After Transmigrating into a Book, I Was Entangled by a Crazy and Beautiful Villain - Chapter 54.1

Song Linlin returned to the sect in the evening. The first thing she naturally did upon her return was to head to the Affairs Hall to hand in her mission and successfully receive the mission reward.

She had earned a large sum of money selling herbs down the mountain, so now when she looked at these mission contribution rewards, which might have excited the old Song Linlin, the current Song Linlin was numb and felt they were just so-so.

She leisurely returned to her dwelling. Ever since that night in the tent on the mountain, both Song Linlin and Chi Qianning were likely feeling a bit awkward about it. Subsequently, the two had tacitly avoided bringing it up. These past few days, they would both lie down and sleep soundly on the bed at night, neither trying to tease the other. Song Linlin had also honestly gotten a few nights of peaceful sleep.

“I’m back,” Song Linlin pushed open the door and called out to the person inside.

She was already wearing the sect disciple uniform; she couldn’t wear her own casual clothes once she returned to the sect. The sky had already darkened. This secluded dwelling rarely had people passing by, remaining quiet most of the time.

Song Linlin stepped into the room. As she looked up, she saw Chi Qianning sitting quietly by the window. The other person was sitting sideways to Song Linlin, one elbow resting on the chair’s armrest, her chin propped in her palm, looking out the window.

Sensing the movement behind her and the sound of Song Linlin opening the door, Chi Qianning finally turned her head, her bright red eyes looking at the newly returned Song Linlin.

The clear moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating Chi Qianning. From Song Linlin’s perspective, the hazy light seemed to drape a layer of bright, thin gauze over Chi Qianning, making her already fair skin and silver long hair appear to be glowing.

This caused Song Linlin’s movement of stepping into the room to pause. Staring at Chi Qianning not far away, Song Linlin was stunned for a second, her footsteps briefly hesitant. However, she quickly reacted, her slow movements becoming fluid again as she walked deeper into the bedroom and turned to close the door.

Their gazes met again with those red eyes. The room was very quiet, and for a moment, an awkward atmosphere filled the space. After several seconds, Song Linlin finally broke the silence.

“I’m going to take a bath.”

Song Linlin had just been out, carrying the items required for the mission, so she inevitably had some dust on her, and her white clothes were slightly grayish.

Chi Qianning nodded slightly. “Mhm, go ahead.”

Fetching a clean set of clothes from the wardrobe, Song Linlin left the room with the clothes, her mind preoccupied.

After a quick bath, Song Linlin returned to the room. These past few days down the mountain, she had stayed in an inn in the city. The inn rooms were much more comfortable than her small room, especially the soft, large beds where she could roll around freely.

Now back in her small space, the amenities were noticeably worse. Song Linlin climbed onto her single bed, a small bed that could only barely fit two people sleeping side-by-side.

Song Linlin lay flat. During her time at the inn, Song Linlin had been careful to maintain some distance from Chi Qianning while sleeping, lest she couldn’t help but let her imagination run wild and end up doing something inappropriate.

However, now sleeping on this small bed, lying flat, their shoulders inevitably touched, creating physical contact. Song Linlin could only try to ignore the feeling of touching the other person, keeping her hands honestly placed on her lower abdomen, palms crossed.

Forcing her eyes shut, she began to sleep. Although her heart still felt somewhat restless deep down, fortunately, nothing unexpected happened until dawn. They finally spent a peaceful night.

Early in the morning, Song Linlin woke up as usual to attend morning class. As for what the lecturer spoke about, she had no idea. She sat in her seat, slacking off. The hour quickly passed. As soon as the lecturer left, Song Linlin immediately got up. She headed in the direction of Ziting Residence, where Zhang San lived. The little girl had mysteriously leaned close to Song Linlin when they parted last night, asking her to find her this morning.

Seeing Zhang San’s secretive manner, although Song Linlin was puzzled, she figured it shouldn’t be anything bad, and she was very curious about what Zhang San intended to do.

Unfortunately, no matter how much Song Linlin asked yesterday, Zhang San refused to reveal any related information. Song Linlin had no choice but to wait until today to find her, so immediately after morning class, Song Linlin went straight towards Zhang San’s direction.

When Song Linlin arrived at Ziting Residence, she stood before Zhang San’s closed courtyard door, politely reaching out to knock on the main door and calling out to the person inside: “Zhang San, are you in there? It’s Song Linlin.”

