Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

The thought came quickly and vanished just as fast. Something like the world filling in its own gaps was simply too bizarre. There was not enough evidence. Anything pieced together from pure speculation could only be treated as a reference, not as truth. If he wanted proof, he would have to verify it step by step.

At present, Xu Yuan could only be certain of one thing. No matter which faction that Mister Qin belonged to, he was most likely here for him, the Third Young Master. The leading lady who should have appeared at Misty River Pavilion had, for no apparent reason, been brought instead to the Drunken Immortal Tower. Calling that a coincidence would be a little too convenient.

Putting the thought aside, Xu Yuan looked at Madam Moon again and said with a soft smile, “Since she’s the top courtesan personally chosen by Mister Qin, that only makes me want to see her more.”

The smile on Madam Moon’s face froze. After Xu Yuan had stayed silent for so long, she had assumed he was about to give up. Instead, this was what she got.

She hurriedly said, “Third Young Master, if Mister Qin decides to take offense...”

Xu Yuan raised a hand and cut her off. Watching her eyes, reading every tiny shift in her expression, he said with a smile, “Take offense? If Mister Qin wants to blame someone, then have him come find me. I’ve been quite curious about this Mister Qin myself, the one they say can stand shoulder to shoulder with my brother.”

With that, Xu Yuan laughed out loud, turned, and walked off.

Zhou Chen silently followed behind him.

Madam Moon opened her mouth, still wanting to stop them, but in the end she swallowed the words. She watched the two men force their way into the Bamboo Garden where Jinxuan was staying. The door shut behind them. After a long moment, she let out a faint sigh, rose slowly, and returned in silence to her own residence.

The Bamboo Garden lived up to its name. Pushing open the door and passing the screen wall, the first thing one saw was a courtyard enclosed by groves of bamboo. The leaves were lush and green, drifting down with the wind, while a pool of clear water rippled gently in the middle. The air carried the faint scent of damp earth.

Xu Yuan swept his gaze around, but saw no one. There was a hall behind the courtyard, and only behind the hall were the inner rooms. Since he was playing the role of a wastrel, there was naturally no need to announce himself to Jinxuan.

He led Zhou Chen straight toward the innermost room.

As they walked along the stone path, Xu Yuan asked casually, “Earlier you said that over ten years ago, this Mister Qin could stand shoulder to shoulder with Xu Changge?”

That piece of information was the direct reason Xu Yuan had started wondering whether Mister Qin was someone the world had fabricated to patch over a hole.

Xu Changge was a true monster, the kind of man who had dared charge alone into the Ancient Abyss just to hack off the snake demon princess’s head. If Mister Qin could really be compared to him, there was no way such a person should have been absent from the plot.

Zhou Chen lifted his eyes and glanced at Xu Yuan’s back. He did not mind at all that the Third Young Master had called his elder brother by name. He simply nodded. “Yes. When the Eldest Young Master became famous throughout the Imperial Capital at the age of 13 years old, all sorts of people started popping up across the world, each one being touted as someone who could rival him.”

“Ah?” Xu Yuan frowned and asked, “Are you saying this Mister Qin is all show and no substance? No, that doesn’t make sense. If that were the case, why single him out just now?”

Zhou Chen followed behind Xu Yuan and said, “The Third Young Master is sharp indeed. Mister Qin is different from the usual lot who ride the Eldest Young Master’s name to fish for fame.”

“How is he different?” Xu Yuan asked quietly.

Zhou Chen chose his words with some care.

“When the Eldest Young Master traveled the world in those days, he crossed paths with Mister Qin. The two of them journeyed together for quite some time.”

“Journeyed together..?” Xu Yuan murmured the words under his breath.

In his memory, this brother of his had always treated others with a gentle manner, but the pride in his bones ran deep. For someone to travel at his side for any length of time, he must have had some real substance.

After a pause, Xu Yuan continued, “Only that?”

Zhou Chen shook his head. “Third Young Master, do you know that every seven years, the Celeste Sword Sect sends invitations across the world, summoning the younger disciples of every sect to Celeste for a grand gathering?”

Xu Yuan thought for a moment, then nodded. “I know.”

He knew about it. Not only did he know about it, he also knew what was really behind the Celeste Assembly.

On the surface, the Celeste Assembly was said to be a grand event meant to inspire the younger generation across the world. In truth, it was an excuse to give the various sect masters and elders a chance to meet and discuss the affairs of the sect world.

The Celeste Sword Sect, the number one sect under Heaven, took the lead and called together what was basically a council of warlords.

That said, whatever its real purpose, the Celeste Sword Sect always put up a gold-tier treasure as the prize for first place, so every Celeste Assembly still counted as one of the great events of the age.

After a brief pause, Xu Yuan asked, “Are you saying Xu Changge took part in the Celeste Assembly while he was traveling?”

