Qinglin's Service

"Young Master Xiao Han! What... what are you doing? Why are you so filthy... it looks like... it looks like..."

The young girl stared at the reeking Xiao Han, pinching her nose with a face full of disgust as she looked at her own young master standing naked beside the cesspit. Though she had guessed what had happened, she couldn't bring herself to say it out loud.

"Looks like I fell into a cesspit, right?"

Xiao Han rolled his eyes, finishing her sentence, then pulled his pants back up.

"Hmph! You... you know it then."

The young girl quickly closed the door, locked it, and made sure no one could enter. Then, as if by habit, she ran to the well in the courtyard, rolled up her sleeves, drew a bucket of water, and splashed it forcefully over Xiao Han.

This washed away most of the grease and impurities expelled from his pores due to the Washing Marrow and Cutting Bone process, but plenty of stubborn remnants still clung to his skin, refusing to be rinsed off.

This delicate, charming young girl who had pushed open the door was none other than Qinglin—the child born of a union between a Serpent-Human and a human, who in the original timeline had been discovered and carefully nurtured by the Heavenly Snake Mansion.

As for why she had appeared in the Xiao Clan and how she had become Xiao Han's personal maid—that was a long story.

"Young Master, what were you doing? Why did you get so dirty?" Drawing another bucket of water, Qinglin ran to her room, grabbed the brush she used for bathing, then carried the bucket over to Xiao Han and began scrubbing him clean as usual.

Faced with the girl's playful reproach, Xiao Han smiled faintly. "Your young master here stumbled upon a great stroke of fortune today. All this filth is the result of that opportunity."

"Young Master, don't think you can fool little Qinglin just because I'm young. I've never heard of any fortune that leaves a person reeking like this." Though her words were full of disdain, her gentle smile and meticulous movements as she cleaned the grime off Xiao Han were unwavering.

"Heh, that's just your ignorance, little girl. Thanks to a spiritual item I obtained today, my entire body has undergone a Change Meridians and Cleanse Marrow. From now on, my path of cultivation is worry-free."

Stretching his body, which felt uncomfortable all over from the Washing Marrow and Cutting Bone, Xiao Han's pants slipped down again, landing right in front of Qinglin, who was crouched to clean his lower body.

"Uh... my pants fell off."

"Ah—Young Master Xiao Han's... here..."

Seeing his pants fall, Xiao Han bent down to pull them up. But the next moment, his reaching hand was caught by Qinglin's tender hand.

"Qinglin, what are you..."

Xiao Han froze, only to find Qinglin staring at him with a determined gaze.

"Young Master Xiao Han, Qinglin is no longer a child. Let me handle this." Though deeply embarrassed, Qinglin had received some training as a maid in the Xiao Clan.

Although Xiao Han had always treated her with care and never forced her to do anything she didn't want to, Qinglin was well aware of the private implications of being a personal maid.

Besides, when she had bathed or dressed him before, Xiao Han always wore a small pair of shorts to cover that area. But Qinglin knew that a personal maid's duties included washing even that part!

It was just that Xiao Han had never let her touch it. Now that the chance had finally come, how could Qinglin let it slip by?!

The young girl's small hand, holding the soft brush, trembled slightly.

Xiao Han knew that this world was different from his original one, with customs more akin to ancient Huaxia. But in his heart, he still found it hard to accept letting a little loli wash him there. However, their perspectives differed—to Qinglin, as a maid, his refusal was a sign of distance.

So every time Xiao Han rejected her, it left Qinglin deeply disappointed and hurt.

Now that she had stumbled upon this by chance and the girl was so resolute, Xiao Han let go in his heart... Forget it, let things take their course.

Standing in the courtyard, letting the adorable loli maid scrub him clean, Xiao Han's thoughts slowly drifted back to a year ago...

A year ago, when Xiao Han was thirteen and had just advanced to Eight-Dan Dou Zhi Qi, he had proposed joining the clan's merchant caravan on an expedition. His uncle, Xiao Zhan, had agreed to let this rising star of the clan accompany a caravan heading to Shimo City in the Tagor Desert.

After a long journey, Xiao Han finally met his two cousins, Xiao Ding and Xiao Li, in Shimo City—cousins he hadn't seen in two years.

Since Xiao Han was one of the few Xiao Clan disciples who had maintained the same friendly attitude toward Xiao Yan even after he lost his cultivation, Xiao Ding and Xiao Li, as Xiao Yan's real brothers, held great goodwill toward Xiao Han.

When the three cousins met, Xiao Han first described Xiao Yan's difficult situation in the clan—the cold mockery and even bullying he endured from the others. This left Xiao Ding and Xiao Li both angry and helpless, and they could only ask Xiao Han to look after their younger brother in the clan.

After all, as a rising star, Xiao Han commanded respect from many in the Xiao Clan and held considerable influence among the younger generation.

