The Immortal Lord of the Path of Ruthlessness Bends for Me - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: A Rare Flush Crept Across Zhuang Jinfu’s Face

When Ling Shu woke up, the spot beside her was already empty.

The comfortable brocade quilt clung to her body, and the bedchamber was filled with a lingering, sharp fragrance. As she lay there, she didn’t even have to try to catch the scent of jasmine left behind by Zhuang Jinfu’s hair. A beam of sunlight streamed through the window lattice, illuminating the place where the immortal had slept.

Ling Shu reached out to touch it; the bedding was already cool. She pressed her hand against the sunlight hitting that spot, as if she could touch Zhuang Jinfu’s radiance across space and time.

It was hard to believe. She had actually shared a bed with Zhuang Jinfu in her private chambers for an entire night.

She pulled back the covers and got out of bed. On a stand nearby, a set of new clothes sat neatly folded. The outer robe was a pale lotus-white with soaring cranes embroidered on the hem, but the inner garment was a striking crimson. When she put them on, the crimson collar peeked out, perfectly complementing the wild, untamed energy Ling Shu carried.

Did she pick these out specifically for me?

Looking at her slightly pale reflection in the dressing mirror, Ling Shu instinctively reached for some lip rouge. It felt as though only a touch of vermilion could do justice to the bright colors her Master had gifted her.

She found a container of rouge on the vanity, but the moment her finger touched the porcelain lid, she froze.

This is Zhuang Jinfu’s. If I use it, wouldn’t it be like sharing a kiss?

As she hesitated, Auntie Hai quietly pushed the door open, carrying a basin of washwater. Seeing Ling Shu already dressed and standing by the mirror, she said, “You’re awake? The Immortal is waiting for you in the dining hall for breakfast.”

Hearing that she was waiting, Ling Shu didn’t dare dawdle. Forgetting the rouge, she rushed out with a bare, natural face.

In the dining hall, the round table was spread with a variety of breakfast items: soup dumplings, crystal shrimp dumplings, steamed buns, and preserved egg and pork congee. To Ling Shu’s surprise, out of the seven dishes on the table, every single one was a favorite of hers.

Zhuang Jinfu sat at a small side table sipping tea. She looked up and said softly, “You’ve come.”

“Yes! Good morning, Master!”

“Mmh. Good morning.”

They took their seats. Zhuang Jinfu ate sparingly and with extreme elegance. Ling Shu, watching her, didn’t dare to be boisterous. She loved the crystal shrimp dumplings, but after eating one, she hesitated to reach for a second.

Zhuang Jinfu hadn’t touched the shrimp dumplings at all, but suddenly, she picked one up and placed it in Ling Shu’s bowl.

“Is it so stifling to eat with your Master for the first time?” Zhuang Jinfu asked suddenly.

Ling Shu’s smile faltered. “N-no.”

“Then why aren’t you eating what you like?” Zhuang Jinfu raised her eyes. Her expression was calm, yet it carried an intimidating stillness.

“Because Master eats so little… if I eat a lot, I’ll look greedy,” Ling Shu whispered.

Zhuang Jinfu replied with words that sounded like a Zen proverb: “If you like it, eat it. Too many reservations only bring unnecessary trouble.”

Ling Shu’s eyes lit up. “Okay!” She picked up the shrimp dumpling and began to eat with gusto. Her joy was so infectious it made the common food seem like a heavenly feast.

Zhuang Jinfu sighed inwardly. The young were so simple; their happiness was expressed so freely. A single dumpling was enough to provide a morning’s worth of satisfaction.

After breakfast, Zhuang Jinfu went to her study. Ling Shu didn’t want to return to her own hall; she wasn’t about to give up this chance to stay by her Master’s side. Remembering Master Bai’s punishment to copy the Tao Te Ching three times, she used it as an excuse to knock on the study door.

“Enter.”

Ling Shu stepped in quietly. The room was filled with the scent of books and ink. Near the eastern window sat a desk piled with uniform blue booklets. Zhuang Jinfu sat there, brush in hand, reviewing documents.

“What is it?”

Ling Shu walked over with a smile. “Master, could I borrow a copy of the Tao Te Ching? Master Bai wants me to copy it three times by tomorrow.”

Zhuang Jinfu gestured to the bookshelves on the west side. “Over there. Look for it yourself.” She returned to her writing.

Near the western window stood another desk. This one was covered in various ornaments: jade qilin, ceramic qilin, sandalwood qilin… there were majestic ones, silly ones, and pairs of them. There were even different colors of the same design.

Good heavens, how much does she love qilin?

Seeing the ink and paper laid out on this second desk, Ling Shu had a flash of inspiration. “Master, can I do my copying here?”

Zhuang Jinfu looked up briefly. “You may.”

Ling Shu began searching through the rows of classics—The Zuo Zhuan, Records of the Grand Historian, Songs of Chu. Her foot hit something on the floor. It was a cloth bag filled with unorganized books. Through a gap in the fabric, she saw two words.

Ling Shu couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Voluptuous…“

Wait, Voluptuous what? Driven by curiosity, she glanced at Zhuang Jinfu, who was busy writing. Ling Shu used a tiny bit of magic to flip the cloth aside. The full title appeared:

The Voluptuous Demon Lord’s Sweet Young Wife.

