Heart

In her short eighteen years, Lian Qiao had experienced two of the most humiliating moments of her life.

The first happened when she was thirteen.

That time, after losing a match to Lu Wu Jiu, she felt a dull ache in her lower abdomen and touched it, only to find fresh blood trickling down her leg.

At the time, she thought she was dying.

So, weeping and wailing, she pointed at Lu Wu Jiu, accusing him of striking too hard and demanding he pay with his life.

Lu Wu Jiu looked at her blood-stained skirt, paused, but then turned his head and said it had nothing to do with him.

How could Lian Qiao believe that?

She grabbed his hand, ready to drag him to the Discipline Hall.

Lu Wu Jiu shook off her hand, the back of his ears slightly red.

He seemed to want to explain something, but in the end, said nothing at all.

He simply took off his outer robe, tied it around her waist, and then led her to the mountain dwelling of the nearest female Peak Master.

After coming out of the mountain dwelling, this time, it was Lian Qiao’s face that was red.

And then, after agonizing for several days, she haltingly returned the washed outer robe to Lu Wu Jiu, simultaneously threatening him not to tell anyone.

Lu Wu Jiu indeed didn’t say anything.

But… but he wore it!

A person who only drank Rootless Water and couldn’t tolerate a single wrinkle in his clothes actually wore that washed robe openly in front of everyone.

Although no one knew what had once stained the robe, Lian Qiao blushed every time she saw it and didn’t dare speak to him again for a very long time.

As for the second time, it was now.

This was great.

Lu Wu Jiu didn’t even need to look anymore. No one knew the difference between eight and eighteen better than he did now.

Lian Qiao, mortified, crossed her arms to shield herself, then pushed his head away and jumped off of him.

Lu Wu Jiu’s lips pursed slightly, his gaze flicking over her crossed arms as if he were about to say something.

Lian Qiao’s eyes widened in panic. “Don’t you say it! Not a single word! It was just an accident.”

Lu Wu Jiu dusted off the perfumed powder that had gotten on him from her, gracefully obliging. “Alright.”

Lian Qiao, however, grew even more flustered, because Lu Wu Jiu had only dusted the powder from his collar, not noticing that some had gotten on his face as well.

This would not do for people to see.

So she vaguely pointed to the corner of his lips to remind him. “Um, there’s still some…”

Lu Wu Jiu didn’t seem to understand, raising his eyes slightly. “What?”

Lian Qiao was exasperated. “The perfumed powder…”

Lu Wu Jiu continued to look at her faintly. “Be clear.”

Lian Qiao couldn’t stand it anymore. She glanced around, and making sure no one was nearby, she furtively tiptoed closer, wiped the powder from the corner of his lips with her sleeve, then turned and ran, covering her ears.

She did not want to hear any improper words coming from Lu Wu Jiu’s mouth!

But in this, she had wronged Lu Wu Jiu.

He simply raised a hand to touch the corner of his lips, where a trace of softness and warmth lingered, paused for a moment, and then felt a sense of irritation.

Back at the He residence, Lian Qiao immediately changed her clothes.

But the perfumed powder had a long-lasting fragrance.

Even after washing three times, an undeniable scent still clung to her.

When she appeared in the main hall, Miss He, who was in the middle of morning sickness, immediately frowned, covering her mouth and nose with a handkerchief from afar. “Fairy, did you use perfumed powder?”

Lian Qiao belatedly remembered that Miss He was pregnant. Fearing the powder might contain something harmful to expectant mothers, she took a step back in embarrassment. “Ah, I didn’t apply it on purpose. I even washed, but I don’t know why it won’t come off. I’ll move to another seat right away.”

Miss He grunted in acknowledgment.

So Lian Qiao sat down in the seat furthest from her.

At that moment, Lu Wu Jiu, who had just entered, paused in his steps and also turned toward the seat furthest from Miss He, sitting down next to Lian Qiao.

Miss He immediately stood up and pointed to the seat beside her. “Immortal Master Lu, this seat is reserved for you.”

Lu Wu Jiu gave a slight nod. “No need. I have also used incense and fear it might disturb you, Miss.”

Miss He was instantly very embarrassed.

What was even more embarrassing was that she sniffed the air and suddenly noticed the fragrance on both of them was the same.

Her expression became strange again. “Huh, were the two of you together just now…”

“Of course not,” Lian Qiao said with a dry laugh. “We just happened to use the same scent. This perfume was a gift from the shopkeeper of the powder shop. We both have it. She said it was some secret recipe, not for sale to the public.”

Zhou Jiannan scratched his head. “Both have it? How come I don’t?”

Lian Qiao stepped on his foot. Zhou Jiannan, enduring the pain, immediately changed his tune. “Oh, I remember now. It must be the one on the table.”

Miss He frowned slightly. “Is it the powder shop at the street corner? The one whose owner is a widow?”

Lian Qiao nodded. “Yes.”

‘Perfect, Miss He knows her. Perhaps I can ask her if there’s a way to wash off this scent.’

Unexpectedly, Miss He showed a look of utter disdain.

“Fairy, I advise you to stay away from that shop. I hear that place…” she lowered her voice, “…is not clean.”

Lian Qiao was puzzled. “I went today. It seemed quite clean to me.”

Miss He covered her lips and chuckled lightly. “Not that kind of clean. I mean, that widow is indecent. Don’t be fooled by her name, Zhen Niang. She dresses so seductively every day, showing her face in public to sell perfumed powder. Who knows what she’s really thinking! It’s truly a disgrace to the county magistrate.”

Lian Qiao automatically ignored the first half of the sentence and asked, “She’s related to the county magistrate?”

Miss He was again very disdainful. “I heard she’s a distant niece. Otherwise, how could a widow like her open such a large shop in Joyful Town? But who knows. Although they say she’s a distant relative, I’ve never seen anyone from the county visit this month. On the contrary, the men of the town are always running over there. I’d say, what kind of relationship they really have is hard to say…”

She stopped halfway through her sentence, probably because a gust of wind blew in from outside, making the fragrance more intense.

“Wait, this scent on you, why is it a bit familiar…” Miss He’s expression suddenly changed. She walked over to Lian Qiao and sniffed carefully. “Fairy, you just said this perfumed powder is not for public sale?”

Lian Qiao nodded. “What’s wrong?”

Miss He said, “May I see this perfumed powder?”

Before Lian Qiao could speak, the quick-handed Miss He had already spotted the corner of the powder box peeking out from her sleeve and took it directly.

She held the powder box, staring at the intricate camellia pattern on it in silence.

Suddenly, she laughed, a chilling, sinister laugh, and cursed, “Little slut.”

Then, Lian Qiao watched as she stormed out, clutching the powder box, seemingly off to settle a score with someone.

Lian Qiao: ?

‘Who was she calling a slut?’

‘And also, wasn’t that her perfumed powder?’

But Miss He wasn’t angry at her.

A maid apologetically pulled Lian Qiao aside to explain. “The young master was here just now, and he seemed to have this scent on him. He said it was an incense for his clothes and even complained that our lady was being too suspicious. The two of them had just had a fight, and our lady was all alone, wondering if she was really overthinking things. Then you two immortals arrived and said this powder was the widow’s secret recipe. Isn’t that too much of a coincidence!”

Only then did Lian Qiao understand.