Chapter Thirty Nine.

After his alchemy lecture Duan Xinyue goes to White Pavilion immediately to see Lei Qiang. Lei Qiang is seated reading as always. When Duan Xinyue walks in he still doesn't bother to look at him. Duan Xinyue pulls a chair and sits.

"Lei-xiong thank you for taking care of me last night."

"It's nothing."

"About last night, usually... I'm a good kisser but last night I was ...kind of drunk so I hope you were not disappointed,"Duan Xinyue touches his neck shyly while talking .

"Who said I was disappointed? I didn't expect anything from a drunk man like you. Besides I kissed you out of sympathy because you were too sad and I couldn't bear it,"Lei Qiang clarifies.

"How considerate of you Master Lei. Right now I have to go back to Qingfeng Pavilion so see you,"Duan Xinyue gets up,bows and walks out.

'What kind of excuse did I just use? Did I hurt his feelings?'Lei Qiang is left questioning his choice of words. Meanwhile Duan Xinyue goes to see Qin Lanhua who is arranging beauty products backstage.

"Xinyue, you're back,"she says with half a smile.

"Lanhua Jie,what does it mean when someone says they kissed out of sympathy?"

Qin Lanhua pauses what she's doing and stands beside Duan Xinyue to have their sibling like talk.

"I don't believe someone can kiss someone out of sympathy. They use that to stop you from trying to define your relationship based on the kiss because they are either confused about their own feelings or they are afraid to admit their feelings because it might change your relationship,"Qin Lanhua explains eloquently.

"Thanks for the advice."

As Duan Xinyue walks away Qin Lanhua calls him and he turns around in response.

"Did someone kiss you?"

"No. I was just asking for a little friend of mine at Ziran Sect who encountered such an incident with one of his sect sisters."

"Got it."

"If I ever open a mental clinic I'll hire you to deal with relationship issues."

Duan Xinyue turns around and leaves.

"Someone did kiss him,"a female voice from behind makes Qin Lanhua jump in shock.

"Mu Lili you scared the hell out of me."

"My apologies my Lady."

In the whole group of showgirls Mu Lili is the closest to Qin Lanhua and she's fond of teasing Qin Lanhua.

"How long have you been eavesdropping?"

"Since you started giving out your precious advice."

Mu Lili stands in front of Qin Lanhua and cups her chin in a gentle yet seductive way.

"Lanhua Jie, with all this knowledge about love and dating how come you're still single?"

"Just because I know a lot about love and dating it doesn't mean I have to date."

"Has Du gongzi confessed his feelings for you or should I confess first?"

Qin Lanhua brushes Mu Lili's hand off her chin and smiles shyly,"Mu Lili here you go messing around again. Who said Du gongzi will confess to me?"

"I have a feeling that he likes you. Trust me all the couples I've shipped before end up becoming a real couple just like Mister Wei and Jiali when I saw them interact for the first time."

"So you're predicting Du gongzi and I will become a real couple?"

"That's right."

Qin Lanhua resumes what she was doing before Duan Xinyue came. She has been thinking a lot about Su Jiali. She didn't dare ask her who she was dating and now that she has known Su Jiali's lover she can't help but think about a million things that could go wrong due to the relationship. Is Duan Xinyue aware of it? That's something else that crosses her mind.

Duan Xinyue decides to have a look at his Alchemy Chamber and finds out a few manuals are missing. He can't help but smile proudly because the manuals were fake ones. He also deduces that the Commander is colluding with whoever is trying to harm him. He sits down and makes a list of the people he suspects and how they are related. He will start carrying out an investigation secretly not even Lei Qiang will be aware of it. And since everyone knows he's good at alchemy there's no reason to continue attending lectures so he will just follow the sect procedures on how to leave the sect.

Elsewhere,at the governor's residence,Lord Xu Kong visits Lord Du Yuan to talk about the Illusion Lair.

"Seems like General Fu has already planned everything and is waiting for the right time to make a move,"Xu Kong deduces.

"It looks like he has bribed some of our county officials."

"I received an anonymous letter saying the Commander at the Ministry of Justice is also one of them."

"Any clue about who might have sent the letter?"

"I can't think of anyone."

"What about that Young Master Duan? Do you believe he's innocent?"

"I heard he doesn't have the Illusion Lair tattoo so as of now he's still innocent."

"But he's just a mysterious man. Why would he pretend to learn alchemy when he is already perfect at it?"

"I'm guessing his target is in Ziran Sect."

"Could it be my daughter?"

"I don't think so. He seems to be attached to Master Lei?"

"My Martial Son?"

"Time will reveal everything."

"You're right."