Li Fei lay on her side in bed, planning to whip up a Depravity + Sensitivity Aura + Humanoid Creature Enthrallment + Succubus Empress combo set, to give Lady Zhihua a proper send-off.
Dragon's Strength really wouldn't do—otherwise it likely wouldn't be her sending Lady Zhihua off, but Lady Zhihua sending the young madam to her grave.
Qin Zhihua, however, took out a whole heap of bottles and jars and urged Li Fei to stow them away properly.
She'd been so busy this stretch of time—aside from arranging her business, it was also to prepare for the young madam the potions she'd need over the coming three months. Just the quantity of essentials like wound salves and mana potions alone was enough to last a flush-pocketed Sequence 7 Transcendent who frequently took on adventuring quests a good three years.
Not to mention the various cultivation-aiding medicines as well. The reason Li Fei had been able to push her peak battle-qi rotation speed up by five revolutions back then was thanks to Margaret's exclusive formula, [Weighty Qi Powder]—an auction-grade item.
Of course, the most precious of all was the [Potent Lucky Potion], of which there were two bottles inside. Qin Zhihua truly lived up to being the student Margaret had taken a shine to; after accumulating a certain amount of failure experience, her brewing success rate had been climbing steadily.
——Just how much private savings does she have?
Such a thought flashed through Li Fei's mind, and then she realized that, from now on, she'd have to prepare the materials needed to raise her Sequence rank herself.
After all, no matter how much private money one has, there comes a day when the well runs dry. Qin Zhihua had her own cultivation road to walk; if she poured it all into supporting Li Fei, that road would be cut short.
Just like today, when picking out rewards, Grace had wanted to select that [Bloodweep] staff and gift it to Li Fei, only to be stopped by a glance—since they were all people sharing one quilt now, Li Fei had to consider the financial situation of her little wings too. Rather than draining the pond to catch the fish, Miss Top Courtesan would far sooner accept a steady, trickling stream of support.
The means of devouring everything clean in one gulp were reserved for places like the wolf den and Folded Space D-07.
Faced with such a deeply heartfelt gift, Li Fei rolled out of bed in one motion and carefully stowed away the heavy potions—a quantity that, even by her moral standard, wouldn't be easy to put to use.
The young madam wrapped her arms around Qin Zhihua's waist, her eyes brimming with moisture, the jet-black, silken ends of their hair tangling tightly together as well.
"You mustn't be too indulgent during this time…"
Qin Zhihua said in soft, gentle tones.
A month or two wasn't long, but considering that last time her seclusion had lasted barely a week, and Li Fei's prior record of organizing team-building outings and games of hide-and-seek, Qin Zhihua still couldn't help admonishing her.
The degree of her wild antics was something even many books wouldn't dare to write.
——I'll try my best.
Li Fei nodded, obedient yet guilty.
Qin Zhihua of course knew her nature; after all, what she'd fallen for in the first place was exactly that free-spirited charm. But everything has to have its limits, and someone needed to keep an eye on her, lest she lose all sense of proportion.
And so, after a slight hesitation, she called out in a trembling voice:
"Ling'er, come in."
After a silence neither long nor short, Su Ling'er, her face flushed red, walked barefoot into the bedroom.
She had clearly just bathed; the tea-colored long hair draping down behind her head still held a trace of dampness, and her whole person gave off a faint fruity fragrance. Her cheeks were dyed with rosy clouds, and her glittering, big eyes peeked down at her own snowy, tender toes, not daring to meet the gazes of the two. A pale-yellow nightdress set off her skin—so delicate it seemed it would burst at a touch—to look all the more dewy and soft.
The normally playful and free-spirited Su Ling'er looked exceptionally bewitching and adorable tonight.
She lowered her head, and quietly, gingerly shut the door; and the moment the young madam saw that shy, guilty look of hers, she understood at once.
Push—ah no, the dowry maid was joining the loving-and-harmonious big family ahead of schedule.
