Clutching the jade slip, she was caught in a dilemma. Embarrassed to the point of speechlessness, she struggled for a long while before stammering, “Senior Sister... I...”
Shen Qingci lightly pressed her fingertips onto Junior Sister Gu's shoulder, signaling that she was not bothered.
Her gaze then shifted to the stall owner.
The jade slips were scattered across the table, the characters for “Lingquan Annex,” “Crane's Back,” and “Wanqi” on their covers leaping out at her from every direction.
“Fellow Daoist, I'll take all of these jade slips.”
The stall owner blanked for a moment.
Having sold storybooks in this alley for so many years, she had never encountered a customer who bought out her entire stock without even asking for the price.
She sized up Shen Qingci once more.
This female cultivator possessed striking looks, and her demeanor was far from that of an ordinary cultivator.
“All of them? There are several hundred slips here. Are you sure you don't want to pick and choose, Fellow Daoist?”
“No need.” Shen Qingci picked up the copy of Night Chats at Wanqi she had flipped through earlier, running her fingertip along its edge. “I find the plot and illustration style of this volume quite excellent. I wonder which grandmaster's work this is?”
Upon hearing this, the stall owner sat up straight.
Her previously cold, indifferent attitude vanished in an instant. She rolled up the sleeves of her black robe and eagerly stepped out from behind the table.
“You certainly have a good eye, Fellow Daoist!” She no longer lowered her voice, her tone ringing with the natural clarity of a young female cultivator. “This batch is the work of Qin Shisan. The name sounds unfamiliar, doesn't it?”
“A newly debuted writer who entered the industry less than a year ago, but their narrative depth and illustration skills are truly outstanding.”
She grabbed a jade slip and held it out to Shen Qingci. “Look at this passage. Senior Sister Song enters meditative focus in the middle of the night, and Eldest Young Lady Yun deliberately kicks off half the blanket, pretending to roll over in her sleep while hooking her leg around the other's waist.”
“Senior Sister Song's body stiffens. She opens her eyes and looks down to find the person in her arms fast asleep, cheek rubbing against her chest, breathing softly.”
“Senior Sister Song's fingers tighten and then loosen, ultimately unable to bring herself to push her away... Taste the nuance in this, Fellow Daoist!”
“The push and pull, the subtle shifting of emotion—a fraction more would be vulgar, a fraction less would be bland. Qin Shisan hit the perfect sweet spot.”
Shen Qingci looked down.
In the illustration within the jade slip, Senior Sister Song leaned halfway against the couch while Eldest Young Lady Yun nestled in her arms, her face buried in the crook of Song's neck, exposing only a section of her nape.
Her collar was half-open, and a faint pink mark just below her collarbone was barely visible.
Senior Sister Song's hand rested on Eldest Young Lady Yun's waist, her fingers slightly curled, as if she wanted to pull back but couldn't bear to.
Getting more and more excited as she spoke, the stall owner grabbed another jade slip. “And this absolute masterpiece of a passage!”
“The two are on the back of a crane. Taking advantage of the turbulence, Eldest Young Lady Yun presses her lips against Senior Sister Song's ear... When Qin Shisan wrote this part, the prose was so slow and deliberate, counting breath by breath, from the cartilage to the earlobe, from gentle nibbles to slow friction...”
“The crane was also written beautifully. It deliberately tilted its body in midair, sending Eldest Young Lady Yun forward a bit more...”
“Tell me, Fellow Daoist, doesn't this crane deserve a reward?”
“The accompanying illustration is even more of a masterpiece. That ring of bite marks on Senior Sister Song's ear is so faint that you wouldn't notice it without looking closely, but once you do, you can't tear your eyes away.”
Speaking in high spirits, she flipped out another one. “And this part... There isn't a single explicit word in the entire text, yet it somehow makes your whole body run hot. It's miles better than those books that directly write about soul-union.”
The stall owner spoke with animated gestures, wishing she could break down every single detail for her listener.
Having sold storybooks for so many years, it was rare for her to meet a buyer willing to listen to her analyze the artwork and plot.
Shen Qingci stood there, nodding occasionally and even chiming in with a line or two.
