Tushan Feishang smiled dangerously. "Heh. So she actually dares to show her face here."
The servant carefully tried to gauge his master’s intentions and asked in a low voice, "Shall I send her away, sir?"
Tushan Feishang tapped his fingers on the table and drawled lazily, "There’s no need. Bring her to my room. I’ll speak to her myself."
At this moment, Tushan Feishang’s fox-like eyes glinted with a seductive, murderous intent. His fingers twitched as he stared at the sword on the table, wondering whether it would be better to run her through with the blade or simply snap her neck.
Hearing his master’s words, the servant felt a chill shoot up from the soles of his feet. He wondered if his master was actually going to kill Miss Qiao. Then again, the things she had done in the past were truly abhorrent; if it were him, he would want to kill her too. If the Nanfeng Building wasn’t actually his master’s own property, who knew what kind of horrific torment he would have been subjected to by now.
After the servant left, it wasn’t long before Qiao Suluo was led into Tushan Feishang’s room. Once she was inside, the servant withdrew and closed the door behind him.
Qiao Suluo’s gaze immediately fell upon Tushan Feishang. Today, he wore a crimson brocade robe of cloud-silk, cinched at the waist with a jade belt, radiating an unparalleled, aloof nobility. He lounged lazily behind a red sandalwood desk, his head lightly propped against his hand. His dark hair was loosely tied back, framing a face of exquisite, breathtaking beauty and decadent allure. When those fox-like eyes locked onto her, the slight upward tilt of his eyes brimmed with a seductive charm that could easily make one’s heart flutter.
Under that gaze, Qiao Suluo felt an inexplicable sense of suffocating frost grip her chest. The man appeared to be smiling, yet he exuded a soul-captivating aura of dangerous enchantment.
"What’s the matter? Didn’t Miss Qiao come here to see me?" Tushan Feishang broke the silence, his lips curling into a mocking smirk when she didn’t speak. He was curious to see what kind of tricks she was trying to pull this time.
"Or perhaps Miss Qiao just wanted to come and admire my face?
"This face really is quite useful, isn’t it? It certainly earned you quite a bit of silver, Miss Qiao."
Tushan Feishang had seen far too many people stare at his face with greedy eyes; he had long grown numb to it. Of course, the very reason his former wife had sold him to the Nanfeng Building was precisely because of this face.
Qiao Suluo could hear the heavy sarcasm in his tone. For some reason, she felt that this demonic beauty was incredibly dangerous—especially since they were the only two people in the room.
Steadying her nerves, she said, "I was wrong for what happened before. I’ve thought things through now. I have thirty taels of silver here to redeem you first. That way, you can leave the Nanfeng Building."
Although Tushan Feishang already had an idea of her intentions from the servant’s report, he still couldn’t believe it after hearing it directly from Qiao Suluo’s mouth. He smirked, looking at her lazily, a faint, rippling charm lingering in the depths of his eyes. "Heh. Did I hear that correctly?
"Miss Qiao, you are actually willing to part with thirty taels of silver to redeem me?
"Ha!"
With that, Tushan Feishang dropped his languid demeanor and slowly walked toward her. As he moved, the gold-threaded cloud patterns on his robes shimmered faintly. He approached with an eerie, oppressive presence, like a demonic phantom veiled in mountain mist.
Qiao Suluo watched him step closer and closer. Though he still seemed somewhat relaxed, an aura of chilling danger enveloped her, triggering a primal instinct that screamed of an approaching threat and overwhelming pressure. She backed away involuntarily, but after just a few steps, her back hit the wall. She was trapped.
Inwardly, she cursed the original owner of this body for leaving behind such a colossal mess. Even though these men were disabled, none of them looked like weak, easy targets. How had the original owner managed to sell them off, and to such a humiliating place like the Nanfeng Building at that?
"It’s true! I came with sincerity. Here are the thirty taels of silver." Just as Tushan Feishang was three steps away from her, Qiao Suluo hurriedly offered him the coin purse. "There are thirty taels of silver inside."
