Chapter 261: I Want To Sleep With You Tonight
Shu Chen studied Gu Xiqiao from top to bottom, her eyes seemingly burning as she scrutinized the girl in front of her. Gu Xiqiao fidgeted nervously, not knowing where to place her arms and legs, but Shu Chen ignored her fidgeting, and then she suddenly stepped forward to enveloped her in a bear hug.
In the past, the woman wouldn’t have done this, as it differed too much from her usual temperament.
But today, it was different! The more she looked at Gu Xiqiao, the more satisfied she felt in her heart. Not only was she beautiful, she had also saved her once before. The girl was pleasing no matter what angle you looked at her!
Gu Xiqiao was stiff in her arms, mainly because apart from Tang Yanling, there were so few women who would give her hugs that were filled with such warmth.
There was a faint perfume smell coming from Shu Chen’s body, it wasn’t that strong, it was the kind that was more of an aftertaste. Her face was painted with delicate makeup, graceful features that were kind and it washed away the chill that was in her deep eyes.
She never noticed this previously, but now that she was looking closer, Shu Chen’s eyes were very similar to that of Jiang Shuxuan’s. If she squinted and looked closer, with just a little bit heavier pressure, her eyes would be exactly the same as the man.
Then tension in Gu Xiqiao vanished instantly at the thoughts, and she greeted softly, “Aunt Shu.”
Shu Chen felt her heart melt at the soft voice, and she almost wanted to tell Gu Xiqiao to call her ‘mom’ instead, but it didn’t seem right to do so on their first proper meeting. She cleared her throat. “Qiao Qiao, I’m sure you’re hungry. Just wait, there’s a dish that’s my signature dish and it’s already steaming. I’ll go and see if it’s done!”
She rushed off to the kitchen after saying that, going to prepare dinner with Mrs. Zhang.
Jiang Shuxuan stood next to Gu Xiqiao, and he felt as though a stone had lifted from his heart. WIth Shu Chen’s previous attitude, he had been slightly fearful that his mother wouldn’t like Gu Xiqiao. Although in his mind, who wouldn’t like her? Either way, he still couldn’t help the doubts and anxiety that he felt.
“Brother Jiang.” Gu Xiqiao gritted her teeth, glaring at the man. How could he not give her a single word of warning at all?!
Really, she was almost frightened to death!
Jiang Shuxuan rubbed her head gently. “What are you afraid of? My beautiful wife has always wanted to meet her husband’s mother anyway.”
‘What? Are you trying to be cute? Do you think you’re cute? Exactly like Xixi, you’re looking for a beating, aren’t you?!’
Gu Xiqiao didn’t feel like talking to Jiang Shuxuan at the moment, and she brushed his hand away. She turned around and walked towards Baili Bin and the others, who had already started back up their card games during the entire scene. Baili Bin was currently leaning on the sofa, watching Tang Qinghong’s cards.
“How is Aunt Shu?” Baili Bin’s lips curved up, looking at Gu Xiqiao with a gentle expression.
“At least I wasn’t scared to death.” Gu Xiqiao glanced at the direction of the kitchen, then whispered to Baili Bin. “Big Brother Baili, did you already know about it?”
Although she had posed it as a question, she was positive that he already knew. No wonder he had acted so weirdly when she was leading Aunt Shu around the compound the other day.
Baili Bin was calm as he answered, “Of course.” He glanced at Uncle Tai, and the older man immediately brought a box over.
“These are some things that Grandfather has picked for you.” Baili Bin leaned over to open the box, revealing treasures inside. “Grandfather found a full set of ancient jade. Take a look and see if you like it?”
Gu Xiqiao bent down to look, reaching out to stroke the smooth surface of the jade stones. She was shocked when her fingers touched it, feeling the spiritual fluctuations coming from it. These were no ordinary jade stones, and people in the ancient martial arts world would definitely be fighting over these treasures if they were able to. She couldn’t believe that Baili Qu would give an entire set of it to her.
“It’s too much, a waste to give it to me.” The Baili family had been delivering a lot of gifts intermittently, it almost looked like the entire stock of the Baili family’s treasures had been given to her, from the looks of it.
“It’s not,” Baili Bin replied lightly. These things were suited for her use, it wasn’t easy for the Baili family to be able to regain their footing and even find a tremendous treasure such as her. If he could, he’d bring everything that the Baili family had for her to use. A waste? What was that? “If there is anything missing, or if you need anything else in the future, just let me know.”
When Yao Jiamu saw this, he immediately tossed down the cards in his hand. He had also brought some things with him this time, it was some items that Boss Bai had collected for Gu Xiqiao from England. It was obviously not as rare as the items that Baili Bin gave her, but they were comparable.
Anyway, they’ve all developed a habit of getting things that looked interesting or expensive, no matter what it was, in order to give to Gu Xiqiao when they could.
“Ah, so it seemed that the set of jade stones was taken in by you.” Yao Jiamu saw the jade stones in her hands that she was playing with, and laughed. “No wonder the auction house refused to tell me anything when I inquired about it that time.”
The one who had bought it was the Baili family, one of the big families in the ancient martial arts world. No wonder the people at the auction house didn’t dare to say anything about them to him.
Yao Jiamu smiled when he thought about it. The things had ended up in Gu Xiqiao’s hands in the end, and that was what mattered the most. It didn’t matter who was the one who gave it to her in the end.
When Shu Chen came out from the kitchen, it was to the scene of Baili Bin and Yao Jiamu handing a good load of things to Gu Xiqiao. The items were so expensive and valuable that even she was shocked to see it here. Handing the plate in her hands to the butler, she took out her own gift for the girl.
Fortunately, the gifts she brought today were no less comparable to what Baili Bin had brought. Shu Chen thought to herself that once she returned to the house, she would go through the Jiang family treasures again to see what she could find.
Gu Xiqiao found herself once again piled with gifts till she couldn’t hold them all.
The values of the gifts were precious, and she was overwhelmed to the point that her legs felt like they couldn’t support her.
After dinner, Gu Xiqiao didn’t leave, but got down to business instead. The people present all knew each other, and Gu Xiqiao wasn’t avoiding them now, handling the matters all together.
Zhu Yuan started off first, handing a folder to her that he had brought along. “Our labs are full, and we’ve conducted our studies on the human brains. There are a lot of renowned doctors that have come to the capital, do you want to meet them?”
Jiji was sitting next to Gu Xiqiao, playing games on a computer. Hearing his words, it couldn’t help but raise its head and said, “You want Beauty Qiao to go over there and smash their buttons?”
Zhu Yuan: “…” He… had no comeback for that one.
“I’ll go.” Gu Xiqiao’s eyes narrowed. “Senior Zhu, I hope you remember the purpose and objectives that the lab was made for in the first place.”
Zhu Yuan’s lips twitched at her words, and he wanted to laugh at that. However, he couldn’t, because he held earnest respect towards this girl in front of him.
This was the person who had published her research results to all the doctors without omitting any part of it, and even took the time to explain any doubts or questions that had risen from everyone. If Zhu Yuan hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would probably still be in denial of it all. There really was such a person in this world, that did things without expecting anything in return.
