It had to be said: decorating was really, really fun.
Wu Guanyue used to play online games too. She was the standard sort of lifestyle player—the kind who spent all day making her home look beautiful, then went around stealing vegetables from her friends’ gardens…
And this game had an unbelievably huge selection of decorating materials. It felt like they’d moved the entire Taobao marketplace into the game, and they even offered previews… She could probably play for three days and three nights without sleeping!
At the moment, she had 1,000 Mall Coins. Profound Connection Silver could also be exchanged for Mall Coins at a one-to-one ratio, so counting everything she had, she could afford items worth a total of 11,000 Mall Coins.
Wu Guanyue lay on her stomach on the little bed, hugging Wuyun against her chest, her feet kicking lazily in the air as she focused intently on browsing the various products.
Wuyun’s huge eyes stared blankly as Wu Guanyue squashed it flat.
“Meow~ Meow~~”
Wuyun let out a soft, coquettish cry.
Wu Guanyue selected a set of pink wallpaper and activated the preview. After all, she had never had the chance to decorate her hospital room in pink before~
A strange—no, a dazzling—light suddenly flashed in Wuyun’s huge, bell-like eyes! It was practically like a pair of laser eyes, scanning the entire room with a series of “pew pew pew~~” sounds!
The room turned pink.
Wu Guanyue: “…………”
Wu Guanyue: “…………?”
A question mark slowly appeared above Wu Guanyue’s head…
Wuyun: OωO
Wuyun’s little mouth twitched.
It seemed to find the whole thing a little strange too, but it had always been a cat that didn’t think very much. Soon enough, it shook its head and happily went back to playing.
All right… Pink didn’t really go with an ancient-style inn.
Wu Guanyue canceled the decorating preview.
Actually, she had always liked those ancient-style guesthouses she saw on social media. The photos were always especially beautiful.
Just imagine waking up in a room filled with the fresh scent of wood, lying on a soft and comfortable mattress, with mountains stretching as far as the eye could see beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows. When it rained, streams of water would drip from the extended eaves, one after another, onto the stone path leading to the hot spring in the courtyard. Guests could sit on comfortable sofas and sip steaming hot cocoa—
Ah~~~
It was just so relaxing!
Wu Guanyue did her best to recreate the ancient-meets-modern guesthouse inn of her dreams…
***
That evening, Wenren Ying returned from the secret realm outside the city.
He had entered the Bingyi Secret Realm again that day. Someone had contacted him through Lu Datong, asking him to open the way and provide protection for a day, and Wenren Ying had naturally agreed.
After all, even Meishan’s Number One Blade had to make a living…
His usual way of earning money was by taking jobs like this. The pay was actually quite good, but he hadn’t come here to make money in the first place, so he often worked for three days and then took two days off.
Recently, whenever he was taking time off, he liked to wander over to Little… Little Shopkeeper Yue’s place.
Little Shopkeeper Yue, huh…
At first, he had only become a regular at the inn because he had drunk that Sprite and found her a very interesting person. Later, when he decided to investigate Daoist Master Songfeng for her, it was also simply because he had nothing better to do…
And because the blood poison in his body had flared up.
Destroying his own spiritual reservoir could only stop the blood poison from spreading. It couldn’t eliminate the poison that was already there.
So when he had told Little Shopkeeper Yue, “You don’t need to look at me like that. I’m only doing this because my killing addiction flared up,” he had been telling the absolute truth.
…But he never wanted to experience fighting someone in a field of fertilizer—scattered by a technique called “Flowers Falling from Heaven”—ever again.
After returning from Mount Huiming that day, he had ignored his serious injuries and practically crawled all the way to the Sibao Hall to buy ten Dust-Cleansing Talismans… then used every single one of them at once.
Of course, Wu Guanyue hadn’t seen that scene. Wenren Ying’s pride apparently wouldn’t allow such a thing.
Later, after thinking it over, he remembered that Little… Little Shopkeeper Yue ran an inn, so he bought some more Dust-Cleansing Talismans and gave them to her.
Honestly, what an impractical girl…
At the time, she had accepted the gift happily, her eyes shining brightly.
Thinking of Little Shopkeeper Yue like that, a gentle smile crept onto Wenren Ying’s lips as well…
It wasn’t dark yet. Should he go have dinner at Little Shopkeeper Yue’s place?
They had recently offended Bai Yunsheng together. Wenren Ying didn’t think very highly of him either, but he was afraid that Bai Yunsheng might become desperate and try to harm Little Shopkeeper Yue. He had to stop by every day to take a look before he could feel at ease.
At times like this, he selectively ignored the fact that Chu Yingfeng was still staying at the inn…
Since he had nothing else to do, Wenren Ying adjusted his bamboo hat and sauntered down Qihua Road.
But as soon as he reached the street corner, he heard Wu Guanyue let out a terrible scream!
“Ah~~~! Hiss~~~!!!”
Wenren Ying’s expression changed instantly. The only sound on the street was the sharp snap of his cloak as it whipped through the air. In the next moment, he kicked open the inn’s tightly closed doors!
Brilliant lights, bright as day, poured out from inside, shining over Wenren Ying and stretching his shadow long across the ground.
The people inside heard the commotion and all turned to look at him.
Three people were sitting in the inn’s main hall.
Chu Yingfeng, Wu Guanyue, and… Bai Yunsheng.
