Chapter 166: A Thousand Miles Away
As Shao Yan introduced him, cheers from women, and even bold and passionate confessions, echoed from below, not too far away.
“Oh, it’s him.” Wang Dongdong grew up in Chang’an, and although she hadn’t seen him in over two years, she barely recognized him.
Wen Xuanning, dressed in white as pure as snow, was a dashing young man, walking closer and closer towards Taibai Restaurant.
Throughout Taibai Restaurant, women’s joyful cheers also rang out.
Among them were also men’s voices, which Liu Sheng heard clearly, mostly expressions of admiration or envy.
“The Wen Family’s Young Master has grown quite a bit; his features have matured, and he’s become more handsome.” Wang Dongdong was somewhat surprised by the grand display. “No wonder so many people like him.”
“He’s not a ‘young master’ anymore.” Shao Yan quietly reminded Wang Dongdong.
“Doesn’t he… have an older sister?” Wang Dongdong vaguely remembered an older sister who wasn’t raised in the capital.
“Something happened,” Shao Yan didn’t say much more. “In short, you must remember that the Wen Family’s main branch now only has him as the sole legitimate son.”
“I never thought he was so deeply hidden, someone with full spiritual potential, have you ever heard of such a person?” Shao Yan shook her head, sounding very envious.
“What? How is that possible?”
“In such a vast world, why wouldn’t it be possible?”
Listening, Liu Sheng lowered her head and coldly curled the corners of her lips.
…
At this moment, the other people in the private room were also drawn by the commotion outside and gathered on the balcony.
When everyone saw who it was, they realized why there was such a stir.
Jiang Cai Zhi happened to hear what Shao Yan said and added, “Moreover, his father, Wen Siyuan, is now the Shoufu of the Cabinet.”
“The Shoufu’s son, coupled with being a Cultivation Genius who reached the Mingzhen Realm at sixteen, and good looks—he truly is blessed by heaven; the Supreme God truly favors him.” Yang Qing, who had not dared to speak much, couldn’t help but exclaim through gritted teeth.
It just sounded a bit sour.
“Brother Wen is a favored son of heaven to begin with, so naturally he should be favored. Are they supposed to dote on you instead?” Ling Yuke coldly glanced at Yang Qing, then her icy gaze fell upon Wen Xuanning, and instantly the frost melted into a spring of water.
Yang Qing dared not offend Ling Yuke and awkwardly nodded in agreement.
Jing Hao looked for a few moments, said “Boring,” and returned to the private room to drink by himself. Ruan Shizhi, seeing this, said nothing and silently returned to the private room as well.
【It really is boring. How long has he been walking these few short steps?】
【I feel like it’s been almost a hundred years.】
Liu Sheng secretly yawned.
From far to near, cheers followed him all the way, and more and more people gathered along the Dao.
Some bold women even threw flowers and handkerchiefs from the upper floors and from the roadside towards Wen Xuanning.
Wen Xuanning’s handsome face flushed as he accepted each one.
However, the two beautiful women beside Wen Xuanning showed no timidity under everyone’s gaze and discussion.
“Who are those two women?” Wang Dongdong asked curiously.
“I recognize the one on the left; she’s Eldest Miss Lu.” Shao Yan whispered, pointing to the richly dressed woman walking to Wen Xuanning’s left. “The other one is very unfamiliar; I don’t know which family she’s from.”
Eldest Miss Lu?
The three of them were now downstairs, seeing very clearly.
Liu Sheng focused her gaze and saw Eldest Miss Lu’s appearance was as elegant and noble as the bright moon, with a faint, composed smile at the corners of her lips, and a silver long dress that made her appear like a Fairy from the moon.
However, the woman on the other side was even more noble and arrogant, with no smile on her face, merely a slight tilt of her chin, walking a few steps faster, clearly disliking such a high-profile entrance.
“Eldest Miss Lu has such a wonderful temperament; no wonder I heard they’re discussing a marriage alliance,” Jiang Cai Zhi sighed.
Ling Yuke’s delicate brows rose: “Nonsense.”
“I just heard about it; they’ll officially finalize it once Wen Xuanning passes the imperial examination this time.”
Ling Yuke looked displeased, silently watching Wen Xuanning and the two women enter Taibai Restaurant, no longer visible.
Jiang Cai Zhi didn’t notice Ling Yuke’s expression, then seemed to realize something: “Where did Cai Bin go? Isn’t he the one who loves watching a good show the most?”
