"Brother Ji? Brother Ji?"
Shen Jizhi sat at the very last table, his back against the crowded lotus pond.
When the evening breeze blew, it swayed the nearest lotus plant, causing its large leaves to lean towards Shen Jizhi.
The banquet featured a variety of rich and expensive dishes.
After all, they had paid a thousand spirit stones to enter.
Shen Jizhi held the white jade-like chopsticks and had been quietly eating since he sat down.
Until someone called out to him.
Shen Jizhi put down his chopsticks, glanced indifferently at the person beside him, and then picked up the spirit wine, drinking it one mouthful at a time.
The people attending the couples' banquet had all sorts of personalities.
Jiang's servants had seen their fair share of difficult individuals.
Qing Bai, responsible for this table, asked patiently again, "Brother Ji, is there something wrong between you and your wife?"
The cup of spirit wine was empty, and Shen Jizhi poured himself a full cup.
He lowered his eyes, recalling the words Jian Huan had instructed him to say.
It was impossible to say them, not in this lifetime.
"They keep pressuring me," Shen Jizhi slowly began, taking a sip of the spirit wine, and then continued, "I ask you."
Qing Bai prepared to listen: "Please, Brother Ji, go ahead."
Shen Jizhi's cold eyes flashed with a hint of sarcasm: "Does your Jiang family have a way for me to make her pregnant without touching her?"
Qing Bai suspected his ears were playing tricks on him: "What?"
What an absurd request!
But Qing Bai quickly understood.
This gentleman must be struggling with some issue and has been ridiculed by his wife. He's drinking in frustration and venting his anger.
Men's pride, eh.
The banquet ended.
Some couples, after mediation from the Jiang family, revealed their hidden feelings, resolved their misunderstandings, and left hand in hand, satisfied.
Others were led by the Jiang family to stay in the guest courtyard.
The invited opera troupe was dismantling the stage, and Jiang's servants were cleaning up the mess.
Bing Lian led a group of green-clothed attendants through the winding corridor, heading towards the main courtyard.
In the lavishly decorated hall, a rich sweet fragrance burned silently.
A red-clad woman leaned half-reclined on a couch, exuding charm.
Bing Lian and the others, including Qing Bai, silently prostrated themselves on the ground: "Greetings to Madam Jiang."
Madam Jiang lifted her head, revealing a delicate face, her voice languid: "How was it?"
Bing Lian reported the key points of the couples' banquet: "A total of thirty-nine couples came seeking children. I have instructed the servants to accommodate the esteemed guests in the separate courtyard. Here is the list, please inspect it, Madam."
Qi Wan rose from the couch, her hand stained with rouge red, and lightly flicked, causing the gilded name card to fly into her hand.
These green-clothed attendants were trained by Qi Wan herself. Not only were they skilled in conversation, but they were also experts in gathering information.
The name card detailed the information of the thirty-nine couples.
Qi Wan scanned through them, and when she saw Qian Duoduo and Ji Qian, she had a strange intuition.
She raised an eyebrow, tapping her finger on their names: "What did these two say during the banquet?"
Bing Lian and Qing Bai stepped forward, recounting Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi's words at the banquet word for word.
Qi Wan frowned, finding no flaws in the conversation. Both parties reacted as one would expect in such a situation. The information gathered two days ago from Ji's residence also...
seemed fine.
But she just felt something was off.
This sense of crisis had saved Qi Wan from death multiple times, leading to her current status.
Qi Wan tossed the name card aside, stepping out from behind the pearl curtain. Her long skirt swept across the spotless floor, carrying a seductive sweet fragrance.
"Let's go," she lightly supported the swaying hairpin on her head, "It's better to be cautious."
The night was deep and heavy with dew.
The Jiang residence was secluded, and the guest courtyard for accommodating guests was near the back mountain.
The lights in Jian Huan and Shen Jizhi's room had been extinguished. Both were dressed in white nightclothes, lying on a double bed.
Although they had been sharing a room, this was their first time sharing a bed.
The guest room of the Jiang family was excellent, and the bed was naturally top-notch.
Shen Jizhi lay on the edge of the bed, his back facing inward.
Inside, Jian Huan lay comfortably sprawled out.
She turned her head, looking at the tightly covered quilt on him, and asked: "Aren't you hot?"
This weather, how could he stand the blanket.
Shen Jizhi: "Not hot."
Alright.
Jian Huan asked again: "Will you take the first half of the night, or the second half?"
Shen Jizhi: "The first half."
Jian Huan: "Okay, wake me up when it's time. I'll go to sleep first."
Shen Jizhi: "Mm."
Hearing this, Jian Huan turned over and soon fell asleep.
If nothing happened tonight, tomorrow would undoubtedly be a tough battle. Ensuring a certain amount of sleep was crucial.
Shen Jizhi maintained the same posture, unmoving, closing his eyes to rest.
The room fell silent, with only the sound of Jian Huan's shallow breathing.
Occasionally, a breeze would blow through the window, tapping gently on the windowsill, rhythmically, making one think of the opera singer's melodies from the banquet.
Shen Jizhi had drunk quite a bit of spirit wine at the banquet. When Qing Bai got up to leave, he inadvertently glanced in that direction.
Among the fragrant shadows and bustling guests, the ladies smiled charmingly, their eyes gleaming.
Despite the crowd, he spotted the tender green figure at a glance.
