Yu Chen’er walked through the courtyard. Although it wasn’t her clan’s place, the courtyard couldn’t be more familiar to her. She would often come to this place. It had been her safe haven. Yes, had. She sighed. Nothing could remain the same forever.

She reached before a door. She hesitated a little before knocking. “Brother Chen, are you there?” she called out.

There was no reply.

“Brother Chen, it’s Chen’er!” she said. She stood by the door patiently waiting for the one beyond the door to give her permission to enter. If it had been before, she would have directly barged in impatiently. An exasperated smiling face would have greeted her. But now…

“Come in,” a gruff voice said after a long while.

Pushing the door, she entered the room. She felt gloomy as soon as she did.

A young man who appeared to be about eighteen to nineteen years old was sitting propped up on the bed. Eye patch covered his right eye. He gave her a glance and continued gazing out through the window.

Yu Chen’er felt her heart break.

Ever since he returned, he had been like that. The person she knew was gone. A grim-faced person who rarely talked replaced the face that always had a gentle smile on it. Just what happened to make him like this? Yu Chen’er wondered. She would always find herself asking this question every time she visited Brother Chen.

“Brother Chen, how are you feeling today?” She tried to make her voice as cheerful as she could. Inside, she felt like breaking into tears.

“Fine,” came the reply. It was always like this. He would use the bare minimum of words to reply to her. It was better than the first few days after he had returned. At that time, he would just give her a hollow look and would not say anything. At least, he was talking now.

They stood in silence for a while.

Unable to bear it, she broached the reason she came to visit him. “Brother Chen, do you know about transformation abilities? A friend of mine wanted to know about it.”

The young man didn’t respond. He stayed gazing through the window with his empty left eye.

Yu Chen’er let him take his own time. She knew that he would give her an answer her, whether it was positive or negative. She needed to be patient.

Ling Chen, that was the full name of the young man Yu Chen’er called ‘Brother Chen’, touched his spatial ring. A thick book appeared in his hand, which he passed to Yu Chen’er.

Yu Chen’er received the book. She couldn’t help but feel disappointed. She wanted to hear Ling Chen talk more. She wanted her cheerful Brother Chen back. She tried to think of some topics to converse but found none. If it were just mundane stuff, Ling Chen would ignore her.

“I will take my leave, Brother Chen. I will come and see you from time to time,” she said.

Ling Chen nodded but didn’t say anything.

Sighing inwardly, Yu Chen’er could only make her way out of the room. She fought back the tears that were threatening to drown her.

Yu Chen’er was a simple girl. She was always gruff and straightforward. If she weren’t born in a big clan, she would have led a carefree life. But she couldn’t. As a scion of Yu Clan, she had to take her own part in the conniving world that the young masters and young mistresses led. That didn’t mean that she liked it.

Among the younger generation, she only admired two people. First, Ling Chen. She thought that there could be no better man than him in the world. Although he was not in his right self at the moment, she thought that he was still the best. Second was that unfathomable boy, Su Ren.

Their first meeting couldn’t be considered great. She had attempted to take away the white tiger cub that Su Ren seemed to care a lot about. When he had taken down many Core Formation Stage servants like it was nothing, she had thought he was a terrifying existence. But when she met him later, she found that he was pretty easy to get along with. Moreover, he had no ulterior motives towards her unlike most of the people around her.

He was quite troublesome, with his lack of common sense. She had to constantly help him. But she thought he was cute. She viewed him as a strange little brother she just couldn’t leave alone.

She put the book into her spatial ring. I will pass it on to him when I meet him next time, she thought.

“Father~ Hurry! Hurry!” Byakko yelled in excitement as he led the way.

Ling was behind him, fluttering in the air. She was as excited as Byakko.

Xue’er looked at her young master who was walking in front of her. Her heart warmed. She felt that way every time she looked at him. He was the one that brought her out of the dark world she was living in.

They were going to a restaurant to eat. That’s what she was told.

She had mixed feelings regarding this. Lately, she had taken on the mantle of a chef for the four of them. She always felt happy when her young master, Byakko and Ling enjoyed what she prepared. Although she was filled with anticipation to visit her first restaurant, she couldn’t help but feel a trace of jealousy in her heart. A selfish part of her heart wanted her young master to eat only her food.

I will steal their recipe, she resolved.

She opened her status.

GENERAL

Name

Xue’er

Age

10 years old

Cultivation Method

N/A

Realm

N/A

Lifeforce

5/10 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)

Qi

0/120 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)

ATTRIBUTES

Strength

1

Physique

1

Movement

1

Control

1

Soul

12

Comprehension

10

Charm

50

Fate

108

INNATE TRAITS

Divine Tongue

Nine Yin Body

Divine Ice Phoenix

Moon Eye

Death Inscription

Shadow Travel

AILMENT

Touch of Death

She knew her condition better than anyone. She would not be able to live past twenty years due to her ailment. Half of her life was already gone. She wanted to devote the other half of life she had to her young master. She was unable to use five of her traits, leaving her with only [Divine Tongue].

