As he spoke, Xu Qi’an flicked a finger and lit the candle on the table. A warm orange glow gently drove back the darkness.
The Flower Goddess sat by the bed, one hand clutching her collar and the other pointing at Xu Qi’an as she scolded:
“Bah, you brazen little animal. If you dare touch me, I’ll scream for help and ruin your reputation. Let’s see if your second uncle and Auntie won’t beat you to death.”
The woman by the bed had her lovely hair spilling down in lazy disarray, her features as delicate as a painting. She seemed to have slipped into the role of an elder, her pretty brows raised in anger, blending “trying hard to maintain a stern front” with “panic at about to be violated” to perfection.
The faint lines beneath her watery eyes added a kind of exquisite charm that was enough to stir a man’s lust.
The way she tightly held her collar only made her bluster and inward weakness all the more obvious.
Xu Qi’an had thought he’d already grown fully accustomed to the Flower Goddess’s charm, and that he wouldn’t be overwhelmed by desire any more… He was still too young.
Co-operating, he put on the grin of a dissolute young master and delivered the classic line:
“To die beneath a peony flower is to remain charming even as a ghost. You can scream your throat raw, and no one’ll come save you.”
He flicked a finger, and his qi spread like a barrier, covering the roof and sealing all sound inside the room.
It wasn’t an array, nor was it a spell, just the crudest application of qi.
Mu Nanzhi gave a frightened gasp and retreated again and again, shrinking from the bedside into the inner corner, her back pressed against the wall. She said in a trembling voice:
“I, I still have a Yao guard…”
As she spoke, she looked towards the fox cub curled up by the pillow, fast asleep.
This cub is the guard… Xu Qi’an nearly burst out laughing. He instantly understood Mu Nanzhi’s meaning, reached out and brushed a hand over the bedhead, and took Baiji into the Stupa tower.
Now there was no one left to disturb them.
Xu Qi’an slipped inside the bed curtains, twisted the Flower Goddess’s hands behind her back, sat down on the soft, springy peach, and snarled with a grin:
“Aunt Mu?
“Not bad. One trip to my house and you’ve become my elder. Going the long way round just to take advantage of me, are you? Did neglecting you for a while leave you full of resentment?”
Given what he knew of the Flower Goddess, her mischievous use of the “elder” identity to suppress him came partly from her habit of causing trouble whenever she felt like it, and partly from her lack of security.
So she had to assert her presence.
He tugged the back of Mu Nanzhi’s collar down, immediately exposing her smooth fragrant shoulders and a great expanse of snowy jade-like back.
Mu Nanzhi gave a soft whimper. A blush spread across her cheeks, and even the tips of her ears turned red, but she still refused to admit it and cried:
“Nonsense, you’re a little animal.”
With her tsundere temperament, she would never admit that she was stirring up trouble just to fight for favour and attention.
After stripping off her inner robe, Xu Qi’an next tugged away her silk trousers, then clicked his tongue and mocked her:
“Aunt Mu’s especially sensitive today. Looks like you’ve missed me terribly.”
Mu Nanzhi bit her lip. Taking a broken-jar-can’t-be-mended attitude, she said angrily:
“Little beast, if I let you have your way today, tomorrow I’ll definitely expose you and ruin your reputation.”
The candle burned like a bean, quietly and steadily. The shadow of the bed curtains fell upon the wall, as though stirred by wind, swaying and trembling without pause.
No one knew how much time passed before the wind finally stilled and the bed curtains returned to calm.
Then one shadow was carried to the writing desk by the window, and the outline of that shadow was cast by candlelight upon the window frame.
This went on for a quarter of an hour. The figure sitting on the desk was carried away, and soon the room was filled with the sound of splashing water. Of course, the sound was firmly confined within the room and didn’t spread outside.
Bang!
The sound of a teacup and teapot smashing replaced the sound of water, followed by the repeated thumping of the round table being knocked.
“As expected, dual cultivation’s better than breathing exercises. Your spiritual essence is tremendously useful to me. Later, I’ll teach you how to cultivate. That’ll improve your ability to protect yourself a great deal.”
Xu Qi’an bent down and kissed her snow-white neck.
Mu Nanzhi sprawled languidly over the round table and hummed weakly:
“I want to cultivate the Dao. I want to become an Earthly Immortal too.”
