âJiejie.â Bai Luo fell back so that she was walking next to Shi Sheng. She lowered her voice and asked, âDo you have an invitation? Do you want to use mine?â
âWith so many people watching, itâd be embarrassing if jiejie canât take out an invitation.â
âMind your own business.â âFLs have a common problem of sticking their nose into other peopleâs affairs.â
Bai Luo lowered her eyes, hiding the hurt in their depths.
The surrounding people didnât move. It seemed they were waiting for Shi Sheng to go first so they could see whether she really had an invitation or not.
Well, since they gave her a chance to show off, itâd be rude for her to not oblige, right?
Shi Sheng leisurely drew an invitation out and placed it on the table.
Her finger tapped on the invitation, reminding the person doing the examination. âTake a good look.â
The person smiled and nodded, opening it up to have a look before taking out a name list to compare. He found the name âWu Zhengâ at the bottom.
âMs Wu Zheng, please come in.â
Those words proved that the invitation was real.
âHow could it be? How could Brightmoon Village issue an invitation to her???â
Everyone was confused, Liu Xu even more so.
This matter became a hot topic of discussion.
Though Brightmoon Village didnât give a clear explanation, several people who had good relations with them managed to dig up some information.
Shi Sheng was acquainted with Shen Xinghai, the younger brother of the current Alliance Head. He was also the frontrunner for the position in this Alliance Gathering.
Just when had the two met? Well, it was a long story.
Shi Sheng met Shen Xinghai on the way to Brightmoon Village. He was pretty unlucky to have been drugged, causing him to lose all his martial arts and his consciousness to be muddled.
Shi Sheng had just been planning to find someone to test out her poisons on and ran into Shen Xinghai who had been lying on the side of the road, condition unknown.
Seeing that he was still alive, she dragged him back to use as a guinea pig.
Shen Xinghai clung on to life even after she was done with him, so Shi Sheng kindly helped him find a physician. Donât ask her why. Probably because she was in a good mood.
But Shen Xinghai ended up thinking Shi Sheng saved himâŚ
No matter how much Shi Sheng explained that she had been using him to test her poisons, that sheâd been planning to kill him, and that his survival was entirely his own doing, Shen Xinghai simply refused to listen, firmly believing that Shi Sheng had saved him.
Hearing that she was planning to go to Brightmoon Village, he even gave her an invitation.
Even Shi Sheng didnât have a way to deal with people so capable of self-hypnotism.
Shen Xinghai hadnât been mentioned in the plot, so he ought to have nothing to do with the leads.
Shi Sheng ended up taking up temporary residence in the village. It seemed like Shen Xinghai wasnât hereâat least, she didnât see him. But somehow, rumours about the two of them started circulating.
Basically, they could be summarised in a few words:
There was something illicit between them.
Shi Sheng wished to express her disdain. âYou think just anyone would do?â
âŚâŚ
âSir Fu is really good to Ms Liu. She merely coughed a bit yesterday, but he was anxious enough to get us to summon a physician.â
âAnd heâs really good-looking too⌠Itâd be a real fortune to marry him. If Sir Fu took a liking to me, Iâd be willing to be a nun in my next life!â
âKeep dreaming! Sir Fu already has Ms Liuâthereâs no more room for anyone else.â
The maids walked past Bai Luo, laughing as they teased one another, but their words wouldnât leave her ears.
Bai Luo despondently continued forward when suddenly, she felt her foot kick something. She slowly lowered her head to look.
It was a purse that someone had dropped.
Bai Luo picked up the purse, intending on handing it to the villageâs steward, but she ended up circling back to the original spot. She dejectedly slumped down to sit beside the pool.
âXiaoluo-meimeiâŚâ
Bai Luo looked up to see a woman dressed in a mellow yellow dress smiling as she approached.
âŚâŚ
By the time Shi Sheng heard about Bai Luo nearly drowning to death, it was already evening. Had a maid not gone to look for a purse sheâd misplaced, Bai Luo probably wouldâve died in that pool.
