Chapter 130: Secret Fragrance Pine Forest Business Street

Chapter 130: Chapter 130: Secret Fragrance Pine Forest Business Street

Amidst the crowd of females fawning over Ran Feiyan, Feng Lian spoke up with a sober, hesitant tone:

"Um... I saw that new Special Rank Female, Feng Si. Last time, she was escorted back by the King’s Subordinate Official, Lord Ying Kong. Do you think the King might..."

Ran Feiyan asked, "The Special Rank Female, Feng Si?"

The surrounding crowd fell silent for a second upon hearing the name. Then, a female beside them quickly recounted the stir Feng Si had caused upon her arrival on the island.

Ran Feiyan almost scoffed. ’How ridiculous of Feng Lian to bring this up,’ she thought. ’Shouldn’t a Special Rank Female always receive special treatment, as a matter of course?’

’Ying Kong escorted her onto the island; who’s to say it wasn’t just a male beast pursuing a female? What does an escort from one of the King’s personal Subordinate Officials even mean? The King himself broke precedent to attend *my* banquet!’

’As for the Great Sacrificial Rite visiting the island, didn’t they hear the Special Rank Female was ill?’

’When I get sick, I just summon a Priest. There’s nothing unusual about it. What is Feng Lian trying to accomplish, putting on such a transparently jealous but cowardly front?’

Ran Feiyan glanced at the low-level female behind Feng Lian. "She shares your surname, you know."

Feng Lun trembled, saying guiltily, "I... I don’t know."

The stiff smile on Feng Lian’s face nearly cracked. ’We have the same surname, so how did that black-haired female get so lucky and become a Special Rank!’

"What a coincidence! To share a surname with a Special Rank Female... such a coincidence. A pity my Feng Lun isn’t so fortunate." Shooting a disdainful glare at the stuttering Feng Lun, Feng Lian felt nothing but contempt for her sub-female younger sister for this sudden, humiliating display.

On the high platform in the main hall.

Chi Jie’s golden eyes slowly swept over the room and the side garden, but he couldn’t find the figure he was looking for. The depths of his gilded eyes turned ice-cold, and the very air around him seemed to drop by several degrees.

The Great Sacrificial Rite, Ran Qi, couldn’t help but ask nervously, "Your Majesty, is something not to your satisfaction? I will have it changed at once."

Chi Jie retracted his gaze, his thin lips curling with indifference.

’He’d gotten dressed up and rushed here from the Imperial Palace Main Hall on time, only to find that a certain female hadn’t bothered to attend at all.’

His half-lidded eyes were glacial. His pale fingertips tapped an irritated rhythm on the armrest, the faint TAP-TAP-TAP blending with the music and making the Great Sacrificial Rite’s heart pound in time.

"It’s nothing. You’ve done very well. You will stay and continue to preside over the event." With that, Chi Jie rose and left.

He left behind a legend at the banquet, for it was the first time the King had ever publicly attended a female’s party.

...

「Meanwhile, on Boman Gate Island.」

Yesterday, Feng Si had found a few properties on the Light Net that would be suitable for a workshop and a storefront.

First thing in the morning, while helping Yun Duo get dressed, she said softly, "Yun Duo, Mama’s going to take you to buy a shop today."

Yun Chi blinked his golden eyes, seeming to half-understand. His small, black body wriggled left and right, little black claws held tight to his belly as he actively cooperated with his mother’s efforts to dress him.

Feng Si’s fingertips deftly fastened the clasp on Yun Chi’s back, her eyes so full of softness they seemed to overflow.

She turned on her communicator, capturing his cuteness with a quick SNAP, then continued dressing Yun Duo with a satisfied heart, putting on his outer coat and fastening the buttons from the bottom one near his tail all the way up to his neck.

Even though Yun Duo was still small and probably couldn’t understand her, she had made it a habit to tell the little one everything she was doing.

After breakfast, Feng Si tucked Yun Duo close and prepared to head out for a tour of Pantian City.

The sun was already high, bleaching the horizon bright white. It had just turned nine in the morning.

Feng Si walked toward the hovercar in the backyard with two robot butlers in tow. This scene of her preparing to leave did not escape the notice of Hu Fei, who had been watching her constantly.

Seizing the opportunity, she sprinted to Feng Si’s side, calmed her breathing, and said, "My Lady, please allow me to accompany you."

Feng Si stood beside the hovercar as its door slowly lifted. She turned her head and saw Hu Fei, who was temporarily staying with her. ’There’s no need for an outsider to know the details of my pickled cabbage business,’ she thought.

She refused, saying, "That won’t be necessary. I can go by myself."

With that, she boarded the vehicle. From the several locations she had bookmarked on the light screen, she set her first destination: the most luxurious commercial district in the north of the city, the Secret Fragrance Pine Forest Business Street.

As the hovercar ascended, Hu Fei, still standing in the same spot, sent a message.

The Guard Team, having received the message about her departure, had already sent one hovercar ahead. Another waited for the Special Rank Female’s vehicle to take off before falling in behind it.

Ying Kong was also following closely. The Guard Team’s captain, Xiong Shan, who had gotten into a fight with him that morning, initially wanted to stop him. But upon recognizing Ying Kong’s face, he silently closed his mouth and followed along.

The security was incredibly tight. Mang Changbai, who was using his morning off to wait by the island’s edge, clicked his tongue in awe. ’The security is this tight... it must be Lady Ran Feiyan heading out,’ he thought with a pang of longing.

Inside the hovercar, Feng Si remained completely oblivious to the fact that her vehicle was at the center of an airtight formation of High-level male beasts.

Soon, the hovercar arrived at its destination: the Secret Fragrance Pine Forest Business Street.

Feng Si sat in the driver’s seat, looking ahead. Yun Duo, perched on her shoulder, also poked his little head out curiously.

Here, ancient, fiery-red pines, with leaves like maples, soared into the sky in an orderly, intersecting grid. Below, the streets teemed with bustling Beastmen.

Sunlight illuminated layer upon layer of cypress-colored mushroom houses built against the trees. Vividly colored mushroom clusters were piled by the entrance to each courtyard, and green vines crept up the staircases leading to the mushroom houses on the tree trunks.

Following the address for "Tree 21," Feng Si piloted the hovercar directly to the mushroom house at the base of the corresponding giant tree.

In the courtyard, a portly female stood over two kneeling, middle-aged sub-females with squirrel ears. She brought a wooden stick down hard across the back of one of them, cursing viciously:

"You two are completely useless! I put you in charge of the shop, and in one year you’ve lost me one hundred thousand coins! That’s more than it cost to buy you in the first place!"

She struck ruthlessly, aiming for their faces. The bruised and swollen sub-females didn’t dare make a sound, only shielding their heads with their arms.

Feng Si’s brow furrowed. She walked to the entrance of the yard and, from behind a waist-high wooden railing entwined with flowering vines, called out, "Excuse me, are you Shopkeeper Li? I’m here to see the shop. Are you still selling?"

Yun Chi, coiled on Feng Si’s shoulder, straightened his upper body and glared at the adult in the yard with his big eyes. He lifted his chin as if to cheer his mother on. "Hiss," he sounded, as if to say, ’Open the door.’

Hearing the voice, Shopkeeper Li turned. When she saw that Feng Si was only accompanied by a cub and two waist-high robots, her demeanor instantly cooled as she tossed the stick aside.

She was just a Low-level Female who had taken five male beasts. Unfortunately, they were all merely Middle Rank and couldn’t earn many large coins. If she hadn’t recently squandered all her family’s money, she would never have been reduced to selling her shop.