135. Ten-Year Contract.?
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Before the end of that day, Yan Liwei's father, Yan Liyun arrived at the household, nearly breathing fire and brimstone, but Liwei managed to calm him, assuring him she had remained of her own free will.
"My daughter! Will you really be fine with this fiend?! If you're being wronged, just nod your head! Father is prepared to turn the seas upside down for-!"
"Father, please rest easy!" Liwei took his hand, calming him. "I'm merely bookkeeping for him, and don't forget... He is the wealth deity's disciple and has many ventures! I'll earn endless wealth for the Yan family!"
That had been that.
As for Bailong, he indeed resolved the Yan family's immediate crises...
"Come now," He told the Bird King and Queen after he practically forced his company on them. "...since Yan Liwei now works for me, don't you think I would get involved in the Sky Emperor's sudden audit of the Bird Clan?
"Hmph." He toyed with his teacup. "I even found a few records of a certain magical Peach in the Sky Palace library... You know, a peach similar to the one you've accused the Yan family of stealing.
"According to those records, one who swallows the peach will have a certain aura- an aura Yan Liwei doesn't have, but an aura I'm sure someone in your family will have, right?"
The Bird King and Queen exchanged nervous glances as Bailong continued.
"You've repaid more than a third of the missing deficit, draining both the Azure Peacocks and the Yao peacock families, and you're now looking everywhere for rare treasures. Shouldn't you simply lay things to rest?
"Release the youngest Yan Princess and apologize to the Yan family for offending them, or I don't know whose attention I'll draw to those library records..."
In the end, the Bird King and Queen were forced to swallow their pride, release Yan Linfeng, and openly apologize to the Yan family, ending the 'stolen peach' matter.
However, Bailong still reported the Feng family, but the Sky Emperor didn't make a move because Bailong had noticed something else during his visit- a token on the Bird King's belt.
It was the same token on the old immortal by the abyss, and the same symbol on that demon leader's wrist.
Through the years, he and the Sky Emperor had identified several Immortals with this same token, but they never approached or did anything to them.
This was so they wouldn't alert the true mastermind, who they still had not identified.
They still couldn't understand the meaning of the 'Housed Reversal' symbol, as they had been referring to it, but they were sure it meant trouble, and Bailong was determined to unravel the mystery...!
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The following days went blissfully by, but after only a year, word of 'Yin Xiaolong's new Book-Keeper' had somehow spread everywhere, reaching through the skies into Sky Realm...
"Ei? I heard something interesting... There's recently a woman around Yin Xiaolong?!"
"Old news! She's the first Yan Princess!"
"That trash?! What is she doing in the Mortal realm?"
"One's 'trash' is another's treasure! I hear Yin Xiaolong holds her in high esteem!"
"After all she's the best accountant in the Yan clan!"
"I hear Yin Xiaolong follows her almost everywhere and even bent his household rules for her!"
"I hear she pretended to be an 'entertainer' and approached him!"
"I hear her first night in his household was rather interesting!" The man wiggled his brows. "If you know what I mean!"
"Heh! He spent so many years trying to avoid women, and this girl boldly reached up and plucked a fruit from the ice tree?!!"
Meanwhile, all this while, Bailong had learned several things...
...about himself!
First, he learned he could be lustful.
It didn't take much... A glance or two at Yan Liwei was enough to have him reciting sutras or mantras to prevent himself from recalling that spring night and breaking his own ten-year contract!
Secondly, he learned he could be jealous.
As someone who had, before now, always been rather confident in his own person, he had never really felt 'jealous' before.
There were pangs of envy in his childhood whenever he saw other young immortals with their mothers, but that was nothing compared to seeing Yan Liwei smile and converse with one of his merman servants in those early days...
The same Yan Liwei who had never fully smiled at him before then.......
Suddenly, the Silver Urchin, a household popular in the East Sea for only having Mermen and other male creatures as servants, was now filled with multiple mermaids and female fairies to wait on Yan Liwei!
"It's improper for males to wait on a lady! I don't want to see a single male servant anywhere near those quarters!" Bailong had ordered.
Which only sent most of the servants snickering into their hands.
"Oh my! A strong and sour smell!"
"So much vinegar in the air!"
"Is the Master actually jealous?!"
"I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it for myself!"
"Has the ice tree cracked?!!"
Bailong could only huff and strut off in mild annoyance, but found himself smiling by the time he reached his new bedchamber.
'If I'm indeed jealous, then is this the famous 'Love' which drives immortals, mortals, and demons alike to madness...?'
He found himself oddly accepting of the possibility!
And finally, he learned he could be clingy...
There was an unidentified desire to simply be around Yan Liwei, and though he indeed dragged her off to his many business ventures to audit, he would also order her to stop working midway of almost any day, ferrying her off for a meal or to some other fun place with random statements like,
"Heh! If you don't eat, how will you do the work properly?"
