Chapter 161: Senior Brother, It’s Me, Me, or Me
Dong, dong—
The morning bell shattered the daylight, and the sky turned fish-belly white beyond the eastern mountains.
For the past few days, Li Longling had been, as usual, facing countless documents and memorials in the main hall of Chi Long Mansion. Fortunately, with Xiao Yunluo’s help, the repair work around Chi Long Mansion was nearing completion.
Now, the cultivators on the streets of Chi Long Mansion no longer spoke of the Scarlet Snow disaster, as if everyone had forgotten about it. Those who needed to cultivate were cultivating, and those who wanted to play were playing.
The situation was even smoother than Li Longling had anticipated.
She had a vague feeling that there was a power hidden in the shadows within Chi Long Mansion, silently supporting her.
Famine, material shortages, casualties and rebellions, plagues, miasma… these things that should have happened after a great disaster, although present, had minimal impact.
And all of this was attributed to the various merchant guilds under the jurisdiction of Chi Long Mansion.
Merchant guilds were the foundation of spirit stone and resource circulation, but they were also constantly engaged in fierce competition, checking and balancing each other, and following the wind. The word “loyalty” was nowhere to be found in their dictionary.
Li Longling had originally worried that these merchant guilds would leave Chi Long Mansion and seek new patrons because she, the new mansion lord, was a blind girl.
But the fact was, they had united this time and voluntarily helped her overcome this disaster—selling pills and food at low prices to mortals and young cultivators, helping the mansion guards with repair work at low wages, assisting nearby affected villages in rebuilding, and reopening spirit fields…
Li Longling found it totally unbelievable.
She couldn’t fathom the motives behind the merchant guilds’ actions.
What the merchant guilds were doing now was clearly a losing business.
Most importantly, this was not an isolated case; almost all merchant guilds were doing the same thing.
—Are they trying to please me?
—But why?
—What benefit would pleasing a new mansion lord who is blind and not very powerful bring them?
—Are they blind too?
Something unusual must be behind this. Li Longling was filled with questions, repeatedly tracing the document from the Deputy Governor of Chi Long Mansion with her fingers, even thinking she was hallucinating.
“…Led by seven major merchant guilds such as ‘Dragon Slaying Society’, ‘Furong Society’, and ‘Tiannan Society’, a total of 152 merchant guilds. Twenty-one left Chi Long Mansion, while all the remaining merchant guilds actively contributed money and effort to help rebuild seventeen villages and three towns around Chi Long Mansion. Your subordinate suggests that the Mansion Lord decree an award to incentivize the merchant guilds.”
“This is strange…”
Li Longling murmured, picked up her jade seal, stamped it on the document, and set it aside. She turned to Xiao Yunluo beside her and asked, “Senior Sister Xiao, do you have any memorials about the merchant guilds?”
“Yes, I read it. I also found it quite strange,” Xiao Yunluo paused her writing, looked up, and replied, “I also sent guards to inquire. It seems that a merchant guild called the Dragon Slaying Society took the lead in persuading other merchant guilds to stay. When I came with Junior Sister Feng earlier, I also saw them. That Dragon Slaying Society seemed to be helping mortals in Du Chun City.”
“I see…”
Li Longling furrowed her brows and pondered for a moment: “It seems I’ll have to go to the Dragon Slaying Society myself later to thank their guild master. That person is very deep, I feel like I can’t see through him.”
Xiao Yunluo shrugged slightly: “I think so too, likely a cunning old man. While thanks are in order, these merchants are usually only after profit. Although they have done many good deeds this time, Junior Sister Li, remember, one must always be on guard. We don’t know what they are plotting in secret…”
“Mm…” Li Longling nodded and asked, “What has Senior Sister Feng been doing these past few days?”
“Cheating at a gambling house.”
?
Li Longling was stunned: “Ah? Cheating?!”
“Yes, she can guess the number of dice in the cup every time, without a single mistake. And whether it’s Mahjong or Pai Gow, she never loses. The day before yesterday, she punched a dozen of the gambling house’s thugs until they were bruised and swollen because she won too much, and even attracted the attention of Chi Long Mansion guards. I had to bail her out.”
“But the dice cups in gambling houses are equipped with powerful anti-peeping restrictions, and they also have spirit-sealing magical artifacts. How did Senior Sister Feng…”
“I asked her, and she told me it was good luck. I don’t believe it.”
… …
Xiao Yunluo pouted and complained: “It’s too much. Knowing we are busy, she still causes trouble outside, she doesn’t know how to be more disciplined.”
Li Longling originally thought Senior Sister Feng was a sister who combined elegance and cheerfulness, but now it seemed that “elegance” had lost its “grace,” leaving only “wind.” As a disciple of a major sect, she actually ran to places of debauchery like gambling houses every day.
After a pause, she spoke up for Feng Yu Die: “It’s also quite good, free and unrestrained, like a carefree immortal.”
As the two were talking, Ling’er’s voice came from outside the room:
“Miss, the master of the Dragon Slaying Society is here to see you.”
“Hmm?” Li Longling turned towards the door and asked, “Dragon Slaying Society? What is it?”
Ling’er hesitated for a moment and whispered: “He said he has a way to cure your eyes.”
“Cure my eyes?” Li Longling’s brows furrowed upon hearing this. She naturally thought they were likely swindlers, but she didn’t voice her thoughts. She only confirmed, “Did he say it himself?”
“Mm… I also went to inquire before. It seems there is a hidden cultivator in Chi Long Valley who can cure your eyes.”
“Hidden cultivator…”
Li Longling felt more and more like a charlatan as she listened. However, since the Dragon Slaying Society had made contributions during the recent turmoil, she hesitated for a moment before saying, “Is he alone?”
“He’s also brought a young lady, the guild master’s wife.”
“Let them in.”
Li Longling pursed her lips, lifted her chin, and put on a dignified expression befitting the Mansion Lord of Chi Long Mansion. She sat up straight, and Xiao Yunluo, also curious about the identity of the Dragon Slaying Society’s master, looked towards the door.
“Junior Sister Li, what kind of person do you think he will be?”
“Mm… I think he should be…”
Outside the room, Ye Anping, dressed in a black brocade robe, used his excellent hearing, honed through arduous cultivation, to catch their whispered conversation. He strode forward and entered, interrupting them by saying, “It’s me.”
?!!
As soon as this familiar voice sounded, Xiao Yunluo’s neck shrunk. The scenes from the spiritual pool at the back of the mountain several days ago flooded her mind like spring shoots after rain, instantly making her blush crimson.
“Ye Ye Ye…”
“Ye?” Li Longling was stunned. “Could it be… Senior Ye?!”
“Yes,” Ye Anping replied coldly.
Li Longling immediately raised her hand to brush back her ear hair, a hint of shyness showing on her face, but she quickly reacted, shook her head, and asked, “But… aren’t you a Xuan Xing Sect disciple?”
“It’s me.”
“Senior Sister Xiao said you are also the Young Master of the Hundred Lotus Sect.”
“Also me.”
“Then the master of the Dragon Slaying Society…”
“Still me.”
“Then the younger brother of Young Master Yun of Moon Shadow Sword Sect…”
Ye Anping hesitated for a moment and replied, “…Not me, for now.”
?
What did he mean by “not for now”?! Li Longling tilted her head, but at least she heard a “not.”
She stared blankly for a long time before finally asking again, “Then Ye…?”
“Senior is fine.”
“Hoo—Senior Ye, why are you here today…”
“To cure your eyes.”
… …
