The weather in Yuezhong was much like summer in the real world, with all the flowers in bloom.
Since the body’s former owner was usually active at night and rarely rose early, several of the sisters in the compound had arranged that morning to bring tea and pastries to the little garden behind the rockery and admire the flowers.
Seven or eight beauties sat around a table, laughing and chatting. Two reclining chairs stood nearby. Zu Mianmian, a habitual sleepyhead, was sprawled belly-up in one of them, ignoring every sound around her and sleeping like a log.
“Tch.”
Xiao Chuer lounged in the other recliner. She flicked her fan, casting a sidelong glance at Zu Mianmian with her narrow eyes. The slight arch of her brows gave her an effortlessly seductive air.
“All you know how to do is sleep. Look how fat you’ve gotten.”
Lan Tang flapped into the air and landed with her little feet on Xiao Chuer’s shoulder.
“You can’t say mean things about Mianmian.”
“Tsk.”
Xiao Chuer propped her right hand against her cheek, then lifted it and waved irritably at the little fat sparrow.
“Shoo, fat bird, or I’ll pluck you bald.”
Lan Tang sprang up and gave the back of her hand a vicious peck before flying, huffing, to perch on Yin Ci’s head.
“Lin Yujin, did you bring it?”
Pei Yuqing was absent, so Yin Ci sat in the seat of honor. She had no interest in admiring flowers and plants; the jar in Lin Yujin’s hands was the real reason she had come today.
Lin Yujin was a mermaid, one of the legendary rulers of the waters. She had an exquisite singing voice and beauty to rival Xi Shi, the legendary beauty. Her slender figure made any human man who saw her want to gather her into his arms and lavish her with care and protection. Her appearance was extraordinarily deceptive.
She took a small white porcelain vial from inside her robes, warmed by her body heat.
“Here it is.”
Yin Ci reached out to take it, then handed Lin a bottle of healing salve.
“Thank you. Take this medicine; it should help your wound heal faster.”
They exchanged the items. Yin Ci pulled the stopper from the porcelain vial and bent to sniff it. As expected, mermaid blood smelled different from the blood of other beastfolk. It had no fishy odor, only a faint sweetness. It could also extend one’s lifespan and strengthen the body. In the human lands, there were even dedicated mermaid-hunting teams, with enormous bounties on their heads.
And the only reason the original Qiu Qi had kept a mermaid in the compound was to expand her food stores.
Yin Ci was actually acting on someone else’s behalf. Pei Yuqing had suffered some injuries the night before and had specifically asked her to borrow this blood from Lin Yujin. Besides all the miraculous properties rumored in the human lands, the blood had one even more important quality: its healing power was extraordinarily potent, capable of closing wounds in a very short time. For Pei, who had long been tormented by cold poison, it was practically a life-saving remedy.
With the blood on hand, Pei could at least be kept alive during the ring’s removal.
Lin Yujin shook her head and smiled weakly.
“I owe Sister Pei this much. I was supposed to be the one summoned to the bedchamber last night. If she hadn’t volunteered to take my place, I might already have…”
Everyone’s expressions darkened. No matter how cheerfully they pretended to be, it could not change the fact that a ticking time bomb hung over every one of their heads.
Elsewhere, being summoned to someone’s bed might at worst earn a woman the reputation of serving through her beauty. In this compound, it meant trading one life for another.
Before Pei Yuqing, not a single person had ever come out of that bedchamber alive. That was why no one dared ask what exactly had happened the night before, nor did they have the heart to ask. They feared accidentally stepping on a land mine—not only wounding Pei’s pride, but also forcing her to remember something unpleasant.
“Hey, don’t dwell on who owes whom. Sister Pei’s only wish is for as many people in this compound as possible to survive. Every extra survivor counts.”
Zu Mianmian had woken at some point. She twitched her nose and keenly caught the faint sweetness in the air.
“So this is what mermaid blood smells like. It smells like frosting.”
“Where did you cut yourself?”
Xiao Chuer lifted her chin toward Lin Yujin.
“Your blood carries all the way over here. Get the salve on it before you attract her.”
Everyone present knew exactly whom she meant.
The reminder made Lin Yujin pale for a moment. She hurriedly opened the jar of salve Yin Ci had given her, unwound the bandage around her wrist, scooped out a dab, and spread it over the wound.
“Hi, beauties.”
Speak of the devil. A lively voice came from behind them.
“Be-beauties?”
Zu Mianmian choked on her drink. She had turned around intending to see which shameless peacock had made such an outrageous greeting, but the moment she did, her expression froze.
