A faint touch of lip gloss

  Gradually, the intense heartbeat on his chest was transmitted to her heart through her palm, and the fiery touch brought a very special rhythm, which was so full of vitality. The thumping heartbeat seemed to infect her heart, and it also started beating violently.

  "If you don't know whether what I'm saying is true or false, just put your hand on my heart and you'll know if I'm telling the truth. I'll tell you everything you want to know."

  Zhang looked into his eyes, her face getting redder and redder.

  His gaze was scorching, without the usual ambiguous smile, and he didn't seem to care about anything. She finally couldn't bear to look at him anymore, lowered her head, and whispered: "How do I know if what you're saying is true?"

  Although she said she didn't believe it, her facial expression didn't show any distrust at all. She was lovely and moving to the extreme, her lips were a tempting strawberry color, and a unique lip bead was like a small water droplet, curled up and showing red tenderness.

  Zhen Ming couldn't bear it anymore, his head moved closer to hers, and he kissed her lips. This was already the third time he had kissed her, but the results of the previous two times were not very optimistic.

  Zhang's body trembled slightly as she tried to push him away, but her hand was still pressed against his chest. She gradually resigned herself and closed her eyes.

  After a long time, Zhen Ming's bitter lips finally moved away from hers, and his eyes shone brightly as he stared at her and asked: "Now do you know what it's like when I'm telling the truth?"

  Zhang said in a mosquito-like voice: "I don't know."

  After finishing speaking, she pushed him away with force, lay down and turned her body sideways, with her back to him, saying in a frightened tone: "Zhen Gongzi, I'm so sleepy, I want to sleep."

  "Alright, I'm off. Don't forget to lock the door when you come back. This place has a lot of shady characters with triangular eyes that dart around when they look at people. Especially someone as delicate and beautiful as you, Madam Zhang - you'd definitely fetch a good price. You should keep your doors and windows locked tight. If anything happens, I live far away and won't be able to rush back in time. Be careful yourself."

  After finishing speaking, he stood up and walked to the door. He waited for a while, but Zhang didn't say anything to stop him. He left with a huff, and just before leaving, he reminded her: "Remember to lock the doors and windows tightly. If someone catches you, shout 'Ming Ku Ge Ge' three times loudly, no matter what time it is, Ming Ku Ge Ge will descend from heaven and appear in front of you."

  It wasn't until he had been gone for a while that Zhang finally turned around, looked at the covered door, felt her way to get up, supported herself on the table and chairs to walk to the door, quickly bolted it shut, and carefully checked all the windows in the room to make sure they were all closed before lying back down on the bed, staring blankly with wide eyes.

  After a while, still unable to fall asleep, he covered his head with the quilt and muttered to himself in a low voice: "Scoundrel!"

  ……

  At this time, Zhenming leaned heavily against the door of Zhang's room, panting loudly, his heart beating violently, as if it was about to jump out of his chest.

  All the depression brought by Li Jing disappeared instantly, and a kind of excitement that had never been experienced since birth surged up in his heart.

  He felt as if he was going to float away with every step, swaying from side to side. If Zhang saw him now, acting so childishly and forgetting himself, she would probably regret accepting his confession right this moment.

  ……

  The next morning, when Zhang got up, Li Jing and Zhen Mingshu were already waiting for him downstairs. A figure jumped out from behind Zhen Mingshu, making a ghostly face at her.

  "Sister Zhang!"

  It was actually Apricot who had not been seen for many days.

  Mrs. Zhang's face showed surprise and delight, she smiled and called out "Xing Er", Xing Er happily ran upstairs, supported her as they walked down the stairs together.

  Li Jing smiled and asked: "Did you sleep well last night, Eldest Sister Goose?"

  Zhang first stole a glance at Zhen Mingxi, nodded and said: "En, except for having an odious toad making a racket, pretending to be a ghost and scaring people, I slept very well."

  Xing Er asked with a puzzled face: "Where did the toad come from?"

  Zhang leaned over to Xing'er and whispered a few words in her ear.

  Xing'er turned her head and stared at Zhen Ming, saying bitterly three times: "Toad toad toad!"

  Then, a look of surprise appeared on his face: "Wow, it's really a big toad falling from the sky!"

  After finishing speaking, the two women hugged and laughed together.

  On the side, Zhen Ming was so infatuated with him that he became crazy.

  Li Jing looked bewildered, completely unaware of what they were talking about. He only felt that Zhang Shi was a bit different from yesterday, but he couldn't quite put his finger on where the difference lay. All he knew was that last night, after Zhen Mingshu returned to his room and lay down, he had been tossing and turning until midnight when he got up to use the bathroom. That's when he discovered Zhen Mingshu still lying there with her eyes wide open, staring at the canopy above the bed with a silly smile on her face, as if the canopy was embroidered with beautiful flowers.

  A few people met with Sun Langzhong and others at the Yichuan Wine House, where Feilong's injury had almost recovered under the care of Sun Langzhong and Yu'er. His body had thinned out a lot, and his face showed a hint of determination, as if he had undergone a change in his mood after experiencing this ordeal.

  He leaned on his crutches, and Yue'er supported him as they walked to Zhen's miserable face. He patted his shoulder excitedly and said, "I knew you wouldn't be in trouble, Brother Zhen!"

  Zhen Ming's fist landed on his chest, which had become more solid after digging a pond for over a month. He smiled and said: "I heard from Xing Er that you fought with those people to the death for Yue Er's sake, almost losing your life in the process. Not bad, not bad at all! The 'suffering flesh' trick was well played, if I were Yue Er, I would have fallen for it too."

  "No deception, no bitter trick..." Fei Long smiled awkwardly with a embarrassed face, while Yue Er's face turned red and she stomped her foot in protest.

  Everyone burst out laughing, and the atmosphere suddenly became harmonious. Zhen Ming smiled wryly and introduced Li Jing to everyone. Sun Langzhong had already met him, and the two exchanged some polite words. They booked a private room in a wine house, ordered some wine and dishes, and the few of them ate while discussing their trip to Chang'an together.

  As for how to make a living after escaping Luoyang, Sun Langzhong was not worried. With his medical skills, he would not go hungry wherever he went, nor would his three adopted daughters.

  Zhang's daughter couldn't help but feel worried, being a woman in a strange land during such chaotic times, she really didn't know what to do.

  In Luoyang, she could at least make a living by selling tofu.

  Nowadays, she doesn't even know where her only reliable evil husband has gone, and whether he is dead or alive. Even if she arrives in Chang'an, she will still be a person with no one to rely on. What the future holds, she can't imagine at all. Her mind is elsewhere as she mechanically holds her chopsticks, savoring nothing.

  Beside her, Zhen Ming was completely unaware of the troubles in her heart, and was busy picking up dishes to send to his mouth, with a look of one person eating full, and the whole family not hungry.

  Sun Langzhong saw it with his own eyes, shaking his head and sighing again.

  With a full stomach and enough food, Zhenming took over the one hundred taels of silver that had been entrusted to Sun Lang for safekeeping, paid for the wine and dishes, packed up a pile of things needed on the road, hired a horse-drawn carriage, and the group left the wine tower, heading north in a grand manner.

  As soon as they left, several hidden sentries who had been secretly watching them emerged from the alleys on the street corner and released the carrier pigeons in their hands...