Chapter 113: The Three Prominent Socialites (Fourth Update)

Director Zhou looked at me with disdain, clearly knowing I wouldn’t act without a sure target.

“I’m giving you a disguise artifact. Listen carefully, it’s an artifact. It was originally allocated to you for your mission, but now I’ve decided to officially gift it to you,” Director Zhou said.

“Oh, since it’s mission equipment, it’s only right that it’s given to me,” I replied.

“I’m also adding 500,000 contribution points,” he added.

“Contribution points are useless if you don’t have a life to spend them on,” I said.

Director Zhou blew out his beard in frustration and glared at me. This kid’s appetite just keeps growing.

“Then what do you want?” he demanded angrily.

“I remember when I went to Tianzang Shahe, you promised me that if I completed the mission, I could make three requests to the Ninth Bureau,” I said.

“Of course. Do you want to use those three requests now?” Director Zhou asked.

“No, just reminding you not to forget,” I smiled, then added, “I’m willing to go undercover again since it’s not my first time. I want to make one more request.”

“Say it. As long as I can do it,” the old fox responded with a serious expression.

“I want you to wear women’s clothes and post it on the Ninth Bureau’s app,” I said, barely holding back laughter.

The old fox exploded in rage, chasing me from the basement to the ground floor, lashing my backside with a leather belt more than ten times.

…

“Ling, what’s wrong with you?” Xie Yanran entered the top floor of the Moonlight Building and found the usually aloof and otherworldly Ling Xinyue lost in thought.

Ling Xinyue glanced at her and said, “Yanran, you came just in time. Come, have a cup of tea.”

Xie Yanran sat down and took the tea Ling Xinyue handed her. Just as it touched her lips, she hesitated and looked at Ling Xinyue. “Ling, are you sure this isn’t that ‘hundred-flavor tea’ you gave me last time?”

“No,” Ling Xinyue replied.

Relieved, Xie Yanran sipped it, but her face suddenly twisted, and she spat it out, with snot and saliva dripping.

After a long moment, she recovered.

“Ling, you lied! You never lie,” Xie Yanran lamented.

“I didn’t lie. It’s not the last hundred-flavor tea; this is the new hundred-flavor tea,” Ling Xinyue said.

Xie Yanran feigned tears and said, “I’m not playing with you anymore.”

Ling Xinyue brewed another pot of tea and asked, “You just went to Xiliang, and it hasn’t even been two days. Why are you back already? Have you met your new fiancé?”

At the mention of this, Xie Yanran bristled. “I have met him, but no, he’s not my new fiancé. That’s Qu Yuanshan. Does he have the right to sell me out?”

“Hmm… Seems like you got the short end of the stick. I’m actually a bit curious. Who could let our Miss Xie suffer such a loss?” Ling Xinyue smiled.

“He’s a shameless, vulgar, sleazy bastard. If I see him again, I’ll make him kneel before me and weep in repentance,” Xie Yanran snorted.

…

“That’s easy. I can arrange that for you,” Ling Xinyue said.

“No need. I can find him myself,” Xie Yanran hurriedly said.

Ling Xinyue smiled. “Yanran, I’ve never seen you so angry over a man. At least it proves he’s special. Maybe you’re truly fated.”

“Fated, but a doomed fate,” Xie Yanran said.

A doomed fate? Ling Xinyue, for some reason, thought of that abrupt man who had suddenly appeared.

She tried to divine his fate but frowned. That man was shrouded in a mist, impossible to calculate.

“Ling, tonight Wu Yatou is hosting a banquet and wants us to attend,” Xie Yanran said.

“Not interested.” Ling Xinyue, frustrated by her inability to divine, felt an inexplicable irritation.

But she quickly noticed this feeling and shivered inwardly. She cultivated the Clear Wind and Mist Art of the Supreme Spiritual Smoke Sect, a state of mind as light as smoke, rarely disturbed.

Yet today was the second time, both times because of the same man.

The first was when he drank the hundred-flavor tea; the second was when she failed to divine his fate.