“Yes. Back then, the reason Mister Qin was accompanying the Eldest Young Master was because they were headed for the Celeste Assembly.”

“So he fought Xu Changge? Was he that strong?”

Zhou Chen nodded slightly. “Very strong. He was one of the very few people who survived a sword from the Eldest Young Master.”

Survived...? Xu Yuan fell silent. He blanked out for a moment, then let out a low laugh.

The son of the Chancellor of the Great Flame Empire, joining a tournament meant to entertain a gathering of regional power brokers, and then trying to kill sect disciples on the stage... Xu Yuan could more or less guess what had happened at the Celeste Assembly 13 years ago, and he now had a rough sense of where Mister Qin’s ceiling lay. He gave a quiet chuckle.

“I think I have a pretty good idea now what kind of man this Qin fellow is. Heh.”

With that, having learned enough, Xu Yuan said no more.

This Bamboo Garden truly was enormous. They continued deeper inside, past the main hall of the courtyard and through two stone archways, until Xu Yuan finally saw a bamboo forest, with a winding path threading through it.

The two followed the trail forward. They rounded a bend, and at the end of the path, the bamboo grove suddenly opened up. It formed a ring, leaving an open clearing in the middle. Sunlight poured down like a waterfall. In the center stood an ancient bamboo house, solitary and still, made all the more quiet and remote by the desolate bamboo woods surrounding it.

From the inner room came the resonant strains of ancient music, touched with a faint melancholy, almost like the music of Immortals.

Xu Yuan stood where he was and listened quietly for a moment. Then he cast a sideways glance at Zhou Chen beside him and said, “There are still two beauties waiting upstairs. Aren’t you going back to check on them?”

He had no intention of letting this stubbled brute squat outside the door later and use soul sense to watch a live broadcast of whatever happened inside.

Hearing that, Zhou Chen rubbed his beard, looking slightly awkward. He gave a dry cough, cupped his hands, and said, “Ahem. Then I shall first wish the Third Young Master glorious success.”

Xu Yuan was speechless.

The two looked at each other in silence, then both burst out laughing at the same time.

When the laughter died down, and with the zither still sounding from within the bamboo house, Zhou Chen turned and left, while Xu Yuan stepped forward.

The bamboo grove rustled softly in the wind. Alone, Xu Yuan entered the bamboo house, followed the music up to the second floor, and stopped outside a side room.

Soon, one song came to an end, and a pleasant female voice floated out from inside. “Since the Third Young Master is already here, why stand outside the door?”

As soon as she finished speaking, the lovely notes of the zither began again.

Xu Yuan shook his head, no longer lingering, and pushed the door open directly. He brushed aside the bead curtain to the inner chamber, and with a clattering rustle, stepped into the young lady’s boudoir.

Inside, a woman sat upright behind an ancient zither, her beautiful eyes lowered, her slender jade-like fingers dancing endlessly as one graceful note after another flowed from the strings.

She wore a long crimson silk dress, its collar cut low enough to reveal a full sweep of snowy skin. Her face was like a blooming lotus, her brows like willow leaves. Her eyes, even more seductive than peach blossoms, seemed made to tug at the heart. Her skin was white as snow. Her black hair was gathered into a tall, elegant coiffure, fastened with a jade hairpin that caught the sunlight and reflected it in a soft glow.

The moment Xu Yuan saw her face, he more or less understood why the Third Young Master, a veteran of the flower world, had been so hopelessly infatuated with her, to the point of being led around by the nose like a complete simp. She was seductive down to the bone.

Suppressing the stray sparks that suddenly flared up in his chest, Xu Yuan steadied himself and sat down on the cushion opposite her.

The moment he sat, a delicate-looking maid at the side immediately poured him a cup of fragrant tea, then quietly withdrew.

A faint sandalwood fragrance filled the room. Sunlight filtered in through the lattice windows, leaving shifting shadows across the chamber.

Tea, music, and beauty, it was a small slice of heaven.

In the stillness, Xu Yuan closed his eyes, almost intoxicated.

At some unknown point, after who knew how many songs had ended, Su Jinxuan slowly lifted those eyes of hers, clear as autumn water, and looked toward the man across from her, sitting there with his eyes shut as he listened.

Pressing her lips into a smile, she said, “Third Young Master, it seems you know a thing or two about music as well?”

At the sound of her voice, Xu Yuan slowly opened his eyes and blanked out for a moment. Then, coming back to himself, he smiled and shook his head. He raised a hand and pointed directly at the red dress the heroine was wearing.

“I don’t understand music. Compared to music, I much prefer the most natural kind of human voice. Miss Jinxuan, you should know why I came to see you, shouldn’t you?”

Xu Yuan then cast a sidelong glance at the soft bed in the room, half-hidden behind red curtains.