Transmigrated as the Villainous Love Rival of the Abusive Novel's Heroine [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: The Flower House

Once in the room, under Yun Qianxue’s persistent persuasion, Yin Shaoqing changed into a light blue gown at noon, adopting a plain appearance.

However, her unique temperament was impossible to hide. Fortunately, Yin Shaoqing was cold enough that anyone approaching risked freezing to death. No one was willing to press their warm face against a cold butt, so no one bothered them. Furthermore, the gazes cast her way decreased significantly, a result Yin Shaoqing was quite satisfied with.

Her evaluation of Yun Qianxue rose slightly just a tiny bit, the very tip of a fingernail’s worth.

The fat civet bared its teeth. Bullshit! It’s clearly only a tiny bit of dissatisfaction left, and the rest is almost total satisfaction. Now Yin Shaoqing listened to whatever the female lead said. If you’re so dissatisfied, host, why don’t you hit her? Why don’t you strike? You duplicitous woman, pah!

“Senior, is there anywhere you want to go or anything you want to buy? I can take you,” Yun Qianxue offered. It had been decades since she last stayed here, having drifted with her Senior Brother for so long. She couldn’t suppress the desire to wander around.

“Is there a Flower House here?”

Yun Qianxue’s hand gripping her chopsticks tightened. her throat constricted, and her words came with difficulty: “What?”

Didn’t understand?

Yin Shaoqing frowned, set down her chopsticks, and spoke plainly: “A brothel. Can a place as large as Wanyang Town not have one?” If this were a Buddhist cultivation territory, fine, but other places? Heh…

Yun Qianxue also set down her chopsticks, feeling her appetite vanish completely. This excellent food had become impossible to swallow. Even her stomach, which had been aching from hunger earlier, began to churn with a faint urge to vomit.

Yin Shaoqing looked directly at Yun Qianxue, waiting for an answer.

“Yes.”

A single word, heavy as a thousand pounds. Yun Qianxue didn’t even know how she managed to spit it out through gritted teeth.

“What’s wrong with you?”

Why that look of distress again?

Yin Shaoqing sometimes wondered if she was simply too old; why was it that so often she couldn’t understand Yun Qianxue’s thoughts at all?

What’s wrong? The system was speechless. The host was practically a heartless repeating machine. Every day it was “What’s wrong, what’s wrong.” You don’t know what’s wrong? You deserve to be single!

“Nothing. I’m full. I’ll go pack first.” Yun Qianxue tried to force a smile, but it was too difficult. In the end, she returned to her room with a wooden face. She could feel the gaze behind her, following her until she left.

If that’s the case, why didn’t she call me back?

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Yun Qianxue felt utterly conflicted. On one hand, she told herself that righteousness and evil are incompatible; on the other, she told herself to work harder to become useful so she could stay by their side. Sometimes her heart ached from Yin Shaoqing’s stinging words, yet at other times, she was deeply moved by the woman’s meticulous companionship and care.

“How is this being ‘moved’?” Jiameng, who had slipped out from somewhere, sat by the window playing with her hair. She tilted her head and asked seriously: “I’m curious, do you have some kind of emotional deficiency problem?”

“What?” Yun Qianxue was confused.

“Look.” Jiameng hopped down from the window and sat opposite her, raising an eyebrow with a look of surprise: “You don’t have your own emotions.”

“Impossible.” Yun Qianxue shook her head. She felt heartache, she felt joy—how could she not have emotions?

“You’re so certain.” Jiameng reached out to press down Yun Qianxue’s raised brow and laughed: “Then why did you copy my look of surprise just now?”

“When you stay with me, I cry quite a bit.” Jiameng turned and grabbed a bronze mirror from the room, placing it in front of Yun Qianxue. “Don’t forget, I come from a brothel background. Every frown, smile, and tear I see them more clearly than anyone.”

This was also why she was more highly regarded by Yin Shaoqing: she had discernment and methods, making her a very convenient subordinate.

“You’re very smart. You know how you should react to a certain sentence or action from others how to cry, how to laugh. But…” Jiameng pointed to Yun Qianxue’s heart and asked curiously: “Did it really move here?”

Yun Qianxue was both dazed and amused by the words. “If it didn’t move, wouldn’t I be dead?”

“Look at your smile.” Jiameng tapped the bronze mirror. “Every one of your smiles has the exact same arc.”

