[Vol. 1] Chapter 31 - I... I Lived!
CLUNK.
Xiaolan's mind short-circuited. Without a second thought, she slammed the door shut in his face.
Why is he here? Did he come to harvest my soul?! Her mind worked overtime, remembering that Zhou had, in fact, promised to return to make up for rejecting the banquet.
Crack! The door was forcefully opened. Wenhao stood there, chuckling.
"Young miss, how could you be so rude as to shut me out?" It was like a scene from a horror movie, especially with his long white hair framing his face.
Xiaolan's legs lost all strength, and she automatically dropped to her knees. "Sir, it is highly inappropriate to enter a lady's room," she stated assertively in a cowardly position.
Wenhao stroked his chin. "Fair enough." Then, with a flick of his index finger, a surge of golden qi wrapped around her.
"Well then~ why don't you come out? Would that be more appropriate?" he asked, forcibly pulling her out of her room and into the courtyard.
You can't come in, so I should come out? What kind of fucked-up logic is that?! Xiaolan was dumbfounded.
"What could you possibly wish to discuss with an ordinary young miss like me?" she asked, her voice trembling.
"Oh, I simply want you to answer me honestly," Zhou said, his smile not reaching his cold eyes. "The Moonfire Fruit. Do you know what that is?"
"No," Xiaolan answered steadfastly. "I don't know what that is. Why?"
"Hm. Young Miss Feiyu mentioned a fruit," Zhou mused, his slit eyes locking onto hers.
"One that remarkably improved her meditation. You gave it to her." It wasn't a question, but a statement of fact.
"..." Xiaolan's silence was more telling than any answer. She was flustered, panicked, and filled with dread, already picturing her own gruesome death.
"Do you know who Yu Lan is?" Zhou pushed on, now more determined to tease her than to get a real answer.
"No~?" Xiaolan chirped innocently. She knew exactly who Yu Lan was—a shrine maiden tied to the third male lead, Lin Xiao's love route! But why is he asking this?
Beep.
"Oh? It seems you're lying, Miss Xiao." Zhou grinned. He was holding a small, octagon-shaped mirror that glowed a sinister red.
"..." Xiaolan's smile stiffened into a grimace. What?! This is unfair! A lie detector?!
"Staying silent? It appears you know about this artifact as well!" Zhou cackled.
A psychopath! A total maniac!
***
Meanwhile, Xiashi was passing by the moon gate leading to Xiaolan's residence. I heard Mr. Zhou is here. I should pay him a visit, she thought.
Hearing a commotion, she entered the courtyard. The scene before her was shocking. Mr. Zhou had Xiaolan slammed against the wall as if interrogating her.
"What do you want the jade tome for?" he demanded, his face dark. "If you can't answer within three seconds, I'll kill you."
"EH?? EH?!" Xiaolan sputtered.
"One. Two—" Zhou quickened his count.
"I just wanted to give it to Xiashi! I wanted to be her friend... for real!" Xiaolan screamed, flailing her arms protectively.
Beep.
The artifact in his hand glowed green. His face went blank. "...That's it? A shame."
Why does he look so disappointed?! A shame he doesn't kill me? Xiaolan wanted to cry. She didn't lie—she did want to give the jade tome to Xiashi.
The jade tome granted extensive knowledge of herbs and pill refining, but it was useless in the hands of Xiaolan, a complete idiot who currently had no qi in her dantian!
From the corner of his eye, Zhou spotted Xiashi standing by the moon gate.
"Tch~ Alright, you two share such a touching bond. My apologies for the trouble, Miss Lin," he said, his tone shifting to a casual dismissal.
Xiaolan slid down the wall. I... I lived!
"..." Zhou looked over his shoulder, a final smirk playing on his lips. "I'll visit you again next time~"
The promise of a "next time" was a death sentence. Utterly defeated, Xiaolan collapsed into a heap on the ground.
"Oh, and one more thing, Miss Xiaolan," Zhou added, a sly smirk playing on his lips.
"If you still want that jade tome, you'll have to earn it. I've taken the liberty of entering your name in the local martial competition. It begins in three days."
Zhou's lingering threat, combined with the sudden and terrifying prospect of the martial competition, was a double attack that made Xiaolan wish the ground would swallow her whole.
As his presence faded from the courtyard, the crushing fear began to recede, leaving behind a cold, hard lump of resolve in the pit of her stomach.
Five minutes passed, and Xiaolan felt a renewed determination to survive her trials.
Confronting a high-level cultivator had made her brutally aware of her own weakness. She was still in the body of a teenager with the soul of a 26-year-old transmigrator, but talking to Zhou had aged her soul by a hundred years!
"A martial competition..." she muttered, pushing herself up from the ground. Her original plan to gift it to Xiashi was genuine, but now it felt secondary, a convenient excuse.
First, she needed power. Not just to survive the next time that Grim Reaper decided to drop by, but to reach Qing Yao. To do that, she needed resources, influence, and strength she currently didn't possess.
Second, and more immediately, she needed to pay A-Ling...
An idea, desperate and cunning, sparked. The competition itself. If she could win, or even just make a notable showing, her status within the Lin family would inevitably rise.
With a higher status came privileges: better allowances, access to clan resources, and, most importantly, the ability to grant small favors.
She could promise A-Ling a transfer to a more prestigious post, a larger stipend, or protection.
It was a long shot, but it was the only shot she had.
From behind the wall, a faint, flustered whisper escaped Xiashi's lips. "...Xiaolan." Her face was flushed, a slender hand coming up to rest over her heart as if to calm it.
Xiaolan, still buzzing with her newfound, desperate resolve, was undeterred and unaware of Xiashi's presence behind the wall.
She was forbidden from leaving her residence on the east side, but no one had said anything about climbing.
Xiaolan climbed a plum blossom tree within her compound and settled comfortably on a thick branch.
From her perch, she caught snippets of conversation between maids. The kind of sour gossip the ever-curious Xiaolan couldn't help but eagerly listen to.
Maid 1 leaned in conspiratorially, her eyes wide with excitement. "Did you hear? Young Miss Lin Feiyu went into immediate seclusion after receiving a strange fruit!"
Maid 2 clasped her hands together, looking genuinely impressed. "How blessed the Lin clan is to have such a dedicated heir!"
"Too bad we didn't see the powerful fruit," Maid 1's expression soured as she let out a long, dramatic sigh. "Truly. But compared to Miss Xiaolan... poor Miss Xiashi is so unlucky..."
Maid 2 nodded vigorously as she leaned in closer, dropping her voice to a harsh whisper. "I know, right? Living in that unused guest room in the western platform... it must be so humiliating. Her status is now lower than even Xiaolan's!"
It should be known that Xiashi's courtyard was the furthest west, also a tier lower than the servant quarters, with another dilapidated servant quarter just two tiers below.
The reason it remained unused was simple. The original residents had been spooked into leaving by the local mad old woman, Lijuan, who screamed about a dog barking even when no barking could be heard.
Maid 1's eyes darted around nervously before she grabbed the other maid's arm. "Hush! Lower your voice! The walls have ears!"
...
Lower than even Xiaolan...? So, these servants see me that way. Xiashi lowered her head in deep thought.
Unnoticed by Xiaolan in her tree and the gossiping servants, a slender figure quietly retreated from the moon gate.
Xiashi turned away, her head bowed slightly as she disappeared down the paved path without a sound.