Housekeeping +1

Qian Ren Shuang sat up, rolled his shoulders, which had gone a little stiff from sleep, then summoned Food Is Heaven and skillfully produced a stack of meat pies, feeding Guilmon first.

He stuffed all the remaining meat pies into his storage soul tool in case of emergencies.

"Young master." Xiang Ya stood to the side, twisting the hem of her clothes in both hands as if she had mustered a great deal of courage before speaking. "Whether it's serving tea, pouring water, cleaning, or washing clothes, I can do it all. I beg you, please take me with you."

Qian Ren Shuang was in the middle of stuffing the last meat pie into his soul tool. At her words, his movements paused, and he turned to look at her. "Why should I take you with me? Bringing an ordinary person like you along would only give others another weakness to use against me."

He actually had nothing urgent to do right now, nor any pressing matters, so he simply followed this topic to tease the person before him a little.

Xiang Ya bit her lip, but her gaze did not dodge. "I know you feel that bringing an ordinary person like me with you would cause you a lot of unnecessary trouble. Then how about this—if you ever feel I'm in your way, all you need to do is give the order, and I can kill myself on the spot!"

Qian Ren Shuang choked on his own saliva and coughed several times in a row, almost spraying the meat pie out of his mouth. "No, is there really any need to joke with your own life, lady?"

"I'm serious." Xiang Ya's voice was not loud, but it was very steady. "Once I grow old and lose my looks, the gambling den will only squeeze every last bit of value out of me before getting rid of me as quickly as possible. But you, young master—you merely have a bit of a temper. If I follow you, perhaps I can live longer than if I stay here."

Qian Ren Shuang narrowed his eyes. "Then what if I said I'm a fallen one wanted by the Heaven Dou Empire, and I can't make you live any longer?"

He always felt a little embarrassed about directly rejecting someone who had staked her life on begging him, so he found an excuse, hoping she would back down in the face of difficulty.

Xiang Ya lowered her head and murmured to herself for a while. "In the Empire's eyes, there are only nobles and soul masters. There's no room for commoners like me..." She raised her head, her voice firmer than before. "I've made up my mind. Even if I die in the next second, I still want to follow you, young master!"

"Fine." Qian Ren Shuang sighed and relented. "Then you can follow me from now on."

He thought to himself that since she was already this determined, continuing to hem and haw would seem affected instead. Bringing along an ordinary person was troublesome, but it was not completely impossible to arrange.

After briefly tidying up, Qian Ren Shuang took Guilmon and Xiang Ya out of the room and greeted the puppet boss in the gambling den—the bruises on the boss's face had not faded yet, but when he saw Qian Ren Shuang, he still squeezed out a smile uglier than crying.

Then Qian Ren Shuang took Xiang Ya straight to a clothing store. That bunny-girl outfit of hers was far too eye-catching. Walking down the street, her head-turning rate was practically one hundred percent, and a few passersby even stared at her until their eyes went straight, nearly running into utility poles. Qian Ren Shuang felt that if they kept walking like this, no one would need to deliberately track them; that outfit alone would make people remember where they had gone.

At the clothing store, Xiang Ya chose a plain set of blue-gray cloth clothes and changed out of that revealing outfit. When she came out, it was as if she had changed faces entirely; standing in a crowd, she was utterly unremarkable.

Not long after leaving the clothing store, Qian Ren Shuang saw several familiar figures in the distance.

The six people from Shrek Academy were doing running training by the roadside. Each of them had a large rock on their back, tied with hemp rope that dug into their shoulders, and they were running until sweat covered their heads. Dai Mubai ran at the very front, his face flushed bright red; Tang San followed in the middle, his steps still relatively steady; Ma Hongjun trailed at the very back, panting as he ran, just like a dog so hot it was sticking out its tongue.

"Brother Shuang!" Tang San was the first to see Qian Ren Shuang. His eyes lit up, and he hurriedly stopped. The others stopped as well, six pairs of eyes turning over in unison.

Tang San sized up Qian Ren Shuang and Guilmon from head to toe, surprise appearing on his face. "You've only been gone a little over two days, and your bone fractures healed that quickly?"

"Mm. The person I found really did have some skill." Qian Ren Shuang nodded and glossed it over vaguely.

Tang San's gaze passed over Qian Ren Shuang's shoulder and landed on the girl behind him, dressed in blue-gray cloth. He studied Xiang Ya with some curiosity, hesitated for a moment, then finally asked, "This is... sister-in-law?"

Qian Ren Shuang almost choked again. He waved a hand and casually made up an identity. "I just rescued her from human traffickers."

"Oh—" Tang San drew out the ending, as if he understood something, yet also as if he understood nothing at all.

"We're all men. I get it, I get it." Ma Hongjun wore the expression of a man who knew it all, narrowing his little eyes with a smile that said "those who've been there understand."

"And at your age, it's perfectly normal to have needs in that area."

On Douluo Continent, there was an unwritten custom among soul masters who wanted to build harems—the first partner they chose was usually someone much weaker than themselves, or simply an ordinary person.

The reason was very practical: if the difference in talent between the two sides was too great, they would be unable to conceive offspring for a long time. As time passed, people around them would begin to eye them, seeing them as targets for "taking over a household with no heirs."

In the end, the weaker side would be unable to withstand the pressure and would compromise, allowing the stronger side to find another partner.

This logic was practically an open secret known to everyone in soul master circles, so when Ma Hongjun saw an ordinary girl following beside Qian Ren Shuang, that was the first sort of thing that popped into his head.

"Birds of a feather!" Xiao Wu rolled her eyes without any courtesy from within the group, hands on her hips as she bluntly showed her disgust. "Brother, don't you learn from them!"

Tang San was so embarrassed his cheeks burned. He could only stand to the side with an awkward smile, mumbling, "I won't, I won't," while his gaze involuntarily flicked toward Xiang Ya beside Qian Ren Shuang before he quickly withdrew it again.

Zhu Zhuqing, however, had no reaction at all. She stood there, expressionless, as if these words had nothing to do with her whatsoever.

In her understanding, the idea that "women are men's playthings" had long since been carved into her bones by the survival laws of the Star Luo Empire.

So to her, another woman appearing beside Qian Ren Shuang was perfectly normal.

"Little San, where are you all running with rocks on your backs?" Guilmon swaggered forward, tilting his head as he looked at the big, tightly tied rock on Tang San's back.

"Grandmaster told us to run with stones on our backs," Dai Mubai cut in first, a bit of helplessness in his tone. "From the entrance of Shrek Academy to Soto City, ten round trips."

As he said this, sweat still hung on his face, dripping down along his chin. Clearly, he had already run quite a few laps.

"Huh? Where's Rongrong?" Guilmon looked around and realized one familiar face was missing, then asked curiously.