Zhu Yuan took the file and moved slowly to the other side of the room, beginning to plan the development of the laboratory in his mind. The things that he had once been impatient about were now turning out to be quite handy. As expected, he was becoming used to being ordered around by Gu Xiqiao. He gave a sigh at the thought.
Yu Ning took the chance while Luo Wenlang was talking to Gu Xiqiao to squeeze himself into the discussion. “Boss Gu, we should sit down and have an in-depth discussion about the development of the virtual world.”
“In a few days.” Gu Xiqiao spared Yu Ning a glance, then turned back to Luo Wenlang. Luo Wenlang had brought a bunch of documents with him, and she was flipping through them one by one at a fast speed.
There were also matters about Yao Jiamu’s training grounds, and Gu Xiqiao thought that an on-site survey would be better.
And so after that, the others got down and started up their card game again. Jiang Shuxuan had been dragged into it by Baili Bin, and the former ended up with his face full of sticky notes on it as punishment.
Gu Xiqiao took less than an hour to deal with the mess regarding the labs and Nine Heavens, then she reached out to take the cards from Jiang Shuxuan’s hands.
Half an hour later, Yao Jiamu, Wu Hongwen, and Yin Shaoyuan were the ones sporting sticky notes all over their faces.
“…” How did you do that?! The three of them had clearly banded together, swapping cards where needed, but she still managed to win them despite all the effort they put in?
Gu Xiqiao merely spared them a glance. Hmph, who asked you to bully others!
Jiang Shuxuan smiled at them without a word.
Shu Chen had finished posting Moments from her WeChat, and when she raised her head, she saw Gu Xiqiao flipping through some files. It looked like she was dealing with some important matters. She had a lazy expression on her face, and looked like she wasn’t really paying attention, but the man sitting beside her was holding a pen and taking down the things that she was saying with rapt attention.
“What is Qiao Qiao doing? Who is that man? And why do I feel that Zhu Yuan respects her more than Divine Doctor Rong?” Shu Chen was stunned to see such.
Butler Jiang stood beside her, his eyes on Gu Xiqiao. After a long while, he finally let out a long sigh. “Madam, Miss Gu really isn’t some random person.”
After saying that, he handed his phone to Shu Chen, and her eyes widened more if that was possible at what she saw.
The butler had watched as Shu Chen browsed through Gu Xiqiao’s Weibo, and so he did his own research in the meantime, and the results were shocking.
This year’s national ranker, genius painter, the founder of the medical laboratory that every top international doctor yearned to enter, Nine Heavens, the most promising newcomer in performing arts that could even compare to Li Yu, adding on her ancient martial arts level… taking any one of the mentioned talents was enough to make an ordinary person proud.
Unexpectedly, all these talents and titles were on one single person, and Shu Chen couldn’t help but stare at Gu Xiqiao’s face once again. The child’s expression was still indifferent, but her face was beautiful, delicate, and lazy. The only thing you couldn’t see on her face was arrogance.
It was no wonder all these people had so much faith and respect for her.
Shu Chen left out a breath, she was still a little dazed from all the information.
Butler Jiang took a call, and then he said to her in a low voice, “Madam, I just heard that Jiang Tong has stopped by the Elders’ Association.”
When the elders were mentioned, Shu Chen first thought of the group of them who had been pissed off by Gu Xiqiao, and had been chanting scriptures for days after, and her heart was extremely calm. She could already guess what Jiang Tong had in mind when she went to the Elders’ Association. “I’m sure she’s informing them about Shuxuan’s relationship with a regular person, right? No matter, let her talk.”
If Gu XIqiao really was a regular person, she might have been moved to head back to deal with the elders, but now… If the elders saw that the person beside Jiang Shuxuan was Gu Xiqiao, their hearts would probably shrivel up and die! Oh, what fun it was to think about that happening.
She couldn’t wait for her daughter-in-law to head into the ancient martial arts world and start poking at everyone there!
“As expected, Jiang Tong is just full of drama.” Shu Chen said lightly, a cold glint flickering in her deep eyes.
She raised her head again, meeting Gu Xiqiao’s gaze coincidentally, and the coldness in her eyes melted away into warmth.
“Let’s go back a while tomorrow, to collect some things from the treasure house.” No wonder Baili Bin and the others sent whatever things that they found to be good here, having seen the way her eyes had lit up at the sight of the gifts. If it were her, she too would treat her like a treasured baby!
The group of people only left when it was almost midnight.
After Gu Xiqiao had taken a shower, she sat in front of her computer, typing away with both hands.
Jiji, who was sitting next to her, opened its mouth suddenly. “Beauty Qiao, there’s someone searching for your information again. I’ve blocked it already, and I can promise you they found nothing.”
“Who is it?” Gu Xiqiao raised an eyebrow.
“Let me see…” Jiji raised its hand, a transparent panel appearing in front of it. “It’s the secretary of the Chu Enterprise Group.”
Sliding its hand over the panel, the information on Secretary Chu Ziheng appeared.
“It’s this person.” Just as it appeared, Gu Xiqiao had just finished the string of codes that she was typing, and a picture of a person appeared on her screen. Jiji glanced over, and nodded. “Yeap, that’s him!”
“That’s weird.” Gu Xiqiao turned the picture of Chu Ziheng over, the picture showing a poetic and passionate side of the person. She squinted at the picture as she tapped a finger to her lips. “I feel that the person I saw tonight differs from this picture slightly.”
“Isn’t it the same person?” Jiji put a more recent picture of Chu Ziheng on display. “Then what about this one?”
“I don’t know…” Gu Xiqiao wanted to say something more, but then someone knocked on her door three times.
She tapped a random key on the keyboard, and the information on screen vanished instantly. She got up to open the door, finding Shu Chen’s gentle and warm face greeting her. “Qiao Qiao, I want to sleep with you tonight!”
Jiang Shuxuan, who was holding a book and just came out from the study: “…”
Chapter 262: Knock Their Socks Off
Shu Chen was happily holding onto her pillow as she came to Gu Xiqiao’s room, and as she walked in, she flashed a smile at Jiang Shuxuan, closing the door with a ‘bang’.
Jiang Shuxuan pressed his finger against his temple, whipping out his phone as he sent a text message—[Can you control your wife?]
Ten minutes later, the other replied—[You talk as though you can manage yours?]
This was the second time now.
Jiang Shuxuan raised his head, frowning as a helpless, reluctant look crossed his face.
He stood beside the door, turbulent in his deep, black eyes. After a while, he turned and left the area.
***
Inside the room, Gu Xiqiao had already deleted the page filled with Chu Ziheng’s information. Jiji sat in the chair that she had vacated, already playing the online game from Nine Heavens, even wearing the virtual helmet. Gu Xiqiao rubbed her head as she looked at the scene.
Jiji, do you have any brains? Do you need the helmet? You can invade an entire network with just a thought and sitting on the ground. Do you really need this?
What stunned her more was what Shu Chen said next.
“Qiao Qiao, what game is this robot playing? It looks very fun!”
And so, Gu Xiqiao chased Jiji away, and taught her future mother-in-law how to play the online game. As she did, she thought about what would happen if Shu Chen became an internet addict, would Jiang Shuxuan want to beat her to death for making this happen?
Gu Xiqiao found another laptop, then got another stool and helped Shu Chen to register an account.
