Jiang Wangyue let out a drowsy yawn and gave Lan Xue’s back an absent pat. “Remember to treat that wound on your neck. I’m off to bed.”
“All right.” Lan Xue answered with a faint smile. “Good night, Female master.”
“Night.”
The sound of Jiang Wangyue’s footsteps gradually faded around the bend in the staircase. Lan Xue, still standing where he was, reached up to touch the wound on his neck, the corner of his mouth tilting up of its own accord.
It was just then that the living-room door was pushed open from outside. Feng Yan took one look at the state of Lan Xue and couldn’t help frowning.
“What’s got you grinning all dreamy like that?”
Lan Xue spared him a glance and replied airily, “Because I want to.”
Feng Yan narrowed his eyes, a sliver of cold light flashing fast through his slit pupils.
But before he could get a barb in, Yun Miao walked in wrapped in his usual aura of cold.
With his keener sense of smell, Yun Miao frowned at once and looked straight at Lan Xue. “What did you do?”
Lan Xue, who had deliberately left the kitchen’s air-circulation system switched off, gave a soft laugh and shot back, “What do you think?”
The atmosphere turned instantly tense.
Catching on to what might have happened, Feng Yan sneered. “Wagging your tail and begging for affection like that, did you get the soothing you were after?”
Before tonight, that line might have carried some bite. But after Jiang Wangyue had stabilized Lan Xue’s mental sea, it landed without the slightest effect.
Lan Xue had no foolish intention of explaining to a love rival just how wonderful his beloved was. He gave the two of them a meaningful look, then turned and went back to his own bedroom.
The instant Lan Xue turned, Feng Yan caught sight of the bite mark on the side of his neck, and his expression went cold at once.
Worn out by the whole day and drained of mental power, Jiang Wangyue slept straight through to the afternoon of the next day.
She slowly opened her eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Her brain finally managed to reboot, and the events of the night before flashed before her eyes all at once.
Jiang Wangyue couldn’t help raising a hand to cover her face.
So it was true, beauty really does lead people astray. She hadn’t held herself together at all.
But she had to admit, the sounds Lan Xue made were genuinely lovely to listen to.
The thought had no sooner crossed her mind than Jiang Wangyue hurriedly rolled over and sat up, scrubbing hard at her face with both hands.
Stop it, Jiang Wangyue. It’s not like you went all the way, what are you reminiscing about?
Forcibly evicting the racy thoughts from her head, she climbed out of bed and opened her terminal at the same time. Two trending topics on the Starnet popped up one after the other.
#The Federation’s Consul election has come to a close, and he’s the one who won!#
#A grown SS-grade female appears in a remote star system of the Empire!!#
Jiang Wangyue only had time to glance at the face of the Federation’s newly elected Consul before the second trending topic snatched her attention away.
Was this some kind of joke?
Didn’t the Empire round up every female graded A or above right after their first mental-power test and bring them to the home star to be raised and educated together?
Under a system like that, for a grown SS-grade female to still be out there adrift, wouldn’t the whole Empire blow its lid?
In full melon-eating mode [1] “eating melon”, internet slang for being a bystander avidly following some piece of gossip or drama jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2723733_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2723733_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });, Jiang Wangyue skimmed over the news, and then let out a soft, surprised little sound.
No way.
This SS-grade female had been only C-grade before her second awakening?
“Daughter of Miracles…”
Jiang Wangyue murmured under her breath the title the Empire had bestowed on this SS-grade female.
It really did suit the woman’s story.
From an ordinary student in a remote star system to a top national treasure of the Empire overnight, about to step into a life of luxury beyond her wildest dreams, if that wasn’t a miracle, what was?
【Female master, are you awake?】
Glancing at the message that had just gone through, Lan Xue lifted his head and stared at the door in front of him, pressing his lips together tightly.
Just as he truly couldn’t wait any longer and was about to barge in, the message alert chimed.
【Awake, but I’m about to starve to death QAQ……】
The heart Lan Xue had been holding suspended finally settled. He raised a hand and knocked on the door.
After a flurry of hurried footsteps, the door was pulled open from inside by Jiang Wangyue.
Their eyes met, one pair brimming with smiles, the other a touch awkward.
Jiang Wangyue looked at Lan Xue’s neck and instantly frowned.
“Didn’t I tell you to get that wound treated? What if it gets infected?”
Lan Xue smiled gently and took her hand, pressing it against his neck, his voice steeped in tenderness. “This was a gift from my Female master. Of course I want to keep it carefully.”
Jiang Wangyue’s fingertips twitched. She found herself absently stroking the already-scabbed wound, a flush of crimson creeping up from the base of her ears to her cheeks.
A gift, was it? He really had a way with words.
Taking advantage of the moment, Lan Xue led Jiang Wangyue downstairs and sat her down in the chair at the head of the dining table.
The table was already laden with dishes that looked, smelled, and surely tasted wonderful, just the aroma had Jiang Wangyue all but drooling.
She couldn’t help turning her head to look at Lan Xue, who was diligently peeling a shrimp, and sighed inwardly.
Good-looking and good at cooking, with a husband like this, what more could a wife ask for?
Lan Xue had no idea what was going through Jiang Wangyue’s mind, he only found her gaze unexpectedly hard to bear.
“Oh, right,” Jiang Wangyue said, something suddenly occurring to her, and she asked quickly, “Did Ji Li ever come home?”
Lan Xue steadied himself and set the peeled shrimp on the plate in front of her before answering. “No. He hasn’t been back at all.”
Jiang Wangyue frowned at once. “Can I file a complaint against his superior?”
“That, you could give it a try.”
“Better not. I’m afraid that once I’m done filing, Ji Li’s superior will just make trouble for him.”
Lan Xue’s eyes curved, and he smiled as he nudged the plate a little closer to her. “Eat first. Ji Li should be home soon.”
“Let’s hope so.”
The news of a grown SS-grade female appearing in the Empire stayed up on the Starnet for three days, and Ji Li went three days without coming home.
Curled up in Lan Xue’s arms, eyes half-shut as she basked in the sun, Jiang Wangyue asked, half-joking, “You don’t suppose Ji Li got sent off to go find that SS-grade female, do you?”
Lan Xue lowered his eyes, a sliver of chill flashing through their deep ocean-blue, though his voice didn’t waver in the slightest, carrying a smile and an air of certainty.
“He didn’t.”
Jiang Wangyue wound a strand of Lan Xue’s long hair around her finger, twirling it back and forth. Looking at the smooth, silky hair in front of her, a sudden whim struck her, and she swiftly twisted around to kneel on the sofa.
Lan Xue hurriedly reached out to steady her, the movement sent all of his unbound hair tumbling down over his chest.
“Hold still.”
Jiang Wangyue straightened up and, with slow, gentle motions, combed his snow-white hair smooth, then divided it into three sections. Her fingers moved nimbly through the strands, crossing and weaving, and a braid gradually took shape in her hands.
Finally, Jiang Wangyue dug a red hair tie out of her pocket and carefully fastened it at the end of the braid, even mischievously tying it into a bow.
Surveying her handiwork, Jiang Wangyue gave Lan Xue’s shoulder a satisfied pat.
“Looks good, no?”
Lan Xue lowered his head. The snow-white hair bound tightly with the red tie made him think, all on its own, of the bond between him and Jiang Wangyue.
His throat bobbed slowly, and Lan Xue answered in a soft voice, “It looks good.”
Jiang Wangyue was still smiling and about to say something more when a thick, heavy stench of blood suddenly drifted in from the doorway.
References[+]