Chapter 25#

Chapter Twenty-Five#

The wind from outside blew into the room through the gaps in the door, and the red lanterns hanging throughout the room immediately began to sway.

The candlelight flickered. When Pei Huang finished speaking, the wick happened to make a soft crackling sound. It was an infinitesimal noise, but since no one else was speaking at the moment, the sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet room.

Pei Huang’s heart also tightened slightly.

Only when he saw that Xue Jingci showed no abnormality upon hearing the word “husband” did he slightly breathe a sigh of relief, though he also felt a bit disappointed.

As the night deepened, Xue Jingci urged Pei Huang to drink the nuptial wine and personally filled the cups for both of them.

Pei Huang held his wine cup awkwardly, intending to hook his wrist with Xue Jingci’s, but saw that Xue Jingci had already downed the contents of his cup in one go.

Seeing this, Pei Huang opened his mouth, but in the end, said nothing and also drank the wine in his cup.

Xue Jingci smacked his lips and said disdainfully, “What bland wine.”

Pei Huang recalled others’ evaluations of the City Lord and said, “I heard this City Lord loves his people like his own children. On ordinary days, besides managing the city’s affairs, he also personally leads troops to fight against the demon race. He’s probably worried about wine interfering with his duties.”

Having finished the formal matters, Xue Jingci put down his wine cup and asked, “When you came in through the door, did you see a pair of wedding shoes?”

Pei Huang shook his head. “What wedding shoes?”

Xue Jingci was silent for a moment before saying, “Before you came in, did you feel like someone was staring at you?”

Pei Huang shook his head again. “I didn’t notice.”

This was strange. Could it be that the female ghost was only staring at him?

Xue Jingci felt it was unfair and raised his eyebrows. “Just now, there was a ghost in this room. It should be a female ghost; she kept staring at me. It was very annoying.”

He spoke lightly and calmly, but Pei Huang was very nervous, looking around to search.

Xue Jingci patted his hand. “She left as soon as you came in. It’s just that she should still be nearby. I don’t know what she wants to do. You must be careful.”

This man, while talking, took off the heavy items on his body but found he couldn’t take off the head crown by himself. He looked at Pei Huang helplessly. “It seems I need you to help me.”

Pei Huang’s eyes widened, and his heart, which had been on guard, began to drift.

The ornate crown on Xue Jingci’s head was valuable. Pei Huang was terrified of pulling his hair, so he removed it with extreme care.

It took a good while to take off the crown. Xue Jingci actually reached out to lower the bed curtains again, undressing in front of him without any guard.

Now Pei Huang didn’t dare to look and stammered, “You, are you going to…”

Xue Jingci stared at the neat wedding robes on him. “Aren’t you going to sleep?”

Pei Huang was stunned for a moment before realizing that he didn’t seem to mean that.

Xue Jingci then continued, “If you’re not going to sleep, then keep watch. I’ve been sitting all day; I’m exhausted.”

Pei Huang’s face felt a bit hot, and he turned his head away.

“Sleep. I’ll watch over you.”

Xue Jingci rolled to the inner side of the bed, leaving a spot for him. “Okay.”

That night, Pei Huang didn’t sleep at all, staying alert to everything around him.

However, the night passed peacefully. Nothing happened, and the pair of red wedding shoes Xue Jingci mentioned didn’t appear again.

Early the next morning, a guard came to call Xue Jingci to the study for a meeting.

The two went to the study and saw Jiang Chengyi and Lin Heng there as well.

Lin Heng was dressed in a scholar’s robe, holding a fan. The front was plain white and flawless, but the back was densely covered in “cheat sheets,” in case someone suddenly asked him to compose a poem.

Seeing Xue Jingci and hearing others respectfully call him City Lord, Lin Heng’s eyes widened instantly, and the fan in his hand almost fell to the floor.

That day, when Pei Huang took the initiative to hold the ghost bead as a sacrifice, he felt great admiration in his heart. Seeing Pei Huang forced to marry a female ghost yet chatting and laughing with such composure, he felt this person was even more extraordinary.

