The following morning, an unexpected guest arrives at the Murong Mansion compound――Hua Ziqing, King Chu's shizi. [T/N]
"What a coincidence, we've met again!" Hua Ziqing greeted Murong Yunshu with a smile.
Coincidence? Murong Yunshu admired this innocent looking young man in front of her. How could it be a coincidence when he was the one who came to her home to 'meet her by chance'?
It was indeed a chance encounter for Hua Ziqing. He previously hadn't known that Murong Yunshu would be inside the other courtyard. He had come here to deliver an invitation to Steward Wu, asking him to represent the Murong Mansion at the banquet held at King Chu's residence tonight. "Since you are here, there is no need for me to look for Steward Wu anymore." Hua Ziqing took out the invitation and handed it to Murong Yunshu, asking with an expectant face, "You will go, right?"
Murong Yunshu didn't look at the invitation. Instead, she just walked past him and said, "You go to Steward Wu for this kind of thing. He is the one in charge of the money."
"......" From the way she spoke, she made it seem like Hua Ziqing was there to ask for her money. "Tonight's banquet is not just about fundraising, Father has other matters he would like to discuss with Steward Wu, and of course, now that you are back, Father must be more interested in discussing them personally with you."
"King Chu wants to see me?" Murong Yunshu asked while raising an eyebrow.
Hua Ziqing nodded. "Uh-huh."
"Then ask him to hand in the bai tie first, and I will see which day I have time to see him." Murong Yunshu's tone sounded unusually careless and condescending as if she was saying: Many people want to see me, so ask your father to queue up first.
For the first time in his life, Hua Ziqing met such a big-headed person that he was astounded for a long time before asking with a puzzled expression, "Are you joking with me?"
Murong Yunshu glanced at him and asked back, "Do I look like I'm joking?"
Hua Ziqing shook his head. "No. But......"
"I never joke with strangers." Murong Yunshu added.
The corner of Hua Ziqing's forehead jumped a few times. He asked with a nonchalant expression, "I......don't count as a stranger, do I?" Well, at least, this was the third time we met.
"Yes, you're not counted." Murong Yunshu nodded facetiously, then added, "But you're still very strange to me."
Hua Ziqing was confused. Not quite a stranger but very strange. Very strange but not quite a stranger, what a mess......suddenly, Hua Ziqing's brain made a sharp turn, and he finally understood! Not quite a stranger but very strange......stranger......strange......r...... very strange but......but not counted as a stranger. She was calling him out for not being a human being!
Hua Ziqing was furious as he questioned, "If you want to curse someone, why do you need to go round the curves and skirt the corners? You're cursing others and not letting them understand. Aren't you deliberately bullying people?"
Murong Yunshu hesitated for a moment, then said, "People who are so stupid that they don't even know that others are cursing themselves are not qualified to be scolded by me. If you don't understand, just take it as I didn't say anything. If you understand, then you are not stupid."
"According to you, it's still an honour to be cursed by you?"
Murong Yunshu raised her dark eyebrows and said divinely, "If you want to think so, I have no problem with it."
"But I do!"
"Then, keep it to yourself."
"......" Hua Ziqing was furious, but he suddenly giggled as he said, "Forget it, I can't argue with you. Let's get down to business. For the banquet tonight, you must come."
Murong Yunshu said, "Give me a reason."
"Reason......" Hua Ziqing thought about it for a moment. Then, his eyes suddenly snapped open as he skipped while feeling proud of himself. "If you want to know Chu Changge's background, go to the banquet tonight."
Chu Changge's background? Murong Yunshu was slightly shocked at his words, then shook her head and scoffed. "If I wanted to know Chu Changge's background, why would I need to ask someone irrelevant." What's more, wasn't Chu Changge the son of the former Sect Leader of the Mojiao Sect and the Fairy Yaoyue, and Chu Xiyue's brother from the same parents? So what other background could there be?
Hua Ziqing mysteriously smiled as he said, "The background I'm talking about is something that even Chu Changge himself doesn't know."
Hua Ziqing's tone was serious, not like he was fooling around. The smile under his eyes was clearly showed the smugness of having caught someone at a disadvantage, which made Murong Yunshu secretly alarmed. Could there be something else about Chu Changge's life? [+]
Hua Ziqing added, "If you go to the banquet, I'll tell you about Chu Changge's origin, and you won't lose any money on this deal no matter how you calculate it."
Murong Yunshu pointed out, "But it looks like you will lose money. A wise man will not make a deal that loses him money." So, Hua Ziqing must have something else in mind. But whatever he was calculating in his heart, it would be in vain because she never did deals that made her lose her money. "Since it is Chu Changge's origin, then you should go to him to make a deal. The money of the Mojiao Sect is no less than that of the Murong Mansion."
"Do you think I tried every means to invite you to the banquet tonight so that I can get you to donate money?" Hua Ziqing asked with a smile.
Murong Yunshu smiled without saying a word. She did not nod or shake her head, and she had an expression that was so unfathomable on her face.
Hua Ziqing was most afraid of her showing that kind of expression because he honestly couldn't guess what was truly inside her mind. "Chu Changge is your future husband. Don’t you want to know what exactly kind of person you are going to marry?" Hua Ziqing took the initiative to lobby.
Murong Yunshu chuckled and said, "I know who he is better than you do."
Hua Ziqing emphasised, "I mean his origin, his background."
Murong Yunshu smiled lightly. "I don't want to marry his ancestor, so why should I care about his background? Besides, what other background could be worse than him being in the Mojiao Sect?"
A few words from her blocked Hua Ziqing to death. He could not even utter a single word in rebuttal.
