Volume 3, Chapter 269 – Feed Me

“Cultivate, cultivate. I’m not some male lead grinding levels. What exactly am I supposed to be cultivating.”

Lu Zhuxin sat in the wooden chair in her new room, legs crossed, looking thoroughly displeased.

At that moment, Bu Lianshuang’s voice drifted in from outside.

“Second Young Lady, it’s getting late. Would you like to have dinner?”

Lu Zhuxin raised an eyebrow slightly.

Before this, Yu Lizhi had been injured and unwilling to let anyone come near her, so the task of looking after her had fallen entirely on Chi Xiyan as the eldest young lady of the house. Now that Lu Zhuxin had been moved out of Chi Xiyan’s courtyard and a new maidservant had been purchased, Chi Xiyan had naturally handed off such trivial matters to the newcomer.

Honestly, Lu Zhuxin could not quite figure out what Chi Xiyan was thinking.

Not long ago she had been consumed with jealousy over Bu Lianshuang’s face. And now she was perfectly at ease handing Lu Zhuxin over to her?

Contradictory to the point of being unreadable.

But right now, Lu Zhuxin had something else on her mind.

‘Bu Lianshuang… are you really Qu Qingtang or not…’

She murmured to herself, then lifted her head toward the door. “Come in.”

Outside, having received permission, Bu Lianshuang picked up the food box and walked in.

She saw Lu Zhuxin sitting in the chair with a thoroughly bored expression, and a complicated feeling stirred somewhere in her chest.

Earlier, outside the medical clinic, Bu Lianshuang had witnessed the intimacy between the little fox miss and Chi Xiyan.

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The wolf clan elders always said the fox clan operated this way. How had the fox clan managed to infiltrate the human empire and continue drawing out intelligence and resources from it? These were precisely the methods they used.

Bu Lianshuang told herself: this was just the little fox miss keeping up her cover, concealing her identity. She was only using that human girl. There was nothing real about it.

But Bu Lianshuang knew, deep down, that she was jealous. Jealous that without doing anything at all, that human girl could make the little fox miss come to her willingly.

Accompanying the little fox miss into the Chi Residence had been a bold and impulsive decision born of exactly that feeling.

Bu Lianshuang drew in a slow breath and pushed those thoughts away.

She composed her expression as best she could, carried the food box inside, and smiled at Lu Zhuxin. “Second Young Lady, shall I set out the meal? These were just prepared by the kitchen.”

Lu Zhuxin propped her chin in her hand and watched Bu Lianshuang walk in.

Even though the girl had disguised herself well enough, Lu Zhuxin could still detect a faint stiffness in her movements.

Heh. The proud wolf clan princess, not quite used to doing the work of a servant?

Lu Zhuxin lowered her hand and tapped the tabletop lightly.

Bu Lianshuang stepped forward and began taking the dishes out of the food box one by one, setting them on the table.

Lu Zhuxin watched her, trying to map Bu Lianshuang’s movements onto her memories of Qu Qingtang.

Qu Qingtang had once arranged dishes before her with that same gentle expression.

Yet for all that woman’s apparent softness and closeness, her heart had been full of nothing but schemes.

Lu Zhuxin clicked her tongue quietly.

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She was not seeing any trace of the Immortal Venerable in Bu Lianshuang right now.

Instead, she was dredging up memories she would have rather left alone.

Ten years spent side by side in that dream, the tender devotion of Dao companions, every small moment woven into memory and sealed away somewhere inside her. Like a box sitting there whether she looked at it or not. Even if she closed the lid, what was inside did not disappear.

Once Bu Lianshuang finished setting out the dishes, she stepped back and stood quietly to one side.

Lu Zhuxin smacked her lips and said, teasing, “Your Highness, is this the result of a whole afternoon studying under Luluo?”

“Miss Muxue…” Bu Lianshuang heard the name Lu Zhuxin used and her expression shifted suddenly.

“You look nervous.” Lu Zhuxin waved a hand. “Relax. No one here can overhear us.”

Bu Lianshuang knew it was not nerves. There was just something stuck in her chest.

What kind of person was the little fox miss really? What was her purpose in coming to the Chi family? And how did she truly feel about Chi Xiyan?

If it really was all just an act… was the little fox miss willing to go that far just to accomplish her goals?

A fox demon who had reached the Sixth Realm or above would not hold a low standing in the fox clan.

“Little fox miss, I’m just a bit… not quite used to this,” Bu Lianshuang said, with some awkwardness.

Just not quite used to it?

Lu Zhuxin curved her lips slightly.

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She tapped the tabletop again with one finger. “Your Highness, what are you still standing over there for? Come here.”

“…” Bu Lianshuang turned her head. “But Luluo said… when the young lady eats, the maidservant may only stand to the side and watch. No overstepping is permitted.”

Lu Zhuxin said impatiently, “Your Highness, you are my maidservant right now. When I tell you to come here, you come. Where is all this talk coming from?”

“…” Bu Lianshuang pressed her lips together and walked over to Lu Zhuxin’s side as told, waiting to see what she wanted.

What happened next caught Bu Lianshuang completely off guard. Lu Zhuxin did not say a word about what she needed. She simply pushed her own bowl and chopsticks across the table toward Bu Lianshuang.

“Here. Take these.”

Bu Lianshuang blinked, surprise flickering through her eyes, and then a wave of warmth surged up from somewhere inside her.

The little fox miss had a sharp tongue, but she was a genuinely warm person underneath.

Bu Lianshuang had spent the whole day following Luluo around without a drop of water or a single bite to eat. Not that a Fifth Realm cultivator truly needed food. But the Chi Residence kitchen sourced rare delicacies from every corner of the land, prepared exclusively for the young masters and young ladies of the Chi family. It was on par with even Five Immortals House.

The wolf clan guarded the ice plains in harsh poverty. There had never been the means or the energy to indulge in the pleasures of food.

Bu Lianshuang, princess of the wolf clan, had never once seen such an elaborate spread of dishes in her life.

When she had gone to the kitchen earlier to collect the food box, the smell of the meat had nearly made her drool on the spot. The only thing that had stopped her from sneaking a few bites was the thought that something this delicious had to go to the little fox miss first.

“Little fox miss, you’re such a good person.” Bu Lianshuang’s eyes grew warm.

The faint suspicion and unhappiness she had been carrying all day seemed to dissolve in that moment, swept away by the warmth spreading through her chest.

Lu Zhuxin, who had not expected to be handed a goodwill card, was left completely stunned by the girl.

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Wait. Had this little wolf misunderstood something?

Under Lu Zhuxin’s bewildered stare, Bu Lianshuang settled down beside her, picked up the bowl and chopsticks, grabbed a piece of fragrant meat with the chopsticks, and sent it straight into her own mouth.

The meat had been braised until it was tender and falling apart. The moment it touched her tongue it melted, and the rich, savory juices flooded across her palate with a taste that made every single one of her senses sit up.

It was so good.

Bu Lianshuang, princess of the wolf clan, had not eaten anything this delicious in her entire life.

A warmth spread through her body, and she was filled, completely and utterly, with happiness.

The little wolf’s happiness did not last long before it was mercilessly cut short.

“Hold on a moment!”

A dark expression crossed Lu Zhuxin’s face. “Did I tell you to eat?”

“Huh?!”

Bu Lianshuang froze.

Lu Zhuxin said coolly, “I told you to come feed me.”

Clatter.

The poor little wolf’s face crumpled, and the chopsticks slipped right out of her hand.