The damp young madam lay sprawled on the bamboo mat, eyes narrowed, letting Su Ling'er's fingertips slip into her lovely hair and massage her scalp, whimpering with little nasal whines like a puppy being stroked.
"Today we'll try a new pressure point."
Su Ling'er warned, "It might hurt a bit, so bear with it, okay?"
"Hm?"
Li Fei turned her head warily.
"Massaging this acupoint is good for the body... it's just that, if your body is depleted, the massage will be rather painful."
Su Ling'er gently poked her back.
"Ha? My body's perfectly fine—press as hard as you can!"
Li Fei said toughly.
Owww—
Before the words had even faded, Li Fei let out a mournful wail.
Tears leaked out.
Grace silently covered her face.
Over the past week, the number of Charm Marks on Li Fei's belly had increased by about fifty each day, but today it was as if she'd drunk bootleg liquor—when she came home in the evening she was swaying on her feet, her face pale as gold paper, with a heavy floral fragrance clinging to her.
Grace and Lilith propped up her sticky arms and brought her into the bath, and upon a look—whoa—there were thirty more than the normal progress!
And she had severe dehydration symptoms; the moment Grace let her guard down, the steaming, fragrant bathwater of the beautiful maiden in the tub had been gulped down by her until the water level dropped a full centimeter.
Even for a Transcendent, this would inevitably injure one's vital essence.
Fortunately, the ritual's completion was nearing the halfway mark....
Grace sighed faintly, and once Li Fei had been flipped over, she took out a powerful cleaning agent and wordlessly scrubbed away the crooked vermilion marks the Serpent-women had left on her belly.
After the bath, Li Fei drank a whole pot of Serpent-woman scale soup and finally got her strength back.
"It's getting late..."
Glancing at the wall clock, Li Fei leisurely began to dress and groom herself, preparing for the evening's auction.
She picked out a decorous and elegant pink sleeveless evening gown. When Ram handed over the expensive necklace that Lady Kalida had gifted, Li Fei hesitated a moment, then declined, and whispered a few words to Ram.
A moment later, Ram borrowed from one of the maids a pretty, cheap crescent-shaped transparent pendant, then gathered Li Fei's long hair into a ponytail, exposing her flawless, snow-white nape.
Li Fei turned to look back, admiring the breathtaking beauty in the full-length mirror.
Her features were sickly yet full of spirit; her eyes were like stars, radiant with every glance.
The form-fitting waist of the dress traced out a graceful, slender waistline, and the beige-leaning light-pink skirt set off her skin to look all the more delicate and dewy.
Her long legs and dainty collarbones were thoroughly covered, yet beneath the seemingly conservative design there was no lack of cunning: her jade-white ankles flickered in and out of view beneath the hem, and her tender shoulders, slender enough to grasp in one hand, made her look both pure and alluring.
Li Fei broke into a smile, gently lifted one side of her skirt, and performed a lady's curtsy that, being somewhat imperfect, came across as full of lively, playful girlishness:
"Good evening, Sister Kalida."
"Good evening."
Inside the aquarium, Kalida, dressed in a black evening gown, marveled, "Every time I think this girl has already become 'incomparably' beautiful, you always manage to amaze me all over again."
—Beautiful? Traded for with Morality Value.
Li Fei smiled bashfully, then leaned in intimately and whispered in a refined, literary tone:
"So then... who is fairer, I or Tingbao?"
"It's hard to tell."
Kalida replied with a faint smile.
"?"
Li Fei puffed out her cheeks.
If any other girl had asked her a similar question, she would unhesitatingly, in the most sincere tone, give the standard answer:
"In my eyes, you are the most beautiful."
Compared with sincerity, sweet talk makes a girl happier, doesn't it?
"After all... besides your beauty, you have so many other traits that deeply attract me, which makes it impossible for me to render a fair and objective judgment."
Kalida said, looking somewhat troubled.
"Aiya, don't say that about Tingbao—she's not the kind of person who's useless apart from her looks; her other merits just aren't very obvious."
