Chapter Ninety-Seven: About the Flower of Youth
“Senior Brother Tan, I trust you have been well lately.”
On the carriage bound for the Qian residence, Jiang Lin, eyes closed in quiet repose, sent his voice through their mind-lake connection. Tan Xiao sat opposite him, while the Qian young master seated between them had already been made to fall asleep by Jiang Lin’s remote strike to his drowsing acupoint.
“Not bad. Back in the sect, I’ve been doing nothing but cultivating and watching live streams of beauties from other sects. Still, with you gone, Junior Brother Jiang, it always feels as though something is missing.”
Tan Xiao replied in kind through the mind-lake.
“Why did Senior Sister Lin come to Eastwood City? Was it arranged by the elders?”
By rights, even if Eastwood City truly harbored some scheme involving the Dugu Demon Cult, the matter was not serious enough to require Senior Sister Lin, already at the Nascent Soul stage and master of her own peak, to make the journey.
“Well... it was Senior Sister who insisted on coming herself.”
“Oh? Could it be that Senior Sister sensed something?”
“Well...”
Tan Xiao hesitated. He could hardly say, Senior Sister was worried you might lose your virtue, so she hurried over.
Besides, as a man, what was the loss of one’s virtue, really?
“Junior Brother Jiang, there is something I would like to ask.”
“Ask away, Senior Brother Tan.”
“That... Junior Brother, have you perhaps already broken your chaste barrier?”
“......”
Jiang Lin naturally understood what Tan Xiao meant.
“Does having one’s essence siphoned away by flower and grass spirits count?”
The moment Jiang Lin finished speaking, Tan Xiao’s eyes flew open.
“Brother Jiang! I never imagined you would not even spare flowers and grasses! How did it come to this!”
“I came to this your ass! It was only my essence that was stolen. I’m definitely still pure!”
“Truly?”
“Of course it’s true.”
Jiang Lin also opened his eyes, but when he saw the fervent look in Tan Xiao’s gaze, he immediately pressed himself back against the carriage wall.
“Brother Tan, what are you planning to do?”
“Nothing... nothing at all...”
Tan Xiao coughed a few times and regained his composure.
“Speaking of which, Junior Brother Jiang, what brings you to Eastwood City this time?”
“Oh, Senior Brother Tan, rest assured. Though I, Jiang Lin, am a man of the Demon Sect, you know me. When have I ever done anything underhanded?”
“......That time we went to the female disciples’ dormitory.”
“Admiring the moon is the first choice of men of taste and refinement.”
“That time you had the yellow eel raised by the female elder of Dragon Spring Peak simmered into soup...”
“I feared that eel might one day become a spirit. Best to strike first and cut the weeds down at the root.”
“And that time you took the junior brothers to release turtles in the sect’s women’s bathhouse.”
“That was an act of loving all creatures of nature, and of nurturing the most beautiful trust between animals and human beings.”
“......”
“In short, if nothing unexpected happens, I should be standing on the same side as you and the others this time, Senior Brother Tan. You need not worry.”
Just as Tan Xiao was about to say more, Jiang Lin waved a hand.
“Also, I suspect the Qian residence is connected to the strange events in Eastwood City!”
“Oh? How did you tell, Junior Brother?”
“A man’s intuition!”
“......”
“Whoa~~~”
The coachman drew the reins and brought the carriage to a stop. Jiang Lin also sent a pulse of spiritual power to the Qian young master’s acupoint and woke him.
“Young Master...”
“Out of the way! Come... Teacher, slowly now.”
Qian Zhenduo shoved aside the servant beside him with one broad backside and personally helped Jiang Lin down from the carriage.
The Qian residence’s gate was no different from the mansions of ancient city magnates one might see in dramas. After getting off, Jiang Lin and Tan Xiao immediately used their respective detection arts to probe the estate.
They found nothing unusual at all.
“Teacher, please...”