“He said he went to relieve himself,” Yang Qing explained.
“Oh.”
As they spoke, the two returned to the private room.
Ling Yuke was still looking downstairs, wondering what she was thinking.
Shao Yan could only sigh lightly and gently patted her shoulder as a gesture of comfort.
…
Once the main characters were gone, the onlookers naturally dispersed gradually.
But Liu Sheng’s onlookers had not disappeared, and they were becoming increasingly obvious.
She looked outside the building; there were only a few scattered people, but her intuition told her it wasn’t them.
【I know something is definitely watching us, but that thing just won’t show itself.】
【Is it because we’re always with other people?】
【Perhaps, there’s no opportunity to act.】
【Otherwise…】
【Should we actively become cannon fodder in a horror movie?】
【Because I don’t want to be stuck in this limbo anymore; it’s better to take the initiative.】
【Charge!】
After Liu Sheng and the Liu Shengs discussed it thoroughly, she told Wang Dongdong she wanted to relieve herself and walked out of the private room.
Ling Xiaoshu silently followed behind, dutifully acting as an accessory.
Outside the private room, the crowd was still bustling.
【There’s no chance to act here; we’d have to leave Taibai Restaurant, right?】
【The vicinity of Taibai Restaurant is all taverns, full of people, people, people.】
【Or, go to the rooftop?】
【Will the rooftop be empty?】
【I guess there’s no one on the tiled roof.】
【…Makes sense.】
Liu Sheng didn’t know why she was listening to these strange suggestions, but she decided to follow them anyway.
Taibai Restaurant was very tall, a full eighteen stories.
Fortunately, the winding staircase here looked like a staircase, but in reality, you didn’t need to climb; you just needed to take one step to go directly from the bottom to the top.
So, Liu Sheng took sixteen steps and finally reached the top floor.
Upon reaching the top floor, Liu Sheng realized that she didn’t actually need to go onto the tiled roof, because the top floor itself was empty.
No, there was one person standing there.
…
There was no light on the top floor, but it wasn’t completely dark.
Beyond the railing, the neon spiritual lights of Chang’an twinkled in the night sky, only making the person’s silhouette appear even darker and lonelier.
Liu Sheng could also feel this sense of loneliness, like being submerged in the deep sea, suffocating to the point of being unable to breathe.
At the same time, in the deep sea, countless eyes were watching her, waiting for her next move.
What should she do?
How should she do it?
Under these dense gazes, Liu Sheng felt everything around her receding, all the light and shadows, even the red-lacquered pillars on the top floor, seemed to be pulled up and down forcefully, like multicolored, black-interspersed threads stretched taut in her vision, without end.
And that silhouette, elongated and standing before Liu Sheng’s eyes, was like a black rubber band stretched to its limit.
The space inexplicably stretched and twisted, making the air around her extremely thin, the breath in her lungs squeezed out little by little.
She was almost unable to breathe.
Many things disappeared, but she was completely unaware.
She was left with only one thought—she wanted to stop this feeling.
So, she needed to calm down and find the root cause.
What was the root cause?
What should the root cause be?
Her surroundings became extremely quiet, and her heart also became extremely quiet.
She remembered a small piece of knowledge she had learned: sound travels through air, and now there was no air, so of course it was very quiet.
Who had extracted everything?
Liu Sheng’s gaze fell once again on the person standing with their back to her.
It must be him or her, right?
It must be, right?
Narrowing her eyes slightly, Liu Sheng’s vision became incredibly cold.
If anyone else were present, they would even see a hint of bloodlust in Liu Sheng’s eyes.
One step forward.
Only that slender silhouette remained in Liu Sheng’s vision.
Two steps.
She was approaching that silhouette.
Three steps.
Getting closer and closer.
Four steps.
Her hand rose, about to touch that silhouette…
Five steps.
The silhouette disappeared.
Those colorful threads also disappeared.
Like someone drowning suddenly surfacing, a surge of air forcefully entered her lungs, and not just air, but also a strong Guai Qi rushed into her body.
It choked her, making her cough violently.
Liu Sheng coughed severely, her vision hazy, only able to see dim yellow colors, like the color of old Xuan paper.
Before she could truly see what it was, or where she was, a soft body rushed over, bringing with it a familiar magnolia scent, grabbing her hand and pulling her aside.
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