The Villainess Always Tries to Seduce Me - Chapter 40

The white fluffball’s metallic eyes extended and zoomed in, carefully analyzing for a moment before speaking, “It seems to be that one from the West Leaning Tower, named Xia Qiuqiu. She was originally on duty in the kitchen of the Fourth Peak.”

“Supposedly, she messed up a batch of pastries once, causing hundreds of cultivators in the sect to have diarrhea for an entire night. That is why she was transferred to our Gundan Sect.”

Bai Fenghe curled her lips, “You certainly remember clearly.”

“The entire Fourth Peak, top to bottom, had the runs all night. That counts as a major event on Mount Buxi. It is just that you usually pay so little attention to these things that you didn’t know,” the white fluffball said, retracting its eyes.

“True enough. This Seat does tend to live somewhat in seclusion.” Bai Fenghe remained staring at the center of the lake, nodding slightly. “In the future, I should pay more attention to the trivial matters of the sect.”

With that, Bai Fenghe, who should have returned to the Pavilion of Spring along the main road, suddenly took a turn onto a small stone path through the fields. Her skirt brushed against the grass, making a rustling sound.

She tucked the white fluffball away and, before long, stepped onto the boardwalk, stopping behind Yun Chuanzhi and Xia Qiuqiu, who were chatting happily.

Yun Chuanzhi was the first to notice Bai Fenghe. She looked up and called out, “Sect Leader,” and Xia Qiuqiu, who had been full of smiles just a moment ago, became like a startled rabbit. She scrambled off the bench and fell to her knees with a thud.

Her voice stammered as she bowed in greeting, “This servant, this servant greets the Sect Leader.”

Most people in the sect reacted with this kind of abject terror upon seeing her unexpectedly. Although Bai Fenghe found it irritating, she did not lose her temper. She merely gave a faint “Mm.”

“Instead of being on duty in the Pavilion of Spring in broad daylight, what are you doing out here again?” Bai Fenghe ignored the prostrate Xia Qiuqiu and directed her reprimand only at Yun Chuanzhi. “Has the floor been scrubbed? Have the windows been fixed? Is the tea This Seat requires for noon prepared?”

“Everything is ready.” Yun Chuanzhi looked up to respond to Bai Fenghe, yet her hands did not stop for a second. It was as if she were a possessed weaving machine; her ten fingers were a mere blur.

Bai Fenghe controlled herself not to look at the girl’s flying fingers, her expression remaining cold. “Ready? Usually, it takes you a whole day to scrub one floor. How is it done in an hour today?”

Why is Bai Fenghe picking a fight for no reason? Yun Chuanzhi stopped her movements, assuming this ancestor had encountered some frustrating matter and was taking it out on her. She decided to endure it with good temper.

Seeing Yun Chuanzhi fall silent, Bai Fenghe felt as if she had thrown a punch into a bale of cotton. She looked at Xia Qiuqiu kneeling on the ground; the little servant was shaking like a leaf, not daring to raise her head for a long time.

“Leave. You are an eyesore,” Bai Fenghe said flatly. Her hem brushed past Xia Qiuqiu’s cheek as she strode across the boardwalk toward the Pavilion of Spring.

Yun Chuanzhi knew she couldn’t be lazy today. She stuffed the half-finished neck warmer into her box, nodded to Xia Qiuqiu, and then leaped up to catch up with Bai Fenghe.

The woman ignored her, walking ahead on her own. Her waist swayed with her steps, and the row of jade ornaments tied at her waist bumped against each other, making a crisp jingling sound like raindrops falling into a clear spring.

Yun Chuanzhi did not provoke her further, following closely at an arm’s length behind.

Finally, it was Bai Fenghe who spoke first: “Since when were you so familiar with Xia Qiuqiu?”

“Familiar?” Yun Chuanzhi rubbed her head and said with a smile, “We only met today. I only just learned her name.”

“Not familiar? I saw you two chatting quite congenially,” Bai Fenghe sneered. But she quickly realized she shouldn’t be so concerned, so she shifted her tone. “As This Seat’s personal servant, you should not have such close contact with others.”

“If you are used by someone with ulterior motives, you know what the outcome will be,” Bai Fenghe added with a sharp glance.

So that was it. Yun Chuanzhi nodded and hurried a few steps to walk side-by-side with Bai Fenghe, saying with a grin, “I understand. I won’t speak much with them in the future.”

