Chapter 471 : Proper Palace Intrigue (10)
“Mistress, just what are you looking for?” Tao Qin watched as s.h.i.+ Sheng entered the library like a bandit entering a village, rummaging through the bookshelves.
How was s.h.i.+ Sheng supposed to know what she was looking for? She was just trying her luck by searching randomly and seeing if she could find anything of use.
‘Eh? This drawing actually isn’t ugly.’
“Mistress…” Tao Qin’s face flushed bright red and she hurriedly blocked the pictures from her vision with her hands. “Why are…these here?”
‘This is an academy, why would there be something so…improper here? And you’re even looking at it with such a calm expression…’
s.h.i.+ Sheng shook the book before placing it in Tao Qin’s hands. “Bring it back.”
“Ah? This…” ‘Why would you want to take this type of book back?’
s.h.i.+ Sheng managed to find several more non-PG13 books from this pile. It seemed someone had managed to sneak some in amongst the rest.
s.h.i.+ Sheng took the ones that had better style and gave them to Tao Qin to hold.
“Mistress… Let’s hurry up and get out of here.” Perhaps due to it being her first time doing something like this, Tao Qin’s voice was beginning to shake.
Pages could be heard rustling as s.h.i.+ Sheng flipped through and scanned each book before abandoning them.
‘Don’t understand. Can’t read this one. Who the h.e.l.l wrote this? It looks like dog scratchings!’
s.h.i.+ Sheng tossed the book aside and leaned against a shelf. ‘There are so many books here—how long am I going to have to search to find the one I need? Also, where is Weiyang Palace exactly?’
“Is there really not a Weiyang Palace?” s.h.i.+ Sheng suddenly asked.
Tao Qin shook her head. “Really, Mistress. Though I suppose it could’ve existed in the past and just had its name changed.”
‘At least, I’ve never heard of a Weiyang Palace ever since I entered. Why is Mistress asking about this all of a sudden?’
s.h.i.+ Sheng scratched her head as she leaned against a bookshelf, pondering.
Her gaze suddenly changed and she lifted a finger against her mouth, indicating to Tao Qin to stay quiet.
All the hairs on Tao Qin’s body stood on end. ‘Someone’s here! If they see Mistress… s.h.i.+t s.h.i.+t s.h.i.+t! Mistress, where are you going?!’
s.h.i.+ Sheng gestured for her to stay silent and quickly rounded a shelf, vanis.h.i.+ng from Tao Qin’s sight.
There was silence for a long time. Just as she was beginning to panic, she suddenly heard a commotion.
Tao Qin took off running in the direction of the noise.
After pa.s.sing several shelves, Tao Qin saw them and froze. s.h.i.+ Sheng was currently pressed up against a shelf by a man. One of his hands was holding her wrist, making sure she couldn’t move her sword.
The noise from before should’ve been from the sword sweeping the books on the shelves to the floor.
The two were currently in such an ambiguous position, Tao Qin didn’t even want to look at them. Though the truth was that s.h.i.+ Sheng had a dagger against the man’s abdomen, out of Tao Qin’s sight.
“Let go.” s.h.i.+ Sheng spoke calmly.
The man’s gentle gaze swept past s.h.i.+ Sheng’s face. “Milady attacked me first—why should I be the one to let go?”
“Why would I have attacked you if you weren’t acting so s.h.i.+fty?” ‘This guy is actually pretty good at fighting.
*flips table*! This weak a.s.s body! If I don’t sneak attack, then I can only lose in a straight up fight! I really have to thank the fact that Yuwen Xun’s so paranoid he didn’t have his people charge in…’
“Why would I be acting s.h.i.+fty if I hadn’t seen Milady sneak in through the window?”
‘…f.u.c.k! So it’s still my(lz) fault?!’
“I(lz) said let go!” s.h.i.+ Sheng thrust her dagger towards him.
The man’s lips raised slightly in a perfect arc.
s.h.i.+ Sheng ground her teeth. ‘Seduction is useless against me(lz)! Don’t think I’ll(lz) show mercy just because you look good!’
“Hss—” The man released s.h.i.+ Sheng. ‘She really dares to stab…’
s.h.i.+ Sheng hadn’t been gentle—the dagger had already sunk in a few centimetres and had definitely left quite a mark on his body.
Fresh blood soaked through his white clothes, as eye-catching as red plum blossoms dotting white snow.
“What were you tailing me(lz) for?” Having won her freedom, s.h.i.+ Sheng immediately pointed her sword at the man.