As her voice fell, a flurry of clanking bottles and jars was heard from inside the door. After a while, footsteps gradually approached. Zhang San jogged over to the courtyard, unlocked the door from the inside, and saw Song Linlin standing outside.

Song Linlin noticed Zhang San wearing a white apron over her outer garment and sleeve protectors on her arms. Her whole body had a strong smell of medicinal herbs, seemingly indicating she was just fiddling with herb-related things in the room. But Song Linlin didn’t recall her needing to dress like this when refining pills. Zhang San’s appearance was more like she was doing some kind of housework.

This couldn’t help but pique Song Linlin’s curiosity. Could the noise just now have been Zhang San tidying up her room? Such behavior didn’t fit Zhang San at all; Song Linlin always felt this girl was sometimes lazier than herself.

It seemed impossible that she would be tidying up her room.

Song Linlin tilted her head, her gaze passing over Zhang San to look into the room behind her. What she saw were various pots of herbs haphazardly placed on the ground, and Zhang San’s miscellaneous items were piled disorderly on the table. The place really couldn’t be called clean and tidy. Song Linlin remembered how clean it was the first time she visited, completely ruined by her.

As the door opened, the scent from inside gradually drifted out. Song Linlin couldn’t help but sniff carefully, feeling a medicinal smell still lingering in the air. However, the smell wasn’t bitter like traditional Chinese medicine; it actually smelled quite fragrant, making one want to investigate what was emitting this scent.

“Why did you come so early? I haven’t even finished preparing yet,” Zhang San said, surprised.

She had thought Song Linlin wouldn’t come until close to noon. Who would have thought Song Linlin would arrive so early.

Song Linlin looked completely unconcerned, not feeling at all problematic about not cultivating, and spoke calmly: “I finished morning class and didn’t have anything else to do, so I came straight over.”

Then, Song Linlin looked at Zhang San strangely and asked, confused: “What were you doing in the room just now? And this smell, it smells pretty good.”

“Hehe.”

Zhang San chuckled twice, still maintaining a mysterious appearance, not intending to reveal anything yet. She stepped aside, leaving enough space for Song Linlin to enter, and waved her hand, greeting: “Come in first! I’m a bit too busy to manage alone right now, so since you arrived early, why don’t you help me out on the side?”

“Oh, okay.”

Song Linlin didn’t know what she wanted to do, but she had at least followed Zhang San to learn pill refining for a week, so helping her handle some simple tasks was no problem. Besides, she had nothing to do right now.

Zhang San walked ahead to lead the way. Song Linlin followed her into the courtyard, passed through the yard, and entered the building. The floor here was already covered with many strange and various herbs. Song Linlin carefully avoided them.

After all, who knew if these things that looked ordinary on the surface might be poisonous herbs? It would be unlucky if she accidentally touched them.

Following the footsteps of the person ahead, they went deeper. Unexpectedly, Zhang San didn’t lead Song Linlin towards the direction of the pill furnace but instead went to the back kitchen.

Zhang San opened the kitchen door. Song Linlin had visited this place before. Seeing Zhang San enter the kitchen now, Song Linlin couldn’t guess her intention. Could it be that Zhang San was lighting a fire to cook this early in the morning? She had so secretively invited her over just to treat her to a meal she cooked?!

That seemed too ridiculous. Song Linlin felt it was unlikely.

Seeing Zhang San’s figure disappear before her, Song Linlin didn’t hesitate anymore. Driven by intense curiosity, she immediately followed Zhang San’s steps.

As soon as she entered the kitchen, Song Linlin saw a uniquely textured object placed on the fiery stove. Its shape looked very much like a stewing pot. Strangely, the flame beneath the pot was emitting a peculiar blue color, clearly not an ordinary fire. The flame was burning fiercely, and the vessel above contained liquid, which was constantly churning. Bubbles kept rising, producing a gurgling sound.

“You are…”

Looking at the scene before her, Song Linlin paused for a moment to consider her words, but she couldn’t think of any refined vocabulary, so she could only hesitate: “Uh… making soup?”

“Huh?”

Zhang San looked at Song Linlin with an expression that said, ‘You bumpkin.’ With such a strong medicinal fragrance and the constantly overflowing spiritual power fluctuations, Song Linlin thought she was just making soup? There was no comparison between the two.