22 - Crazy! Criticizing the Prime Minister for Being a Servant

Chapter 15: The Gift Luo Sheng, having spent his childhood wandering among various bridge arches and abandoned temples, had little understanding of the conversation at hand. He could only sit quietly, holding his bowl of rice, while listening to the two of them make plans. Although Liu Ruying had joined the outer sect early, her family was relatively affluent. The things she could think of were far from cheap. After racking her brains, she finally came up with something affordable. “Why don’t you carve an amulet for Elder Ran?” she suggested. Ning Songwu blinked her eyes. "Sounds good, but where would I get the money to buy jade?” Liu Ruying asked, “Doesn’t your master give you a monthly stipend?” Shrugging her shoulders, Ning Songwu replied, “It’s just the two of us on the mountain. We don’t worry about food or clothing, so I never thought to ask for pocket money.” “And you both get a stipend?” Luo Sheng raised two fingers silently. “Twenty taels a month? That’s not bad…” Liu Ruying guessed. Luo Sheng corrected her seriously, “Two hundred taels a month.” Ning Songwu did some quick calculations on her fingers. That’s roughly forty thousand per month. Oh, heavens... The two then turned their attention to Liu Ruying, the lady of genteel demeanor. She sighed lightly, “I get one hundred and fifty taels per month. After all, there are more people on our peak. The income from consultations belongs to us, but recently, since I’ve been with you two, I haven't earned much from consultations.” Ning Songwu raised her hand to clutch her chest. What kind of harsh life was she living? “When we go back, I have to ask for a stipend too.” Liu Ruying nodded, “You should. About that auction I mentioned earlier, I found out that the entrance fee is fifty taels, which is refundable. As for the set of defensive tools you’re interested in…” She raised one finger. “The starting bid is ten thousand taels, with each raise being at least one hundred taels.” “If you want to win it, you’ll need to prepare at least three hundred thousand taels.” Ning Songwu sipped some hot water, trembling, and sighed, “It might be even more.” She remembered from the original story that even when Lin Yuxue had raised the bid to eight hundred thousand taels, others were still offering higher bids. Although she was planning to be a bit shameless this time, the price wouldn’t necessarily be lower. After thinking for a while, Liu Ruying proposed, “Why don’t you use your spiritual power to create something that can alter the surrounding temperature for Elder Ran?” Luo Sheng nodded in agreement. [In the end, the gifts we give to teachers always come down to hand warmers, U-shaped pillows, and flowers, don’t they?] Elder Ran Fanyin looked up to see her disciple standing hesitantly at the door, holding a small pillow-like object. Upon being noticed, the girl's resolve hardened, and she thrust the soft pillow into Ran Fanyin's hands. “Master, just wait a moment,” Ning Songwu said while forming a hand seal. The imprinted marks on the pillow glowed faintly with white light. After a while, she asked through gritted teeth, “Master, do you feel any warmth?” Understanding what the little girl intended, Ran Fanyin smiled more genuinely than usual, drawing her apprentice closer with a red string and speaking gently, “What is my spiritual root attribute?” “Heaven-grade fire…” Ran Fanyin patted the girl's shoulder. “If you wish to learn temperature control, I will teach you once you reach the Golden Core stage.” Deflated, Ning Songwu was once again at a loss for what to gift. She couldn’t possibly sew a U-shaped pillow, could she? But if Master could control temperature, why did she always catch cold from the wind? Careful nursing had made her better now, but her naturally weak heart and lungs still puzzled Ning Songwu. Let that be a problem for later; there were more pressing matters. Seizing the moment, she told the other two about this dead-end path and asked if there were any other options. Liu Ruying was also at a loss. Most of her viable ideas had been ruled out. What to do next? Seeing the two deep in thought, Luo Sheng straightened up and said, “I have an idea.” Luo Sheng cleared his throat, “How about this, Ning Songwu, you cook a meal for Elder Ran?” “When Master cooks for me, I get extremely happy.” The girl's eyes sparkled, as if talking about her treasured possession. She even nodded to herself as if to add weight to her words. Liu Ruying gently nudged the contemplative girl, “Can you cook? Laba Festival is coming up. Why not give it a try?” "You're right, sis. Laba congee surely wouldn’t poison anyone, would it?” Ning Songwu caught the critical part, then sneered, “I’m the oldest here, yet you don’t call me 'sis.' Nor do you even call me 'senior sister.'” Luo Sheng coughed twice, burying his head back into his rice, pretending not to hear. Ning Songwu chuckled, “I suddenly thought of a good gift, Ah Sheng.” “W-W-What?” “Pluck