This time, Chen Mo didn’t even see her.
Chen Mo touched his chin. Although he knew that with time, he would eventually win over Nalan Yiren.
But he couldn’t stop cultivating.
He knew it was time to use tactics.
...
In the blink of an eye, time flew into April.
Everything revived, spring was in full bloom, and it was a perfect time for an outing.
The third floor of the Observatory.
Nalan Yiren was lying on the rocking chair on the balcony, basking in the sun, lost in thought, not looking very happy.
Chen Mo hadn’t come to the Observatory to see her for over a month.
Before, Chen Mo would send her gifts every now and then, creating little surprises.
But now, the gifts and surprises were gone.
During morning court sessions, his gaze was as calm as water when he looked at her.
Unfortunately, when it came to matters of the heart, Nalan Yiren was utterly clueless.
She didn’t understand a man’s games of wanting and letting go, all sorts of tactics.
Instead, she thought her own behavior had angered Chen Mo, causing him not to want to bother with her.
Thinking of this, a hint of grievance rose in Nalan Yiren’s heart.
What kind of person is this?
Letting you kiss and touch, yet you’re not satisfied?
You clearly said just to touch, but you deceived me; was it just a touch? It was like kneading dough, not to mention that you pulled my clothes down to my shoulders and even took away my dudou.
Isn’t it normal for me to be angry and ignore you?
If I weren’t angry, wouldn’t that make me seem particularly cheap?
But now you’re the one who’s angry.
Though Nalan Yiren had a strong personality, at the end of the day, she was still a woman.
The small whims, the pride, the desire for romance, the longing for a partner’s indulgence and protection, she had them all too.
She just wasn’t obvious about it, she hid it.
"Your Majesty, the sun is so warm and comfortable."
"Your Majesty, does this new dress of mine look good?"
"Husband, come and hold our daughter."
"..."
At this moment, a burst of laughter came to Nalan Yiren’s ears.
The Observatory is close to the back garden, and the laughter was coming from there.
Nalan Yiren’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, she gently raised her hand, and a Poisonous Bee landed on her body, buzzing softly.
"Go."
Nalan Yiren issued a command to the Poisonous Bee, sending it to check out the back garden.
Soon, the Poisonous Bee returned and conveyed the situation in the back garden to her.
It turns out, Chen Mo was playing in the back garden with the harem’s concubines.
It was quite lively.
At this moment, another voice reached Nalan Yiren’s ears.
She recognized it as Wu Mi’s voice.
"Your Majesty, doesn’t the State Preceptor live at the Observatory? Call her over to play together."
"No need, the State Preceptor is busy. I invited her several times before."
"Oh, I see."
"What’s the State Preceptor busy with?" someone asked.
"I’m not sure either."
...
On the third floor of the Observatory.
"He said I’m busy?" Nalan Yiren snorted inwardly and then rose from the rocking chair, adjusted her appearance in front of the copper mirror, and then went downstairs toward the back garden.
The back garden is big, like a small forest but more elegant than a woodland.
The flowers, grass, and trees in the back garden are all artificially trimmed, even the stones are arranged artistically, not scattered randomly.
Chen Mo was teasing Little Nian Mo. Of course, he sensed that Nalan Yiren had arrived, but he acted as if he hadn’t noticed, his back to where Nalan Yiren approached, saying "ga ga ga" as he amused Little Nian Mo.
"Your Majesty, look, Nian Mo is laughing so happily." Xiaolu was beside him, using a handkerchief to wipe Little Nian Mo’s mouth.
Little Nian Mo was less than a month old, and whether crying or laughing, drool always flowed.
"So cute, just like you, Xiaolu." Chen Mo laughed.
"Come on, I’m already an adult." Xiaolu, who already had a child, didn’t want to be associated with the word "cute."
This made Xiaolu feel she was still young, like she hadn’t grown up.
Chen Mo held the swaddled child in one arm, while he raised his other hand to touch the tuft of hair on Xiaolu’s head, chuckling.
"State Preceptor?" Yue Ruyan was the "first" to notice Nalan Yiren coming over and greeted her from afar.
All the concubines turned their gaze towards her.
