The girl pushed over to Shiqi looked down at the flower ring on her ankle, clearly not believing a word Hua Jian said.
Hua Jian didn’t care if she believed her or not. In any case, she wasn’t the one who would be in pain.
After arranging things for the little girl and Shiqi, Hua Jian entered the tea house with the man and began telling him her carefully fabricated stories.
Initially, the man was worried that the 100 Spirit Stones might only buy him useless gossip, but he didn’t expect Hua Jian’s first answer to be a bombshell.
He had asked: “How does Fairy Caiyue view her fiancé?”
Hua Jian answered without missing a beat: “Fairy Caiyue thinks her fiancé is a complete idiot. She told me that if there hadn’t been so many people watching, she would have made him disappear from the face of the earth long ago.”
“Huh?” The man had just pulled out paper and pen from his Storage Pouch, ready to record what Hua Jian said, but he froze when he heard the answer.
This was far too blunt. If he wrote it down exactly like that, people probably wouldn’t believe it, would they?
How could Fairy Caiyue be such an impolite person?
“Miss, that sounds far too fake. How could Fairy Caiyue say something like that?”
“Have you ever had a private chat with Fairy Caiyue? Use your brain. Could an extraordinary woman who would actually flee her own marriage have any favorable feelings for that shameless fiancé?”
Hua Jian countered. As for whether he believed it or not, she didn’t care.
“Believe it or don’t believe it. That’s my answer.”
The man could only obediently record Hua Jian’s answer. It was worth 100 Spirit Stones, after all, and just as Hua Jian said, the answer was indeed explosive and exciting.
He proceeded to ask two more related questions, and Hua Jian answered them one by one.
In Hua Jian’s answers, Fairy Caiyue was no longer the gentle, elegant fairy in everyone’s hearts.
Instead, she became an ordinary girl with a distinct personality—one who would curse, find things troublesome, and possessed many flaws a fairy shouldn’t have.
This was so different from the Fairy Caiyue in everyone’s minds that the man doubted many people would believe it if he published these Q&As in a short article.
“What do I care if they don’t believe it? My job is done. Surely what you wanted to hear from me wasn’t the same old praise for Fairy Caiyue, was it?” Hua Jian was speechless at the man’s worries.
He didn’t like ordinary stories, but when given explosive ones, he worried no one would believe them.
Was he having an internal argument with himself?
There wasn’t that much to worry about. Bad publicity was still publicity!
After speaking, Hua Jian stood up and left. She had done what she promised—she had opened a small crack of doubt in people’s hearts, letting them know that Fairy Caiyue wasn’t perfect, but a living, breathing human being.
Coupled with certain actions from Ji Caiyue later on, they could gradually strip away the halo surrounding her, allowing her status in everyone’s hearts to return to normal.
This was the strategy she had told Ji Caiyue, and Ji Caiyue also thought it was a good idea, which was why she had been so generous with the Spirit Stones.
Actually, some of those stones were meant to be Hua Jian’s ‘operational funds.’
Ji Caiyue probably hadn’t expected that Hua Jian didn’t need funds and could instead squeeze Spirit Stones out of the paparazzi.
Humming a smug little tune, Hua Jian followed the sensation from the flower ring and found the little girl and Shiqi.
The moment she saw the girl sitting on the side of the road, desperately trying to pry off the flower ring, Hua Jian knew the little thing had definitely tried to run.
And then, she must have experienced the power of the anklet, which was why she was now pulling at the bracelet so hard.
“Hua Jian, you’re done? This little one is quite clever. She tried to run while I wasn’t looking, but she tripped after only a few steps.” Shiqi saw Hua Jian and waved to her.
Even without Hua Jian’s anklet, the girl wouldn’t have been able to escape. Shiqi had been only ten steps away from her at the time; she could have caught the girl in a single stride.
As it turned out, the girl had collapsed before Shiqi could even move. It was clearly Hua Jian’s handiwork.
“It’s just a simple application of a Spirit Technique. If she runs, spikes will emerge from the anklet and prick the acupuncture points on her foot, making it too painful for her to keep going,” Hua Jian explained the mechanism behind the flower ring before walking up to the girl with a beaming smile.
There had to be a price for following her, right? If she just let the little one go like this, Hua Jian felt like she’d be taking a massive loss.
Of course, she could see that the kid was poor and couldn’t afford compensation. Since she had no money, she would have to pay with her service.