some fur for me, would you? I can’t cook, but I can weave a scarf.” Don't ask why. It's just something a bored college freshman once jumped on the bandwagon to do. Never actually finished it, but knitting a scarf seemed like a decent idea. Luo Sheng instinctively covered his tail, shifting closer to Liu Ruying, “What?! I’m a grey fox, it’s unattractive.” Hearing this, Ning Songwu's eyes widened. “Huh? You’re grey? Not red?” Luo Sheng found this odd, “If I were red, wouldn't I be from the pure-blooded demon king lineage? How could I be wandering about?” Another inconsistency with the original story. --- Back at the peak, Ning Songwu buried herself in the study, staying there until deep into the night. Despite her lack of secrecy about her thoughts, which Ran Fanyin could hear loud and clear, the elder slightly adjusted Ning Songwu’s training schedule for the day without further comment. [Why are there so many inconsistencies with the original story?] She held her pen, meticulously listing the differences between the plot and the current reality. First, Luo Sheng was neither the heaven-grade water spiritual root nor the red fox depicted in the book. But that character didn't appear much in the early stages of the original story, possibly due to some fortuitous encounters later. Could there be an encounter that turns a mid-grade water spiritual root into a heaven-grade one and changes fur color too? Next, Lin Yuxue—the protagonist. Ning Songwu had altered her plot trajectory immensely. She suspected that there were unscripted or poorly detailed elements about the protagonist's character. Lin Yuxue’s obsession with becoming Elder Ran’s disciple was oddly intense. Ning Songwu had considered another possibility—that the protagonist was being forcefully guided by the plot. But if that were true, it wouldn't explain the other three people. Liu Ruying might have escaped the fate of becoming a mere plot device cannon fodder, but Elder Ran Fanyin, her beloved master, was a character whose setup scarcely resembled the original. [Born with weakened heart meridians.] [Prone to illnesses.] [Continually refusing the protagonist’s goodwill…] She conjured these points in her mind, comparing them with the fates written for each character. Besides Liu Ruying’s becoming questionable, Luo Sheng was still destined to return to the demon clan to rule. Both she and Elder Ran were still fated to die. In truth, she checked on this a staggering eight hundred times a day, much like obsessively checking exam results in her past life, hoping for a potential turnaround despite knowing the outcome was set. With no major plot events occurring yet, how could there be any change? Ning Songwu, resting her head on her hand, pressed the pen against her cheek, deep in contemplation over the sheet of paper. In the original story, Lin Yuxue gave Elder Ran an extremely extravagant birthday gift. The specific item was never described, only Elder Ran’s reaction—her normally cold expression softened, and she allowed Lin Yuxue a day of rest. It clearly wasn’t a trivial gift and was something Elder Ran deeply appreciated. Ning Songwu feared that if Lin Yuxue gave such a gift again, it might pull Elder Ran back onto her original plot path. Not just for her own survival... Ning Songwu hugged her knees, her gaze fixed on that name. She didn’t want her beautiful master to walk the path laid out in the story—labeled a villain despite being righteous, and dying such a senseless death. Whenever Elder Ran looked at her, those phoenix eyes held a gentle smile, gradually weaving their way into her heart. [It seems, I really do like her.] [Liking a character from a book—isn’t that… rather absurd?] Ning Songwu sighed softly, temporarily setting the matter aside. Her cultivation level was too low, and her spiritual awareness strength was not high enough to notice the person standing outside the door or hear a soft sigh. A hand hesitated at the door before ultimately retreating, taking the purple-robed woman with it from this small world. --- Ning Songwu hesitated and finally tucked the papers filled with her writings into the bottom shelf of the cabinet. She hadn't fully adapted to life here. Her handwriting, although good, was in modern simplified characters, which felt out of place in this world. If someone saw it, it might bring trouble. But since she had toiled all night for this, she was reluctant to destroy it. After much consideration, hiding it in a seam seemed the best option. Not long after she left, the woman in purple walked over, picking up the papers Ning Songwu thought she had hidden well. However... Ran Fanyin battled her thoughts for a long time, ultimately deciding to return the papers to their original hiding place. So be it. Hearing Ning Songwu’s inner thoughts was enough of a pity. Whatever was written on the paper, it was one of the few private secrets the girl had managed to keep. She decided not to be the one to spoil it. This site is ad-free, with a permanent domain.