Phoenix Destiny

As soon as Lu Mingshu got off the stage, Tan Yubing rushed over to hold her.

Lu Mingshu bowed to the three chaperones before making her way back to get treatment.

“Who’s plotting against you? That was too dirty!” Tan Yubing yelled as she put Lu Mingshu down and shut the door.

Lu Mingshu smiled at her while untying her belt. “Kou Wei was plotted against more than ten times. This is just a small thing.”

“Let me.” Tan Yubing took over and carefully took off the clothes that were sticking to Lu Mingshu’s wound. “There were such matters?”

“Yeah.” Kou Wei said it during one of their meetings. It’s just that he was so skillful and daring that nobody had ever succeeded against him, so it wasn’t well remembered.

After checking all of Mingshu’s injuries, Tan Yubing heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s not serious, you’ve just lost too much blood. You should take some medicine to enrich your blood.”

Just then, somebody knocked on her door.

Tan Yubing let Lu Mingshu rest while she went to get the door.

A servant girl was at the door. Upon seeing Tan Yubing, she bowed and showed the items in her hand. “Miss, this servant has received orders to send Miss Lu some medicine.”

“Received orders? Whose orders?” Tan Yubing was still shocked by the story about Kou Wei being plotted against, so she was more alert now.

“Young Master said that Miss Lu would know who he is after receiving the medicine.”

Tan Yubing hesitated and looked at Lu Mingshu.

“Is there a token?” Lu Mingshu’s voice rang from the room.

The servant girl stared blankly at Tan Yubing. “This… Young Master was so worried about Miss that he rushed me here, so he must have forgotten to pass me the token.”

“Miss, please leave,” Lu Mingshu replied coldly. “Nine Jade Palace may be poor, but we still have medicine.”

“Miss Lu…!”

“Senior Aunt Tan, please send her off.”

Hearing Lu Mingshu, Tan Yubing hesitated no more. “Please leave.”

Bang!

The door closed right in the servant girl’s face.

Tan Yubing walked toward her. “Junior Niece Lu, are you sure it’s alright?”

Lu Mingshu fidgeted with the concealed weapon from her earlier fight and shrugged. “Who cares. She was clearly hiding the head and showing the tail.”

(Idiom meaning “to tell a half-truth”)

She didn’t suspect anything at first, but after seeing the servant girl acting suspicious in front of Tan Yubing, Lu Mingshu asked a question to the servant girl. Who knew she would get such an interesting answer?

“This… Young Master was so worried about Miss that he rushed me here, so he must have forgotten to pass me the token.”…if I was actually interested in Xie Lianzhen, I would be on cloud nine. However, Xie Lianzhen wouldn’t act in such a heavy-handed way. That day when we met at the greenhouse, he only hinted at it, so why would he let a servant girl say something so blatant?

Tan Yubing nodded and got somebody to send some water over.

As soon as the water was sent over, somebody knocked on the door again. Tan Yubing went to open it and saw another servant girl standing outside.

“What do you want?” The constant knocking on the door annoyed Tan Yubing.

This servant girl took out a few bottles of medicine as well. “This servant received orders to send Miss some medicine….”

“Token?” Tan Yubing tried not to snap at her.

The servant girl took a piece of jade out of her pocket.

Seeing that she really did have a token, Tan Yubing hesitated for a while before taking the jade to Lu Mingshu. “Junior Niece Lu, take a look.”

Lu Mingshu took a look at the jade and nodded her head. “Accept it.”

Tan Yubing nodded and accepted the medicine.

The servant girl continued, “This is Coagulation Cream, to be applied on the wound.” The servant girl then pointed to another box, “This is a Yiyang Pill, for enriching one’s blood. And this is a patch that you can bring with you anywhere. The next time Miss Lu is injured, she can just apply it without having to bandage.”

Tan Yubing went back to the room to continue cleaning Lu Mingshu’s wounds.

