Chapter 79: Slacking Off, Day Seventy-Nine
After leaving the stall, Wen Ying once again tucked the pile of pills into her sleeve.
She decided to distribute them to Xiao Hei and Shen Linfeng after they returned.
This time, Wen Ying deliberately stuffed them away right in front of Shen Linfeng.
However, Shen Linfeng maintained his usual well-behaved demeanor, his expression not shifting in the slightest.
Was he simply too obedient to ask questions, or was he truly hiding a secret?
Wen Ying attempted to use her mind-reading technique to probe him, only to discover that Shen Linfeng wasn’t thinking anything at all. His mind was essentially a blank slate.
Wen Ying: “…”
Could it be… she was really overthinking it, and Shen Linfeng was actually just spacing out?
Regardless of whether Shen Linfeng was hiding a secret, judging by current events, he had indeed never done anything detrimental to her.
Moreover, considering everything that happened in Peace Town… setting aside other factors, Wen Ying actually quite liked this younger brother, Shen Linfeng.
He was well-behaved, obedient, and sensible—miles better than that bratty child, Xiao Hei.
Xiao Hei inexplicably sneezed.
“Meow?” He tilted his head, looking at Wen Ying.
Why did he suddenly feel a sinister chill coming from his master’s direction…?
The pleasant shopping trip continued.
Wen Ying’s attention was soon drawn to a stall selling books.
Storybooks—Wen Ying absolutely loved them.
In her previous reincarnation cycle, she had only hurriedly collected whatever books she could find at the very end. She wondered if the storybooks at this Trial of Immortals Assembly would be ones she hadn’t collected in her last life.
As Wen Ying was heading toward that stall, she bumped into Lu Xiaojie, who was just walking out of it.
Lu Xiaojie was holding several book-like objects in his hands. It seemed he had just made a purchase there as well.
As soon as Lu Xiaojie looked up and saw Wen Ying approaching, he instinctively hid the books behind his back.
“Hehe, hello, Senior Sister Wen. I didn’t expect to run into you here.” Lu Xiaojie wore a mask of a smile, keeping his body facing Wen Ying as he sidled past her. “Senior Sister Wen, I have something to do, so I’ll be going first!”
With that, Lu Xiaojie clutched the books to his chest and ran off as if he were flying.
It seemed he didn’t want Wen Ying to see what he was holding. He was likely embarrassed.
Actually, Wen Ying didn’t think there was anything to be embarrassed about.
If girls could read male-oriented novels, why couldn’t boys read female-oriented romance novels? It’s just a hobby, perfectly normal.
Judging by this reaction… what was being sold here were indeed storybooks.
Full of anticipation, Wen Ying walked up to the stall.
Compared to the storybooks Wen Ying had acquired previously, which had simple titles on their covers, the books before her were clearly extraordinary.
For example, the one right in front of Wen Ying had this written on the cover—
【The Kingdom of Mifeng has always struggled with fertility. After her arrival, she birthed five hundred babies in one litter! All men bowed at her feet, and eventually, she became the Queen of Mifeng!】
Very inspiring. It was clearly a story about a queen bee.
Then there was the one next to it.
【”My Lord, the Madam has been kneeling for three days. Please go and see her!”
The man sneered coldly: “Has she admitted her mistake?”
“My Lord, the Madam has indeed admitted her mistake. She admitted she married the wrong person and ran off with the young master next door!”】
Wen Ying wanted to say: Good run.
There were others, such as—
【A bald man grew a full head of luscious hair overnight, charming thousands of young maidens. It turned out to be because of this!】
【Thirty days after apprenticeship, a woman went from being trampled by everyone to being someone thousands couldn’t hope to reach!】
Wen Ying had an epiphany.
This was essentially a “clickbait marketing account” stall.
Although there were no titles, these little blurbs were certainly far more attractive than standard book titles.
The ability of marketing accounts to lure people into clicking was not just empty hype.
After deep consideration, Wen Ying said gravely to the stall owner, “I’ll take all these storybooks!”
The fault of clickbait isn’t the headline itself, but rather that the content often doesn’t match the title, or the article is full of nonsense. Therefore, Wen Ying decided to sacrifice herself for the public good. She would buy all these clickbait books and thoroughly examine the content!
Wen Ying would absolutely not admit that she was intrigued by the blurbs and wanted to read the stories.
At that moment, another woman’s voice came from the side: “Shopkeeper, I want this book.”
The voice was affected and artificial, and sounded slightly familiar.
Wen Ying finally remembered what the System had been babbling about earlier.