When filling up the account username, Shu Chen glanced at the name that Gu Xiqiao used, and filled in her own—A Blooming Dawn.
Gu Xiqiao glanced at the name, and her insides became（⊙o⊙）! (Editor note: Because in Chinese 一夕花晨, is in a similar format as Gu Xiqiao’s 一顾千年 For A Millenium)
On the outside however, she merely glanced at the name, then immediately logged into her own account and brought Shu Chen around to complete her daily quests. Because the quests were lower level and relatively simple, she was quick in her actions. As she did the tasks, she also watched the alliance chat. There were still so many people online in the game, and not only were they online, they were quite active too.
Glancing at the chat again, she noted that the discussion was all about the offline meeting.
Under Smoke On Water’s leadership, their guild had become the number one guild in the server. They also had countless masters in their guild, in addition to the local tyrant that was Tang Qingqiu, who had injected a quite a sum of money into the guild, they had more members and was growing more powerful over the days. There were many who became professional players and were also earning money from the games they were playing.
After close to four months of socializing, there was somewhat a feeling of closeness.
[Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: Remember it’s the day after tomorrow… wait, it’s midnight already. So it’s tomorrow, in the capital. We won’t leave until we see each other.
[Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: I’m so excited thinking about it!
[Guild] I Love Watermelons: Is the great god coming? I just want to know if the great god is male or female. If it turns out to be female, is it possible that she’s my goddess?
[Guild] The World Is Ruthless: Sunshine said it before, great god’s techniques are sharp and precise, it’s definitely a guy.
[Guild] I Love Watermelons: Are you looking down on girls? ╭（╯^╰）╮
[Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: … I was wrong!
Seeing this, Gu Xiqiao typed into the chat.
[Guild] [Elder] For A Millenium: I’m a man ^_^
[Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: See, I told you! Also, do you know how long you haven’t come online! Without your presence in the highest dungeon, our team is just waiting to be wiped, okay!
The highest level dungeon in the game, and only the team led by ‘For A Millenium’ had been able to clear it.
Having not come online for almost half a month, the guild had also not entered the dungeon for the same amount of time and were nearly in tears due to that.
At this time, Gu Xiqiao hid away once the topic was brought up.
[Guild] [Elder] Sunshine: Mom, you’re still online in our friend list, don’t play dead with us!
Just as he finished typing in that sentence, the name ‘For A Millenium’ became grey.
The guild members all thought that she had gone offline, and were silently sobbing in sadness, until they went out on the field, and bumped into her. She was leading a newcomer on tasks, and her name was clearly above her character’s head, with the guild ‘Elder’ title on her head.
They opened their friend list to stare at the name, but it was still greyed out, indicating that she was offline. “… WTF?”
Jiji glanced at the group of players with sympathy in her eyes. ‘Why did you guys pick a fight with Beauty Qiao when there was no reason to? Didn’t you know that she can tamper with the server as she wanted? Don’t talk about being ‘offline’, she can even go up to the heavens if she wanted to!’
Gu Xiqiao was playing the game with Shu Chen, and a knock came on her door ten minutes later.
Jiang Shuxuan was holding two glasses of milk. Gu Xiqiao and Shu Chen drank it down.
Shu Chen was looking at Jiang Shuxuan with a strange look on her face. This lazy, smiling, considerate person in front of her… was he really her cold-hearted son? Wasn’t this too much of a change?
Jiang Shuxuan left after they finished their milk, and Shu Chen was only momentarily shocked before she was absorbed into the game once again.
Another ten minutes later, Jiang Shuxuan came in with a plate of cut fruits.
It was a repetitive cycle, and Shu Chen at first thought that her son had changed completely, and was being considerate of the people around him. But after the third and fourth time, she looked into her son’s eyes, and then took up the laptop. “Qiao Qiao, I’m going to play all night. You still have things to do tomorrow, so I won’t disturb your rest. Taking care of your body is important for young people.”
Having said that, she left the room.
Jiang Shuxuan glanced at the door that closed behind his mother, and he waved his hand lightly to turn off the lights. “Sleep!”
***
In the Chu family household, Chu Ziheng was sitting on the sofa as he flipped through a pile of materials. His eyes were lowered slightly, long eyelashes fluttering lightly.
A few moments later, his secretary came in, holding a pad in his hand with a strange look in his eyes. “President Chu, I spoke to the host of the awards ceremony. That woman’s name is Gu Xiqiao, she’s a newcomer who just debuted, but she has a lot of fans. The strange thing is that I can’t find any information on her, not her whereabouts, or even her basic information.”
Hearing this, Chu Ziheng raised an eyebrow, his slender finger tapping the table.
In the deep, dark night, his clear tapping made the secretary feel the pressure in the air, and he felt inexplicably nervous. Finally, Chu Ziheng said, “Let me see.”
The secretary quickly handed over the tablet to him.
Chu Ziheng took the device and looked at the picture of a fat pig on the screen. As long as he typed in ‘Gu Xiqiao’, the pig would appear. It was a pink, fat pig, with an indifferent expression on its face.
“Interesting, very interesting.” Chu Ziheng chuckled lowly. “Have you found that kid’s trail?”
The secretary nodded as he lowered his head slightly. “Yes, a private investigator found his trail at the airport. Yesterday, a man took him to enroll in a middle school.”
Chu Ziheng stared at the tablet in his hand, his fingertips sliding across the edge of the pad, deep in thought.
***
The next day, Gu Xiqiao woke up early.
Although she had only slept for a few hours, it had no effect whatsoever on her mentally. As usual, she was refreshed as she went out for her morning run.
Today, she didn’t bring Haha with her, because Haha had followed Xixi to the training grounds.
When she came back, Shu Chen was already up. She hadn’t slept all night, and her tiredness was clear on her face.
After an entire night of processing the events, Gu Xiqiao could finally face Shu Chen with a somewhat normal face. She greeted her softly, and Shu Chen yawned as she returned the greeting. Then she launched into a discussion on the game with the younger girl.
While they were eating breakfast, Shu Chen couldn’t help but sigh. “I’ve never played such a fun game before. Every bit of it contains the culture of old China, especially the techniques and moves in the game. The spiritual scenes all look so realistic… it’s amazing and mysterious. I can’t imagine who would be able to develop such a game.”
She was curious to see how the martial arts exercises and realistic scenes were developed, it really was an amazing piece of work.
Jiang Shuxuan ate without saying a word, not wanting to comment on his mother’s words.
Gu Xiqiao took a bite of egg, and thought inside, ‘If you want to see the ones who developed the game, they’re probably still bickering right now.’
After eating, Gu Xiqiao went to the training ground in the slums.
Before she left, she turned to smile at Shu Chen. Her face was bright and stunning, and she said, “Aunt Shu, I’m the one who developed the game.”
Shu Chen stopped dead in her tracks as she processed the words that Gu Xiqiao just said.
Even the words that she had wanted to say for Jiang Shuxuan to be careful on the road were stuck in her throat.
After Gu Xiqiao had dropped that bombshell, she slid into the passenger seat of the car, and the black car rolled out slowly. She pulled out her phone and started studying the matter on the training grounds.
Behind them, Shu Chen turned to look at Mrs. Zhang who was waving to Gu Xiqiao, and Butler Jiang. Her tone was stiff when she asked, “Just now, what did Qiao Qiao say again?”
