Volume 3, Chapter 201 – Sister, You Haven’t Washed the Front Yet

Chi Xiyan furrowed her brows.

Standing behind the young girl, she couldn’t see her expression.

She couldn’t quite figure out what this girl was trying to say.

Yu Lizhi liked women, so could she be…

At this thought, Chi Xiyan’s hand paused in wiping the girl’s back.

The girl’s fair, delicate skin suddenly seemed to burn hot against her touch.

A troubled expression crossed Chi Xiyan’s face. “Zhizhi… you couldn’t be…”

At that moment, Lu Zhuxin said, “Sister is such a good person. If the person I met back then had been you, I wouldn’t have been treated that way…”

“It’s a pity that not everyone in this world is as good as you, Sister. And not everyone can meet a good person…”

So that’s what this girl meant…

Chi Xiyan felt slightly relieved.

As long as this girl didn’t harbor those kinds of feelings, everything would be fine.

“Zhizhi, you won’t encounter that kind of thing again.”

“Many beautiful women in this world are fickle and promiscuous. They’re skilled at sweet talk, using honeyed words to deceive your heart. After they’ve used you completely, they’ll cruelly abandon you.”

“Love between women defies convention and is even more false than those philandering, promiscuous men.”

“Once you return to the Chi family, Sister will find you an excellent man. He’ll cherish and love you, and won’t abandon or betray you!”

Chi Xiyan’s tone was gentle and persuasive.

“An excellent man…” Lu Zhuxin murmured.

“Yes.” Chi Xiyan said, “It’s in men’s nature to favor beautiful women.”

“Zhizhi, you’re so beautiful, and you’ll become a young lady of the Chi family.”

“Once the Chi family publicly announces your identity, many excellent men will surely pursue you.”

“Then, you’ll definitely find your good match among them.”

“With me, and with the Chi family as your backing, no one will dare bully you again.”

Lu Zhuxin’s expression was peculiar. She pressed her lips together. “Is Sister so eager for me to marry?”

Chi Xiyan said, “Zhizhi, women must marry eventually.”

Lu Zhuxin asked again, “Sister, will you marry too?”

Chi Xiyan was silent for a moment. “I’m already engaged, so naturally I must marry.”

“Then, Sister, do you like that man?”

Chi Xiyan shook her head. “I haven’t met him yet, so I’m not sure whether I’ll come to like him in the future…”

“If you haven’t met him, why agree to this engagement?” Lu Zhuxin said, “Rather than entrusting yourself to a man you’ve never met, why not seize your own future?”

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“Sister, as the eldest young lady of the Chi family, you should have the right to make your own decisions, shouldn’t you?”

Surprise flickered across Chi Xiyan’s face, and she shook her head helplessly once more. “Zhizhi, you don’t understand. This matter isn’t as simple as you imagine.”

“The engagement with that man is very important to me.”

Lu Zhuxin naturally knew this.

The engagement with the Young Sect Master of Lingxiao Sword Sect would have an enormous impact on Chi Xiyan’s future.

After all, Lu Zhuxin had written this plot line herself.

Lu Zhuxin thought for a moment, then asked, “Sister, if you encounter someone even more worthy of trust than that man in the future, would you choose to break off the engagement with him?”

“More worthy of trust?” Chi Xiyan smiled. “What does Zhizhi mean?”

“For example,” Lu Zhuxin raised an eyebrow slightly, “if there’s someone who possesses a force even more powerful than Lingxiao Sword Sect, a status more noble than the Sect Master, and is as wealthy as the Chi family?”

Chi Xiyan heard this and first froze, then laughed softly.

“Haha… Zhizhi, you’re so adorable.”

She was amused by this girl’s innocence.

“What are you laughing at, Sister?” Lu Zhuxin said without humor. “I’m being serious with you!”

Chi Xiyan chuckled. “A force more powerful than the sword sects, a status higher than the masters of the Seven Sword Sects, and as wealthy as the Chi family…”

“The only person like that would be Her Majesty the Empress, wouldn’t it?”

“Zhizhi, are you trying to get me to enter the palace as an imperial consort?”

“…” Lu Zhuxin was momentarily speechless.

The Human Empress? That Venerable Saint who ruled over the human race?

If Chi Xiyan hadn’t mentioned her at this moment, Lu Zhuxin would have almost forgotten that such a figure existed among the humans.

It couldn’t be helped. Like Qu Qingtang, this character existed merely as a backdrop.

