Miss Fairy, Please Hear Me Out

Zhou Chen hummed a little tune under his breath. He did not even bother looking back as he swayed his way lazily toward the top floor of the Drunken Immortal Tower. The moment he stepped out of the Bamboo Garden and turned the corner, he saw a man with soft, delicate features leaning against the blue-tiled wall with his arms folded. It was Si Ziyu.

Zhou Chen was not surprised to see him. Grinning, he called out, “Well, well. What made you finally come out?”

Much like Ying’er, Si Ziyu had kept himself hidden in the shadows these past few days and had never shown his face, to the point that Xu Yuan had assumed only Zhou Chen and Ying’er were guarding him.

Si Ziyu glanced at Zhou Chen, a faint smile hanging at the corner of his lips. “I saw you acting strangely, so I came out to ask. What is this supposed to mean? You’re planning to stick with the Third Young Master from now on?”

He had seen everything over the past few days. The Third Young Master’s behavior, and that earlier round of veiled warnings he had given Zhou Chen, had not escaped his notice.

Xu Yuan did have some tricks up his sleeve, but only some. For the Third Young Master, that much was indeed surprising. But on any other young master from a great clan, those tricks would have been nothing more than the bare minimum in the art of handling subordinates.

The Third Young Master’s change was enough to make this old friend of his rein himself in a little, but enough to make him this obedient? That was a bit much.

Zhou Chen chuckled and slapped Si Ziyu on the shoulder, motioning for him to walk and talk. “I never said I was going to follow the Third Young Master forever. Helping him with this stuff is just me making up for the stupid crap I pulled before. Besides, doing all this doesn’t cost me anything real, and it lets the Third Young Master save face, so why wouldn’t I?”

He paused, then pointed toward the top floor of the Drunken Immortal Tower and bared his teeth in a grin. “And if I keep the Third Young Master happy, there’s a payoff too.”

Si Ziyu knew he was talking about the two sisters, and his eyes filled with undisguised disdain.

Seeing that, Zhou Chen threw an arm around Si Ziyu’s shoulders and laughed. “You people care too much about pride. Lose a little face and suddenly it affects your state of mind and your cultivation. Si Ziyu, try thinking a little longer term. The Third Young Master has an Innate Dao Physique now. If he really does turn over a new leaf, then with how I’ve been acting, I’ll be the first real confidant at his side. And if he doesn’t, then at the very least there’ll still be no shortage of fun to be had in food, clothes, housing, and travel.”

The alley was silent, and their voices never carried beyond a few feet around them.

Si Ziyu shook his head helplessly and spat out two words. “Petty opportunist.”

Zhou Chen did not get angry. He nodded in full agreement. “Absolutely. I am a petty opportunist. I’m not like you pampered sons of great clans. I’m poor.”

Si Ziyu shot him a glance. He looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he kept it to himself. Letting out a sigh, he then asked, “By the way, what do you make of the Third Young Master’s change?”

At those words, Zhou Chen immediately turned and shot Si Ziyu a sidelong glance.

The two stared at each other for several breaths.

“What exactly are you trying to say?” The smile had vanished from Zhou Chen’s voice.

“Before the Eldest Young Master left, he told us to keep an eye on the Third Young Master,” Si Ziyu replied.

“You cultivate qi. You should know better than I do that possession doesn’t come with the host’s memories.”

Si Ziyu fell silent for a moment, narrowing his eyes. “That’s true. Possession doesn’t come with memories. But Zhou Chen, do you really think the old Third Young Master could have said what he said earlier? That whole little warning?”

Zhou Chen shook his head with a laugh and shot back, “Si Ziyu, do you really think that if the old Third Young Master had said the exact same thing, anyone would have listened?”

Si Ziyu said nothing.

Zhou Chen let out a long sigh and patted him on the back. “Don’t overthink it. We just report everything as it is. As for what it all means, let the Eldest Young Master and the Chancellor decide for themselves.”

“Mhm. Fine.”

