“Darling, how much progress?” Dai Meifen asked, frying a slice of meat. “I mean your cultivation.”

“A bit.” Ku Lo, devouring the meals she cooked, sensed the power within him to have grown. “Good steak. I’ll have you cook for me every day!” 

Peeking from the corner of his eye, he saw the blonde wearing nothing but an apron turn. “My view,” he lamented as her apron didn’t cover anything from her back whilst the front was covered.  

There was a twitch on Dai Meifen’s face. “Can you be more precise, for me?”

“Let me feel.” Ku Lo set aside his utensils and closed his eyes. 

It’s a lot actually. He was astonished when focusing on the improvement of his cultivation. Perhaps this is because of the cultivation difference between the two of us? He’d done this check once before. Back then, the figurative bottle had been empty.

“I would say a three percent increase.”

“Really?” Dai Meifen sounded joyous.

“Yeah, three to four,” he repeated, opening his eyes. “With this speed, a month will be enough for the Second Stage.”

Dai Meifen became even more excited as she thought about it aloud. “A month for the Second Stage... Half a year for Spirit Base... Two years for Spirit Bloom?”

He cleared his throat. “We aren’t together for that anymore.”

“Right, sorry.” She came back to her senses. “Ten years for Spirit Peak?” And went back to it.

He couldn’t but roll his light-blue eyes. “Then think about how you are going to keep up.”

Another shock ran through her. “Darling!”

“I’m joking. I couldn’t leave you.” His words came with a chuckle before he continued to eat the praised steak.  

...

Another class later, Ku Lo was leaving the classroom.

“Hey, wait up!” Feng Huling shouted from behind. “I need to talk with you.”

Interested in what his fairy would say, he turned around. “I’m listening.”

“Not here,” she said with a blush. “Follow me, I know a quiet place.” Pacing past him.

Okay? Still, he didn’t think much about this. In his mind, Fairy Feng would never want to harm him. I’ll just follow her, nothing can go wrong with her.

He followed Feng Huling out of the classroom, Bo breathing down his neck. What’s his problem? It’s not like I have insulted the Feng Family. Have I?

Their departure from the class went without a problem, the perverts from yesterday hadn’t returned.

“Has the sect found the culprit?” Ku Lo inquired as they walked.

“No, those bastards are all claiming innocence.”

“Even the guy who ran?”

“He had his own cowardice reasons to flee,” she answered while at the same time opening a door. “Bo, don’t let anyone enter.”  

“Yes, young miss.”

Ku Lo glanced at Bo, who took a firm pose next to the doorframe. I wonder if there’s a way to recruit him? He’d love to have Bo on his team, for the mere presence of the giant made him relaxed enough to drop his guard. However, can he be turned away from the Feng Family?

“Ku Lo, this means you get inside.”

“Right.” He blinked a couple of times. “Suppose this is something important.”

Feng Huling didn’t answer. The atmosphere she passively emitted around her had changed from a noblewoman to a meek girl in the last half a minute.

Bo closed the door behind them.

Still, she kept her mouth shut. “So?” Ku Lo stared into her black eyes. “Care to tell me?” If she wouldn’t say anything, he would.

The red hue from before resurfaced on her cheeks. “Where have you been the last few days?” she asked, avoiding eye contact. “Bo didn’t see you return last night either.”

“Yesterday, I lied in bed with the letter. The day before, I finished my punishment.”

Feng Huling heaved two breaths, chest swelling and emptying. “I…” she started a whisper. “I know you are lying…”

“Fairy Feng, why do you care?” he blurted out what popped into his mind the fastest. “There’s no need for you to have anyone babysit me. I’m a grown man,” he poked at her, seemingly having Bo patrol for him at the motel last night. 

I must put Dai Meifen above her. There was also his conviction for Dai Meifen.

Feng Huling tried to nod as she shivered, a tear flowing down on her cheek. 

She took a step towards the door.

Ku Lo saw this as her attempting to leave. “Wait-” He dashed between her and the door, hoping she wouldn’t scream for Bo. “I was too harsh with my words. In reality, I should be honoured to have this fairy worry about my wellbeing!”

Even after those words, there wasn’t a lot of response from her who tried to pass him but couldn’t, due to the room being a small utility room filled with boxes. She will either scream or calm down.

“Y-you have someone else already,” she said, her hands trying to push him aside. “Let me leave.”

“I won’t-” He seized one of her hands. “Let’s talk this through like adults. Fairy Feng, I want to be your friend.”

Feng Huling paused. Looked at him. “I need you to...” Ku Lo could see her gain some clear-mindedness. Her words became understandable again, and she wasn’t sobbing either. “The opening week will soon be over.”

“The opening week?” He could interpret parts, but what would happen after this ‘opening week’ couldn’t be presumed, only guessed. “Something bad, I guess?”

Her black eyes darted down to her toes as she spoke, “If I don’t have a pair by the end of the week, I’ll never be left alone by the inner sect disciples coveting for a spot in the Feng Family table.”  

“I see.” He nodded before thinking to himself, So there’s a weird rule about the minglings of the inner and outer sect. “But weren’t you already being harassed?”

“Bo can take care of the outer sect losers without a hassle,” she said. “The inner sect... those people are a whole different matter.”

Ku Lo could now begin to connect a whole pile of loose threads. Those perverts were acting so because they are desperate. In a few days, the inner sect disciples will be allowed to mingle with us. Feng Huling is the most prized treasure of my year, meaning she’ll be faced with an endless stream of suitors. The reasons why Feng Huling and everyone else around him were acting with so much rush and little thought looked a lot more reasonable now.

“And I guess Bo can’t be your fake partner?”

“Correct, Bo isn’t an option even.”

Ku Lo nodded in agreement. “I don’t want to sound rude here, but why not someone else? Surely your family could get someone stronger to play the part.” Of course, he knew that Feng Huling had a small liking to him; however, there were many complications in taking this role. “I’m being sincere.”

“T-the others,” she said, fidgeting. “They don’t want to take the heat.” Her reason was one of the complications Ku Lo had seen from the start. Some people might not drop the chase just because a woman is seeing another man, especially when they think they can win in a fistfight.

“And this doesn’t affect me?” Ku Lo pointed at his chest. “Also, I indeed do have someone already.” 

“The latter wouldn’t matter!” she retorted hastily. “We would live within the same courtyard, nothing else. I wouldn’t come between you and her... or him?”

His cheeks bloated outwards as air rushed out of his lungs. “I’m not gay!” he exclaimed, the air bursting out of his mouth. “No one is sticking anything in my ass!”

The startled woman did not respond to his words right away, giving him a moment to reflect on her other comments. I wouldn’t come between you and her? These words caught the most attention. Is she saying she doesn’t mind polygamy, or that she simply would respect boundaries? It was hard to say, though he leaned towards the former because the current Feng Huling wouldn’t be saying it otherwise, right? Plus, he wanted it to be true. Meifen had done it once with another woman so—

“Sorry!” she spoke, and his hedonistic line of thought crumbled. “It’s just because—”

“No more of that-” Ku Lo swept his hand. “Fairy Feng, I already owe you more than you might imagine. The least I can do is hear the finer print.” Speaking, he could observe her cheeks rise.

“Yay!” Feng Huling cried and jumped off the floor.

“Ahem!” Ku Lo cleared his throat.

Her actions calmed down in a split second. “Right-” She put a hand on her chest and used it with some calming practice. “The finer print...”