“Madam Jiang.” Mrs. Zhang smiled lightly at her. “The game you played yesterday should be Nine Heavens, right? That’s a game that all the youngsters are playing now, and Miss Gu is indeed the one who developed it.” Mrs. Zhang’s face was full of pride as she boasted.
Shu Chen turned her gaze to the butler, and he took out his phone silently. “Madam, you probably don’t know the weight of the words ‘Nine Heavens’, as well as their position on the international scale. Allow me elaborate on it…”
***
Gu Xiqiao got out of the car with Jiji at the entrance, then she turned to Jiang Shuxuan to wave. She waited for his car to leave before heading into the training grounds.
“Why did you bring Dog Feed along?” Gu Xiqiao stopped her tracks, suddenly looking at the pink flower in Jiji’s arms.
Jiji looked down at the man-eating flower, and said, “I’m afraid that it will eat Auntie Zhang and Madam Jiang if I left it at home.”
Dog Feed: “…” Am I that kind of man-eating flower?
Yes, yes it was.
Gu Xiqiao stared intently at the flower, which quieted and its leave wilted down.
She rubbed her fingers together, initially thinking to just grind it down to dust, but it wasn’t easy for her to be able to take it out from where it came from and she was reluctant to let it die after all the effort she put into acquiring it. After thinking a while more, she finally pulled out a handful of jade spiritual stones, shoving it into its mouth. “Is it delicious?”
Dog Feed instantly felt refreshed. Delicious! It was way more delicious than any kind of meat it had ever eaten!
“Be good, and don’t eat anyone else in the future, then it’s all yours.” Gu Xiqiao threw another brown pill into its mouth.
Dog Feed felt even more energetic after this meal! It vowed to be faithful to Gu Xiqiao from this time onwards.
From that day onwards, there was one more mad demon in the ancient martial arts world that collected all kinds of jade stones everywhere. If people were to find out that Gu Xiqiao was feeding these precious jade stones that could advance a master to a flower, they’d definitely puke blood.
Yao Jiamu and the group of people had partied late into the night, and after returning, fully devoted themselves to their training.
When Gu Xiqiao arrived, they were all inside the cave. Xixi had taken Haha into the cave to play. Haha was sitting solemnly in its place, while Xixi was breathing fire for it to play with. Haha didn’t move at all, but its beady eyes lit up suddenly, and it stood up, running as fast as its four legs could towards the entrance.
Before it could reach outside, a pair of arms picked him up and hugged him.
“Haha, you’ve grown again. If you grow anymore I won’t be able to pick you up anymore.” Gu Xiqiao sighed.
Xixi flew to her side, and it opened its beak to say something, but then it caught sight of the robot behind her. There was also a man-eating plant in its mechanical arms. Xixi trembled before asking, “Beauty Gu, what is this?”
Gu Xiqiao glanced at Dog Feed, then back to Xixi. “Your relative.” They all grew up within the influence of malicious aura anyway, so they were the same.
Xixi: “…” I don’t have such ugly relatives, okay!
Yao Jiamu had already felt Gu Xiqiao’s arrival, and he came out from the training grounds immediately. “Miss Gu.”
Gu Xiqiao returned his greeting, and then looked around the cave. “How is everyone’s strength levels now?”
Hearing her question, Yao Jiamu couldn’t help the smug look that blossomed on his face. “According to the algorithm of the Trial Tower in the ancient martial arts world, among a hundred people, 50% are at the thirtieth floor, 30% on the fortieth floor, 10% on the forty-fifth floor and another 10% on the fiftieth floor!”
Although she had expected it, she was still surprised when she heard his answer.
Even in the ancient martial arts world, the top ten in the ranking list was only on the forty-fifth floor. With such a lineup in her hands, it looked like they could already match them in terms of strength?
“Are the elders of the ancient martial arts world still looking for you?” Gu Xiqiao asked curiously.
Yao Jiamu smiled. “I recently had a fight with a strong old man from the ancient martial arts world. He told me that those elders were still chanting away.”
The group that went out on patrol for the Peace Squad were those on at least the thirtieth floors, and even such a lineup was able to beat them. If they found out about how the other half of the people were way more powerful than the ones they had met, it would definitely knock the socks off them all!
Chapter 263: She’s Here
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
A strong old man?
Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin thoughtfully, her mind going through the people in the ancient martial arts world. Which powerful old man would fight a young man like Yao Jiamu? Or rather, who else besides the Elder’s Association that knew of the Peace Squad?
Based on Gu Xiqiao’s guesses, the Elder’s Association wouldn’t let the entire ancient martial arts world know of the Peace Squad. The first reason was simply because they were embarrassed, and the second was to avoid any unnecessary chaos from breaking out.
After all, it was an unusual force that was almost on par with those people from the ancient martial arts world that emerged suddenly.
Since the Elders’ Association wouldn’t say anything, then there was only one strong old man that would fight Yao Jiamu—The Tang family’s clan leader.
“Was his name Tang?” Gu Xiqiao asked as she squinted slightly to look at the group of people who were on the training grounds.
Hearing her words, Yao Jiamu looked at Gu Xiqiao in surprise. He was stunned that she even knew about this. “When I was fighting him the second time, he told me his family name was Tang, and was called Boss Tang. I didn’t believe him at that time though.” Now that Gu XIqiao was the one who said it, he believed it.
“Boss Tang?” Gu Xiqiao’s mouth twitched. “He’s the patriarch of the Tang family, but I guess it’s fine to call him Boss Tang.”
Boss Tang, why don’t you just call yourself Donald Duck instead?” (T/N: It’s a play on his name, in Chinese Boss Tang is Tang Lao Da, and Donald Duck in Chinese is called Tang Lao Ya)
“What about you, how have you been progressing?” Gu Xiqiao asked, turning to Yao Jiamu. The time flow ratio of the cave was one to seven, and since she had left for half a month, it had roughly been three months here. To be able to reach this level with the exercises that she had compiled and the pills she had given them, it wasn’t strange in the least.
Yao Jiamu looked at Gu Xiqiao with a confident look on his face. “I’m probably on the sixteenth floor, if we’re following the Trial Tower’s algorithm.”
“Can I have a fight with you?” Yao Jiamu suddenly said, after thinking about it for a bit.
Gu Xiqiao didn’t respond to his question. Jiji, Xixi, and Haha were all looking at Yao Jiamu blankly, sympathy clear in their eyes. There was also one that had an expression that screamed, ‘Are you nuts? Wanting to have a fight with Beauty Gu? If you’re not nuts then you’re probably mentally retarded!’
Sadly, although he could feel their stares on him, Yao Jiamu was still excited about it.
“A fight?” Gu Xiqiao smiled at Yao Jiamu. “Sure, I can gauge your combat abilities too.”
Everyone on the training grounds had heard of Gu Xiqiao’s arrival by now, and they were all rushing out to greet her. Gu Xiqiao hooked her fingers, beckoning to Wu Hongwen. “Come at me all four of you together.”
“All of us?” Yao Jiamu, Wu Hongwen, Xiao Yun, and Yin Shaoyuan were surprised to be included together.
Yin Shaoyuan glanced at Gu Xiqiao, more particularly, on her small frame. “You sure?”