Turning her head, she saw, sure enough, the “Beauty-Cam Fairy,” Rong Hua.
At this moment, “Fairy Rong Hua” was still covering her face with a veil.
Wen Ying really wanted to ask: What kind of allergy lasts for a whole month without healing?
Rong Hua also spotted Wen Ying at that moment.
“Junior Sister, are the spirit stones I gave you enough? If not, I have more he—” Lin Yu walked over at that moment, saw Wen Ying opposite them, and the rest of his sentence choked in his throat.
Having not seen each other for a long time, the atmosphere suddenly became tense.
Lin Yu looked at Wen Ying, his eyes revealing emotions that were hard to define. Rong Hua looked at Wen Ying, then glanced sideways at Lin Yu. Hidden behind her veil, her eyes also filled with emotions—mostly the murderous kind.
Rong Hua had lost her beauty filter, while Wen Ying remained as beautiful as ever. That alone was enough for Rong Hua to hate her, let alone Lin Yu’s obviously unusual gaze at this moment.
Wen Ying didn’t know why these two were staring at her.
Staring contest? Let’s see who blinks first? As if staring is useful.
The thought processes of this scumbag man and cheap woman were truly beyond her comprehension.
Wen Ying spread her hands, then turned back and spoke to the shopkeeper again. “I’ll take all these books. How many spirit stones?”
“Three hundred low-grade spirit stones,” the shopkeeper replied.
Looking at the stall, there were at least three or four hundred books. That meant one book cost less than a single low-grade spirit stone—about the same price as reading 1,000 words for 3 cents on a certain green website.
Indeed, no matter the world, words are cheap.
Since it was already so cheap, Wen Ying felt embarrassed to haggle.
So, Wen Ying took a money bag from her sleeve and handed it readily to the shopkeeper. “Exactly three hundred. Please bag them all for me.”
The shopkeeper finally showed a rare smile. “Thank you, Miss, for supporting genuine copies. Carrying these books is inconvenient, so I’ll throw in a small spatial ring for easy transport.”
It was already so cheap, yet she got a free “bag” with the purchase. Wen Ying felt a bit guilty, so she stuffed a medium-grade spirit stone into the shopkeeper’s hand. “I flipped through one just now, and it was written quite well. Consider this a tip.”
“Thank you.” The shopkeeper’s smile grew even brighter.
It wasn’t about the money—she didn’t really care about a spirit stone or a spatial ring—but receiving recognition from others was the greatest encouragement for a writer.
Lin Yu stared blankly as Wen Ying spent so lavishly, buying out the entire stall’s inventory.
Lin Yu had thought that after being expelled from his tutelage, Wen Ying would come back to find him, or even beg him. But… Wen Ying had never appeared again.
It was as if he hadn’t driven Wen Ying away, but rather Wen Ying had driven him away.
Today was the first time he had seen Wen Ying since expelling her.
Wen Ying didn’t even spare him a glance. And… after leaving him, not only was she living well, she was living even better than when she was under his wing…
Was that young man next to her the legendary “male concubine” she kept?
It was as if she didn’t need him at all.
Lin Yu felt a tightness in his chest and stared at Wen Ying’s figure for a long time.
“Senior Brother?”
It wasn’t until Rong Hua spoke up to remind him that Lin Yu snapped back to reality.
Why on earth would she need Lin Yu?
Wen Ying was forced to hear Lin Yu’s disgusting inner thoughts.
She couldn’t understand why scumbags could be so average yet so confident.
The shopkeeper moved quickly, clearing the books off the stall until only the one under Rong Hua’s hand remained.
The shopkeeper reached out, gesturing for Rong Hua to move her hand.
However, Rong Hua pressed down firmly, refusing to let go no matter what.
Wen Ying glanced over and immediately understood why Rong Hua wouldn’t let go.
It wasn’t that she desperately wanted the book, but rather that Lin Yu was here now. Rong Hua absolutely could not let Lin Yu see the cover of this book.
It was a book on makeup tutorials.
Evidently, this shopkeeper had a wide range of interests.
“Miss Wen, you treated me that way before… I know you were momentarily led astray, and I didn’t hold it against you,” Rong Hua’s voice sounded very aggrieved. “But now, why must you target me?”
Hearing Rong Hua’s aggrieved tone, Lin Yu reacted.
No wonder Wen Ying acted so uncharacteristically, buying out the entire stall—it was all just to target his Junior Sister…
“Wen Ying, I thought that after that day, you would have learned your lesson,” Lin Yu’s tone returned to its icy coldness.
