259: Painful performance

Having finally hooked this big fish, with nine-figure incense offerings about to be credited to her account, how could she let him get away?

The beach wedding for Ling Yao next year, that 'Mermaid's Tear' wedding dress she had been eyeing for so long, and even booking the entire banks of the Wangchuan River for fireworks...

Which one of those wasn't a money pit!

She couldn't afford to be without abundant cash flow.

The veneer of merchant slickness on her face was almost slipping.

In her anxiety, she twisted her fingers hard, nearly tearing the tassel off her gilded membership card.

"Minister You, you can't say it like that!" She raised her voice an octave, only to immediately realize she was inside a soundproof barrier.

"You know how it is—greasing the wheels, pulling strings, incense offerings are needed to pave the way everywhere. My little business..."

She bit her lower lip, as if having made a monumental decision, and forced a smile onto her face that was a mix of heartache and sycophancy:

"How about this! At most... at most thirty-five percent! I really can't give any more! If I concede any further, my little business will be left drinking the northwest nether-wind."

"Just take pity on a former colleague; I'm planning to hold a grand wedding for Ling Yao next year."

Ming Xuan deployed her ultimate weapon—the wedding plan.

She attempted to use their 'former colleague' bond to sway this seemingly impervious Minister You.

She even tried hard to blink, attempting to squeeze out a few tears of 'heartbreak over wedding preparations.'

Watching Ming Xuan's exaggerated 'bleeding from a cut' expression, the corner of You Yu's eye twitched almost imperceptibly.

[Thirty-five percent?]

The scale in his heart had actually already tipped; this number was quite a bit higher than his expected bottom line.

Moreover, the more exaggerated Ming Xuan's 'bloodletting' performance was, the more it proved that her profit margins were enormous.

However, the act still had to be played out fully.

You Yu leisurely folded the yellowed paper boat that read 'Overtime Dog Protection Association' and tucked it back into the brochure, as if it were some important document.

"A wedding?" He raised his eyes, his gaze filled with a touch of scrutiny and amusement.

"Haven't had enough of the couple's suite in Bixia Garden yet, and you're already thinking about a beach wedding? Vice Minister Ming's cash flow seems to be even 'clearer' than Lady Meng Jiang's accounts."

Ming Xuan was so choked up by his words that she almost couldn't catch her breath.

"Minister You! You..."

"Forty percent."

You Yu interrupted her, his voice not loud, but carrying an unquestionable tone.

"If a single incense offering is 'missing,' consider this conversation as never having happened." He made a motion to return the brochure to her.

Ming Xuan's heart jumped violently; she felt as if her heart was bleeding.

[Forty percent! This black-hearted man.]

She rapidly calculated the profits, costs, and the wedding budget for Ling Yao in her mind...

Ultimately, her desire for the massive incense offering profits and the importance she placed on You Yu as a 'backer' outweighed the heartache.

"Deal!"

Ming Xuan squeezed the two words out through her teeth, practically biting down on her molars.

She grabbed the hand with which You Yu was offering the brochure, afraid he might go back on his word. "Forty percent it is, but Minister You, you must guarantee that I won't be illegally shut down."

You Yu withdrew his hand without a trace, disdainfully brushing off the sleeve she had pressed.

"Guarantee what? That the human cultivators' leeks grow fast and well?"

His tone was cool. "Rest assured, as long as you don't cause trouble and damage the Underworld's reputation, you can harvest them however you like."

You Yu paused, then added.

"Also, about your wedding with Ling Yao~"

Ming Xuan's eyes lit up, her inner money-grubber taking over. "Is the Minister going to give a gift?"

You Yu composed his expression and waved his hand to open the soundproof barrier. "Just give me an invitation."

"I'd like to see what kind of 'grand' wedding you can pull off when you 'lack massive cash flow'."

Ming Xuan: "..."

She stared at You Yu's tall, receding back, secretly adding another heavy entry to her 'You~black~hearted' ledger.

[Forty percent!]

However... thinking of the rolling incense offerings about to arrive, and the beautiful prospect of raking in a fortune from the human cultivators.

She reined in her thoughts.

Her fingers twirled the tassel as she started calculating a new abacus.

Who should she target next?

...

Underworld Building, 18th-floor penthouse lounge.

Dressed in a white shirt paired with a high-slit satin skirt, her cold, elegant lines were outlined.

Ling Qi threw herself onto that double bed, familiar to the point of being etched into her bones.

The warm bed where she had once spent every night entangled with Shang Wan Ning.

Four years and seven months.

She had never dared to set foot in Jiaotai Palace.

She feared that the lingering yin energy contained the Empress's crisp, cool scent; she feared that her fingertips would touch the comforting warmth from her memories.

She feared even more that in a daze, she would feel the thin callus on the pad of her middle finger from years of holding a brush.

The Secretary-General's legs were going weak...

Today was just like any other day.

Ling Qi buried her head in the mountain of official documents in the Netherworld Palace.

Attempting to numb her senses with endless paperwork, trying to push the bone-deep caress out of her Sea of Consciousness.

Her right hand, holding the pen, suddenly paused.

Her peripheral vision inadvertently swept toward the celadon vase at the corner of the desk.

A few Gloriosa lilies were stuck crookedly in the vase's mouth, their petals already curled into dark red wrinkles.

The wilted stems drooped over the edge of the vase, looking just like when Shang Wan Ning would lower her head to kiss her.

The mark behind her ear that had been licked until it turned red.

Red and burning, red enough to make her fingertips tremble.

In an instant, it ignited the long-suppressed desire of her body for skin-to-skin intimacy.

Fortunately, Ling Qi remembered.

Shang Wan Ning had once left a pile of clothes in the penthouse lounge of the Underworld Building.

Thus, the usually rigorous and self-disciplined Secretary-General, for the first time in her life, skipped work!!!

"Click, click, click~"

At high noon, she stole away from the Netherworld like a thief... slipping into the Underworld Building, heading straight for the 18th floor.

With a soft 'beep' of the access card, she opened the door to the 'BOSS's' lounge.

Her gait still carried its usual detached, cold air.

But when the door to the walk-in closet was pushed open.

When her fingers brushed against the familiar black silk hip-hugging skirt, all her restraint finally crumbled.

Her movements carried a hint of near-obsessive urgency that she hadn't even noticed herself.

"Your Majesty... Wanling..."

She changed into that hip-hugging skirt, which still retained a faint, cold fragrance, with trembling hands.

Ling Qi buried herself deep into the wide bed.

She hugged the cool quilt that Shang Wan Ning had once used tightly, her legs unconsciously clamping around the soft fabric.

Her body uncontrollably tossed, curled, and rolled amidst the bedding...

Broken murmurs spilled from her lips, all of them the name etched into the tip of her heart.

She didn't know how much time had passed, but the rolling movements finally ceased.

She was like someone on the verge of drowning clutching a piece of driftwood.

She suddenly buried her entire face deep into the cool quilt, breathing greedily and forcefully.

As if she wanted to draw the long-since thinned, yet unique scent of Shang Wan Ning into her lungs and fuse it into her bones and blood, leaving nothing behind.

"Click!"

The sound of the door lock turning suddenly pierced through the stimulating scene.

Ling Qi froze on the bed, still clutching Shang Wan Ning's cool quilt tightly in her arms, her hair scattered messily against her flushed cheeks.

When she saw the fluffy white figure at the door, she felt the blood in her entire body freeze.