CHAPTER 186: 186-

Du Juan stopped dead. She turned slowly, her expression glacial. "Two. Take it or leave it. You’ve thoroughly spoiled my mood."

The owner deflated, throwing his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright! Two it is. Here."

With a flourish, Du Juan tossed the two spirit stones onto the counter.

They clinked together, a final, dismissive sound.

She snatched the packet of herbs, clutched it to her chest, and stormed off without a second glance.

"You greedy old vulture!" she called back over her shoulder, the insult hanging in the air.

Xiao Pei silently fell into step behind her, his own troubles momentarily forgotten.

He could hear the stall owner muttering to himself, a mixture of annoyance and excited glee at having made a sale.

The two moved, not slowing their pace until they had left the bustling market district and entered a quieter, slightly shabbier network of alleys.

"Let’s get a room first," Du Juan announced, not bothering to consult him. She strode towards a inn with a creaking sign.

The inn was dim and smelled of stale wine and damp wood.

Inside, a portly woman in a grease-stained apron was bent over a battered table, scrubbing away at a stubborn stain.

Du Juan stepped forward, her tone even, "Innkeeper," she called, "we’ll need one of the big rooms. Payment will be one spirit stone."

The woman stopped her work, her eyes lifting slowly to scrutinize the new arrivals.

A grunt escaped her lips before she rummaged under the counter and tossed a tarnished brass key through the air. "You’ll get the usual."

Du Juan snatched the key with practiced ease and headed for the stairs.

Xiao Pei was a step behind when the innkeeper’s voice, low and raspy, followed him. "Don’t get wrung dry by that one, young man. You look like you got lots of potential. Don’t ruin it for a moment’s pleasure."

Xiao Pei stumbled on the first step, a hot flush instantly scalding his cheeks and burning the tips of his ears.

He spun around, waving his hands frantically.

"N-no! No, it’s nothing like that! It’s... it’s business!" His voice came out as an embarrassed squeak.

The woman merely chuckled, a deep, knowing sound, and returned to her scrubbing.

Mortified, Xiao Pei scrambled up the stairs.

They arrived at a door tucked into the corner of the second-floor hallway.

The room was as sparse and utilitarian as the inn below, a simple bed, a worn table, and two chairs.

Without a word, Du Juan slipped her hand into her spatial ring and drew out a set of slender formation flags.

One by one, she moved with deliberate grace, planting them at precise points around the room.

A subtle hum filled the air as a noise-repellent formation settled over the room, followed by a shimmering veil that blurred the walls and door, an invisibility formation that would hide their presence from prying eyes and ears.

Only then did she relax, settling at the table and laying out her earlier purchases.

She produced a basin of water and began the meticulous process of cleansing the strange herbs.

Xiao Pei leaned forward, eyes narrowing as he watched her deft hands move over the herbs.

His head tilted slightly, curiosity written plain across his face.

"You’re... going to wash them?" he asked, half-intrigued, half-baffled.

Du Juan didn’t even glance up from her task. Her tone was light, but the edge beneath it was unmistakable.

"Oh? So you’re more curious about my rinsing leaves than the Matriarch ordering your death? Your priorities are fascinating."

"Ah!" The reminder hit him like a physical blow, jolting him from his stupor.

He practically fell into the chair opposite her, leaning forward urgently. "Tell me! What did you mean? Matriarch Fang sent you to watch me get killed? Was that whole speech from her about wanting to help me, about figuring out my hidden physique... nothing but a lie?"

Du Juan nodded absently, her focus on scrubbing the dirt from the gnarled ginseng-like root. "Mhm."

"Why?" Xiao Pei asked, his voice a mixture of surprise and genuine confusion. "What did I ever do to her?"

"Well, you know how the Matriarch can be... weird sometimes, right?" Du Juan said, as if discussing the weather.

She held the root up to the light, examining its peculiar veins. "She said Clan Head Fang Yuan once told her, straight to her face, when she confessed her love, he just replied, ’I’m gay.’"

Xiao Pei’s jaw went slack. "What?! Are you joking?"

"Definitely not! Brother Fang is not gay!" Xiao Pei blurted out, his defense instinctive, almost protective.

Du Juan gave a slow nod, her expression thoughtful, lips quirking with wry amusement. "I believe so too," she admitted.

Then her eyes narrowed slightly, a sardonic gleam slipping through. "But I don’t have the guts to tell her that him saying he was gay... was just another way of rejecting her."

Du Juan continued calmly, moving on to the next herb. "She also told me that before this grand revelation, she had already spread rumors that the Clan Head was gay. A preemptive strike, you see? To ensure no other women would dare approach him except for... well, presumably her."

Xiao Pei listened, his mind reeling.

He slid from his chair to sit on the floor beside her, needing the solid ground. "How come you know all this?"

"I’m stuck with her nearly twenty-four hours a day," Du Juan said flatly, the bitterness in her tone impossible to miss.

"She once suspected the Clan Head and I had... something. When she realized that wasn’t true, she started clinging to me instead while calling me her ’little sister’ and then she drags me into every little scheme of hers. Whether I like it or not."

Her lips pressed into a thin line, and she let out a sharp exhale through her nose.

"Worst of all? She never shuts up about Fang Yuan. Constantly. I’m now a walking vault of secrets I never asked for and never wanted to know."

Xiao Pei, curiosity getting the better of his fear, leaned closer. "You mean secrets like his habits? His desires and stuff?"

She looked up from her work, her intense eyes locking with his.

A sly, almost imperceptible smile played on her lips. "Don’t ask me. The Matriarch once gloated about seeing the Clan Head take a bath. In person."

She let that horrifying image hang in the air for a moment. "Makes you wonder how she managed that when the Clan Head is a Nascent Soul realm cultivator. He should be able to sense a fly on the wall a mile away."

Xiao Pei groaned and let his head thump back against the leg of the table, staring at the dusty ceiling.

"Should I be glad I’m still alive," he muttered to the rafters, "or worry about being alive now?"

Du Juan finished her cleansing ritual, the herbs now gleaming faintly with a purified aura.

She stood up, brushing off her robes. "Definitely be glad. Stick close to the Clan Head, and you’re likely to remain... intact."

And with that cryptic piece of advice, she turned and swept out of the room, leaving Xiao Pei alone on the floor.