Yesterday, Qin Rui, the tenth sister who had eloped, suddenly reappeared. She shamelessly ate and took several green-shelled crabs, justifying herself with, “Elder brother, although I’m married, the Qin family is still my maternal home. When a married daughter returns, shouldn’t she be treated to a few good meals?”
Qin Ye grew even more disdainful of this cousin.
He had initially thought that with her engagement to Feng Ci, and given his close friendship with Feng Ci, their marriage would strengthen the bond between the Feng and Qin families. He would have become Feng Ci’s brother-in-law. Instead, Qin Rui pulled a major stunt—disappearing for months and now claiming to be married while returning to her maternal home to freeload.
Qin Ye immediately lost his temper. “You’ve eaten and drunk your fill. Now that you’re married, don’t expect to leech off your family anymore. If you want benefits, bring something of equal value to exchange.”
Qin Ye held a grudge against Qin Rui for two reasons. First, Feng Ci was his good friend, and he felt resentful that a distant cousin had wronged him. Second, the Qin family had invested heavily in training Qin Rui to become a third-level Artifact Refiner. Her silent departure and secret marriage were seen as a betrayal in a major clan.
Now that she was back, not only did she refuse to admit her mistakes, but she also acted entitled. How could Qin Ye tolerate it?
To make matters worse, the shameless girl, seeing she couldn’t gain anything else, stole the bowl Feng Ci’s wife had given her before leaving.
Qin Ye repeatedly regretted why he had suddenly gotten thirsty and used that bowl to fetch water.
The shores were teeming with shrimp and crabs. Even though they were caught as soon as they came ashore, they kept coming up to die. Feng Ci’s deputy, Feng Shan, was grinning from ear to ear, and Qin Ye burned with envy.
He regretted his earlier decision even more.
It pained him deeply.
He was determined to get that bowl back from Qin Rui.
Even brothers kept clear accounts, let alone a married-off daughter like Qin Rui.
After taking a few steps, Qin Ye suddenly realized he had forgotten to ask whom Qin Rui had married. A headache set in.
He glanced at Feng Ci.
Forget it.
He was a married man now—unreliable.
Putting on a fawning smile, he said to Song Liuhua, “Feng Ci’s wife, could you sell me two of these bowls?”
Qin Ye was the type of handsome, unruly man who would pick a fight if he disliked someone. Dressed in white martial attire, he appeared elegant, but his narrow eyes were full of flattery, grinning like a dog begging for food. Song Liuhua shuddered in disgust. “I’ll just give you two, alright? Please stop acting like that!”
“Excellent!” Qin Ye returned to normal, a smirk curling his lips. “I won’t take them for free. I’ll trade you a hundred spirit replenishing pills.”
Song Liuhua wasn’t one to refuse easy gains.
“Deal. Since you’re being reasonable, I’ll throw in some medicinal liquid as a friendly gesture.”
Feng Ci explained how to use the bowl to Qin Ye, who finally understood that the special liquid was necessary. Immediately, he grabbed the small jar of black spiritual liquid Song Liuhua had portioned out and dashed back to his family’s hunting grounds like the wind.
Li Family Hunting Grounds.
Inside the Artifact Crafting room.
Qin Rui lounged lazily, supervising several girls as they practiced Artifact Crafting.
“How useless can you be? You can’t even repair a fishing net, and you call yourself a second-level Artifact Refiner? You’re utterly worthless!”
Li Yu’s delicate face was full of grievance. She had only become a second-level Artifact Refiner this month and was still unfamiliar with second-level spiritual artifacts. This second-level fishing net was so badly damaged that there was no way she could repair it properly.
Besides, this second-level fishing net should have been repaired by Qin Rui, a third-level Artifact Refiner. Not only did Qin Rui lazily push the task onto her, but she also humiliated her. Li Yu’s face flushed bright red, and she bit her lip in distress.
Seeing her remain silent, Qin Rui felt a surge of smugness inwardly. It really was better to be married—she could be her own master now. Although Li Cheng, the second son of the Li Family, wasn’t as outstanding as her cousin Qin Ye, he had the advantage of being from the main branch of the Li Family and could lead his own team.