That same night, while wandering outside, Xiao Han happened upon a ragged little girl who had accidentally bumped into a patrolling member of the Mo Tie Mercenary Group and was being beaten and scolded for it. That girl was Qinglin.

Xiao Han had heard before that near the Tagor Desert, human women were occasionally violated by Snake-People. Under normal circumstances, a union between a Snake-Person and a human rarely resulted in pregnancy. But nothing was absolute—there was an extremely slim chance that a woman who had relations with a Snake-Person would become pregnant and give birth...

The mercenaries on the desert's edge bore an indelible blood feud with the Snake-People. Every time they thought of the Snake-People blood flowing in the little girl before them, they couldn't help but show disgust.

This disgust was almost impossible to suppress. It was the deep-seated aversion born from the long-standing enmity between humans and Snake-People.

Qinglin, carrying both human and Snake-People blood, bore the discrimination and hatred of both sides. She was, in truth, an utterly innocent girl.

People like Qinglin were seen as a curse by both humans and Snake-People. To have survived this many years, aside from enduring more scorn and mockery, seemed to have brought her nothing else...

Seeing Qinglin kneeling on the ground, clutching her pitiful little head, her face full of helpless fear, stirred Xiao Han's compassion.

Relying on his status as the younger brother of the Mo Tie Mercenary Group's leader, he stepped in to save Qinglin, bought her several sets of clothes, and brought her back to the group's base to let her wash up.

After Qinglin had cleaned herself and changed into a new green gauze dress, with a bit of tidying up, she transformed from a dirty little beggar into an adorable, charming little loli who inspired pity in anyone who saw her.

Then Xiao Han had the kitchen cook prepare some grilled meat and other dishes, sending them to his room so the timid little loli could eat her fill.

Having been discriminated against, beaten, and despised by everyone, Qinglin had never dreamed she would experience such a day.

Never having felt such warmth or been treated so gently, after finishing two plates of finely grilled desert meat, Qinglin couldn't help but burst into tears.

'Am I dreaming? If this is a dream, I hope I never wake up.'

"If you have nowhere to go, how about becoming my personal maid?"

After that long-awaited full meal, Xiao Han made the offer for Qinglin to stay by his side as his personal maid. This little loli, who dared not hope for much, widened her eyes in disbelief.

"Can a lowly monster like me, a mix of Snake-Person and human... really become Young Master Xiao Han's maid?"

For Qinglin, who was so deeply trapped in self-loathing, Xiao Han simply gently rubbed her little head. "Lowly? What lowly bloodline? It's merely the resentment that humans and the Serpent-Human Clan cannot let go of, forced onto an innocent girl.

From now on, if anyone openly discriminates against you or bullies you, this young master will simply kill them.

As for status? No one is born lowly or noble."

"Qinglin, don't care too much about others' gazes. Just remember this: you don't live for others. You live for yourself."

"Thank you, Young Master Xiao Han..."

Hearing Xiao Han's words, Qinglin stood frozen in place, tears welling up in her eyes without her even realizing it.

Then, after kneeling down and heavily kowtowing three times, she lifted her head to look at the handsome young man before her.

This is the person I will serve for the rest of my life.

A strange brilliance flickered across Qinglin's cute, delicate face, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly. Though she was still just a beauty embryo, the breathtaking beauty to come was already visible.

Her cute nose twitched lightly, and within her jade-green pupils, three extremely fine green dots silently emerged.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

What eerily demonic eyes were these?!

The moment his gaze met Qinglin's, Xiao Han found his mind instinctively going blank.

As if stimulated by something, even with Xiao Han's Soul Power, meeting Qinglin's strange green pupils caused him to lose focus for an instant.

'Not even activated, yet it possesses such divine might. So this is the power of the Douqi Continent's number one strange pupil, the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils?'

Having truly felt the power of the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils, Xiao Han was secretly pleased.

The reason he had helped this pitiful little girl was partly out of genuine compassion, but more so to recruit this future Dou Sage-level little loli as part of his foundation.

Now that his goal was achieved, Xiao Han had no more reason to stay in the Tagor Desert.

As for why he didn't go check out the Green Lotus Core Flame?

Nonsense! A man must know his limits. As a mere Eight-Dan Dou Zhi Qi rookie, it was better not to feed himself to the enemy.

And so, Xiao Han brought Qinglin back to the Xiao Family.

Since they were far from the Tagor Desert, the people of Wutan City did not share the same bone-deep hatred for the Serpent-Human Clan as the desert mercenary groups. Upon learning of Qinglin's mixed-blood identity, they showed no rejection or alienation.

On the contrary, thanks to her charming and adorable delicate face, Qinglin quickly became quite popular within the Xiao Family and even throughout Wutan City. After all, a little loli as pretty as her was beloved wherever she went.

But no matter how much the surrounding young talents tried to win her favor, Qinglin's heart still held only that Young Master Xiao Han, who had saved her when she was being beaten and scolded.

"The most important place in my heart... there's no room for anyone else anymore..."