Chapter 871: Rumors

Chapter 871: Rumors

“You really did a wonderful thing for Yin’er. It meant a lot to her, and I really appreciate it Min’er”, Wu Long smiled as he held Shen Min in his arms who was sitting on his lap.

They were sitting on a balcony which looked to the side of the waterfall, at the city.

She avoided to sit on his lap when others were around, but was all for it when they were alone, leaning onto him with both arms around his neck.

“Again? You said that several times already, not to mention, Sister Yin doesn’t let me forget about it now either”, Shen Min chuckled with a wry smile, “I just wanted her to be proud of who she was before so she could be proud of who she is now, that’s all”

“It might be simple to you, that doesn’t make it any less significant”, he replied, looking into her eyes.

“You look like you’re about to devour me”, she chuckled, seeing the look in his eyes.

“It’s been quite a while. You three are not the only ones who have to hold back you know?”, he made a wry smile.

“Hmm, that still has to wait a bit… we’re all getting closer to understanding our physiques, but when Sister Mingyu makes a breakthrough, she will be able to help me and Sister Bing”

“This sounds like I won’t be able to enjoy the company of any of you three until you’re all ready at the same time…”

“That’s exactly how it is, we made a promise”, she chuckled, seeing his expression turn to a pitiful one, adding “But on the bright side, we will spoil you plenty when we’re all done”

He shifted their poses a bit, bending forward, to be able to lean in and put his face into her chest, speaking with a muffled, slightly sulking voice from there, “I won’t be able to enjoy that until then though”

She smiled, seeing him act so unusually like this, and patting the back of his head. She knew he was just showing that it wasn’t just her, Luo Mingyu and Xue Bing who missed the warmth of his embrace, he missed making love to them as much as they did.

And even though she knew that already, seeing it expressed so clearly like this still filled her with a happy, warm and fuzzy feeling as she patted the back of his head, leaning her cheek on top of it.

—

While Wu Long was in the city there was no risk of receiving a retaliation from any of the Dual Cultivation Sects, since he was right under the nose of the Martial Alliance. Of course, it didn’t mean that Wu Long wasn’t vigilant, but even as he was, there were no signs of anything coming his way.

Thus, the days quietly went by until finally, it was time for the Annual Report to the Emperor.

As the mostly mundane and ceremonial event was going on, the City was for the most part living the same life as any other day, but there was still anticipation of the results.

After all, some princes would receive better evaluations than others, and some duties would be redistributed between them.

However, after the event, an uproar went through the entire city, and one didn’t even need to pay an information broker to know what happened as the rumors and talks spread like a shockwave through the streets, squares, gardens, markets and docks.

Everyone was buzzing with the news.

Wu Long sat with his beauties on the second floor of a tiny restaurant, occupying the entire second floor, in the busiest market district.

From there they could clearly see and hear the buzzing and gossiping crowd below.

“Our beloved Princess Wei Zhenhui had received commendation from His Majesty the great Emperor!”

“Of course! She has done so much for us! It is only right!”

“Yes, she is honestly the only one among the Imperial Family’s young generations who cares about us, simple folk!”

“Just remember how she saved all those people and their entire families when those evil bastards of the Kai Family were going to massacre them!”

“Don’t forget about the gangs in the North-Western docks! People have been complaining about that area for centuries! No one has done anything! But as soon as someone made an anonymous tip to the Princess… it worked like a charm!”

“Tsk, listen further! I know all that no less than you do!”, the first older woman who spoke, and who was breaking the news spoke up in annoyance at her story being overtaken by all the comments. There was, of course a minor grumbling of those around but they still settled down to listen the continuation.

“During that commendation, she was allowed to give a report of her own, of course, it was mostly ceremonial, she just formally informed His Majesty of both deeds”, the woman spoke, and quieting any attempts at inserting comments by waving her hand at them, added, “And she used this opportunity to gift His Majesty an exquisite luxury sword, with three small, thumb nail-sized pieces of carved Mind-Calming White Jade in the sheathe, to decorate the Emperor’s Private Cultivation Room!”

A loud squalor of reactions followed at the unprecedented luxury. Even those small pieces were of tremendous value.

Not to mention people recognized that it was the new luxury good produced by the Shan and Rou Families, that was recently making news because the Princess was rumored to have been the first to purchase the very first item.

All the princes starting with the 9th Prince, Wei Yuanjie followed up with purchases of their own, but were only secondary to the Princess, as the nobles who followed the trend were all citing her as the flashpoint of popularity for those goods.

It wasn’t announced what piece the Princess purchased, but now everyone could tell, it was the gift for the Emperor.

Wu Long’s beauties turned to him, as he shrugged his shoulders, “There were three small pieces of slightly worse quality that fell off. So I used that opportunity”

“You don’t trust the Jade Carvers of the Rou Family with carving the jade for us though, it seems”, Sui Luxiao noted.

“Mm, even those pieces they carved could have turned out better. I did get to ask about famous Jade Carvers, and was directed toward the Great Fang Dynasty, where someone who they call the Jade Empress is”

Some of the beauties smiled, exchanging glances at hearing that answer.

Meanwhile, in the market below,

“Liste-… listen to me!… Lis- Li-… LISTEN TO ME THERE’S MORE!!!”, the woman eventually roared trying to shout over the entire crowd’s excited exclamations.

And after the crowd finally settled down after a bit more murmurs, she continued, “In return, she received the right of marriage, and in the same breath, introduced a suitor, from the Imperial Guards”

As some vendor tried to sneak in an excited comment there, she slapped the back of his head, shouting that she wasn’t done, and then continued with a grin, “Haha, rumor has it at that point, the 5th prince tried to intervene and spoke out of term, receiving a reprimand from his Majesty!”

The crowd around began snickering, trying to imagine in vivid details the scene

“It was actually the Imperial Guard who led the charge against the gangs in the docks, working with the princess!”, another person who seemingly already heard the news from somewhere else shouted, causing the older woman to start shouting at him, but no one really cared as they began discussing this new revelation.

“So this is how they met! How romantic!”

“I guess only an honorable man who does his duties was able to catch the attention of our Princess Zhenhui”

“…”

“H-he was also the one who defeated the pirates who were plaguing the Ancient Ruins trade routes! So recognizing both achievements, he was approved to be a suitor to the Princess by His Majesty!!!”, the woman tried to return the attention of the crowd by details, but it was lost in the crowd’s reaction to the whole marriage situation, as this meant that the Princess now had a real chance at aiming for the throne.

Of course, it was just a step, and nothing was guaranteed, not to mention the marriage did not happen at this point, and no date was set.

They were only given permission, so it still was all suspended in the air.

But something that was completely impossible before, now suddenly gained a real chance. This alone, was a tremendous development that would keep the City busy with gossiping, talks and speculations, and the Imperial Palace busy for the coming year.

Wu Long smiled, noting “With this, we can leave the city in a few days”

His beauties nodded to him, as they heard about more and more smoke rising on the horizon in the direction of the Soft Meadow Continent, which meant they had to return.

Hehe ^^

Thank you so so much for reading and your incredible support everyone!!! ^^