Let Me Explain, Fairy
Chapter 820 - 512: Once Upon a Time

Chapter 820: Chapter 512: Once Upon a Time

Lou Ji recounted the past events with a light and dismissive tone, even cracking a joke with a smile:

"It’s also thanks to the official position that father once held that I was able to understand the habits of some low-rank demonic beasts."

Even knowing the outcome, Xu Yuan still clenched a fist of cold sweat in his hands.

Unlike the fledgling who first encountered this event, he was very aware that even the lowest rank of demonic beasts was not something that a mortal could deal with alone, let alone a little girl of only six years old.

If there had been any mishap, he probably would have never met this bewitching older sister before him.

If it had been him encountering that situation...

Xu Yuan tried to put himself in the scene at that time.

The conclusion was simple—if it had been him, he’d have had a chance to survive, too.

Just remember one thing.

The intelligence of low-rank demonic beasts is not high, barely different from that of ordinary wild beasts and livestock.

A dead friend cannot die as a poor one.

You don’t need to run faster than the demonic beast, just faster than other humans; once the demonic beast is full, you can naturally escape...

However, to survive in the wilderness, there was more to consider than just temporary survival from a demonic beast attack.

Firstly, you cannot get injured.

The scent of blood would attract demonic beasts, and even ordinary beasts in the forest with a keen sense of smell would come sniffing around.

Secondly, you need to consider food while escaping.

Eighty percent of Dayan’s land is uninhabited, and remote official roads can go half a month without seeing carriages. It is best to acquire some provisions from the convoy transporting female prisoners.

So at the start of the demonic beast attack, you have to remain calm and plan how to use others to attract the demonic beast, and plan your escape route...

And as Xu Yuan reached this thought, he suddenly fell silent for a moment.

He realized a problem,

The age of his older sister when she experienced these events.

Six years old.

"..." Xu Yuan,

At the age of six, what could he, Xu Yuan, do faced with such challenges?

He briefly flipped through his memories.

In his past life, it seemed like he was playing with a slingshot, playing in the mud back home, and in this life, he was causing trouble everywhere in the Prime Minister’s Mansion.

Recalling these memories, a slight smile crossed his face, yet he also felt like he was listening to the story from an illustrated book.

The great female protagonist’s illustrated story,

But this was not an illustrated book; it was a true account of Lou Ji’s past.

After surviving the demonic beast attack, Lou Ji, relying on the dry food she grabbed while escaping, managed to survive in the wilderness, a place with no villages ahead or shops behind.

However, Lou Ji glossed over this part.

As a wilderness survival enthusiast from a previous life, Xu Yuan felt a twinge of regret.

Just like always, Lou Ji saw through Xu Yuan’s thoughts this time too, and lifting a slender finger, she softly laughed and said:

"There’s not much to say about that time. I remembered the escape route, holed up in the mountains with the dry food for three or four days, and then returned to the site of the attack.

"After all, low-rank demonic beasts only eat meat, not dry food."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yuan was speechless.

He hadn’t expected his older sister to have been so bold from such a young age.

The thick smell of blood would attract animals from miles around; after the demonic beasts had their first feast, there would be a second round of large wild beasts scavenging, followed by the third and fourth rounds, until those unfortunate souls were reduced to unrecognizable flesh and bones.

And given the size of the convoy Lou Ji described, this gluttonous feast would likely have continued far beyond three or four days.

But then Xu Yuan let go of his concerns.

Doing so might result in death,

But not doing so would surely lead to death.

A calm temperament might have been innate, but survival skills were not something you were born with.

The still young Lou Ji must have been acutely aware that she did not have the ability to find food in the wild, so she had to take the risk and go back for it.

Afterward,

The young Lou Ji was taken in by a merchant convoy, worked as a server in an inn, and even became a maid to the mistress of a small bandit stronghold.

After much hardship at the bottom rungs of society,

In the forty-third year of Yongqing, eleven years after Xu Yinhe entered the capital, three years late, Lou Ji finally arrived at the heart of the Dayan Empire, Di’an City.

As they spoke, the two had already come before another closed courtyard with an elegant pavilion.

Lou Ji lifted the ring of the door knocker, gently tapping twice, while softly laughing and saying:

"It’s quite the coincidence, on my first trip to the capital I saw your father," she said. "He was riding in a horse-drawn carriage, parading down the street, and nearly everyone on the roadside was talking about him. I only caught a brief glimpse of your father through the carriage window lattice."