At this time, a lazy and dangerous voice came from above――
"Madam thinks it's worse for me being in Mojiao Sect?" Before the words completely left his mouth, Chu Changge was already standing beside Murong Yunshu, holding her by the waist, and his seemingly tender but wicked eyes seemed to say: if you don't want to be unable to get out of bed tomorrow, then just nod your head.
Murong Yunshu was not at all surprised that he would appear. She looked sideways at him and smiled. "I don't dislike you, do I?"
"...... Many thanks, Madam, for not disliking me." His tone was full of him abandoning himself to despair.
Murong Yunshu pursed her lips, and then she smiled lightly. "You're welcome."
Chu Changge gave her a doting glare before looking at Hua Ziqing. His high, diagonally sword eyebrows twitched as he asked, "Does King Chu mistreat you?"
"No! Father treats me very well." Hua Ziqing replied smoothly.
Chu Changge questioned, "If King Chu has treated you well, why did you come to seek death?"
This time Hua Ziqing couldn't go on. His mouth was fumbling, his tongue was in a knot, and it took him a long time to sort out his words. "When did I seek death?"
"Still not leaving? Aren't you waiting for me to give you a good time?" Chu Changge's tone was as calm as ever.
Hua Ziqing, however, was not calm. He shrunk his neck and took two steps back while saying, "Why are you such an uncivilized person? You're always fighting and killing others at every turn."
"See, you still won't admit that you're here to seek death." Chu Changge made a mild comment on the matter.
Hua Ziqing, however, listened with his gallbladder shivering and his heart alarm. His intuition and experience told him that he would go out lying down if he didn't leave at this point. So, he decisively chose to smear oil on his feet and slip away. On his way out, he did not forget to throw the invitation to Chu Changge, once again emphasising his intention, "If you want to know your past, go to the banquet tonight."
With a lift of his hand, Chu Changge caught the invitation easily with his two fingers and waved it to Murong Yunshu, asking, "Want to go?"
"That's up to you."
Chu Changge said, "I don't like it when people dress up as God while playing a demon in front of me."
Murong Yunshu stated, "I don't like having 'demons' watching me when I eat."
"Okay, we won't take the nine of them."
Hidden in the shadows, the nine men silently felt resentful. If demons grew up just to be exactly like them, could they still be called demons? If they went to heaven, they would become immortals…...
*
After the loss of dusk, the large red lanterns in the King Chu's residence porch were lit up one by one, illuminating the royal residence with bright lights. Along with their vermilion boxes, wealthy merchants were welcomed into the royal residence one after another. When Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge saw all the guests had almost arrived, they stepped out of Murong Mansion and walked towards the opposite door, with both of their sleeves flowing in the breeze. [T/N]
As soon as the steward in charge of welcoming guests at the royal residence saw the two appear, he immediately piled up another layer of smiles on his already smiling face and enthusiastically ushered them into the residence personally. "Miss Murong, Sect Master Chu, please come in. Please."
Although the steward's face was piled with a smile, Murong Yunshu still heard his voice visibly tremble a few times when he said 'Sect Master Chu'. A particular person's name had a really 'dangerous' reputation! Murong Yunshu abruptly curled her lips up. [+]
As soon as she stepped into the royal residence, Murong Yunshu stopped in her tracks and said, "We agreed not to bring them here."
Chu Changge curled his lips in a smile and assured her, "Don't worry, they won't set their foot inside the royal residence."
Hearing the conversation between the two, the steward leading the way looked puzzled. Who was brought here? Who would not step into the royal residence? Except for the two of them, the rest of the people here were from the Wang Residence. There was no one else at all!
"How on earth did you find out about them?" Chu Changge asked. The reason he had asked the Killing Demons to follow him here tonight without changing his expression was to find out exactly how she had detected them. But he had been observing her all the way, but he could not see any clues, so he had to ask the one inferior to him without feeling any shame.
The nine men hiding in various corners of the room also immediately pricked up their ears; they would not die until they understood why.
Murong Yunshu answered with a smile, "I can smell them."
"You can smell them?" Chu Changge was puzzled.
"Uh-huh." Murong Yunshu explained, "There are a hundred kinds of flowers, and each one smells different. When you remember the smell of a certain kind of flower, you can identify what kind of flower it is whenever you encounter that smell in the future. During the three months I was under house arrest in the Five Poisons Sect, I had nothing to do. I noticed that many poisonous flowers and plants in the courtyard had different smells, so I started to study their differences. So later, I could surely identify the types of those flowers and plants as soon as I moved my nose."
Chu Changge suddenly understood and continued for her, "So once you distinguished the smell of all the flowers and plants, you became bored again and started to study the smell of people around you."
"Not bad." Murong Yunshu said, "When I noticed nine different smells surrounding me at all times, I guessed that there must be nine people hiding in the shadows."
Hearing Murong Yunshu's explanation, the nine of them felt a huge relief then. It turned out that she didn't have any special abilities, but just a better nose than theirs. There was nothing for them to envy. Having a dog's nose was even better! When they thought of this, the nine of them felt happier than ever! After being undermined for so long, they had finally turned the tables for once!
It would be even more enjoyable if they could say this out loud and share it with everyone. However, when one was in Mojiao, their bodies weren't theirs anymore. Thus, all the words against the Leader and Madam were destined to be held in their heart. They indeed deserved to die. Who taught them to be inferior to others?
The steward of Wang Residence, who had been at a loss, finally heard the critical point――nine people were hiding in the dark.
He had to inform His Highness as soon as possible.
Noob Translator's Musing
UPDATE 21.09.2021: I've updated Bewitching Fairy Yue to Fairy Yaoyue. Sorry 🙇♀️
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Black Belly Wife