Chapter 230

“Ah, isn’t this the young lord Jiang Si from Jialan City!”

The newcomer was a plump woman, not particularly striking, but her expensive-looking dress made of snow misty silk was noteworthy. She covered her mouth and laughed, handing over a small item wrapped in white cloth.

“Yesterday, a young lady came to my Qixiu workshop, expressing her deep admiration for the young lord. She specially asked the workshop to make a jade bone fan overnight and asked me to deliver it to you personally.”

Jiang Si feigned a cough, his expression and tone indifferent: “A young lady? Oh—so it was her. I thought she was joking, but she actually made something.”

The proprietress of Qixiu Workshop smiled, spoke softly, and then took her leave, leaving Jiang Si and the others at the table staring at each other until Lin Xun broke the silence: “A jade bone fan? I recall they’re quite expensive.”

“Hmph, just a small token from a follower.”

Jiang Si lowered his eyes and sneered, leaning lazily on the chair, his slender fingers falling on the wrapping cloth.

“I heard that the young lady specifically told the proprietress to embroider a super large ‘Young City Lord is awesome’ on the fan—why bother? I never care about such a false reputation.”

Ning Ning turned and whispered into Pei Ji’s ear: “I think this ‘follower’ might be himself.”

Men always have to earn some face for themselves in front of others.

Jiang Si had been relentlessly crushed by Senior Sister Zheng, and at his weakest, having the Qixiu Workshop proprietress deliver this ‘follower’s token’ in front of them might restore a little bit of his face.

Pei Ji’s breath hitched at her sudden closeness, and he let out a low “hmm.”

The layers of fabric were unwrapped, revealing a delicate and exquisite folding fan.

Jiang Si suppressed a smile, his index finger exerting a slight pressure, causing the fan to open like butterfly wings, unfurling under everyone’s gaze.

The jade bone fan shimmered under the sunlight, reflecting a pearl-like luster. On both sides of the fan, large characters were boldly embroidered:

[The super-sized young city lord is so awesome].

The worst is when the air suddenly falls silent.

Lin Xun stared blankly at those words, then blankly at Jiang Si.

He Zhizhou awkwardly scratched his head: “Uh, this…”

Jiang Si, transformed into a cold-faced doll made of cement, stood motionless as if time had frozen.

After a long while, he finally blinked and looked up at the sky, barely holding back the tears in his eyes: “Do you guys think I’m an idiot?”

Ningning, seeing his pained expression, tried to comfort him: “Don’t be sad, Young Lord, it’s really only a little bit.”

“You’re not exactly an idiot.”

Zheng Weiqi, with a sincere look, ruthlessly added: “For example, you used to be ‘Jiang Si,’ but now all the radicals are gone, and you’re left with just those three drops of water, huh.”

She was calling him a water goods.

(T/N:Zheng Weiqi is making a wordplay with “Jiang Si” (江肆) name. The character 江 (Jiang) means river and contains the three radicals  氵, which consist of three dots representing water. So if you remove the three dots of water (氵) radical from the character 江 (Jiang), what remains is the character 工 (gong), which means “work” or “worker.” Which means that the character 江 (Jiang) is being humorously deconstructed to suggest that without the radical 氵 (which symbolizes water and is an essential part of the character), 江 (Jiang) is reduced to 工 (gong), losing its original meaning related to water (or river). This wordplay implies that the person has lost an essential part of their identity or strength, making them insubstantial or lacking essence, akin to a “phony” or “fake.”

Water Goods (shuǐ huò) which is slang for fake/phony or inferior products.)

A cold, icy wind slapped randomly across his face, and Jiang Si’s expression looked deeply wounded, his heart aching.

It was this woman who made him realize for the first time that he could feel heartache.

As expected of her.

While their atmosphere felt like visiting a grave, the storyteller on the other side froze in his tracks, staring at his manuscripts with terror and horror.

What he had heard today far exceeded his imagination, and he could hardly continue writing.

Just when he was in a daze, he heard Zheng Weiqi’s voice again. She deliberately lowered her volume, whispering into Ning Ning’s ear.

In his daze, he heard her muffled voice: “I think there is something wrong with him. I don’t know if it was influenced by Junior Brother He.”

She paused, seemingly in reflection: “A contagious disease in nature, the two of them together, hopeless.”

Facing away from them, he couldn’t see Zheng Weiqi pointing to her own head while speaking.

She was actually roasting that stupidity is contagious.

(T/N: (tǔ cáo) or to roast is slang that can be used to express your discontent or simply to complain about something or someone.)

However the storyteller was utterly baffled.

What’s wrong with Young Lord Jiang Si? Why would he be influenced by Daoist He Zhizhou? And her last sentence, Contagious… contagious with what sex disease?”

(T/N: the character (xìng) has several different meanings, for example, nature, character, quality, sex, sexuality, ect.. So what Zheng Weiqi said is ‘A contagious disease in nature’ but what the storyteller understands is ‘contagious sex disease’..huhu.. this is super hard to translate… this does not exactly capture the nuance of the sentences, but this is the best I could do..huhu.)

Oh my God, what did he just hear?!

His heart and body trembling, the storyteller mustered the last of his courage to look down at his notes.

〔Xue Xiao is dying.

After enduring imprisonment by Sword Master Zhen Xiao, a love potion by Sect Master Ji, and Jiang Si forcibly taking her heart’s blood, she was beaten to a pulp by Zheng Weiqi until bleeding from seven orifices, with lingering affections for him.

Zheng Weiqi loves Zhen Xiao, loves Xue Xiao, loves Jiang Si, loves Ning Ning, loves Lin Xun, loves Xue Xiao, loves He Zhizhou, loves Ning Ning, and loves Pei Ji.

The Young City Lord is awesome, yet there’s a problem with him. He and He Zhizhou have both contracted sexually transmitted diseases, and there is no hope for them.〕

Goodness, a heartbreaking octagonal twisted fried dough love affair.

As for the last part, he found it so terrifying and perverted.

His shaky gaze slid down further until it finally came to the relationship table of the Xuanxu Sword Sect’s characters that was riddled with countless arrows.

The storyteller’s face turned pale as he lightly waved his writing brush.

Between the lines connecting He Zhizhou and Jiang Si, he drew a small heart.

(T/N: hehe… He Zhizhou and Jiang Si are couple)

Meanwhile, Zheng Weiqi sensed a spiritual consciousness approaching, and Pei Ji’s voice sounded in her ears.

He held his sword with an impassive expression, but his tone carried a hint of difficulty and hesitation, as if saying these words took most of his strength:

“Senior Sister, the book you’re discussing… could you sell me a copy?”