Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

Xu Yuan let out a long breath. Over the past few days, he had gone through quite a lot of internal reports. They were all C-grade reports, but they had still given him a rough idea of what kind of mess the rest of the Great Flame Empire was in.

Yet now, seeing the true state of the war in the north still struck him as faintly absurd.

He set the report down, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed hard at the space between his brows. Then he sighed. “It’s rotten.”

The moment the words left his mouth, Xu Yuan smiled helplessly. He suddenly realized he was not exactly qualified to say that.

The Chancellor’s Manor had its own faction in the northern frontier too. Among the fourth rank Body Integration Realm deputy generals the Ninth Princess had blasted into meat paste, one had belonged to his family.

But in an environment like that, actually trying to get things done was incredibly, painfully difficult. You might be shedding blood on the front lines. Maybe your allies would not go so far as to stab you in the backside, but there was a very real chance they would swoop in and steal the fruit of your labor.

Aside from those rare saints who were truly selfless, who would willingly play the fool? This was a world where everyone competed to see who could be worse.

Thinking of that, Xu Yuan still could not help grumbling again, “But honestly, it’s still rotten.”

“What’s rotten?” A soft voice with the faintest trace of seductive charm drifted up from the staircase of the library.

Xu Yuan looked up and saw white silk stockings.He lifted his gaze and eyed Su Jinxuan as she walked toward him between the old, simple bookshelves. She wore a silk dress resembling a qipao, with a sable cloak draped over it. As she moved with light, graceful steps, pale skin flashed faintly along the side of her thigh.

He focused himself and smiled, pointing at the internal report on the small table by the bed. “Nothing much. I was just reading some information about the war in the north.”

Su Jinxuan walked slowly up to him, a hint of surprise appearing on her flawless face. “Aren’t young masters like you supposed to prefer romance, wine, and pretty scenery?”

“Affairs of the state, the family, and the world. Now that I can cultivate, I should at least pay some attention.” Xu Yuan lifted his teacup and took a small sip, then asked softly, “What brings you here?”

A perfectly measured trace of distress appeared on Su Jinxuan’s face. She pressed her lips together and smiled. “I didn’t want to come either, but someone told me earlier to be a little more self-aware. What choice did I have but to come find that someone?”

As she spoke, waves of pink peach blossoms shimmered in her dark eyes. Several bewitching spores slipped into his sea of consciousness and attached themselves to his soul.

Xu Yuan glanced at her, then sensed them carefully. He could clearly feel that each of those spores had grown quite a bit stronger. He was starting to understand why Qin Weijiu had deliberately removed the cultivation art for the bewitching spores.

It had only been three days since he gave her the secret art.

After a brief pause, Xu Yuan looked out at the endless blue sky beyond the window. “It’s still daytime. Come back later.”

Su Jinxuan did not leave. Instead, she sat down beside him and asked with a smile, “It’s not as if we’re going to bed together. Does it really matter whether it’s day or night?”

Xu Yuan fell silent for a moment. Then he picked up the C-grade internal reports, burned them to ash with a flick of flame, and rose to his feet. “Neither makes much difference. But since I have nothing better to do, let’s go.”

His words made Su Jinxuan pause for an instant. Then her peach-blossom eyes curved into two bright crescent moons. “Very well. It’s just that I’ve only just recovered, so I hope you’ll be a little gentler with me today.”

Hearing the words behind him, Xu Yuan looked back at Su Jinxuan, who was smiling like a fox that had just stolen a chicken.

All of a sudden, he felt that Lou Ji had made a very good point. Cultivation was important, yes, but now and then, a man really should visit the pleasure houses and relax.

Tsk. This wicked woman disturbing my Dao heart...

As he headed downstairs, Xu Yuan asked softly, “I haven’t seen you at the martial arena these past two days. Have you been cultivating the whole time?”

Su Jinxuan followed behind him with light, graceful steps. “Not entirely. Spending too long refining the bewitching spores can damage the sea of consciousness.”

Xu Yuan sighed faintly. Lou Ji had already told him what Su Jinxuan had been doing with the rest of her time.

She had been receiving Ying’er’s training.

“If you run into trouble, go to the estate steward and ask for a bottle of Soul Congealing Pills.”

Soul Congealing Pills were soul-type pills refined from the souls of fifth rank ghosts. They were useful for supporting cultivation related to the soul. The usual price was three hundred taels per pill, and one bottle cost several thousand taels.

Su Jinxuan had once managed mortal businesses, so of course she understood what that meant. After a few quiet breaths, she gently shook her head. To him, a few thousand taels might not count for much. To her, it was far too precious.

Back when she managed those businesses, tens of thousands of taels of silver had often passed through her hands, but all of that had belonged to the Skysteer Sect. Between her steward’s salary and the young miss’s monthly allowance, what she actually received each month was only around two hundred taels. Too many favors made for heavy debts. And heavy debts were not easy to repay.

“Thank you, but I’ll pass.”

Xu Yuan glanced at her and chuckled softly. Refusing meant she still has some dignity. Not bad.

“If you think that’s precious, the secret art I gave you is actually worth far more. Market price would probably be around 50,000 taels. Just think of this as me increasing my investment in you.”

Su Jinxuan said nothing.

Seeing that, Xu Yuan did not continue on the subject. Instead, he lowered his voice. “Right. There’s something I need to discuss with you.”

At those words, Su Jinxuan’s heartbeat inexplicably quickened. After a brief pause, she said softly, “Go ahead.”

The two of them reached the bottom of the stairs and walked out of the library. Outside lay that quiet, beautiful stretch of wetland and lake.

Xu Yuan looked toward the pavilion in the middle of the distant lake and said in a low voice, “The Blackscale Guards in the Imperial Capital told me there may be someone else behind Qin Weijiu.”

Su Jinxuan’s voice remained perfectly normal. “Mhm.”

“Your parents... well, what happened back then... tsk. The person behind Qin Weijiu... tsk. Forget it.” Xu Yuan fumbled through his wording for a while before finally asking directly, “The Blackscale Guards suspect Qin Weijiu has someone backing him. They want you to return to his side and act as an inside agent. What do you think?”

“Me?” Su Jinxuan froze on the surface, while her heartbeat sped up again. Still, she kept her voice calm, with only a faint hint of self-mockery. “Does what I think matter?”

“Of course it matters.” Xu Yuan glanced at her. “If you don’t want to go, forcing you would only backfire.”

Su Jinxuan’s chest rose and fell slightly. She lowered her eyes and, as usual, still could not see the tips of her toes. “Then... what’s your opinion?”