*How is that demoness up so early today? And why is she in the mood to stroll around the little garden?*
Lin Yujin sensed that something was wrong and looked up. The instant she saw Qiu Qi standing behind them with a smile, all the blood drained from her face.
Qiu Qi wanted to help Pei Yuqing remove the Profound Ice Ring, but the crucial key was the one to her study. Since the original owner had not set foot in the study for a long time, the key had always been kept by the steward. That was why Qiu was wandering around now: she was looking for the steward.
Who could have guessed the steward would be so elusive? Qiu had nearly turned the whole compound upside down without finding her. Then she spotted people sitting in the pavilion from a distance, so she decided to ask them instead.
She had barely finished greeting them when the beauty in pale blue seated in the middle stared at her in terror. At first, Qiu wondered whether her expression had not been friendly enough and had frightened the poor woman, but she soon understood why.
Qiu’s gaze fell on the still-fresh wound on the blue-clad woman’s wrist, not yet clotted. Her eyelid jerked violently, and that uncontrollable force surged up again.
What frightened people was never Qiu Qi herself, but the beast core inside her, which could run wild at any moment.
Lin Yujin’s breathing grew rapid. Her lips lost all color, and she looked as thin as a sheet of paper, as though a gust of wind might knock her over.
It was no exaggeration: Lin felt that Qiu was looking at her like a jackal eyeing a juicy piece of meat, ready to pounce and tear her apart in the next second. But as a mermaid, her combat ability on land was inferior even to that of a human trained in spirit arts. If it came to a fight, she would have no chance to fight back.
The two women who had been lounging in the chairs sprang to their feet at once, extending their arms to shield Lin from either side. In the tense atmosphere, Yin Ci also drew the dagger at her waist, her eyes hardening with the resolve to fight.
As Qiu Qi struggled desperately to restrain the beast core within her, a calm voice came from behind and slightly soothed her agitation.
“My Lady.”
Pei Yuqing, who had appeared behind them at some point, hurried forward and positioned herself between the two sides, blocking Qiu’s view.
From the corner of her eye, Qiu caught the fine beads of sweat on Pei’s forehead and guessed that she had forced herself to hurry over. Otherwise, she should have been lying in bed resting.
“How did you find time to come admire the flowers today, My Lady?”
Pei gave Qiu a rare smile, trying to distract her as quickly as possible.
Qiu’s chest rose and fell as she gulped air. She had no mind to answer. In her sight, Pei’s beautiful face had warped into an indistinct blur, while the familiar, delicate fragrance at the tip of her nose was the only comfort amid the violent turmoil.
“My wife.”
Qiu reached out and wrapped an arm around Pei’s waist, burying her face against her chest and dragging in deep breaths. Her entire body trembled with the effort of holding herself back.
“I-I can’t hold it back… What do I do?”
“Mm, I know, My Lady.”
Pei nodded and gently patted her back, her tone as patient as if she were soothing a child.
The soft voice beside her ear slowly relaxed Qiu’s nerves. The rhythmic pats on her back made her feel safe. But at that very moment, a dull blow suddenly landed on the back of her neck.
“My wife… ugh!”
Under everyone’s stunned gaze, Qiu slid limply down Pei’s body and crumpled onto the floor like a puppet whose spine had been yanked out.
Pei calmly withdrew the hand that had just delivered the blow to Qiu’s nape, her expression as composed as ever.
“Mianmian, come carry her.”
“Huh?”
The compound’s longtime workhorse, Zu Mianmian, blinked once, then immediately nodded and rolled up her sleeves. She walked over and effortlessly lifted Qiu by the collar with one hand, as though she weighed nothing.
“Got her.”
Zu flung Qiu over her back like a sack and carried her off, looking rather excited.
“Sis, where are we dumping the body?”
Pei gave her a cool glance.
“She’s not dead yet. Take her back to the bedchamber first.”
…
Qiu’s body really could take a beating. A blow like Pei’s would have left an ordinary person bedridden for at least five or six days, but Qiu woke after being unconscious for only half an hour.
She opened her eyes and stared blankly at the canopy overhead for a while. Only then did she realize that her wife had knocked her unconscious.
“My Lady, you’re awake.”
The culprit stood primly beside the bed. Qiu laboriously turned her still-aching neck to look at her.
*Excellent. Judging by that expression, her wife had not the slightest intention of repenting.*
*Still just as delightfully willful. I like it!*
“It hurts. It’ll only feel better if my wife blows on it.”
Qiu stretched an arm toward Pei.
Pei turned her head away, her smile flawless.
“My Lady, what did you just say? I didn’t hear you very clearly.”
Qiu’s lips moved, her eyes growing moist; she was clearly about to put on another performance. But Pei shifted to the side and swiftly changed the subject.
