206: Chapter 204 Yukihime's Disturbed Emotions

In the days that followed, Xue Ji became surprisingly quiet.

She no longer wore those gauze clothes as thin as cicada wings, no longer twisted and swayed in front of Yun Ming, and no longer spoke in that cloyingly soft voice.

She woke up early every day, swept the courtyard clean, wiped the stone table until it could reflect a person's image, brewed the tea, and laid out the melon seeds.

Then she would return to her room, close the door, and not come out for the whole day. Sometimes, while Yun Ming was drinking tea in the courtyard, he could hear faint footsteps behind that door, walking from the window to the bed, from the bed to the table, and back from the table to the window.

But the door remained closed.

She even began to avoid Yun Ming.

If Yun Ming was in the courtyard, she wouldn't come out. If Yun Ming went to the kitchen, she would go back to her room. If Yun Ming walked down the corridor, she would step aside to let him pass, keeping her head down, not saying a word, and not looking at him.

Yun Ming was happy to have the peace. He never liked being disturbed anyway, and now it was perfect; the courtyard was quiet, and he couldn't even see a shadow of Xue Ji.

He spent his days cultivating, performing Alchemy, reading the newspapers, and cracking melon seeds, all without having to do the cleaning himself. Life was even more comfortable than before.

When Qin Zhao came to deliver Materials, she also noticed something was wrong.

She placed the Storage Pouch on the stone table, glanced at Xue Ji's tightly closed door, and then looked at Yun Ming.

“What's wrong with her?” Qin Zhao asked, jerking her chin toward the door.

Yun Ming held his teacup, leaning back in the bamboo chair with his eyes squinted as he basked in the sun. “I don't know.”

“You don't know?” Qin Zhao didn't believe him. “You live in the same courtyard as her every day, and you don't know what's wrong with her?”

Yun Ming put down his teacup and cracked a melon seed. “She doesn't come out, and I don't go looking for her. She doesn't speak, and I don't ask. She's avoiding me, which is just the peace I need. I don't care what's wrong with her.”

Qin Zhao looked at him, her mouth twitching. She wanted to say something but swallowed it back.

She sat by the stone table, poured herself a cup of tea, took a sip, and then set the cup down, staring at the door in silence for a moment.

“The Third Prince and the Second Prince have reached an agreement,” she said in a flat tone. “Xue Ji will be exchanged back soon. Probably in about a month.”

Yun Ming's hand paused as he was cracking a melon seed.

He turned his head to look at Qin Zhao, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Then his mouth slowly widened into a grin that came from the bottom of his heart.

“That's great,” he said, his voice carrying a lightheartedness as if a heavy burden had been lifted. He tossed the melon seeds in his hand back into the dish and clapped his hands. “Then don't leave yet. I'll cook personally tonight, and we'll have a meal to celebrate.”

Qin Zhao was stunned for a moment. “Celebrate what?”

“Celebrate me regaining my freedom,” Yun Ming said. “This woman has stayed here for so long that I haven't even been able to sleep soundly. Now she's finally leaving. Tell me, isn't that worth celebrating?”

Qin Zhao looked at him, remained silent for a moment, and then nodded. “Fine. I don't have much to do at the City Lord's Manor anyway, besides cultivating and bringing you Materials. I'll eat before I go.”

Yun Ming stood up and brushed the melon seed shells off his robes. “Then I'll go buy groceries.” He walked to the courtyard gate, stopped suddenly, and looked back at Xue Ji's closed door. His gaze lingered on the door for a split second before he looked away and pushed the gate open to leave.

By evening, Yun Ming returned carrying a large amount of food. Fish, meat, chicken, eggs, vegetables, tofu, and several jars of starry river drunken shadow dew. He put the food in the kitchen, tied on an apron, and began to work.

Xue Ji still hadn't come out. Qin Zhao sat in the courtyard drinking tea, occasionally glancing toward the kitchen and occasionally at Xue Ji's door.

Her brow was slightly furrowed, as if she were lost in thought.

Night fell.

Yun Ming brought the dishes to the table one by one, filling it up. Cold Lamp Shadow Liver, Jade Furnace Midnight Crisp, Drunken Immortal Shrimp, Three Spirit Vegetables Stir-fry, Musk-scented Pork Hock, Steamed Fish, Braised Pork, Stewed Chicken Soup, and a large bowl of rice.

He laid out the bowls and chopsticks and poured three cups of wine. Then he walked to Xue Ji's door and knocked.

“Time to eat,” he said.