She wasn’t someone who loved making many friends anyway. Rather than having a hard life because of Bai Fenghe’s suspicion, it was better to follow her wishes and avoid needless conflict.

Seeing Yun Chuanzhi admit her “mistake” so quickly, Bai Fenghe’s mood finally softened. She glanced at Yun Chuanzhi’s profile, unable to hide her curiosity, “What was that thing you were holding?”

“This?” Yun Chuanzhi pulled the neck warmer out of the wooden box and waved it in front of her. “This is a neck warmer I knitted with cotton thread. I thought winter is coming soon, so it can be used to keep warm.”

“How could This Seat let you freeze? Why bother knitting such a thing?” Bai Fenghe let out a light laugh. She took the neck warmer and toyed with it in her hand. “Your hands are quite clever. Where did you learn this?”

“An old friend taught me.” Yun Chuanzhi couldn’t keep up with Bai Fenghe’s pace, so she had to walk with little skips by her side, her hair swinging. “Sect Leader, do not underestimate this weaving technique. If combined with artifact refining, one could create unique battle armor that fits the body perfectly.”

“Battle armor?” Bai Fenghe’s heart stirred. A defensive wall immediately rose in her mind, and her gaze grew a bit sharp, though she remained smiling, not revealing her thoughts. “It is just ordinary cotton thread. How could it be used for battle armor?”

“One only needs to fuse spiritual power into these thin threads and then weave them. Ordinary clothes can then become extraordinary.” Yun Chuanzhi pointed to the two wooden sticks in her hand. “These sticks I use for weaving are volcanic ebony that Lingshui found for me. This material is warm year-round. Clothing woven with its spiritual energy has the effect of keeping one warm and generating heat.”

“I see.” Bai Fenghe’s pace slowed. The fingertips hidden in her sleeves curled unconsciously.

Her voice grew softer: “Then how does one make battle armor?”

“It is called battle armor, but in reality, it is no different from ordinary clothing. It only needs the support of certain mental cultivation methods, turning those methods into incantations carved into the fabric. Then, an outer robe can possess strength as unbreakable as dark iron.”

Yun Chuanzhi saw the change in Bai Fenghe’s attitude and knew she was being defensive again. She laughed inwardly.

She then reached into her wooden box and pulled out a handwritten booklet. She pulled on Bai Fenghe’s sleeve and placed the booklet into her palm through the fabric of the sleeve.

Under Bai Fenghe’s momentary stunned gaze, she said with a smile, “These mental methods have always been in my head. They were getting a bit fuzzy over time, so I wrote them down. If the Sect Leader is interested, you can take a look.”

Bai Fenghe looked at her, then at the ink-stained, crumpled booklet in her hand, and huffed, “Why would This Seat learn this?”

“Just in case it comes in handy.” Yun Chuanzhi lowered her head to organize her wooden box. “Although the art of artifact refining sounds inferior to immortal arts, if used at the right moment, it can yield twice the result with half the effort.”

“Once we are back at the Pavilion of Spring, if the Sect Leader is willing, I will teach you how to weave,” she added.

After spending so much time together, she had discovered that although Bai Fenghe was suspicious and paranoid, she could be easily swayed if one were sincere enough.

Sure enough, after these words, Bai Fenghe’s tensed waist relaxed again, and even the jingling jewels at her waist sounded lighter.

Bai Fenghe gave an “Mm.” When she looked at Yun Chuanzhi again, a rare, shallow wave of guilt welled up in her heart because of her previous suspicion.

The rarely-guilty Sect Leader Bai lowered her lush eyelashes and looked at Yun Chuanzhi, “How many of these neck warmers have you knitted?”

“I’ve finished one. This one is just to pass the time,” Yun Chuanzhi said.

“Then give this one to This Seat. Although it is not anything useful, it looks rather pleasing to the eye,” Bai Fenghe said “graciously,” tucking the booklet into her sleeve.

Yun Chuanzhi, however, tucked her hands in with difficulty and spoke slowly, “This neck warmer… I promised to give it to Cheng Jinshu.”

Bai Fenghe’s red lips pressed together. She ignored the bit of gloom in her heart and exhaled, “Then give the next one to This Seat.”