Even he didn’t realize that the uncomfortable feeling in his chest had significantly eased.
“You’re not talking about this book, are you?” Wen Ying’s lips curled into a smirk as she raised an eyebrow toward Rong Hua’s hand.
This couldn’t be the mission the System mentioned, could it? Too stupid.
Sure enough, Rong Hua sighed. “Miss Wen, I clearly set my eyes on this book first…”
“Are you talking about this book: ‘Ugly Girl Transformation! Master These Makeup Skills and You Can Charm Thousands of Young Men!’?” The shopkeeper pointed at the book under Rong Hua’s hand. As the author, even if Rong Hua was covering it, she knew the title perfectly. “You two clearly asked for it at the same time. Is there a problem with me choosing to sell it to this young lady?”
Hearing the shopkeeper rattle off the title she was desperately trying to hide, for a split second, Rong Hua wanted to tear the shopkeeper to shreds.
Fortunately, the veil hid her expression well.
“No wonder you wear a veil, Miss. I see, I see,” the shopkeeper realized suddenly. “You look quite pitiful. How about I write another one for you? I hope you can master makeup skills soon and take off that veil.”
Wen Ying could almost hear the subtle sound of Rong Hua grinding her teeth.
She had to admit, this shopkeeper was truly… killing the person and destroying the heart.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Wen Ying quickly stepped in to smooth things over (sarcastically). “I’m naturally beautiful anyway, so I don’t need this book. Shopkeeper, don’t trouble yourself writing another one. Just give this book to her.”
“True, dear customer, you definitely don’t need it.” The shopkeeper nodded. “Since this customer says so, this book is yours.”
Rong Hua kept her hand on the book. Taking it now felt wrong, but not taking it also felt wrong.
Under the veil, her face had turned green with rage. Her eyes were fierce as a tiger’s, her lips bared over clenched teeth, wishing she could swallow these two people whole.
At least the veil covered her, allowing her to vent her expression…
“Run! The Xun Xian Sect Leader is coming!”
Just then, someone ran past Rong Hua.
The person was pushing a cart piled high with goods. He was running so fast he created a gust of wind.
Rong Hua’s veil was blown open, caught completely off guard.
Because the wind generated by the person was too strong, it blew Rong Hua’s veil right up over the brim of her hat, where it got stuck.
In an instant, her “beautiful” face, paired with her ferocious expression, was exposed to everyone’s gaze.
“Wow! I’ve long heard there was a witch in the Xun Xian Sect. Looking at her now, it’s actually true!”
A passing disciple said gleefully to his companion.
Rong Hua’s horrific visage scared even Lin Yu, causing him to take a half-step back.
“Junior Sister, you…”
Hearing Lin Yu’s inner thoughts at that moment, Wen Ying finally understood why Lin Yu had previously made the absurd claim that Rong Hua’s face was due to a chili allergy.
It turned out that although the Bone-Changing Mirror had shattered back then, some spiritual power remained. Rong Hua had used that power on the blade edge (metaphorically), allowing only Lin Yu to see a filter. Lin Yu genuinely believed that Rong Hua was merely wearing a veil due to facial swelling from an allergy.
It wasn’t until the Bone-Changing Mirror was drained of its last drop of spiritual power and ruthlessly discarded in the trash by Rong Hua that the illusion ended. Since then, Rong Hua had kept her face covered, and even Lin Yu hadn’t seen her true face—until now.
If last time Lin Yu was just the “Top Gifter” (Simp), then now he was—
The Top Gifter running away in the night, carrying the train on his shoulders!
Rong Hua screamed, finally realizing what happened, and hurriedly yanked her veil down. She didn’t care about the book anymore; she turned and ran away.
Wen Ying took the spatial ring from the shopkeeper, too lazy to bother with the love-hate drama of this scumbag man and cheap woman.
As Wen Ying turned to leave, more people pushed carts past her, each running faster than the last.
“What’s going on?” Wen Ying asked the shopkeeper curiously.
“Oh, them,” the shopkeeper replied. “Stalls like ours are provided by the Xun Xian Sect, but those are private, unauthorized stalls. Usually, the Sect Leader turns a blind eye to this during the Trial of Immortals Assembly. I wonder why he’s cracking down on it this time…”
Oh.
Wen Ying understood.
No wonder they were all pushing their carts and running so fast—the Chengguan (City Management) had arrived!
Recommended Reads
![Accidentally Turned a Tragic Romance Plotline into a Sweet and Pampering One [Transmigration]](https://beereads.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/ACCIDENTALLY.png)