102: Chapter 102 Qinglin, Come Be My Personal Maid

"Young Master, this is where you will be staying."

Qing Lin had a delicate figure, and her eyes were filled with timidity. Her steps were small, but her pace was quick.

Gu Han followed her to an elegantly decorated independent courtyard. In a desert region, such a room was worth a fortune.

"Thank you for leading the way."

Gu Han walked into the room Qing Lin had opened and nodded to her in thanks.

"No need, no need. This is just what Qing Lin should do."

Qing Lin was like a startled fawn, her lively, beautiful eyes flickering as she hurriedly waved her hands.

"Why aren't you coming in?" After scanning the room, Gu Han looked at Qing Lin.

"I cannot," Qing Lin said, panic appearing on her face. "That would... would affect the environment where the distinguished guest resides."

"Affect it?" Gu Han's gaze shifted, falling on Qing Lin's pure white wrist.

As she waved her hands, her sleeves shifted, revealing a small section covered in green scales.

"You are not a pure-blooded human?" Gu Han asked in a flat tone.

"Ah, yes." Qing Lin instinctively looked up, but upon noticing Gu Han's gaze, she immediately pulled her sleeve down firmly, as if it could hide her wretchedness. "I am, I am..."

"A hybrid of the Snake-People Clan and the human race?" Gu Han provided the answer for her.

"Yes." Qing Lin lowered her head, tears already welling in her eyes.

She was waiting for the person in front of her to show disgust and scold her.

Living in the mercenary group, she was always looked at with strange eyes and treated differently, let alone by a noble young master like the one before her.

She probably thought he would feel disgusted being in the same room as her, feeling offended.

"All these years, you must have had a very hard life, right?"

Gu Han walked to the main seat in the room and sat down, looking up slightly at Qing Lin.

"Yes... huh?" Qing Lin instinctively looked up, meeting Gu Han's gaze, but quickly lowered her head again.

Shouldn't this young master scold her, tell her to stay far away, and not pass his bad luck to him?

Even if he were more cultured, he should indifferently tell her not to come back and have someone else be the maid.

In the Mo Tie Mercenary Group, only the Leader, the Second Leader, and a few female mercenaries treated her peacefully.

But she often did dirty and tiring work in the group, trying to prove her worth.

Why was this exceptionally handsome and elegant young master different?

"I've heard of the fate of the offspring of the Snake-People Clan and humans growing up in either race."

"Living in human society, you'd be looked down upon, despised, oppressed, mocked, and shunned, kept at a distance."

"Living in the Snake-People Clan, at best, you'd be left in the desert to fend for yourself."

Qing Lin suddenly looked up, her hands subconsciously clutching together, her emerald eyes filled with confusion.

Fending for oneself was actually the "better" outcome? What about the worse one?

As if understanding the doubt in her eyes, Gu Han continued: "If you're unlucky and grow up too beautiful, you'd be raised as a plaything from childhood or trained to be sold to nobles with special fetishes."

Qing Lin: !

"Even if Queen Medusa of the Snake-People Clan strictly forbids such things, the clansmen will still defy her in private."

"As the Queen, she might not severely punish her own clansmen for a hybrid, so these things persist despite the bans."

Qing Lin's lips trembled, her face turning pale.

Beautiful women were easily kidnapped and bullied by snake-people men, intentionally kept alive to bear children.

Beautiful snake-people women would also be captured and put up for auction in auction houses, sought after by nobles.

Powerful men would also be interested in beautiful Female Snake People, but only for possession and humiliation.

Hybrid children born under such circumstances naturally wouldn't have a good outcome.

Qing Lin didn't even know who her parents were; she had grown up begging for food since she could remember, until she joined the Mo Tie Mercenary Group.

"Actually, there's one thing I don't understand." Gu Han's tone became gentle. "What does any of this have to do with you?"

"Why should you bear the mistakes made by your father or mother?"