How could this be allowed?
The young madam walked over, the warmth of her palm passing into Ling'er's back, and said softly:
"Sister Ling'er, are you really willing?"
Su Ling'er bit her lip, even her exquisite little earlobes flushing red, and only after a long while answered in a nasal murmur:
"Mm…"
Qin Zhihua silently pressed a hand over her own lower belly.
She had melted her feelings for Li Fei into her own cultivation art and sword intent; the more enduring and weighty those feelings, the more perfected the art became, and the purer the sword intent.
And the sour, melancholy sentiment welling up from the bottom of her heart was a feeling too.
The trajectory of her True Qi grew ever more wondrous; one fine meridian after another was opened through, one acupoint after another activated.
The sore, itching, swelling ache at the dantian was urging her to break through to the next realm as soon as possible.
The True Qi… was about to overflow.
Qin Zhihua sighed faintly, quietly switched off the light, and then lit a single red candle.
...
With the sun already high in the sky, Li Fei finally stirred awake. Eyes still shut, she climbed out of bed, gulped down two liters of water glug-glug-glug to replenish the weight she'd lost, then deftly pulled open the drawer—drinking medicine, applying medicine.
Only once she was seated at the dining table did she lazily open her eyes.
Breakfast was sandwiches.
Su Ling'er's face went red, while the young madam curled the corner of her mouth.
Two slices of bread pressing a "three" in the middle… Niiice! Nice!
Polishing off a whole plate of sandwiches along with Serpent-woman scale soup, Li Fei then helped Qin Zhihua tidy her garments and saw her to the door.
Qin Zhihua had changed into white close-fitting traveling clothes, her ethereal air undiminished, with an added measure of chivalrous flair compared to usual.
"I'll be there and back in a flash."
Qin Zhihua's expression was as gentle as ever.
"Mua~"
The young madam returned a blown kiss.
A month or two really wasn't long; after a fierce send-off, both could face it with an even, ordinary heart.
After a parting with little in the way of sorrow or melancholy, Li Fei and Su Ling'er leaned by the doorway, watching that snow-white-robed, peerlessly elegant figure recede farther and farther, until it vanished from sight.
"Sister Ling'er, please look after me from now on."
Li Fei smiled with a hint of slyness.
In theory, with Su Ling'er accompanying her, if she got too out of hand, then by the time Lady Zhihua returned she'd be in for a thorough reckoning.
But Miss Top Courtesan had always been adept at adapting———if she could pull Miss Qin's personal maid into the gang as well… surely Sister Ling'er wouldn't go reporting on her own self, would she?
Li Fei could faintly sense that Su Ling'er was, by nature, rather similar to herself; she reckoned it wouldn't be long before she'd have one more good sister to get up to no good with.
"Mm..."
Su Ling'er still looked a little dazed, not yet recovered. Li Fei took her by the hand, instructed Miss Maid to escort her back to her room to rest, then sat down snugly beside Sofia on the sofa and played with little Yawen.
With her daughter born, Sofia naturally had to take leave. It was hard to imagine that this little princess of the Tolledo Clan—possessed of an iceberg-type supermodel's figure and bearing, looking aloof and noble—could also have such a maternally overflowing side.
Eva, on the contrary, still looked free-spirited and bewitching, no different from before.
Excellent!
My daughter Eva truly has the makings of a Tea Emperor.
Worth mentioning is that Eva and Sofia each now had an extra gold ring in hand, while around Yawen's neck was a gold lock—gifts from Lady Zhihua the day before.
"I want to go out…"
Eva hung from Li Fei's neck, pleading.
Flying and frolicking out in nature was a fairy's nature; even the quiet, reliable Ram would go out to stretch her wings when she had nothing to do, and Eva, cooped up at home awaiting the birth these past few days by the Mother of Fairies, could be said to have been bored stiff.