As the newly appointed Second Young Madam of the Li Family, she could do as she pleased. Troublesome tasks only required her to give the order and pass them down to subordinates—there was no need for her to handle them personally.
Having enjoyed plenty of green-shelled crabs at her maternal home yesterday, she was still in high spirits. Impatiently, she shooed Li Yu away and took over the second-level fishing net that Li Yu had struggled to repair for half the day.
Sure enough, once the fishing net was in her hands, she fixed it in just a few moves.
When a member of the Li Family came to collect the fishing net, Qin Rui said proudly, “The fishing net has been repaired. I’ll deliver it myself.”
After Qin Rui left, Li Yu and several other Li Family disciples broke into a noisy discussion.
A girl with a single spiral bun spat in disdain, “Our Second Young Master really has no taste, marrying such a troublemaker.”
“Exactly! Everyone knows she ran to the Second Young Master on her wedding day to break off her engagement with Feng Ci, coaxing him into forming a Marriage Contract with her.”
“What good is talent? She always makes us do the dirty and exhausting work, then takes all the credit for herself. When there’s something good, she’s too stingy to share even a sliver with us. She doesn’t act like a proper mistress of the house at all.”
Hearing everyone criticize Qin Rui, Li Yu felt somewhat better about the earlier scolding. A slight smile finally appeared on her delicate face as she quietly shared some news she knew, “Did you know? A while ago, the fourth-level Silver-Striped Deer our Li Family obtained was actually snatched from the team of the Fourth Young Master of the Feng Family, Feng Ci. I heard it was our Second Young Madam’s idea.”
“No wonder we had such a big haul that day! But food is precious—whoever is stronger and manages to seize it, the Feng Family can’t say anything about it.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, and Li Yu felt the same. No matter where the prey came from, more gains meant more shares for them.
However, she couldn’t agree with Qin Rui’s actions of completely offending Feng Ci. “Our Young Madam already had conflicts with Feng Ci, and now she’s stolen his prey. This feud is irreconcilable.”
The others didn’t seem to care. “The Fourth Young Master Feng’s Spirit Abode was injured. His cultivation will hardly improve for the rest of his life, and now he’s been separated from the Feng Family. Even if he holds a grudge, he doesn’t have the strength to seek revenge.”
“What a pity for the exceptionally talented Fourth Young Master Feng. Otherwise, Qin Rui and the Second Young Master wouldn’t dare to do such a thing.” Li Yu’s mind conjured the image of the elegant and handsome young man, and she couldn’t help but sigh with regret.
When she heard he later married a useless wife, her pity for him reached its peak.
Qin Rui delivered the fishing net to Li Cheng, but he had no time to speak with her.
Shoving the person behind her aside, she swung her sword to cleave through the water spikes assaulting her face. Afterward, she wiped the water from her face with a grumble, “These damned creatures are getting craftier by the day. Yesterday we could still catch over a thousand, but today even one is this hard to nab.”
Qin Rui watched from the sidelines for a long while. The Li Family had been toiling for ages, yet the shrimp and crabs they caught were pitifully few. It seemed there’d be no hope for shrimp and crab tonight. Bored by the sight and unwilling to return to the refining room, she wandered over to the Qin family’s hunting grounds.
At the Qin family’s hunting grounds, Qin Ye, having received the bowl and medicine from Song Liuhua, immediately called over several clansmen to replicate the setup. Sure enough, once the spirit bowl was activated, the surge of shrimp and crabs rushing across the lake surface stirred up excitement among the crowd.
A single bowl attracted more shrimp and crabs than what everyone had managed to catch after half a day of effort—let alone two bowls. The Qin clansmen, pumped up as if injected with adrenaline, scrambled and fought over the chance to control the bowls. The whole group was in a heated frenzy.
When Qin Rui drew closer for a look, her eyes lit up at the sight of the bowl—its celadon-green, leaf-patterned design was exactly the same as the broken bowl she had taken from her cousin yesterday. She promptly turned and headed back.