Xiangzhou, the city lord's residence.

Zhang Tianlun's personal bodyguard, Zhou Xing, came in and bowed. "Your Majesty, Kang Xiao asks to see you!"

Zhang Tianlun's expression was a little odd, as if he were trying with everything he had to hold something in.

Zhou Xing glanced around. He remembered Yunniang being here too. Where was she?

But when his eyes fell on the space under the dragon desk, and then on Zhang Tianlun's face, he understood at once!

He hesitated. "Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."

Zhang Tianlun fought to keep the pleasure off his face. "Let him in!"

"As you command!"

Zhou Xing withdrew. After a while, Kang Xiao came in.

He was about to speak when Zhang Tianlun sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes went unfocused, and his whole face was flooded with pleasure.

Just then, Yunniang crawled out from under the dragon desk, stood up and dabbed the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief.

A muscle in Kang Xiao's cheek jumped a few times.

There'd been a time when Yunniang had done this for him too.

Once her mouth was wiped clean, Yunniang turned a cold, venomous look on Kang Xiao.

When a woman's heart has changed, her eyes can't hide it.

Once, Yunniang had been head over heels for Kang Xiao.

Now she'd have loved to flay him alive, grind his bones and scatter the ash.

Kang Xiao had refused to acknowledge the child, and he'd killed their child with his own hands.

It wasn't that he wouldn't acknowledge it. He didn't dare.

He was impotent now. If he admitted the child was his, it would mean he had killed his own one and only heir himself... He couldn't think about it. Just thinking about it brought him to the edge of breaking down.

So he kept telling himself, over and over: that child was definitely not his.

Once Zhang Tianlun had recovered himself, he looked at Kang Xiao. "What does Master Kang want with this emperor?"

Kang Xiao said in a low voice, "We've just learned that Ning Chen has sent an army heading straight…