There was no sound from inside. He knocked again. “Time to eat. Come out.”

The door opened a crack, and Xue Ji glanced at him through it before pushing the door open and walking out. She was wearing simple green clothes, her hair held up by a wooden hairpin, her face free of makeup, her lips pale, and her eyes dull. She walked to the stone table, sat down, picked up her chopsticks, and lowered her head to eat, not saying a word or looking at anyone.

Yun Ming sat across from her, picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece of braised pork, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed. Then he took another piece, and another, and another. Qin Zhao looked at him, then at Xue Ji, picked up her chopsticks, and began to eat as well.

The three of them sat at the table like that, each eating their own food, no one talking. The courtyard was very quiet, with only the sound of chopsticks hitting bowls and occasional chewing. A light mist drifted under the moonlight, and the formation patterns on the ground operated silently.

After eating for a while, Yun Ming put down his chopsticks, picked up his wine cup, and took a sip. He set the cup down and looked at Xue Ji with a relaxed smile on his face.

“By the way,” he said, “I have some good news for you.”

Xue Ji kept her head down, continuing to eat without looking at him.

“It won't be long before you can go back and reunite with the Second Prince,” Yun Ming said. “Probably in about a month. The other side has already agreed.”

Xue Ji's chopsticks paused for a moment. She picked up a Drunken Immortal Shrimp, put it in her mouth, chewed slowly, and then swallowed. She picked up her wine cup, took a sip, and set it down. Then she gave an “Oh” and continued to eat with her head down.

Just one word. Oh.

Yun Ming's smile stiffened slightly.

He squinted at Xue Ji, his gaze becoming more scrutinizing.

When things are out of the ordinary, there must be something fishy going on.

This woman had been so disruptive before—dancing, changing clothes, leaning in close to talk, wishing she could practically hang herself on him. Now she was quiet, silent, avoiding him, and even hearing that she was going back to the Second Prince only elicited an “Oh.”

Abnormal. Definitely abnormal.

She must be cooking up some wicked scheme.

Yun Ming sounded an alarm in his heart, deciding he needed to be even more careful over the next few days.

What he didn't know was that Xue Ji wasn't cooking up any wicked scheme at all.

She was simply disturbed by those stories.

That afternoon, the stories Yun Ming told—Bai Suzhen, Nie Xiaoqian, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, Cui Yingying and Zhang Sheng—had taken root in her mind.

She had never listened to such things before.

She had lived for several hundred years, and those around her were always Yao, Cultivators, exchanges of interests, and people using each other.

She never knew that such feelings existed in this world.

Unrelated to status, unrelated to position, unrelated to race.

One person falling in love with another, not because of her beauty, not because of her Spells, not because of her body, but because of some quality within her.

Kindness, constancy, courage, persistence.

Looking back on her life, she realized that of the men around her, not one had fallen in love with her because of these qualities.

What did the Second Prince love about her? He loved her body, her charm techniques, the way she could make him feel like he was in paradise in bed, and how she could help him handle government affairs and win people's hearts.

If she didn't have this face, this body, or the Fox Clan's innate talent for charm, would the Second Prince have even given her a second look?

Those of the Yao Race around her, those tribesmen she had planted in the imperial court—they feared her, obeyed her, and flattered her because of her cultivation, her power, and the benefits she could bring them.

If she were just an ordinary fox yao, would they have given her a second look?

She had never truly been loved by anyone.

It wasn't because she wasn't lovable, but because she had never given anyone the chance.

She was used to using charm techniques, used to using schemes, used to using the Lianxiang Cup, Qingluo Ruanyan, and Wangdao Chenghuan.

She thought those were her weapons, her value, and the meaning of her existence.

But Yun Ming told her that those were all external; low-level charm targets lust, while Advanced charm targets ideals.

Bai Suzhen didn't need charm techniques; Xu Xian loved her because she was kind, gentle, and virtuous. Nie Xiaoqian didn't need charm techniques; Ning Caichen loved her because she was brave, constant, and willing to sacrifice for love. They were loved not because of who they were, but because of what they did.

Xue Ji thought, if one day she didn't use charm techniques, didn't use the Lianxiang Cup, didn't dance the Wangdao Chenghuan, and just stood there with a bare face, would someone fall in love with her? Would someone love her for who she was?

She didn't know.

She didn't even know what kind of person she was.

She had played the role of the demon consort for too long, played the favored concubine for too long, played the world-charming fox yao for too long.

She had worn the mask for so long that she had forgotten what the face beneath it looked like.