“Little one, I’m actually a very kind person. If you do one thing for me, I won’t hold the fact that you followed me against you. What do you say?”
The little girl looked at Hua Jian timidly. After a moment of internal struggle, she obediently lowered her head.
She had no other choice now.
“What do you want me to do?”
“It’s not hard. Help me gather intelligence on the ten greatest geniuses. It doesn’t have to be perfectly accurate; just the stuff everyone knows will do,” Hua Jian stated her request.
This really wasn’t difficult. The girl’s eyes instantly lit up.
“I can do that right now…”
“Don’t be in such a hurry. Write down everything you know on a piece of paper and give it to me… or her.”
Hua Jian had originally intended to receive it herself, but remembering that she only got one day off every ten days, she pointed to Shiqi as the recipient.
While speaking, Hua Jian unfastened the vine from the girl’s ankle, granting her freedom.
“Alright, you can go now.”
The girl looked at Hua Jian in disbelief. She was just letting her go? No insurance?
In that case, why should she listen to Hua Jian? She could just find somewhere to hide, and Hua Jian would never find her.
After taking two quick steps away, the girl paused.
But what Hua Jian had asked her to do wasn’t that difficult. It seemed a bit of a loss to force herself into hiding and living in fear just because of such a small matter.
Thinking of this, she turned back and firmly etched the appearances of Shiqi and Hua Jian into her memory.
‘This mean woman with the colored eyes doesn’t seem that bad. I’ll just trust her.’
“Aren’t you afraid she’ll break her word?” Shiqi asked curiously as she watched the girl leave.
She had assumed Hua Jian wouldn’t remove the anklet that restricted the girl’s movement. By doing this now, hadn’t she completely lost her leverage over the girl?
What if the girl went back on her word? Was Hua Jian just going to accept the bad luck?
Based on Shiqi’s understanding of Hua Jian, this girl wasn’t that magnanimous.
“I’m not afraid. Some insurance isn’t placed on a person’s body, but in their heart.” Hua Jian drew a circle over her own chest.
“Are you honestly expecting her to be grateful?”
Hua Jian rolled her eyes. “You’re a blockhead. I’m tired of talking to you!”
She meant ‘heart’ in a literal, physical sense!
As a lovely little flower who had swallowed a Heart-Eating Vine, it wasn’t strange for her to possess a few of its abilities, was it?
When the little girl was ‘fleeing,’ it wasn’t strange for that flower ring to prick her foot and send a little something inside, was it?
So, from that moment on, the anklet on the girl’s foot no longer had any practical meaning, because her heart already held the shackles Hua Jian had left behind.
Thinking about it, Hua Jian felt like she was a bit wicked. Wasn’t this the kind of thing big villains did?
Forget it, why care so much? Villains would eventually squeeze every bit of value out of a girl and make her life a living hell, but Hua Jian wouldn’t do that.
That was the biggest difference between her and a villain!
“Sigh, after all that running around, it’s already afternoon. Let’s wander around a bit and get ready to head back. How about it?”
Shiqi naturally had no objections, though she felt it was a bit of a pity she hadn’t gotten to fight anyone today; her hands were itching.
The two wandered aimlessly through the streets for a while until they unknowingly arrived at a place where the fragrance of flowers drifted through the air.
Hua Jian sniffed the air and looked toward the source of the scent. Sure enough, she saw a flower shop doing very brisk business.
At the main entrance of the flower shop hung a massive signboard. The seven-colored petal pattern on it silently informed everyone which faction stood behind the store.
‘Is this a flower shop opened by Lingcaifeng here in the Outer City?’
Hua Jian was just muttering this to herself when she saw a girl standing at the entrance who looked incredibly familiar.
Leading Shiqi, she stepped in front of the young girl, whose eyes were darting around as if she were about to flee. After carefully identifying her, Hua Jian called out her name loudly.
“Senior Sister Xiao Qi, why are you here acting as a billboard girl?”
Xiao Qi, who was standing at the entrance holding an advertising board, had a bitter expression. She didn’t want to be standing here like a wooden post either.
Unfortunately… sigh!
“Little sister, you don’t know the whole story. Junior Sister Xiao said right in front of our Elder Sister that the flowers here are for fools, which made her angry,” the other Senior Sister acting as a billboard girl on the other side explained to Hua Jian with a laugh.
Although she didn’t know Hua Jian, the way Hua Jian interacted with Xiao Qi told her they were on good terms.
Since she was a good friend of her fellow disciple, she was naturally half a friend herself.