‘I think this guy was the one I saw beside Yuwen Xun’s sedan the other day. He wasn’t in the plot despite being so good-looking… And he’s not in Zhuang Qiong’s memories either… Could it be he’s the final boss?’
After the last world’s experience, s.h.i.+ Sheng was very suspicious.
The man pressed against his abdomen and huffed out slightly. “Does Milady have to point such a dangerous weapon at me?”
“Don’t talk so mu—f.u.c.k!” s.h.i.+ Sheng’s wrist was captured once more. Their positions switched such that the man had her pinned against the wall. He swiftly grabbed her other hand and pulled both above her head, holding them up there.
‘Aren’t ambushes my(lz) thing?! f.u.c.king copycat[1]!’
s.h.i.+ Sheng’s brain was currently filled with the thought of her ‘copyright’ having been infringed. Added to the fact that said person was pressing on her, she really felt like hacking someone right now.
Tao Qin had already been scared stiff, so she was of no help.
The man exhaled, causing his warm breath to brush past s.h.i.+ Sheng’s face. “Milady mustn’t be so violent—it isn’t an appealing quality.”
“Did I ask for you to like it? How’s it any of your business?!” s.h.i.+ Sheng glared at him. “The h.e.l.l are you pressing me(lz) for?! You wanna molest me(lz)?!”
Though the man appeared to be a very gentle person, his eyes appearing like a pool one could lose themselves in, all s.h.i.+ Sheng saw was a pool filled with hidden danger.
‘This man’s very dangerous! Like Chu Tang[2] levels of dangerous! Only that guy gave me this impression before.’
“If Milady doesn’t mind, then I am certainly willing to accommodate.” The man breathed out slightly next to her ear.
‘Willing your f.u.c.king a.r.s.e! I’m(bbb) not willing to stick around such a dangerous person! Not at all!’
s.h.i.+ Sheng made to kick the man, but it seemed like he had been waiting for this, for he pressed her down with his own legs. This movement caused the two to be pressed even closer.
The thick stench of blood wafted into s.h.i.+ Sheng’s nostrils.
“What do you want?!” s.h.i.+ Sheng took a deep breath. ‘Let’s convince him to release me first. And then hack him to death. Even if he’s Feng Ci, I’m still hacking him!’
She wasn’t willing to hang around people who were too smart; the longer her IQ was put under pressure, the higher the likelihood of her turning into a r.e.t.a.r.d.
“I hold no malice.”
“You’re saying that after doing this? Is anything short of stabbing me ‘not malice’?” s.h.i.+ Sheng’s temper flared. ‘System! Get out here! I wanna discuss those several GBs worth of p.o.r.n you have in that corner of your database!’
[……] ‘Host, what are you talking about? Why do I not understand what you mean? The signal doesn’t seem very good, let’s shut down and restart…’
“Milady is so beautiful, how could I bear to let you die?”
‘Then the h.e.l.l do you think you’re doing?’
The man suddenly leaned towards her, his cool lips brus.h.i.+ng past her cheek to whisper into her ear with a smile, “Ming Jin. My name. Remember it.”
‘And I’m(lz) tomorrow[3]!’
Having s.h.i.+ Sheng’s killer glare fixed on him, Ming Jin released her and swiftly darted towards the stairs leading back down to the first floor.
s.h.i.+ Sheng chucked her sword at him, but Ming Jin agilely dodged and reached his elegant fingers out, actually managing to catch it.
‘He caught it… The…f.u.c.k! Is this guy practising some form of dark magic?! He actually dared to catch blades with his bare hands[4]! Pei! Catch swords!’
“Milady has given me quite a good sword—I’ll take good care of it.” Ming Jin quickly descended the stairs with her sword, disappearing in the rows of bookshelves.
s.h.i.+ Sheng, “…” ‘My(lz) sword!’
[1] In the raws, it’s more of a copy dog lol. Usually used for people who stole other people’s works and didn’t credit the original author.
[2] A reminder: our ML in arc 1.
[3] Ming Jin’s name is 明衿. Tomorrow is p.r.o.nounced ‘ming tian’. Today is p.r.o.nounced ‘jin tian’. So s.h.i.+ Sheng’s switched words around and bit, being like ‘I don’t give a s.h.i.+t whether your name’s Today or Tomorrow!’
[4] I’m not really sure about this since from what I could garner, it’s referencing some guys ability to chuck swords at people and they’d be ‘forced’ to catch it with their bare hands. As you can probably guess, it doesn’t go so well for them.