by Catofdreams
"You're not talking about some kind of fetish that your wife has, right?", Yang Wei had to confirm this time. He was suspicious about this being the case earlier, but Lang Jie's words deepened his suspicion.
"Of course not!", Lang Jie exclaimed. He had to take another drink to rinse off the absurdity of Yang Wei's question.
The two continued drinking in silence for a while. After they emptied the first gourd, Yang Wei brought out another one. At that point, they felt a bit tipsy since the two of them felt their faces buzzing.
"Shouldn't you be with Jane? I feel bad for taking away some of your lovey-dovey time…", Lang Jie told the man he was drinking with.
Yang Wei shook his head in response.
"I already told her about the situation. She wants me to accompany you since she treats the both of you as her close friends.", Yang Wei replied.
"Also, she has a lot of work piled up since she ignored a lot of them ever since I moved in…", Yang Wei revealed a bit of his problems towards Lang Jie.
Yang Wei did feel a bit guilty about his girlfriend slacking off because of him. Although Jane does work on her responsibilities while Yang Wei is off to the office, it wasn't even close to being enough time for her to finish everything. She was scheduled to fly off to different places to meet her clients and check on her different projects, but she hasn't left home ever since she met Yang Wei.
The only work she gets done is dealing with her paperwork. She left every other job to her underlings, which she did feel uncomfortable doing since she really wanted to see the results with her own eyes, but she just couldn't bear to leave Yang Wei. Although Xue Yan did cast some kind of spell towards her, it had long worn off. Her actions were the results of her own, natural feelings.
"Do you feel bad about it?", Lang Jie asked.
"A little bit, yeah…", Yang Wei replied.
Both of them continued drinking. They talked about random mundane things while enjoying the Purple Lotus Wine. Halfway through the fourth gourd, the two of them became extremely drunk.
Yang Wei was lying face-down on the floor while Lang Jie was sleeping soundly on his seat with his head on the table.
The night seemed peaceful as the two of them fell asleep in Yang Wei's cozy apartment, but that peace was just an illusion.
The apartment building was located in the middle of the city, which meant that it was surrounded by plenty of buildings. On the building beside it, Xue Yan was on the rooftop, observing her husband through the window of Yang Wei's apartment. She heightened her senses in order to be able to see and hear everything that was happening inside the apartment from a distance.
Although she was mad at Lang Jie, she still dearly loved him, so she couldn't just leave him alone. She was also a bit worried when she found out that her husband confided with Yang Wei since Lang Jie might slip-up and tell Yang Wei about cultivators, so she decided to just follow them and observe from a distance.
Also, she wasn't the only one that was observing them.
Inside the apartment building where Lang Jie and Yang Wei stayed, Jane sat comfortably on her seat, along with a few other people who were tapping into Lang Jie and Yang Wei's conversation. Although she couldn't see what they were doing, she could clearly hear them since she secretly placed a listening device in Yang Wei's clothes as he left their home.
Of course, Jane fully trusted Yang Wei. She knew that he would never cheat on him, so that wasn't the reason why she placed the listening device. The real reason was that she wanted information about Lang Jie and Xue Yan. Since they were the people that introduced Yang Wei to her, she wanted to show her gratitude by helping them as much as she could, but in order to do it correctly, she needed information. The last thing she wanted to happen was to make it worse.
But then, those two weren't the only ones eavesdropping.
In the very room where Lang Jie and Yang Wei drank, another man was there, silently observing them while concealing his presence, and that man was none other than Wen Cheng himself.
Wen Cheng came rushing as soon as he heard that Lang Jie and Xue Yan were fighting. He was afraid of Xue Yan losing control and ending up destroying everything due to heartbreak, so he knew that he had to come in order to try to mediate the problem. He silently listened to Lang Jie and Yang Wei's worries intently, just in case Lang Jie might slip-up and say something about the cultivation world to Yang Wei. Thankfully, that didn't happen.
Yang Wei only received three gourds of Purple Lotus Wine. Wen Cheng slipped in another gourd in order to make the two men with love troubles enjoy their friendship time together.
Of course, Xue Yan saw everything from the other building. In fact, she already knew that Wen Cheng was already in the apartment room before her husband and Yang Wei even entered since she felt his qi inside the building. Unfortunately for Xue Yan, because of Wen Cheng's powerful qi, another qi from a lower level cultivator that was in the building was masked.
Wen Cheng was in the Divine Realm, so his qi could easily mask the qi around him due to his presence, making it difficult for anyone to sense other people that were below his level. Xue Yan could've seen through it if she paid enough attention, but she was focused on her husband, so she missed the Celestial Realm cultivator that was just outside Yang Wei's room.
On the other side of the door to Yang Wei's apartment, Lei Wu was also eavesdropping on Lang Jie and Yang Wei. She planted her ear on the wooden door and heightened her sense of hearing, which made her barely hear the conversation inside.