“Ah, right. Want to come with me and have some fun on the top floor?”

“What?”

“There are twin sisters up there!”

“Screw off.”

“Hahaha...”

The elegant bamboo chamber fell quiet. All noise from the outside world had been shut out.

ᯓ➤

Sometimes, Xu Yuan felt that transmigration really was a wonderful thing. At the very least, transmigrating into this position was a wonderful thing. It let him see with his own eyes, up close, just how breathtakingly beautiful these heroine-level women really were, and even steal a little fragrance for himself.

Xu Yuan did not say anything more to this heroine, a woman born with seduction in her very bones. After speaking just now, he simply sat there quietly, watching the changes in Su Jinxuan’s expression. He wanted to use her next move to guess which route this world’s protagonist had taken.

In Azure Point, there were some story routes where Su Jinxuan had already met the protagonist by this point, and might even have begun to develop feelings for him.

The silence in the private room dragged on.

Su Jinxuan lightly pressed her red lips together and said nothing for a long while.

Seeing that she still had not moved, Xu Yuan raised his teacup for a small sip, his eyes fixed on her alluring peach-blossom gaze.

“Why are you not moving?”

At last, Su Jinxuan slowly spoke. “Third Young Master, please do not make things difficult for this little woman...”

Xu Yuan gave a soft laugh. “So it seems Miss Jinxuan needs a little help from me.”

As soon as he said that, Xu Yuan rose to his feet and walked toward Su Jinxuan.

The Third Young Master would not have been this direct. Not because he was some tenderhearted protector of women, but because after feasting on too many lavish banquets, he had developed a taste for this sort of teasing dance with beautiful women.

Life needed a sense of ceremony. The longer the foreplay, the sweeter the final bite. Though that was probably one of the reasons the Third Young Master had been so easily played by Su Jinxuan and turned into a hopeless lapdog.

Xu Yuan had no intention of giving Su Jinxuan any room to maneuver. He walked right up to her. Under the gaze of those eyes, he bent down and directly reached for the low neckline of the woman’s red robe. Not too fast, not too slow, but more than slow enough for her to react.

Su Jinxuan’s delicate body leaned back slightly and slipped away from his hand. In the same motion, she pulled the jade hairpin from her hair and pressed it to her throat, lips tight as she said, “Third Young Master, please do not do this...”

The jade pin came loose, and her long black hair spilled down like a waterfall. In the eyes of that seductive woman was a trace of stubbornness, perfectly measured.

As her words fell, as he looked at her expression, Xu Yuan felt a faint, almost imperceptible flicker of reluctance. But the next moment, seeing her hold the hairpin to her neck gave him such a ridiculous sense of deja vu that he could not help but laugh.

What era is this? And you’re still trying this routine? He couldn’t help but chuckle. “Pfft...”

Su Jinxuan bit her lip and pressed the hairpin inward with force.

The tip instantly pierced her pale skin, and thin streams of blood ran along her collarbone, slipping all the way down into that deep valley below.

Xu Yuan’s smile froze. He slowly took a step back and raised a hand. “Jinxuan, I was only joking. Why take it seriously?”

Su Jinxuan said nothing, only stared at him.

Xu Yuan smiled and retreated another two steps.

Only then did Su Jinxuan slowly lower the hairpin in her hand. Her chest rose and fell slightly, as though she had finally let out a breath of relief.

“Third Young Master should make fewer jokes like that...”

A thread of blood-colored source qi burst from Xu Yuan’s fingertip and shot through the air straight at the wrist holding the hairpin.

“Ah...” With a startled cry, Su Jinxuan had no ability to resist. The hairpin flew straight out of her hand.

But when Xu Yuan saw that, he did not press forward. Instead, he cautiously backed away another two steps.

He had realized that he was already being drawn in. His Innate Dao Physique made his soul especially tough and sensitive, and the Blood Origin Heartfall Art had an unusually strong rejection instinct. The moment he began circulating the art just now, Xu Yuan immediately noticed that this woman’s every move was tugging at his thoughts.