Qian Zhenduo kicked away the servant at his side and bent his ample waist to lead Jiang Lin inside.
The Qian estate was vast, with artificial hills, little ponds, flowers, and grasses. The scenery was indeed quite pleasant. Maidservants and retainers bustled to and fro; whenever they saw Qian Zhenduo, they would bow and take their leave, then cast a few furtive glances at Jiang Lin with great curiosity.
In the eyes those maidservants turned toward Qian Zhenduo, Jiang Lin saw no fear at all, only a trace of warmth, even a touch of familiarity.
Tan Xiao sent through the mind-lake, “Little Jiang, something feels off to me.”
Jiang Lin smiled faintly.
“Senior Brother Tan means that, although he looks like a spoilt and overweight heir, the people in his household still seem somewhat fond of him?”
“Mm.”
“That’s because Qian Zhenduo is not some bully at all.”
Jiang Lin explained, relaying the information he had received from the system.
“In truth, the Qian young master standing before us wouldn’t even dare kill a chicken. He may be the idiot son of a landed family, but he hasn’t even stepped onto the road to adulthood yet. Senior Brother, don’t be fooled by the way Qian Zhenduo shoves and kicks his servants around; he’s not putting much force into it at all.”
“Why is that?”
“Ah... because this Qian young master doesn’t know whose ghostly nonsense he listened to. He’s trying very hard to act like a bully, hoping to stage some sort of Tyrannical Landlord Falls for Me drama... probably because he’s read too many novels written by those cultivator novelists.”
“I don’t quite understand.”
“It’s fine. After all, Senior Brother, you’re a straight man. We’re different.”
“......”
Tan Xiao did understand the term straight man. Jiang Lin had explained it to him years ago.
He simply felt insulted.
He, a straight man, had just been called a straight man by another straight man?!
Qian Zhenduo turned around and said to Jiang Lin, “Teacher, let us first rest in the back courtyard.”
Jiang Lin shook his head.
“Little Qian, I think I ought to meet your father. Of course, if you simply told people that I was your matchmaking teacher, that would not sound very proper. Just say I am your friend.”
“Teacher, please forgive me. My father is unwell at the moment, so Third Madame is in charge of the household.”
“Third Madame?”
Jiang Lin was startled.
Though a little abrupt, Teacher still wants to ask: how old is your Third Madame?”
At the look in his teacher’s eyes, which seemed somewhat lewd yet oddly solemn, Qian Zhenduo slowly replied, “About the age of flower-blooming youth, Teacher. Why do you ask?”
“Flower-blooming youth?”
Jiang Lin patted Qian Zhenduo on the shoulder, wearing a ridiculous smile that somehow carried a damned wicked charm.
“To tell you the truth, your teacher likes meeting his disciples’ mothers. Especially the young ones.”
...
In the bustling streets of Eastwood City, a woman in a fitted long dress and a veiled hat walked along the road. The faster she went, the more she seemed to glide past the crowd like a butterfly, until at last she entered a narrow alley.
When she stepped into the alley, two delicate young women in palace robes appeared as well. But the way ahead was a dead end, and the woman had already vanished from their sight.
“To be able to see the noble white foxes of the myriad beasts in this little human city, I’m truly fortunate.”
The woman’s voice sounded behind them. Standing at the mouth of the alley, her long sword was already pointed at their backs.
The two fox sisters slowly turned around. Shedding their illusion, they revealed silver hair draped over their shoulders, with a pair of fluffy ears standing upright.
Bai Ling.
Bai Qiao.
“Greetings, Miss Xiao.”
The white fox sisters bowed slightly to Xiao Xueli.
“We have met before?”
Bai Qiao smiled.
“Ever so fortunately, our sisterly pair once saw a portrait of Miss Xiao. Still, that is not important.”
Bai Ling met Xiao Xueli’s eyes beneath the veil and said calmly:
“What matters is that within seven days, Young Master Jiang will be doomed to perish, body and soul.”