Who knew there was no female ghost? This City Lord was actually possessed by Xue Jingci!

Jiang Chengyi calmly pressed Lin Heng down, signaling him not to act rashly.

“City Lord, since the Young Master’s status is different from the past, why not arrange a new official post for him and let him follow the Commander?”

The person speaking had a very unfamiliar face and was not a cultivator from a celestial sect. While Xue Jingci was considering how to respond, Pei Huang had already refused ahead of him. “I don’t want any empty titles; I’ll just continue as the City Lord’s personal guard.”

Upon hearing the words “personal guard,” even Jiang Chengyi couldn’t maintain his composure. Fortunately, he still remembered his identity as the Commander and also helped out. “The Young Master doesn’t covet empty fame and only wants to protect the City Lord. He is truly loyal.”

The suggestion being rejected, the middle-aged man who spoke looked displeased, but in the end, said nothing.

Afterward, the officials in charge of city affairs took turns reporting the situation to Xue Jingci. When it was Jiang Chengyi’s turn, Xue Jingci specifically kept him behind for separate questioning.

Pei Huang remembered his identity as a personal guard and stood at the door without leaving. To his surprise, the middle-aged man who had proposed his promotion leaned over and lowered his voice. “What are you doing? Have you forgotten our purpose!”

What purpose?

Pei Huang was shocked, but his expression didn’t show it. He said calmly, “I have my own plans.”

The middle-aged man wanted to say more, but seeing Jiang Chengyi coming out of the study from the corner of his eye, he could only give up and whispered a reminder for Pei Huang not to forget his identity as part of the demon race.

Pei Huang never expected that the person he possessed had another identity—he was actually a demon race spy.

He couldn’t help but wonder what the difference between a demon race body and a human body was.

While he was deep in thought, Xue Jingci pushed open the door and came out, leading him out of the residence to the city’s training grounds to lead the troops in drills.

After the drills, they also had to inspect farmland and irrigation ditches, staying busy until nightfall before returning to the residence.

Xue Jingci was very tired. Although he didn’t have to fight and kill like before, being the City Lord was even more mentally and physically taxing.

After returning to his room and bathing, he was about to lie down when he saw Pei Huang sneakily approaching. He whispered, “Let me show you something good.”

Xue Jingci knew Pei Huang liked to make delicately crafted gadgets. His sleepiness was instantly dispelled by a few degrees, and he stared at him with quite a bit of curiosity.

Pei Huang reached out and pulled down the bed curtains, starting to undress.

He directly pulled his clothes down to his waist, revealing tight-lined muscles. Xue Jingci was stunned for a moment and frowned. “What are you doing?”

Pei Huang didn’t respond and actually started taking off his pants as well.

Xue Jingci’s eyes widened in disbelief. His right hand was already gathering strength, ready to strike, but saw Pei Huang laboriously pulling out a white, soft, fluffy tail from his pants.

Pei Huang held the tail in front of Xue Jingci to show him. The tip of the tail couldn’t hide its smugness as it curled up. He said, “Look, I have a tail.”

In the past, he always saw Xue Jingci rubbing that ugly cat’s head; he must really like soft little animals.

Now that the little ugly cat couldn’t enter the secret realm, this position happened to belong to him.

Pei Huang lowered his head to Xue Jingci’s eyes again, and a pair of white soft ears suddenly popped out.

He moved his ears and asked, “Look at these fox ears. Are they white? Are they soft?”

Seeing that Xue Jingci was only staring intently and had no intention of reaching out to touch them, Pei Huang felt a bit disappointed.

He secretly gathered strength, drawing on his demon energy. With a “bang,” he completely turned into a small white fox.

The little fox inside the clothes arched its head, trying hard to crawl out but was trapped by layers upon layers of fabric.

Xue Jingci reached out to help him. The moment he touched him, his eyes lit up.

The snow-white, soft fur was extremely warm. Xue Jingci couldn’t help but rub it happily.

Pei Huang felt his cool fingertips touching him, exceptionally soft and gentle. His whole being felt lightheaded, almost losing his soul.

