"Yes, my dear general…?"
"Your Majesty, I feel that Ruoxue is not a match for the seventh prince, so I hope you will agree to cancel the engagement. I wish the seventh prince a happy marriage with Miss Xu," Leng Qingtian interrupted the emperor, not giving him a chance to finish speaking.
"…"
The emperor was stunned. He thought he misheard. How can I let Leng Qingtian cancel the engagement? Although Ruoxue is a simpleton, the engagement is too important for Yu'er.
"My dear general, the engagement was bestowed by the previous emperor," the emperor reminded him.
"Your Majesty, I am sure you still remember what the late emperor promised me when he proposed the engagement!" Leng Qingtian looked seriously into the emperor's eyes.
"My dear general, have you decided?" There was nothing the emperor could do. He didn't want to cancel the engagement. After all, it was in Yu'er greatest interest. Unfortunately, Yu'er did not understand.
"Yes, I have decided." Leng Qingtian took out the engagement token from his storage ring and handed it to the eunuch. The emperor took the token and instructed the eunuch to fetch the one he had to return.
Emperor Li Xun went to a side hall after Leng Qingtian left. It was in the most inconspicuous corner of the imperial palace with absolutely no grandeur. But this place was the most restricted place in the entire palace because a very important person was living here.
An old man in plain cotton clothing who was watering his flowers and plants raised his head. His wrinkled face frowned in displeasure.
"What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you not to disturb me if there's nothing important?" the old man scolded. He was getting more and more disappointed with his descendants. None of them were capable.
"Old Ancestor."
"What's wrong?" The old man continued to fiddle with his flowers and plants.
"Leng Qingtian just came." Emperor Li Xun's face was somewhat tense.
"Then?"
"I told him what you told me to tell him."
"Then what's the problem?" The old man didn't even bother to raise his head.
"He proposed to cancel the engagement," the emperor said carefully.
"You agreed?" The old man finally raised his head and looked straight at Li Xun with his turbid eyes.
"I can't disagree. My imperial father promised him that he could cancel the engagement at any time if he was not happy with it." The engagement was only an expedient political move for him to secure the throne. It was because it was only a temporary engagement that Leng Qingtian had agreed.
"Ahh, fine! Fine!" The old man sighed and continued fiddling with his flowers and plants.
"Your Majesty, General Leng has emptied the warehouse of the imperial pharmacy!" Just as Emperor Li Xun returned to his resting palace, the eunuch who had led Leng Qingtian ran over in a panic.
"What? Say it again?" The emperor thought he had heard wrong.
"Your Majesty, General Leng has emptied the warehouse of the imperial pharmacy!" The young eunuch knelt on the floor, trembling. He knew he was in big trouble this time. The emperor was notoriously stingy, and General Leng had caused heavy losses to the emperor this time. There were a lot of herbs in the imperial pharmacy and even some extremely precious ones. The emperor likely didn't care too much about the common herbs, but the precious ones that were hard to find…
"Y-you… why didn't you stop him!" The emperor's face turned green with fury.
"T-this servant c-couldn't stop him. General Leng took out more than ten storage rings at once. Before this servant had time to react, he already stored everything into the rings." The young eunuch wailed.
"Useless! All useless. Guards, drag him out!" the emperor angrily ordered the guards.
"Your Majesty, please calm down! Your health is more important!" Eunuch Liu, the chief eunuch standing at the side, cautiously persuaded the emperor to calm down. Serving the emperor was like serving a tiger. Even though he was a trusted aide of the emperor, he still had to be careful in this situation.
"Leng Qingtian! Outrageous!" The emperor gritted his teeth, his handsome face distorting in anger.
"Your Majesty, please calm down. This servant is sure that Leng Qingtian came prepared. Your Majesty was unprepared," Eunuch Liu said, implying that Leng Qingtian had planned this long ago to scheme against the emperor.
"Eunuch Liu, do you have any plan to save some face for me?" The emperor looked expectantly at his favorite eunuch.
"Your Majesty, this servant thinks we need a long-term plan. But losing some money and items in exchange for the general no longer investigating the seventh prince and Miss Xu should already be the best result." Eunuch Liu analyzed for the emperor. He knew that the emperor loved the seventh prince the most and was afraid that the general would not let go of the matter of his granddaughter being injured.
The emperor thought for a moment. "Hmm, what you said is very reasonable. Come, arrange the carriage to go to Fragrance Palace."
…
"Thunder Night, we gained a lot today!" Leng Qingtian cheerful shared telepathically with his spirit beast. His spirit beast was a level nine holy beast, a flying thunder leopard. It had the dual attributes of lightning and wind, and it was adept at flying. Not only was it very fast, but it was also one of the best holy beasts at attacking.
Thunder Night was introverted, and it just nodded its huge head in response to its master.
"I just realized today how enjoyable looting is. If there's another chance in the future, we shall do it together!" Leng Qingtian laughed arrogantly in his head.
In the spirit beast space, the giant black leopard was at a loss for words. Master has taken a liking to this kind of trickery, and he even wants me to join him! But I am a good, law-abiding beast… Hmmm, it must be Miss. She influenced Master. After all, Master has always been very upright, and it was all her idea this time! Ah, she's really formidable. No one should ever provoke her.
…
"Miss, why did you get us to dress up like this?" Cui Zhu looked at her unfamiliar self in the mirror, feeling very puzzled. There was a girl too ordinary who could blend into any crowd.
"Are there a lot of people who know you in Phoenix City?" Leng Ruoxue threw a question back instead while her beautiful eyes scanned back and forth between the two other girls. She was satisfied with her masterpiece.
"Of course. Everyone in Phoenix City knows that Sister Lü Tao and I are from the general's mansion!" Cui Zhu answered. They had to reveal their identities so that no one dared to bully the young miss.
