Volume 3, Chapter 430 – Fifteen

“That child is working with the two of you?” Liu Fu snarled. “You planned to scheme against me from the very beginning?!”

“Manager Liu, that is not quite right.” Chi Xiyan walked up to him and flipped through the account book lying on the table. “My original intention was only to help this girl beside me pass the family head’s assessment.”

“Hmph, hmph.” Chi Muxue crossed her arms and lifted her chin, letting out a couple of proud little sniffs.

Chi Xiyan continued, “So, Manager Liu, you were the one who walked right into this yourself.”

“If you had truly been clean and kept to your duties, you would never have ended up in a situation like this.”

“Right now, if you go confess everything to the Chi family’s Internal Affairs Hall yourself, you might still have a chance at leniency.”

“Damn it!” Liu Fu spat. “Two little girls who have been exiled to some worthless business, and you think you can back me into a corner? You are a hundred years too early for that!”

Chi Xiyan’s brow furrowed.

Just then, Liu Fu suddenly raised his hand, and a talisman shot straight toward Chi Xiyan.

“Watch out!”

Chi Xiyan heard a startled cry.

A flash of silver light streaked past.

The talisman in front of her was sliced clean in two by that silvery white sword qi before it could even fully unfold.

Chi Muxue sheathed her sword and hurried forward, asking with concern, “Xiyan! Are you alright! Did he scare you?”

In truth, the talisman Liu Fu had thrown was only a low grade one, and it could not have posed any real threat to Chi Xiyan.

But seeing the expression on the girl’s face, she chose not to say so.

“I am fine,” she said, pressing her lips together. “Thank you.”

“As long as you are fine.” Chi Muxue seemed to let out a breath of relief and gently patted her own chest. “If I had failed to protect you properly, I would have failed as your older sister.”

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Older… sister…

Chi Xiyan froze for a moment.

“Liu Fu!” Chi Muxue stepped forward, placing herself between Chi Xiyan and Liu Fu. “As an accountant employed by the Chi family, you should know exactly what consequences come from attacking a child of the Chi household!”

Liu Fu’s pupils shrank at once, and he turned to flee.

Chi Muxue raised her hand and lightly flicked her finger.

A streak of silvery white sword qi leapt out, and there came a sharp hissing sound.

Liu Fu’s right foot was severed clean on the spot.

He let out a scream of pain and collapsed to the ground.

Chi Muxue then turned her gaze toward Fang Hu.

Fang Hu’s entire body trembled, and he dropped to his knees.

“That settles that.” Chi Muxue clapped her hands together in satisfaction.

She lifted her head and looked toward the door.

“So then, how much longer are you all planning to just stand there and watch?”

The moment her words fell, footsteps sounded from outside the wine shop.

Leading the group was a white haired elder. He first looked deeply at Chi Xiyan for a moment, then turned his gaze toward Liu Fu lying on the ground.

“Take these two back for questioning.”

Once he finished speaking, he turned to look at Chi Muxue.

“Eldest young miss, I accept the proposal you brought to me earlier regarding the appointment in the Internal Affairs Hall.”

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“Chi Xiyan may enter the Chi family’s Internal Affairs Hall.”

Chi Muxue smiled. “Then Muxue thanks the elder in advance.”

The white haired elder nodded and led Fang Hu and Liu Fu away together.

Chi Xiyan stepped forward. “That just now, was that an elder of the Chi family’s Internal Affairs Hall?”

“That is right.” Chi Muxue said with a smile.

Chi Xiyan pondered for a moment. “So, this was really the assessment the family head set for you?”

“Of course it was.” Chi Muxue nodded firmly. “This was an assessment for me, but at the same time, it was also one for you!”

Chi Xiyan asked with a furrowed brow, “You mean you were paving the way for me?”

“I suppose you could put it that way.” Chi Muxue tapped her chin lightly with a finger. “Getting into the Lingbao Commerce Association is an extremely difficult thing to do, the family head keeps very tight control over it.”

“But, if someone could get involved in the Lingbao Commerce Association’s management from within, through the position of a supervisor in the Internal Affairs Hall, it would become far easier.”

Chi Xiyan thought it over for a moment. “So, you lowered your own standing and came all the way here, deliberately running the business into the ground, all just to create a test like this so I could enter the Internal Affairs Hall’s management ahead of schedule?”

“Xiyan really is clever.” The girl was still smiling sweetly. “But this is not my achievement alone. If Xiyan had not seized the opportunity yourself and fought such a splendid comeback battle, I would not have been able to get the elders of the Internal Affairs Hall to agree to this either.”

“So there is no need to say thank you, all of this you earned for yourself.”

“…” Chi Xiyan pondered for a moment. “Why go this far for my sake?”

“Xiyan, what a silly thing to say.” Chi Muxue stepped forward and gently took hold of Chi Xiyan’s hand. “Did we not already promise each other this long ago?”

“We two sisters will join hands and together take control of the Chi family!”

“Together we will find whoever killed our blood relatives, and together we will get our revenge!”

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Chi Xiyan stared blankly at the girl in front of her.

She could see the warmth and sincerity shining in the girl’s eyes.

Thud thud! Thud thud!

Chi Xiyan felt her heart pounding like a drum, as if something was about to burst forth from within it.

“I…” She lowered her eyes and looked away.

“What is wrong?” Chi Muxue reached out and turned Chi Xiyan’s face back toward her. “Was there something wrong with what I just said?”

“…” Having her face turned back like that left Chi Xiyan a little speechless. She let out a quiet sigh inside.

“I will do my best.”

Chi Muxue’s face broke into a bright smile. “Xiyan, I am so happy.”

Chi Xiyan closed her eyes.

This girl was, after all, nothing more than an illusion.

Nothing more than a character conjured up by an illusory realm…

And yet, over these past three years spent together, she had gradually found it harder and harder to tell the difference.

At times, she even felt that the one standing before her was not an illusion at all, but Chi Muxue herself.

Did the Illusory Heart Formation truly have the power to make someone lose themselves in a dream for so long?

Chi Xiyan did not know.

She was not a formation master, and whatever she knew of this formation’s function came only from hearsay.

Those who had gone through the trial of the formation never willingly spoke of what they had experienced inside it either.

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After all, what lay hidden in the subconscious was always each person’s most deeply buried secret.

“Let us go!” The twelve year old Chi Muxue took hold of Chi Xiyan’s hand and pulled her toward the door. “I will take you to report to the Chi family’s Internal Affairs Hall!”

“From today onward, you will be the youngest supervisor in the Chi family’s Internal Affairs Hall!”

The youngest supervisor in the Chi family’s Internal Affairs Hall?

If this had happened in reality, without her status as the eldest daughter of the Chi family, she too would have had to fight her way toward a supervisor’s position just like everyone else.

Chi Xiyan watched Chi Muxue’s small figure and let herself be pulled out through the door.

In the blink of an eye.

Chi Muxue turned fifteen.

It was also the sixth year since Chi Xiyan had decided to join forces with Chi Muxue.

At fifteen, the girl’s figure had fully filled out.

From an adorable little girl, she had grown into a graceful young lady.

And her appearance now was also the closest yet to the Chi Muxue that lived in Chi Xiyan’s memories.

“Silly Xiyan! What are you spacing out for!”

The girl bent forward at the waist, leaning close to Chi Xiyan’s face, staring at her with obvious displeasure.

“Did you even listen to a word I just said!”

Chi Xiyan snapped back to attention and asked, almost by reflex, “What did you say?”

“Ha! I knew you were not listening.” Chi Muxue reached out and poked her finger against Chi Xiyan’s chest. “I am talking about my coming of age ceremony, of course!”