She was another character who was important in the background setting but had no scenes in the actual text.

Moreover, although both were background characters, Qu Qingtang, as the Heaven-Mandated Male Lead’s master, ran as a running thread throughout the entire story.

In comparison, the Human Empress had far fewer scenes.

As a character who would only appear in the later stages, Lu Zhuxin hadn’t had time to write her appearance scenes before the original series was shut down.

She hadn’t even given her a name yet.

Although both were Venerable Saint-level experts in the original story, the Human Empress had one major difference from Qu Qingtang.

The Human Empress wasn’t a politically devoted, cold, and ascetic ice beauty.

In Lu Zhuxin’s original vision, the Heaven-Mandated Male Lead Song Shixuan would become connected with the Empress entirely because this Empress wanted to bring the rising star of righteousness, the sword sect genius Song Shixuan, into her harem.

After all, some readers had a taste for this kind of reverse-pursuit forced love.

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To satisfy these readers’ unique preferences, Lu Zhuxin had planned to create such a noble and powerful Empress to seduce the male lead.

Of course, this was merely Lu Zhuxin’s preliminary idea.

The overall design of this character was still in a “new folder” state. In Lu Zhuxin’s mind, there was only the concept of noble status and the desire to seduce the male lead.

So, would the Human Empress also be a Heaven-Mandated Female Lead to conquer?

A character who hadn’t even been designed yet shouldn’t count as a Heaven-Mandated Female Lead, right?

Whether even Qu Qingtang counted as a Heaven-Mandated Female Lead was questionable.

The Human Empress…

Definitely didn’t count!

Having learned from the precedent of Qu Qingtang, Lu Zhuxin would only keep her distance from such powerful characters whose personalities she couldn’t figure out.

“Sister… isn’t Her Majesty the Empress also a woman?” Lu Zhuxin said. “Since she’s an Empress, how could she take consorts?”

“Zhizhi.” Chi Xiyan chuckled. “You haven’t been exposed to these things before, so it’s normal not to know. Her Majesty’s harem isn’t limited to men or women. For instance, the current Noble Consort is a man…”

A woman as emperor, a man as consort?

So, this novel’s worldview was a female-dominated world?

Lu Zhuxin didn’t remember writing such a setting!

However, since the Empress had already taken a man as consort, she naturally couldn’t be a Heaven-Mandated Female Lead.

As everyone knew, Heaven-Mandated Female Leads were pure as jade before meeting the protagonist.

Unless certain authors wanted to feed readers something different, very few readers could accept such a setting.

For example, Lu Zhuxin herself was very conservative. She wouldn’t arrange such a setting for her female leads.

At this thought, Lu Zhuxin suddenly felt relieved.

If that was the case, then she didn’t need to worry about the Human Empress becoming a Heaven-Mandated Female Lead she needed to conquer.

However, in the original text, Lu Zhuxin hadn’t conceived the setting of the Empress taking a man as consort. She had only mentioned that she wanted to bring Song Shixuan into her harem.

This setting must have been supplemented by the small world’s Heavenly Dao for the sake of character consistency.

However, Lu Zhuxin now thought of another matter.

So Lu Zhuxin asked Chi Xiyan, “Since Her Majesty has a harem, and the harem includes both men and women, what about Her Majesty’s Empress?”

“Who is Her Majesty’s Empress?”

When this question left her lips, Lu Zhuxin felt Chi Xiyan’s movements behind her pause once more.

“The current Empress…” Chi Xiyan pressed her lips together and said softly, “Her partner is indeed a woman.”

“So, Her Majesty the Empress also likes women. She even married a woman as Empress.” Lu Zhuxin directly made the conclusion. “Does Her Majesty’s actions also defy convention and disregard morality?”

“Zhizhi! You can’t say such things carelessly!” Chi Xiyan said urgently. “You can say these things to me, but if you say such things outside, it could bring you danger!”

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“I’m sorry, Sister.” Lu Zhuxin said, “I won’t say it outside.”

“ Sigh , perhaps I shouldn’t have told you these things at all.” Chi Xiyan said softly. “But don’t let your imagination run wild. Her Majesty is Her Majesty. Her Majesty can act this way naturally because she has that confidence…”

“I understand, Sister.” Lu Zhuxin said. “If one wants to do things that seem unconventional to others, one must possess sufficient power to avoid criticism.”