Lu Mingshu suddenly pointed at the medicine that was sent to her. “Just use this.”

Tan Yubing looked at her in shock, but she did as she was told and bandaged it for Lu Mingshu.

After changing, Lu Mingshu took the other medicine. Seeing that she still looked pale, Tan Yubing advised her to stay in. “Junior Niece Lu, stay in today. Anyone who still wants to have a match with you today would be way too thick-skinned.”

Lu Mingshu nodded. “Thanks, Senior Aunt Tan.”

Tan Yubing smiled at her. “We are from the same sect, what’s there to thank?”

But Tan Yubing never expected Lu Mingshu to reply with, “Yes… the same sect. It’s hard for me to be able to thank someone from the same sect.”

Tan Yubing thought of Lu Mingshu’s situation and sighed. The line of Golden Door may be almost insignificant in Nine Jade Palace, and they didn’t have many resources either. However, Tan Yubing’s Senior Sisters and Brothers showered her with love, unlike Lu Mingshu, who only had Gao Xiang by her side.

To Lu Mingshu, Nine Jade Palace wasn’t a shelter over her head; it was more like a jail. To her, leaving Nine Jade Palace may be the best solution.

Tan Yubing sighed. Suddenly, a thought appeared in her mind.

“Junior Niece Lu…”

Seeing her hem and haw, Lu Mingshu just spoke up, “Senior Aunt Tan, feel free to say anything that’s on your mind.”

“Sorry for poking my nose into your business.” Tan Yubing asked cautiously, “Is it the Alioth Star-Lord who sent the medicine over?”

Lu Mingshu nodded. “The last one was.”

“You’ve met before?”

“By chance.”

“Is he…”

“Senior Aunt Tan,” Lu Mingshu cut her off. “Since the last one was from him, who do you think the first one was from?”

Tan Yubing stared at her blankly. She realized how complicated all this was.

Lu Mingshu sighed. It was obvious who the first sender was. Other than that crazy State Master Jia Yan, who would pretend to be the Alioth Star-Lord? She just couldn’t understand what this State Master had in her mind. If you like somebody, why don’t you just go for it? What’s the point of coming after me? Moreover, me and Xie Lianzhen… it isn’t even like what she thinks, and even if it was, she should go after him and capture his heart, not me! Finding trouble with me is just a waste of her time.

She heard Tan Yubing continue, “I just wanted to suggest that, if he’s really interested in you, maybe you could take this chance to leave Nine Jade Palace. However, the Seventh Truth Platform is also a mess….”

Lu Mingshu looked at her and laughed sarcastically. “Why… why does everyone say such things?”

“What things?”

“Must I do that in order to leave the Nine Jade Palace?” she asked softly. “The only way to leave my prison is by marrying someone?”

Tan Yubing sighed. “That’s not what I meant. There are other ways, of course. It’s just that this is the best choice for you given your current situation.”

“But what am I if I do that?” she mumbled as if talking to herself. “Using marriage to escape trouble… isn’t that like selling myself? Is it because the reason is much more noble, that’s why it isn’t considered selling myself? Why does everyone give me the same suggestion?”

Tan Yubing was taken aback by her answer. After realizing Mingshu’s thoughts, Tan Yubing sighed. “Junior Niece Lu, we are all just commoners. What else can we do? We can’t avoid all this. The world has its own rules, and we are just like dust. All we can do is follow the rules.”

Lu Mingshu smiled and shook her head. “But that’s boring. I do not want to live a life like that.”

“Junior Niece Lu…” Hearing her answer, Tan Yubing started worrying for her. “Your mind is a bit scary….”

…

“Token!?” State Master Jia Yan screamed. “She and Cousin have a keepsake? I knew it! It’s all fake! Thick skin, I must…”

Suddenly, the door was kicked open, revealing Xie Lianzhen on his wheelchair and the teenager who kicked the door open.

Xie Lianzhen smiled mirthlessly at her, “You must what? Come, share with me. I want to know too.”