Chapter 1064: Leading by Example

Zu An entered the inner room. Looking at Liu Ji and Chu Ji before him, he couldn't help but feel extremely awkward. "Ladies..."

He was about to speak when Liu Ji stopped him. "Don't use someone else's voice. You are the Duke now, and that will make us feel more comfortable."

Zu An: "..."

In his current state, he couldn't use other voices even if he wanted to. After using the "Cute Girl Voice Changer," if he were to actively cancel the voice change, he would have to impersonate a cute girl again later. He wanted to avoid that embarrassing experience as much as possible and really didn't want to try it again.

He cleared his throat. "While I was gone, I made you two ladies worried."

Since things had come to this, being coy was meaningless. It was better to seize the moment so as not to waste their sincere intentions.

Hearing his words, the two women's eyes lit up. A hint of daze flashed in Chu Ji's eyes as she murmured, "It's really similar, almost identical to the Duke..."

Liu Ji, standing beside her, tugged her sleeve. "What do you mean 'similar to the Duke'? He is the Duke."

Chu Ji's pretty face flushed slightly. She knew Liu Ji was reminding her to get into character. After all, the man before them was identical to their husband; as long as she didn't doubt him, what happened next would be much easier to accept.

Observing the two women's vastly different reactions, Zu An secretly sighed. Chu Ji was like the shy young married women he'd known in offices in his previous life, who would still feel embarrassed even if you made a slight joke with them after they were married.

Liu Ji, on the other hand, was more like a passionate and uninhibited "older sister" type, enthusiastic and proactive after marriage, often making new, young male colleagues blush with her jokes.

At this point, Liu Ji spoke up. "Your tone is already similar, but the address is wrong. The Duke would not call us 'madam'; 'madam' is her exclusive title."

As she spoke, she glanced toward the outer room where Yu Yanluo was, her eyes filled with envy.

"Oh, what should I call you then?" Zu An thought it made sense; how could an outsider know the private endearments between a couple?

Hearing his question, Liu Ji's face, for the first time, flushed slightly. She hesitated for a moment before saying, "You should call me 'my dear'."

Zu An's expression immediately turned strange. He wanted to laugh but quickly held it back. However, such intimate pet names between a couple were considered normal.

At this moment, Chu Ji let out a soft sound and said in a gentle, timid voice, "He usually calls me 'baby'..."

Now even Liu Ji's expression turned strange. After all, their pet names were so similar yet distinctly different.

'Baby' was 'baby,' and 'my dear' was 'my dear'…

Zu An thought to himself that the Duke of Cloud was quite the playful one.

"I just don't know what to call Zhang Ji privately." Zu An had a bit of a headache. Seeing the two of them like this, it was clear that Zhang Ji also had a unique endearment.

"I know that one," Chu Ji said weakly.

Now even Liu Ji showed a surprised expression. She couldn't fathom how Chu Ji knew something that even she, living in the same residence, didn't.

Feeling their curious gazes, Chu Ji's voice became a little flustered. "The Duke calls Zhang Ji 'darling.' Zhang Ji boasted about it to me once and inadvertently revealed it."

"'Darling'..." Liu Ji immediately felt a pang of jealousy. "Why is her pet name different?"

Zu An was dumbfounded. This Duke of Cloud truly had the style of those scumbags from his previous life.

After this distraction, the two women gradually forgot their initial embarrassment and slowly calmed down. They began to teach him how to address them, gradually correcting his tone and intonation when using their pet names.

In the end, Zu An's imitation became more and more convincing, and coupled with his appearance being identical to the Duke of Cloud, their eyes became more and more dazed, as if their true husband was right beside them.

However, the room soon fell into an eerie silence. The verbal instructions were complete, but how could spoken words alone account for the physical experience that would fool Zhang Ji?

A sensual atmosphere permeated the air. Chu Ji's face was beet red, and she kept her head down, looking at her toes, as if she wanted to find a crack in the floor and disappear into it.

Finally, Liu Ji broke the silence. She took a deep breath and revealed a brilliant smile. "My lord, you must be tired from your recent exertions. Let your humble concubine attend to you for bed."

As she spoke, she gently walked to his side and began to help him undress.

Feeling the touch of her fingers, Zu An instantly stiffened all over.

He had never experienced anything like this before, and for a moment, it felt utterly absurd.

Sensing his nervousness, Liu Ji, on the contrary, smiled. If the other party were a lust-crazed fiend, eager to bully them, although she was doing it to avenge her husband, her heart would surely feel increasingly distressed.

Now that the other party was nervous first, she gained a bit more courage and even felt a slight urge to tease him. "After so many years apart, my lord doesn't seem to show any joy upon seeing me."

Chu Ji, standing beside her, couldn't help but raise her head. Her pair of watery eyes widened as she thought, 'Sister Liu is truly amazing; I would have died of shame already, but she can still say such jokes.'

Zu An secretly sighed and braced himself to cooperate. "After being apart for so long, I've missed my dear terribly."

Hearing this familiar address and seeing the identical appearance before her, Liu Ji couldn't help but freeze, as if no accident had occurred and she was still playfully with her husband in their boudoir as usual.

Unfortunately, everything had changed, and nothing could go back to how it was.

