Chapter 275 - Revealing Queries

Eunuch Li stopped with the others and gaped at the blue flame dragon and fiery phoenix in the sky. He quickly shook himself out of it, remembering the unconscious Empress dowager. He swiftly ran over to the Empress dowager's palace expecting to find the head physician still there but he found Song mama alone. 

He dropped her on the bed and told Song mama to watch her and swiftly left the room. He sent one of the guards to go find the head physician and then ordered to protect the Empress dowager, then he raced off to go find the Emperor. He honestly had not seen him since they left the ceremony and the situation right now was very perplexing and he was worried about the Emperor. 

After Eunuch Li left the room, Song mama went over to the side to bring a bowl of water and cloth to cool the Empress dowager's head. As she returned to the bed, she suddenly went still, frozen in place. 

Doctor Lou came out from the corner, passed the frozen inanimate Song mama and went over to the bed and sat down next to the Empress dowager and pat her head, "If I had known I would have left them alone a bit longer...I'm sorry I looked away, I was just...surprised...and sorry." Doctor Lou frowned and then let out a weary sigh.

"...But it was good to see you...Did you see your son? Kai...I thought you would like that name. Xiao Kai is a bit too serious, much like his father but he still has some of your humor to him so he's not too dull..." Doctor Lou snickered, "I taught him a few things as well and as you know I'm a great teacher so he's naturally amazing~..." He smugly said, stroking his beard.

"There's Xing Xing too, she's a lot like her mother so I guess you'll like her but she's too stubborn and unmoving, a bit too cold but she's not too bad. She can be funny and she has an eye for good things too~ Xiao Kai really, really likes her too - Ah, I also found a daughter! Xiao Ying, you'll really like her. She's just like you although these days she's been getting distracted. She's really, really, adorable, naturally, I raised her~ You'll really like her..."

The unconscious Empress dowager naturally did not respond and Song mama remained frozen where she stood.

Doctor Lou solemnly looked at the Empress dowager for a long while before finally letting out another weary sigh, "...I've always wondered how you've been all this time, but you seemed normal today, like your old self. Perhaps time stopped for you a long time ago, that's good though. I worried you had been suffering alone."

Doctor Lou sighed again, "At least now I know I am not wrong, this is the right path...It'll only be a matter of time now and you'll be free...We'll all be free..."

Doctor Lou then lightly placed his fingers on the Empress dowager's forehead and trails of darkness suddenly started slithering up his fingertips and into his arm.

Doctor Lou frowned as beads of sweat formed on his forehead but he focused on the task. After a while, he finally removed his hand and smiled down at her, "I'm sorry, this is all I can do for now....but it won't be too long ...I promise." He quietly said and then he was gone.

Song mama resumed her walk over with the basin as the doors opened and the guard came in with the head physician. 

***

The blue flame dragon and the fiery red phoenix finished their dance above the capital with the two bursting into a shimmer of colorful fireworks that rained down colorful warm lights around the capital. 

The show above was over, but yet the people below remained fixed in place staring up at the now empty dark sky, still in awe. 

Ah Jin and Tung Mei reappeared in a clearing in the forest outside the city, with Tung Mei immediately falling to her knees gasping for air, that had been too much for her. 

"Are you alright?" Ah Jin asked knitting her brows and crouching down.

"I'm fine..." Tung Mei promptly waved. 

Ah Jin frowned and let out a breath, "This is why I always tell you to -"

"What is happening here?" A voice suddenly asked and Ah JIn and Tung Mei froze and looked at each other, gulped before turning to look at the tall noble-looking white-haired old woman before them. 

Ah Jin promptly stood up and bowed in greeting. While Tung Mei just looked up and nervously laughed and went, "Auntie..."

The old woman frowned and blinked as she looked at Tung Mei and did a double-take, "Xiao Ying? What are you doing possessing a corpse?"

Tung Mei's eyes shifted and she nervously went, "I...I...I-"

"Forget that for now, where is your father?" The elder woman asked with a frown. She knew these two were not the culprit she was looking for. She had simply come here following the trail of the dissipating dragon and phoenix expecting to find the person she came hunting for and met these two.

But if these two were here doing something ridiculous, then she knew her brother was definitely not far.

"I'm not sure..." Tung Mei awkwardly responded, looking away suspiciously.

The elder woman obviously did not believe her, as she turned to Ah Jin and asked, "You answer...Where is your master?"

Ah Jin knit her brows and lowered her eyes, she could not lie to the elder woman but at the same time, she knew if she told the truth, then the elder woman would go there and it would probably be very troublesome for her shifu, Doctor Lou. 

"Answer me." The elder woman demanded with a frown.

"Ah, aunt-"

"You be quiet. I am not even scolding you yet on playing about with a deceased person's body! Does your father know about this? What am I saying? He's probably the one who taught you how? Why does he never think about what he's doing?" She turned her attention back to Tung Mei and went, "Just because your father is thoughtless doesn't mean you have to be thoughtless too!"

"I asked her for permission first..." Tung Mei mumbled looking off to the side with a pout, "...and she's not really dead..."

