Fu Xuan's Feet Are So Small and Fragrant, Hehehe / Qingque: That's So Mean-I'm Going to Glare at You

Qingque froze as she looked down at the cards she was shuffling, then abruptly raised her head. Her expression was uneasy, with a few traces of hope amidst her despair.

She stared straight at Lin Shuang.

Given the situation, clever as she was, she had already calculated what she was about to face.

Hurry, brain! Think of a way to escape this disaster!

Seeing Qingque shrink her neck and frantically work her brain, Lin Shuang could not help wanting to laugh. The other two were much the same.

The coughing immediately grew a little louder.

She just loved seeing Qingque look adorably defeated.

Then, from behind the utterly dead-inside Qingque, a voice suppressing its anger quietly rang out:

"Qing—que—"

"Grand Tutor, spare my life!"

Qingque's entire body trembled.

Then she turned around with incredible fluidity, somehow pulled out an adorable dumpling from nowhere, and flashed a brilliant smile as she offered it to Fu Xuan's lips with both hands.

The two card players besides Lin Shuang, meanwhile, perceptively got up and ran without the slightest hesitation.

Only Lin Shuang remained where she was to continue watching the show.

"Qingque, do you have anything else to argue?"

For the sake of the dumpling and Lin Shuang, Fu Xuan intended to give her a chance.

"Grand Tutor, I really was working today! This was an order you personally gave yesterday, so you can't just deny it now!"

Fu Xuan's expression, which had softened somewhat because of the dumpling, instantly darkened even further upon hearing that!

"Fine, fine, fine! Knowing that you usually spend your time in Changle Heaven, I specially arranged for you to receive a guest here today. Yet you spent the entire day playing cards, from morning until night! You even dared to skip attendance at the Divination Department. If you do not make up today's missed work hours tomorrow, you are not allowed to clock out!"

Tears immediately streamed down Qingque's face, and her aggrieved little pout nearly reached the sky.

"No, Grand Tutor! You might as well just dock my pay. Two days, three days, even a week would be fine! I don't have to work overtime!"

"You most certainly do have to work overtime! Tomorrow, you will report to work in front of me on time!"

"My life is over—"

Qingque, deceased.

Fu Xuan's Tiny, Fragrant Feet, Hehehe Fu Xuan paid no attention whatsoever to Qingque's expression that practically screamed, 'I'm already dead.'

Instead, she looked across the card table at Lin Shuang, who was seated opposite her.

"I must first apologize to Miss Lin. I did not expect Qingque to actually dare keep playing cards here all this time. She truly needs to be taught a lesson."

Fu Xuan's little hand clamped down on Qingque's head, looking as though she was about to crack her skull open barehanded.

Qingque whimpered beneath Fu Xuan's hand, looking as though her already suspended heart had finally died for good.

Lin Shuang had roughly guessed what was going on the moment Fu Xuan appeared.

Qingque had probably been waiting here for her today.

She just had not expected that after Qingque finally found her target, she would not only refuse to leave, but even drag Lin Shuang into playing cards with her for quite some time.

That was why Fu Xuan had been angered enough to personally step in and suppress little Qingque with one hand.

Lin Shuang merely smiled and waved her hand without saying anything.

Perhaps thinking Lin Shuang was displeased that the Divination Department had calculated her itinerary, Fu Xuan spoke again.

"Yukong from the Sky-Faring Commission contacted me earlier. She said that an honored guest from the Sky-Faring Commission intended to tour the Xianzhou today, but she was too busy to accompany her, so she requested that the Divination Department lend her an idle person."

As she spoke, Fu Xuan gave Qingque a distinctly unfriendly glance.

This girl had slacked off so much that even the people from the Sky-Faring Commission knew there was someone like her. When they needed to borrow someone, they had specifically come to the Divination Department to borrow her.

The thought of it made Fu Xuan angry all over again.

Seeing Fu Xuan's expression worsen again, Qingque hurriedly pulled out several pastries and offered them to Fu Xuan with both hands.

"Grand Tutor, please calm down. It would be terrible if you got so angry that you harmed your health. Hehe~"

"Hmph."

Fu Xuan snorted and ignored Qingque's antics.

Lin Shuang, meanwhile, withdrew her gaze from Fu Xuan's panel.

Target: Fu Xuan

Favorability: 55 (Curiosity and Friendliness)

Relationship: None

'Having heard that Lin Shuang foiled the Abundant Doses' plot, she has developed a favorable impression of her.'

It seemed that helping the Minghuo Merchant Group had brought quite a few hidden benefits.

At the very least, when dealing with these official figures face-to-face, their favorability had already reached the level of friendliness.

This treatment really was quite good.

"The Sky-Faring Commission has indeed been rather busy lately. I must trouble Yukong and Grand Tutor to worry over this."

Lin Shuang nodded faintly from her chair. Fu Xuan was mature in mind, but her appearance was pretty and rather adorable.

Paired with her mature and steady personality, she could certainly be called unexpectedly cute.

Moreover, Fu Xuan's clothes in reality were top-notch in both fabric and workmanship. Up close, she was so beautiful one could hardly look away.

