Chapter 86:
This Venerable One’s Ex-Wife Isn’t Low-Maintenance
YE WANGXI VISIBLY CHOKED at these words, but he didn’t grow angry and instead took a moment to gather himself. “You’ve misunderstood. I’m here on the sect leader’s orders to purchase something from Xuanyuan Pavilion, not to follow you.”
Mo Ran and Chu Wanning exchanged a glance. The holy weapon.
Nangong Si swung the jar of wine dangling from his hand, his face darkening even further. “So Father’s asking you to fetch his things now, huh? What, do I have no hands or legs that could do it for him?”
“A-Si… That’s not what I meant.”
“Who said you could call me that?” Nangong Si lowered his brows in a scowl, lightning crackling in his eyes. “Ye-gongzi, don’t think you can be impudent with me because Father is blind enough to be friendly with you… Aren’t you disgusted with yourself?”
“I call you that at the sect leader’s behest. If you dislike it, you can bring it up with him.” Ye Wangxi paused for a few moments. “What’s the point in taking it out on me?”
“Don’t you use Father against me!” Nangong Si drew in a breath and forced himself to regain his composure. There was a cold light in his dark eyes, like a silvery moon in a night sky saturated with beacon smoke.
“Ye-gongzi.” He seemed to drag out the name. “I’m afraid that Father told you to call me A-Si because he has certain misconceptions about your position in the sect. I’d advise you to know your place. You were given an inch—don’t take a mile. After all, no matter what kind of airs you put on, by birth alone, you’ll never be my equal.”
A hint of something dark seemed to flash across Ye Wangxi’s refined features. He lowered his thick curtain of lashes. “The young master is right,” he said quietly. “But I…have never once thought myself to be the young master’s equal.”
The change in the form of address made Nangong Si feel a bit better. He lifted the jar and downed some of its contents. The wine burned his throat, but he had always been able to hold his liquor. He stared at Ye Wangxi for a while longer, then scoffed and waved a hand. “That’s what I thought. Just look at how you are now. How could you possibly—”
He caught himself before letting slip something he shouldn’t in public and abruptly pressed his lips together, saying no more.
A long silence stretched out.
As for Ye Wangxi, even after being humiliated and insulted, his lashes were still lowered. No one could tell if his eyes held any anger or indignation. He gave the onlookers nothing beyond a calm, gentle face, dauntless yet reserved.
The atmosphere was uneasy in the extreme.
Nangong Si looked around uncomfortably for a bit before his gaze landed on the woman behind Ye Wangxi. As if to cover up his near blunder, he cleared his throat and tipped his chin toward her. “Someone you saved?”
“Mn.”
“Where’s she even from? Don’t go bailing out random people.”
“It’s all right. She’s from Xuanyuan Pavilion’s auction.”
Nangong Si had no interest in the auction, nor had he wasted any energy looking into it, but he was duly surprised to hear that Song Qiutong had been bought there. His initially unconcerned gaze sharpened as he stared at Song Qiutong’s face for a while. “So is this thing slave-boned or a Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast?”
In the cultivation world, only two types of people could be openly bought and sold: Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feasts and the slave-boned.
The slave-boned were those born of the union between humans and fae. People feared the inhuman nature of such crossbreeds, so once they were found out, their vital energy was destroyed and a curse was cast to place a slave mark on the bone of their shoulder blades. They were henceforth condemned to servitude.
However, the slave-boned didn’t go for much and were by no means rare. They usually ended up being either servants of the larger sects or playthings of the rich and powerful. Xuanyuan Pavilion wouldn’t bother auctioning some run-of-the-mill thing like that.
Sure enough, Ye Wangxi replied, “A Butterfly-Boned Beauty Feast.”
Newly interested, Nangong Si walked past Ye Wangxi to look at Song Qiutong, circling around her like he was inspecting merchandise. He frowned. “What’s wrong with its leg? Is it defective or something?”
“She was injured when they captured her. We applied a salve; it’s healing,” Ye Wangxi said. “That’s why we can’t walk too far and were hoping to stay here tonight.”
Nangong Si said nothing, only narrowing his eyes. Then he suddenly dove to the side of Song Qiutong’s neck and took a long whiff, like a feral wolf. The lecherous move frightened her so much that she paled, frozen in place while clutching her clothes like she was about to faint.
“Doesn’t smell any different from normal people.” Nangong Si rubbed his nose and sneezed. “Some kinda perfumed powder…” Waving his hand, he asked offhandedly, “How much?”
“Fifty million.”
“Silver?”
“Gold.”
Nangong Si’s eyes flew wide. “Ye Wangxi, are you crazy? Do you know how many top-grade whetstones that would be? And you fucking bought a woman to bring back to me? What, is Rufeng Sect’s money not money to you?”
“I didn’t use the sect’s money.” Ye Wangxi paused. “And I didn’t buy her for you.”
“You—!” The anger that had only just subsided roared back to life. “I see how it is!” Nangong Si snarled. He glared at Song Qiutong, growing more irritated the more he looked at her. That veil straight-up pissed him off, so he ordered her, “You, take that shitty rag off your face!”
Song Qiutong, spooked, clutched tightly at Ye Wangxi’s sleeve. “Ye-gongzi,” she said in a pitiful voice as she shrank behind him. “I…I don’t want to…”
Ye Wangxi’s slender figure wasn’t as tall or muscular as Nangong Si’s, but there was no fear in his eyes as he tilted his head slightly to look up at the other youth. “Young master, she doesn’t want to. Just let her be.”
“You talk too much. You saved her, so she owes Rufeng Sect her life, and that means she has to listen to me. Take it off!”
“I saved her, yes, but the moment I did, I also set her free,” Ye Wangxi said. “So please don’t force her, young master.”
“Who do you think you are, Ye Wangxi?!” Nangong Si punched the door frame in anger. “What do you take me for? Why the hell would I listen to you? If I tell her to take it off, then she’d damn well better take it off. I’ll let you guys stay if she takes the stupid thing off—otherwise, get the fuck out!”
Ye Wangxi sighed, almost imperceptibly, before turning to Song Qiutong. “Let’s leave.”