(The NSFW parts have been removed and only available at my Patreon page. To my non-patron, stay fluff~)

XH 283* - A monk is not handsome
 
"Our patrolling team reported that the Gu Dan people had gone to the village where the gate is and brought chaos onto the village. Fortunately, the traveling monks had arrived to stop them and drove them away."
 
"That's good." Xiao Hua sighed in relief. 
 
She had heard that Gu Dan had destroyed many villages and asked Heise to help the survivors as much as he could, including offering some medicines she learned to make under Doctor Bai. 
 
"Liang Shan had requested a meeting with eighth brother and me."
 
"Liang Shan? Who is that?"
 
"He used to go by the name of Long Shan," Long Zhu answered, his tone indifferent.
 
"Long Shan? That's a very familiar name… the hero?"
 
"... He's a monk now."
 
"Monk!" Xiao Hua grew excited, her focus gone sideways. "Is he coming? Can I meet him?"
 
Long Zhu remembered his wife had indeed spoken about her desire to have a look at the monk. "A monk is not handsome and could not return a lady's affection."
 
Xiao Hua shut her mouth in time before she voiced her doubt in his aesthetic that might not be similar to hers. "I just wish to see how he looked and whether I can speak to the World Spirit again."
 
"Why do you want to speak to that World Spirit?" Long Zhu tightened his arms around his wife. Although he was grateful to the World Spirit for bringing Le Xiao Ting to him, he was afraid the World Spirit would take her away from him.
 
A human could never understand a deity's mind. 
 
"I thought it would be good to have a question and answer session. Like how to remove the gate for good?"
 
Long Zhu looked thoughtful. "Tian Liang had also asked that question whether we could remove the gate and fix the hole." 
 
Unfortunately, even the four celestial beasts have no answer to that. The method of sealing the gate was told by the Yellow Dragon but it was not a permanent seal. But the four celestial beasts were willing to do it again because they like the human realm and want to protect it. 
 
Humans always worship them, treat them as their God and they should do something in return for their dedication.
 
"Actually, now that I think about it, when the hero and heroine rebelled, she still has her protective halo. No one, including you, will be able to kill her easily. I think that might play a part in influencing your decision to torture them first?"
 
Long Zhu certainly was not happy hearing that. Who would, knowing that your thoughts could be manipulated and not really your own?
 
Xiao Hua noticed Long Zhu's displeased mood. "T-That is just what I'm randomly thinking!"
 
"What made you think of that?" Long Zhu asked.
 
"...Well, I thought that if you did decide to kill Liu Chu Chu at that time, you would naturally think to kill Long Shan at the same time, right?"
 
"Yes." Long Zhu might do that if he no longer has any interest in interrogating for any useful information out of them. Back then, he was especially interested in Liu Chu Chu who reacted badly towards Xiao Hua's tea and hoped to experiment with it.
 
But Gu WenJing rescued her and his interest naturally died off, even after what Xiao Hua's tea had done to Long Shan. Long Zhu started to think of Xiao Hua's tea as Liu Chu Chu's poison and a great way to kill her. 
 
However, with the World Spirit's caution, Long Zhu removed the idea of killing Liu Chu Chu with Xiao Hua's tea, for the sin of murder might transfer to Xiao Hua's soul even if she was not the one that deals the final blow. 
 
"But the World Spirit will not let his vessel die and likely would do anything to stop it." Like asking Doctor Bai to come over or abducting her and Heise's soul to cross over to this world. "But all this is just a guess!"
 
"The world where you are born, how do they deal with murder cases?"
 
"Ah?" Xiao Hua was taken aback by the question. "That's… murder is usually punished by the law, such as being locked up in the prison for many years. The law could also have the criminal to be put down permanently. Each country has its own different punishment, but generally, murder is a heavy offense."
 
"In other words, no one is allowed to kill?"
 
"Yes. But it also depends on the cases itself. After all, there would be a murderer that did so in the name of self-defense, or it was an accident. It depends on the judge and proof for the offender's verdict."
 
"I heard from eighth brother that everyone needs to attend school?" Long Zhu asked.
 
Xiao Hua was confused by where his question was leading to. "Yes." 

Le Xiao Ting was unsure if that was the case for children from rural and poor areas, but governments should have given them free education until high school, right?
 
"Your teachers instill the morals of no murder, no stealing, and no lying to their students?"
 
"Generally…? Yeah, I suppose they did." Le Xiao Ting had almost forgotten what her ethics teacher had taught her. 
 
"The world where you are born… seems like a good place to live." 
 
The old Long Zhu had never thought to commit murder to solve his problems. But his death forced him to rethink his three world views and how his enemies never hesitated to make decisions that would lead to his death. 
 
Living as a kind-hearted person was ideal, but not realistic for Long Zhu, who was a prince.
 
He learned the hard way of what he needed to do to protect himself and his loved ones. 
 
The envy in his tone had Xiao Hua laughed out loud. "Each place has its own good and bad points. If you envy my world for the no killing law, then all you need to do is to learn and copy it so that you can implement that concept to your world."
 
"Copy…" Long Zhu's eyes lit up with the bright stars. 
 
"You can talk to Heise about it. I think he's planning about it, but not to a large scale. Not everyone will be happy with the change. Besides, I think our world is doing well enough with its current laws."
 
Silently, Long Zhu hugged Xiao Hua even deeper in his embrace. He knew that too and was relieved that he was not resistant towards change. His wife was the greatest change in his life and he savored every moment of it. 

Xiao Hua returned his hug and rested her head comfortably on his chest, listening to his strong and steady heartbeat.
 
They do not know who made the first move, but their accidental eye contact triggered their desire to get even closer to each other.
 
Their kiss was not the careful and gentle one like shared during their wedding night. There was no longer any need to restrain their desire and shy away from the married couple’s ways of showing love, and their fierce kiss showed that.
 
Xiao Hua gasped for breath when their lips parted and found herself lying on their bed. It was difficult to gather fresh air and calm down her breathing when Long Zhu worked diligently in disrobing her.
 
Is tonight the night?
 
Long Zhu breathing quicken when he recognized the dudou she was wearing was the familiar silver-colored, smaller sized wedding gift from his eighth brother. He finally understands why Heise says he will like it.
 
He will need to have a seamstress to make more identical dudou for his wife.