“Sister, why haven’t you opened the door yet?” The female voice outside was low and slightly husky. Yet it was so enchanting that it stirred one’s heart, making one’s pulse race.

“As expected of a fox spirit!” Lady Luo gritted her teeth inside the room.

This made her even more reluctant to open the door.

She hurriedly tried to fix her appearance but couldn’t find her bronze mirror. Luo Lingyu was nearly in tears – she couldn’t even find the washbasin. She could only hastily feel her way through redoing her hair, managing quick grooming by touch. Meanwhile, the room was still strewn with the porcelain she had shattered earlier, along with the table that Lu Yun had kicked in half before leaving. Luo Lingyu’s face flushed red: how could she let Chen Xue see such an embarrassing scene, letting her immediately notice that Lu Yun had kicked over the table during their argument?

So Luo Lingyu laboriously and frantically went about cleaning up the porcelain shards and hiding the broken table.

She worked until she was covered in sweat.

The door was knocked again twice. Hearing the continuous scratching sounds from inside, Chen Xue said with an ambiguous smile: “Sister, you’re not taking time to groom yourself, are you? Do you expect me to wait two hours?”

Based on Lu Yun’s understanding of Luo Lingyu, when had she ever spent less than two hours grooming before meeting someone? He didn’t want to make Chen Xue wait that long for her.

Chen Xue hadn’t complained long before the door opened, with Luo Lingyu coming to open it herself.

While Luo Lingyu was suppressing extreme jealousy and worried about her disheveled appearance, not wanting Chen Xue to see her, she only quickly glanced up once when opening the door, then lowered her gaze again, affecting the noble elegance of a genteel lady. Lady Luo with her slender shoulders and narrow waist cut a graceful figure, wearing a cyan silk dress, every movement exuding refinement.

Luo Lingyu smiled and invited her guest in: “Please enter, Miss Chen.”

In that casual glance at Chen Xue, she was shocked in her heart – how could this woman be so tall? How could a mere qin player carry herself with such elegant robes and graceful movement, with looks and bearing so aloof and transcendent, even surpassing her noble-born demeanor?

But Luo Lingyu secretly rejoiced: her figure was better than Chen Xue’s. Didn’t Lu Xuchen like her chest? Chen Xue was quite flat, with hardly any chest to speak of.

Luo Lingyu didn’t recognize him at first. Chen Xue’s eyebrow twitched as she removed her shoes to enter, finding it somewhat amusing. Upon entering the room, her cool gaze casually swept over the chamber’s arrangement, seeing it neat and tidy – the earlier chaos from before Lu Yun left was now completely without trace. Chen Xue’s lips curved up in what seemed like a subtle smile.

That smile, caught in Luo Lingyu’s peripheral vision, felt like a provocation.

Luo Lingyu specially served tea to this woman. While pouring, she brushed her cloudy temples. Without looking at Chen Xue, she tilted her face downward, letting her most beautiful visage fall into the other’s view. Luo Lingyu sighed as if showing off: “I must seem laughable to my elder sister. The room is crude because earlier Xuetian brother smashed things during an argument, then said he would buy new ones for me. Who wants his gifts? Yet he insists on giving them, ah.”

Chen Xue gave a low laugh, drawling: “Oh… is that so? He’s not here?”

Luo Lingyu believed this woman had come looking for Lu Yun and her hackles rose. She knelt across from the lady and, as if extremely shy, covered her face with her sleeve, complaining coquettishly: “Xuetian brother told me to wait for him ‘in his room’, but he didn’t tell me Chen Xue sister would be coming!”

Luo Lingyu put on false airs as the hostess: “Shall I have a servant inform him?”

Chen Xue seemed surprised: “Wasn’t it sister who wanted to see me?”

Luo Lingyu lowered her eyelids, inwardly cursing Lu Yun for even telling Chen Xue about this. On the surface, she smiled gently: “Not at all. Xuetian brother just likes to make things up. Please drink the tea, sister. I brewed it myself.”

Chen Xue took a sip, then suddenly smiled: “You brewed it yourself? Wasn’t it brewed by Lu Yun?”

She could even tell Lu Yun’s tea?! Just how intimate was Lu Yun and she?!

