In the end, Qin Langyue still discovered the culprits behind Qin Kui’s assault, and like in the original setting, maimed their manhoods. Which, of course, resulted in a bunch of clans who were out for revenge. Though Qin Langyue always managed to get out alive, it was always by the skin of her teeth
And with the male lead coming around to make things worse for her, Qin Langyue’s days were essentially a tragedy.
Even Shi Sheng could feel how miserable her life was. ‘Why’d you act when you couldn’t clean up the evidence? Idiot!’
“What’re you following me for?! Scram!” Qin Langyue shoved Jun Hanlin. ‘I nearly died today! But this idiot’s still making trouble for me!’
Jun Hanlin stumbled. Killing intent flashed in his eyes when he lowered his head, but he quickly reverted to normal by the time he looked up and clambered up from the ground. “Wife, don’t be angry. I’ll help you beat up the bad guys!”
Qin Langyue mocked out of anger. “What bad guys could you beat, you idiot? Stop following me!”
Qin Langyue departed in large strides, leaving Jun Hanlin by himself. Once Qin Langyue’s figure had disappeared from view, he retracted the dumb smile as his sharp, cold gaze stared in the direction had Qin Langyue left.
“Yo, not playing dumb anymore?”
Jun Hanlin’s heart skipped a beat as he quickly turned around.
From the flower bushes but a few steps from him, a young girl stood with her arms crossed in front her chest. Her pink lips were slightly lifted at the edges, though she remained expressionless.
The flowers and person complemented each other, but the person appeared more stunning than the flowers.
‘Her! I haven’t repaid the favor for tossing me off the roof yet, but here she is delivering herself to my doorstep!’
“So you were aware.” Jun Hanlin dropped the pretence and examined Shi Sheng brazenly. “I hadn’t thought that the Eldest Young Miss of the Shen Clan would also be someone who held her cards close to her chest.”
“Shen Yaoguang doesn’t have any trump cards. Haven’t her cards been openly displayed from the beginning?”
Why was Shen Yaoguang so worshipped?
One reason was because of her talent. Another reason was because of the Shen Clan’s influence. The second weighed more heavily than the first, though. Like Shi Sheng said, no matter how talented Shen Yaoguang was, without the Shen Clan, she could only be pushed around at others’ whims.
The Shen Clan did give Shen Yaoguang the support she needed, but they’d always just viewed her as a tool whose value was measured by how many benefits she could contribute to the clan.
“You know your limits.” There was satisfaction in Jun Hanlin’s eyes. He liked the women who knew their own position.
“Know my limits? Sorry, but no, I don’t.” Shi Sheng scoffed, “I was referring to the old Shen Yaoguang. And I’m no longer that Shen Yaoguang who was just a puppet for others to play with.”
Jun Hanlin’s gaze became sharp, and the temperature of the surroundings seemed to drop.
“What do you reckon…” Shi Sheng’s eyelashes fluttered as her clear voice flowed into Jun Hanlin’s ears, “…the imperial clan will do if they discover you’ve just been acting dumb this whole time? I don’t think you’re able to fight against them yet, right?”
Though Jun Hanlin’s heart pounded, his expression didn’t change.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll silence you?”
“You’re welcome to try,” Shi Sheng spoke with an obnoxious expression.
Jun Hanlin was already considering doing just that. ‘I can’t just leave her be.’
But just as he planned to make a move, the sounds of people approaching could be heard in the distance. Jun Hanlin weighed the pros and cons for a moment, then spoke, “Shen Yaoguang, you’d best keep your mouth shut.”
“My mouth is my own. What, you wanna sew it up?” Shi Sheng continued provoking him.
As the sounds of others approaching neared, Jun Hanlin could only shoot a warning glare at Shi Sheng before running off and disappearing from Shi Sheng’s sight.
Jun Hanlin wanted to silence her, but before he could, Shi Sheng went and announced that the Seventh Prince wasn’t actually the fool he portrayed himself to be.
Now this was how one pulled aggro.
Jun Hanlin now felt like charging into the Shen Clan’s premises to kill her just to vent his rage. ‘She really dared to say it!’
The thing he regretted most was not killing her that day. Even if there had been others to witness it, he could’ve just killed them all too!
