Su Chen had been watching the two women's expressions. When he saw that neither of them seemed hostile, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, he had already told Hu Liena about it and had also come clean to Ye Lingling, so there was no chance of a love triangle turning into a battlefield, even if they'd initially found it a little hard to accept.
Su Chen said to Hu Liena:
"Nana, this is Ye Lingling, heir to the Nine Heart Begonia Family. From now on, she'll be your younger sister."
"Lingling, this is Hu Liena from Spirit Hall, whom I told you about before."
Ye Lingling spoke first. She bowed and said softly:
"Greetings, elder sister."
Hu Liena immediately felt relieved too. She stepped forward, took Ye Lingling's hand, and said:
"Don't be so formal, little sister. From now on, I'll call you Lingling, and you can call me Nana. We're close in age, so there's no need to be so polite."
Ye Lingling had put herself in the proper position right from the start, and she was gentle and sensible. Naturally, Hu Liena wouldn't make things difficult for her.
The two quickly warmed to each other and went inside with Su Chen.
Inside the room.
Su Chen took a sip of tea and said:
"Nana, Lingling's family has been based in Heaven Dou City all this time. Now we need to arrange for them to move to Spirit City. I'll leave those matters to you."
"Ask the senior Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluo to make the arrangements. Now that the Nine Heart Begonia has evolved, one will be able to appear in every generation from now on. That's a great contribution to Spirit Hall. Of course, they're our family, so you'll have to look after them well."
Hu Liena looked astonished.
"It evolved? There'll be a Nine Heart Begonia in every generation? Lingling, your family might become the greatest support-type Martial Soul from now on!"
Ye Lingling replied quietly, "It was all because of the Immortal Herb Su Chen gave me that my Martial Soul could evolve. My Nine Heart Begonia evolved too, and gained a resurrection Soul Skill."
Hu Liena nodded firmly and promised:
"Don't worry, Lingling. Su Chen has no family, and neither do I. From now on, your family will be my family too."
Su Chen gave them both a tender look. He couldn't help thinking that having two wives was actually pretty nice. At least they were less likely to have conflicts.
If he really wanted to marry ten women someday, he'd have to choose someone clever, generous, steady, capable, and authoritative to rule the harem. How could ten people possibly avoid clashing otherwise?
Wouldn't it turn into a daily episode of Empresses in the Palace?
Su Chen thought it over for a while, then realized he couldn't think of anyone suitable to rule his harem. He felt a little down. It was still too early to build his great empire!
He continued, addressing Hu Liena:
"There's one more thing. Tomorrow morning, I'll go to Lingling's home with her. In the evening, I need you to arrange a meeting with someone."
Hu Liena looked puzzled.
"Arrange a meeting?"
"Who do you need to meet that you can't just ask to come?"
"Qian Renxue!"
"What?"
Hu Liena froze. Had Su Chen somehow figured out she'd just seen Xue'er today?
Was he really that amazing?
No, wait!
If Su Chen could figure that out, wouldn't he have noticed that she had the Diary Copy by now? Judging by his attitude, Lingling and Dugu Yan hadn't told him either.
"How do you know about Qian Renxue?"
Hu Liena asked, pretending to be casual.
Su Chen chuckled. "How do I know? I know far more than you do. I even know her mother inside and out. How could I not know?"
Ye Lingling said nothing, sitting quietly to one side.
Hu Liena, pretending she didn't know how amazing Su Chen was, asked with a perfectly serious expression:
"What else do you know?"
Su Chen thought for a moment and said:
"I know when she started impersonating Xue Qinghe as a spy. I know about her grudge with Bibi Dong, and I know she'll fail in the future."
"I'm asking you to arrange a meeting so I can remind her and point out a few things she should watch out for, to improve her chances of success."
"She's just too foolish. She never finishes the job, leaving Xue Beng alive. He's been pretending to be a wastrel all along, and he has Xue Xing backing him. He's already grown suspicious of her."
"My verdict? She's not as good as Bibi Dong!"
Hu Liena sighed inwardly. Sure enough, Xue'er failed in the end. The two of them had analyzed the contents of Su Chen's diary before...
But they hadn't figured out how she lost.
Two kings, four twos.
Ye Lingling was completely dumbfounded.
There was so much to take in.
Xue Qinghe, Qian Renxue, Bibi Dong...
No wonder!
Today, when Grandpa Dugu had asked Su Chen for help, Su Chen hadn't agreed. Instead, he'd urged him to leave the royal family. The waters here were far too deep; Grandpa Dugu really couldn't handle them.
Hu Liena pondered for a long while, then looked at Su Chen seriously and asked, "Then can you stay and help her?"
Su Chen shook his head, took a couple of sips of tea, and said calmly, "I don't really like trouble. It would interfere with my enjoyment of life."
"Besides, when it comes to you and Lingling, I'll personally handle things, because you're my wives. As for Qian Renxue, simply warning her is already a huge help."
Hu Liena nodded firmly.
"I understand."
"What do you understand?" Su Chen was speechless. He'd said it so seriously, and now she was acting like she understood everything.
Hu Liena stood up with a smile.
"Nothing. It's late. Let's go get some rest!"
"Lingling, Su Chen will spend tonight with me. I'll hand him over to you tomorrow night. Is that all right?"
Ye Lingling: ???
She was completely bewildered. Sister, what are you talking about? I don't think I understand any of it!
"I'll leave it to you, elder sister."
Hu Liena cheerfully led Su Chen away.
In her heart, Ye Lingling was actually rather envious—and wanted to stake her claim too! A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and Soul Bone... It looked like her sister had him all to herself tonight.
Sure enough.
Hu Liena led Su Chen into the room next door. He couldn't help feeling a little hot under the collar. He swallowed and said:
"Nana, are you sure about this?"
"Don't get me all worked up, then come up with an excuse to turn me down again. I'll get angry if you do that. I'm at the prime of my life, full of vigor. I... mmph..."
Before Su Chen could finish, Hu Liena silenced him with direct physical action.
A moment later.
Hu Liena gazed deeply at Su Chen. "I've thought it through, and I've made my decision. Tonight's the night!"
"If you don't marry me someday, if you mess around with me and then abandon me, I'll hate you for the rest of my life!"
Su Chen pulled Hu Liena into his arms and began feeling around for the cards, laying the groundwork for a game of Fight the Landlord.
"Nana, in this world, you were the first person I cared about, my first friend, and my first wife."
"Now, let's start studying our Martial Soul Fusion Skill!"
Hu Liena pointed toward the lamp, her voice already coming in breathless, broken gasps. "Turn off the light."
"No!"
Su Chen refused outright.
"My Martial Soul, Kunpeng, doesn't know your Martial Soul, the Demon Fox, yet. What if it can't find its way after the lights are out?"
"Besides, I like looking at you. That way, my Martial Soul will be more likely to create a fusion skill."
Hu Liena panted softly.
"Wait!"
"I saw your Martial Soul last time. After your Kunpeng mutated, it became so huge. What if my Martial Soul can't handle it?"
"Will it hurt a lot?"