Lei Wu felt an uneasy feeling earlier in the morning, so she went back to her master's home in order to see if anything was happening. Just as she was about to enter the house, she heard her master angrily shouting and berating Lang Jie.
Although she did feel satisfied hearing the mortal husband being scolded since he dared to call her his daughter, she knew that the two of them had to make up. Just like Wen Cheng, she was scared that her master might end up doing something unfathomable due to love problems.
The peaceful illusion in the room was surrounded by four forces that were fully determined to wipe out the problem. Although it was just a normal scuffle between a married couple, it did involve the most powerful person in the world.
As the two men fell asleep, the four forces all made their move.
Jane immediately acted and started thinking about what the best possible thing was for her to do. She took out a notebook and started writing an extremely detailed plan. Every action that had to be made was written, along with a specified time, which was also detailed since it even stated the exact second in which the action has to be done.
She used her connections and called other big names in the business field. Her plan was to invite Xue Yan out under the guise of relieving stress and use that opportunity to act out her plan. Lastly, she sent a message to Lang Jie, which was carefully crafted word-for-word in order to manipulate him into coming in at the last minute and taking the spotlight, which will then give him a chance to fix the problem.
Just like Xue Yan, Jane was also a very cunning person. She wanted to have every factor that could be manipulated in her plan to be under her control. The respectable owners of the area she was going to had already been notified about her plan. They were all very eager to help Jane, and since she knew how they all handle their businesses, she knew that they would do a good job in following her plan down to the very second on the times she wrote.
As Jane was doing that, Lei Wu also decided to make a move.
Since Lei Wu was from an all-female sect, she completely sided with Xue Yan. She didn't have any experience with men, so she couldn't help but support Xue Yan.
Lei Wu called up her people and told them to prepare the famous beautifying spa in their sect. Although she had no idea on how to fix the relationship problem between the two, she thought that relieving stress was a way of helping her master, so she wanted to use the very best resource she had in dealing with that matter.
The beautifying spa of the Sl
eeping Fairy Sect was famous all around the cultivation world. It was known to be extremely relaxing, and although it takes up to a week, it was well worth the time since it was possible to look almost ten years younger as soon as the customer leaves the spa. It was supposed to be closed for the moment since it required a lot of resources manpower, or should I say… womanpower, to operate, so it was only possible to open it for a month every two years.
Lei Wu was determined to bring Xue Yan with her tomorrow. She thought that Lang Jie might grovel and apologize when he sees his beautiful wife become even more beautiful after going through the treatment in her spa. If she accomplishes this mission, she was certain that her master would appreciate her more.
Now, on the other side of the spectrum was Wen Cheng.
The patriarch of the Purple Lotus Clan, as we all know, has absolutely no idea on how to deal with women. As he listened to Lang Jie and Yang Wei's conversation, he completely sympathized with Lang Jie and thought that he was right in doing what he did. After all, if he really wanted to do something, why shouldn't he do it?
After listening to their conversation, he made his own plan. He contacted the people handling a branch of the Purple Lotus Hotel that was far from a city. He wanted a remote location in order to avoid any distractions as he and Lang Jie would go around and have fun with nature.
Since Lang Jie wanted to start cultivating, the right thing to do was to experience nature itself, and the best way to do that is to enjoy the things that nature left them with. The branch of the hotel that Wen Cheng contacted was near quite a few natural treasures. A clean spring near a waterfall that was safe for mortals to swim in, a nice cave with beautiful stalactites that looked great in photos, a mountain that was good for hiking, and even rock climbing, and lastly, a well-maintained white sand beach in the vicinity of the hotel. All of those were close to each other, so Wen Cheng knew that Lang Jie would enjoy it.
As the three of them made their plans and started dealing with any loose ends, Xue Yan simply sighed after listening to her husband and Yang Wei drink their problems out.
"Perhaps I was being too hard on him…", she told herself as she made her way down the building.
Xue Yan felt a bit guilty for following her husband, so she decided to just let the matter go and return home. She decided to just let the matter go and to prepare for her husband's return.
After all, Xue Yan knew that her husband loved her greatly. Lang Jie even accepted that he was wrong, so she decided to forgive him and go back to being a lovey-dovey married couple.
Alas, fate was not on her side as she had no idea of what was coming. An extremely chaotic war was brewing, yet Xue Yan was clueless as she slowly walked back home while appreciating the night sky.
"Darling, I miss you… come back home soon."
CHAPTER 34 – “THE HOUSEWIFE AND HER BELOVED HUSBAND”
“Is she coming?”
Jane was growing impatient as she waited by the mall entrance where she and Xue Yan agreed to meet. Xue Yan wasn’t sure about going with Jane at first, but she received a message from Lang Jie earlier, saying that he’ll stay a bit more at Yang Wei’s place since he had an awful hangover. Xue Yan finished dealing with her daily housework early, so she decided to say yes.
