Since Qin Mu had failed to report his encounter with Lu Shuanger to his sister, he was, unsurprisingly, grounded yet again.
Qin Mu was used to this, but his only source of frustration was that he hadn’t been able to teach Chen Kai a lesson.
Now, Chen Kai was still out there living his life to the fullest.
His own reputation had been thoroughly dragged through the mud this time, and Chen Kai had played no small part in that.
Of course, Qin Mu never had a good reputation among the disciples of the Seven Star Sect to begin with.
If one were to ask who the biggest pretty boy and the Strongest Soft Rice King in the sect was, there was no need to guess—it was Qin Mu.
He had somehow gained the favor of two Holy Maidens.
Not only that, but there were rumors that he shared a very deep relationship with the Sect Master himself.
It made people even more envious—they were practically biting their handkerchiefs in tears.
As for Lu Shuanger, Miss Mengyu had arranged a room for her and guaranteed that her food and drinks would be provided free of charge.
Lu Shuanger was so moved that she almost wanted to recognize Miss Mengyu as her own sister on the spot.
However, Miss Mengyu rejected the request.
Unexpectedly, Lu Shuanger returned the Top-grade Spirit Stone he had given her earlier.
This instantly increased Qin Mu’s favorable impression of her.
Naturally, the scene the other disciples expected—where the “pretty boy” would finally suffer a setback—never happened.
Instead, seeing the young girl chatting and laughing with the Holy Maiden shocked everyone.
Many people shifted from envy, jealousy, and hatred to pure worship.
With such legendary girl-chasing skills, Master, please teach me!
If Qin Mu hadn’t been confined by Miss Mengyu, there would definitely have been people trying to secretly take him as their Master.
Their logic was simple: their stomachs weren’t good, they needed to eat soft rice, and they hoped the Master could point them toward the light.
***
Inside the room, Qin Mu lay on the bed, looking at a book out of sheer boredom—On Observing Women’s Expressions.
After all, whether it was Miss Ruoshuang and Miss Mengyu, or Aunt Lu and Aunt Yan’er, Qin Mu could never guess what they were thinking.
Sometimes he didn’t even know what he had done wrong before they got angry, and whenever they were angry, he was the one who suffered.
To the side, Miss Ruoshuang gazed out the window, lost in thought, while Miss Mengyu was busy organizing some spiritual herbs.
There was now a fourth person in the room that usually only held the three of them—Lu Shuanger.
Lu Shuanger had volunteered to help Qin Mengyu organize the spiritual herbs, but Qin Mengyu hadn’t let her touch them.
Consequently, Lu Shuanger was also currently bored out of her mind.
Noticing Qin Mu reading, Lu Shuanger stood up and walked over.
Sensing someone approaching, Qin Mu looked up and asked, “Is something the matter?”
Lu Shuanger squatted by the bed, resting her elbows on the mattress and propping her chin in her hands.
“What are you reading?”
Qin Mu remained silent for a moment.
He closed the book and pointed at the large characters on the cover.
Lu Shuanger took a look and let out an “Oh.”
She then giggled.
“Hehe, if you ask me, instead of reading that, you’d be better off asking me.”
Lu Shuanger pointed at herself with a grin.
Qin Mu rolled his eyes.
To him, Lu Shuanger was just a “silly sweet” girl—or to put it bluntly, she was quite scatterbrained.
Then again, it was a miracle that she hadn’t been scammed once on her way to the Royal Capital alone.
Seeing Qin Mu ignore her, Lu Shuanger said indignantly,
“Hey, I’m a woman too! Why are you acting like this? I was being kind enough to offer you some guidance.”
Qin Mu put the book down, looked at Lu Shuanger, and then turned over.
Miss Ruoshuang and Miss Mengyu were still right there.
If he started chatting with Lu Shuanger, he might end up making them unhappy again.
Seeing this, Lu Shuanger huffed twice and went back over to Qin Mengyu’s side.
Soon, one day passed.
During that day, Qin Mu finished the book, and he could summarize it in one sentence:
‘It’s completely useless.’
If it weren’t for the illustrations of various types of pretty girls inside, Qin Mu wouldn’t have had any interest in finishing it.
The book claimed that when dealing with the “Ice Mountain” type of beauty, one must take the initiative and seize control.
But for Qin Mu, control was always in Miss Ruoshuang’s hands.
Discarded.
For the “Gentle” type of beauty, one should be forceful and overbearing—ideally with a “wall-slam” to conquer her with charisma!
That didn’t work either; Qin Mu couldn’t act tough in front of Miss Mengyu.
Discarded.
Come to think of it, wasn’t this book supposed to be about observing expressions?
Why did it feel more like a guide on how to pick up different types of women the more he read it?
The next day, because people had arrived from the Great Yu Dynasty, Miss Ruoshuang and Miss Mengyu, in their roles as Holy Maidens, went to discuss official business.
Lu Shuanger pushed the door open and saw Qin Mu lying on the bed.
She shouted, “If you lie on the bed all day every day, you’ll grow mold!”
Qin Mu was startled and immediately flipped over,
‘I’ll just make sure I grow mold evenly.’
“Miss Mengyu isn’t here today.”
“Hehe, I know.”
Lu Shuanger walked up to Qin Mu and pulled a small porcelain bottle from her waist.
“Here, this is a thank-you for paying for my meal back then.”
“What is this?”
Qin Mu took the small bottle and shook it.
It made a thumping sound inside.
“Hey, hey! Be careful!”
Seeing Qin Mu shake the bottle like that, Lu Shuanger said with concern,
“There’s a treasure inside. Don’t break it.”
“A treasure!?”
At the mention of that, Qin Mu was no longer sleepy.
“What kind of treasure is in here?”
“Well… you’ll know once you open it. I prepared this very carefully.”
“Is that so?”
Qin Mu muttered and pulled out the stopper, pouring the contents into his hand.
The first thing he felt was something black and cool.
Then, under Qin Mu’s gaze, the black object actually unfurled itself.
With many tiny long legs and long antennae, it was clearly a giant bug!
“Holy crap!”
Qin Mu was so terrified that he immediately threw it away and ran to the table to frantically wash his hands with tea.
“This is the treasure you gave me!?”
Qin Mu spoke through gritted teeth.
‘My goodness, girl, what were you thinking? Giving someone a bug!’
Lu Shuanger hadn’t expected Qin Mu to have such a massive reaction.
“Speak! What are your intentions for doing this!?”
Qin Mu kept a certain distance from Lu Shuanger.
He should have realized it sooner; people from the Southern Region, especially the Wildlands, loved raising Gu insects.
Since Lu Shuanger was from the Wildlands, the “treasure” she thought to give him was nine times out of ten going to be a Gu insect.
“I didn’t mean anything by it! I really just wanted to thank you,” Lu Shuanger explained.
“Besides, the Gu insect I gave you is very strong. I only have ten or so of them.”
Hearing this, Qin Mu shuddered.
That meant she had a lot of Gu insects on her!
“Wait! Don’t come over!”
Qin Mu was truly a bit scared.
His greatest fear was bugs.
“Fine, fine. I won’t come over.”
Lu Shuanger picked up the small porcelain bottle from the floor and snapped her fingers.
The Gu insect flew back into the bottle.
“Are you really sure you don’t want it? This Gu insect is very powerful!”
Qin Mu shook his head vigorously.
‘Is she joking? Young Master Qin has absolutely no room for negotiation on this matter!’
“I don’t have the fortune to enjoy this treasure. You’d better keep it for yourself, Lu Shuanger.”
Qin Mu made a mental note: if Lu Shuanger ever tried to give him another gift, he had to resolutely refuse!