“Your Highness, are you alright?”
Hearing the loud crash from the study, Qiu Jian thought there was an assassin and rushed in. Seeing the shattered table and chair beside Qiu An, he was momentarily stunned before asking with concern.
“I’m fine,” Qiu An replied.
“The table and chair are just too flimsy. Have the steward get sturdier ones later.”
After speaking, Qiu An walked out.
Qiu Jian stood there staring at the shattered remains on the floor and muttered to himself.
“Flimsy? That’s impossible… this was made of rosewood, wasn’t it? Could I have been mistaken?”
Doubting himself, Qiu Jian touched the splinters on the ground.
“But if His Highness says it’s fake, then it must be fake. Looks like I need to talk to Steward Zhao. Are the suppliers under him trying to cut corners and fool him? Good thing His Highness wasn’t hurt this time. Who knows about the next?”
With that, Qiu Jian left to find Steward Zhao of the prince’s household.
—————
Knock knock.
Qiu An knocked on Guo Xue’s door. Seeing no response, he smiled mischievously and called out.
“Darling, open the door.”
“My dear—open… the door.”
Creaaak.
Before he could finish the second line, Guo Xue opened the door. She stood there, clearly annoyed, and looked at Qiu An.
“Your Highness, we’re not married yet. Isn’t it a bit early to call me your wife?”
“Hehe! You haven’t told me your name, so I can only call you ‘darling.’ Besides, becoming my wife is just a matter of time—calling you that early doesn’t matter.”
Qiu An acted as if he didn’t see Guo Xue’s irritation and walked past her into the room.
“You…”
Guo Xue was so speechless with frustration she didn’t know what to say.
“Don’t be mad, darling. Here, have a glass of water.”
Qiu An poured a cup and tried to hand it to her, but Guo Xue refused coldly.
“I don’t want it. You drink it yourself.”
“Oh, alright then. I’m a bit thirsty anyway.”
Qiu An took a sip himself.
As she watched him drink, Guo Xue realized he was using the same cup she’d used. Her face turned red, a blush spreading from her cheeks to her neck.
“Darling, what’s wrong? Is it hot?”
Seeing her blushing, Qiu An asked curiously.
“A bit, yes. I’ll open a window.”
Flustered by his words, Guo Xue blushed harder, quickly opened the window to hide her embarrassment, and returned after taking a few deep breaths.
“We’re not married yet. Stop calling me ‘darling’ in case someone misunderstands. My name is Guo Xue.”
“Hmm…”
Qiu An thought for a moment and said,
“Alright, then I’ll call you Xue’er when others are around, and only call you ‘darling’ when we’re alone.”
“You…!”
Guo Xue pointed at Qiu An, fuming but speechless. She didn’t expect the dignified prince’s heir to be such a rascal. But knowing she still needed his help, she finally sighed.
“Fine, whatever makes you happy.”
“So, what do you want from me? If there’s nothing else, please leave. I need to rest.”
Her words reminded Qiu An of his main purpose. He pulled out three porcelain bottles from his robes and placed them on the table—two white, one yellow.
“Darling, these two bottles contain twenty Qi Condensation Pills to speed up your cultivation and help you reach Martial Sect level faster.”
He pointed at the white bottles, then to the yellow one.
“This one has a High-Grade Sect-Breaking Pill. When you reach the peak of the Martial Master level, it gives you a 70% chance to break through to Martial Sect.”
“How do you know I practice martial arts? And that I’m at the Martial Master level?”
Guo Xue looked at the pills on the table, then at Qiu An, puzzled. Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. If her family hadn’t been completely disconnected from the Prince of the Frontier, she might have thought he had something to do with her family’s tragedy.
“Uhh…”
Qiu An was momentarily stunned. He had learned her cultivation level from the system—obviously, he couldn’t say that.
As Guo Xue stared at him, Qiu An’s mind worked quickly before he smiled.
“Hehe, darling, it was Granny Rong who told me.”