AAHHHHH!!! What is this pure, cold flower of the peaks reading in private?!

“Those were bought for you,” Zhuang Jinfu’s voice rang out suddenly. She had moved behind Ling Shu without a sound. Ling Shu turned around to face that frost-covered face, feeling a massive sense of cognitive dissonance.

“For… for me?”

Zhuang Jinfu nodded seriously, as if discussing something perfectly normal. “Auntie Hai said I shouldn’t be too strict with my disciple. She suggested ‘education through entertainment’—to balance study with life and give you time to relax. She said young people in the human world love storybooks, and since you’re stuck here recovering, I should buy some to pass the time.”

Ling Shu pointed at the massive bag. “But… there are so many!!!”

Zhuang Jinfu paused, thinking. “Are there? They weren’t very heavy to carry back.”

Ling Shu struggled to imagine it: Zhuang Jinfu—the First Immortal, the pinnacle of the cultivation world who rarely touched the dust of the mortal realm—walking into a bookstore and bulk-buying trashy romance novels.

“Since you’re here, take them with you when you leave,” Zhuang Jinfu added. “I have matters to attend to and must head out.”

Once the door clicked shut, Ling Shu collapsed into the chair, her face turning an unnatural shade of red. She poked a round ceramic qilin on the desk. “Don’t be so good to me,” she whispered to herself. “I won’t be able to help myself…”

By noon, Ling Shu was bored of copying. She ate lunch and returned to the study. Her hand was aching, so she started flipping through the books Zhuang Jinfu had bought.

She pulled one out at random. Within a few pages, she hit a vivid illustration of a man and woman in a “phoenix-taming” embrace. Ling Shu’s face burned. Her mother had been strict and never let her see such things.

But looking at the art, she finally got the answer to many of her questions. However, a new question arose.

How do two women do it?

She searched through every single book. Not one mentioned love between women. Ling Shu felt a pang of bitterness. Is my desire for my Master destined to be rejected by the world? Why is it okay for a man and woman, but not two women? Is our love not love?

She sniffled and closed the books. She didn’t want to read them anymore.

Just then, Auntie Hai came in to change the tea. Seeing Ling Shu’s slumped posture, she asked, “What’s wrong? Tired of copying?”

“Not really,” Ling Shu said dejectedly. “The stories… they aren’t quite what I expected.”

Auntie Hai guessed correctly. “Is the plot boring? Tell me, and I’ll buy you new ones.”

Ling Shu hesitated, then asked, “Auntie Hai… is love between two women not allowed in this world?”

Auntie Hai smiled warmly. “The world is full of prejudice, but I believe love is love. There’s no rule saying it must be a man and a woman. It’s not unheard of for female cultivators to become Dao companions. Your mother Wen Ji and Sect Leader Wang were companions, weren’t they?”

Ling Shu thought gloomily about the infamy her mother had endured for that relationship.

“Then why aren’t there any stories about it? Is it because people won’t accept it?”

Auntie Hai realized what was happening. “Oh! I went with the Immortal to buy those books. When we got back, she picked a few out of the pile and told me to put them away.”

“She… specifically took some out?”

“Yes,” Auntie Hai said, oblivious to Ling Shu’s internal turmoil. “It was strange. All the ones she took out were stories about love between women.”

So Zhuang Jinfu doesn’t want me to see them… because she doesn’t accept it?

“I want to see them,” Ling Shu insisted.

Auntie Hai didn’t think twice. She pulled them from her storage ring. “The Immortal forbade me from showing you, but she’s not here right now. I’ll let you have a peek.”

Ling Shu cheered. “Auntie Hai, you’re the best!”

There were two: The Ambitious Woman Mistaken for a White Flower》 and 《How to Escape After Accidentally Provoking the Gloomy Minister. Ling Shu opened them and found the door to a whole new world.

An hour later, Auntie Hai took the books back, and Ling Shu went back to copying the Tao Te Ching.

By late afternoon, Zhuang Jinfu returned. She pushed the door open to find Ling Shu asleep at the desk. A breeze from the window blew two finished pages of her work onto the floor. Zhuang Jinfu stepped softly and bent down to pick them up.

Ling Shu’s handwriting was crooked, like wild grass growing out of control. Zhuang Jinfu couldn’t help but let out a tiny, secret laugh. Just then, Ling Shu mumbled in her sleep. Zhuang Jinfu immediately resumed her cold, indifferent expression, thinking the girl was waking up—but it was just sleep-talking.

She walked to the desk to straighten the messy stack of papers, pinning them down with a jade qilin. But as she moved to leave, her eyes caught a book tucked under Ling Shu’s sleeve.

The book was open. The page showing was an illustration of a man and woman in bed. However, the man in the drawing had been crudely scribbled over and altered into a woman. Even certain “parts” had been redrawn as slender, delicate fingers.

The artist wasn’t satisfied with just editing; they had drawn a big ‘X’ over the original scene and sketched a brand-new one in the margin…

An illustration of two women in an intimate embrace.

This drawing was fluid and precise. The two figures were full of character. The one on the bottom had her robes sliding off her shoulders, and on the hem of the dress trailing on the floor… were embroidered plum blossoms.

Zhuang Jinfu looked down. She realized the plum blossoms in the drawing were an exact match for the ones on her own robes.

A rare, deep flush crept across Zhuang Jinfu’s face.

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