“I heard you’ve been looking for Steward Yan all morning, so I took the liberty of having her brought here for you.”
“Oh, right. I was looking for her.”
Qiu struggled to prop her upper body up with her arms.
Pei immediately stepped forward and placed a pillow behind her, allowing her to sit up.
“My wife really is so considerate.”
Qiu gazed at her with starry eyes.
Pei’s mouth twitched. Her reply was perfunctory and formulaic.
“As I should be.”
“What can I do for you, My Lady?”
Steward Yan Wan gave a slight bow, which passed for a greeting to Qiu.
To outward appearances, Steward Yan Wan was a frail, skinny old woman who looked as if a breeze might blow her away. But the original owner’s memories told Qiu that Yan was actually the strongest expert hidden within the harem.
Each Beast God was chosen through a public martial tournament. Yan Wan had competed for the title two terms earlier. Although she had narrowly lost in the end, no one dared underestimate the strength of a runner-up.
If one wondered why someone like that would agree to serve as the original owner’s steward, the answer was obvious: she loved money.
As long as she was paid enough, Yan Wan would even work as a brothel madam. Her extensive résumé really did include that line of work.
“I only wanted to ask where the key to my study is.”
Qiu cleared her throat.
“For something this trivial, you could have sent a servant to ask me.”
*Didn’t I already do that? I asked a dozen or so people, and every single one said they didn’t know! What else was I supposed to do? Were they deliberately messing with me?*
Outwardly, Qiu forced a smile.
“Hahahaha. Little old me is just a bit silly.”
Even the original owner had never dared clash head-on with a thousand-year-old monster like Yan Wan, so no matter how frustrated Qiu was, she did not dare show it.
The moment that syrupy, affected little-old-me tone came out of Qiu’s mouth, Pei and Yan both froze. Their eyes held the suffocated misery of people who had swallowed a mouthful of shit and had nowhere to spit it out.
“Please wait a moment.”
Yan was a professional, after all. She quickly recomposed herself and put on a look of utmost deference toward Qiu.
From her waist, she pulled out a huge iron ring, large enough to serve as a cow’s collar, with keys packed densely all around it. It looked to weigh a good dozen pounds, yet Yan lifted it lightly on a single index finger without changing expression.
“This is the key to the study. Please take it.”
She selected one key and offered it to Qiu with both hands.
“Thank you.”
Qiu took the key and automatically reached toward her waist. Her fingers met empty air, reminding her that this outfit had no pockets. Pei, sitting beside her, noticed and held out her hand.
“My Lady, let me keep it for you.”
“All right. Thank you, my wife.”
Qiu handed it over without a hint of suspicion; after all, she had asked for the key for Pei in the first place.
After handing over the key, Yan still showed no sign of leaving. Instead, she pulled a scroll from her sleeve and began reading from it.
“A shipment of tribute came from the human lands this morning.”
The humans sent tribute because the two races had signed a peace treaty a thousand years earlier. Beastfolk were physically formidable but not exactly blessed in the brains department, and knew nothing about farming, weaving, or manual labor. Their food, clothing, and other necessities therefore came from humans, who excelled at trade and social dealings. In return, humans coveted the fertile land beneath the beastfolk’s feet, trading goods for the right to extract its resources and for the safety of their own people.
One clause in the agreement was especially emphasized: beastfolk were forbidden from harming humans at will. Anyone who violated the rule would either be executed by the Beastfolk leader or handed over to the humans for punishment.
When the agreement was first established, few beastfolk paid much attention to that clause. But after humans mastered the Five Elemental Arts and gained the ability to stand against the beastfolk, it became a genuine deterrent.
“Oh. Once it’s been inventoried, put it in the warehouse.”
Qiu’s mind was still occupied with how to remove the Profound Ice Ring, so she had barely been listening to Yan.
“My Lady.”
Yan repeated the title more emphatically. Once Qiu looked her way, she continued, unhurriedly.
“What I mean is that the tribute the humans sent this time still has a problem. I checked it. Although the quantities are all there, nearly two-thirds of the fabric and jewelry are inferior goods being passed off as quality merchandise. Even half the fruit and grain isn’t fresh.”
Qiu rested her chin on her hand and shifted her attention to the tribute for the moment.
According to Yan, the tribute had been getting shortchanged for a long time; it was hardly a recent problem. Qiu thought back to how the original owner had dealt with it.
Every time she heard Yan’s report, the original owner would fly into a rage, have the envoy who had delivered the tribute dragged in and savagely beaten, then have his severed head carried back as a warning.