Li Fei took a fairy fruit from the tea table, peeled it carefully, and fed it bit by bit into Eva's mouth, asking with concern:
"Are you feeling better?"
"Mm-hm."
Eva nodded again and again, her wings spreading open like a peacock's display, looking full of vim and vigor.
Many Transcendent beings also experience postpartum trauma—not physical, but rather the Transcendent factor in the bloodline being passed on to offspring, which casts the self into a period of weakness. But for fairies, such a situation was relatively rare.
On top of that, fairies born directly of the Mother of Fairies received the very finest treatment—the fairy maids especially, who snacked on fairy fruit and similar good things, were amply nourished. And so Eva looked brimming with energy.
"Off you go, then. Be careful."
Seeing she didn't seem to be unwell, Li Fei nodded her assent.
Eva cheered, planted a kiss on the faces of her mother and of her wife and daughter, and flew out the door, somewhat unable to wait.
The room grew a good deal quieter all at once, leaving only Yawen's "goo-goo" cooing. From the tone alone, one could tell the little one was in a fine mood.
Li Fei sucked the fairy-fruit juice off her hand, found the taste rather nice, and simply peeled one for herself, biting off a mouthful, then held it to Sofia's lips:
"Here."
Sofia instinctively took a bite, only then realizing something was off, her body stiffening.
A vampire's heart only beats when their emotions surge, and over this stretch of time getting along with her mother-in-law, the newly-minted mother—Miss Constable—had had her heart beat more times than the past ten years combined.
"What are you so nervous for—afraid I'll eat you?"
Li Fei shot her a reproachful sidelong glance, then cut off a tiny cube of fruit flesh, bent down, and fed it to the half-blood little fairy.
Her mother-in-law's lovely hair draped down, brushing in and out of contact with Sofia's fingers; breathing in the faint scent of that hair, a fluttering thought once again surfaced in Sofia's heart:
If she were mine…
Feeding the last bit of fruit flesh to Sofia, Li Fei looked at those somewhat dazed blood-red pupils, feeling immensely pleased at heart, the hunter's instinct quietly welling up too.
And so, a few minutes after Lady Zhihua had departed, the young madam bewitchingly tucked one side of her long hair behind her ear, rested her chin on the shoulder of the vampire lady beside her, and said in a breathy voice:
"I don't know why, but I feel like I'm a little jealous of Eva~"
With the tea fragrance flooding her mind, Sofia's crimson lips instinctively parted, her sharp fangs lengthening. Miss Top Courtesan, who was on intimate terms with the vampire publicist Isabella, understood that the little tease just now had been wildly effective.
Next, time to whet the appetite.
Li Fei curled the corner of her mouth: "Just~ kidding."
Leaving behind that line in an ambiguous tone, the young madam withdrew and slipped away, leaving only the tea fragrance lingering.
And Yawen's "goo-goo" cooing sounded all the more cheerful.
Good fortune always favors the beautiful, because the Goddess of Fate will halt her steps for them too.
Over the course of one afternoon, Miss Kaname Madoka smoothly recovered the gambling stake that belonged to her.
Eleven thousand two hundred, at four-to-one odds, came to forty-four thousand eight hundred in hand; after deducting the principal, her Wealth Points rose by 33,600 as well.
And Li Fei also successfully used cash to purchase a reusable set of materials for the [Witch Sickness Suppression Ritual], along with three single-use ones.
Next, without a moment's pause, she hurried off to the aquarium.
The aquarium wouldn't open for business until tomorrow, but as a close friend of an insider, getting an early tour was naturally no problem.
And so, accompanied by Lady Kalida, Li Fei and Bai Mengtian, hand in hand, stepped together into the "sacred site for dates."
Past the ticket gate, one could see the magnificent, sumptuous front hall, its interior design steeped in a decadent petit-bourgeois style.
——With magic, getting construction done really is fast…
Li Fei marveled silently, sauntering over to take a peek into a shop that looked very much like a subway-station convenience store.