Luo Lingyu’s eyelid twitched again as she watched Chen Xue’s elegant and noble bearing as she raised the tea. She gazed over resentfully to see the lady opposite using her sleeve to cover her face, revealing only a pair of eyes. Noticing Luo Lingyu’s stare, Chen Xue’s amorous eyes, like scattered peach petals, gazed back… Luo Lingyu felt somewhat familiar with them, but blinded by jealousy, she had no mind to think about why they seemed familiar.

Luo Lingyu deliberately asked: “I hear sister is from Luoyang, a qin player. Do people in Luoyang drink tea? I’m narrow-minded, I thought qin players wouldn’t know about tea.”

She intentionally mocked the other’s humble origins.

Chen Xue humbly replied: “It’s all… Lu Yun’s skill. I originally should only know how to play qin, but truthfully, my home contains ten thousand books – you could say I’m quite learned.”

Her words hinted at her true identity, but to Luo Lingyu’s ears, this was blatant boasting. Why should Chen Xue be accomplished just because Lu Yun was? Luo Lingyu held back this frustration, her eyes about to redden again, feeling extremely bitter.

When Luo Lingyu spoke to her again, Chen Xue responded unhurriedly.

Luo Lingyu’s words were full of self-importance, showing off her relationship with Lu Yun, hinting that the other should know better than to persist. But Chen Xue seemed not to understand, no matter what Luo Lingyu said, Chen Xue would lightly continue the conversation, casually showing off her special relationship with Lu Yun in return.

Shameless! Even more shameless than her! Luo Lingyu was so angry she wanted to throw the hot tea in Chen Xue’s face!

Luo Lingyu had grown up among ladies, and being crafty and two-faced herself, she had always emerged victorious in social interactions. But tonight she met her match – this lady was practically her mirror image, extremely two-faced, with a naturally noble and transcendent bearing, speaking with inherent grace, yet also engaging in the same meandering conversation with her, never getting to the point.

…Luo Lingyu was inwardly sick to death.

She had never met such an evenly matched fox spirit going toe-to-toe with her!

Being a fifteen-year-old lady putting on airs, already upset by Lu Yun and then provoked by Chen Xue for so long, she truly felt both wronged and jealous inside, unable to maintain her composure. After some mental preparation, telling herself that even if she looked too ugly to face directly, she had to get a clear look at Chen Xue. She suddenly raised her eyes, looking up directly at Chen Xue opposite her.

At first glance, she was stunned by the beauty.

However, that strange sense of familiarity came over her again.

Chen Xue noticed her look and curved her lips in an ambiguous smile.

Luo Lingyu stared blankly at her – the dignified Chen Xue had none of a young lady’s delicate beauty, her bone structure was proper, her lip line sharp and upturned. The lady’s features were not soft, yet she had the composure of a noble family’s daughter while being as sharp as an ice blade or snow sword. She was magnificent. Sitting properly, casting a languid glance, composed and calm. Such a penetrating beauty easily overshadowed others, making people look up to her…

Without speaking or smiling, she was already unforgettable.

Luo Lingyu’s eyes reddened with jealousy.

Until Chen Xue fixed her gaze on her.

Chen Xue gave a soft sigh. She suddenly leaned forward across the table, reaching out to hook Luo Lingyu’s chin. Luo Lingyu’s eyes widened as she heard Chen Xue’s voice suddenly change: “Foolish girl, will staring at me make flowers bloom?”

Luo Lingyu shuddered: this this this masculine voice, exactly like like like a certain person’s…

She stared rigidly, not yet having reacted, when Miss Chen Xue leaned across the table and kissed her soft lips.

Turning, grinding. Hooking her tongue, coiling hundreds of times. Fingers loosely rubbing her hair, the lady’s thick long lashes like brushes falling on her face. Still kissing while laughing.

Luo Lingyu: “…!”

She was forcibly kissed by a lady! Forcibly kissed by a woman!

Why did Chen Xue kiss her? Wasn’t Chen Xue supposed to be Lu Xuetian’s lover? Why… mmm, Chen Xue’s lips, the taste of her kiss… her incomparably beautiful face pressed against her own, the rhythm of her breathing…

Chen Xue held the back of her head, sighing between kisses: “Silly sister, you still haven’t recognized me?”