“Go. The three of us haven’t gathered in a long while,” Xie Yanran said.

Ling Xinyue thought for a moment and said, “Alright, let’s go.”

…

I looked somewhat speechless at the incessantly chatty man before me. Once he learned my name, he clung to me with a familiarity that was unmatched.

“Brother Qin, that Qu Yuanshan—I’ve long disliked him. What a piece of work, just relying on that mad master of his.”

“If you beat him down, it’d be a joy to see. I heard the Daoist Fish Dragon bought his life with the Supreme Clarity Talisman—one of the three Taoist deities’ talismans. Let me see it? Haha, just joking.”

“Brother Qin, we hit it off at first sight. How about we become sworn brothers?”

I listened to this crooked-mouthed man ramble on. He didn’t even need me to reply; he could continue speaking without pause.

I wanted to leave but he grabbed my wrist. His faint aura revealed he was a high-level Yin-Yang master. I even suspected this Zhou Yun guy might be the old fox’s son, sent to torment me.

I had no temper left. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, as if entering meditation.

But then I seemed to catch him mentioning the three great socialites of the capital. I snapped out of my trance and asked, “What did you just say?”

“The three great socialites. I said there’s a banquet tonight hosted by one of them—Shangguan Qingwu,” Zhou Yun said excitedly.

“Shangguan Qingwu? What’s her relation to Shangguan Qinghong?” I recalled the head of the Inspection Team who nearly killed me. Damn it, this grudge must be avenged. Even if the old fox said Shangguan Qinghong was on his side, I wouldn’t let it slide.

“They’re siblings, from the Shangguan family,” Zhou Yun said.

The Shangguan family kept a low profile, so little information spread about them.

Yet in the capital’s upper circles, the Shangguan family was mysterious. Though not visibly powerful, no one ignored them—whenever major matters arose, officials always sought their opinion.

The three great socialites of the capital were Shangguan Qingwu, Xie Yanran of the Xie family, and Ling Xinyue of the Ling family.

Zhou Yun praised Ling Xinyue as a celestial fairy, to be admired from afar but never to be profaned.

Ling Xinyue, as the foremost among the three, was famed not only for her noble lineage and breathtaking beauty but also for her masterful tea ceremony and zither skills, with a scholarly elegance surpassing other socialites.

“They say all three will gather at tonight’s banquet,” Zhou Yun said, then let out a lecherous laugh, no one knowing what fantasies he entertained.

“Can you get me in?” I asked.

“Yes. I went through hell to get two invitations. Otherwise, I’d have given you a cheap one,” Zhou Yun said.

I stared at him. “Why do I feel like you’re setting me up?”

“Setting you up? Brother Qin, are you going or not?” Zhou Yun feigned ignorance.

“I’m going,” I said. Whatever traps he laid, with my merits in the Ninth Bureau, who dared oppose me openly?

Zhou Yun immediately tossed me an invitation, then released my wrist and left.

I pocketed the invitation and headed to the Ninth Bureau’s logistics department.

Upon entering Chi Yun’s office, I saw a fat man fawning over her.

“Chi Yun, this gift took me 500 contribution points to redeem,” the fat man said, holding a brocade box, eyes fixed on her.

“Sorry, Director Xu, please take it back,” Chi Yun said coldly, pushing the box aside.

“Chi Yun, I like you. Our families are a perfect match. Give me a chance, and I’ll love you forever,” the fat man persisted.

“Director Xu, do you understand plain language?” Chi Yun slammed the table and shouted.

The fat man’s face darkened. “Chi Yun, you just rely on your uncle. His influence in the Ninth Bureau is limited. Believe me, if I make you warehouse duty, even your uncle can’t help.”

“Fatso, get out of my office!” Chi Yun yelled.

“Don’t regret this,” the fat man threatened as he turned.

But he suddenly found someone blocking him—an explosive chest that made him envious.

He looked up and saw a coldly smiling handsome face.

“You…” he started.

“Smack!”

Before he could say more, I slapped him hard, sending him flying. Teeth and blood scattered through the air.