Chapter 92: Three rooms

If Tu Shan Huaizhi had a second chance to choose, she definitely wouldn’t have impulsively pressed the button to accept the contact invitation.

From just a moment ago, Qin Luoyi and Xia Qingyao, those two Princesses, had already argued to the point where they seemed to forget what heaven and earth even were.

Just on the topics of “whether Qin Luoyi was being polite in her speech” and “whether Xia Qingyao had ulterior motives in her responses,” the two of them chattered endlessly, each sticking to her own side and arguing their cases with all their might.

If it weren’t for their relatively civilized words—since they barely used any foul language at all—plus their prior self-introductions, everyone present—especially Yun Mu—would probably have mistaken them for some young, spirited “aunties” from the countryside.

After all, he really had witnessed the scene of a group of grannies quarreling at the village entrance when he was little.

“Um… they’re so noisy… Elder Sister Yinger, can this thing be turned off?”

The Fox Demon drooped her ears, covering them with both hands, her small figure hiding in the boy’s embrace, eyes tightly shut.

“If you want it turned off… what do you think?”

Yinger walked to the button, but didn’t press it immediately.

She looked down at the slightly frowning youth before her, awaiting his answer.

“Uh… turn it off. It really is quite noisy.”

He answered without a second thought.

“Wait!”

“Please wait a moment.”

Yet with just these words, the two Princesses’ argument was abruptly interrupted.

They both spoke up at once, trying to stop Yinger, but even as they blurted out their protests, they couldn’t prevent this one-sided termination of the connection.

“Hmm… it’s really been cut off? Aren’t you worried they’ll come looking for you? After all, they are Princesses of their own nations.”

With the noise abruptly silenced, Yun Mu’s previously furrowed brow relaxed quite a bit.

“All orders from the Guest take precedence. That’s the First Principle I’ve followed in all my years at Wanbao Pavilion.”

“The First Principle, huh… Looking at it that way, Girl Yinger, you really do have some nerve.”

“Lord Yun Mu flatters me.”

She bowed slightly, saying no more.

What Yun Mu didn’t know was that, though Yinger claimed to be a maid, in the entire Wanbao Pavilion’s branch, she answered only to Lianyi, second only to the master, above all others.

Not just anyone could take on the work of the No.1 Room.

Glancing at Tu Shan Huaizhi, who was gradually calming down, and noticing her slightly wary gaze, Yinger gave a knowing smile.

“If there’s nothing else, Yinger will take my leave first.”

With that, she rose and prepared to leave.

“Please wait a moment.”

Yun Mu called out to stop her.

“Lord Yun Mu, is there something else?”

“Mm… it’s not a big thing, but the Auction is about to start soon, and it’s the first time for my sister and me to attend. We don’t really understand the process, so I’d like to ask you to stay and give us some advice.”

“Advice?”

“Stay here!? No way!”

Before Yun Mu could explain, Tu Shan Huaizhi called out first.

She sat up, wrapping both arms around her brother’s neck, eyeing the curvy Yinger in her qipao with a wary face.

“Um, Huaizhi, is there something you’re concerned about?”

“A-anyway, it’s just not okay! Think about it, this is an Auction House, we even had to hide our identities when we came in, surely the auctioned items must be well hidden too, right? She—she’s an outsider!”

She stammered through a clumsy explanation after quite a while.

There was no helping it; the young girl was shy.

“I just don’t want anyone to interrupt my alone time with my brother”—such words she couldn’t even say in private, much less with Yinger present.

“But… Huaizhi, didn’t we already take off our hats? And as Girl Yinger works for Wanbao Pavilion, she probably already knows our identities, right?”

Yun Mu exposed the flaw in her argument in one go.

“Eh, th-that…”

“Miss Huaizhi, please rest assured. As a member of Wanbao Pavilion, I abide by the most basic Rule: leaking a Guest’s identity is a capital crime.”

Yinger added smoothly.

“Ugh… you two… really now, how can you gang up on me like this?”

“Did we?”

They replied in unison.

“Ugh!”

Tu Shan Huaizhi was utterly defeated.

Her whole body slumped, chin bumping on Yun Mu’s shoulder as she glanced around, sighing helplessly.

“Alright, alright, you can stay, but you have to stand on the left, over there.”

She pointed to an empty spot a little farther from Yun Mu, then gently released her grip from around his neck, shifted her waist, and moved herself to the left, placing herself between the two.

Yinger followed her instructions, standing with her usual bright smile, saying nothing more.

***

Meanwhile, in the No.2 Room, Qin Luoyi was rushing toward the door.

Behind her, a young woman was desperately grabbing her sleeve, her little face flushed red with effort.

“Elder Sister, Luoyi, don’t be impulsive, we still have to attend the Auction!”

“Qin Wanyin, don’t stop me, or I’ll beat you up too! That smiling fox Xia Qingyao is driving me mad—let go already!”

Seeing Qin Luoyi about to break free and dash out, Qin Wanyin dropped her lady-like demeanor and yelled at the top of her lungs.

“Qin Wanzhou, come help me hold Luoyi! Why are you just standing there? Waiting to die? And you too, Qing’er, aren’t you going to help at all?”

Behind her stood a tall boy and a shorter girl.