” I didn’t say it to her face! I… I said it behind her back,” Xiao Qi explained aggrievedly.
She wasn’t stupid; she certainly wouldn’t say that to her Elder Sister’s face. Who would have guessed the Elder Sister’s hearing was so good that she could hear her quiet muttering?
Hearing this, Hua Jian let out a helpless sigh. That wasn’t much better than saying it to her face.
“Our Senior Sister is a Ling Emperor. Do you think she can’t hear what you’re saying?” The Senior Sister on the other side rolled her eyes. “Even if it’s true, you can’t say it. Do you understand?”
Well, it seemed the flowers sold in this shop truly were meant to scam fools.
Before Hua Jian could say anything else, another Lingcaifeng disciple walked out of the shop and waved to her.
“Sister Hua Jian, Elder Sister invites you inside to talk.”
As she spoke, the Lingcaifeng disciple curiously sized up Hua Jian, likely unable to figure out why the Elder Sister would ask her to invite Hua Jian inside.
A Senior Sister at the Ling Emperor rank was almost certainly a Neimen Disciple. Hua Jian scratched her head and could only lead Shiqi into the shop.
Upon entering, Shiqi was led away by another Lingcaifeng disciple. It seemed the Elder Sister didn’t want her conversation with Hua Jian to be overheard by Shiqi.
Looking around, Hua Jian quickly understood why Xiao Qi had made those comments. The flowers displayed here were entirely different from the ones Lingcaifeng had in the Inner City.
To put it bluntly, the flowers here were defective goods—leftovers being recycled.
Following the disciple leading the way into the depths of the shop, the quality of the flowers improved significantly.
A woman in a dark green dress was using small shears to trim the branches of the plants. After Hua Jian entered, she spoke without looking up.
“The seats and tea are right there. Help yourself for now.”
‘She certainly isn’t being polite…’
Hua Jian walked over to the table and chairs and poured herself a cup of tea.
The tea from the pot was still warm and had a faint floral scent. Hua Jian took a sip, and her eyes instantly lit up.
As the tea entered her mouth, a rich fragrance bloomed on her tongue, as if an entire garden were inside her mouth. It was incredibly delicious.
Slurp! She quickly finished the tea in her cup and poured herself another.
“If you like it, I’ll give you some when you leave.” The Elder Sister, having finished her work, walked over. Seeing Hua Jian’s thieving little actions, she was quite speechless.
However, she was still very happy that Hua Jian liked her tea.
It gave her a sense of recognition, which was much better than that Junior Sister who couldn’t keep her mouth shut.
“Why did you ask for me, Senior Sister?” Hua Jian used her finger to dab some tea for the Spiritual Civet, which had already poked its head out from her collar.
The little cat licked it and let out a happy meow, clearly enjoying the flavor of the flower tea as well.
“Am I not allowed to be curious about what kind of sister would make our Junior Sister Luo personally come to welcome her?”
The Elder Sister carefully observed Hua Jian, nodding occasionally.
“Now that I see you, I think Junior Sister Luo wasn’t wrong. You have the potential.”
As she spoke, the Elder Sister leaned closer to Hua Jian and sniffed. “Even the fragrance of my flowers can’t mask the scent on your body. It seems your Physique is quite unusual.”
Hua Jian trembled slightly, startled by the Senior Sister.
Her intuition told her this Senior Sister was fundamentally different from the other Lingcaifeng sisters she had met.
This one was likely the predatory type.
And her own ‘bully the weak, fear the strong’ personality was most terrified of this kind of big sister. If she said the wrong thing, she might actually be ‘punished’ right then and there.
“Don’t be so scared. You’re Junior Sister Luo’s little treasure; I wouldn’t dare treat you too badly.”
The Elder Sister let out a couple of giggles, telling Hua Jian not to be so afraid. She was still a person with boundaries.
In any case, a Ling Emperor wouldn’t go out of her way to bully a little Spirit Master like Hua Jian, would she?
“Alright, alright. I’ve seen enough. Go out and tell Xiao Qi to watch her mouth in the future. Even if she’s telling the truth, she can’t say it in front of the customers.”
“Oh, okay!” Hua Jian scratched her cheek, a bit confused by the Elder Sister’s meaning. “So, Senior Sister means Senior Sister Xiao Qi can leave?”
“She’s been standing out there for long enough. She should have learned her lesson by now. We can’t actually leave her standing out there forever, right?” The Elder Sister nodded with a smile.
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