The shop hadn't opened yet, but all the goods were stacked neat and orderly. Li Fei swept a glance over the price tags on the shelves and couldn't help sucking in a cold breath:
"Hsss… girl, you really know how to do business."
A single can of cola in here actually cost 3 gold coins! Chips and instant noodles, 5 gold coins!
——You wicked capitalist, damn it! Even an airport wouldn't dare charge that much!
Li Fei carped sourly.
"This is an exclusive product, you know."
Bai Mengtian, full of smug delight, casually pulled open a freezer, grabbed three Magnum ice cream bars priced at 9 gold coins each, and tossed the chocolate-flavored one to Li Fei:
"Being expensive isn't a flaw of the product—it's a flaw of the customer."
"Take it back, I don't eat a capitalist's stuff."
Even as Li Fei said this, she was tearing open the wrapper, and incidentally took a matcha-flavored one out of the freezer too.
Savoring the long-missed taste of ice cream, Li Fei paced contentedly down the long, long tunnel.
The entire tunnel was crafted of transparent material; even underfoot was a spotless mirror surface, gleaming as if brand new, yet stepping on it one felt friction—no slippery sensation, hard to slip and fall. The two sides and the top, meanwhile, were arched into curves, sealing off the myriad bizarre sea creatures.
The long, narrow, hushed tunnel, with deep-blue seawater above, below, left, and right—water plants, coral, sea creatures, and the vast, hazy-white sunlight cast into the water composed a gorgeous, enchanting scroll, while at the same time making one feel as though plunged into the deep sea, with a suffocating sense of pressure.
Li Fei pressed her lips into a tight line, immersively experiencing the tour of an other-world version of an aquarium.
She saw a Siren's long hair flash and vanish in the water; she heard the faint, intangible singing voice of the sea sirens; she felt the enormous nine-headed sea monster ceaselessly battering the passage, yet, finding itself utterly unable to break the transparent material no matter what, that frenzied rage—along with a faint trace of fear.
"If you sign up for membership, you can receive the up-close, personal service of sea sirens, Sirens, sea angels… as well as the mermaid misses, you know."
At the tunnel's end, this sales pitch from Bai Mengtian utterly ruined Li Fei's good mood.
"Vulgar! Crude! Burning a zither to cook a crane!"
Li Fei denounced loudly, then lowered her voice and asked: "How much do you have to pay for membership?"
"99,998."
Bai Mengtian smiled radiantly and brightly.
Li Fei puffed up her cheeks and muttered:
"Even my naming fee isn't that expensive…"
"All right."
Kalida, who had been silently accompanying them the whole time, squeezed in between the two, grabbing one in each hand, led them to the lounge area and sat them down properly, a smile on her face:
"Miss Spell Encyclopedia, it's time we talked business."
"Mm-hm."
Li Fei sat up straight, hands on her knees, striking a posture of attentive listening, looking obedient and earnest—yet her gaze drifted toward those plump, fleshy long legs.
This time, there were no jumbled bits of writing of varying sizes on them; instead, a long piece of archaic-style literature had been written out in tiny, fly's-head regular script.
When Kalida got down to business, she could always give people the feeling of a refreshing spring breeze. She produced a can of cola and handed it to Li Fei, her eyes brimming with a smile:
"Take a look at this."
"Uh, this…"
One side of the cola can clearly bore a portrait of Li Fei's upper body, with flamboyantly flourishing little characters beside it:
Miss Spell Encyclopedia Co-Branded Limited Edition.
Then came a bag of chips, its packaging also bearing Li Fei's likeness:
Angel of the Forsaken Isle Co-Branded Limited Edition.
"To put it in Bai Mengtian's words… are you interested in being the aquarium's spokesperson?"
Kalida, on behalf of the city hall, extended the olive branch to Li Fei, saying with utter sincerity: "I think you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in all of Loxibrook better suited than you."
"No problem."
Li Fei agreed to it cheerfully.
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