Combining both of her lifetimes, her skin had long since grown thick enough to handle this.
On the other hand, Junior Sister Gu stood frozen beside her, stiff as a wooden post.
The stall owner's voice grew louder and louder, forcing those descriptive words straight into her ears. Gu Qingyi's neck flushed completely red.
Shen Qingci swept the jade slips on the table into her storage ring one by one. After confirming nothing was left behind, she took out a bag of spirit stones and placed it on the table.
The mouth of the bag lay wide open, the packed mid-grade spirit stones casting a brilliant, translucent white glow over the tabletop.
“Thank you, Fellow Daoist.”
She turned around, took hold of the still-dazed Gu Qingyi, pushed the door open, and walked out.
As the cool breeze of the alley rushed over her, Gu Qingyi finally managed to catch her breath. She fanned her cheeks with her hand, stealing a glance at Senior Sister Shen beside her.
Her companion's expression was perfectly normal, as if the person who had just chatted so casually with the stall owner about romance novels hadn't been her at all.
“Senior Sister, aren't you angry?” Gu Qingyi asked in a low voice. “The Gu family bears some responsibility for this too, letting these storybooks slip in.”
“There's nothing to be angry about. If they've already leaked into the Gu family's territory, it means they've likely spread across the Four Regions long ago.”
“These books use my senior sister and me as prototypes, but they don't contain any slanderous words. The Shen family isn't so overbearing that we'd ban a few romance novels.”
Gu Qingyi let out a sigh of relief.
She admired her senior sister's broad-mindedness to the point of absolute reverence.
Just as she was about to say a few comforting words, Shen Qingci had already silently sent a transmission: “Shadow One. Find a writer named Qin Shisan. To know my senior sister's and my daily lives so thoroughly, they must be an inner sect disciple of Wanjian Peak.”
“Do not alert them once found. Just keep a close eye on them first.”
“Yes, Eldest Young Lady.”
While Shen Qingci maintained an air of absolute composure, she was screaming internally.
How dare that storybook write her as the pillow princess on the bottom?!
She absolutely had to find this wretched author and force them to rewrite the plot (*Ӧ)σ!!!
This Eldest Young Lady was clearly the dominant top!
Entirely unaware of the storm raging inside, Gu Qingyi was still quietly marveling at how incredibly magnanimous her senior sister was...
The two stepped out of the alleyway and walked back along the path they came, heading toward the teleportation hall.
After this encounter, Gu Qingyi had lost all interest in wandering around, while Shen Qingci was busy plotting in her sea of consciousness how to drag Qin Shisan out and make them rewrite the outline.
With both of them harboring their own little secrets, their pace was quite swift.
Just as they reached the entrance of the teleportation hall and before they could even step inside, the space above them suddenly contracted.
A slender hand reached out from the void, fingers spreading open to grab Shen Qingci by the back of her collar, hoisting her entire body up.
With her feet dangling off the ground, Shen Qingci looked down at her hovering toes, then at the hand holding her, and said expressionlessly, “Aunt, your niece has already reached the hair-pinning age and is also the heir of the Shen family.”
“Please let me know in advance next time you lift me up like this, so I can at least adjust my posture.”
Counting her master and her senior sister, she had now been picked up like a puppy by three different women.
She had a reputation to uphold, especially in front of Junior Sister Gu.
Shen Tinglan stepped out from the void. As she lowered her niece back to the ground, she pressed her palms together in apology. “My apologies, my apologies. Your aunt will keep that in mind next time.”
“Once we get back, I'll send your senior sister a few array plates as an apology. Tier 4 illusion arrays, as many as she wants.”
Shen Qingci stood firm and smoothed out her crumpled collar.
Although her aunt was joking around, a hint of guilt actually lingered in her expression.
Something is wrong, completely wrong.
“Aunt, what happened? The main banquet of the Gu family hasn't even started yet. Are we really withdrawing without even notifying the attendants on our family's flying vessel?”
“It's fine, it's fine. I've already spoken with Patriarch Gu, and she understands.”
“Those people on the flying vessel won't get lost. Once they realize we've returned to Qinghe County, they'll make their own way back.”
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