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Chapter 354: Why do you understand it so well?

The young lady who had just taken a bath sat elegantly on the side, her skin glowing softly in the candlelight. She looked like a lotus flower emerging in a clear pond—so immaculate that it was as if she had been carved by deities.

With long hair draped loosely over her shoulders and limpid eyes reminiscent of a pool of water, the young lady was the very image of pure and unadulterated beauty.

This young lady was Yu Xiang\'er.

There had been rumors in the streets about her. If Shen Qingyan was ravishingly beautiful like a tree peony[1] and Xue Lingxue had a glacial beauty that prevented others from approaching her, then Yu Xiang\'er was a youthful and gentle beauty that made her seem warm and approachable.

Chu Liang witnessed it for himself this evening. The rumors appeared to be true.

Unfortunately, this was not the right moment to appreciate Yu Xiang\'er\'s beauty... because it was too embarrassing for him to raise his lowered head.

"Ji Lingyu."

"Chu Liuxiang."

Ji Lingyu and Chu Liang gave their names.

"I attended the Mount Shu Summit. Who are you trying to fool?" Musician Zhao shot Chu Liang a sidelong glance. "I recognize you. You\'re Chu Liang of the Mount Shu Sect. I was there when you killed Taowu."

"..."

Chu Liang remained silent for a moment.

No wonder people fear getting famous like pigs fear getting fattened, especially pigs that have already been caught...[2]

Chu Liang had to admit, "Esteemed senior, my surname is Chu. My given name is Liang, and my courtesy name is Liuxiang."

"I don\'t care what your real name is, and I don\'t care which sects\' prodigies the two of you are. You dared to sneak into Jubilant Melody Hall and peep at a disciple of the South Melody Conservatory. Both acts are disgraceful. I will inform your families and sects and have your elders take you home," Musician Zhao said sternly.

"No!"

"Esteemed senior, please don\'t!"

Ji Lingyu and Chu Liang shouted at the same time.

Ji Lingyu was anxious because she was still running away from home. Everything would be fine if her family didn\'t come looking for her, but if they did... I can\'t go back like this. If they catch me here, they definitely won\'t let me leave home for the next ten years.

Chu Liang was even more nervous than Ji Lingyu. After all, Ji Lingyu was a young lady. It wasn\'t as big a problem for her to get caught peeping at another young lady, and it would be easier for others to accept her explanation.

If news were to get out that Chu Liang had gotten caught for peeping at Yu Xiang\'er, that would just make his already famous name spread further and even faster across the mortal realm.

In the future, I will truly have to change my name just so I can live.

I\'m so young, yet I\'ve already achieved much success in cultivation. It would be tragic if I ruined my clean reputation for life because of such a shameful incident.

Musician Zhao looked at them and asked irritably, "Do you have anything else to say?"

Chu Liang\'s mind raced, and he glanced at Yu Xiang\'er beside him before revealing the truth.

"Esteemed senior, please discern the truth. We did not come to peep at the disciples of the South Melody Conservatory but to find the notorious thief Li Feiyu from Jiangnan!"

"Oh?" Musician Zhao uttered in surprise and doubt.

Chu Liang then told her about the theft of the Baxia Dual Rings from the Ultimate Martial Mountain Manor. He also told her how he and Ji Lingyu were helpers in the Great Astral Sect\'s trial to select their next head disciple.

"But what does this have to do with the South Melody Conservatory?" Musician Zhao questioned.

"That\'s because I fought with Li Feiyu last night. Esteemed senior, look at this item!"

Chu Liang turned his hand over, taking the dudou out from his storage tool.

"..."

The room fell silent.

After a while, Musician Zhao questioned quietly, "Do you think I do not know what this is?"

Chu Liang continued, "I stole this item from that thief."

Musician Zhao thought that there was something rather odd about this statement.

You stole this item from a thief... and the item\'s a dudou. Doesn\'t that make you a scoundrel too?

He\'s a cat burglar, and... you\'re a perverted thief[3]?

Chu Liang said, "I won\'t go into the details. In short, Miss Ji and I tracked the residual aura on this item to this place. That\'s why we wanted to come in and investigate."

Throughout his explanation, Chu Liang had kept an eye on Yu Xiang\'er and noticed she just sat there quietly the whole time.

"In that case, your actions are understandable." Musician Zhao finally dropped her stern expression. "However, if there are people connected to the thief in the Jubilant Melody Hall, you could have just informed us. Why sneak in so late at night?"

"We were still uncertain about the details of the situation. Please forgive us for sneaking in here, esteemed senior," Chu Liang apologized again. Then he stated, "However, Miss Ji did manage to confirm earlier that the owner of this dudou... is Miss Yu."

"Hmm?" Musician Zhao uttered, turning to look at Yu Xiang\'er.

It was only then that Yu Xiang\'er finally spoke up.

She gave a slight nod and explained, "I did lose a dudou the day before yesterday. I was too embarrassed to mention it and thought I had just forgotten where I\'d placed it. Now, it appears that it might have been stolen."

