Chapter 117

Family scandals should not be aired abroad—how could she not understand even this basic principle? If she kept running her mouth like this, how would she ever show her face again?

Just then, a diary copy crashed into her arms, rippled with a layer of "white waves."

……

At the evening gathering, Li Qingluo was absent.

Wang Yuyan was deeply worried, assuming she had had some conflict with Jiang Sishui.

"I just sent your mother on a trip to Leigu Mountain, to pay respects at your grandfather's grave."

That single sentence dispelled every doubt in Wang Yuyan's mind.

"So that's how it is—only human nature. No wonder Mother had no appetite for dinner." Wang Yuyan suspected nothing further.

At the dinner table, apart from Jin Lingzhi still sulking and shooting Jiang Sishui the occasional glare, the women were all in high spirits, the atmosphere harmonious.

Bai Feifei's blending in did not cool the mood at all; on the contrary, it made things livelier.

Yet listening to their laughter and chatter, Jiang Sishui couldn't shake a faint sense of something odd.

"Could it be that Rongr and the others are jealous?" he couldn't help wondering.

But he dismissed the thought at once: "That doesn't add up either. If they were going to be jealous, they'd have been jealous long ago. Surely they wouldn't start just because of one more person?"

He set the doubt aside for the moment and bantered playfully with the women.

After a good while, the evening banquet ended in perfect merriment.

……

【After five days on the road, I finally arrived at Taihu】

【Back at Taihu, Abi was like a bird returned home—she could open her heart freely and sing to her heart's content】

【Abi's voice was clear yet never cloying, like a heavenly sound; one listen and you felt peace and harmony, as though after weathering wind and rain outside, you had finally returned to a harbor for the soul】

【For a moment, I suddenly felt that though the heavens are vast and the earth is wide, if I could hold only Abi and roam freely across the boundless Taihu, this lifetime would be worth living】

【Yet such a wonderful person met an ending in the book that left one sighing endlessly】

【She was a spirit of Taihu, innocent and carefree, without a worry in the world, but in the end, for the mad Murong Fu, she journeyed alone to the distant Southern Frontier】

【From then on, Taihu never heard her singing again】

"A spirit of Taihu… her singing…"

Seeing the wistfulness Jiang Sishui revealed between the lines, the women couldn't help but begin to imagine what kind of person this Abi truly was.

The diary had written of too many women; Abi's experiences weren't particularly remarkable, and Jiang Sishui's feelings for her were mostly pity, so the women hadn't paid her much mind before.

But now it was different.

Abi's standing in Jiang Sishui's heart had clearly risen.

For no other reason than that one line—

"Though the heavens are vast and the earth is wide, if I could hold only Abi and roam freely across the boundless Taihu, this lifetime would be worth living!"

Although this was merely a passing thought of Jiang Sishui's, it was enough to say a great deal.

……

After returning to Manjuele Shanzhuang, the women all went their separate ways to rest.

Now beside Abi was only Azhu, her constant shadow as always.

With time to spare, Abi finally noticed the change in her affection rating, and seeing Jiang Sishui's pity and fondness for her, she felt shy, yet her eyes were full of tenderness.

"Brother Jiang…"

Abi's eyes glistened with tears, and she felt an immense happiness.

It was something the old, humble her—secretly admiring Murong Fu but never daring to speak, unable to earn so much as a proper glance from him—could never compare with.

At that moment, Abi felt that even if she were to die for Jiang Sishui right now, she would be willing.

Seeing this, Azhu put an arm around her delicate, fragrant shoulder and laughed, "Silly girl, what are you crying for? Brother Jiang likes you this much—how many people would beg for such a thing and never get it? You should be happy."

Abi wiped her tears and broke into a sweet, gentle smile: "Sister Azhu, I know. I won't cry."

Azhu ruffled her lovely hair, and couldn't help feeling a touch of envy in her heart.

Raising the affection score from "eight" to "nine" isn't hard, but getting it up to a perfect score is no easy matter.

That simple girl Abi truly has her own good fortune.