It wasn’t that he was confident, but they had been having breakthroughs one after another recently, and could even tie when they were against the elders of the ancient martial arts world. Now she was asking for the four of them to have a go at her together, it wasn’t that he underestimated her that he asked. The main point was that they had been in the cave for half a month, going through extreme combat training and sometimes even going against the elders as part of their training too, which was their top resource in improving themselves.
Wu Hongwen, Yao Jiamu, and Xiao Yun knew Gu Xiqiao’s strength the best among them, so they didn’t say anything to that. There was only anticipation in their eyes.
Gu Xiqiao walked out of the cave, standing in the empty field. She flexed both her hands, and smiled lightly at the four of them. “Come on.”
“Wait,” Yin Shaoyuan suddenly said. “You can’t use Xixi.” Xixi was getting nuttier by the days, and if it were to team up with Gu Xiqiao, they’d definitely be beaten down to the ground without much effort needed on their end.
“Of course.” Gu Xiqiao stood under the sun, a cold light reflected on her. She narrowed her eyes towards them, and asked, “Do you want some time to discuss tactics?”
Xixi stood perched on Haha’s head, shaking its own head as it chatted with Jiji mentally. ‘I pity those four.’
‘Yeap.’ Jiji was looking at them without blinking its eyes. ‘I want to record this down, and replay it every day for them to watch.’
“This newcomer,” Xixi said, looking at Jiji. “The one in your arms, why is it called Dog Feed?” It thought that it would be named Chacha! This thing was definitely not part of their family!
“According to Beauty Qiao’s brain…” Jiji bent down to say into Xixi’s ears. “&*%￥@*&￥@…”
After saying a bunch of things, Jiji finally ended it with, “Actually, I’m just saying whatever that came to mind.”
Xixi: “…” Why don’t you die and just go to heaven?
“Young Master Tang, who do you think will win?” One of the people was standing behind Tang Qinghong, looking at the five people on the field with excitement.
Tang Qinghong groaned. “It’s hard to say.”
The person who asked him was surprised. “Hard to say? Wouldn’t Young Master Yao’s team win? It’s been half a month outside, but three months in the cave. There are so many top-notch resources in the cave, it’s basically a genius making factory in here. What’s more is the humanoid formation that Miss Gu personally arranged, and we also used the elders of the ancient martial arts world as our stepping stone.” The four geniuses and their formations, and they still wouldn’t be able to beat Gu Xiqiao?
The four of them could already spar to a tie with Tang Qinghong, and Tang Qinghong himself was already about the sixty-eighth floor in the Trial Tower. It was just a matter of time before he would break through the seventieth floor.
Tang Qinghong glanced at the person, shaking his head and said nothing more.
A hundred or so people in the training grounds had opened a gambling table amidst the excitement, and out of them, ninety had bet on Yao Jiamu and the others winning. The remainder were confident that Gu Xiqiao would be the one to triumph!
After they had all placed their bets, they suddenly saw a robot throwing in a wad of cash. “I bet that our Beauty Qiao will win.”
Dog Feed, who was still in Jiji’s arms opened its mouth to say suddenly, “Jiji, you have so much pocket money, and you’re gambling the entire thing away?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be taking all their money as my winnings later anyway.” Jiji was full of confidence, although none of that confidence could be seen on its mechanical face.
At this time, the battle on the training grounds had already begun.
A gust of wind blew suddenly, and Gu Xiqiao was standing straight, her eyes bright and clear. Her inky hair fluttered in the wind, but if you looked closely, you would see that the fluttering of her hair didn’t match the speed of which the wind was blowing at all. The entire space around her body had become another space entirely.
Purple lightning crackled and hovered around her, the light reflecting on her snow-white skin.
Yao Jiamu and the others started off with their strongest tricks, which was the humanoid formation that Gu Xiqiao had taught them, which they managed to bring up to a higher level.
Everyone in the area was watching the fight intently, not blinking for fear that they would miss something if they did.
The dust rose from the ground, obscuring their view, leaving them to only hear the sounds of ‘boom boom boom’.
Five minutes later, all was silent.
A plainly clothed figure walked out slowly from the dust, her figure was free of dirt and not a thing out of place. It looked like she had just come from a shopping mall or something.
The crowd breathed deeply, they had already thought that Miss Gu was an existence that defied all logic.
But they didn’t expect that every time they thought she had reached a limit, she would just surpass it once again.
Yao Jiamu and the others could already tie with Tang Qinghong, who was on the sixty-eighth floor.
It seemed that Gu Xiqiao barely exerted any effort to easily beat the sh*t out of the four of them.
Tang Qinghong was already on the sixty eighth floor.
Then which floor would she be?
Anything above that would be Xiantian stage, wasn’t that close to the ancient warriors level of strength already?
Everyone let out a long sigh, all their smugness and proudness of being able to beat down the elders of the ancient martial arts world vanished instantly at the scene that unfolded in front of their eyes.
They then turned and slowly trailed back into the cave to continue their training without another word.
In the empty field where the dust was settling, Yao Jiamu and the others lay on the ground, an expression of being f*cked over by life on their faces.
Especially Yin Shaoyun, who initially thought that he had managed to catch up to Gu Xiqiao in the half-month that he had been training here. He didn’t expect that not only did he not catch up to her at all, but she had gone ahead and made the gap wider!
She had been outside for only half a month, and had not taken advantage of the different flow of time in the caves, just how did she make such a huge leap?
There was only one word to describe her in their hearts, ‘Insane’.
“You still have some problems understanding the exercises.” Gu Xiqiao narrowed her eyes at the four who were still lying motionless on the ground. Her elegant brows twisted slightly, and she softly said, “There are some small changes needed, you still don’t understand it thoroughly enough.”
Tang Qinghong finally snapped out of his daze when the clear voice reached his ears, and he could only smile bitterly as he processed what she said.
“It’s not easy for them to understand these exercises according to your notes in such a short period of time. Not everyone has the same super comprehension ability that you have.” Really, the word ‘jealous’ couldn’t even begin to cover the feelings that he had towards that super comprehension ability of hers.
“It’s not that far off from the ranking tournament, they don’t have much time.” Gu Xiqiao shook her head. Super comprehension ability, what?
She had been locked in the void for countless years, and the only she could do was read and read and read the endless stream of books that were there. It was the sort of endurance that ordinary people couldn’t even imagine.
There was a saying, you wouldn’t be able to survive if you weren’t crazy.
Tang Qinghong would never understand the feeling in Gu Xiqiao’s heart, but when he noted her words, the calm expression on his face finally cracked. “The ranking tournament? You’re going to enter them into the tournament?”
Gu Xiqiao smiled brightly and nodded her head.
Shock appeared on Tang Qinghong’s face, and he could practically feel the group of geniuses back in the ancient martial arts world that was going to go nuts.
Gu Xiqiao ignored his internal struggle, instead heading into the room where the ancient texts were kept. She opened the one that Yao Jiamu and the others had recently started to practice, picking up a pen to write down more notes in it.
Jiji sat on her lap, counting its winnings. Gu Xiqiao looked down at it, and said, “Don’t forget my portion.”
Jiji: “…” It reached out to give her half of the winnings without any complaints.
Don’t bite the hands that feeds you, okay? You can’t just offend someone like that.