As Yu Xiang\'er spoke, she glanced at Chu Liang.

Her gaze seemed to be questioning whether the dudou had been stolen by the thief... or Chu Liang. There might even have been someone else in the middle.

Chu Liang replied, "In that case, it shall finally be returned to its rightful owner today."

He handed the dudou to Yu Xiang\'er. She delicately picked the dudou up with two fingers and put it away.

"I will conduct a thorough investigation in the Jubilant Melody Hall tomorrow to see if anyone\'s acting suspiciously or if there\'s anyone who may be connected to that thief," Musician Zhao declared, standing up. "You two can rest assured. If that cat burglar is indeed in the Jubilant Melody Hall, we will not let him go unpunished."

"Esteemed senior, we have full trust in the South Melody Conservatory," Chu Liang said.

Then Musician Zhao asked, "But didn\'t you say that you\'re here to assist the disciples of the Great Astral Sect? Why is it just the two of you? Why don\'t I see any of them here?"

Chu Liang answered weakly, "Uh... Esteemed senior, they\'re the two people you beat up outside earlier."

As Chu Liang and Ji Lingyu walked out of the Jubilant Melody Hall, they both let out a long sigh of relief.

Then Ji Lingyu quickly pointed out, "The dudou led us to a dead end. It will be really hard to find Li Feiyu now."

"Something\'s off about Miss Yu," Chu Liang said definitively. "I\'m sure she\'s lying."

"Huh?

" Ji Lingyu was startled. "Why are you so sure?"

Chu Liang explained his reasoning with certainty. "Earlier, I deliberately took out the dudou without mentioning what it was first so I could see her reaction. When a woman suddenly sees her lost dudou presented in front of her, her first reaction shouldn\'t have been like that, regardless of what situation she was in."

Recalling Enchantress Liu\'s expression from that day and Yu Xiang\'er\'s expression earlier, Chu Liang slowly analyzed the difference between them.

Chu Liang continued, "Miss Yu should have shown some embarrassment or anger. Instead, she was very calm. She wasn\'t even surprised in the slightest. It was like... she was prepared for it."

As Ji Lingyu listened to Chu Liang speak, her focus wasn\'t on Yu Xiang\'er. Instead, she was gazing at Chu Liang with a strange look.

Ji Lingyu asked, "Why do you understand this matter so well?"

Chu Liang slowly uttered one word, "Experience."

That one word made Ji Lingyu shiver. She silently took two steps back, looking at Chu Liang with a terrified gaze.

...

The next day at noon, the Jubilant Melody Hall was crowded with people.

Unfortunately, the concert they were attending was not part of a tour, so Miss Yu would only perform two or three pieces at most.

Additionally, the venue wasn\'t as large as what would be used for concerts during a tour; they were only using this hall. The hall wasn\'t very large, so many residents of Donghuai City stood outside the Jubilant Melody Hall, hoping to hear Miss Yu\'s performances.

When Ren Hongdao and Zhang Chen arrived at the hall, they were surprised to find that Chu Liang, Yun Chaoxian, Ji Lingyu, and Tang Shi weren\'t the only ones there...

Li Fujian and Zhuge Guanxing were sitting with them.

"Junior Brother, do you also like Miss Yu?" Ren Hongdao asked, pleasantly surprised.

Li Fujian nodded repeatedly. "Yes, yes."

Standing behind Ren Hongdao, Zhang Chen rubbed his forehead helplessly and decided he had to say something.

However, when he opened his mouth to speak, he noticed an adorable and innocent-looking little girl sitting on Chu Liang\'s right. She had large eyes that were filled with spiritual qi. It appeared that she was there with Chu Liang.

Zhang Chen curiously asked, "This is...?"

Smiling, Chu Liang introduced the little girl. "Oh, this is Liu Xiaoyu\'er, the champion of my sect\'s Mahjong Tournament."

"Miss Liu rushed here all the way from Mount Shu?"

"Yes, Xiaoyu\'er loves singing and dancing. When she heard that Miss Yu was holding a concert here, she made a fuss and insisted on coming."

Beside Chu Liang, Liu Xiaoyu\'er\'s little head drooped down upon recalling something unpleasant.[4]

Chu Liang nudged Liu Xiaoyu\'er gently. "Isn\'t that right?"

"Yes," Liu Xiaoyu said with a pained expression. "I love singing and dancing the most."

1. The line directly translated to “national beauty and heavenly fragrance”. It\'s another term for the tree peony, which has long been revered as the “king of flowers” in China. ☜

2. It\'s talking about pigs getting prepared for slaughter. In other words, because Musician Zhao knows who he is, he can\'t lie his way out of this. So, he thinks he\'s screwed. ☜

3. Basically a panty thief lol. ☜

4. Back when Chu Liang first saw Liu Xiaoyu\'er, she was auditioning to become one of Xue Lingxue\'s dance partners... and failed miserably lol. You can read the scene again here. ☜