Chapter 9: The Nature of the Hopelessly Directionless

Of course, this sort of nonsense might fool outsiders, but it was useless against Xiao Jihan. Still, at least she'd made her attitude clear, hadn't she? Surely her favorability score with him should have gone up?

Yan Shu took a quiet, deep breath, her heart fluttering with the same anxiety as checking exam results after the national college entrance exam, and glanced back.

Huh?

Where was he?

She was just about to crane her neck to look for him when Xiao Jihan, his handsome face expressionless, emerged from the courtyard.

Favorability: -65 (Hatred)

Feeling secretly delighted, Yan Shu gazed at the flickering red bar above Xiao Jihan’s head as if it were a golden halo. What a good man, she thought—raising her favorability by 21 points in one go! He was practically the Buddha reborn, or Jesus come again!

Wait a minute.

Last night, when she had carved out his heart’s blood, wasn’t the favorability at -70 (Hatred)? So after all her efforts, she’d only increased it by 5 points?!

Yan Shu’s face immediately fell; she turned and walked off in a huff.

Damn! The most miserly male lead in existence!

Though she was fuming, Yan Shu still led Xiao Jihan around the Wuxu Peak under the watchful eyes of the crowd. Actually, not just once around.

“Why has Elder Yan left the Supreme Peak?”

“You don’t know? I heard that since Senior Brother Qiu beat up that good-for-nothing Xiao Jihan, Elder Yan left the Supreme Peak herself to seek revenge for the useless one!”

“Really? Didn’t Elder Yan treat that useless one as just a servant? Why would she stand up for him?”

“Who knows? Maybe, no matter how useless he is, he’s still Elder Yan’s disciple in name. If Senior Brother Qiu beat him, it’s the same as slapping the Supreme Peak in the face.”

“Have you ever considered another possibility? Though Xiao Jihan is useless, his face is quite something.”

As soon as these words fell, the crowd around fell silent. The speaker realized he’d said too much and hurriedly added, “I’ve lost my mind, just pretend you didn’t hear that.”

Though no one voiced agreement, many inwardly acknowledged the possibility.

By now, Xiao Jihan was at the Golden Core stage; such comments naturally reached his ears. His phoenix eyes instantly grew cold.

So she’d deliberately paraded him around Wuxu Peak just to humiliate him?

Just then, a secret voice transmission suddenly sounded: “How do I get to where new clothes are distributed?”

Xiao Jihan was taken aback, glancing over at Yan Shu.

She still wore that cool, detached expression, focused and serene, the very image of an ethereal immortal, as if the secret transmission hadn’t come from her at all. Only the slight furrow of her dark brows betrayed the faintest hint of emotion.

Yan Shu felt so embarrassed even her toes curled. Since coming out from Sun Changfeng’s place, she’d decided to go all in—why not personally take Xiao Jihan to collect his new clothes, and let everyone see she was backing him?

Yet after circling the peak, she realized she had no idea where the clothing depot was!

Her posture was impeccable, her mysterious, aloof air fully displayed; more and more people were watching. If she asked anyone for directions now, revealing her hopeless sense of direction, what would happen to her image?

Just walking off wasn’t an option either. Xiao Jihan had followed silently for so long—if she suddenly left, wouldn’t he think she was insane?

She’d worked so hard for that 5-point favorability boost; Yan Shu didn’t dare risk it.

Torn between losing face in front of many and losing it before one, Yan Shu finally chose the latter and sent Xiao Jihan a voice transmission.

But he didn’t respond.

Yan Shu felt even more awkward. How could this dog of a male lead be so heartless? She was already so weak, helpless, and pitiful, and he remained unmoved.

Forget it. Either way, she’d lost face and made her intentions clear. Whether he believed her or led the way was his business.

Yan Shu halted, took out a token from her sleeve, intending to call him over and let him handle things himself. Just then, a voice transmission sounded: “Turn left ahead, go straight, third pavilion on the right.”

Yan Shu silently put the token away.

Arriving at the Main Steward Pavilion, the steward was startled at the sight of Yan Shu and hurried up to greet her as Elder.

Yan Shu’s understanding of this world came from books and the original host’s memories. However, the books were vague, and the original host was too aloof, so Yan Shu only knew Xiao Jihan lacked things, but didn’t know exactly what besides clothes he was missing. She simply announced, “I’ve come to accompany my disciple in collecting his belongings.”

Then she stood aside and remained silent.

Xiao Jihan gave her a glance, stepped forward, and saluted the steward. “Senior brother, I’m here to claim my allotted provisions for these months.”

At these words, the steward was stunned. These months—did he mean the entire year or so’s worth as a personal disciple?

That was no small amount!

The most critical point: wasn’t Elder Yan known to treat this useless one as a mere servant, ignoring him completely? Why had she now personally brought him to claim his provisions—and was making up for over a year’s worth?

Where was he supposed to find that much for this wastrel? The provisions had long since been divided up among their brothers!

The steward looked at Yan Shu, his face troubled. “Elder Yan, this…”

Yan Shu glanced at him coolly. “Do as he says.”

The steward’s face fell, but he dared not offend Yan Shu. He could only grit his teeth and say, “May I trouble Elder and Junior Brother to wait a moment.”

Yan Shu gave a faint assent. The steward hurried inside, calling over several other stewards in charge of supplies, and quickly explained the situation.

The others’ faces instantly darkened. The steward said, “Enough talk—Elder Yan is outside backing that wastrel. Spit out what you’ve taken, quickly!”

Someone protested, “The items are fine, but I already spent the monthly spirit stones. What am I supposed to give him?”

Another laughed. “Didn’t you just get a Snow Ganoderma last month? You could sell it to me.”

“That cost me my life! I won’t sell.”

“Won’t sell? Fine—when we can’t make up the amount, we’ll just tell Elder Yan you pocketed the wastrel’s spirit stones.”

“…Fine, I’ll sell!”

After much haggling, they scraped together enough spirit stones. The steward handed the allotted personal disciple’s robes and items to Xiao Jihan.

Xiao Jihan looked at the fifteen mid-grade spirit stones laid before him, his eyes falling.

A personal disciple’s monthly allowance was one hundred and fifty low-grade spirit stones; an outer disciple’s was fifty. Though he hadn’t received the personal disciple’s allowance for a year, he had collected the outer disciple’s. At most, he was owed twelve mid-grade spirit stones, but there were fifteen here.

Xiao Jihan glanced at Yan Shu, knowing exactly why there were three extra stones. He said nothing, took only twelve mid-grade spirit stones, and accepted the robes and other items.

Favorability: -66 (Hatred)

Yan Shu: ???