Especially those legs wrapped in white stockings, and those tiny feet.

Food-grade!

Lin Shuang felt that the Divination Department's prestige, combined with Fu Xuan's tendency not to show herself publicly, was probably the only reason the Xianzhou did not have a "Grand Tutor Fu Fan Club."

Fu Xuan noticed Lin Shuang's gaze, but did not think much of it. She merely nodded and said, "I still have official duties to attend to and cannot stay away for long. If Qingque proves unreliable, you may contact me directly."

As she spoke, Fu Xuan handed over her Jade Seal and added Lin Shuang's contact information.

Qingque immediately protested from the side.

"Grand Tutor, how can you encourage someone to snitch on me? Wouldn't that doom Miss Lin and me to be separated by a sad, thick wall?"

"You still dare talk!"

Fu Xuan shot Qingque a glare before turning and leaving.

Only then did Qingque finally let out a sigh of relief and collapse butt-first in front of the card table.

"Ugh... what is with Grand Tutor...? How can she assign an outside task and still come catch me in the act?"

Qingque lay face-down on the card table, swaying from side to side. Lin Shuang was in no hurry, and once the other two card players saw Fu Xuan leave, they quietly slipped back as well.

"How did it go? You actually were not dragged back? Grand Tutor really let you off?"

Hearing her card friends, Qingque shot her head up, widened her eyes, and gave the two of them a glare that had absolutely no intimidation behind it.

"Of course not. I told you, I really had a mission today. But I can't play cards anymore today."

"Although she wasn't dragged away, Qingque has to work overtime tomorrow under Grand Tutor's watch and make up for the work she skipped today."

Lin Shuang gloated from the side, and Qingque finally could not hold it in anymore.

"Waaah—Grand Tutor is so cruel!"

The other two card players exchanged glances, both expressing sympathy for Qingque's tragic fate.

Of course, the corners of their mouths that they could not suppress at all also revealed what they truly felt.

Qingque pursed her lips, but ultimately rose from the card table with great reluctance. Then she waved at Lin Shuang.

"Miss Lin, let's go. Grand Tutor personally gave the order, so today I'll take you on a proper tour of Changle Heaven."

"Eh, just call me Lin Shuang."

After playing for so long, Lin Shuang's urge to play cards had eased considerably. She had not actually intended to stay here playing until she lost all sense of time.

So after Qingque called to her, she apologized to the other two at the card table and followed Qingque away.

As they walked down the street, Qingque was half a step ahead, and she was even a little shorter than Lin Shuang.

That made it easy to see the twin ponytails bouncing behind Qingque's head.

As well as her smooth, translucent shoulders.

"Lin Shuang, since we've played cards together, I'd say our bond counts as being as close as siblings..."

After only a few steps, Qingque sidled up beside Lin Shuang and pressed close to her, smiling as though she were plotting something.

Lin Shuang's expression stiffened. She took three quick steps back with a wary look.

"Miss Qingque, please behave yourself. I cannot possibly support you in overthrowing Grand Tutor's tyranny. The Divination Department belongs to Qingque."

"Ah, wah wah! Don't say nonsense!"

Qingque immediately pounced and covered Lin Shuang's mouth.

Wasn't Grand Tutor watching her every day because, for some inexplicable reason, she had expectations of her?

Everyone knew Fu Xuan wanted to become general. If someone heard that and reported it to Fu Xuan...

If Grand Tutor got hold of evidence against her and made her work overtime every day, then her life of leisurely idling would be completely over!

The flustered little Qingque crashed headfirst into Lin Shuang's arms, and she could even smell a gentle, pleasant fragrance.

Lin Shuang raised a hand to support Qingque's slender waist, though she was a little stiff.

She shook her head and freed herself from Qingque's little hand.

"Then what was that scheming expression you had just now?"

"Pah, pah, pah! Who was scheming? You can play cards carelessly, but you cannot talk carelessly. Grand Tutor is unbelievably capable; a little person like me cannot even compare to one of her little fingers."

Qingque bared her teeth and waved her little fist in front of Lin Shuang.

"So what were you trying to say just now? We've gone completely off-topic."

"??"

Qingque widened her eyes. How could this person lie with her eyes open? Who had taken the conversation off-topic in the first place?

How awful!

But remembering that this person held evidence that could be used to report her directly to Grand Tutor, little Qingque could only endure it.

Qingque: Too Cruel, Preparing to Glare with Her Eyes Gritting her teeth, Qingque lifted her head, preparing to glare with her eyes.

"I'm saying! Since we're fellow card players, Lin Shuang, you're not the sort who likes to snitch, right?"

"Oh, what am I saying? How could I possibly be someone who likes to snitch?"

Upon hearing that, Qingque also sighed in relief, and a smile immediately bloomed across her little face.

"See? I knew I hadn't misjudged you. We're friends who've played at the same table."

As she spoke, Qingque looked around, then casually picked a direction and led Lin Shuang onward.

As they walked, she said, "All right, now let's talk business."

Lin Shuang was taken aback.

"What business?"

Qingque did not beat around the bush and said directly: