Chapter 26 Part 1

Qin Juanshu was going crazy looking for Bai Ying.

He hadn’t seen the big star with the extraordinary family background that Qin Xian had mentioned, and remembering that Bai Ying was still waiting for him downstairs, Qin Juanshu lost all interest in talking business. After bidding farewell to Qin Xian, he went downstairs to search, but after circling the dining table once, he couldn’t find any sign of him.

A bad premonition immediately rose in Qin Juanshu’s heart. Normally, it wouldn’t be a big deal if an adult went missing for a short while, but Bai Ying was very obedient. In an unfamiliar place, he wouldn’t wander off on his own.

Qin Juanshu immediately pulled out his phone to message Bai Ying, but the messages went unanswered. He called, but the calls weren’t picked up. The clamor of the room seemed to fade away from him in an instant. He forced himself to calm down and grabbed a servant from Willow Mansion to ask if they had seen Bai Ying.

The staff at Willow Mansion were well-trained and remembered the appearance and names of every guest and their companions. Qin Juanshu quickly got his answer: Bai Ying had gone to the rest area, and he had seemed unwell when he headed there.

They even relayed verbatim the excuse Bai Ying had used at the time. Upon hearing that Bai Ying had claimed to be drunk, Qin Juanshu knew something was wrong—Bai Ying didn’t drink at all!

His expression darkened as he headed to the rest area, only to find the corridor in the middle in complete chaos.

Two black-clad servants were struggling to hold back a tall, upright man, one on each side. The man had thrown his suit jacket on the ground, rolled up his black shirt sleeves to his elbows, and veins bulged on his arms like tributaries of a river. His clothes and hair were disheveled from the fight. Willow Mansion’s servants mostly had military backgrounds, yet even two of them were barely able to restrain him. The man viciously kicked the person lying motionless on the ground one more time.

A middle-aged man who appeared to be a manager stepped forward to block him. “Mr. Xie, no matter what grudge you have with Mr. Fang, please settle it privately! Don’t forget, this is Willow Mansion!”

“Of course I know this is Willow Mansion,” Xie Jin said, steadying his breathing, though the anger in his heart hadn’t subsided. “You allow people to drug others right under your noses—is this how Willow Mansion hosts banquets?”

The middle-aged man’s expression shifted slightly. If the drugging was real, even if it wasn’t at their behest, it had happened within Willow Mansion’s premises, so they bore some responsibility. “Please don’t get upset yet. What is the name of the guest who was drugged, and where is he now? I’ll have the medical team come over immediately.”

“He should be surnamed Bai,” Xie Jin said with a frown. “He just… headed to the Central Courtyard.”

Not long before, Xie Jin had chased after Bai Ying’s figure to the Central Courtyard entrance, but he was too late. By the time he arrived, Bai Ying was gone, and all he saw were Zhong Family members guarding it with guns. No matter how much Xie Jin pleaded or even brought up his grandfather’s old friendship with the Zhong Family, they wouldn’t let him through. He had no choice but to search the surroundings, but he still couldn’t find Bai Ying.

If Bai Ying had really crossed into the Central Courtyard…

The area beyond Willow Mansion’s Central Courtyard was forbidden territory to outsiders—trespassing could be seen as an assassination attempt. Xie Jin didn’t dare think about it. While contacting acquaintances in the Zhong Family, he had vented his rage by beating Fang Peng again.

Qin Juanshu had no time to care about others fighting, but when he heard the word “Bai,” he abruptly halted.

He stepped forward and grabbed Xie Jin by the collar. “You’ve seen Bai Ying?”

Bai Ying? Xie Jin inexplicably felt that was the young man’s name. His tone was hostile. “What are you to the little Bai?”

The tone, as if questioning a rival as his boyfriend, ignited Qin Juanshu’s anger. “And what are you to Bai Ying?”

Seeing that these two were about to start fighting too, the front hall manager was at his wits’ end, and the rest area’s corridor was in total disarray.

Meanwhile, Bai Ying—the center of the vortex—was quietly coiled up on Liu Qingzhang’s lap in his serene bedroom, looking as if he were asleep, letting Liu Qingzhang gently wipe his scales with a cloth soaked in warm water.