For some reason, Wu Guanyue’s eyes had melted into two pools of egg flowers. She had her tongue hanging out like a little dog and kept sucking in air through her mouth. Her face was so red it looked as though blood might drip from it, and the pain written across her features was painfully obvious.
“Little Yue, are you all right?”
Wenren Ying hurried over. Although he had no idea what had happened, he immediately shielded Wu Guanyue and anxiously reached for her pulse.
So this was what fire chicken noodles tasted like when they were spicy!!!!
Yes, this was Wu Guanyue’s first time eating fire chicken noodles.
People who were paralyzed from the waist down generally had poor digestive systems, and Wu Guanyue was no exception. Her diet had always followed a strictly recommended meal plan. She had never once tasted things like hot pot, barbecue, instant noodles, cake, soda, or ice cream in her entire life…
So when she discovered that the game’s Mall actually sold things like that, she was incredibly excited!
After all, this was a real otherworldly realm. Here, Wu Guanyue had genuine senses of touch and taste!
She was going to eat junk food in another world!!!
Little Shopkeeper Wu had drooled as she made this declaration.
So she bought some fire chicken noodles. One pack cost one Mall Coin… They were so expensive.
Fortunately, she could resell them to a sucker—someone like Bai Yunsheng, who was both stupid and loaded.
Thus, she had once again asked Chu Yingfeng to pass a message to him. Of course, the message itself was perfectly normal this time. She merely said that she had something wonderful here that nobody in the entire world had ever tasted, and told him to bring his wallet.
Bai Yunsheng spent a long time pondering the phrases “something wonderful that nobody in the entire world has ever tasted” and “bring your wallet.”
With great seriousness, he reached the conclusion: Has that Evil Twin-Tails gotten hold of some dirt on me again…?
And so he set off for the inn.
As it turned out, Wu Guanyue really had only invited him over to try something novel. He let out a sigh of relief—and accidentally blurted out the entire train of thought he’d just gone through.
When he finished, Wu Guanyue gave him a deeply complicated look.
Bai Yunsheng: “…………”
Bai Yunsheng: “…………What?”
Wu Guanyue sighed. “A roe deer… A silly roe deer…”
A silly roe deer who had returned to the hunting grounds out of curiosity, only to be caught red-handed…
Bai Yunsheng: “…………”
Bai Yunsheng didn’t understand, but he keenly sensed that whatever Wu Guanyue had said about him couldn’t have been complimentary.
Afterward, Wu Guanyue made fire chicken noodles for the hapless sucker and, unable to resist her curiosity, made herself a bowl as well.
Since she wasn’t entirely sure how spicy they were, she dumped in the entire sauce packet. And because she considered herself the shopkeeper, she had to be the first to taste them in order to show her status. And so…
Well…
At that very moment, Wu Guanyue’s face was flushed bright red. Apart from the frantic hissing of her breathing, she couldn’t make a sound. She gazed at Wenren Ying with tear-filled eyes, looking both pitiful and weak, while gulping down water by the bowlful.
Wenren Ying’s brow furrowed. He seized Bai Yunsheng by the collar and barked, “What did you feed her? Speak!”
Who was Wenren Ying, anyway? He had killed more people than Bai Yunsheng had chickens… although Bai Yunsheng might not have killed any chickens at all. At that moment, Wenren Ying’s killing intent suddenly erupted. That icy, savage pressure was enough to drown everyone in an instant!
Bai Yunsheng, thoroughly drowned: “…………”
The only thought that surfaced in the mind of the thoroughly drowned Bai Yunsheng was—
Were these two spouses trying to extort him?!
In an instant, all those humiliating memories came flooding back. Rage surged into Bai Yunsheng’s heart. He raised his brows angrily and shouted—
“It… It was her own noodles! It had nothing to do with me!”
…What a coward!
But when Wenren Ying got angry, his presence was truly terrifying. Bai Yunsheng had no choice but to cower…
Wenren Ying stared coldly at him, his gaze filled with an utterly disrespectful scrutiny.
Then he saw that Wu Guanyue was merely breathing painfully, while her pulse remained perfectly normal and healthy. Wenren Ying dropped Bai Yunsheng, picked up a mouthful of the noodles Wu Guanyue had just eaten, and put it into his own mouth…
“Cough, cough—cough, cough, cough—”
He couldn’t catch his breath and immediately began coughing violently.
What kind of new torture device was this?!
If they had a torture device, why waste such good noodles? They could have just poured the sauce straight into Bai Yunsheng’s mouth. Wouldn’t he have confessed to everything then?!
And why did Wenren Ying have to taste it himself…?
Forget it… No one could ever figure out what Little Shopkeeper Yue was thinking.
Wenren Ying shot Bai Yunsheng another cold glance and ordered, “You have a water spirit root, don’t you? Make some ice cubes, each about the size of a mouthful. Quickly!”
Bai Yunsheng: “…………”
Bai Yunsheng meekly did as he was told.
Wenren Ying handed the bowl of ice cubes to Wu Guanyue and had her hold it in both hands. In a gentle voice, he said, “Little Shopkeeper Yue, if you’re uncomfortable, hold a piece of ice in your mouth. It’ll help.”
Wu Guanyue sucked in a breath and replied in a deliberately coquettish voice, “Ying-geee~”
Wenren Ying: “It’s all right… It’s all right…”
Bai Yunsheng: “…………”
Bai Yunsheng: “………………”
So they really were extorting him after all?!
The End