She quietly wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, composed herself, and while helping him undress, she said, "Sister Chu has also missed her husband dearly. Sister, why aren't you coming over?"

"Ah? Oh..." Chu Ji nodded somewhat blankly. Her mind was completely blank at this moment; she was merely instinctively obeying the words of her familiar sister.

At this point, Liu Ji quietly leaned close to Zu An's ear and whispered, "The Duke never had this treatment before. You're getting a bargain today."

Zu An's heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. This woman was truly an enchanting temptress.

The world was truly mysterious. With her affectionate nature, she should have, by all accounts, been seduced by Jian Taiding long ago, but she hadn't. Instead, she was resolute in avenging her husband.

He felt admiration, and the only thing he could do now was to cooperate as much like the Duke of Cloud as possible, to minimize their sense of immorality.

...

Meanwhile, Yu Yanluo waited outside. At first, she murmured to herself, "Yanyou, will you blame me for this? But we all want to avenge you and settle the score. If you must blame someone, blame only me; it has nothing to do with them."

Having understood the stakes involved, her gaze hardened, and she no longer dwelled on the right or wrong of the matter.

As her mind calmed, her ears instinctively perked up, curious about what was happening inside.

At first, she could hear clearly, but then their voices gradually faded.

For some reason, her usually carefree nature felt somewhat unsettled today.

She didn't know why she was so agitated and couldn't help but pace back and forth in the room.

After an unknown period of time, a sudden gasp came from the room. Her expression subtly changed. 'Did that Zu An fellow force himself upon them?'

What a scoundrel!

She was about to go in and check when she saw Liu Ji run out in disarray, clutching her chest in a panic.

Her heart tightened. Even the naturally cheerful Liu Ji had such a reaction...

She rushed forward to stop her. "What happened? Did that fellow bully you?"

Liu Ji shook her head. "No, not that. It's just that we truly can't teach this."

Yu Yanluo's mind was full of questions. She thought, 'Didn't they just agree? Why the sudden change of heart?'

However, she still respected their opinion. "Since you are unwilling, I won't force you. Please go back."

At the same time, she felt a little strange, wondering why Chu Ji hadn't come out.

"It's not that we are unwilling; it's that we truly can't teach it," Liu Ji said. Seeing Yu Yanluo's bewildered expression, Liu Ji's face contorted in a struggle, and she finally leaned close to Yu Yanluo's ear and whispered, "It's mainly because he's too... Zhang Ji, unless she's blind, will know at a glance that he's definitely not the Duke. So, whether we teach him or not, it's meaningless."

Yu Yanluo: "..."

Her jade-like cheeks also burned crimson. She had considered countless possibilities but never imagined it would be for this reason.

Although she was nominally the Duchess, she had no experience with intimate relations between a man and a woman, so how could she have thought of such details?

She couldn't help but feel a mix of shame and annoyance. That fellow looked refined and scholarly in his clothes, but how could he be like a donkey?

"Go and call Chu Ji to come back with you." Yu Yanluo had also completely given up. It seemed they would have to find another solution.

Just then, Chu Ji happened to come out.

Liu Ji rushed to tell her what Madam Yu said, but unexpectedly, Chu Ji did not follow. Instead, she tugged Liu Ji's sleeve, her expression strange and her voice faintly trembling. "He said he has a secret technique called the 'Golden-Hooped Rod of Ruyi.' I don't understand what it means... but he seems to be able to control its changes himself..."

Seeing Liu Ji's bewildered expression, Chu Ji had no choice but to be more direct. "Go inside and see for yourself. It's now the same as... the Duke's."

Liu Ji: "???"

Yu Yanluo: "???"

Chu Ji didn't know where she found the courage, but she directly pulled Liu Ji back inside. She had originally intended to pull Yu Yanluo in as well, but she quickly lowered her hand halfway, thinking it was inappropriate.

After the two entered, another gasp was heard, the surprise in it even greater than before.

This made Yu Yanluo's heart race with unease, and several times she almost couldn't resist going in to see.

However, her lotus feet shifted a few times, but in the end, she did not go in.

She had originally waited for the people inside to come out and explain to her, but to her surprise, no one came out after waiting once, nor after waiting a second time.

Instead, faint, deliberately suppressed sounds drifted out, sounding almost like crying.

Yu Yanluo's expression first changed, thinking that Zu An was bullying them. However, she wasn't some naive young girl after all. Those sounds made her heart flutter, and she quickly understood.

She secretly cursed under her breath and quickly took out her brush. Then, she furiously drew and soon completed a scroll painting. With a wave of her hand, the scroll painting immediately expanded in the wind and quickly formed an invisible curtain, isolating the inside and outside of the courtyard to prevent outsiders from hearing anything inappropriate.

...

After an unknown amount of time, Zu An finally emerged.

Yu Yanluo glanced behind him and didn't see any sign of Liu Ji or the others.

She frowned and asked, "What was the outcome?"

Zu An nodded. "The two young ladies are truly righteous. They taught me through their words and actions. I am fully confident I can deceive Zhang Ji and Jian Taiding. By then, he'll surely believe his elder brother has truly come back to life."

Yu Yanluo breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. I hope you don't let their efforts be in vain."