Xixi: “…” It’s fine if you bully flowers and plants on your usual days, but now you’re even picking on the robot!
Gu XIqiao glanced at Xixi.
Xixi: “Wonderful beauty, hello!”
She turned away, focusing on her writings. After that, she picked up her phone to reply to the message that Jiang Shuxuan had sent earlier—[Wait for me at the middle school, we’ll pick up Little Huazi.]
After shooting the message off, she left the place. Naturally, she wouldn’t see the dejected face that Yao Jiamu made when he later found the notes that she had scribbled on the ancient text.
***
In middle school, Gu Xiqiao walked slowly down the corridor, looking thoughtful as she made her way through the area. Suddenly, she stopped.
At the same time, the system voice sounded.
[Random mission activated: Eliminate the malicious aura in the surroundings!]
[Mission completion reward: 1,000 points!]
The mission rewards were given according to the difficulty of the mission, and 1,000 points was comparable to those chain missions she had done. If it was just a normal evil spirit, the rewards wouldn’t be so high. She closed her eyes, her mental power instantly stretching out to envelope the area over a ten miles radius.
The concentration of the evil spirits was not big, but it covered a very big area.
No wonder it gave so many points as the mission reward.
‘Although it isn’t very dense, it will still affect the minds of regular people. It’s fine for those with more pure minds, but it’s hard to say what would happen for those who are more unstable.’ If she didn’t handle it properly, there would be more deaths and murders. A grave expression appeared on Gu Xiqiao’s face.
Jiji followed behind her, holding barbecue sauce in its hands. When it had taken its own money to the stall to buy it, it had almost scared the stall owner to death. Fortunately, Gu Xiqiao had explained that it was a new type of robot, and the stall owner was finally convinced not to call the police on her. “Beauty Qiao, maybe a nutcase will come out suddenly.”
As soon as it said that, a group of punks was seen to be gathered in the corner in front of them. Faint yin energy could be seen in the center of their foreheads. They were obviously already confused by the malicious aura around them, but it didn’t seem too serious yet.
When they saw Gu Xiqiao, they immediately moved to surround her. Their purpose was obvious—extortion.
Gu Xiqiao: “…” They wanted to extort her, of all people?
Jiji: “…” There were actually people crazy enough to dare to rob this female monster?
Not far from there, a group of middle school students was walking. A young boy was in the lead, and when he saw this, he exclaimed, “That’s Dalin and Hua Youlin’s big sister!”
They had often seen Gu Xiqiao walking Hua Youlin and Luo Wenlin out of school, and had an extremely deep impression of this beautiful sister of theirs. Especially when this pretty girl was also the national ranker, which made them admire her all the more. “Hurry, we need to help her. Go and call the security uncle!”
The delegation of tasks among the teenagers were done quickly.
Some picked up branches from the ground, and some picked up bricks. Some even took out their blades that they used to sharpen their 2B pencils.
When the group of teenagers finally arrived, Gu Xiqiao was stepping on the leader’s chest, pulling out a scattered pile of money from his pocket. She narrowed her eyes at the man she was stepping on. “Where else do you have money?”
The man raised a trembling finger, pointing to the soles of his shoes fearfully.
“It’s smelly, I don’t want it.” Gu Xiqiao took back her leg, and glanced towards the others who had been beaten and were laying on the ground. “Next time you bully anyone, I’ll twist you into a fried dough twist. Do you know what that is?”
The people who had been beaten to the ground nodded their heads hurriedly, some still in a daze from the beating they had gotten. She gestured to Jiji.
Jiji leaned down to pick up the steel pipe that they had used as a weapon from the ground. It reached out and twisted the pipe, turning the shape into a fried dough twist easily.
The group of teenagers who had rushed over to save her, was met with a scene of the punks being beaten instead: “…” So, who was the one robbing whom?
Gu Xiqiao turned her head and saw the group of teenagers, and with her excellent memory, she recognized all of them. Feeling embarrassed at being caught in this manner, she took out the money that she had taken from the punks and handed it to them. “Thank you, go and treat yourselves to some milk tea.”
Hua Youlin’s classmates looked at the money that she had pushed into his hands, and wanted to refuse it. But when he raised his head, Gu Xiqiao had already vanished, as though out of thin air. He rubbed his eyes to make sure that he wasn’t imagining it, his jaw dropping in disbelief when he realized she had indeed disappeared.
At the same time, the gangsters on the ground were slowly picking themselves.
The group of teenagers immediately stepped back, hiding the money in their hands. The courage and adrenaline that had run through them when they were rushing to save Gu Xiqiao previously had all but vanished at this time.
They didn’t expect these punks to take one look at them, then turn to run away in fear. It looked like they wouldn’t be extorting anyone anytime soon in the future.
Yeah, so… what DID Hua Youlin’s sister do to them?!
***
In a milk tea shop not far from the middle school, a good looking man was sitting by the window. Just the slender fingers on his beautiful hands and elegant facial features were enough to win the countless lingering gaze that was on him. There were two kids who were dressed in the middle school uniform opposite him, and there was a tanned skin boy sitting beside him.
Chu Ziheng sat on the chair, his back rammed straight. It seemed that he felt something, because he started laughing. This laugh stunned the girls that were sitting around him, it was just too beautiful. When he laughed, it felt like everything around him blurred into the background, and he was the only color among the grey of everyone and everything else.
“It’s really so interesting, I can’t believe that I underestimated her…” Chu Ziheng reached out to tap his fingers against the table. Looking at the snow-white teenager that was holding a cup of milk tea, he asked, “Are you sure your sister is coming? Do you want me to send you back instead?”
Hua Youlin shook his head when he heard the question. “I already sent a message to my sister, she knows I’m here.”
The wind chime at the entrance rang just as he said that, and the surroundings quieted down suddenly at the same moment.
Hua Youlin’s eyes lit up, a bright smile on his face. “Look, she’s here!”
Chapter 264: It Wasn’t Like She Didn’t Have Eyes
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Gu Xiqiao lowered her head, sending a text to Jiang Shuxuan—[We’re at the milk tea shop, wait for us at the intersection]
The long wind chime that hung by the entrance of the shop brushed her shoulders, and when she raised her head, she saw Hua Youlin sitting by the window. Her gaze slid from him towards the man whose back was facing her.
Her clear, black eyes narrowed.
The man was also turning around to face her, revealing a face with delicate features and a smile on his lips. He nodded at her in greeting.
Gu Xiqiao was not embarrassed at being caught staring at him, and she nodded back at him. She then walked to the cashier calmly, ordering a cup of milk tea before walking towards Hua Youlin’s direction. Jiji followed a few steps behind her, opening its chest to pull out the money that it had just won previously. It had thought to buy a cup of milk tea, but the shop was crowded today, and recalling Gu Xiqiao’s words, it lowered its head and slumped slightly.
“Sister Gu!” Hua Youlin stood up from his seat, hugging her once she reached his side. As he looked up at her, he turned slightly to look behind her, feeling relieved when he didn’t see Jiang Shuxan anywhere in sight.
Gu Xiqiao rubbed the top of his head, moving to sit on the nearby stool before turning her attention to the people who were sitting at the same table.
Hua Youlin, Luo Wenlin, Chu Ziheng, and… Xiahou Qingyun, the child that she had Yi Bing bring out from the desert.