Xu Yuan’s eyes twinkled with interest,

"How did it feel?"

"What feeling could there be? In that fleeting moment, I thought this young man was quite handsome... Oh, your dad must have been almost thirty at that time, looking young only because of his cultivation," Lou Ji said softly, poking fun and then chuckled quietly, "But to be honest, the moment I saw your father, I had my eye on him."

"Eye on him?" Xu Yuan arched an eyebrow.

"Don’t you go reporting this to your father."

Lou Ji glanced at him sideways, her smile full of charm, "Back then your father was the emerging elite of the imperial court. Before thirty, he was already famous across the land for more than a decade, and held the position of Sacrificial Wine in the Imperial College. Associating with him, using his power, should have been helpful to my revenge."

Lou Ji would have been only nine years old at the time, but Xu Yuan found nothing amiss with such thoughts coming from her. He asked gently,

"So... what happened after?"

...

Lou Ji just smiled slightly at the question but didn’t answer, giving Xu Yuan a cliffhanger.

The opening of a door soon provided Xu Yuan with a reason for the cliffhanger, as a Guest Elder who lived inside came to open it.

Unlike the gentle old granny of the dragon lineage, the woman living inside was a middle-aged lady with high cheekbones and foxy eyes. At a glance, she was beautiful, but there was a sharp, harsh quality about her appearance.

Xu Yuan quickly recalled the woman’s identity.

The current Sacrificial Wine of the Imperial College.

Although among the lower classes the society was still patriarchal, as one rose through the echelons and encountered the path of cultivation, women from top-ranked Sect families could also hold office in court.

However, due to some inherent physiological characteristics, the proportion of women holding office was still very small within the Dayan Empire.

As he was mulling this over, something unexpected happened.

The middle-aged beautiful woman with the harsh demeanor launched an attack upon seeing Xu Yuan’s face.

At Xu Yuan.

A ripple of cold light blossomed in the winter night, its windswept force blowing the long hair at his temples into a wild dance, whipping up the snow on the ground and causing a dazzling mist of snow in front of the courtyard gate.

By the time Xu Yuan could see what was happening before him, the tip of a soft sword, glowing with a green light, was already at his brow.

The distance was very close.

But it was as wide as a chasm.

Lou Ji reached out and grabbed the obviously poisoned sword tip, her gaze serene.

The harsh beauty bit her lip, her body clothed in a long, gauzy dress trembling slightly in the wind and snow.

After that one sword thrust, the outcome remained unchanged.

The woman looked at Lou Ji, her lips quivering,

"Sister...why?"

Compared to her meeting with the old granny dragon, Lou Ji’s gaze was much colder this time, her voice still frivolous and enticing,

"Your husband crossed the line, more than once, and you merely permitted it."

...

Hearing this, the harsh beauty’s eyes dimmed slightly, seemingly resigned to her fate.

But in the next instant,

Xu Yuan suddenly felt a tightness in his chest and dizziness rose in his brain, leaving him no time to use his cultivation for defense, and he toppled to the side.

The harsh beauty shouted sharply,

"Lou Ji, don’t move, or else I’ll..."

Her words stopped abruptly; the middle-aged beauty clutched at her throat without warning, dropped to her knees before the two of them in the snow, and continuously uttered a guttural "uh-uh" groan.

Her pretty cheeks contorted, as if she were experiencing extreme pain.

Lou Ji drew Xu Yuan into her arms, letting him lean on her shoulder, and looked down at the woman in agony on the ground, her voice detached and calm,

"Xin Ming, it’s unbecoming, your venomous skill was taught by me."

After she finished speaking,

The woman collapsed in pain onto the snowy ground in front of the door.

Holding his sister’s soft and sweet-smelling body, Xu Yuan silently watched the woman struggling on the ground, sighing inwardly.

Faced with death, some choose dignity, while others need a bit of help.

Silence spread through the snowstorm, and nearly a quarter of an hour passed before the woman ceased her struggles.

Blood dripped from all seven of her orifices; she died in agony as if she had experienced all the extremities of suffering in the world.

And in that silence,

Lou Ji suddenly hummed lightly,

"What’s the matter, Changtian? Why haven’t you let go? Do you want to try this poison too?"