I am the villain in the book

When the silvery moonlight fell on the glazed eaves of the Phoenix Cry Hall, Wei Changtian, who had been contemplating for a long time, finally opened his eyes.

Then he saw Ning Yuker kneeling at his feet.

Good heavens, was this woman kneeling here the whole time?

He sighed inwardly, but this time Wei Changtian was more composed and didn't force Ning Yuker to get up.

“What time is it now?”

“Reporting to Master, it’s already late in the You hour.”

Ning Yuker replied softly, “Chief Minister Gui and Young Master Shen left half an hour ago.”

“Oh.”

Nodding, Wei Changtian glanced at the night outside the window, stood up, and walked out of the hall: “Alright, I’ll go back too.”

“Master, later this servant will be hosting a banquet for the envoys of Great Li.”

Ning Yuker hurriedly scrambled up from the ground, her figure trembling slightly, probably from kneeling for so long.

However, she didn't care about this and quickly took two steps to follow behind Wei Changtian, lowering her head and whispering:

“Won’t you stay and join us?”

“Hmm.”

Wei Changtian hesitated for a moment, then asked in return: “Is Young Master Shen going?”

“He probably won’t be coming.”

“Then I won’t go either.”

As soon as Wei Changtian heard that Shen Ran wasn't attending, he immediately lost interest: “Send someone to tell Young Master Shen to come find me when he has time. Just say I have important matters to discuss with him.”

“This servant understands.”

Ning Yuker nodded gently, following closely behind Wei Changtian, until she saw him out of the palace gate.

“Your Majesty, Young Master Wei.”

The little eunuch waiting outside the hall immediately came forward, whispering a reminder: “It will soon be the Xu hour, the envoys of Great Li are already waiting in the Changchun Garden, I wonder if the banquet will start on time?”

“Yes, start the banquet on time.”

Ning Yuker nodded slightly, saying to the little eunuch: “Prepare the carriage and send Young Master Wei back to his residence.”

“No need.”

Turning back, Wei Changtian cupped his hands towards Ning Yuker, interrupting her: “Your Majesty, this commoner can return on his own.”

“Alright.”

“...”

From “Master” to “this commoner”, from “this servant” to “Your Majesty”.

Wei Changtian and Ning Yuker were now very comfortable with this switching of identities, basically showing “two faces in public and private”.

With such consummate acting skills, even if others could see some clues, they would never imagine what kind of “unusual relationship” the two had in private.

“Your Majesty...”

Watching Wei Changtian walk further and further away, the little eunuch retracted his gaze and asked: “Do you still want to return to Guangming Palace to change your clothes?”

“No need, just go directly to Changchun Garden.”

Gathering her long sleeves, Ning Yuker had now completely returned to the appearance of the Empress.

Her long skirt swayed slightly as she walked in a certain direction, and all the palace maids she encountered stopped and lowered their heads, and all the guards knelt on one knee.

As Ning Yuker's time “reigning” grew longer and longer, the people in the palace became more and more accepting of this Empress, so their expressions were now mostly very respectful.

Only Qingxian, who was following far behind, had a rather meaningful look in her eyes.

Although she was Ning Yuker's “guard”, she was not always inseparable.

Especially when in the royal palace, she would only follow Ning Yuker when she attended certain occasions.

So Qingxian was not in the Phoenix Cry Hall just now, but only came to check the situation after the appearance of the “Purple Qi Comes East” phenomenon.

Then, she saw Ning Yuker using her mouth to offer grass to Wei Changtian through the window.

If a normal person saw this kind of thing, they would probably be shocked.

Although Qingxian was not a “person”, her initial mentality was the same.

But as time went on, she now seemed to have a different kind of emotion.

Her vermilion lips pursed slightly, her embroidered eyebrows lifted, and a faint, imperceptible smile floated on her face.

Qingxian's appearance was enough to make most men in the world infatuated, and even enough to reach the point of “knowing the man and going for it”.

However, the former quickly restrained her smile and walked towards her residence.