Third Prince and the other members of the imperial family were very concerned about this matter. Only after Jun Hanlin had performed several humiliating acts did he finally manage to convince them that the rumor wasn’t true. But he knew that they definitely wouldn’t let their guard down as easily as before, making his future plans much more difficult.
“Master, Shen Yaoguang has been remaining within the Shen Clan’s premises as of late and hasn’t come out…”
“Think you’ll be fine hiding behind the Shen Clan?” Jun Hanlin harrumphed coldly before turning to speak to the man kneeling on the ground, “The Shen Clan is too flagrant.”
‘Shen Yaoguang, since you think the Shen Clan is your strongest backing, then I’ll show you how I’ll rip it out from the roots!’
The kneeling man paused for a bit before saluting. “Your subordinate understands.”
……
Though Jun Hanlin plotted to destroy the Shen Clan in secret, Shi Sheng hadn’t placed him on her mind at all as she continued to wander around the academy every day. Perhaps she was too bored, for she began picking fights at the slightest provocation.
This wasn’t an ideal situation for Shi Sheng’s teacher, Ye Tiannan.
It was really quite an experience, having to go to the punishment hall to bail someone out every day.
“Yaoguang ah, can you tone it down a bit and gimme some peace?” Hobo Uncle pleaded sincerely. “A group of mad men are coming over in a few days, so we gotta lay low!”
“Mad men? What mad men?” Shi Sheng ignored the first half of Ye Tiannan’s words.
“Ever heard of Nine Silences Hall? What am I saying? Even a three-year old would know! Of course you’d know!”
Shi Sheng, “…” ‘Wasn’t that the name of villain-sama’s organisation?’
Even if someone was unaware as to who were the rulers of the Nine Provinces, it was impossible that they hadn’t heard of Bu Jingyun.
“Nine Silences Hall is sending people to the academy in a few days. Though it’s supposed to be a ‘friendly competition’, they’re really here to kill people. You lay low for a bit these few days, else that old fogey Zhong Shiyi’s going to play dirty. I can’t save you then!”
Ever since Nine Silences Hall had become famous, they’d have a friendly competition with Nine Provinces Academy every three years.
At first, it really had been a friendly competition. But once Nine Silences Hall became more powerful, it had turned into a one-sided beating on the Nine Provinces Academy.
It had eventually evolved into something akin to a tri-annual ‘excursion’ for Nine Silences Hall, where they reaped countless ‘kills’ and collected beauties.
Even if Nine Provinces Academy wasn’t delighted by this fact, they could only keep quiet. After all, they couldn’t exactly blame the other party for their own people being too weak, could they? Unwilling to admit defeat? Haha, do you want to be crushed?
Shi Sheng attempted to recall what happened in the original setting. ‘Oh right, there was some event like this. Though I seem to recall that this time, they suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the FL.’
That was also when the seeds of enmity between the female lead and Nine Silences Hall had been sown.
“Is Bu Jingyun coming?”
“Him? That lunatic hasn’t stepped out of Nine Silences Hall in over a century! He won’t show up. The one who’ll show up will probably be the Sentinel of Nine Silences Hall… Anyways, they’re all a bunch of lunatics who’ve been raised by a nutjob. None of them are pushovers, mind.”
‘A bunch of lunatics raised by a nutjob… Ye Tiannan, those words will result in you getting mobbed by that group of loonies!’
“Yaoguang, listen to me! The cultivators from Nine Silences Hall aren’t good to provoke. You just be a quiet beauty these few days, ‘kay?”
Shi Sheng, “…” ‘Well isn’t this Hobo Uncle a hip dude? I only had to utter the phrase in front of him once, and now he’s using it like he’s been using it his whole life!’
Shi Sheng gleaned plenty of information out of Ye Tiannan that hadn’t been in the setting she’d received.
Bu Jingyun became famous at the age of 25, and a century had already passed since then.
Once cultivators managed to reach the Spirit Monarch stage, their lifespans increased, so the average lifespan of the people of the Nine Provinces was around 200. 100… was a bit old.
And Bu Jingyun was a zealous recluse who refused to take a single step out of Nine Silences Hall unless trouble came knocking at his doorstep.