The pouch felt heavy in her hand. If she had a choice, she wouldn’t have wanted to spend it to redeem anyone. But she had no choice; this was her mission.
Tushan Feishang halted in his tracks, standing completely still. He didn’t believe her for a second, but the sight of the silver triggered a memory of her past words.
"Tushan Feishang, with your tail cut off, you’re nothing but a crippled piece of trash. A tailless fox is completely useless.
"The only thing you have left is this pretty face. Do you know why I didn’t ruin it? Because it can fetch a good price at the Nanfeng Building! With your looks, you’ll definitely become their top courtesan.
"You won’t let me touch you? Fine. Then go to the Nanfeng Building and let all those female beasts get a good look at you. Though, if you die, I suppose I’ll come collect your corpse..."
As these memories flashed through his mind, his gaze locked onto her. Suddenly, a terrifyingly beautiful glint erupted in his fox-like eyes, as if a raging fire of fury had been ignited within. He violently smacked the coin purse out of Qiao Suluo’s hand, his long, pale fingers shooting out to wrap tightly around her throat.
"Qiao Suluo, what kind of trick are you trying to pull now?"
He had dropped the polite ’Miss Qiao’ and called her by her full name, his voice cold, harsh, and dripping with murderous intent.
Qiao Suluo instantly felt suffocated. She reached up, desperately slapping at Tushan Feishang’s arm, but it didn’t budge an inch. Though his arm looked pale and slender, its muscles were taut and felt as hard as iron.
"COUGH, COUGH... Tushan Feishang, what are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?"
"Qiao Suluo, do you really think I won’t kill you?"
Tushan Feishang’s grip tightened incrementally. Qiao Suluo felt like she couldn’t breathe, her vision beginning to darken at the edges.
However, her survival instincts kicked in, allowing her to choke out, "Tushan Feishang, Que Hongjin and the others watched me enter your building. If you kill me like this, you won’t escape the blame! How will you get your revenge then?"
Tushan Feishang had his tail severed and clearly carried a deep-seated grudge. He had to stay alive to enact his revenge, which meant he couldn’t act without consequences.
Her words undeniably forced a sliver of rationality back into Tushan Feishang’s mind, and he released his grip.
Completely drained of strength, Qiao Suluo slumped to the floor, landing hard on her bottom as she broke into a violent coughing fit.
"COUGH, COUGH!"
She coughed so hard that tears sprang to her eyes. She could feel that Tushan Feishang had genuinely wanted to kill her just now; that murderous intent and the suffocating shadow of death had been terrifyingly real. Furthermore, her neck throbbed with excruciating pain, and every breath burned like fire against her throat.
Qiao Suluo communicated with the system in her mind. "Look at him. There’s absolutely no way to win him over."
The system replied, "That’s why I told you to hurry up, Host. The more time passes, the more severely they will succumb to their dark sides."
"I almost died just now."
"Don’t worry, Host, you won’t die," the system assured.
"I don’t want to complete this mission anymore." She didn’t want to go anywhere near this dangerous fox.
The system hurriedly tried to persuade her. "Don’t be angry, Host! He’s only like this because the original owner humiliated, abused, and sold him. Once you warm and reform him with your radiant, sunny aura, he won’t be like this anymore. By then, if you tell him to go east, he absolutely won’t go west.
"Just think of it as taming a wild beast.
"Besides, if you just leave now without trying to win him over, he might be even darker the next time you visit the Nanfeng Building. When that time comes, he might just pull a knife or a sword on you. It won’t be as simple as choking your neck."
Tushan Feishang naturally had no idea that Qiao Suluo was communicating with some system. After withdrawing his hand, he stood back in a relaxed posture, gazing down at her condescendingly. His fox-like eyes narrowed slightly.
She looked the same as before. She seemed to have lost a tiny bit of weight, but she was still as fat as ever. Yet, there was an unmistakable shift in her overall demeanor. If it were the past, she would have completely lost her mind after being treated like this. Cursing him out would have been getting off lightly. But now, she was merely coughing, looking frail and delicate.
Heh. How could someone so vicious and selfish be delicate? She had definitely concocted a new scheme this time.