"That's right. I don't want others to recognize you two," Leng Ruoxue said indifferently. She had said things very clearly before. It would be best if they could understand, but if they still didn't understand, she wouldn't bother to explain. She would not leave useless people around her.
"Miss, Lü Tao understands," Lü Tao said hurriedly before Cui Zhu could react and signaled Cui Zhu to be silent with her eyes so as not to cause the young miss to be unhappy.
"Keep up then." Leng Ruoxue finished speaking, turned, and walked out the door.
March in Phoenix City was the time when spring flowers started blooming. The weather today was especially refreshing. The wind was warm, the sun was shining, and the streets were bustling, mostly with pairs of lovers. The customs of the Eastern Lagoon Empire were rather open and carefree, and people were able to love freely. Leng Ruoxue looked at the traditional buildings on the streets, the dazzling arrays of shops, and the products that belonged to this world with a relaxed mood. She did not even realize that her peerless beauty was causing a storm on the streets, nor did she notice the deep gazes that had been watching her.
Leng Ruoxue walked into a pet store. She saw the word 'Feng' on the store sign when she entered. She knew that this was the second most popular shop among the Five Great Families. The store area was not small, and it was divided into two floors. When she walked in, she first saw a few rows of shelves. The shelves were full of cages for pets. In the cages, the cute little beasts were either lying on their stomachs or standing. Although they were being sold as pets, they were all spirit beasts of relatively low level, cute in appearance, without any aggressiveness, and easy to tame. They had all been tamed, and no contract was required. They were the most suitable pets for noble ladies and young misses.
Leng Ruoxue loved small animals, especially dogs. She had once raised one herself, but it got into an accident later. Since then, she had not raised any pets. Now that she saw these cute little things, she was very excited and wanted to buy one to raise. But she could only recognize bunnies among the beasts. Although the bunnies were very cute, she didn't have much interest in them.
At this moment, she clearly felt that a gaze was watching her. She subconsciously searched for it and saw a cage in a somewhat isolated corner. There was a small black beast enclosed in the cage. Is it a cat? She thought it was a cat because it looked a little like a Persian cat, but it had a large fox-like tail. It was lying in the cage with its big, round, blue eyes looking at her pitifully. This gaze really made her not have the heart to reject it! Well, she admitted that it was cute. This little thing was really good at pretending to be innocent and pitiful. If she hadn't caught the lightning-fast flash of cunning in this little thing's eyes, she would have been fooled.
The clerk, who had been lost in her beauty for a long time since she entered the store, finally recovered. He hurriedly stepped forward and looked at Leng Ruoxue in amazement.
"Miss, may I help you with anything?" the clerk said very politely, fully demonstrating his professionalism.
Leng Ruoxue pointed at the little guy in the cage. "How much for it?"
"Miss wants to buy it? Miss, to tell you the truth, it's not in good physical condition now. I am afraid it will not last long. There are many cute pets in our shop, and there are better ones upstairs. Why don't you look at others?" He tried to dissuade her and was only short of telling her not to buy it directly.
Leng Ruoxue looked at the enthusiastic clerk with some amusement. "I am only interested in it. How much for it?"
"Miss, are you sure you want to buy it?"
"Yes." Leng Ruoxue nodded gently. How could this little thing be about to die? Even though its black fur looked dull and its small body thin, seeming as though the wind could blow it away, Leng Ruoxue didn't believe that it was as weak as it appeared to be.
"Fifty gold coins," the clerk said helplessly. He said everything he should say, yet this young lady still insisted on buying, so it was not possible for him not to sell it. However, he did not violate the Feng family's business ethics on 'honesty and integrity'!
Leng Ruoxue motioned for Lü Tao to pay. Then she took the weak-looking thing from the clerk, turned around, walked out of the store, and then shopped around again.
"Spring Wind House? That's a restaurant, right? I'm hungry, so let's go have something to eat." Leng Ruoxue looked at the small three-story building with exquisite and luxurious furnishings not far away.
"Miss, let's go somewhere else. This place isn't good," Cui Zhu said with an unnatural expression.
"Isn't good? What's wrong? I've decided. I want to eat here." She was really hungry.
"Miss…" This time even Lü Tao spoke out to stop her. Her expression was not very good.
"Give me a reason." Leng Ruoxue's eyes flashed unpleasantly. She hated being hungry.
"Miss once went to the Spring Wind House for the seventh prince, but something happened later, and you are now forbidden to enter!" Lü Tao explained cautiously, for fear that her young miss would be angry.
That damn seventh prince again. Leng Ruoxue really hated that nasty seventh prince. He actually prevented her from even entering a place to eat. This sealed the tragic end of the unlucky seventh prince in the future.
"Let's go home!" Leng Ruoxue lost the desire to eat out.
Back at the general's mansion, Leng Ruoxue lay lazily on a recliner after eating. She held the now-fed little beast in her arms, basking in the sun, very relaxed.
"Lü Tao, are there any other places in Phoenix City where I am not welcomed?" Leng Ruoxue asked casually while eating fruit and feeding her little pet in passing.
"Only the businesses of the Xu family. The Spring Wind House is also owned by the Xu family," Lü Tao explained.
"The Xu family?" Very good. She craved it in her heart. Anyone who dares to provoke me, Leng Ruoxue, will live to regret it, Leng Ruoxue thought as her hand gently stroked the soft fur of the little beast. Suddenly, she felt a tingling pain in her fingertips. This ungrateful little thing actually bit her. But before she could get angry, she felt a little dizzy, and then she heard a voice in her mind saying, "I am willing to enter into a soul bond contract with you, where our souls will accompany each other through life and death." Then a gorgeously intricate purple contract array enveloped her and the little beast, and the contract was formally established.