Bai Ying wasn’t actually asleep. Snakes had no eyelids, so when motionless, it was hard to tell if their eyes were open. The pill he had swallowed took effect quickly, like a giant hand forcibly suppressing the surging tide of desire. This forced calmness felt extremely strange, leaving Bai Ying unable to sleep despite his exhaustion from the heat cycle.

At least it didn’t hurt much anymore.

There had been some dull pain right after taking the pill, but the mild herbs Liu Qingzhang had specially used eased it. The great demon had even wiped away the sticky fluids from his body with the damp cloth… Thinking about what those fluids were, Bai Ying felt quite embarrassed.

Woo woo, I should have done it myself, but I’m too tired to move now.

The tip of the little white snake’s tail flicked lightly.

Liu Qingzhang felt the tender force and couldn’t help but curve his lips slightly.

He had imagined Bai Ying’s form wasn’t large, but he hadn’t expected it to be this small a snake. He didn’t know how old he was either. Demons generally grew larger with age and deeper cultivation bases. Hundreds of years ago, Liu Qingzhang himself had been a normal-sized black python.

Even for this breed of snake, which wasn’t large to begin with, Bai Ying seemed too small…

He probably had never cultivated. It made sense—in this End of Dharma Era with thin spiritual energy, demons could hardly cultivate anymore. The birth of a new demon was a miracle. The Demon Clan, now reduced to just a handful, no longer had elders guiding the young like in the old days. The little snake had likely been on his own since gaining sentience and taking human form.

Pity welled up in Liu Qingzhang’s heart. He tossed the damp cloth onto the bedside table and gently stroked the now-clean little snake on his knee. The little snake flicked its tail but made no other moves, letting him pet it. Its body temperature was starting to drop, but the heat hadn’t fully receded. Its scales felt like warm jade, smooth and heated to the touch. Liu Qingzhang couldn’t resist coiling it around his fingers again and again. Casually, he also flipped over the phone that had lit up with a notification.

When Bai Ying transformed into a snake, his phone had fallen among his clothes. With his keen senses, the great demon noticed the sound from the wardrobe and fished out the vibrating phone. The call was from someone labeled “Boss.”

Liu Qingzhang ignored it completely, feeling even more sorry for the little snake. The demons he knew all had hordes of mortal servants attending them, yet this poor little snake was reduced to working for mortals and even plotted against by vile ones. Not only did Liu Qingzhang not answer, he muted it. Bai Ying’s phone wasn’t locked—anyone could use it.

Little did he know the person on the other end was frantic with worry.

After Qin Juanshu and Xie Jin were pulled apart by the black-clad attendants, they barely calmed down. Though they still despised each other, they reached a consensus on worrying about Bai Ying.

The front hall manager didn’t dare say a word. As a collateral branch of the Zhong Family, anything involving that person was beyond his pay grade.

Xie Jin let out a long breath. “I know Zhong Qian. I’ll call him again.”

He and Zhong Qian were high school classmates—Xie Jin a year ahead. In his sophomore year, Xie Jin had been student council president, with Zhong Qian as his successor. They had some personal ties.

He had called Zhong Qian earlier, but Zhong Qian had been vague, only saying he’d look into it.

While Xie Jin busied himself contacting Zhong Qian, Qin Juanshu kept calling Bai Ying nonstop. Each time, a woman’s voice said, “The number you have dialed is unreachable,” before hanging up automatically, but Qin Juanshu called right back.

Perhaps his persistence sparked some telepathic connection, because Bai Ying suddenly remembered he hadn’t told Qin Juanshu he was leaving. What if Qin Juanshu couldn’t find him?

The little snake abruptly lifted half its body.

It looked at Liu Qingzhang, who was gazing down at it, and flicked out its tongue. “Hiss hiss.”

Liu Qingzhang stroked the little snake’s head with one finger. “What’s wrong? Hungry?”

Now that he mentioned it, it was a bit hungry. Though he had eaten a lot that evening, heat cycles were very draining… No, that wasn’t what he meant to say!

The little snake flicked its tongue again. “Hiss hiss!”