Previous Chapter ð Table of Content ð Next Chapter

Chapter 13: Wooing

---

High God’s words had enormous weight, and as she was still innocent, A Lian easily fully believed in him. And if this High God tirelessly instructed her, as a disciple, she would instinctively remember with reverence in her heart.

A Lian had never thought excessively about worshipping goldfish, but when she had parted with A Pang, she had also been admonished by her once: when you enter into the Ninth Heavenly Pavilion, for the most part, there are many who have status and powerful backgrounds. At that time, there will be numerous men so do not lose your mind and ability to see clearly. Furthermore, do not have excessive expectations of marrying into a rich and powerful family – those people there aren’t for you. Moreover, you just have to learn magic well, and when the time comes, return to your hometown in silken robes^[1]. When you come out of this Ninth Heavenly Pavilion as a student of great ability, simply let one of Dongze Lake’s men select you, this is already very satisfactory.

Seeing her return, Yi Zhang was actually astonished and said,

“Coming out like this is such a big matter, you still have the guts to come out like this…this bighead carp, ah you actually have skills.” Yi Zhang’s words were somewhat peculiar, and A Lian was not talkative like her, so she merely went over to Tian Luo.

*****

Tian Luo had worried everyday, and longed for A Lian to come out. Even though this matter was problematic, because High God Rong Lin was there, Tian Luo felt quite at ease. She knew this matter should not be made known to Yi Zhang and Yi Gui and restrained her excitement. Then waiting until the two of them were in private, she said,

“High God Rong Lin really is very awesome! If he covers for you, you can unexpectedly walk through the Ninth Heavenly Pavilion alright.” However, A Lian said,

“Whether I can continue staying in the Ninth Heavenly Pavilion is still a problem.” Even more still, she now had this matter to deal with…Tian Luo then comfortingly replied,

“You can be at ease, High God surely still thinks you’re innocent.”

Before seeing High God Rong Lin, and before the change, Tian Luo had been restless for two days. Now, a smile could be seen on her face, and having seen High God at work, she felt her whole world had been energized. A Lian was also not the kind of person to dwell in self-pity. Since this matter had already happened, she wasn’t too worried, after all, these days would always pass over.

During her two days in the Secluded Department, although that small senior brother looked after her in the jail cell, the place was damp and gloomy. In the end, it was better to be here.

That evening, A Lian received a pillow to lie on.

*****

The next day was a new day for A Lian and she thought of High God. He had given her a beautiful new ruqun and pearl embroidered shoes, leaving her in good spirits as she prepared to go to class.

She was naturally very beautiful, and usually dressed in the spacious uniform of the Ninth Heavenly Pavilion, but it was hard to hide her beautiful womanly shape entirely. Today, she wore a red ruqun, which was appropriately tailored, and caused her woman’s exquisite curves to manifest vividly and thoroughly. It was paired with two matching pearl silk shoes below, causing her to closely resemble a noble woman from an illustrious family background. Even the usually calm Yi Gui, upon seeing her so bright and radiant, also lost spirit in the twinkle of an eye.

Previously, the skirt she’d worn was already extremely gorgeous, and now she managed to arrive in this. Yi Zhang, who was somewhat unable to resist sinking lower said,

“Seeing you looking like this, it seems you really are fooling around with the son of some noble official, aren’t you? I don’t know where the parvenu came from, so why don’t you say it and let me hear?”

A Lian knew this Yi Zhang’s temperament was unforgiving, and so she then said,

“Don’t blame other people, it’s my…it was my older male cousin.”

Naturally Yi Zhang did not believe her words—this older male cousin was dubious. Yi Zhang had went through countless male nobles, when she was this happy, forget an older cousin, she would even start talking about an older brother. Nevertheless, Yi Gui gave a meaningful glance—there was no one who didn’t want to ask her.

