Chapter 205 Madam, are you the best in the world?
He asked curiously,
"Madam, why do you seem to have something on your mind today?"
Madam Li put down her chopsticks and looked at him with her beautiful eyes, then suddenly spoke.
"Husband, haven't you always wanted to take a concubine?"
"Cough, cough!" Li Hui almost choked on his food and quickly drank some soup to clear his throat.
He hadn't expected his wife to be so direct.
Madam Li's lips curved into a playful smile.
"Today, I'll give you a chance.
Let's arm wrestle.
If you can win against me, I will personally arrange for you to take a beautiful concubine to your liking, how about it?"
Li Hui's eyes instantly lit up, and he was so excited that he almost couldn't hold his chopsticks.
"Madam! Is that true?!"
His heart bloomed with joy!
What kind of joke was this?
Arm wrestling?
Forget about Madam, a delicate woman; even Song Hu, that brute, might not win if he used all his inner energy to go head-to-head with him!
He had won against Song Hu in court last time.
This was simply a free opportunity!
Madam Li looked at his behavior and simply nodded faintly.
"I will honor the bet. If you win, I will not break my word."
"Good!"
Li Hui excitedly slapped the table and eagerly took a stance.
Their arms met, and Li Hui had a confident smile on his face.
However, the moment he started to exert force, the smile on his face froze.
He felt as if he wasn't holding a woman's hand at all, but an iron stake driven into the ground!
It didn't budge an inch!
"Hmm?"
Li Hui was stunned. He increased his strength to thirty percent, but Madam's hand remained as steady as a mountain.
Fifty percent strength!
Eighty percent strength!
Full strength!
Li Hui's face turned red, veins bulged on his forehead, and he used every ounce of strength he had.
Yet, Madam Li's hand remained as if nailed to the table, without even the slightest tremor!
In contrast, Madam Li was calm and composed, with even a faint smile on her face.
Li Hui suddenly released her hand and looked at his wife with a horrified expression, as if he was seeing her for the first time, and stammered,
"You... how do you have inner energy?!"
Madam Li withdrew her hand and calmly straightened her sleeve, as if she had just crushed an ant.
She looked at the dumbfounded Li Hui and slowly spoke.
"We've competed in strength; how about we compete in Lightness Skill?"
"Let's both go to the tallest pagoda in the east of the city.
If you arrive first, you win, and the promise of taking a concubine still stands."
After speaking, Madam Li stood up and walked out gracefully without even looking at him.
Li Hui stood rooted to the spot, his mind full of questions.
But he didn't have time to think much; he suddenly gritted his teeth, and his figure blurred, turning into an afterimage as he rushed out as well.
He unleashed his Lightness Skill to its fullest, like a night bird, swiftly soaring over the rooftops of the imperial city, the whistling wind in his ears.
He refused to believe it!
When he landed on the top of the tall pagoda, breathless and exhausted, he instantly froze.
Under the moonlight, his wife was already standing gracefully at the edge of the pagoda's summit.
Her green dress fluttered in the night wind, and she stood with her hands behind her back, leisurely admiring the night view of the imperial city below.
It was as if she had been waiting there for a very, very long time.
Li Hui stood dumbfounded on the pagoda's top, the night wind making his head buzz.
He looked at the flowing robes and graceful figure before him.
He felt that his worldview of over twenty years had been completely shattered and swept into the dustbin of history in just the time it takes an incense stick to burn.
Is this... still my wife, who couldn't even lift a chicken, let alone a wine jar?
This Lightness Skill, this movement... even he, the second on the fengyun ranking, would need to drink two cans of Red Bull—no, Daughter Red—to float up so effortlessly.
Li Hui fiercely pinched his thigh.
Hiss—
It hurt!
It wasn't a dream!
He opened his mouth, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down for a long time before he squeezed out a few words from his throat.
"Madam, who... who exactly are you?"
Madam Li slowly turned around, the moonlight casting on her face, still the same gentle and watery appearance.
Only the faint smile at the corner of her lips seemed somewhat profound.
No more pretending, I'm showing my cards.
"Husband."
She tidied her wind-tousled hair and said nonchalantly,
"I am your ignorant, plain old wife."
Li Hui's pupils dilated wildly.
"No! You're not!"
He pointed at his wife, his hand trembling as if he had Parkinson's.
"Arm wrestling! Lightness Skill! Your... your martial arts, why are they so high?!"
Madam Li looked at his ghost-seeing expression and finally couldn't help but burst into laughter.
She took small, graceful steps to Li Hui's front and reached out to tidy his slightly disheveled collar.
Her movements were as gentle as ever.
"Because, before I married you, I had already entered the fengyun ranking, and my ranking was two places higher than yours."
Boom!
Li Hui felt as if his skull had been struck by a divine lightning bolt from the heavens.
Two... two places higher than me?
Third on the fengyun ranking, two places higher, that would be... "You... you are the Mirror Moon, the first on the fengyun ranking?!"
Li Hui's voice had changed pitch.
Li Hui never in his wildest dreams imagined that this legendary martial arts myth was actually his wife, with whom he had spent over a decade day and night?!
"What first or not first, they are all just empty titles."
Madam Li waved her hand, looking indifferent.
"Back then, fighting and killing, I got tired and weary.
Later, I met you and thought you were a bit simple-minded, but not bad-hearted.
So I thought of marrying you, living a stable life, and never again concerning myself with the martial world."
Li Hui's brain had completely crashed. He stared blankly at his wife, his mouth wide enough to fit a walnut.
"These years, I didn't let you take a concubine, mainly because I was afraid you'd discover my identity, afraid you wouldn't be able to accept it."
"After all, I am different from ordinary women. Three or four ordinary women might not be enough for you to tire out, so wouldn't I be exposed?"
Li Hui's mouth twitched.
So, this was the reason she hadn't let him take a concubine all these years?
Li Hui was momentarily overwhelmed by the immense amount of information and couldn't speak, only standing there blankly, feeling like a broken fool.
"Madam, then why did you tell me the truth today?"
Looking at his foolish expression, Madam Li just wanted to laugh.
"Isn't it because of Lord Shen?"
She pulled a piece of paper from her bosom and handed it to Li Hui.
On the paper was Madam Li's elegant handwriting.
"Seeing that you haven't had it easy these years, I agree to the matter of taking a concubine.
These are a few candidates I've selected for you; some are well-educated and sensible, others are charming and lovely.
I've already screened them; the rest is up to your preference.
You pick one, and I'll arrange it for you tomorrow."
Li Hui looked down and saw several women's birthdates and brief descriptions written clearly on the paper.
His hand trembled, and he almost dropped the paper.
The concubine permit he had dreamed of, now truly in his hand, suddenly felt a bit hot.
"No, Madam, this is too sudden.
I can't quite accept it right away..."
Li Hui scratched his head awkwardly