So this was why Yin Shaoqing was so stupid… okay, she was guilty, she shouldn’t call her Exalted One stupid. Her Exalted One was just… well, her eyes weren’t very good.

But even her Exalted One could detect every time Yun Qianxue was ‘off.’ Every single time! If it were true love, fine. But her Exalted One was so straight she’d give the Northern Abyss a run for its money. The gaze she fixed on Yun Qianxue was different from others, but it was more like the way one looks at a kitten or a puppy.

The smile hooked on Yun Qianxue’s lips stiffened, and the arc slowly flattened out. The spark of happiness vanished, but she felt no inner wave; the accelerated heartbeat had been forced by her own will, and since the illusion was shattered, she stopped pretending.

“Come on, tell me. Why do you copy others?” Her Exalted One was currently excessively concerned about this girl; Jiameng didn’t want her to end up hurt by a block of wood.

“If I don’t learn, I will be different from everyone else.” Outcasts are discarded. Undeniably, she preferred staying by Yin Shaoqing’s side; she didn’t want to be discarded.

“Do you not want to return to your Senior Brother’s side?” Jiameng was puzzled. Yun Qianxue had previously been so desperate for Pan Yang that she’d have dug her heart out for him.

“I don’t know.” Honestly, when she was with Pan Yang, Yun Qianxue felt she could never leave him. But after leaving Pan Yang, she felt she never wanted to return to his side for all eternity.

“You’re so strange~” Jiameng rubbed her arms in distress. She couldn’t handle this; she’d have to consult the Exalted One.

“You’re going to tell Senior Yin.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Yeah.” Jiameng, who had already reached the door, suddenly stepped back, turned to the expressionless Yun Qianxue, and asked: “Do you not want me to? If you tell me not to, I won’t tell the Exalted One.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Yun Qianxue didn’t care.

Yun Qianxue could discern others’ thoughts through their expressions and gazes, but Jiameng could see nothing useful on Yun Qianxue’s face. However, after weighing her options, her Exalted One was still more important.

“Back?” Yin Shaoqing, sipping tea by the window, glanced at Jiameng and asked: “Any discoveries?”

“Yes. The Wanlong Secret Market has a thousand-year-old Cloud Spirit Grass up for auction, but it’s a barter trade. Apparently, the seller wants array diagrams. I think we have a lead on that grass.” Cloud Spirit Grass was a rare ingredient for the Yunxi Pill, which could reshape a Golden Core.

“Exalted One, that girl doesn’t even have emotions. Why are you so good to her?” Jiameng hated seeing one-sided sacrifices now. What if her Exalted One went to great lengths to reshape that Golden Core, only for Yun Qianxue to turn tail and run back to that scumbag Pan Yang? Her Exalted One would lose everything. This kind of losing trade was infuriating.

“How do you know she’ll go?” Yin Shaoqing asked the bristling Jiameng with interest. This person was also like a cat when angry quite cute.

” I just know!” Jiameng snapped impulsively, then bit her lip and shook her head in annoyance, retracting her words. “Okay, I don’t think she’ll go.” She added defensively, “I’m not helping Yun Qianxue; I’m just telling the truth. Though she only copies others’ emotions, she said she doesn’t want to return to Pan Yang, and I think she was being honest.”

“Reason?” Yin Shaoqing looked at her composedly. Everything needs a reason.

“Intuition!” Jiameng puffed out her chest proudly. Her intuition was very accurate! It was how she had escaped the brothel and found her way to the Northern Abyss and her Exalted One! “Besides, she said as long as she stays away from Pan Yang, she doesn’t want to go back. I think Pan Yang definitely used some curse to bind her. Wouldn’t it be fine if we just kill Pan Yang or break the curse?”

Jiameng’s mouth wouldn’t stop, like a parrot on the street. Yin Shaoqing shook her head, set down her teacup, and asked: “Why have you suddenly become so fond of her? Before we left the Zhoutian Pavilion, you said she was faking. Now we’ve been out for less than a day and you say she can’t lie. Are you not contradictory?”

Yin Shaoqing flicked Jiameng’s forehead. Jiameng clutched her head, her (glamorous) eyes turning red with grievance. “It hurts But I just feel she can’t lie. If she could lie, how could she have been tricked so badly?

Her spiritual root is gone, her Golden Core is gone, and even when she tries to go home, people want to kill her…” At the thought of those Wanyang Sect disciples she had dealt with earlier, she felt disgusted. The so-called righteous sects were just like the demonic cultivators full of betrayal and schemes.