The girl, Qing’er, wore attire much like Yinger’s, only the color and flower ornaments on her qipao were different.

The boy wore a blue brocade robe.

His eyebrows and eyes bore a seventy percent resemblance to Qin Wanyin.

At a glance, he looked a lot like a much taller version of her.

“Um, Girl Qing’er, could you… help hold my eldest sister back?”

“By Rule, as long as Miss Luoyi hasn’t disrupted the order of Wanbao Pavilion, and since she’s the leader of your group, if she hasn’t given the order… I can’t act arbitrarily for now.”

“Uh… not even as a personal request?”

“No.”

Momentarily speechless, Qin Wanzhou clutched his head in frustration.

On one side was the eldest Princess of the Qin Clan’s generation, the big sister of all the Lixun Imperial City royal descendants—Qin Luoyi.

On the other was his own elder sister, Qin Wanyin, who was a few minutes older than him.

He was stuck—helping or not helping both felt wrong.

‘If I’d known, I wouldn’t have tried to show off in front of Father and gotten dragged into this mess.’

He sighed, and after some thought, decided to help his own sister deal with this commotion.

After all, Qin Luoyi at most just disliked him a bit more, which he didn’t care about—he could simply avoid her later—but a real beating from his sister was a different story.

“Luoyi, I’m only doing this for Lixun’s good. Please don’t hold it against your little brother…”

He spoke while approaching, but before he could take a few steps, everything went dark, his forehead throbbed in pain, and he tumbled to the ground, rolling several times before coming to a stop.

“Uh… Qin Wanyin, is your head made of black crystal stone or something? How is it this hard?”

Still locked in a standoff with Qin Luoyi, Qin Wanyin collapsed nearby, clutching the back of her head and groaning.

“You… you’ve got some nerve… hss… your forehead almost split my head open… hss…”

Both lay on the floor, unmoving for quite a while.

The one responsible, Qin Luoyi, didn’t even spare them a glance.

She suddenly thought of something, walked straight to Qing’er, and her eyes lit up.

“Girl Qing’er, let me ask you, can you tell me the identity of those in the No.1 Room?”

“I don’t know either. That’s not my area.”

“I see.”

She lowered her gaze, then spoke again, “So, can I go to the No.1 Room now?”

Her tone carried hope.

“By the rules, you can’t.”

Qing’er shook her head repeatedly.

“Tch.”

“But once the Auction House ends and we leave this place, all those rules won’t count anymore. By then, whatever you wish to do has nothing to do with our Wanbao Pavilion.”

“No need for you to tell me, I know that.”

“Yes, Miss Luoyi.”

Qin Luoyi didn’t reply further.

She glanced at her siblings lying on the ground, then walked to the window and sat down, lips curling in a faint smile.

“To think I’d run into you here… my Little Yun.”

***

On the other side, in the No.3 Room, Xia Qingyao sat upright in her seat, eyes closed and resting.

On either side of her sat two children—a boy and a girl, twins as well.

Compared to the No.2 Room’s chaos, things here were much quieter.

There were no Wanbao Pavilion maids in their room.

“Xiao Chun, Xiao Qiu, who do you think is gentler, Elder Sister Xia or that Qin Luoyi from earlier?”

“Of course it’s you, Elder Sister Xia.”

“I agree, Elder Sister, you’re much gentler than her.”

“So, has Elder Sister treated you two well these days?”

“Yes.”

They replied in unison.

“In that case, can you tell me why you called that voice from the No.1 Room ‘big brother’?”

“Uh… no.”

They instantly fell silent, shaking their heads.

This left the Princess rather helpless.

If they were ordinary servants, she’d have plenty of ways to question them.

But these two children were the son and daughter of her grandfather—the late King of Xiyun’s—deceased daughter, her own aunt’s children.

Although the girl had never met her aunt since childhood, and hadn’t spent much time with the twins, blood was thicker than water; she couldn’t bring herself to be harsh with her kin.

“Sigh, Elder Sister just wanted to take you out to see the world, and this is how you treat me? It really hurts my heart.”

She decided to try a sentimental approach—she knew this trick worked best on kids.

“Elder Sister Xia, it’s not like that, we didn’t mean to…”

“Yes, Elder Sister Xia, Xiao Qiu and I didn’t mean to…”

‘Hmm… did it work?’

Hearing the anxious voices of Xiao Chun and Xiao Qiu, the girl rejoiced inwardly, but she didn’t reveal her true intentions right away, instead covering her face and pretending to cry.

“Elder Sister Xia, please don’t cry! If you don’t cry, we’ll tell you anything!”

“Y-yes, right, absolutely!”

The two kids grew even more flustered, exchanging panicked glances.

“Wuwu… really? Then can you tell Elder Sister, what is your relationship with that person you called ‘big brother’ just now?”

“No.”

They answered in unison, almost instantly, and even sounded more resolute.

This time, the girl was completely out of ideas.

She rubbed her head, forcing a wry smile, feeling her fate was cruel.

‘Sigh… Forget it… I’ll think of something when we go out. From what I know, this Wanbao Pavilion No.1 Heaven Room hasn’t opened in nearly a hundred years. Lixun’s in No.2, I’m in No.3, Beiming and Baiyao haven’t come, and No.1 is so mysterious… I must try to make a connection there no matter what.’