Chapter 192: Take Me as Your Concubine
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“…Alright, go and come back quickly, be careful on the road.”
Lin Muyu waved her hand helplessly. She always believed that people should bear the consequences of every choice they made. Since Su Xinghe had made up her mind, she wouldn’t forcibly stop her.
“Thank you, Fairy Lin! You’re truly a kind-hearted person!”
Su Xinghe’s eyes instantly lit up. She solemnly bowed to Lin Muyu, then turned and walked away without hesitation.
“A good person?”
Lin Muyu watched the gradually receding figure and gently shook her head.
She didn’t consider herself a good person, she was just doing what came naturally.
The reason she was willing to help Su Xinghe was simply that she couldn’t stand Xiao Huo’s actions.
“Well then, Miss Lin, I’ll also head back to prepare for tomorrow’s competition. If there’s anything you need me to pick up, I can buy it for you on the way?”
At that moment, Xuanxuan, who had been quietly waiting on the side, finally spoke. Her voice was soft, her face carried a gentle smile, and she seemed much less reserved than when they first met yesterday.
“No need to trouble yourself. I’ve already brought everything I need.”
Lin Muyu politely declined.
Xiaotao’s spatial storage had plenty of capacity. A few days ago, she had specifically gone shopping and bought all sorts of pills, talismans, and formation cores that might be useful.
Since the spirit stones her Master had given her were just sitting idle anyway, she might as well exchange them for these practical items to deal with unexpected situations in the secret realm.
“Alright, I won’t disturb you then. Take good care of that frail young lady, and don’t get any improper ideas, okay~”
As Xuanxuan spoke, she playfully winked, and her skirt swayed slightly as she turned to leave.
For some reason, Lin Muyu felt that ever since Xuanxuan had seen through Xiao Huo’s true nature, she had become much more lively, as if she had unloaded a burden that had been weighing on her heart for a long time.
Perhaps she was truly determined to win this competition.
“Get lost!”
Lin Muyu couldn’t help but laugh at Xuanxuan’s teasing and waved her hand with a smile.
A moment later, Lin Muyu sat down at a table near the window on the second floor of the tavern, her gaze falling on Su Xingmian across from her.
Daylight from outside streamed through the carved window lattice, landing on Su Xingmian’s hair and making her appear even more fragile.
Su Xingmian was staring blankly out the window, her eyes vacant, lost in thought.
“May I call you Xingmian?”
Lin Muyu was the first to speak, breaking the silence in the room.
“Mm…”
Su Xingmian seemed to be in low spirits, merely humming softly from her throat, her gaze still fixed outside the window.
“Are you worried about your sister, Su Xinghe?”
Lin Muyu keenly sensed Su Xingmian’s complicated emotions, a mixture of worry and unease. She couldn’t help but ask softly.
“Yes, Fairy Lin, tell me… why is my sister so foolish?”
Suddenly, Su Xingmian turned her head sharply to look at Lin Muyu. Her once dim eyes were now filled with sorrow, and her voice carried a hint of sobbing.
“You mean…”
Lin Muyu touched her smooth chin and followed her lead with a question.
“She could have lived well, but she insists on dragging me along, this burden… I only hold her back.”
Su Xingmian’s tone was full of self-loathing as she earnestly asked Lin Muyu, as if seeking an answer.
“Huh?”
Lin Muyu was taken aback, not expecting Su Xingmian to think this way.
Although she didn’t know what the sisters had been through in the past, seeing the dejection in Su Xingmian’s eyes, she still offered gentle words of comfort.
“You’re her biological sister. Of course she’ll do everything in her power to take care of you. In her heart, you’ve never been a burden.”
“But I… I’m a dying person… Everyone says I don’t have much time left. Is it really worth it for her to work so hard for me?”
Su Xingmian shook her head forcefully, her eyes slightly reddening, her voice carrying undisguised dejection.
So she’s struggling with whether it’s “worth it” — a matter of value?
Lin Muyu understood now. This was something she was very good at.
In her previous life, when she was a teacher, she’d done plenty of counseling work with students.
“Of course it’s worth it.”
Lin Muyu leaned forward slightly, her tone serious.
“In life, people need something to hold onto, someone to care about. You are your sister’s anchor, the motivation that drives her to live on and become stronger.”
“If you weren’t here, she would truly be lost, not knowing for whom to live in the days ahead.”
Hearing this novel perspective, a glimmer of light seemed to flash in Su Xingmian’s eyes. Her previously dim gaze gradually brightened. She stared at Lin Muyu and asked softly.
“Then what is Fairy Lin’s anchor?”
“My anchor?”
Upon hearing this question, a trace of confusion suddenly flashed through Lin Muyu’s eyes.
She had been in this world for less than 2 years. All this time, she’d had only one goal: to survive.
But as for what to do after surviving, what to pursue, she had never seriously thought about it.
However, this confusion lasted only a moment before being replaced by determination.
Because in these 2 years, she had already formed deep bonds with this world.
She had made a group of friends, gained many family members who were closer than blood relatives despite having no blood ties. As for her Master and senior sister… she wouldn’t mention those two troublesome women.
“Of course I have an anchor too.”
Lin Muyu’s tone was firm and resolute, her eyes full of determination.
“It’s precisely because I want to protect them that I’m so eager to become stronger. Even if fate tries to stop me, I’ll find a way to fight against that fate!”
“That’s what you say… but I really can’t help my sister at all. Instead, I only make her worry about me…”
Su Xingmian lowered her eyes, her voice dropping again.
But halfway through her words, she seemed to have a new idea. She suddenly lifted her head, her gaze firmly shifting to Lin Muyu, her eyes bright and her breathing quickening.
Before Lin Muyu could speak, Su Xingmian suddenly threw out a question she hadn’t expected at all.
“Fairy Lin, do you like girls?”
“?”
Lin Muyu instinctively waved her hands hastily, her tone urgent.
“Don’t misunderstand! I promised your sister I absolutely wouldn’t make a move on you!”
“That’s not what I mean!”
Su Xingmian quickly waved her hands, her cheeks flushing slightly as she explained.
“I’m not saying you have thoughts about me. I just wanted to ask… do you prefer girls?”
Lin Muyu breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t want to be misunderstood again.
Although she didn’t know why Su Xingmian was suddenly asking this, as long as it wasn’t a misunderstanding, she had nothing to hide.
Lin Muyu honestly nodded, her tone frank.
“Indeed, compared to those men, I prefer being around fragrant and soft girls.”
Lin Muyu’s sexual orientation hadn’t changed across two lifetimes. It wasn’t something shameful, there was no need to hide it.
She just knew in her heart that liking girls was one thing, but easily falling for someone was another. She would never develop feelings for just anyone because of her orientation.
But what she completely didn’t expect was that Su Xingmian’s next words would leave her mind completely blank.
“Then… could you take me as your concubine? I don’t need any status. As long as you can give my sister some betrothal gifts so she can live better in the future, that’s enough.”
Su Xingmian’s eyes were extraordinarily serious as she spoke word by word, her tone containing not a hint of jest, even carrying a few notes of pleading.
“?”
Lin Muyu was completely dumbfounded and instinctively repeated herself.
“I really won’t make a move on you! Stop thinking nonsense!”
But Su Xingmian seemed not to hear her words. Instead, she leaned forward, her eyes reddening, her voice carrying some urgency.
“What if… what if I make a move on you instead? Would that work? My face has some value too. Won’t you at least try?!”