“How did you come to be here?” Gu Xiqiao asked Xiahou Qingyun, her eyebrow raised. It looked like he knew who Chu Ziheng was.
Seeing Gu XIqiao, a flush appeared on his tanned face, admiration filling his eyes. “Sister Gu,” he said, then he quickly pointed to Chu Ziheng. “This was the big brother I was talking about last time!”
“Oh.” Gu Xiqiao nodded, poking a straw into the milk tea cup that the staff had brought over, sipping slowly.
Oh? That’s all? What did that mean?
“So you’re the ‘Miss Gu’ that Qingyun talks about so often.” Chu Ziheng held his own cup of milk tea in hand, something flashing in his dark eyes, but the smile remained on his face. “I wonder what does Miss Gu think of my proposal last night? I’ve watched both your movies, you’re really talented. Director Wang is the one in charge of directing the series that the Chu Enterprise is sponsoring, by the way.”
Director Wang was one of the most prestigious directors in all of China, and the TV series and movies that he directed were all very popular.
Jiji stood to one side, lifting its head when it heard Chu Ziheng’s words. If it could make an expression, the corners of its mouth would be twitching right now. He wanted to sponsor her to make a TV series? Has she ever been short of sponsorships? Really?
Gu Xiqiao shook her head. “Sorry, President Chu. I’m not interested.”
Chu Ziheng seemed to have anticipated her answer, and he chuckled lightly. He pulled out a business card from his pocket, pushing it towards her across the table. “Miss Gu, don’t rush and reject my offer. If you change your mind, call me anytime.”
She had wanted to refuse again, rolling her eyes, but then she reached out suddenly to pick up the card. Her fingers grazed against his cup as she did so.
“Qingyun, where are you going later?” Gu Xiqiao stood, directing her question at the boy.
Xiahou QIngyun also stood up, scratching his head. “Someone will be by to pick me up.”
“Alright.” Gu Xiqiao nodded. “Then we’ll be leaving.” Turning around, she suddenly said, “The milk tea you have doesn’t taste that bad, President Chu.”
Lifting her hand in a lazy wave, they turned and left.
The wind chime sounded once again as the door opened, and Chu Ziheng glanced at his milk tea, touching the cup with his own hands.
Xiahou Qingyun looked at the cup of milk tea with bright eyes, “Big Brother, I had wanted to ask Sister Gu to save you, but I can feel the aura on this cup of milk tea. The evil spirit that is in your body can be saved!”
“You can feel it?” Chu Ziheng lowered his head to look at the younger boy, curiosity in his eyes. Xiahou Qingyun nodded his head, and he muttered under his breath, “No wonder she got someone to get you out.”
“What did you say, Big Brother?”
Chu Ziheng came back to his senses, and he rubbed the boy’s head. “Nothing, the person who’s picking you up is here. When you have another day off again, I’ll come and find you.”
“Okay, bye, Big Brother.” Xiahou Qingyun waved to Chu Ziheng, and walked towards the black car nearby.
After Xiahou Qingyun left, Chu Ziheng’s secretary appeared silently beside him, handing him a thick stack of documents. “President Chu, we were looking in the wrong place yesterday night.”
Chu Ziheng took the papers with a disinterested look on his face, flipping through a few pages. Shock appeared on his face when he read the words, and this was the first time in his life that another expression apart from his usual gentleness appeared on his face.
“President Chu, this is everything that I found on the internet. I have checked, and these are all true. Miss Gu isn’t someone simple.” The secretary sighed deeply. When he was compiling the information, he also had some serious doubts about everything that he was reading. How can a person reach this level?
Chu Ziheng was silent for a while, flipping through the documents with a more solemn look.
Nothing more was said after that.
***
Gu Xiqiao took Hua Youlin and Luo Wenlin with her towards the intersection, where Jiang Shuxuan was already waiting for them. The man had already arrived earlier, and was leaning against the car, cigarette in hand. His head was hung slightly, as though in deep thought. The smoke was obscuring Gu Xiqiao’s view of his face, and she couldn’t see what expression was on it.
When he caught sight of Gu Xiqiao approaching, he snuffed out the cigarette immediately. He knew that she didn’t like the smell of it.
“Get on.” Jiang Shuxuan opened the backseat door for them, his deep eyes on Hua Youlin and Luo Wenlin who were behind her.
Luo Wenlin didn’t know why, but every time he saw Jiang Shuxuan, he could feel a chill when the others looked at him. He didn’t dare to say a word as he climbed into the back seat of the car.
Hua Youlin was no longer afraid of Jiang Shuxuan, he already learned a method, which was to hide behind Gu Xiqiao if he did anything wrong.
In short, he had found a really good backer.
“Brother Jiang, you’re back!” Hua Youlin exclaimed, smiling at him.
Jiang Shuxuan’s face eased and soften very slightly, and he was going to lower his head to say something to Hua Youlin, but then his eye caught sight of the business card that Gu Xiqiao was holding in her hand.
An eyebrow raised at that. “Go get in the car first,” He said, looking down at Hua Youlin.
The boy didn’t respond, but he headed towards the car and went into the backseat.
“What is this?” Jiang Shuxuan walked to Gu Xiqiao’s side, looking at the card in her hand.
She raised her hand, her eyes narrowing as she looked ahead. “Brother Jiang, something’s not right here.”
Jiang Shuxuan reached out to grasp the card, and replied, “I know, Yi Bing and the others are investigating this matter at the moment.”
There was such a wide area covered in malicious aura, if they didn’t find the source, they wouldn’t know how to proceed.
“It’s too late.” Gu Xiqiao sighed. “When I was walking here, I found that someone had arranged a wide area formation here, Brother Jiang. If it’s completed, it will affect the fortune of the entire China, and I don’t know how many will die from it.”
Hearing her words, Jiang Shuxuan stared at her, his lips pursed. A chilling cold glint entered his eyes.
“Brother Jiang,” Gu Xiqiao called out again, when he didn’t say anything.
He reached out and held her hand, closing his eyes. He extended his mental powers out to every corner around him. “The evil spirit isn’t strong or dense, but it’s still enough to affect a regular person. However, there are no incidents within ten miles of us.”
“So it’s probably a test.” Gu Xiqiao thought of the group of gangsters that she had bumped into earlier.
“Yeah.” Jiang Shuxuan looked around.
Who was this person who had exerted so much effort just to test waters?
“Let’s get the kids back home first.” Gu Xiqiao took out a few pieces of jade stones, scattering them. The jades formed a weird arc, and disappeared once it hit the ground, as though it was never there to begin with.
At the same time, the malicious aura around the area was slowly being purified, with the place where the stones disappeared as the center.
Jiang Shuxuan opened the door for her, and she got in without further ado. Then he got in and drove away, glancing at the rearview mirror as they left.
***
At the same time, in the ancient martial arts world, Shu Chen had returned home with the butler. She made a beeline to the treasury of the family, starting to pick out items there. She wasn’t looking for anything in particular or good, just as long as it was the most expensive.
After a while, Butler Jiang came out with Shu Chen, a stack of items in his arms. The guard that was waiting outside held out his hands. “Madam, the elders are looking for you.”