“I poured so much qi into your body. Wouldn’t cultivating the Dao be a waste? If you practised martial arts instead, at most it’d take you two years to advance to beyond-mortal.”
“I don’t want that. I want to be an Earthly Immortal.”
Their voices gradually faded, and the bed curtains once again began to sway in the wind, rocking ceaselessly.
…
The next day.
Auntie rose with two dark circles under her eyes, her expression weary, and under Lyu’e’s attendance she finished dressing.
Xu Pingzhi hadn’t slept all night. At times he had tossed and turned in bed, and at times he’d sat blankly by the table in a daze, causing Auntie to sleep badly too, often waking her.
Auntie could understand her husband’s mood. Xu Pingzhi often said that when he was young, their parents had both died, and he and his elder brother had depended on each other.
No matter how utterly deranged Xu Pingfeng had later become, Auntie believed that the brotherly affection between them in those early years hadn’t been false.
But so what? What did that have to do with her? All she knew was that Xu Pingfeng was a cold-blooded beast who had wanted to kill the child she’d raised with her own hands.
So last night Auntie hadn’t offered a single word of comfort.
If she didn’t beat drums and gongs to celebrate Xu Pingfeng getting what he deserved, that already counted as very virtuous of her.
“Still drinking, and the whole place reeks of alcohol…”
Auntie waved a hand in disgust and said:
“Take away the empty jars on the table.”
After instructing Lyu’e, she walked to the window and pushed it open. Cool air rushed towards her, and Auntie felt immediately refreshed.
Suddenly, her gaze sharpened. Across the courtyard, she saw that the door to the room diagonally opposite had opened, and that unlucky nephew of hers was walking out.
Why’s he coming out of my sister’s room first thing in the morning…?
Auntie’s heart tightened. Her fine brows furrowed as she said gravely:
“Lyu’e, come with me!”
Her skirts fluttered as she strode swiftly out of the room.
…
Mu Nanzhi was curled up on the messy bed in utter exhaustion, her hair dishevelled. Hearing the sounds of the door opening and closing, she muttered:
“Little beast…”
Just after muttering it, she felt something and opened her eyes, only to see the little beast who had rammed into her all night crawl out from the shadows beneath the round table.
“Auntie just saw me coming out of your room.”
Looking at Mu Nanzhi, whose expression changed abruptly, Xu Qi’an said with gloating delight:
“So I’ve come back to announce our true relationship, to save you taking advantage of me.”
Let’s make you socially die for once too.
Mu Nanzhi shot upright from the bed in panic, clutching the thin blanket around her graceful body with one hand while crouching down with the other to gather the scattered dudou, undertrousers, and other intimate garments from the floor.
Given the state of the room, even if Auntie came in and saw no man, she’d still be able to tell that she’d been fooling around with one last night.
How could she possibly keep staying in the Xu residence after that?
She should never have kept pretending.
If she’d simply admitted her relationship with Xu Qi’an openly and generously from the start, no one could’ve found fault. Yet she had insisted on calling his auntie her sister, and now if word got out, it’d become a story of her seducing the younger generation of her sworn younger sister.
The Flower Goddess cared about face.
At that moment, footsteps approached. They had already reached the door.
Mu Nanzhi abruptly lifted her head to stare at the door, looking as if she were about to cry.
Suppressing a laugh, Xu Qi’an used qi to control objects and tidied the chaotic room. The shattered teacup and teapot rose into the air of their own accord and vanished into his chest, entering the Earth Book fragment.
The dudou and underwear flew up nimbly and hung neatly on the clothes stand.
The splashed water around the bath barrel evaporated on its own, and the disordered ornaments on the writing desk returned to their proper places.
The extinguished sandalwood incense in the golden beast burner reignited itself, smoke curling softly as it dispelled the lingering scent.
He had actually done it on purpose, letting Auntie see him as revenge on the Flower Goddess, making her die socially. Otherwise, how could there have been such a coincidence?
But seeing her so flustered, almost in tears, Xu Qi’an softened again.
After all, the Flower Goddess was his wife. She wasn’t like those fox-friends and dog-companions in the Heaven and Earth Society.
Just as he finished restoring everything to its original state, the knock came at the door and Auntie’s voice sounded from outside:
“Sister, are you awake?”
“I—I’m awake…” Mu Nanzhi looked at Xu Qi’an and widened her eyes, urging him silently with her lips:
Go, quickly.