Luo Lingyu suddenly pushed her away, hitting this lady’s shoulders hard. Her tongue was numbed from the kissing, and being kissed by a lady felt incredibly strange. The woman opposite was very strong – she couldn’t break free from the grip on her wrists. After pushing away the lady who had kissed her, Luo Lingyu covered her reddened lips that had been made wet. With the back of her hand covering her mouth, Luo Lingyu jumped up breathing heavily, her voice rising: “Lu Xuetian?!”

Luo Lingyu broke down: “How is it you?!”

Lu Yun was pushed to the ground by the collapsing Luo Lingyu, his clothes disheveled as he wiped the rouge from his lips. His face stiffened slightly, and when he looked up at her, Lu Yun still raised his eyebrows nonchalantly: “…Good sister, it was me all along.”

“Who else did you think it was?”

Luo Lingyu: “…”

…

The soldiers’ vague attitudes, and Lu Yun’s reluctance to discuss Chen Xue.

And Chen Xue’s hints in her words.

Lu Yun’s familiarity with Chen Xue.

Why Chen Xue’s handkerchief was with Lu Yun, why did Lu Yun guarantee Chen Xue would never appear before her?

In an instant, everything became clear.

…

Luo Lingyu collapsed to the ground, staring dumbly at her lover dressed as a lady opposite her, her expression incredibly complex. That magnificently beautiful Chen Xue came over again, embraced her waist, and held her in his arms, letting her face rest on Chen Xue’s neck.

But it was Lu Yun’s male voice: “…I told you not to overthink things, but you wouldn’t believe me, so I had no choice but to do this.”

Luo Lingyu clutched his sleeve, trembling: “It was you, it was you… Xuetian brother, and Chen Xue sister, were the same person… Yes, I was so foolish, Chen Xue is just Xuetian reversed, I never realized, and I even got angry with you…”

What pointlessly misplaced anger!

In an instant, she understood Lu Yun’s extremely resistant reaction whenever Chen Xue was mentioned – not because he was having an affair, but because he didn’t want her to see his embarrassing side. He had no intention of letting “Chen Xue” appear again, so he tiredly asked “why can’t you just forget”… but for his Yuer sister to stop crying, to remove this thorn from Luo Lingyu’s heart, Lu Yun steeled himself to let “Chen Xue” appear again.

He loved her enough to sacrifice his pride to comfort her.

Luo Lingyu trembled, her voice muffled: “Why, why didn’t you tell me earlier, letting me misunderstand you…”

Lu Yun stroked her hair, and patted the back of her neck, comforting her not to cry. But she hugged his neck, face buried in his neck, her whole body shaking severely, something wasn’t right.

Lu Yun: “…”

His face expressionless, he grabbed her neck and pulled this little woman buried in his embrace away, staring at her face. Luo Lingyu’s face was extremely serious, but after making eye contact with Lu Yun twice, seeing Chen Xue so beautifully magnificent… Luo Lingyu couldn’t help it, trembling as she burst into wild laughter, laughing as she fell into Lu Yun’s embrace.

She greatly mocked him: “Hahaha, you dressed as a woman! Chen Xue sister you’re so beautiful… from now on I don’t want ‘Xuetian brother’, I just want ‘Chen Xue sister’ okay? Chen Xue sister, I like you. You’re so pretty, shall I teach you new makeup techniques in the future? Look, your forehead decoration isn’t placed properly, sister…”

Lu Yun darkened: “Luo Lingyu, don’t go too far.”

Luo Lingyu was about to laugh herself to death: “Sister, what can you do… Ah! Rogue!”

Luo Lingyu was laughing so hard she nearly fainted: “Sister, what can you possibly do… Ah! You rogue!”

For as he held her, suddenly through their clothes, thread by thread, a firm pressure bumped against her waist. Luo Lingyu’s face immediately flushed red as Lu Yun captured her lips, and then pushed her to the ground. Their clothes tangled together – he was still wearing women’s clothing as he hooked her leg, cradled her face, and kissed her deeply…

The room descended into disarray and sensual haze.