In the Ninth Heavenly Pavilion, A Lian was obscure and unknown, and only had her face to help her obtain things. Now however, those men who usually cared about her, actually did not step forward to placate her. But it was also no wonder, after the matter that had happened to Qu Zhu. Those Ninth Heavenly Pavilion males, now naturally considered her to be a female demon who sucked men’s essence, there was no way they would be likely to step forward and provoke her; as naturally it was not as good avoiding her. A Lian did not pay attention to this, but merely accompanied Tian Luo to her seat. However, seeing that very few people spoke to her, Bai Xun moved beside her, and simply comforted her with a few words.

Bai Xun’s body was strong and robust, with thick eyebrows and large eyes, he was naturally very tall and sturdy and handsome. He was precisely that sturgeon from Dongze Lake, and was a fish like A Lian. She’d hardly heard of him, and had only journeyed to the Ninth Heavenly Pavilion together, but then had little contact with him afterwards.

“Us aquatic animals from Dongze Lake definitely would not enter into this kind of degenerate’s matter. The Ninth Heavenly Pavilion has always been equitable, but just because that Qu Zhu had behind the scenes support, it is still inexcusable for a fish to easily be wrongly accused for no reason,” Bai Xun said.

Ah, in the end, it was someone from the same province. Naturally, this time A Lian was thankful towards him, and nodding her head, she said,

“En, thank you big brother Bai Xun.”

*****

When A Lian walked back, Tian Luo moved close to her ears, and whispered,

“At the time you met with the accident, Bai Xun was also very worried about you. If you’re still thinking of having a relationship…”

A Lian was even more shocked.

Tian Luo smiled, then winked,

“Even though this Bai Xun is not as handsome as High God Rong Lin, his martial arts are out of the ordinary. Since childhood, my mother taught me that it is important to choose a courageous and strong husband with a strong body. Also, since he is a person from the same town as you; there cannot be a better match. When the time comes, you two can smoothly return from the Ninth Heavenly Pavilion with a certificate of graduation and a marriage contract, ah how good.”

How could A Lian pay attention to Tian Luo’s babbling nonsense? However, she still subconsciously glanced at Bai Xun, and seeing him also happen to lift his eyes, she enduringly met his gaze. Pausing, she smiled slightly, then saw that suntanned cheek actually had a somewhat rare bashful blush.

A Lian thought of something, then bending her head to look at her outfit, decided that she’d dressed up too much today, even if only this Bai Xun continuously looked at her.

It seemed that she shouldn’t wear this skirt again.

*****

A Lian waited until class was finished, and saw many crowds of people bustling around the announcement spot. To one side of the announcement spot was a large circular mirror, where usually there was some matter posted. Soon afterwards a glimpse of details appeared.

Tian Luo loved to get in on the action, and immediately dragged A Lian to squeeze into the center of the crowd. And soon afterwards saw what was happening inside the mirror—strokes of handwriting moving like a dragon or snake slowly emerged. But unexpectedly, the writing pertained to Qu Zhu’s matter. There were also scenes of Qu Zhu before the accident.

A Lian recalled the pleasing scene in the Flowing Light Mirror yesterday. Scenes of Qu Zhu before and after the accident appeared, and only when it reached the scene where the accident had happened, did it return to a blank space. But now in this announcement, except for what she saw before, there were also many more scenes, such as Qu Zhu after his essence had been sucked dry, and a red fox’s tail^[2] sweep by… It was followed by a script pertaining to the capacity of A Lian’s cultivation, proving that within her body there was only three hundred years of cultivation—Qu Zhu’s cultivation had the capacity of eight hundred years,therefore if she had absorbed Qu Zhu’s fundamental essence, naturally it would be impossible to have such a small amount of cultivation.

Regardless of what was said, naturally, this time A Lian was at last cleansed of suspicion and the death of Qu Zhu indeed had nothing to do with her. However, A Lian was only a very small silver carp, measuring nothing out of the ordinary in the Ninth Heavenly Pavilion now that settled this matter so quickly… Anyone with a certain discernment could see it entirely—that this bighead carp’s behind the scenes supporter was not simple!

After a while, A Lian had many ineffably good relations in the Ninth Heavenly Pavilion, even the number of pursuers had increased!

---

Footnotes:

[1]Idiom meaning return in glory

[2]Idiom meaning visible sign of evil intentions

---

Previous Chapter ð Table of Content ð Next Chapter