She propped her cheek with one hand, watching the stage, her brows shrouded in a faint melancholy.
From their first meeting until now, Shen Jizhi had never seen this expression on her face.
She was always radiant, like a tree with its tips soaked in the sunlight, full of vitality and liveliness.
Shen Jizhi involuntarily leaned closer to her, reaching out, his fingertips brushing her eyebrows, wanting to smooth out the worry between her eyebrows.
The moment his fingers touched her eyebrows, a tingling sensation spread through his heart.
The girl in the dream let out an uncomfortable hum, her tone soft and tender, seemingly carrying a refreshing sweetness like grapes.
The scene before him shifted, showing Jian Huan sitting in a teahouse eating grapes.
The large grapes, deep purple to the point of being almost black, she ate one after another, her lips stained with glistening juice.
Yet she seemed unaware.
Shen Jizhi was mostly enveloped in the summer blanket, feeling both stuffy and hot.
He impatiently tore off the blanket, something urging him to get closer to Jian Huan, to become the grape in her mouth.
But—
Something felt off.
Two voices clashed in his mind, and suddenly, the scene shifted again.
The girl was still propping her cheek with one hand while watching the opera, but her eyes inadvertently glanced at the delicious food on the table.
That's right.
Her frown, mostly due to the pain of being trapped in a character role and unable to recoup her losses, was so real.
But...
Return on investment?
Why return the principal?
A thousand spirit stones...
Shen Jizhi abruptly snapped out of the bizarre illusion.
Jian Huan lay beneath him, tightly furrowed his brows, his forehead covered with a thin layer of sweat, as if trapped in an inescapable nightmare.
In the dimly lit room, her face was frighteningly pale.
A faint sweet fragrance lingered around, intoxicating.
Shen Jizhi acted decisively, summoning his snow sword from his mustard seed pouch, slashing his palm.
The pain sharpened his awareness, and he keenly sensed the impending danger.
The wind was rising before the storm.
Bright red blood dripped down, staining the pure white quilt.
Shen Jizhi reached out, pushed Jian Huan's shoulder.
Jian Huan showed no reaction.
Shen Jizhi no longer hesitated, grabbing her smooth face, squeezing tightly.
Jian Huan cried out in pain, covering her face as she opened her eyes, her gaze still filled with fear and bewilderment: "?"
Shen Jizhi had no time to explain, leaping to his feet, sending his "Snow Sword" towards the door, cutting through the darkness with a streak of silver.
But with a dingdong sound, the snow sword suddenly halted in mid-air, trembling as if about to break.
Shen Jizhi frowned, quickly recalling the sword, placing it back in his satchel.
He turned, addressing the Jian Huan who had just gotten up: "I can't win against them."
Such overwhelming power disparity meant the opponent was undoubtedly above the Golden Core stage, likely a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Jian Huan shook her head to clear it, realizing the dire situation.
She just hid behind Shen Jizhi when, with a creak sound, the door opened.
The room suddenly brightened, as if it were broad daylight despite the midnight.
The red-clad woman gently lifted her embroidered shoe, stepping over the threshold, her graceful figure entering the room.
Bing Lian and the others stood silently at the door, a dense crowd, looking quite intimidating.
This was bad.
Jian Huan jumped onto Shen Jizhi's back, whispering complaints in his ear: "They're stronger than us, and there are more of them. They're really bullying us."
Shen Jizhi didn't respond. He held her knee bend. Her entire body leaned against his back, too close, making him uncomfortable.
It was Qi Wan who replied: "Little sister, it's not me who's bullying you, but you who are bullying me."
Her gaze was extremely ambiguous as it fell on Shen Jizhi, and with a delicate orchid-like finger, she lightly pointed at Jian Huan from a distance, chiding, "Little sister, you will surely have a lot of good fortune in the future, yet you still tricked us into thinking that this young gentleman is no good. That's really too much for me."
"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding," Jian Huan forced a smile. "Beautiful sister, it's all a misunderstanding."
Qi Wan sat down at the table and chuckled, "Little sister, your mouth is quite sweet. I like that. Since that's the case, I'll give you two choices."
Jian Huan perked up her ears, "Sister, please tell me, I'm all ears."
Qi Wan said, "One, you honestly confess where you come from, why you are here, and whose people you are. I'll give you a quick death."
She looked up, her smile even broader, "Two, I'll have someone cut the flesh off your bodies piece by piece, making you suffer endlessly until you confess, and then I'll chop you into minced meat and make it into buns. Which one will you choose?"
Jian Huan subconsciously held her breath and asked cautiously, "Is there no choice to live?"
Qi Wan looked surprised, "You still want to live?"
"..."
With Shen Jizhi's cover, Jian Huan finally managed to pull out the teleportation talisman.
Without hesitation, she concentrated her spiritual energy.
In the next instant, the two of them disappeared from the spot, and just before they vanished, Jian Huan's face was filled with a look of surprise.
Shen Jizhi's tense hand also relaxed, and his...
brown glassy eyes returned to normal.
The room was deathly silent.
Suddenly, Qi Wan burst into loud laughter.
She laughed so hard that her golden hairpin fell off.
Qi Wan turned her head, gently pinching the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes, and said to the group of green-robed attendants, "Look, I didn't even have to lift a finger, and they jumped right into the trap themselves. They really can't stand a little scare. Now, there are two more puppets from the Jade Clarity Sect in the old mansion, which is quite nice to think about..."