On the other side.

It was already the Xu hour when Wei Changtian returned to the small residence, and the “state banquet” at the royal palace should have already begun.

Since the establishment of Yingfengsheng, Xu Qingwan and Lu Jingyao had rarely eaten at home, and had to work until late at night to return, and today was the same.

In addition, Yuan’er, Qiuyun, Li Suyue and others rarely agreed to eat at the main table, so recently only the two little girls, Achun and Agou, had been accompanying Wei Changtian for “meals”.

“Master! I broke through to the seventh rank today!”

During the meal, Achun happily reported good news.

From “Seeking Mansion” to the seventh rank, a realm that most normal martial artists could not reach in their entire lives, Achun had done it in less than a year.

The reason for this speed was not only because she was a “congenital Dao body” with all sixty-four meridians open, but also because extremely generous cultivation resources played a very crucial role.

The heaven-level internal skill “Returning Yuan Skill”, the top-grade demon spirit pills that had never been cut off, all kinds of miscellaneous elixirs, and the guidance of several “famous teachers”, including Old Zhangtou...

With these cultivation conditions, even tying up a dog would probably not be too bad.

Hmm... It's not appropriate to say that.

After all, Agou, who now had the same resources, had not even reached “Seeking Mansion” yet.

Unlike Achun, although Agou had all eight main meridians open, possessing the most basic conditions for cultivation.

However, only thirteen of her fifty-six secondary meridians were open, making a total of only twenty-one.

Only 30% of the sixty-four meridians were open, which was already the lowest level of talent.

Under normal circumstances, this kind of martial artist could only reach the seventh rank at most, and even if Wei Changtian filled her with resources, she would probably only barely be able to break through to the sixth rank... and it would depend on luck.

And Achun, who was the same age as her, would at least be in the top three ranks.

Although the two little girls practiced almost equally hard on weekdays, the gap between people is sometimes not something that can be made up for by hard work.

Just like the saying goes - all roads lead to Rome, but some people are born in Rome.

“...”

“Cough!”

Wei Changtian swallowed the rice that almost choked him with a dry cough, forcibly suppressing the “jealousy” in his heart, and said to Achun with a calm face: “Not bad, it’s only slightly slower than your teacher was back then.”

“Wow! Master is so amazing!”

Achun's little face was full of worship: “Master was already at the seventh rank when he was less than eight years old?”

“That’s natural.”

Wei Changtian curled his lips without the slightest bit of shame: “So you must not be arrogant, and you still need to continue to work hard.”

“Yes, Master! Achun will definitely work hard!”

Achun nodded busyly, and then asked expectantly: “Then what rank are you now, Master?”

“This...”

Wei Changtian's expression froze for a moment, and after quickly shoveling the remaining rice in the bowl into his mouth, he slammed the empty bowl on the table: “Go get your teacher another bowl of rice!”

“Okay!”

Achun was still young, and was accidentally distracted by Wei Changtian, and no longer pursued the question just now, holding the empty bowl and running to get rice.

And Wei Changtian also turned his attention to Agou, who was eating with her head down.

Although the latter had not spoken and her expression was happy, she must have been feeling uncomfortable in her heart.

Alas...

Her only relative was gone, and her cultivation was also far behind others.

At such a young age, she had to bear the pressure that she shouldn't have to bear at this age, and other children would probably have given up on themselves long ago.

But Agou had never shown the slightest frustration in front of everyone.

From this point of view, she was strong enough.

After sighing a few times in his heart, Wei Changtian was just about to open his mouth to comfort Agou.

But just then, someone suddenly walked over from outside the dining hall in a hurry.

“Brother Chu.”

Seeing Chu Xianping's expression, Wei Changtian's heart suddenly sank, and he quickly put down his chopsticks and greeted him.

“What's wrong?”

“Young Master.”

Chu Xianping cupped his hands with a complicated expression, and then replied in a low voice: “The latest news has just been sent back from Da Feng.”

“The situation is not good.”