“Target has just left the house. She will arrive in approximately fifteen minutes.”, a seemingly random civilian passed by and whispered to Jane’s ear.
In the public’s eyes, the people around her, as well as the people in the mall, were all normal civilians. Little did they know, everyone in the vicinity of the mall was hired personnel.
During the night, Jane’s men immediately gathered all the people they could. They thoroughly taught them their roles and watch them rehearse the entire night. If you looked closely at some of the civilian’s faces, you can clearly see that they had a fatigued expression due to the lack of rest.
Jane was confident in her plan. Like a true brilliant strategist, she minimized the number of uncertain factors that could lead to the plan’s failure. With everything under control, she knew that her side of the plan was as good as perfect.
Unfortunately, there were still factors that she could not control.
“M-Ma’am! There’s a problem!”
Another random civilian came over to report the situation. Jane looked stunned as she heard that there was a bump in the progress of her perfect plan.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”, she asked the man.
“The target has met with another woman. Judging from what we heard while tailing them, the target has invited her to join you two.”, the man explained.
Jane clicked her tongue as she heard the bad news.
The only unreliable factor in her plan, other than contingencies, was Xue Yan. Since she wanted to cheer her up, she knew that she shouldn’t try to control her since that would mean she would have to limit her actions. Now that another person has joined the fray, more unreliable factors started popping up in her plan.
“Quickly, change the plans we prepared to accommodate three people. Also, do you know the identity of this woman? Perhaps we could still do something about it.”, Jane told the man calmly. She knew that getting flustered would just lead to bumps in her plan. She had to maintain her composure in order to make sure that everything would function just as she wanted it to.
“Her name is Lei Wu. From what we heard, she’s either a long-time friend, her student, her sister, or… her daughter…?”, the man’s voice slightly shook out of confusion during the last few words of his sentence. The information he just received was too vague that it sounded ridiculous as he relayed it to his boss.
“I see. It’s fine. Just continue as we planned.”, Jane immediately sent out her orders.
She planned to try and bring Lei Wu to her side, but since she had a close relationship with Xue Yan, it’d be bad if she would tattle on her, so she decided to refrain from doing so. All she could do now is leave everything towards fate.
As the time of reckoning slowly came, Jane took a deep breath and hoped nothing else would go wrong.
“Master, after shopping, do you want to go relax over in my sect? I told them to prepare the beautifying spa for us so we can relax and bond together!”
Lei Wu excitedly invited Xue Yan. Her plan wasn’t as complicated as Jane’s. In fact, the only thing in her ‘plan’ was to invite Xue Yan. If she refused, then her plan would be in shambles. After all, Lei Wu wasn’t one to thoroughly prepare, especially if it was something she decided during the night before.
She fervently hoped for Xue Yan’s positive response. As she saw Xue Yan’s mouth start to open in order to give her response, she closed her eyes and prayed to the heavens that she would accept her invitation.
“Sure, but can I bring a friend along? The friend I’m meeting now is also a bit close to me.”, Xue Yan was happy to say yes, but she’d feel bad leaving Jane alone, so she wanted her to come along.
“Of course! One or two more people wouldn’t make a difference.”, Lei Wu responded. She didn’t even bother hiding the happiness in her voice as she heard her master agree.
“Oh wait… I forgot…”, Xue Yan stopped in her tracks as soon as she realized something.
“What is it?”, Lei Wu started panicking. She felt scared since she thought that Xue Yan wanted to take back what she said about coming along.
“My friend is a mortal…”, Xue Yan said with a dejected voice.
The beautifying spa within the Sleeping Fairy Sect was indeed famous, but only to cultivators. After all, the sect is one that practiced cultivation, so it was no surprise that mortals haven’t heard of the place yet.
Lei Wu sighed in relief as she heard about Xue Yan’s worry.
“Don’t worry about that. She can still come. I’ll handle it.”, Lei Wu confidently told Xue Yan. Although she wasn’t as strong as her master, Lei Wu was still the leader of a big sect, and she was also one of the heads of the martial world. Her words alone hold a lot of weight in the
m, so if she confidently says she can do something, there was no disputing it.
“Really? That’s great!”, Xue Yan happily responded.
Lei Wu happily accompanied Xue Yan as she started sending orders towards her sect members. The spa could easily accommodate another person, so that wasn’t a problem. The only annoying part was trying to mask the parts that don’t make sense towards mortals, but that wasn’t too difficult for Lei Wu, so everything was going well.
As the two of them walked towards the mall, they exchanged words in their head.
“Master, a few people have been tailing us ever since we met. Do you want me to deal with them?”, Lei Wu asked Xue Yan.
“No need, they’re just mortals, so they can’t do anything.”, Xue Yan confidently told Lei Wu. She thought that the people that were tailing them were people that Wen Cheng sent since she did notice his presence while she was observing her husband and Yang Wei drinking together. Perhaps he had a plan to try and help the relationship between her and Lang Jie.