"Qi Yin, stop bullying innocent people...It's unbecoming of your "status"." Doctor Lou's voice scolded and the three turned to see him, resting against a tree glaring at the elder woman.

Ah Jin and Tung Mei let out a sigh of relief and Qi Yin's face twitched, how dare he scold her for bullying "innocent" people when he enjoyed messing with random people for no reason other than"fun"?

Qi Yin took a deep breath, ignored his statement and asked, "What are you teaching these girls?"

Doctor Lou folded his arms and squinted at her, "My daughter, my student...Therefore my business. The question should be why are you here? I thought you were too busy with your isolation training...you've been ignoring all this time and now you're here complaining about this and that and yet you wonder why I never come to see you...not like you ever come to see me...." Doctor Lou went from talking normally to grumbling under his breath. 

Qi Yin let out a breath and decided to just let it drop and focused on what brought her here, "Was it you who brought the four suns here?"

"Can you move them?" Doctor Lou responded with a raised eyebrow and a question of his own.

Qi Yin did not respond and simply narrowed her eyes at him and Doctor Lou went, "Exactly. If you can't do it, then why would you think that I can?... If I could, then I'd have sent them back rather than using this stupid false night to hide them. But don't worry, they'll eventually return on their own, probably by the end of the day...I think- either way there's nothing you can do and there's nothing to worry about so you can go~"

"Why are they doing here in the first place?" Qi Yin asked with a frown.

"How should I know? Maybe they came here to witness a wedding. Why ask me? Do I look like their keeper? If you have questions, then you should go ask their owners..." Doctor Lou indignantly said pulling at his beard.

He was still very disgruntled about his sister making him wait so long. He had been to visit her twice now and she made him wait so long he got cramps and now she showed up here with not even an apology.

Qi Yin narrowed her eyes at Doctor Lou and he narrowed his eyes back in challenge. 

"Where are my students?" Qi Yin asked. She had come out of her isolation to find her temple empty. She did not have time to ponder over their whereabouts as the issue of the missing suns was more concerning. But now that she was here, she was getting the sense that her brother also had something to do with their absence. 

"How should I know? They're your students...and I'm definitely the better Shifu~ I at least know where my student is~...Too bad some people are just blind to my brilliance~" Doctor Lou shook his head with a lamenting sigh.

"You don't know?" Qi Yin asked with a frown.

"I don't." Doctor Lou firmly responded with a resolute nod.

"Fine. I'll go find them myself." Qi Yin said turning in the direction of the capital but Doctor Lou swiftly moved to her front and said, "You are not allowed to interfere...I am in charge here, and you being such a stickler for the rules that you are, you wouldn't want to make any mistakes and ruin your well-crafted image, now would you?" He finished with a smug grin as he stroked his beard.

"Move."

"NO."

"Qi Yang! -"

"Don't call me that! I've told you I don't like that name, who the hell wants to be a Yin-Yang pair with you?... It's Lou now, Lao Lou." Doctor Lou corrected with a fierce glare.

Qi Yin rolled her eyes, "Have you thought about the repercussions of what you're doing?" 

Doctor Lou glanced off to the side, "I am simply doing what is right..."

"This is not what is right, this is what you want. I thought you had already let go of your obsessive feelings lo-"

"It's not about that!" Doctor Lou angrily interjected.

Qi Yin frowned and barked back, "Then why exactly are you doing all this?! How can you endanger everything just for on-"

"I've told you it's not about that! It's unfair is why!... You grew up with her as well, how can you not feel any guilt? !If we had done better then -" Doctor Lou paused and let out a breath, "It's not her fault...she has suffered enough. You shouldn't be so uncaring..."

Qi Yin lowered her head with a frown, "It's not that I don't care...but the risk is too high. I can't let you do this."

Doctor Lou scoffed, "So what are you going to do now? Report me? Go ahead, not only will they support me, they'll force it...And if you decide to go talk to the clans then you'll be destroying the peace and solidarity you seem to love with your own hands...I'm still trying to be reasonable here." Doctor Lou finished with a pout, "You should stop putting trees on nature's established path or a karmic tree fall on your head~..." He finished squinting at her.

Qi Yin did not respond and simply glared at Doctor Lou in annoyance.

Doctor Lou blinked at her and then covered his chest with his hands, "Ah? Do you want to fight me? Oh ho~ then I'm ready! It's been so long since I've had a good fight...Come, let's see if all your so-called-ignoring-me training has paid off~" Doctor Lou said as he began stretching while squinting at Qi Yin, "Come on, you should stretch too~...Don't complain after that your back hurting is what caused your loss~..." He added with a snicker. 

Tung Mei and Ah Jin stared at the arguing aged siblings, forgotten and at a loss. Tung Mei turned to Ah Jin and sent a message to her mind.

{...Do you know what they're arguing about?...}

Ah Jin shook her head and responded.

{...No clue...I thought your father was doing all this for fun...But it seems there's more to it than entertainment maybe?...}

The two girls knit their brows and then turned back to look at the two elder siblings, who now seemed to be deeply engaged in a stretching competition with all sorts of odd poses.

Tung Mei frowned and covered her face with a hand.

{...If anyone saw this - so embarrassing...I definitely don't know these people! ( „ಡωಡ„)...}