Xu Qi’an dissolved into a patch of shadow and vanished from the room.
Mu Nanzhi looked around, saw there was nothing obviously amiss, quickly climbed onto the bed, covered herself tightly from head to toe, then pinched her voice and replied:
“Come in, the door’s unlocked.”
The door really was unlocked, because Xu Qi’an had just gone out through it.
Auntie pushed the door open and entered, her eyes unconsciously sweeping around the room. First the bed with its curtains lowered, then the round table, then the bath barrel behind the screen.
Finally, her gaze returned to the bed. Bringing Lyu’e with her, she walked over and said:
“I just saw Dalang come out of your room.”
Auntie’s straightforward nature was on full display.
Mu Nanzhi felt awkward at once, because what that sounded like was:
Why was there a man coming out of your room so early in the morning? What did you two do last night?
“I don’t know if I caught a chill last night, but I didn’t sleep at all and my head aches terribly.” Mu Nanzhi raised a hand and pressed her brow, her tone weak. “So this morning I asked Baiji to invite Silver Gong Xu over to have a look. Fortunately it’s nothing serious. Silver Gong Xu just transferred some qi into me. He said sleeping for a while would be enough.”
So that’s what it was… Auntie believed her. She studied Mu Nanzhi for a moment and found that there really was an inescapable weariness between her brows and eyes, as if she truly hadn’t slept the whole night.
“Makes sense. Dalang’s some kind of first rank martial artist now, and seems terribly impressive. If there’s any trouble or discomfort, asking him will definitely solve it.” Auntie felt she’d handled it properly and said, “I’ll have Lyu’e stay in the room and look after you.”
With absolutely nothing on beneath the covers, Mu Nanzhi didn’t dare leave anyone in the room and hurriedly shook her head:
“Ningyan said sleeping a bit would be enough. I think what I need more is peace and quiet.”
Auntie thought it over and felt that was reasonable, so she said:
“Then we won’t disturb you.”
With that, she led Lyu’e out over the threshold, closed the door, and left.
After walking some way down the corridor, Lyu’e covered her mouth and laughed.
“What were you thinking, Madam? How could Dalang possibly fancy Aunt Mu?”
She had served by Madam’s side for more than ten years, and at a glance she could see her concern.
Auntie nodded.
“I didn’t think it likely either. It’s just that Lingyue told me Aunt Mu probably has feelings for Dalang, and then today I saw Dalang coming out of her room, so naturally I overthought it.
“It’s all that girl’s fault, that Lingyue. She’s always imagining things, and now she’s rubbed off on me too.”
She was an experienced woman. If Dalang and Sister Mu really had done something last night, she would’ve seen through it just now.
…
Sitianjian, ground floor.
Two Arcanists in white walked through the dim corridor and arrived before a certain door at the end. Respectfully, they said:
“Senior Sister Zhong, Silver Gong Xu sent us to bring two prisoners, and he also asks that you come out with us. He wants to take you back to his manor.”
Zhong Li, who had been sitting cross-legged with her head lowered, raised her head. Through the loose-hanging strands of hair, her eyes shone brightly, glittering with delight.
The two white-robed Arcanists added:
“You’d better come up on your own a bit later. Don’t take the same route as us.”
… Zhong Li gave a somewhat aggrieved “oh”.
The two white-robed Arcanists immediately turned back, each opening an iron door and saying to the people in the “cells”:
“Come out. Silver Gong Xu wants to see you!”
In the two cells facing one another lived Xu Yuanshuang and Xu Yuanhuai respectively.
Hearing that Xu Qi’an wanted to see her, what Xu Yuanshuang thought was how he planned to deal with her and Yuanhuai.
Xu Yuanhuai, however, instinctively assumed that the war between the Great Feng and Yunzhou had reached an extremely deadlocked stage. Counting the days, the Yunzhou army had most likely already reached the capital by now.
That elder blood brother choosing to see them at such a critical moment for the Great Feng could mean no good at all. Most likely he meant to use him and his sister as bargaining chips to threaten their father.
The siblings walked out of their cells and exchanged a look across the corridor at the doorway, each seeing unease in the other’s eyes.
Given their father’s iron heart, and Xu Qi’an’s decisiveness in killing, their end wouldn’t be a good one.
Xu Yuanhuai drew a deep breath and said:
“Has the Yunzhou army reached the capital?”
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