Chapter 18 Proposal

“Liu Longting, where’s the painting I made of you last night?” I hurriedly walked down from the bed and toward the paint rack. If the rack was still here, why could I not find the painting?

Liu Longting put on his clothes and walked over, looking at me bending over backward to look for it in the room. He pulled me into his embrace and nibbled my ear. “Don’t bother looking, if it’s lost then it’s lost. What’s there to be afraid of? Maybe Second Sister took it.”

As Liu Longting said that, I could feel his hot breath against my throat causing me to quickly push him away. If he did not care, then I would not either.

“Liu Longting, will anything bad come out of your family knowing what happened between us last night?”

I was Liu Longting’s shaman and not his wife, after all. What happened between us was outside of the scope of our relationship.

“What bad could happen?” Liu Longting asked me.

“That’s, that’s…”

I could not think of anything at that moment and felt very awkward. I asked Liu Longting to not do these things with me in the future, since the more we do it the higher the risk of being found out.

I did not know what got into Liu Longting that day, the moment I said that, he hugged my waist from behind and leaned in as he said, “But it’s obviously you who can’t hold back every time. You eat me up and then just throw me aside.”

When Liu Longting said that, his palms dishonestly went toward my waist and tickled me, causing me to laugh uncontrollably. I forcefully tried to push him away as I scolded him but he did not allow it. We laughed as he carried me bridal style, spun around a few times, and fell into the blankets.

I sat next to Liu Longting as we ate lunch at noon. Liu Lieyun stared at the two of us for a while and must have sensed that something was off. As she put some vegetables into Liu Longting’s bowl, she asked, “Longting, this trip back home, it feels like there’s a lot of human energy clinging on to you. You’re no longer the same as before, so you should be more careful. You wouldn’t want all your hard work to go to waste.”

Liu Longting did not pay Liu Lieyun any attention and continued to calmly eat lunch, blandly saying he understood.

I felt like what Liu Lieyun said applied to me as well. Liu Lieyun naturally also felt it and kept glancing over at me as if she had something to say but could not say it out loud. She furrowed her eyebrows, put down the chopsticks in her hand, and asked Liu Longting to step outside to talk about some things.

Liu Longting still had vegetables in his mouth when Liu Lieyun asked him out. He mulled over it for a bit and put down his bowl to follow Liu Lieyun out.

I felt like Liu Longting and Liu Lieyun were at odds because of me. What Liu Lieyun had said earlier about the human energy leading to him wasting his hard work… Could this human energy be caused by his intimacy with me?

“Big sister Bai, this is for you.” Jiao'er placed a drumstick in my bowl. I quickly snapped back to reality and thanked Jiao'er.

Jiao'er giggled and asked me, “Big sister Bai, do you like my Third Brother?”

When Jiao'er asked that, my face suddenly paled and I did not know how to answer her for a minute. After composing myself, I told Jiao'er that I was Liu Longting’s shaman, and we were not even the same species, so how could I like him? If I really had to pick something to like, maybe I liked Liu Longting’s skills, but I could not tell Jiao'er that.

“Big sister Bai, I’m good at fortune-telling, would you like me to take a look for you?” Jiao'er said in a way that was unlike her age, kneeling on the chair giggling.

“You’re lying. I won’t believe a spoiled brat like you.”

I smiled as I teased Jiao'er. Hearing that, Jiao'er got so annoyed her eyes widened and she replied me unhappily, “I’m older than you by more than forty years, I’m not some spoiled brat. Also, my cultivation revolves around reading the future. When I become a sage in the future, that’ll be what I do.”

Seeing her being so serious, I stopped joking and said, “Very well. You take a look for me and tell me how it is.”

When Jiao'er saw that I was going along with it, she happily asked me for my hand.

When I handed my hand over, she excitedly lifted my hand. She was reading my palm and looking at my face at the same time. Her small eyebrows scrunched up deep in thought. She told me, “Big sister Bai, your fate is very complicated. I could only understand a bit of it. My guess is that either during your past life or your current one, you had a very strong connection with spirits and fairies, or you could even have been a very powerful fairy yourself. Another possibility is that your soulmate is a fairy or spirit. The former possibility is not that likely since you’re a normal person. If you were a powerful sage in the past, you would’ve looked for a very powerful animal spirit to become a shaman for, not someone like my brother. He’s someone who has a lot of past transgressions, and if you didn’t allow him into your care, he could’ve been sentenced to death by now.”

“Sentenced to death? What do you mean?” My interest was piqued as I asked Jiao'er, “What transgressions did you Third Brother commit in the past?”

Liu Longting normally looked so cool and upright so I really could not imagine what sort of transgressions he could have performed in the past.

“I’m not very clear on the details. All I know is that there were fairies who would’ve caught Third Brother if Eldest Brother didn’t protect him. After that, he somehow became your sage and turned to walk on the path of good. That’s the only way he kept his life, so you technically saved his life.”

Hearing what Jiao'er had to say, I suddenly felt like Liu Longting has been mistreating me all this time. I was the reason he was still alive, and yet he was always giving me orders. Should he not be servicing me every night with massages and feasts?

“Why did you say my soulmate was a fairy earlier?” I asked Jiao'er.

“Now this is easy to explain. Your soulmate is a fairy, which means either in this life or your past life, your husband is a sage. I can’t tell what happened in your past life, but if it’s this one, Third Brother is your animal spirit, so he could very well be your husband. Please don’t shun my brother, even if he committed some sins in the past, he’s still a great man. Furthermore, when you commoners marry into our families, you’ll be doing some shameful things. Doing that will absorb some spirit energy into you. If you’re a woman, you’ll become prettier, and your body will become healthier as well!”

Jiao'er words had me laughing, I asked her if it was actually true. After all which woman could withstand the allure of becoming more beautiful.

“I’m not lying. I know someone who…”

As we were cracking jokes, Liu Lieyun and Liu Longting came back inside. Liu Lieyun gave me a happy smile and asked me to eat some more. However, Liu Longting looked unhappy, and he went back to his room without a word.

Liu Lieyun sat next to me and placed some more dishes on my bowl. She said, “Jing Jing, Longting is not suited to you. He’s such a promiscuous man, so don’t be fooled by him. There were many girls in the past who were fooled by him and ended up losing their lives, you should never let yourself be in that position.”

I vaguely guessed what Liu Lieyun wanted to say. I had wanted to tell her there was no need to talk about suitability since I had no such relationship with Liu Longting, but before I could say anything, the sound of wind chimes came from the front door. A middle-aged woman wearing red and waving around a handkerchief embroidered with peach blossoms walked in with a few tiny men carrying red presents. She did not even bother with greetings, and shouted, “Is Lieyun at home?”

When Liu Lieyun saw the woman, she stood up with an unhappy expression plastered on her face, cursed under her breath, then asked what the woman was here for.

“Me being here, obviously I’m here for a proposal. My house’s master picked up a painting of your third master last night. Today I was sent here to propose to your third master!”