âMs Bai came down with a fever. The physician says if it doesnât subside, her life will be in danger.â The maid sent to serve Shi Sheng told her about the news. Shen Xinghai had especially sent this maid to tend to her needs.
Without any change in expression, Shi Sheng drank the congee. âHowâd she fall in?â
âDonât know. Nobody saw⌠If Xiaozi hadnât gone back to find her purse, she mightâveâŚâ The maid didnât continue.
Shi Sheng set the bowl down. âHow could the heavenly daoâs beloved FL-sama die so easily?â
âMiss, are you not eating?â Seeing Shi Sheng drink only one bowl of congee, the maid softly asked, âIs the congee not to your liking?â
Their Second Young Master had told them to serve this lady well. They wouldnât be able to bear the consequences of upsetting her.
âItâs pretty nice.â Shi Sheng wiped her mouth and got up. âDoes the Gathering start tomorrow?â
âYes, it officially starts tomorrow.â The maid frowned as she cleaned up the dishes. âIt mustnât be to her liking. Iâll get the kitchen to send something different tomorrow.â
After the maid finished cleaning up, she left the room. On the way to the kitchens, she met several other maids, who pulled her to one side to ask cautiously, âIs Ms Wu Zheng hard to please?â
âShe doesnât have a good reputation in jianghu. Xiaocai, you have to be careful.â
Xiaocai smiled slightly. âMs Wu Zheng is pretty amiable.â
Ever since sheâd been sent to serve Shi Sheng, Xiaocai had never seen the latter lose her temper. And the occasional small talk theyâd exchanged gave Xiaocai the impression that Shi Sheng was someone pretty easy to get along with. She didnât know why Shi Sheng was rumoured to be cruel and heartless.
âReally?â The other maids clearly didnât believe her.
Xiaocai nodded slightly. âI need to get back to work. Letâs talk when I have the time.â
âXiaocai, be careful ah.â The others couldnât help but remind her worriedly.
By the time Xiaocai returned to the room, Shi Sheng was already lying down on the rocking chair, her eyes shut. Whether she was asleep or just resting, Xiaocai didnât know.
Xiaocai didnât dare to disturb her and so quietly left the room. She really felt like this lady really wasnât as scary as the rumours made her out to be.
On the next day, Shi Sheng woke up very early. After breakfast, Xiaocai brought her to where the arenas were. There was a total of three arenas. The competition was held in a âKing of the Hillâ-style where the one who lasted the longest in each arena had a chance to compete for the position of Alliance Head.
For competitions like these, most of the real contenders would save their strength and only challenge the arena towards the end, so the early fights werenât much to look at.
Because of Shen Xinghai, Shi Sheng easily got a seat in the same row as the current Alliance Head, Shen Xingyang.
Shen Xinghai was born to his father in his twilight years, so there was a more than 20 years age gap between him and his brother.
The two looked rather similar, though Shen Xingyang was burlier and more stout than his younger brother.
He examined Shi Sheng curiously.
Her legs were crossed as she gnawed on melon seeds. Noticing Shen Xingyangâs gaze, she turned slightly to meet it with her own.
Shen Xingyang nodded in greeting. He swapped places with the person sitting beside her. âMs Wu Zheng, you saved my younger brother. I was busy these past few days, so I wasnât able to thank you in person.â
Shi Sheng, ââŚâ âI(lz) already said I(lz) hadnât planned to save him!â
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She tossed the melon seed in her hand aside. âAlliance Head Shen, I really didnât rescue Second Young Master Shen. Really, believe me. I was planning on killing him back then.â
Shen Xingyang was unmoved, his smile unchanged as he spoke, âMs Wu Zheng is rather different from the rumours.â
âThose rumours are mostly fake, like the ones that idiot Jiang Zhan got people to circulate about himself. But Iâm telling the truth ah!
Shen Xinghai, just how did you brainwash your brother?!â