Truth be told, Ye Ling did feel a trace of envy toward Leng Qingqiu.
But it wasn't just her. He envied Huang Ren too—envied anyone born into a good family.
That envy had even edged into jealousy. After all, he wasn't some saint free of worldly desires.
In the end, he was just an ordinary man.
That was why he found Leng Qingqiu's behavior so irritating—give her a little color and she'd think she could open a dye shop.
It wasn't that she couldn't stand on her own. The problem was that she was too naive. If a bit of kindness was enough for her to misread someone's intentions, she would never truly grow.
Forget growth—she had just been sold off not long ago, and now she was back to being naive again. All it showed was that she hadn't taken enough hard knocks from the world.
"Remember, I'm not saying this because I expect you to grow. I just wanted to scold you."
Ye Ling's tone softened considerably. To some extent, he had let his jealousy get the better of him earlier, and his words had gone too far.
After all, he was the one who had made Leng Qingqiu cry. More importantly, she had even apologized to him after being reduced to tears. If he kept up that same attitude now, it would really be excessive.
"I understand."
Leng Qingqiu wiped her tears and looked at Ye Ling with complicated emotions in her eyes.
She had already embarrassed herself completely in front of him, so crying didn't feel like a big deal anymore.
Habits really were frightening.
"You're always looking for a chance to scold me…"
She paused, then continued before Ye Ling could speak.
"But I still have to thank you. I overstepped just now."
In truth, they had only just met. By all rights, there should have been some wariness between them.
Yet because of her own preferences, Leng Qingqiu had unilaterally treated Ye Ling as a friend.
And it was only because Ye Ling truly wasn't a bad person. If he had harbored even slightly improper thoughts, Leng Qingqiu might already be in his bed.
"You're actually pretty sensible."
Ye Ling glanced at her. Seeing her like this, his impression improved quite a bit.
"I'm not stupid."
Her eyes were still a little red, but she had regained her composure.
"Not stupid, no. But a bit foolish. Like that Young Master Huang earlier."
"You can criticize me all you want, but can you not compare me to that guy?"
"What? You look down on him?"
"He's just a second-generation heir. No matter how bad I am, I'm not worse than him."
"Looks like you're quite clear about the fact that you're not exactly outstanding."
"You—!"
Leng Qingqiu instantly broke composure. She pointed at Ye Ling, unable to get a word out, her earlier calm gone.
"Alright, alright."
Ye Ling pushed her hand down lightly and chuckled.
"Didn't your family teach you it's rude to point at people?"
"That's because of what you said!"
Leng Qingqiu shot him an annoyed look. She truly couldn't understand how he could act so unbothered.
"I'm not talking nonsense."
Ye Ling looked at her seriously.
"That Young Master Huang carries the air of a spoiled rich kid, but he's not actually bad. If he were, he would've flared up the moment he saw my attitude earlier."
Compared to the playboys Ye Ling had seen before, Huang Ren was already considered decent. At most, he spoke without restraint and didn't understand the hardships of common folk.
Of course, a playboy was still a playboy—an immature child holding power ordinary people couldn't even imagine. Even a small movement from someone like that could cause waves.
Like just now. If Ye Ling hadn't shown up, the people backing Leng Qingqiu might have suffered for no reason.
"He's not really bad. Otherwise, I wouldn't have stayed there arguing with him."
Leng Qingqiu understood that much as well. If he had been truly malicious, she would've long since refused to give him face and walked away.
The reason she was willing to show Huang Ren some consideration wasn't only because he had powerful backing. More importantly, she felt he wasn't evil. She had thought that keeping a cold face would be enough to make him retreat.
What she hadn't expected was that Huang Ren would be so shamelessly clingy, chasing after her instead. It was honestly disgusting.
But since Huang Ren wasn't a bad person, she couldn't resort to force. That was how things had ended in a stalemate.
"Not being bad is just the minimum standard. The key is that he's not stupid."
Seeing the confusion on Leng Qingqiu's face, Ye Ling continued,
"He could tell he couldn't win you over. So the moment I appeared, even at the risk of offending you, he chose to curry favor with me."
"After all, your favorability toward him was already low. As long as he could raise the favorability of me, an elder, he'd still come out ahead overall."
The Cultivation World was still essentially feudal. Although female cultivators could be powerful, the restraints placed upon them were still very much in place.
Moreover, an elder's words carried tremendous influence over a junior, especially on a well-behaved child like Leng Qingqiu.
Huang Ren had seen right through that. He knew Leng Qingqiu was the honest type, so instead of speaking from her perspective, he chose to go after Ye Ling.
...
After listening to Ye Ling's analysis, Leng Qingqiu fell into thought.
"Not stupid, not bad… but still foolish. Foolish, just like you."
But Ye Ling wasn't here to play teacher. He simply wanted to take the chance to give her another knock on the head. Without giving her time to think it through herself, he bluntly laid it out.