"I think your existence is a mockery of their incompetence."

Qing Lin's eyes widened: "It has nothing to do with us?"

"Right, what did you do wrong?" Gu Han rubbed his fingers. "It wasn't your choice to be their child. If you could choose, you'd surely rather be an ordinary girl."

"Mhm, mhm." Qing Lin nodded frantically.

"I'm lacking a personal maid." Gu Han changed the subject and said softly, "Your identity ensures you have no complex relationships and a clean background; you are trustworthy."

"Think it over tonight and tell me your decision."

As he finished, Gu Han waved his hand forward, his Dou Qi leaving his body and turning into a gust of wind from his palm.

The door closed gently, blocking Qing Lin outside.

"Asking me to be... a personal maid!?" Qing Lin's mouth opened slightly, her face full of disbelief.

This young master actually didn't despise her and instead wanted her to be his personal maid?

The reason was actually that she had no complex relationships and was trustworthy.

Indeed, she was shunned and looked down upon by everyone around her, so she naturally had no close friends; her relationships were as clean as a blank sheet of paper.

But wasn't this young master afraid she would embarrass him?

"So, so strange."

Qing Lin put her hands on her chest and turned to leave.

She felt a strange thing suddenly surge in, warm and domineering; her body felt warm.

"Qing Lin!"

Qing Lin had unknowingly walked to her residence in the mercenary group, a simple room, when Xiao Ding's voice sounded in her ears.

"Leader." Qing Lin immediately curtsied.

"Mhm." Xiao Ding nodded slightly, a trace of disappointment flashing in his eyes. "Letting you serve Young Master Gu Han was a lack of consideration on my part. I'll have Lu Liu go tomorrow instead."

Since Qing Lin returned so quickly, it seemed Gu Han didn't like her.

"No!" Qing Lin instinctively shook her head.

"Hmm?" Xiao Ding frowned.

This was the first time Qing Lin had contradicted him.

Could it be she took a liking to Gu Han and wanted to try for it?

"Um, Leader." Qing Lin steeled herself, her face turning red as she said: "Young Master Gu, Young Master Gu said he wants me to be his personal maid and let me decide for myself."

"Personal maid?"

Xiao Ding was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed.

A personal maid... if Gu Han's personal maid was someone sent by his Xiao Family, then the relationship would become even closer.

"Excellent, excellent." Xiao Ding smiled. "If you are willing, Qing Lin, I certainly won't stop you. I'll even send you some personal clothing and accessories."

"Young Master Gu has outstanding talent and a high cultivation level. He will surely be a powerhouse famous throughout the Jia Ma Empire in the future. Following him has a great future."

"He took a liking to you but didn't directly ask me for you, instead asking for your personal opinion. This shows he is a decent person."

"Think it over carefully."

Qing Lin: !

Originally she needed to think, but hearing him say that, it wasn't necessary at all!

Meanwhile, Gu Han sat cross-legged on the large bed in the bedroom, but in reality, he had returned to the Black Tortoise Mystic Realm.

"This Tagor Desert indeed has particularly dense fire-attribute energy. It's very unfriendly to an ice-attribute cultivator like me."

Gu Han sighed in his heart. This Tagor Desert was good for training him and improving various aspects of his strength, but it did make him feel uncomfortable.

From this, he could suddenly understand why the Snake-People Clan was constantly in conflict with the surrounding empires, trying to leave the Tagor Desert.

The bloodline of the Snake-People Clan is naturally cold; they dislike the dry heat. The desert environment is even harder for them than for ordinary people.

"But it has nothing to do with me. Natural selection, survival of the fittest—everything is normal."

Gu Han closed his eyes and began to regulate his breathing. Time passed quickly during cultivation, and in the blink of an eye, it was past midnight.

After some thought, he decided to obtain four pieces of random intelligence opportunities tonight.

Coming to a new place, this could expand his information base.

"Hmm?"