【Now that Abi is with me, I won't lose her】

【The waterways of Taihu are complicated; without Azhu and Abi to guide us, finding Manjuele Shanzhuang would be quite a hassle】

【What a pleasant surprise—I actually ran into Feifei on Taihu!】

【After she left without a word that night, I thought it might be ages before I saw her again; she might have even started carrying out the mission to assassinate the Happy King by then—nothing was certain】

【I had originally been thinking of how to bring it up, asking Rongr to add her name to the "Kunji Seal" to keep her safe】

【Now it's perfect—fate brought us straight back together】

【Heaven really knows how to treat a man right】

【Otherwise, if anything happened to her, even if I razed Happy City to the ground afterward and dug up every earthworm beneath the earth to split them clean in two, what meaning would that have?】

"Not even letting the earthworms off, and splitting them lengthwise? That brutal?"

The women felt a wave of speechlessness and amusement, then puzzled: "Bai Feifei? Jiang Sishui's first woman—didn't she leave? How did she come back?"

As for Jiang Sishui's claim that their reunion was a destiny arranged by the heavens?

Heh, forget it.

With the diary copy, it was the same as controlling all of Jiang Sishui's movements—how could Bai Feifei not know he was heading to Manjuele Shanzhuang?

If she didn't want to see him, she could easily have avoided him.

And since she had appeared on Taihu, it must have been deliberate.

Who knew what this beautiful, pitiful, tragic "refreshing green tea" was scheming.

130 Wu Zheng, Wu Zheng, no edge to contest.

【After we acknowledged each other, Feifei also accepted me. After all, the two of us had already been intimate; even if she wanted to run, I wouldn't let her go.】

【It's just that I still have other women, which made her quite resentful.】

【Fortunately, in the end she still accepted this reality.】

【I always feel like I've wronged her, but I can't abandon Rongr and the others for her sake alone, so I can only dote on her doubly in the future~】

【Besides, aside from herself, Feifei also brought me a pleasant surprise.】

【The Classic of the Plain Girl, a scripture that enhances both parties' essence, qi, and spirit through dual cultivation, and its Grade is extremely high—suspected to be no inferior to a Heavenly Art!】

【This is just wonderful.】

【A secret art that lets you keep growing stronger while enjoying its sweetness—there simply isn't any option to refuse.】

【So as for the great task of carrying it forward, I'll naturally shoulder it without hesitation.】

"The Classic of the Plain Girl? The very Immortal Classic she got from the lottery?! To think… to think it's actually a… a…"

The women immediately recalled Bai Feifei's reward from back then, and couldn't help blushing to their ears.

And clearly, for Jiang Sishui—a fellow determined to build a harem—this Immortal Classic was nothing less than wings to a tiger.

At the same time, they finally understood why Bai Feifei had left and then come back.

……

"The Classic of the Plain Girl, Brother Jiang obtained a Classic of the Plain Girl…"

Inside the room, Zhao Qiying's heart was pounding with alarm.

After all, just hearing its purpose told her the scripture surely contained plenty of indecent content.

Jiang Sishui already is this hard to handle; if he then studies the Classic of the Plain Girl, will she ever know peace again?

But right after that, she recalled that she happened to be feeling unwell these past few days, so even if Jiang Sishui wanted to try it out, it shouldn't be her turn to take the lead.

At this thought, Zhao Qiying couldn't help but heave a slight sigh of relief.

Although in the end she couldn't avoid it either, it was still better to let others go test the waters first.

……

In the moonlit flower grove, Bai Feifei and Jin Lingzhi were strolling.

Jin Lingzhi turned her head, looking at Bai Feifei with a strange gaze, her tone inexplicable: "So the reason you went to find him was…"

Bai Feifei smiled faintly, her expression composed, not feeling the slightest bit embarrassed.

She knew there would surely be people laughing at her at this moment, but she knew even better that those who laughed at her would only feel more ashamed because of today's mockery.

Even thinking of the contents within the Classic of the Plain Girl, recalling the taste of that night, a hint of expectation rose in her heart.

【Besides Feifei, I also ran into Jin Lingzhi.】

【What a coincidence—just a few days ago I had mentioned this woman, and today I bumped right into her.】