"He's too immature in the way he handles things. He still chases women with the same old clingy routine, but he doesn't understand things like pulling back to lure someone in. He doesn't leave you with any good impression at all. If he keeps charging forward like an idiot, then unless he gets insanely lucky, the only woman he'll end up with is someone who wants his family's wealth."
"And you?"
"You're way too confident in your own judgment. You never put yourself in someone else's shoes. You only use your personal likes and dislikes to judge people, without understanding that everything has more than one side. You're just as much of a blockhead."
To be foolish meant to be clueless, lacking worldly wisdom, unable to grasp how people and society really worked.
So Ye Ling's evaluation of both Huang Ren and Leng Qingqiu could only be described as painfully precise.
"I've learned something."
Leng Qingqiu cupped her hands toward Ye Ling, though her expression still carried a hint of stubborn unwillingness.
But she couldn't beat Ye Ling in a fight, and verbally she'd been scolded into submission like a granddaughter. She didn't have the energy left to argue.
Besides, she could vaguely feel that Ye Ling had a point… and the more she thought about it, the more convincing it became.
"So how did your family even feel safe letting you out into the world?"
Ye Ling shook his head, utterly helpless.
"I came out on my own."
The moment her family was mentioned, Leng Qingqiu's expression cooled. It wasn't directed at Ye Ling, but the atmosphere suddenly turned chilly all the same.
She didn't give Ye Ling any chance to dig deeper. Instead, she immediately changed the subject.
"But what were you thinking? You actually wanted to go to a brothel, and you even managed to make that guy freeze up completely."
Ye Ling gave her a subtle glance. He wasn't stupid. He could sense the shift in mood.
If anything, he was quite skilled at reading the room.
Since Leng Qingqiu clearly didn't want to talk about it, he simply followed her lead.
"I'm serious."
"Huh?"
Whether she realized Ye Ling had noticed or not, his answer still stunned Leng Qingqiu. Her reaction wasn't much better than Huang Ren's.
He…
He wanted to go to a brothel?
He actually dared to go to a brothel?!
For no clear reason at all, Leng Qingqiu suddenly felt irritated.
First of all, she knew perfectly well she had no standing to stop Ye Ling. As the escort sent by the Righteous Path Alliance, it was her job to show him around the city.
Even if that included a brothel.
But emotionally, whether as a woman or because of those subtle feelings in her heart, she found it hard to accept that Ye Ling truly intended to go.
"You really want to go?"
But Ye Ling's earlier scolding hadn't been pointless. She really had grown a little. She didn't freeze up for long, nor did she show her unwillingness outright. Her tone only carried a trace of disbelief.
"Yeah. I have a big project I want to look into."
Ye Ling wasn't trying to tease her on purpose. It involved the Succubus clan, and he needed to plan things far more carefully.
Besides, he hadn't forgotten why Leng Qingqiu had clashed with the Heavenly Gate Sect in the first place.
Simply put, she had been overly confident without understanding the full situation, stubbornly believing she was right.
She had been afraid the Heavenly Gate Sect was being deceived by the Qiuqiu Monkey Clan, and even more afraid the Qiuqiu Monkey Clan would come down the mountain and bring disaster upon the common people.
Her intentions were good, but she acted like a complete idiot.
With the Qiuqiu Monkey Clan's strength, was some ordinary small sect really capable of suppressing them?
She hadn't even thought through something that basic. She hadn't investigated the Heavenly Gate Sect's foundation at all, yet she had treated her own assumptions as absolute truth.
If Ye Ling had beaten her down for that, she had it coming.
So Ye Ling could let Leng Qingqiu discover that Eve was a succubus, but as for matters involving the Succubus clan as a whole, he wouldn't even consider revealing them for now.
Who knew what kind of trouble this foolish girl might cause?
"A big project?"
Seeing that Ye Ling looked perfectly calm, Leng Qingqiu didn't grow too suspicious.
But then—
"You're not planning to sell the Qiuqiu Monkey Clan into brothels, are you?"
Leng Qingqiu asked with a strange expression.
"Pfft—!!!"
Ye Ling wasn't prepared at all and instantly spat.
After a moment of coughing, he finally managed to speak.
"Girl… what the hell is wrong with your brain?"
He truly hadn't expected her to make that kind of connection.
No way. Seriously?
Was there really someone out there who could be sexually interested in Qiuqiu Monkeys?
Maybe it was technically possible… but no. Humans really shouldn't.
At the very least, they absolutely shouldn't.
"Hmph!"
Leng Qingqiu snorted.
"Don't think I don't know. Plenty of men like to mess around with the Demon Race. They even say things to cat demons like…"
She thought for a moment, then said in a sweet, coquettish voice:
"Transform for me!"
"…"
Ye Ling was left speechless.
He didn't have a cat, but he had, admittedly, imagined it before.
But Qiuqiu Monkeys…
The moment the image formed in his mind, Ye Ling shuddered violently.
"See? You definitely have thought about it."
Seeing his reaction, Leng Qingqiu immediately backed away, putting distance between them.