Just as he was preparing to find the person who would take delivery of the goods, a familiar figure happened to emerge from inside the gate. It was Dong Xiaojie.
"Boss Yang." Seeing Yang Ning, Dong Xiaojie immediately stepped forward and gracefully bent her knees in a curtsey.
Yang Ning was holding a large gift box, so he couldn't return the greeting with clasped hands. He could only nod in acknowledgment.
"Senior Disciple Dong, I've come to deliver the skincare gift box, as agreed."
Dong Xiaojie stood with her hands folded neatly in front of her abdomen, dressed in the Jade Maiden Peak's standard blue-green martial uniform and a pair of simple, elegant white embroidered shoes. She looked capable and fresh, utterly unlike the languid, smoking "mature beauty" in black stockings and high heels who usually visited the Myriad Things Come shop. She seemed like a completely different person.
The female cultivators of the outer sect passed by in a steady stream. When they saw Dong Xiaojie, they all stopped and respectfully curtseyed to her, addressing her as "Second Senior Sister."
Dong Xiaojie returned each younger sister's salute with a slight nod, displaying the poise of a second direct disciple.
"Boss Yang, please come with me," Dong Xiaojie said. Then she turned gracefully and led the way.
Yang Ning nodded, holding the gift box as he followed behind Dong Xiaojie.
One behind the other, they climbed the stone steps into the outer sect and made their way through its spacious main hall.
As they walked, Yang Ning gradually sensed that something was off. He couldn't help hurrying a couple of steps to walk beside Dong Xiaojie, then asked, "Senior Disciple Dong, I remember hearing that quite a few male disciples served as laborers in Jade Maiden Peak's outer sect. How come every disciple we've seen along the way has been a woman?"
At his question, Dong Xiaojie glanced at the female cultivators passing around them. Then she stopped and turned to curtsey to Yang Ning once more before explaining, her tone tinged with helplessness:
"Boss Yang might not know, but it's because of the rumors that have been circulating through the sect these past few days. They say there's an undercover agent from the Demon Cult hiding in our outer sect, and that he's a male disciple who had the audacity to plot against the female disciples on the peak. When Peak Master heard, she was furious. She immediately ordered all the male disciples in the outer sect sent away. They've now all been assigned to the sect's Supply Hall, where they're being managed together."
A flicker of surprise crossed Yang Ning's eyes at Dong Xiaojie's words.
"Your Peak Master... sent away every male disciple in the outer sect just because she heard a rumor like that?" he asked, finding it hard to believe.
Dong Xiaojie nodded helplessly. "It was a decision my master made herself. We disciples have no right to object, so we can only obey."
With that, Dong Xiaojie said no more and continued leading Yang Ning onward. Before long, they had passed through the outer sect's sprawling rows of pavilions and arrived at the stone steps leading up the mountain.
The steps leading up the mountain were usually quiet. Outer sect disciples were strictly forbidden from going up, while the inner sect's direct disciples were generally either training in the morning or handling peak affairs at this hour. They rarely came down the mountain.
Seeing this, Yang Ning naturally stopped and held out the red gift box in his arms to Dong Xiaojie. "I've delivered the goods, Senior Disciple Dong. I'll be heading back now."
To his surprise, Dong Xiaojie didn't reach out to take the gift box. She maintained her dignified posture, one hand resting lightly in front of her abdomen, while raising the other in a "please" gesture toward the winding stone steps leading up the mountain.
Dong Xiaojie didn't take the gift box Yang Ning offered. She kept one hand in front of her abdomen and extended the other. "Boss Yang, please."
"Huh?" Yang Ning's eyes flew wide. He could hardly believe he'd heard her correctly.
He hurriedly waved his hands in refusal, his voice flustered. "Senior Disciple Dong, this isn't something you can joke about! I know the rules of Jade Maiden Peak very well! Men are strictly forbidden from setting foot in the inner sect! I wouldn't dare go up!"
A flicker of struggle and hesitation passed through Dong Xiaojie's eyes as well.
Yesterday, after she and Shi Xuanfei had left Myriad Things Come, her master had given her special instructions on their way back through the clouds: she was to come down the mountain today to meet Yang Ning and make sure to lead him up the mountain, taking him straight to the Peak Master's bedchamber.
Dong Xiaojie had been so shocked she'd nearly jumped right off the cloud! She'd tried to dissuade her again and again, but in the end, she couldn't overcome Shi Xuanfei's insistence. She'd spent the entire night tossing and turning in bed, racking her brains without the faintest idea what her master was up to.
Since joining her master's sect, Dong Xiaojie had known that Shi Xuanfei might seem easygoing, but that was only with her direct female disciples!
Shi Xuanfei had always maintained clear boundaries between men and women. For three hundred years, she had never allowed any male cultivator within three zhang of her. And now, for the first time ever, she wanted to bring a strange man into Jade Maiden Peak's inner sanctum! It was unheard of!
But she couldn't disobey her master's order. So Dong Xiaojie had woken early that morning, gotten ready, and come down the mountain to wait.
"Boss Yang, please come up the mountain." Dong Xiaojie repeated herself, her tone firmer this time. Seeing that Yang Ning still looked utterly unwilling, she sighed and could only admit, "This is an order from our Peak Master herself. It'll be all right if you go up..."
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