Mind Your Own Business Regarding the Prime Minister's Manor

Nine Provinces Continent, Great Xia Dynasty.

Jiangling Commandery, Yuyi City.

Snow Moon Pavilion.

As the foremost of Yuyi City's four great pleasure houses, it had always been famed for its beautiful singing girls and exquisite dancers, drawing countless refined scholars and scions of influential clans.

Yet today, Snow Moon Pavilion was rather deserted.

Its entrance, once thronged with an endless stream of visitors, now presented a scene so sparse that birds could nest at the door.

Passing merchants and pedestrians saw the group of vicious-looking guards stationed at the entrance, each with a Jiang Family Token hanging from their waist. Without exception, they fell silent, lowered their heads, and hurried past, afraid that even one extra glance might bring disaster upon them.

Throughout the entire Great Xia Dynasty, there was only one surname that could not be provoked.

Even the imperial family's many relatives would turn pale and fall silent at the sight of that token.

"Why would people from the Prime Minister's Manor appear in Yuyi City?"

Only after they had gone some distance did many passersby dare to ask in hushed voices.

"Who knows? Stop asking. Mind your own business regarding the Prime Minister's Manor. Do you have a death wish?"

The person beside him changed expression and hastily tugged at his companion, urging him to shut up at once.

Meanwhile.

At a pavilion beside the railing of Snow Moon Pavilion.

Jiang Lan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing pensively at the pool before him.

He wore flowing white robes, an Ancient Jade hanging at his waist. His features were handsome and refined, his frame tall and straight yet somewhat thin. Perhaps because he often overworked himself, his complexion carried a faint, sickly pallor, as though a strong gust of wind could blow him away.

Anyone who saw him would think him a young nobleman as graceful as jade, then secretly sigh that it was a pity for someone so young to be so frail.

That shouldn't be...

At a time like this, why hasn't the Female Protagonist come yet?

Suddenly, Jiang Lan sighed, seeming somewhat troubled as he rubbed his brow. Then he returned to his seat, picked up his tea, and took a sip.

"Jiang Lan, hand over my younger sister."

"Otherwise, don't blame me for showing no mercy."

All at once, a clear, icy shout rang out, startling the sparrows perched on treetops and eaves into scattering in every direction.

Jiang Lan's expression shifted slightly, but his face remained calm. The Female Protagonist had finally come. She had kept him waiting for quite a while.

The next instant, a figure like a startled swan crossed the pool, swept over the pavilion eaves, and arrived in a flash.

With a sharp clang, a longsword left its sheath. A hazy gleam of sword light scattered down like a shower of fine rain.

The frigid killing intent seemed to make even the air stagnate.

Yet when the longsword descended and the sword light dispersed, it stopped half an inch from Jiang Lan's throat, unable to advance even a fraction further.

The hand holding the sword was slender and long, its nails tinted with crystalline polish, as lovely as mountains and lakes reflected in their sheen.

Yet it was trembling faintly at this moment, revealing its owner's fury.

She glared fixedly at the white-robed man before her.

Inside the pavilion, he still lowered his eyes as he drank tea, his expression indifferent and unmoved, as though the sounds and threats beside his ear had fallen on deaf ears.

Icy Sword Qi lingered at his throat, carrying the chill of snow and ice, as though it could pierce through his neck at any moment and leave a spray of blood behind.

"Jiang Lan, all your guards are outside now. No one can protect your life..."

"Hand over my younger sister, now."

The White-robed Woman gritted her teeth and shouted again.

Her brows and eyes were as picturesque as a painting, her beauty peerless and pure. Her hair was piled like clouds and mist, while her figure was tall, balanced, and graceful.

Dressed in a plain white gown, with its hem gathered at her waist, her legs were long and straight, making her slender waist seem barely enough to grasp in one hand. Clad in spotless white, she resembled a lotus blooming atop a snowy mountain.

At this moment, frost deepened across that exquisite, painting-like face. The jade hand holding the sword trembled lightly as she forcibly suppressed the fury in her heart.

"Does Miss Qinghan wish to kill me?"

In the face of such rage, her only answer was an unhurried question.

Jiang Lan raised his head to look at her, his expression seeming exceedingly surprised.

"Release my younger sister at once..." Qinghan gritted out.

"And if I refuse?"

Jiang Lan seemed to smile at that. Then, unhurriedly, he extended a hand and adjusted the White-robed Woman's sword, allowing its tip to point directly at his throat.

"You..."

A trace of pallor surfaced on the White-robed Woman's flawless, painting-like face, and the jade hand gripping the sword trembled gently.

Jiang Lan gave a soft chuckle, rose to his feet, and took half a step forward, as though mocking her timidity and bluffing.

"You don't dare here. Then what about here?"

As he spoke, he reached out, pinched the sword tip, and moved it down toward his own chest.

"Miss Qinghan, would you like to try moving it another half inch forward?" His voice was even and unhurried, without the slightest ripple of emotion.

Seeing this, the White-robed Woman's hand trembled even more violently.

At this moment, trapped between a rock and a hard place, she felt not only fury but also profound humiliation.

She had never expected that, even with no guards whatsoever at his side, Jiang Lan would remain so calm and composed, without the slightest hint of panic.

It was as though he had not taken her threat to heart at all.

That lofty disdain and contempt made it seem as though he had already decided that she simply would not dare strike again.

It pierced the heart of someone as proud as her, stirring up boundless indignation and embarrassment.

Clearly, he was merely an ordinary person with no cultivation.

What gave him the right to remain so composed before her, a Fourth Realm cultivator—to look down on her, to disregard her, and not fear that she might truly kill him?

Was it because his father was the current prime minister?

At that moment, time itself seemed to freeze.

A mocking smile seemed to curl at Jiang Lan's lips before he said leisurely, "Since you don't dare, Miss Qinghan, you should not attempt such dangerous actions. Your Su Family should have several thousand people in Yuyi City, shouldn't it?"

"Your father, the Su Family Patriarch, should be hoping to contend for the position of next Lord of Yuyi City. I imagine he would not wish to see you do something so dangerous."

"You..."

The White-robed Woman clenched her silver teeth, her delicate body trembling. She had clearly reached the very limits of her rage.

Pfft!

The next instant, a spot of crimson blood suddenly spread across Jiang Lan's chest, quickly blooming across his pristine white robes like ink spreading through paper, shaped like a tiny plum blossom.

The White-robed Woman's beautiful eyes widened as she suddenly froze.

This had nothing to do with her.

It was clearly the white-robed man before her who had pinched the sword tip and pushed it into his own chest.

"Guards! An assassin!"

Jiang Lan suddenly shouted, one hand gripping the sword tip as though trying to stop it from piercing any deeper.

"An assassin!"

"Protect the young master!"

At the sound of his voice, furious shouts rang out in the distance.

At the same time, a large group of accomplished cultivator guards rushed over, their iron armor clattering in a great metallic din.

Seeing this, the White-robed Woman's face turned pale. Her jade hand went limp, and with a clang, the longsword slipped free and smashed onto the stone-paved ground.