Interlude: Mei Lingxi
Mei Lingxi hummed in pleasure as she sipped the hot tea.
It wasn’t as good as the tea from Jade Lotus Teahouse, but it was the next best thing. She wasn’t talking about the tea itself, though it was eptable, but more about the whole atmosphere.
Mei Lingxi had been worried that she would no longer be able to snap her fingers and make overeager male cultivators do her bidding. She was not used to the way Lan Yang had casually brushed her aside and put his full attention on Wei Liang.
In fact, she couldn’t recall anything simr happening in the past. There were signs that she learned to pick up during her time as a cultivator. No matter how subtle, she knew when attention was on her. She used it as a weapon when she was in Xuanjing City.
With Lan Yang’s unabashed disinterest, Mei Lingxi wondered if she had epted a position beyond her station.
Prince Yuan often boasted of how there were women far more attractive than her in the upper echelons of the cultivation world, but that had never been something she took to heart. It was hard to when the boasting only started once she firmly rejected his advances.
Lan Yang’s reaction made her think that perhaps the Inner Court of the Jade Healing Sect was filled with rare beauties that she had somehow missed on the initial trip when the Grand Master treated her.
That was not the case. At all.
Mei Lingxi hadn’t immediately rushed to buy whatever she desired with the nk check given to her. Instead, she strolled around themon grounds and observed.
She was still unmatched, her looks unparalleled. The overeager cultivators surrounding her meant she wasn’t biased.
There were two of them moring to pay for Mei Lingxi’s tea while unsubtly talking about their great and powerful backgrounds. If she was someone lesser, perhaps it might have worked. Unfortunately for them, she had heard all of this before.
Sure, the names they were throwing out were more impressive, but it was all the same in the end.
She didn’t leave her mortal life, rejecting a future as a magistrate’s wife only to be something simr in her immortal life.
Mei Lingxi couldn’t think of a worse future for herself.
Thankfully, she met Wei Liang. Her Young Master. She blinked, pausing in the middle of her sip.
Referring to him as Young Master in her mind was new.
“Beauty Mei is amused by my joke.”
Mei Lingxi’s attention was returned to the man across from her. It was rude of her, but the two men who invited themselves to sit at her table were so forgettable that she avoided mentioning them by name.
Mainly because she couldn’t be bothered to remember them.
She would have shooed them away if it wasn’t for their eagerness to point out the ces of interest in themon grounds.
Mei Lingxi gently ced the teacup on the saucer, a practiced smile on her lips. “It’s rare to find someone who can make me smile so easily.”
“Hah, Beauty Mei, don’t be fooled by him. I’ve seen him recite these jokes, hoping to use them on any woman willing to look at him.”
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She nced at the man on her right. It came to mind that it might be best for her to give the two ceholder names to identify them. Asking for their actual names was far toote, and even if it wasn’t, it was likely unwise.
It wouldn’t do to make them think she was more interested than they delusionally thought she already was. That was a mistake she made when she first started to work at the Treasure Pavilion. A wealthy patron assumed that her interest in making him spend money was the same as her interest in <em>him</em>.
“You must know each other well,” Mei Lingxi smiled, internally rolling her eyes at how the man smirked at his… friend? Rival? She couldn’t really tell.
“We grew up together. He’s practically my brother. Trust me when I say he is all talk.”
She tilted her head slightly. With a ‘brother’ like this, where was the need to have an enemy?
Rat. That was the perfect ceholder name for this trash of a man.
Mei Lingxi turned her attention back to the man across from her, wanting to see his response.
There wasn’t one. He just chuckled awkwardly and looked away. She supposed it had something to do with his backgroundckingpared to Rat.
Doormat. That would be this one’s designation.
“Practiced or not, it made me smile,” Mei Lingxi chuckled, though this was directed at Rat. After all, she didn’t want Doormat to feel toofortable. Again, another easy way to gain an unwanted pursuer.
She waved at the hostess, ignoring Rat''s attempts to speak to her.
“Would you like to order something else?”
The hostess was a cute girl, one that was acting far too bubbly. Mei Lingxi sympathized. She was the same when she was inexperienced in dealing with patrons in the Treasure Pavilion.
“No, thank you,” Mei Lingxi shook her head. “I’d like to pay.”
“Certainly!” The hostess pulled out a nk te. “May I see your pass?”
“Beauty Mei, please, let me take care of this!”
She waved off Doormat and handed the pass Elder Yu provided to the hostess. It was pressed to the te, which glowed a soft white.
“There you are,” the pass was returned to Mei Lingxi. “Fifty credits were deducted from the ount. Thank you!”
The hostess promptly left, and she was set to do the same. Rat and Doormat had mentioned some interesting ces that fit her current needs. Besides, she was finding it hard to stomach their increasingly irritating personalities.
“Thank you for keeping mepany. Both of you,” Mei Lingxi gave them the same practiced smile, almost hoping that they would realize how fake it was. “Unfortunately, it looks like we must part ways.”
“Beauty Mei, that doesn’t have to be the case,” Rat stood, giving her what he must have thought was a charming smile. “You said that you were new here, and what better way can I show the sect’s weing nature than by being your guide?”
“I’ll have to decline.” That was the first direct statement Mei Lingxi had said to these two. “I’m interested in the lectures you mentioned. The one about formations, and I prefer to be alone when focusing.”
“I could help you.”
Mei Lingxi stared at Doormat in surprise. She figured he had lost whatever courage he had mustered. Good for him, though it still wouldn’t change anything.
“I specialize in formations,” Doormat said with pride. “I even have a chance to enter ck Tortoise Peak in the future!”
“Is that so?” Mei Lingxi put her full attention on Doormat. “Do you have connections with anyone on ck Tortoise Peak?”
“I do!” Doormat looked proud. “My Senior Brother entered the peakst year.”
“I see,” Mei Lingxi weighed her decision, but it was a no-brainer. “Perhaps you can help me if I have questions about the lecture.”
“I would be d to, Beauty Mei!” Doormat almost shook in excitement while shooting Rat smug looks. “Maybe you can leave us to it, brother.”
Mei Lingxi rolled her eyes discreetly when they started taking unsubtle shots at each other. Most cultivators under a hundred years old often acted like this around her.
She would make sure to let her Young Master know the sacrifice that was made here. She had little interest in formations, but her Young Master seemed to drool after formation manuals. He obviously felt the opposite, so this was all for him.
Mei Lingxi nced at the Jade Lotus Teahouse in the distance. That was another thing she needed to tell the Young Master about.
She had every intention of enjoying herself on Lan Yang’s dime, but that had quickly disappeared when she thought of the ramifications of being such a spendthrift. She would have done nothing wrong, but Lan Yang’s impression of her Young Master might have taken a hit.
That wouldn’t do, especially since Lan Yang was the Young Master’s mentor.
Mei Lingxi’s thoughtfulness led her to a much cheaper teahouse, and it also saddled her with Doormat and Rat.
Yes, she needed to let her Young Master know so he would be appreciative. He could pay her back in the far future.