Having taken a little dig at Tingbao, Li Fei cheerfully looped her arm through Kalida's, and the two, all smiles and laughter, threaded through the crowd toward the hall inside the aquarium.
The hall inside the aquarium had always doubled as an auction chamber, mainly used for the occasional auction of aquatic specialties—such as mermaid ladies, octopus-girl ladies, water-elemental ladies....
But today, the spokeswoman's mage robe (damaged), her Flowing Silver, and her medals had also been added to the lineup of auction lots.
"So, have you really thought through how you'll face the gossip and rumors?"
Kalida asked curiously.
She knew very well that Li Fei was someone who cherished her reputation and was unlikely to do anything that might invite criticism for the sake of a little profit. So when Li Fei asked her to contact her friend at the city hall in charge of 'culture' and 'publicity' to spread the news that Miss Spell Encyclopedia intended to publicly auction off her equipment—rather than to cover the news up—Kalida found it baffling.
"Mm-hm."
Li Fei nodded, and arm in arm with Kalida, walked into the auction hall.
The carpet and walls were both aqua-blue; even the chandeliers gave off a seawater-like glimmering blue glow that swayed throughout the auction hall, and faint sounds of ocean waves drifted to the ear—all very fitting for the aquarium's theme.
She swept her gaze across the venue. Besides the respectably dressed gentlemen and the young ladies of wealth wearing precious jewelry, the seats also held quite a few common tourists—tonight the auction hall had been specially opened, and anyone who had bought a ticket into the aquarium could freely watch or take part in the auction.
Li Fei even spotted some familiar figures—classmates from the Magic Academy, for instance, and the Cowell couple, as well as Qin Zhihua's mentor and a regular client of Miss Top Courtesan, namely that lewd fox, Margaret.
Clearly, many people here had come specifically for the auction. A few itching newspaper editors locked their eyes firmly onto Li Fei the moment she entered, and even their thick glasses couldn't conceal the excited, fervent gleam in their eyes.
Li Fei's expression didn't change as she calmly took her seat.
The matter of auctioning off her 'comrades' and her 'honor' only a few days after the dust had settled on the exchange tournament—to call it a stain would be an exaggeration, but it did damage her image somewhat, rather like 'a female celebrity caught smoking Zhonghua cigs.' Within Loxibrook it couldn't be said to have blown up into a full-on sensation, but it had still splashed up a fair-sized ripple, becoming after-dinner gossip for many—whether it was a universally known positive figure doing something less than dignified, or snide, sarcastic commentary on the educational system of an authoritative academy, both made for very attractive topics.
She was, of course, well aware of this; after all, the renowned Wudaokou Institute of Technology and Zhongguancun College of Applied Arts and Sciences had practically been branded by many as walking 'half-a-million-bounty' export bases.
After nodding in greeting to the Cowell couple and Klein, Li Fei sat down directly in the seat to Margaret's right, casually reaching out to touch the golden, fluffy fox tail, savoring the soft, downy feel of the fur, while a thought niggled at her mind.
Cowell bringing his wife to tour the aquarium is perfectly normal—but you, Klein, what are you doing tagging along...
"Long time no see, Master Margaret."
Kalida evidently knew Margaret; after greeting her, her gaze lingered for a moment on Li Fei's hand, then she sat down smilingly to the fox's left.
Just like that, two tall, alluringly built human women flanked the weak, pitiful, helpless blonde beast-eared little loli between them, their nearly-bursting-forth curves doing a fine job of blocking off the sightlines of any onlookers.
"Lately, has Qin Lan come to you for help again?"
Miss Top Courtesan, who had gained plenty of experience from all her fox-stroking, twiddled the warm, soft base of the tail with just the right amount of force, asking in a breathy voice into the pink ear-hole.
With her tail thus seized, the little fox's spine snapped straight, her limp fox ears stood bolt upright, and with a trembling, stammering voice she said:
"N-no... she seems—seems to have g-given up.... The Qin family, maybe... maybe will... send someone over."
"Very good."
Li Fei curled up the corner of her mouth.
