Taohua didn’t dare move. Her gaze drifted straight to the carved wooden table in the distance where breakfast was laid out, her face full of pitiful resentment, like someone who hadn’t eaten in days.
Following her line of sight, Guan Fusha couldn’t help letting out a little laugh. She tapped Taohua’s nose with a fingertip, her voice full of indulgence.
“You little glutton.”
The intimate gesture made Taohua’s cheeks flush. She turned her head away, eyes dodging.
“Then… what about my breakfast…”
Guan Fusha seemed not to notice her expression.
“I’ll have someone bring it over to you in a bit. Don’t forget, your foot is injured. You’re not allowed to get out of bed today.”
Thinking Guan Fusha couldn’t see her, Taohua pouted in silent dissatisfaction, then still answered obediently,
“I know, Senior Sister.”
Guan Fusha pretended not to notice a thing and released her hand.
“Wait here.”
With that, she turned and left the room. Taohua craned her neck curiously and saw her stop at the doorway to say something to a maid before heading out.
Taohua was puzzled. She’d thought Guan Fusha was sending someone to bring her food—how come she’d suddenly left?
Right then, Xiaozhu walked in from outside.
“This servant greets Protector.”
“Xiaozhu!”
Taohua finally remembered that Xiaozhu had thrown her life on the line for her again last night. She hurriedly asked, worried,
“Right, last night—you didn’t get hurt, did you?”
“Thank you for your concern, Protector. This servant was not injured.”
Xiaozhu went to the carved wooden table, picked up a portion of breakfast, and brought it to the bedside for Taohua.
“That’s good.”
Only after Xiaozhu answered did Taohua finally relax.
Counting the time with Xiaoyuan, this was already the second time Xiaozhu had risked her life to save her. Taohua had no idea what bad luck this girl had run into, to be reassigned by Guan Fusha to attend to her. Since then, Xiaozhu hadn’t had a single peaceful day.
Thinking of the snake from last night, Taohua couldn’t help shivering.
She’d been in the Night God Sect for a while now. When she was bored, she sometimes wandered around the courtyard of the side residence to stretch her legs. Forget snakes—she hadn’t even seen an earthworm. Yet that snake last night had not only appeared in her bedchamber, it had been coiled right beside her pillow. No matter how she thought about it, that couldn’t be an accident. Someone had obviously done it on purpose.
If she wasn’t mistaken, that snake was definitely venomous.
Just the thought that someone was lurking in the shadows, eyeing her life like a tiger stalking prey, made her feel a chill all over.
Noticing something off about her, Xiaozhu asked,
“Protector, are you all right? Are you feeling unwell?”
“I’m fine.”
Taohua forced a smile and shook her head. She picked up the bowl of congee on the tray and took a spoonful, but her gaze kept drifting involuntarily toward the door.
Whoever in this Night God Sect wanted her dead, she still had no clue. Without Guan Fusha, this pillar of support, even eating a meal in peace felt like a luxury.
Xiaozhu knew Taohua was waiting for Guan Fusha. She hid her smile behind her sleeve.
“The bird’s nest congee Protector is eating was specially ordered by Protector Guan. She got up early to have this servant go to the kitchens and have it prepared for you.”
Taohua froze, staring blankly at the bowl of bird’s nest congee in her hands. A wave of emotion surged in her chest, and her nose suddenly stung.
She’d thought this was just an ordinary breakfast. She hadn’t expected Guan Fusha to go out of her way for her like this. They’d known each other for less than a week—why was she treating her so well?
Taohua knew very clearly that she was slowly growing dependent on Guan Fusha. Thrown back into ancient times, she was unfamiliar with everything. Guan Fusha had not only taken her in and cared for her, she had saved her again and again. And that expression last night… so gently tender. How was she supposed not to fall deeper into it?
“Junior Sister?”
Taohua came back to her senses and realized Guan Fusha had returned at some point. Seeing the sandalwood box in Guan Fusha’s hands, she couldn’t help asking,
“Senior Sister, what is that?”
Guan Fusha smiled mysteriously, then placed the sandalwood box beside her.
“Open it and see.”
Curious, Taohua lifted the lid. Inside lay a golden book, with four bold, sweeping characters across the cover: “Feilong Sword Manual.”
She looked at Guan Fusha, completely baffled.
“Senior Sister, this is…?”
“As you can see, the Feilong Sword Manual.”
Taohua was speechless. She wasn’t blind—of course she could see that.
“Why are you suddenly giving me this sword manual?” she asked outright.
“You’ve already acknowledged Master as your teacher, so of course you must learn martial arts. Besides, you’re the dignified Left Protector of the Night God Sect. If word got out that you don’t know any martial arts at all, wouldn’t that make us all a laughingstock?” Guan Fusha said with a smile.
Taohua thought about it and agreed it made sense.
There was no way this golden thigh of hers could stay by her side twenty-four hours a day to protect her. Better to learn a few moves to keep on her person.
“I understand. Thank you for your guidance, Senior Sister.”
“As long as you understand.”
The smile in Guan Fusha’s eyes grew even warmer.
“Your foot’s injured, so you can’t move around for now. It’s the perfect time to memorize all the moves recorded in this sword manual.”
“Memorize… all of it?”
Taohua stared at the sword manual, which was about as thick as a language textbook, and suddenly felt enormous pressure.
“Mhm. All of it.”
Guan Fusha’s expression didn’t change, utterly calm, as if she hadn’t noticed Taohua’s face twist.
I’m suffering here, but I’m not saying it out loud!
Taohua sighed inwardly.
“…All right. I’ll memorize the whole manual.”
Over the next few days, Taohua split her time between recuperating and committing the sword manual to memory. Guan Fusha left early and returned late every day, run ragged by sect affairs. She knew the snake incident had left a shadow in Taohua’s heart, so even so, she still came by every night to check on her. Sometimes, she even stayed the night.
After spending some time together like this, Taohua also grew used to Guan Fusha’s busy schedule. Occasionally, when sleepiness hit and Guan Fusha still hadn’t shown up, she would be so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. She’d simply sleep on the inner side of the bed, leaving a space beside her, so Guan Fusha wouldn’t end up with nowhere to sleep in the middle of the night.
Later, Taohua had no idea how, but this matter ended up reaching Qiyong’s ears.
He had plenty of opinions about it. Even though both of them were women and this didn’t touch any so-called moral impropriety, one was the Left Protector and the other the Right Protector. Their positions were different; it truly wasn’t proper for them to be so close.
Qiyong nagged Guan Fusha about it several times. Guan Fusha was far too busy with sect business and couldn’t be bothered with him, so he made a mountain out of a molehill and brought it up during the sect council meeting. He even prettied it up under the excuse that Protectors should serve as examples and role models for the disciples.
Listening from the side, Yanhong kept rolling her eyes, mentally writing out one big, resounding “ha.”
You sure weren’t saying all this when you married your tenth concubine!
Now he was putting on this act of being a dignified, upstanding gentleman? Please. On top of that, they were from a demonic sect to begin with—why should they obey that stuffy set of secular rules?
“Elder, that’s not quite right.”
Yanhong cut Qiyong off without the slightest politeness, tearing off his fig leaf on the spot.
“If this slave remembers correctly, Elder, you just recently took your tenth concubine, didn’t you? Speaking of which, I still haven’t had the chance to congratulate you properly. At your age, and you can still marry such a young, beautiful bride—truly impressive.”