“Take this and have someone make a coat from it.” Shu Chen took the white fox fur from the stack and handed it to Butler Jiang. “Use Qiao Qiao’s measurement. This spirit fox fur and the jade will look great on her fair skin. She’s such a beautiful child, she will definitely look amazing when she wears it.”
Butler Jiang calmly accepted the items. “What about that other fox fur?”
“There’s some defect on it, just put it in the warehouse.” Shu Chen shoved her hands into her coat, and followed the guard out.
The guard followed behind Shu Chen, but his eyes couldn’t help but stray towards the items in Butler Jiang’s hands. There had been a rumor in the ancient martial arts world that a seven-tailed spirit fox had been cursing havoc that year, and had been beheaded by the Jiang family. A seven-tailed spirit fox was already on par with the ancient martial arts world, and everything on its body was definitely a treasure.
Especially its skin, it was invulnerable to swords, guns, water, and even fire. Even if it weren’t for those functions, its color was very nice.
The guard had assumed that it had just been rumors, but looks like it was true after all.
The fox fur was precious, and he had heard Madam Jiang’s instructions. It was going to be made into a coat? Who was it for? The guard was shocked when he had heard it.
The Elders’ Association was not that far from the Jiang family house, and it just took a few steps before Shu Chen arrived.
In the hall, not only were there elders of the Jiang family present, Jiang Tong was also there.
When Jiang Tong saw her, her eyes shifted away, not daring to look at her. Shu Chen was not even bothered to spare her a glance.
The great elder waved his hand towards the guard, and the guard and Jiang Tong both left the room after bowing.
“Great Elder, you were looking for me?” Shu Chen bowed as she asked.
The great elder placed down the book in his hand, and with Shu Chen’s good eyesight, she could see that it was a Buddhist scripture. Although she wasn’t sure what it was that had such a great impact on these elders, seeing this, Shu Chen couldn’t help but be happy.
So, you also have days like this!
“Madam Jiang, I heard that Young Master Jiang has befriended a girl from the secular world?” The great elder was careful in choosing his words.
Shu Chen sat down in the chair to the left, picking up the cup of tea on the table that was still steaming hot. She blew lightly on the liquid, shooting back indifferently, “What of it?”
The tone caught the great elder off guard for a moment. “You’re clearly aware that the Jiang family is different from others.” Luckily that he had been chanting scriptures recently, otherwise he’d probably be pissed off by Shu Chen’s nonchalant attitude.
When had she become like this?
“The Jiang family?” Shu Chen glanced at the old man. “Great Elder, I hope you haven’t forgotten that our ancestors had washed the entire ancient martial arts world in blood before. Of course, everyone had thought that heaven’s will was not to be disobeyed, and they couldn’t even protect one woman, which caused the ire of our ancestors.”
“The Jiang family had always been at the beck and call of the entire ancient martial arts world, breaking their backs for them. And the ancient martial arts world? They couldn’t even remember or repay his goodness, pushing out a defenseless woman when heaven’s will came knocking on our doors.” Shu Chen slammed the cup down on the table with a loud ‘clunk’, shocking several elders present. “I don’t care what you do from now on, as long as you can accept and bear Shuxuan’s anger as the consequences.”
Shu Chen stood up once she had said her piece, reaching out to put on her coat that she had taken off when she first came in. “If there is nothing else, I need to go home.”
The elders of the Jiang family remained in their spot, frozen. They were unable to come back to themselves for a long while, Shu Chen’s words echoing in their mind. Jiang Shuxuan was the leader of the current generation of the Jiang family, and his talents far surpassed any of the previous heirs before him.
His talents and methods were beyond the skies, as well as harshly cold. If anyone were to offend him, the ancient martial arts world will probably be drowned in blood in a tragedy once again.
The elders glanced at each other, and the great elder picked up the scripture on the table, his eyes far away as he said, “Sure enough, no matter what house rules are made, the Jiang family will not be able to escape this curse.”
“The Jiang family heirs, if they weren’t alone up to their dying days, then they were so deeply in love.” Another elder sighed heavily. “I thought that with Jiang Tong’s existence, the Jiang family would finally turn this around. But I suppose a curse is still a curse in the end.”
“It isn’t like there is something that can turn this around…” The great elder raised his head suddenly, a ray of hope flashing in his eyes. “The Lisu Tribe, they’re the ones who know this the best.”
Saying that, the great elder got up and left in a hurry.
“Great Elder, are you going to look for the Lisu Tribe? Do I need to lend you a flying machine?” The second great elder shouted from behind him.
The great elder waved his hand without turning. “No need, I’m going to pick a fight with the Peace Squad. I’m feeling unhappy right now!”
All the other elders: “…” They really couldn’t tell that the great elder was actually such a masochist.
***
Walking out the hall of the Elders’ Association, Jiang Tong followed closely behind Shu Chen as she continued to walk.
“Madam Jiang.” Jiang Tong had been silent the entire way, and Shu Chen had not bothered with her from the start. Finally, when they reached the intersection, the younger girl opened her mouth to speak.
Shu Chen stopped and turned around slowly, chuckling lowly. “So, it’s you.”
“Madam Jiang, I know all about Young Master Jiang’s situation.” Jiang Tong bit her lip after saying that. She used to call Shu Chen ‘Aunt Jiang’, but she didn’t dare utter these two words after that incident.
“And?” Shu Chen raised an eyebrow, looking at Jiang Tong with a puzzled light in her eyes.
Jiang Tong took a deep breath. “I know the Miss Gu that you’re talking about. She’s just an illegitimate daughter of a second rate family in N City. She turned her family upside down after she was taken in, and her sister was even crippled after being sent abroad. Madam Jiang, you need to be cautious while dealing with her!”
Shu Chen’s eyes darkened. “How did you come across all this information?”
Seeing the displeasure in her eyes, Jiang Tong continued, “I know that you probably don’t want to see it, but Young Master Jiang has been deceived.” Jiang Tong knew that with her status as someone who had reached the sixty-second floor in the Trial Tower, even the elders were treating her with more courtesy than previously.
So she believed that no matter what feelings Shu Chen had for her, the older woman would still keep her words in mind.
“That’s enough.” Shu Chen’s eyes were deep and cold, and her voice was even more frosty. “Why is an outsider like you trying to intervene in our Jiang family matters?”
Jiang Tong’s face paled dramatically, and her entire frame shook for a moment. She didn’t expect this reaction from Shu Chen. “M-M-Madam Jiang…”
She couldn’t bear the chilling gaze that Shu Chen was looking at her with, a hint of sarcasm under the steel tone of her voice.
Jiang Tong took a step back, her head hanging down in embarrassment. There were people passing by, looking at her strangely, presumably due to the words that Shu Chen had just uttered. The embarrassment she felt kept climbing higher and higher, and she fled the scene immediately.
Seeing Jiang Tong’s retreating figure, Shu Chen smiled faintly. Jiang Shuxuan was her son, and Gu Xiqiao was her daughter-in-law. Why was there a need for someone else to judge whether they were good for each other or not? Didn’t she have eyes of her own?
Thinking of this, she pulled out her phone, shooting a message off to Jiang Shuxuan.
***
Jiang Shuxuan, who had just reached home, pulled out his phone to look at the message. He stopped in his steps, staring at the screen.