The girl’s room was one of the inn’s most luxurious, the very one Linglong had wanted but was fully booked.
Looking inside, Hua Jian saw it was indeed spacious and elegant, much larger than her own room. It even had a special Juling Formation to aid cultivation.
The Lingmao was locked inside a huge cage, bound by several Spirit Energy chains preventing escape.
“We didn’t cage it before, and it nearly tore the room apart,” the girl whispered.
Inside the cage was a plate of fresh Spirit Beast meat, but the Lingmao didn’t even glance at it.
“So proud a personality. I can’t guarantee it’ll eat what I feed it.”
Hua Jian stepped closer.
Upon seeing her, the Lingmao’s icy blue eyes widened, its drooping tail flicked up, instantly shifting from a proud queen cat to a submissive puppy cat.
The yellow dress girl watched this scene, unsure whether to be angry or amused. After a long moment, she sighed.
Opening the cage, she watched the cat leap into Hua Jian’s arms again. The Lingmao obediently ate the food Hua Jian offered, calling into question its “proud personality.”
So its pride was only toward me, but a lapdog to others.
Please, you’re supposed to be a cool and aloof cat—stop ruining the Lingmao’s image!
After Hua Jian finished feeding the cat and returned it to the cage, the yellow dress girl said nothing further.
She seriously considered just throwing the damn cat away.
But then she thought of how many Spirit Stones she had spent on it and felt heartbroken.
Ladies cared about their Spirit Stones, too.
“Finished feeding. Where’s my payment?” Hua Jian boldly extended her hand toward the girl.
Couldn’t she be a bit more subtle? And with such urgency—did she think Hua Jian would skip out on payment?
The yellow dress girl screamed sharply inside her mind.
But a promise was a promise. She rummaged through her Storage Pouch and asked Hua Jian, “Do you want Spirit Stones or pills?”
“Spirit Stones. I don’t lack pills,” Hua Jian decisively chose Spirit Stones.
Though she had a confusing stash of pill-making materials, she had more than enough pills to eat her fill for quite some time.
And after finishing those, she could buy more from Linglong—having a pill alchemist around was just that luxurious.
Besides, Hua Jian generally didn’t binge on pills; overeating them wasn’t good.
“Fifty Spirit Stones, is that enough?”
“Enough. Thank you for your patronage, Miss.”
Hua Jian immediately nodded. Making fifty Spirit Stones in minutes was a good haul. She’d happily do more of this work if she could.
Too bad she was leaving tomorrow; earning this money again would be hard.
The yellow dress girl realized this too. Although Hua Jian had helped feed the Lingmao this once to ease the crisis, she was leaving the next day.
The Lingmao would continue to starve itself.
She couldn’t keep hiring Hua Jian to be a cat-feeding specialist. Even if Hua Jian agreed, it was impossible.
“Ah, if only I hadn’t bought it.” She admitted Hua Jian’s earlier evaluation was right—she was a sucker tricked into buying a useless cat with her hard-earned pocket money.
“Maybe you just haven’t found the right way to get along with it yet. I believe with your intelligence, you can win this kitty over and make it accept you.”
“You weren’t saying that this morning.” The girl’s brow twitched. How was Hua Jian’s attitude so different now?
Hua Jian silently thought: you didn’t pay me this morning, why would I say nice things?
But her face wore a brilliant smile. Her service was always excellent; once paid, she’d deliver plenty of emotional value.
“People change. This morning, I hadn’t seen your pure and flawless heart. But now I see it, and I believe your kindness can move this Lingmao…”
“Ew, you’re giving me goosebumps. Can you be normal?” The girl crossed her arms, unimpressed by Hua Jian’s rainbow praise.
Hua Jian’s act was way too sycophantic, almost sarcastic.
“Being normal means I’d just say you probably wasted thousands of Spirit Stones.”
“Don’t change your tune so quickly.”
This swing from one extreme to another left the girl speechless. How did such a cute girl have such a big mouth?
Compared to Hua Jian, the most shameless people she’d seen paled in comparison.
“I’m just being honest. My friends say Lingmaos only accept feeding from those they recognize. I guess I took a crooked path.” Hua Jian honestly admitted she probably wasn’t someone a proud Lingmao would accept.
The cat must be attracted to her due to her own body’s aura.
In the secret realm, she easily attracted all kinds of small animals and spirit beasts; now attracting a Lingmao was normal.
“But it cost me thousands of Spirit Stones.”
“So even ladies can be stingy with thousands of Spirit Stones.”
“I’m no spendthrift! That’s my private stash!”
This made Hua Jian look twice. The girl seemed quite sensible—family money and private money were separate.
Though spending private money on a cat that couldn’t survive still made Hua Jian want to complain.
“Let me think… If it’s attracted by my aura, maybe if you wear a sachet you can confuse it into thinking you’re me.”
Hua Jian’s eyes twinkled with a good idea.
Spirit beasts were drawn to her because of the floral scent she carried, and she had already made sachets with similar fragrance using Spirit Energy.
“Do you have a sachet? Give me one.”
Hua Jian held out her hand.
After a moment’s hesitation, the girl untied a finely crafted sachet embroidered with the character ‘Yun’ and handed it over.
Hua Jian held the sachet between her hands and infused it with Spirit Energy. This was an easy task.
Bored, she asked what the ‘Yun’ character meant.
As expected, the answer was that the girl’s name was Chai Xianyun, the sole daughter of the prominent Chai family.