“I’ve already promised the next one to Xia Qiuqiu.” Yun Chuanzhi’s voice grew weaker as she spoke. “Although I won’t socialize with her, it’s not good to go back on a promise…”

Bai Fenghe’s face darkened completely. She was so angry she laughed. As a dignified Sect Leader, she had never asked anyone for anything. Now, she had deigned to ask a small servant, only to be rejected repeatedly.

Bai Fenghe had never endured such slights. She raised her hand, wanting to sweep Yun Chuanzhi into the lake. However, even with spiritual power gathered in her palm, she couldn’t bring herself to strike for a long time.

The girl was a bit rounder than before, but she still looked thin. She didn’t even know if she could swim; if she drowned or got sick from the water…

“But Sect Leader, please do not be angry.” Seeing Bai Fenghe’s expression change, Yun Chuanzhi quickly stepped forward to curry favor, opening her clear eyes and speaking softly. “The ones I am giving them are very ordinary, quite plain.”

“If I am to knit one for the Sect Leader, it must be a precious one with patterns and a lasting fragrance.” She took a charcoal pen and started drawing a sketch. “Do you prefer this peony pattern or this phoenix flower pattern?”

Yun Chuanzhi’s clever tongue smoothed things over the whole way. By the time they reached the Pavilion of Spring and saw its eaves peeking over the treetops, Bai Fenghe’s expression had returned to pleasantness.

“Fine. I’ll take the phoenix flower one. Embroider it beautifully, or This Seat will chop off your hands,” Bai Fenghe said.

Seeing her start threatening people as usual, her mood had clearly recovered. Only then did Yun Chuanzhi wipe away her sweat.

Coaxing this ancestor all day is truly exhausting. If I have the chance in the future, I must leave this Mount Buxi and find true happiness down the mountain, Yun Chuanzhi sighed inwardly.

The two walked into the Pavilion of Spring one after the other. The two servants guarding the door bowed low. Bai Fenghe walked around the corridor, opened the bedroom door, and stopped.

“What is this?” she asked.

The sunlight coming through the window frames was partially blocked by the semi-transparent window paper, falling on the floor as thin as a veil. Two small wagon-like things were creaking and wandering on the floor.

The “wagons” only had two wheels. Between the wheels hung two rags. As the wheels rolled back and forth, the rags wiped the floor until it was spotless.

“These are the scavengers I made. They wipe the floor as they move. I don’t have to kneel and clean it myself anymore.” Yun Chuanzhi looked at the mirror-like floor with satisfaction.

“You can even come up with so many tricks for being lazy.” Bai Fenghe let out a light sneer and walked into the room, lying down in the shade by the window. “Weren’t you going to teach This Seat how to weave that neck warmer thing? Since we have nothing to do today, come.”

Yun Chuanzhi loved making these things. Seeing that she sincerely wanted to learn, she was naturally happy to comply. She sat down by the table and took out the cotton threads and other items from the wooden box one by one, spreading them out on the table.

“The mental methods are written in the booklet. Just infuse spiritual power while weaving and recite them in your mind. I’ll teach you how to weave first.” Yun Chuanzhi placed the two wooden sticks into Bai Fenghe’s palm and wrapped the cotton thread around them.

Speaking softly, “Wrap it around from here, then back around…”

As Bai Fenghe moved the wooden sticks according to her instructions, she unconsciously fixed her gaze on the girl’s cheek. When Yun Chuanzhi explained what she was good at, her usually cheerful eyes were focused and lowered, full of concentration beneath her lush eyelashes.

She was so focused she seemed almost oblivious to her surroundings, as if transcending the world.

Bai Fenghe stared at her for a long time. Then, she lightly shook her fingers to mess up the cotton thread and dropped the wooden sticks as if frustrated, “No, it’s undone again.”

Seeing that the neck warmer was about to take shape, giving up now would be a waste. Yun Chuanzhi stood up to grab her fingers, intending to teach her hand-over-hand. But just as her fingertips were about to touch those soft hands, she hesitated and stopped in mid-air.

Bai Fenghe didn’t like others touching her; in the past, she would spend half a day wiping her hands if someone touched her. Better not, Yun Chuanzhi thought.

Just as she was about to withdraw her hand, she suddenly heard the woman cough lightly and speak indifferently, “It’s fine.”

“Since you are teaching, you may hold them.”

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