Volume 1, Chapter 3 – Evening Banquet

Listening to Shi Lan’s roaring tirade, the black figure in her mind didn’t pay her the slightest attention. His fingers danced rapidly across the light screen before him, combing through every scrap of information about the Lingyang Realm, constantly calculating ways to escape it.

But no matter how he ran the numbers, every path led to a dead end. With his own strength, he simply couldn’t get out.

The power that existed in this world had an extremely strong repulsive effect on both him and the system. Even absorbing enough energy just to keep the system running properly was a problem.

Outside, seeing that the system still wasn’t reacting, Shi Lan began to unleash the full essence of her country’s best swearwords, warmly greeting the system’s not-necessarily-existing family members.

Feeling Shi Lan’s frenzied verbal bombardment, the figure’s already-irritable mood grew harder and harder to control. If he weren’t forbidden from striking at the host after the binding, the very first thing he would have done was twist this shrew’s head right off!

After a brief moment of pondering, the figure pulled open the system panel and began to modify the quest interface.

Just as Shi Lan was starting to feel tired from all the cursing, the Quest section on the light screen in front of her suddenly flashed.

“Newbie Quest: Practice Silent Meditation for twelve shichen (a full day and night). Quest reward: improved physique. No penalty for failure.”

At the same time, the cultivation method for Silent Meditation poured into Shi Lan’s mind.

So all she had to do was keep her mouth shut?

After receiving the information on Silent Meditation, Shi Lan looked at the light screen in front of her and sincerely apologized. She had wronged the system—turns out it was pretty decent. The newbie quest didn’t even have a failure penalty.

Shi Lan very enthusiastically set about completing the newbie quest and began to cultivate “Silent Meditation.”

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Her ears finally knew peace.

The shadow let out a breath, feeling a bit pleased with himself. He’d weathered big storms before; handling a little girl like this was nothing but a flick of the wrist.

……

The turbulent emotions in Shi Lan’s heart gradually settled down. With this suddenly-arrived system, she finally felt a bit more grounded.

She lowered her head to glance at her clothes, now covered in dust, and at her bare, pale feet standing in the puddle of spilled tea. Then she stepped over to the wardrobe and took out a clean set of clothes, laying them on the bed.

Shi Lan yanked off her hair tie in one motion, then loosened the belt at her waist and shrugged off her outer robe.

When her hand reached the collar of the white inner garment, her fingers paused slightly. Gritting her teeth, she tugged the front open with trembling fingers, revealing the tightly bound chest wrap underneath.

Layer by layer, the wrapping cloth unwound and fell. Shi Lan’s gaze, almost uncontrollably, drifted toward the mirror standing by the wardrobe.

In the mirror was reflected a beautiful young woman, naked from the waist up. Her long hair fell to her waist, her skin white as carved jade. Though her face wore no makeup, she was still as fresh as blooming peach blossoms. When her clear eyes moved, they were like a limpid spring of sweet water that seemed to seep right into a person’s heart.

For Su Lanyue to become the wife and concubine of a city’s overlord, her figure and looks naturally had to be exceptional. Shi Lan had clearly inherited that to perfection—and perhaps even surpassed her.

Looking at the scene in the mirror, Shi Lan felt a bit lost. She had thought she would be excited, that she might even do… some indescribable things.

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But right now, her heart was like a pool of dead water without a single ripple. It was as if her body lacked some essential component that would let her get excited at a sight like this.

That sense of lack, coming from the depths of her soul, made Shi Lan’s heart clench tight.

Drawing in a breath of the slightly chilly air, Shi Lan shed the rest of her clothes and walked into the bathroom beside her.

In the middle of the bathroom was a square bath pool, about three meters a side. Shi Lan walked up to it and pressed a mechanism. Streams of steaming hot water began to slowly gush out, filling the pool.

In the entire Shi estate, only her bedroom had hot water running around the clock. That counted as a special privilege of sorts.

After bathing, Shi Lan returned to her room. She threw on a couple of garments at random, then flopped face-down onto the bed, the pain in her heart not something she could get over in a short time.

This wave of sorrow was transmitted with perfect accuracy to the figure busy in front of the light screen, making his hands pause. He couldn’t help having a few complaints about the system’s emotion-synchronization feature.

Just as Shi Lan was sinking into her gloom, a voice sounded from outside the door.

“Young Master, the clan head invites you to the Yishui Hall for the evening banquet.”

By reflex, Shi Lan almost opened her mouth to answer, then suddenly remembered the Silent Meditation she was cultivating. The words stopped on the very edge of her lips.

Frowning slightly, Shi Lan flipped off the bed, shot to the wardrobe, and quickly pulled out a fresh chest wrap, then began dressing at speed.

To handle situations like this, Su Lanyue had specially trained Shi Lan in the past, so now, although her movements were fast, there wasn’t the slightest trace of panic in them.

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In just two short minutes, the freshly bathed beauty had transformed into a handsome young noble.

Aside from her still-damp hair, there wasn’t anything amiss.

……

Outside the door, the maid who’d delivered the message was just about to step forward and knock when she got no reply.

“Creak—”

Shi Lan opened the door and stepped out with her hands clasped behind her back.

Shi Lan gave the maid a quick glance and immediately pulled up her information from memory. This was a maid who served at Su Lanyue’s side, named Zique. She’d only entered the Shi estate less than two years ago.

“Young Master.” Zique bowed in greeting, her gaze flickering, subtly showing off her graceful figure.

Shi Lan didn’t spare her a second look. She just lifted her chin slightly, signaling her to lead the way.

Zique’s eyes dimmed for a moment. She bent at the waist in acknowledgment, then turned to guide the way.

As she walked, Zique couldn’t help feeling a bit annoyed. The young master was almost of age already—how could he still be so oblivious? Could the rumors about him having a fondness for men actually be true?

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Shi Lan followed behind Zique, winding through corridor after corridor on the way to the Yishui Hall.

On the road, they ran into quite a few guards and household servants. Whenever they saw Shi Lan, all of them bowed respectfully and stepped aside to clear the path.

As the “legitimate eldest son,” even though she was born with a crippled body, no one in the estate dared bully Shi Lan. Even gossiping behind her back was rare.

Servants who gossiped about their masters—if they were caught, losing a layer of skin would be getting off easy. In the Lingyang Realm, human life was worth next to nothing.

After walking for nearly half a quarter-hour, Shi Lan finally arrived at the Yishui Hall.

The moment she stepped inside, her heart tightened, and she couldn’t help feeling a bit constrained.

In the center of the hall stood a round table, already more than half occupied.

In the main seat sat a middle-aged man who looked to be in his early forties, dressed in a purple robe. He was tall and broad-shouldered, the hair at his temples just beginning to turn white. When his eyelids opened and shut, sharp light flashed, and his whole person exuded an indescribable sense of oppression.

This was her so-called “cheap” father, Shi Tianlu, head of the Shi family.

It was Shi Lan’s first time seeing Shi Tianlu in person. Coupled with the lingering emotions left by the body’s former owner, she couldn’t help being overawed by the aura rolling off him, and for a moment, she couldn’t quite come back to her senses.