge could understand her inner thoughts.

At the Fengmo Academy, Cuiye had given her first time to Yan Zijiao, though Yan Zijiao was unaware. But for a woman, her first man is something she will always remember, especially if he is a man she deeply admires. Thus, Cuiye's reluctance to leave represented her feelings for Yan Zijiao.

In truth, it was the same principle: a man would never forget his first woman, especially the one who gave him her first time.

Feng Jiuge did not know exactly what had happened between Long Yuehua and Yan Zijiao, but seeing Yan Zijiao's hesitant expression—wanting to say something but holding back—she knew that Yan Zijiao was definitely hiding something from her.

"Our Young Master Jiao is being quite coy, not like you! Tell me, what is it that you haven't told me?" Feng Jiuge smiled somewhat mischievously.

"Jiuge, regarding Long Yuehua, I do bear some responsibility. Long Yuehua was affected by the 'Three-Day Joy' I developed... that is how it happened."

Feng Jiuge understood Yan Zijiao's character and his thoughts, so she did not press further, saying, "Mm, I understand. Just tell me when you feel it is okay to leave."

After all, it was because of her that Long Yuehua had to suffer such pain. Even if there had been grievances between the two before, the elegant Yan Zijiao did not leave immediately, choosing to stay and wait for Long Yuehua's condition to improve.

After a good rest, Feng Jiuge felt refreshed and was chatting leisurely with Cuiye in the courtyard.