That was enough. With the trait she could control, she could make her young master happy.

They soon reached the restaurant.

The waiters brought all kinds of food to the table. It filled the table to the brim. The amount of food seemed too much for the four of them. But Xue’er knew. The food would barely be enough for them.

As soon as she sniffed the scent of the food, she knew they were better than the ones she prepared. Her face scrunched into a little frown.

“What are you thinking?” Her young master Su Ren lightly tapped her shoulder, bringing her out of her thoughts. “Come, let’s eat.”

“En.” She nodded.

She grabbed a small piece of food from the table and took a tiny bite. Immediately, many pieces of information entered her head. The ingredients used. The methods used to prepare it. They all entered her head. She grabbed at another dish. The same thing happened. She kept on taking small bites of all the food that was brought out for them. In a few moments she had all the information to prepare the food they ate.

No. She could even prepare a better one.

Her young master, little Byakko and little Ling laid on the table, rubbing their stomach in satisfaction. She clenched her fist under the table. She would make them feel the same with her abilities.

Just then, a group of seven youths entered the restaurant, accompanied by their maids. From the dresses they wore and the way they carried themselves, Xue’er knew they were from the big clans in the city. However, unlike the young masters the clans had placed all their hopes on, they were wastrels their clans had basically given up on. They wasted themselves away loitering here and there in the city.

Her young master who was lying on the table with a laidback attitude suddenly raised his head. His expression brightened. He looked at the maids as if he was seeing something rare. “Real life maids,” he muttered in a voice that was filled with a pleasant surprise.

His actions were so negligible that it escaped the notice of everyone. Except Xue’er. Her attention was always on him. How could she fail to notice the change in her young master’s expression?

Xue’er saw one of the waiters guide the seven young masters towards their table. She frowned. She felt as if they were undermining her young master. She felt annoyed on her young master’s behalf. But she controlled her outburst. She didn’t want to create unnecessary troubles for him.

The seven young masters sauntered over to them. “Little boy, leave the table,” one of them, who seemed to be the leader, said in a condescending manner.

Her young master Su Ren did not say anything. He got up from the table. “Let’s leave,” he said. He picked up little Byakko and little Ling who seemed unable to move on their own. Avoiding the seven young masters, he made his way out.

Xue’er followed him. She gritted her teeth. If it were left to her, she would have jumped at them.

“Young master, why?” she asked once they were outside. She was unable to hold it in. She knew how strong her young master was. She had seen her young master do many amazing things. If he wanted, he could take care of those wastrels of young masters simply with a simple flick of his sleeves.

He gave her a gentle smile and rubbed her head. “What use would it be? We would just provoke their retaliation. They will try all sorts of methods to get back at us. In the end, the conflict would escalate to involve the clans they are from. Although their clans may have given up on them, they would participate in this affair simply to prevent a loss of face. It would get really troublesome. If we could avoid this just by walking away, isn’t that good?”

Xue’er thought over what her young master had just said. It made sense. Yes. Why get into trouble when they could avoid it?

She came from a big clan. She knew. The clans would use all sorts of unscrupulous methods to get what they wanted. Her young master might be able to take care of them but what if they struck in the dark? It was better to avoid it.

She nodded. “Xue’er understands, young master.”

As they moved forward, Xue’er remembered an important matter she had forgotten due to her distress. No, make that two matters.

“Young master,” she said. “I think I can prepare the dishes that we ate today at the restaurant.”

Her young master’s eyes widened, a pleasant surprise reflected in them. Xue’er felt a sense of fulfillment. This was it. This was what she wanted.

“Let’s go and buy the condiments and other necessary stuff,” he said, his voice sounding childish for once.

She nodded. “Also, young master…” She hesitated. She wasn’t sure how to go about it. She was not used to asking others to buy her things. But this was necessary. Yes, necessary for both herself and her young master. “I need some new sets of clothes,” she said finally.

Mu Lanran was waiting in her study. She heard a rustle from the dark. She had been waiting for this moment.

“Report,” she said.

“Young mistress, the plan failed. The fish didn’t take the bait,” a voice said from the dark.

Her brow rose in surprise. How could it be? She had taken all parties’ reaction into account and created what she thought to be a fool-proof plan. Wasn't the other party supposed to be a boy who was ten to twelve years old?

“Details.” Her voice was cold, betraying none of the turbulent emotion she was feeling.

“Like mistress ordered, I bribed a waiter to set those wastrels from various clans onto the boy. The wastrels, seeing that the boy was not someone from an influential family tried to provoke him by claiming his table. The boy just stood up and left.”

“Just like that?” Her surprise slipped out. He took the provocations just like that? Was he really that same boy who injured many Core Formation Stage servants in the forest? Wasn’t he supposed to be prone to easy anger?

There seemed to be more variables than she had taken into account. She decided to rethink everything. The boy was an integral piece in her plan. She was ready to go to any extent to get her hands on him. A new idea slowly appeared in her head.