Chi Xiyan’s brows furrowed.

The logic was sound, but why did it feel somewhat strange?

What exactly had this little girl resolved to do?

Was she still thinking about marrying a girl?

Had she not listened to anything she just said?

“Zhizhi…” Chi Xiyan sighed helplessly. “You’re still young, so you might not understand…”

“I understand, Sister.” Lu Zhuxin said. “I’m just an ordinary person, so I don’t have such opportunities.”

“But what if the person I like possesses such power?”

Chi Xiyan’s eyes widened. “Zhizhi, you want to enter the palace as a consort?!”

Her expression darkened again. “No, how could such a thing… What kind of place is the harem? It devours people whole. Father would never allow his daughter to enter the palace.”

“If I could enter the palace, wouldn’t that help Sister too?” Lu Zhuxin asked. “I’ve heard that women favored by the Emperor and brought into the harem can bring benefits to their families.”

“Zhizhi, you mustn’t believe such unreliable rumors.” Chi Xiyan said. “Palace affairs aren’t as simple as you think.”

“You could never imagine how vicious the underhanded schemes in the harem can be.”

A naive little flower like Yu Lizhi probably wouldn’t survive seven days in the harem.

Chi Xiyan continued, “Stop thinking about such nonsense and just be a proper young lady of the Chi family!”

“Alright.” Lu Zhuxin said softly. “I just wanted to do everything I could to help Sister.”

“After all, that’s the only goal I have for living in this world now.”

“Since Sister doesn’t want it, I won’t think about it anymore.”

Hearing this, Chi Xiyan breathed another sigh of relief.

She shouldn’t have told this girl about the Empress at all.

“It’s best that you think this way.” Chi Xiyan said. “The goals I want to achieve don’t require such a great sacrifice from you.”

“Mm.” Lu Zhuxin responded weakly.

Chi Xiyan wrung out the towel in her hand. “Alright, stop thinking so much. Now that you’ve finished bathing, go out and change into clean clothes. Get a good night’s rest.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll apply medicine for you again.”

After saying this, Chi Xiyan prepared to rise and leave the bath.

“Sister.” Lu Zhuxin called out to Chi Xiyan in a soft voice.

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Lu Zhuxin turned around and spoke to Chi Xiyan.

“Sister.”

“You only helped me wash my back. You haven’t washed the front yet…”

“So…” Lu Zhuxin moved in the water, approaching Chi Xiyan.

“Sister, could you help me wash the front… You know, my arm still can’t exert much force.”

Hearing Lu Zhuxin’s words and watching the girl walk toward her, Chi Xiyan froze in place.

What was this girl saying?

Chi Xiyan’s gaze unconsciously looked over.

The girl, having undergone a simple bath, stood timidly in the pool water.

Crystalline water droplets slowly slid down the girl’s budding, fair, and delicate body.

Her small and adorable snowy mounds, steamed by the hot air, had taken on a layer of tender pink.

She used her slender arms to half-conceal, half-reveal, yet this concealment only made one more eager to explore.

Mind you, just moments ago, they had been discussing women liking women.

Was this girl asking Chi Xiyan to help wash those kinds of places?

Yu Lizhi liked women… shouldn’t she be more cautious about such contact?

“What’s wrong, Sister?” Lu Zhuxin took another step closer. “Sister already helped me wash my back. Now helping me wash the front would just be a small effort, wouldn’t it?”

“Or… does Sister have improper thoughts and doesn’t dare to look at me?”

As if she’d dare!

Was this little girl deliberately teasing her?!

Chi Xiyan raised her head and met Lu Zhuxin’s eyes, brimming with mirth.

“Ha! Little girl, you’ve gotten bold, haven’t you? Now you dare to joke with your sister?”

Chi Xiyan threw the towel into the water. “Wash the front yourself!”

“Your wound is on the side of your neck. One of your hands might pull at the wound, but that doesn’t mean your other hand can’t move either!”

After saying this, Chi Xiyan stood up with a stern face and left.

“Ah! Sister, don’t go!” Lu Zhuxin called from behind. “Sister, your clothes are all soaked! Why don’t you just change and bathe with me!”

The answer to Lu Zhuxin was the sound of Chi Xiyan closing the door.

Lu Zhuxin grinned.

Tonight’s progress was acceptable. To make Chi Xiyan develop feelings, she first needed to make her realize that love between women was also natural.

After all, even the current Human Empress liked women.