Or,
"If you're bored, you may end up making mistakes!"
Or even,
"Hmph. Must I always come up with something? I'm the master, so just follow me! I hear there's this famous Night Market in a nearby Kingdom..!"
Before he realized it, five full years had rolled by and he hadn't once visited Sky Palace!
'N- Not good...!' He thought.
And as he expected,
"Ah! A-Bai! Is this you?!" Tianlong began when Bailong finally showed his face. "I've not set eyes on you for years, but I've 'set ears' on some interesting news which blew in and out! I hear something about an 'Entertainer'? 'Book-keeper'...?"
"You-!" Bailong's face turned a bit red. "Shush!!"
"Heh! The cabbage was finally dug up by someone!" Fei Yun said, and Tianlong laughed.
Bailong scowled at them. "Get out...!"
But there was no denying Bailong's fondness for this 'Entertainer / Book-keeper', and her subtle influence in his life was evident.
Once, he randomly bought a pipa and handed it to Fei Yun.
"Yun! I found myself recently in love with this instrument! Why not learn it so you can join me and Tianlong while we play?!"
"Oh? Does this have something to do with our little 'Entertainer'?!" They teased him mercilessly!
But that was how Fei Yun learned to play the Pipa.
Another time, Bailong told them he had bought an entire mountain, intending to settle down and use it as the largest Pill Refinery and Herb Garden on dry land.
"A-Bai! Did the words 'Settle down' really come out of your lips?!!"
"HaoTian-a! (Good Heavens!) A-Tian, is this still our friend?!!"
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Meanwhile, on Yan Liwei's end, she was beginning to think ten years was... too little time...!
Liwei had been mostly locked away in the Swallow tree, so she thoroughly enjoyed the adventure of going on multiple journeys with Yin Xiaolong, exploring the Mortal Realm while auditing his vast businesses!
But it was beyond that...
At the heart of the matter, sat Yin Xiaolong himself.
In the past few years, Liwei had poured herself into her duties, diligently doing her work and trying her best to ignore Yin Xiaolong's presence.
But that was easier 'thought' than done.
Yin Xiaolong- or 'Bailong' as the servants called him, already bore such a pleasant appearance... One which could make him appreciated, even if he simply sat still for years, being useless and doing nothing!
But then he insisted on being the most talented and hard working person Liwei had ever met, and he also insisted on halting that hard work to bother her almost everyday, dragging her off for meals...
'Can't you eat alone?' She mentally complained.
...or to grind ink for him while he wrote out endless recipes...
'You could very well do it with a wave of your own hand!'
...or simply to sit with him while he read or refined pills!
'Tch. -"Be my book-keeper!"- He said...! How much extra work am I doing here?!' She endlessly complained.
Yet, she found it increasingly easier to be around him.
It was... comforting, and his presence sometimes made her feel like she had landed in the perfect nest after a long and tiresome flight.
Then it slowly went beyond that...
Soon she looked forward to his disturbances in her world of books and numbers, and more than a few times, she found excuses to seek him out herself.
And then she would find her eyes roaming his face, or settling on his lips, or admiring what light did to his silvery hair, or what his easy smile did to his dimples, or his lashes fringing his eyes, or even the way the jut in his neck moved while he spoke...
Liwei slapped herself.
It was said that phoenixes were drawn to dragon aura, and vice versa, which might explain it, and technically she and Bailong should be a perfect match.
But she didn't feel much like a phoenix at all, and all this while, she thought Bailong would awaken one day and simply realize she wasn't doing much for him.
And then he would lose interest and send her away...
So she had been grateful for the 'ten year' contract!
But after almost ten years went by in a blink, she sighed endlessly.
Though Bailong had pestered her all through, he had never mentioned his initial marriage proposal again...
She did not match him in Strength, nor Accomplishment, nor Background...
If he never again mentioned that night which seemed so far away now, then what right would she have to remain h- ?
"Weiwei! Can I call you 'Weiwei'?" Bailong's voice found her, cutting through her thoughts.
'You already did!' She thought, biting away a smile and masking her delighted expression.
Misunderstanding her blank face, Bailong thought, 'Eiss... She's still not interested...'
But he never gave up easily!
"Weiwei, I'm aware the ten-year contract is almost done..." He began nervously. "'A forced melon is not sweet', so I can't make you stay..."
Liwei's brows furrowed slightly... She had never wanted to be a forced melon so much in her lifetime!
"However," Bailong continued, "You're still the best book-keeper I've met! So I can only offer you this position... ehehe, permanently...?"
Liwei did not hesitate. "Ahem! I'm already used to working for you, so I might as well continue..."
Several nearby servants could only slap their foreheads.
'Will these two never confess their feelings...?!!!!'
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