“Don’t underestimate her—she’s actually a Martial King. She said you were a Martial Master.”
“Really? But I’ve never revealed my cultivation. How could she tell?”
Guo Xue was still suspicious.
“Hehe, Granny Rong has been cultivating for decades. She has sharp eyes. Of course, she could tell.”
Seeing she was still doubtful, Qiu An quickly changed the subject.
“Darling, just focus on cultivating in this Qingfeng Courtyard. If you get tired, come chat with me to relax.”
“I have things to do, so I’ll leave you to rest.”
He turned to leave but suddenly remembered the Nine Yin Manual, so he turned back and handed her the book.
“Darling, this is the Prince’s family’s ancestral manual. Study it well. If anything is unclear, come to me. Even though I’ve lost my powers, I can still help you interpret it.”
“And don’t forget to take those pills.”
“Mm.”
Guo Xue nodded.
Just as she nodded, a notification rang in Qiu An’s mind.
“Ding! You’ve given Guo Xue 20 Qi Condensation Pills and 1 High-Grade Sect-Breaking Pill. According to system rules, you will receive a hundredfold return: 2,000 Qi Condensation Pills and 100 High-Grade Sect-Breaking Pills have been added to your storage ring. Please check.”
Qiu An froze, then burst into joy. He quickly took another bottle of pills from his ring and placed it on the table.
“Darling, here’s another 10 Qi Condensation Pills. These should last you until you reach Martial Sect level.”
“Mm.”
Guo Xue nodded again, touched.
She had bought Qi Condensation Pills before—each cost 100 taels of silver, and she couldn’t afford them often. Yet Qiu An just casually gave her thirty pills, plus a High-Grade Sect-Breaking Pill worth over ten thousand silver taels.
Qiu An waited several seconds for another system notification, but nothing came. A bit disappointed, he realized it only worked for items he purchased himself, not ones from the system.
“Darling, focus on your cultivation.”
With that, he turned to leave, closing the door behind him.
Thankfully, although this world’s cultivation realm names were different from those on Earth, the training methods were similar. Otherwise, he wouldn’t know how to explain things to Guo Xue.
Guo Xue looked at the Nine Yin Manual in her hand, then at the bottles on the table, and a smile slowly spread across her face as she murmured:
“Maybe… marrying him wouldn’t be so bad after all.”
She sat down and began studying the manual.
—————
Tianqian Imperial Palace – Wuji Hall
“Any news of Xue’er?”
The Tianqian Emperor’s face was dark as he glared at the chief eunuch, Wu En.
“Forgive me, Your Majesty. We still have no news of Miss Xue.”
Frightened by the emperor’s cold expression, Wu En immediately dropped to his knees.
“Useless! It’s been over a month, and you still haven’t found her.”
“If anything happens to Xue’er, I’ll send you to join her!”
“I’ll give you one more month. If you don’t find her, don’t bother living anymore.”
“Yes, Your Majesty! I will assign more men to search for Miss Xue.”
Wu En kowtowed and accepted the order.
The emperor stared at him for a moment before finally saying:
“Get up!”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Wu En rose.
“Have you uncovered the truth behind Guo Haotian’s treason?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. The Shadow Division has confirmed it. It was Prince Weiwu’s son, Jiang Feng, who stumbled upon Guo Haotian secretly meeting with the Northern Rong. At that time, Guo was handing over the Cuyuan Pass defence maps. Jiang Feng caught him red-handed.”
“The Northern Rong also confessed. Guo accepted a bribe of 100,000 silver taels in exchange for the classified military maps.”
Wu En bowed as he spoke.
“Hmph! Do you think Guo Haotian would betray the Tianqian Empire, betray me, for a mere 100,000 taels of silver?”
The emperor glared coldly.
“Your Majesty… I don’t believe he would.”
Wu En hesitated before answering respectfully.
Rate and review this novel on NU to help people find this novel. Bonus chapters on reaching milestones. Happy reading!