Judging by her proud expression while introducing herself, the family was quite influential.
Hua Jian mockingly responded with “So impressive,” “You’re really the Chai family’s daughter,” which quickly deflated the previously proud Chai Xianyun.
Why did this girl have such a knack for killing the mood? She glared at Hua Jian, wishing she could bite her.
“I’ve lived nearby all my life, never heard of your Chai family. Cut me some slack.”
That sentence only worsened Chai Xianyun’s mood. She was curious how Hua Jian had lived this long with such a mouth.
Was it truly relying on looks to boost strangers’ goodwill, then stunning them with shocking words to keep things balanced?
That would be impressive.
“Phew, done! Try it out.”
Still sulking, Chai Xianyun accepted the modified sachet and cautiously approached the Lingmao.
The little white cat’s eyes showed confusion. This yellow woman had been annoying before, but now carried a very pleasant scent?
Confused and hesitant, it allowed itself to be held, only wriggling uneasily.
Chai Xianyun was overjoyed. She never expected the long-standing problem to be solved like this. It was a delightful surprise.
In gratitude, she handed Hua Jian a generous sum of Spirit Stones, making Hua Jian smile sincerely.
……
When Hua Jian returned with that happy expression, Linglong had already finished counting their goods and was waiting.
Seeing Hua Jian so cheerful, Linglong knew she had made a good profit.
“How much did you make?”
“That lady was generous—gave me 300 Spirit Stones!”
Hua Jian held up three fingers. For someone who had nearly gone broke buying Yusui earlier, this was a huge refund.
With this, she wouldn’t starve no matter what.
Seeing Hua Jian so happy over 300 Spirit Stones, Linglong was at a loss for how to comment.
If Hua Jian wasn’t greedy, her miserly expression would be hard to fake.
If she was greedy, she was too easily satisfied.
Three hundred Spirit Stones made her smile like a fool; Linglong worried someone might one day lure Hua Jian away with a thousand Spirit Stones.
“Get some rest early. We have to set off early tomorrow.”
“Got it. Won’t be late!”
That night passed quietly. Fenghua Venerable appeared on time, returned the processed Spirit Wine to Hua Jian, and gave her some advice on cultivation under Linglong’s strange gaze.
Linglong only then realized Hua Jian was already quite close with Fenghua Venerable.
She wanted to ask questions but didn’t know how to start. So she stewed in frustration and trained all night, her brows tightly furrowed come morning.
Normally, someone would come to ask why Linglong was unhappy, but Hua Jian was not a normal person.
Her first words upon seeing Linglong were, “Be careful—frowning like that will cause wrinkles.”
Truly, Hua Jian’s way of speaking was an art form, able to turn a listener’s sadness into anger with a single sentence.
Spending time with Hua Jian genuinely improved one’s temperament.
“No need to worry. High-level cultivators can stay young forever.”
“But you’re not high-level yet.”
Linglong took a deep breath, deciding not to talk further with Hua Jian. Otherwise, she’d have to vent her anger physically.
She quickly checked out of the inn and strode toward the city gate so fast that Hua Jian had a hard time catching up.
“Don’t run so fast! I can’t keep up.”
Halfway, Hua Jian finally grabbed Linglong’s hand and stopped her.
“Why exactly are you unhappy?”
“Just unhappy.” Linglong replied gloomily, unsure of her own feelings.
If she had to say, maybe it was because she discovered some secret about Hua Jian that made her uneasy.
Linglong knew this was unreasonable. Even if Hua Jian was now her junior sister, she deserved private space.
That was the reason.
She couldn’t expect Hua Jian to explain everything to her.
But when emotions flared, reason flew out the window.
“You’re unhappy because of me,” Hua Jian looked at Linglong, then pounded her palm, suddenly enlightened.
“Why?”
“Because only I can make you unhappy,” Hua Jian said proudly.
Linglong had been unhappy since last night. Nothing happened then—surely not because of Fenghua Venerable?
By simple deduction, Hua Jian concluded the cause: herself.
But to be fair, she didn’t understand why she made Linglong unhappy. Linglong had agreed to her side job, and she couldn’t think of anything else that might upset her.
She just didn’t understand girls’ minds very well.
Original or not, they were still different.
“But I still can’t guess why you’re unhappy. Can you tell me?”
“I don’t want to say.”
Hua Jian winced. Though inexperienced in love, she had read enough romance novels to know when the female lead said this, the plot was entering a stomach-ache phase.
And now she had become the male lead in that painful chapter.
“Seriously…” Hua Jian was helpless. She thought with their relationship, Linglong should be the male lead.
She was just the countryside girl adored by the overbearing saintess, so she should be the female lead.
“I’m too shy to say.” Linglong added.
“Huh? Didn’t expect you to care about face… cough, but it’s useless, just say it. Only by talking can we solve it.”
Hua Jian quickly censored her sarcastic instinct; now was not the time to be rude.
Linglong gave Hua Jian a helpless look. Though she had softened the first part, the meaning was clear.
But Hua Jian’s last sentence was true—Linglong worried how Hua Jian would view her after knowing her thoughts.
“You’re hiding something from me, so I feel uncomfortable.”
“Ah?” Hua Jian’s expression instantly froze.
After several seconds, she barely grasped what Linglong meant.
Then she gasped inwardly. Wow, the Little Dragon Girl’s possessiveness was already this strong?
“I think… you need to change that habit.”
“I don’t have that habit!”
“Wow, so you mean I’m the problem? Linglong, you’re so mean!”