Although the family had split, Miss Top Courtesan still cared deeply about family; from beginning to end she remained unable to stop thinking about her elegant, haughty sister-in-law, as well as the Siren mother and daughter who had been left in her keeping—had she not been busy boosting her combat power in preparation for the exchange tournament, and had getting her fatal acupoint pricked not truly hurt so much, the one who caught Witch Sickness when she advanced to Sequence 8 would not have been Sasha, but Qin Lan.
Although missing out on a fine match for the moment left Li Fei somewhat regretful, there were still many days ahead, weren't there?
"You—you keep skipping work lately; I can't even book an appointment with you anymore."
The little fox suddenly spoke, a note of reproach in her misty golden pupils.
This week Miss Top Courtesan had only worked two days—once for a moonlit, flower-strewn tryst with Lady Hathaway, the vice-president of the Thieves' Guild, and the other time to continue cultivating the "Friendship Handbook" with the Angel lady; seven more items had been crossed off the list, including eating a single strawberry-flavored biscuit stick from both ends.
"I do have to cultivate, after all."
Li Fei scratched the base of the tail and blew a breath at the fox ear. "Do keep an eye out for news of the Qin family for me, won't you—tell me ahead of time if there's any movement.... And when that happens, I'll be sure to re·pay· the favor, properly."
As she spoke, Li Fei brought her five fingers together, tightened them, and gave a half-turn, nearly making Margaret let out a strange sound.
"Shhh—"
Li Fei raised her index finger, and while gripping the fox's tail in her palm and nimbly twirling it, she murmured softly, "This is a public place, you know.... You wouldn't want everyone to find out that the famous Master Apothecary is actually a bad girl, would you?"
Kalida kept her eyes straight ahead, observing the precious live scene of a human taming a fox only out of the corner of her eye, yet her breathing had grown somewhat hot.
She tapped her chin thoughtfully with her index finger, focused on pondering a certain question.
Maybe... I should learn a tail-transformation technique too.
But a dragon tail, a rabbit tail, or a succubus tail—which would be best?
A fox tail wouldn't be bad either.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!"
The chubby auctioneer greeted the guests in a loud, full-bodied voice.
After a brief and enthusiastic opening, the first lot was quickly brought out under the gleaming lights—a single [Surge Pearl], which could be set into equipment to increase total mana.
This was the nice thing about Loxibrook: unnecessary formalities were always kept as short as possible, never wasting too much of anyone's time.
Li Fei soon realized that Lady Kalida had truly put some thought into this public auction: among the lots were quite a few souvenirs with starting bids of a single copper—such as edible water plants for cold dishes, sashimi platters, fish, and pretty stones—so that even tourists who weren't VIP patrons could get in on the action.
Of course, members could collect these items for free after the auction ended—a tactful reminder not to bid against ordinary tourists.
This successfully created a lively auction atmosphere; even Cowell's wife, who looked very intellectual and capable, couldn't help bidding on two catties of oysters for her husband, and bought a box of sea urchin to give to Klein.
Li Fei watched absentmindedly as the lots were presented to the front in quick succession, while her left hand idly toyed with the fox tail, whose root had grown sweat-dampened, warm, and crumpled—only when the little fox plaintively gave her tail a hard shake would she bother to massage it earnestly for half a minute.
To avoid affecting public opinion, some of the more interesting lots had been scheduled for the next auction—such as Siren ladies and sea-monster ladies—which greatly diminished the auction's appeal to Li Fei.
"The next item up for auction is...."
The auctioneer's forehead already showed a thin sheen of sweat, yet his voice grew ever more high-pitched and impassioned—after all, the aquarium was paying him far too generously.
"A Spatial Wonderstone!"
He yanked away the silk cloth, revealing a craggy grey stone whose surface flickered with a faint, glimmering green light.
"Hm?!"
Li Fei perked up at once, releasing the fox tail and staring fixedly at the stone, then turned her head to glance at Kalida, a questioning look in her eyes.
"I have a friend."
