Legendary Beast of Burden: Red Dust Prison Smile

Good grief! This was truly bizarre!

By all rights, given how she'd been bombarded with communications from him just now, and the little princess's unreasonable, willful personality...

It would've been mild if Xu Tianzhen had called him back in a fury and chewed him out from head to toe.

So how had she not reacted at all for so long?!

That made no sense!

Could the little princess have something urgent to do right now, and no time to deal with him?

But that made even less sense!

Other people might not know what Xu Tianzhen was like, but could Xu Yan possibly not know?

This young lady, who'd never lifted a finger to do a thing, lived by one principle: enjoy good fortune when it came, snatch it when it didn't. She loved eating, drinking, and having fun, and refused to waste energy on self-imposed stress.

If she could have something urgent to do, Xu Yan would wash himself while standing on his head—

Wait!

When I left the Princess Mansion at noon, that young lady seemed to be...

At her age, she shouldn't have... Agh, but nothing was impossible. There was no telling what might happen!

The more Xu Yan thought about it, the more wrong it felt. As if he could already see some shocking scene, a cold sweat suddenly broke out all over his back. He stopped in the Imperial City's corridor and let out a wail:

"Nooo! Little Friend Qian is in 'danger'! My little princess, please don't let your lust get the better of you and do something that'll cost me my life—mainly my life!"

"Aa—choo..."

On a busy street in Bright Capital's southern district, Xu Tianzhen suddenly stopped in her tracks. One hand held onto Qian Yuhan's sleeve, while the other clutched some Sun Moon Empire-style snacks. After working up to it for a while, she let out a truly earth-shaking sneeze.

Under Qian Yuhan's slightly puzzled gaze, Xu Tianzhen pretended nothing was wrong and grinned. Secretly, she furrowed her brow and wondered:

Heavens, this is strange. I'm dressed pretty warmly today, and I've got my cloak on. There's no wind, either. Why did I suddenly sneeze so hard? Could it be... someone's thinking about me? Who would be thinking about me? Father? My brother? Or someone else?

Forget it, forget it. No point stressing myself out. I won't think about it.

After pondering it from every angle, Xu Tianzhen still couldn't figure out who would be thinking about her at this hour. So she simply acted as though nothing had happened and continued dragging Qian Yuhan around the food street.

As far as Xu Tianzhen was concerned, bringing Qian Yuhan along for a shopping trip was definitely the second-best decision she'd made today.

Walking with him was a feast for the eyes—not only did the handsome young man with golden hair maintain a graceful, gentle smile, but he also provided an abundance of emotional value.

(Wherever they went, people of all ages cast them sour looks filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment.)

He could even save her money. Some stall owners who were just as fond of good looks would see Qian Yuhan's face and offer a symbolic little discount. Neither Qian Yuhan nor Xu Tianzhen needed to pinch pennies, but using a face like a credit card was... incredibly satisfying.

"Crunch—"

Xu Tianzhen took a small bite of a fresh fruit coated in honey syrup. Chewing to hide the grin she couldn't suppress, she shouted in her heart:

That's right! I, Xu Tianzhen, Her Highness Princess Tianzhen, am a super-rich heiress worth a fortune. And the one standing beside me is the future consort I picked for myself.

The Rakshasa Divine Sense was just as delighted. By following Qian Yuhan's moving shadow, she could enjoy a completely zero-energy shopping trip. She poked him in the shoulder from behind and whispered:

"Oi, Lao Qian, is that girl's stomach a bottomless pit? I remember... she's been eating nonstop since we got here. By now, she's eaten as much as two of you plus me."

"Well..."

Feeling that the Rakshasa's question touched on a blind spot in his knowledge, Qian Yuhan shook his head almost imperceptibly and replied, "To be honest, I'm not sure. I wasn't such a big eater back then."

"Tch. And you call yourself a living person? You don't even know that. Useless," the Rakshasa Phantom muttered, curling her lip.

"..."

Qian Yuhan had nothing to say to that, so he could only pretend he hadn't heard.

Just then, about four stalls away from Xu Tianzhen and Qian Yuhan, a handsome young man and woman stood shoulder to shoulder.

The girl, whose hands were empty, poked the young man beside her, who was carrying bag after bag, and exclaimed in surprise:

"Hey, brother, look over there! Doesn't that person look a lot like Princess Tianzhen?!"

"Huh?!" The handsome youth, who seemed to have been dragged along by his own younger sister to do the heavy lifting and was cosplaying as a Soul-Guide Power Donkey, lifted his bright eyes and followed the direction she pointed. After taking a good look, he came to a conclusion:

"Wow, it really is her."

"Uncle Lin said the princess would be studying at our Sun-Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy this year. By that logic, we're practically her upperclassmen. Come on, let's go say hello."

With that, the girl headed straight for Xu Tianzhen without even checking whether her brother, who was lugging all the bags, agreed.

"Hey, Meng, don't walk so fast! At least wait for your brother!" Seeing that his sister didn't care about him at all and was simply forging ahead, the young man's heart shattered. He could only repeat to himself, That's my real sister. I can't hit her or scold her. Then he gritted his teeth and followed.

"This subject, Meng Hongchen, greets Your Highness the Princess."

The girl walked up beside Xu Tianzhen and gave a slight curtsy, using the most fashionable and convenient greeting among young nobles in Bright Capital.

"Hm?" Xu Tianzhen glanced sideways at Meng Hongchen, interrupted in the middle of her enjoyable meal, and responded with a perfunctory bit of small talk:

"Oh, Meng Hongchen. Long time no see. What, are you out shopping today too?"

Haha, the way you put that makes it sound like I'm not allowed to go out today...

Meng Hongchen's eye twitched. She was about to say something to ease the awkwardness when the corner of her eye caught Qian Yuhan standing beside Xu Tianzhen. He had been facing away from them, but was now turning around.

"Hello." Qian Yuhan, who could speak normally with any creature that wasn't an Evil Soul Master, politely greeted Meng Hongchen and handed Xu Tianzhen a handkerchief.

"Wow! (✪ω✪)!!"

Looking at the handsome young man before her, with his golden hair gleaming like gold and flowing like silk, his golden eyes tinged with melancholy, his sharply defined features just beginning to take shape, and his fair, handsome face, Meng Hongchen felt the beauty-obsessed soul inside her burst into flames. Her cheeks flushed as she murmured softly, "H-hello."