“This Seat understands,” Yin Shaoqing said, looking at the willow leaves outside.

“Exalted One, what do you understand? Wait… you didn’t already know she lacked her own emotions, did you?”

“Mhm.” Yin Shaoqing didn’t deny it. From the moment she saw those Heavenly Law runic chains, she knew Yun Qianxue couldn’t have her own feelings. All her emotions were locked away.

“And you’re still good to her?” Jiameng’s eyes were round. Yin Shaoqing felt her hand itch to pinch her face.

“Is there a conflict? The two aren’t mutually exclusive.” The wind blew in, lifting Yin Shaoqing’s long hair. The scent of peach blossoms drifted out of the room. “She lacks emotions, and I find her cute and want to be good to her. These are two separate things. We each do our own thing, without interference.”

Eavesdropping by the door, Yun Qianxue’s fingertips turned red. She stared at them. A single phrase of affection from the scent of peach blossoms intoxicates the fingertips. Moving lightly, she returned to her room without disturbing them.

Jiameng rested her head on her hand, poking at some meat in her bowl. “I guess so.” She felt a bit of envy. As for what she was envious of, who knows? “If you don’t mind, Exalted One, then I’m fine with it.” Jiameng stood up; she didn’t want to be an invisible person anymore. She wanted to explore.

“Ask me if you need more spirit stones,” Yin Shaoqing nodded, letting her wander.

When she had first transmigrated and opened her eyes, she saw Jiameng covered in dried blood, with Soul-Incense which multiplied pain a hundredfold burning on her body. She had been holding the final incense stick, pushing it into Jiameng’s collarbone. Perhaps it was Jiameng’s resilience, or the shock of that first gaze.

Yin Shaoqing was exceptionally lenient with Jiameng, almost like raising a daughter. She remembered an old man in her neighborhood who raised a parrot and called it “daughter” every day. There was no difference.

The fat civet burst out laughing. How ruthless. It’s a good thing Jiameng doesn’t know what the host is thinking, or she’d fight for her life.

Yin Shaoqing didn’t know what was wrong with the cat, rolling around her. She picked it up for a rub. “By the way, are you really taking the female lead to the Flower House? Aren’t you afraid of scaring her? Such a pure girl…”

“This is a punishment.”

“Ooh, how petty.” The fat civet twitched its whiskers. “She just overheard your conversation. Is it necessary?”

Yin Shaoqing rubbed the cat’s face sternly. “Eavesdropping is not good behavior. I’m helping her reform; mistakes must be punished.”

Pah! The system didn’t believe her for a second. This woman was definitely up to no good.

“Senior, are you finished?” At that moment, Yun Qianxue came down. She looked expressionlessly at the equally expressionless Yin Shaoqing. “Let’s go. To the Flower House.”

“Okay,” Yin Shaoqing replied calmly.

The fat civet:  My eyes! What kind of crematorium scene is this? Two blocks of ice competing to see who is colder? How awkward!

“Does Senior like me better this way, or the way I was before?” Yun Qianxue asked in a flat, expressionless tone. It was… eerie! The system cat’s fur bristled.

“Now.” Yin Shaoqing didn’t like the fake version of Yun Qianxue; this was better. To outsiders, they probably looked like they had a blood feud, but the real Yun Qianxue was more comfortable to be around.

“Okay.” Since Yin Shaoqing liked it, she would like it too. She had thought about it for a long time upstairs and realized: rather than waiting to recover emotions she didn’t know when she had lost, it was better to live as Yin Shaoqing liked. At least Yin Shaoqing wouldn’t harm her.

The fat civet, listening to the girl’s thoughts, was stunned. How could you trust this lunatic host? How can her words be trusted?! Her mouth is just a ghost out to trick people, dear!

The Flower House was hidden deep among the rows of buildings, a place of red lanterns and green willows, bustling with excitement. Every balcony and pavilion featured glamorous or elegant women accompanying someone.

Yun Qianxue turned to the woman behind her, who already outshone everyone present, and asked coldly: “Are you really going in?”

Rumble… The Heavenly Law runic chains in Yun Qianxue’s sea of consciousness had never struggled so frantically. The array roared, and golden snakes danced.

Yin Shaoqing curled her lips. Oh, truly angry now?

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