"State Preceptor, you’re here; I was just planning to call you over to play, but Your Majesty said you’re busy, so I didn’t." Wu Mi, squatting to play with Chen Jia, saw Nalan Yiren arrive and had Chen Jia join his siblings, then rose to address Nalan Yiren with a smile.
"State Preceptor, what are you busy with? We’ve hardly seen you in the harem." Xu Ying said.
It was Xu Ying who had asked Chen Mo earlier.
"Just busy with nonsense."
Nalan Yiren replied, glancing at Chen Mo from a distance, her expression complicated.
"Your Majesty, the State Preceptor is here." Wu Mi said.
"Yiren, you’re here."
Chen Mo seemed to finally realize as such, handing Little Nian Mo to Xiaolu, then looked at Nalan Yiren with a smile and said, "I thought you were in the tower refining Spiritual Water, so I didn’t dare disturb you."
"Jia’Er, quickly greet the State Preceptor." Wu Mi laughed.
"State Preceptor." Chen Jia said.
Nalan Yiren didn’t respond to Chen Jia immediately, because upon hearing Chen Mo’s words, she started thinking.
So he wasn’t angry, ignoring her, but thought she was refining Spiritual Water; that’s why he hadn’t come to see her for a month?
Though this explanation wasn’t entirely convincing.
But it made Nalan Yiren secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
Only then did she notice several strange gazes directed at her.
She smiled awkwardly: "This should be the Crown Prince, I presume. I have met the Crown Prince."
"State Preceptor, you are excused." Chen Jia lifted his hand slightly, then curiously asked, "State Preceptor, I’ve always wondered why your voice sounds so strange."
"Jia’Er." Wu Mi admonished softly, "Mind your manners."
Nalan Yiren smiled at Chen Jia and said, "My voice is due to my cultivation."
"Oh."
Although Chen Jia wanted to ask more details about how cultivating could affect one’s voice so, he feared Wu Mi’s reprimand and swallowed his curiosity, joining Chen Nuo and the others.
"State Preceptor, children lack manners; please don’t mind." Wu Mi said.
"It’s nothing, Empress." Although Nalan Yiren did not take the child’s words to heart, she responded to Chen Mo’s previous remark: "I was indeed refining Spiritual Water."
Wu Mi was briefly stunned, secretly thinking of the lengthy delay in the State Preceptor’s reaction.
"Yiren, thank you for your hard work." Chen Mo smiled and then said, "I was just thinking—now that the weather is warming up, I’d like to go hunting at the Royal Hunting Ground. State Preceptor, would you like to join?"
Though Chen Mo was using tactics with Nalan Yiren.
But alternating between releasing and reeling in.
This month-long disregard couldn’t continue forever.
He needed to reel her back in; otherwise, it would have the opposite effect.
"...Sure, the Spiritual Water is just finished refining." Nalan Yiren immediately agreed.
Upon hearing this, a barely noticeable corner of Chen Mo’s mouth lifted, "Then why not go today, this afternoon? The weather is fine today."
Nalan Yiren nodded.
...
Afternoon, the Royal Hunting Ground.
In addition to Chen Mo and Nalan Yiren, Xiaolu, Xiao Yunxi, Xiao Ya, Chu Juan, Yang Qingqing, Lin Xuelan, Yu Zhu, and Xingyao also participated.
Chen Mo’s purpose in hunting wasn’t really to hunt; his aim was Nalan Yiren.
So when deciding who could capture more prey, in group formation, Chen Mo specifically paired with Nalan Yiren.
It did cause significant dissatisfaction among the ladies.
They claimed that two Upper Third-Grade Martial Artists forming a team was no match for them.
Chen Mo said that he and Nalan Yiren would suppress their cultivation to the Lower Three Grades. Moreover, they used Broken Arrows without arrowheads, and while it’s him and Nalan Yiren in one group, the ladies formed a group of eight.
Upon hearing this, Xiaolu was finally content, nodding.
In truth, neither side cared about the result.
It was the process of hunting that mattered.
The hunt began.
Under Chen Mo’s deliberate guidance, he and Nalan Yiren arrived at the depths of the hunting ground.