At that moment, a sudden strong wind arose in the room, instantly making the candlelight flicker and the world go dark.

When Xue Jingci opened his eyes again, he was back sitting in the bright red bridal sedan.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The sedan began to sway again. With the heavy crown on his head, it felt like his neck was about to break.

He hadn’t expected that in just two short days, he would actually sit in the bridal sedan three times.

Everything was as before, without the slightest change. After the ceremony and entering the bridal chamber, the female ghost appeared again, insisting on making him go to the door before she would stop.

Xue Jingci didn’t understand her meaning and could only follow the pair of wedding shoes. Only then did the ghost-chilled wind stop.

The two experienced everything that had happened before once again until they finally sat together after nightfall, staring at each other.

Pei Huang sighed. “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault…”

Xue Jingci immediately interrupted him. “Don’t talk nonsense. I don’t want to sit in a bridal sedan ever again.”

Pei Huang nodded and tightly covered his mouth with his hand.

Xue Jingci stated his suspicion: “This ghost realm is strange. There are some things we can say casually, and some things we cannot. Speak carefully.”

At this moment, Pei Huang also realized that as a demon race spy, revealing himself casually in front of the City Lord was not permitted.

But if he really had to be an airtight spy and not reveal his demon race identity, much information could not be passed to Xue Jingci.

After thinking for a while, Pei Huang suddenly spoke up. “City Lord, I’ll sleep in the study tonight.”

Xue Jingci didn’t know what he was going to do but still nodded in agreement.

Pei Huang pushed open the door and went out. Along the way, he encountered many maidservants and guards. Clearly, those people were the ghosts, yet at this moment, they had expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

Seeing him go to the study, the matchmaker quickly chased after him and asked, “Young Master, what are you…”

Pei Huang coughed and said seriously, “The City Lord is not used to having someone by his side. I’m afraid of affecting his rest, so I’ll sleep in the study today.”

The matchmaker’s eyes widened, and the others also gasped, covering their mouths.

It wasn’t until they saw Pei Huang enter the study and slam the door that they gathered together and whispered, “Tonight is the wedding night… could it be that the Young Master is… incapable?”

To their surprise, the door opened again. Pei Huang heard them clearly and scolded with a dark face, “If you have nothing to do, go chop wood in the back yard.”

Only then did he drive everyone away.

After the crowd dispersed, he once again drew on his demon power and changed back into the form of a white fox. His four short legs ran back to the bridal chamber as fast as they could.

Xue Jingci was staying in the room alone, feeling a bit bored, when he suddenly heard something scratching at the window.

He got up to open the window and saw under the moonlight a half-grown little white fox clumsily falling in and slowly crawling into the quilt.

“You…”

Xue Jingci was about to speak when he suddenly realized Pei Huang had said earlier that he would be in the study tonight. He lifted the quilt and whispered, “Where did this little fox come from?”

He didn’t mention at all that this fox was Pei Huang. After waiting for a while, the surroundings remained quiet and windless, with no sign of time reversing.

It turned out that lying through one’s teeth really worked.

Xue Jingci felt relieved. A wave of exhaustion instantly hit him like a tide. Nestled next to the warm little fox, he soon fell asleep.

Pei Huang didn’t move, quietly watching the eyes-closed Xue Jingci. When he was sound asleep, he carefully squeezed over and gave a few cries to cover his tracks.

He thought his cries would be full of power and wildness, like “ao ao,” but who knew that what came out was “ying ying.”

“…”

Pei Huang quickly silenced himself, but that slight sound still startled Xue Jingci.

Xue Jingci vaguely heard some sound, like the system acting spoiled, so he subconsciously reached out and pulled the white ball into his arms. He buried his head and rubbed his cheek against it to coax him. “Sleep.”

With his movement, black hair fell onto his pale neck and gently spilled over the little fox’s body.

Pei Huang moved his white ears, hearing only the rising and falling sound of breathing. His nose was filled with a light, cold fragrance.

His eyes snapped wide open, and he could no longer think about anything. Only the sound of his heartbeat was magnified infinitely in his ears.