That approach had worked at first. But as mentioned earlier, human spirit arts had advanced by leaps and bounds over the last few centuries. More and more humans had the power to protect themselves; as their fighting strength rose, so did their confidence.
This was especially true because of their newly appointed Saintess. She was said to be a rare genius who had mastered five different spirit arts on her own. In the hearts of the human race, she was practically a god.
The tribute had begun to show problems three years ago, and the Saintess had also taken office three years ago. Qiu could have figured out with her toes that the two were connected.
“Fine.”
Qiu sighed and beckoned Yan over.
“Their envoy hasn’t gone far yet, has he? Bring him in.”
Yan did not move immediately.
“My Lady, at this point, the old tactic of killing one to warn the rest probably won’t be very effective.”
“Who said anything about killing one to warn the rest?”
Qiu knew Yan probably assumed she intended to cut off the envoy’s head again, so she explained:
“I’ve put down the butcher’s knife and turned over a new leaf. I’m no longer interested in all that killing and bloodshed. I’m only calling him in for a chat, so don’t worry.”
Yan raised her head, but her eyes went to Pei, seeking confirmation.
Pei caught the question in her gaze and gave her a slight nod.
“If My Lady says so, there won’t be a problem.”
“Very well. I’ll bring the envoy in at once.”
Yan bowed and backed out of the room.
“My wife, do we have paper and a brush? I want to write a letter.”
“We do, My Lady. I’ll fetch them from the study.”
Pei moved quickly, took the key to the study, and returned with several sheets of paper. She laid everything on the table and began grinding ink on the inkstone of her own accord.
Qiu tried hard to recall the grip her calligraphy teacher had taught her back in school. She picked up the floppy brush and put it to paper. The writing was a little ugly, but as long as it was legible, that was good enough.
Pei silently kept her head down and ground the ink, but secretly never stopped stealing glances at Qiu.
The original owner of this body had been practically illiterate. She had hated reading and studying above all else, so the steward handled all the written work in the compound, account books included. Yet how could someone like that now write with such practiced ease? If Qiu really had amnesia, she could not have gained a completely new skill out of thin air. It made no sense.
Thinking of all Qiu’s uncharacteristic behavior over the past two days, Pei felt that it made more sense to say another soul had replaced the one in this body than to say Qiu had lost her memory.
Qiu did not notice Pei’s scrutinizing gaze. Frowning in concentration, she finished writing out the message she wanted to convey. When she was done, the wording on the page seemed a little too stern, so after thinking it over, she added a grinning smiley face with its teeth bared.
Once she finished drawing, she held the paper up in front of her and admired it. Whatever else one could say, the picture looked far better than the few characters she had just written. With only a few strokes, it captured her own playful charm, cuteness, and lively spirit.
Her old line of work really was the one that came most naturally. Qiu twirled the brush, her fingers itching. She was an artist who specialized in X-rated, adults-only work; going a single day without practicing the human figure left her restless.
Tsk.
“My Lady, you’ve gotten ink on your hand.”
Pei walked over, took Qiu’s right hand, and turned it palm-up. The inside of her delicate, pale wrist was smeared with black ink from her earlier carelessness.
Qiu turned her head to look and, sure enough, it was a mess. The ink was of mediocre quality and dried very slowly, so even the tiniest spot smeared everywhere. That might sound exaggerated, but nearly her entire arm was black by now.
She rubbed at her skin with her thumb until it turned red, but the color still refused to come off.
*I only said your quality was lousy, and now you’re picking a fight with me?*
“Let me, My Lady.”
Pei dampened a cloth, crouched beside Qiu, took her hand, and patiently rubbed away the ink bit by bit.
Honestly, Qiu was rather touched at first. From this angle, she could clearly see Pei’s long lashes lowered over her eyes and the perfect curve of her nose. But the pain in her hand soon dragged her from the calm pleasure of admiring a beauty back into brutal reality.
Qiu gritted her teeth and looked down at what Pei was doing. Hmm. Her fingers were long, her knuckles sharply defined, and her skin nearly translucent—delicate enough that it looked as though a breath might break it. Beautiful hands, no question, but the force…
Was this really helping her clean her hand? It felt more like Pei wanted to grind the bones in it to powder!
“Hiss—”
Qiu let out a pitiful whine.
“My wife, that hurts…”
Pei looked up, wearing an amiable, gentle smile.
“My Lady, bear with it a little longer. It’ll be clean in a moment.”
*Yeah, right. Those were the exact words you used last night when you were trying to kill me!*
“Fine…”
Qiu stared at the face before her, every feature exactly to her taste, and forced a smile.
“I’m thick-skinned and well padded. I can take a little more.”