Kalida winked her right eye at Li Fei. "Seeing that she happened to have a Spatial Wonderstone, I suggested she sell it at this auction... Perhaps this lot will be lucky enough to fall into the hands of a buyer more luminous than the moonlight."
"Sister Kalida is so kind."
Li Fei thanked her, moved.
The last time she went to Bai Manor, besides opening Pandora's box, requesting help with the auction matter, and snuggling with Tingbao, she had also inquired about the matter of spatial coordinates—after all, she had drawn a Dark Gold-grade coordinate reward.
After Li Fei wrote down that string of characters corresponding to the coordinates, Bai Mengtian helped her strategize and offered some development suggestions.
And in the development approach best suited to her, the Spatial Wonderstone was an indispensable component.
It was just that this thing was fairly rare, and Li Fei didn't have enough credits to redeem one. She had originally planned to gather as many as possible before advancing to Sequence 7, and if that really didn't work out, she'd just have to take the loss and redeem one from the Witches' Coven.
Fortunately, Lady Kalida had taken the difficulty of purchasing channels into account and offered help through action.
—Though, it would be even better if she just gave it to me for free, hehe.
Li Fei sat up straight and began calculating the cash she could mobilize... and promptly wore a destitute expression.
The [Horn of Focus] she'd sold off had been paid for in Mana Crystals worth seventy-five thousand gold coins; Li Fei had cut off seventy thousand gold worth of Mana Crystals to obtain the [Witch of Pleasure] class, leaving the rest to power the [Witch Sickness Suppression Ritual].
Besides that, she had recovered forty-five thousand in gambling debts from the Charity Gambling King, plus five thousand in endorsement fees, along with her work income, business income, and a little savings... yet the cash in Li Fei's hands came to less than twenty thousand gold coins!
After all, the commission from selling liquor was already optional for Li Fei; she kept working mainly out of love for the job and to maintain her connections. The mine and the lumber yard were still in a phase of reform, and the large-scale introduction of talent and equipment had eaten into profits. The Secret Garden was steadily improving, generating two thousand gold coins in revenue each month and still climbing. As for the apothecary, although it had opened not long ago, Lady Zhihua had no intention of 'recouping costs before distributing dividends,' so Li Fei could collect over a thousand gold in dividends each month.
But her expenses were equally large.
Just the Fairy Fruit, at a wholesale price of 90 coppers each, required at least ten gold coins' worth of purchases a day—her daughters each got at least one per day, while the household's fairy maids and pregnant fairies were supplied without limit; the adopted wild fairies got some every few days, the pregnant ones one a day, and there were other fun goodies for raising the little fairies too, which cost no small amount.
The young madam herself, by contrast, didn't spend much—the non-fairy maids had come free with the house purchase, she could freeload the dean's meals and have guests order food for her, and even many of her clothes had been gifts from her PR sisters on the day she moved in; so even maintaining a life of fine clothes and gourmet food, her monthly expenses came to only around a hundred gold coins.
The installment payments on the Ogre Staff and the city hall loan came to 733 gold coins a month.
On top of that, the materials needed for two long-lasting [Witch Sickness Suppression Rituals], even at a friendship price, cost her fifteen thousand; and as for the Witch of Pleasure ascension secret medicine, although the Deep-Sea Diamond Shards were exchanged with credits and the Serpent-woman scales were freeloaded, the rest still ran her over a thousand.
Of course, the biggest expense was still the [Midas Gloves] bought from Klein—twenty-five thousand.
"My head hurts."
Li Fei mulled it over this way and that, growing more frazzled the more she thought.
The cash she could produce right now was thirteen thousand at most—most likely not enough to take the Spatial Wonderstone.
So she gave Lady Kalida a pitiful, hint-laden look.
"With the Spokeswoman's credit, deferring payment for a while would be no problem at all."
Kalida smiled, speaking lightly and breezily.
The charm of a mature, accomplished woman was on full display in that moment.
"Dearest sister!"
Li Fei blew a kiss, and ignoring the aggrieved expression of the fox-eared loli whose tail had been left neglected, she once again locked her gaze onto the Spatial Wonderstone.
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