The Attack of the Wastrel

After Gu Lingzhi defeated Gu Linglong, she no longer had the mood to continue battling. She bade farewell to Ye Fei and the others in a hurry to leave. However, Rong Yuan stuck to her like a slug that could not be shaken off. Helpless, Gu Lingzhi had no choice but to face him and sit him down at a teahouse and have a good talk.

“Third Prince, didn’t you say that you had already decided to chase only the First Mistress of the Gu Clan? If she finds out that you keep following me like this, it wouldn’t reflect well on you, right?”

“Don’t worry,” Rong Yuan chuckled, “I believe Lingzhi isn’t an unreasonable person.”

Unfortunately, she had wanted to be unreasonable and make trouble. Speechless, Gu Lingzhi decided that she would definitely find trouble with him over this issue tomorrow.

“Even if the Gu Clan’s First Mistress isn’t unreasonable, it probably wouldn’t reflect well on you to keep following me like this?”

Rong Yuan laughed, “Don’t worry, I don’t care about what the rumors say about me.”

“Even if you are not bothered, I am!” Gu Lingzhi could not hold back any longer and exclaimed.

Rong Yuan waved his hand without concern, “Relax, nobody will dare to gossip about you with me around.”

Once again, Gu Lingzhi was struck speechless by Rong Yuan.

“Relax, I was serious when I said that I would give up on you. As you know, Gu Lingzhi’s character is very similar to yours. I am following you, because I want to better understand how to interact with her.”

They were the same person, of course they would be similar.

Gu Lingzhi had completely given up on talking to Rong Yuan after just a few sentences.

If she continued the conversation any further, it is likely that she would just be finding more trouble for herself. She proceeded to the counter to pay the bill and no longer bothered with Rong Yuan.

Rong Yuan was obviously being given the cold treatment, but he was not frustrated. In fact, he felt that Gu Lingzhi looked extremely cute when she had a temper. He even felt like teasing her more, until the point where she would not be able to take it any longer and approach him using the identity of Gu Lingzhi to point angrily and yell at him for being a womanizer.

He was obviously not giving up on her at all. 

Rong Yuan had his limits when teasing others and knew when to stop. It was not early anymore, and he knew that Gu Lingzhi was trying to think of an idea to return to the Royal School without being seen by him when he saw her eyes darting around left and right. Immediately, he bid farewell to her and returned to his lodgings with Yuan Zheng, under the suspicious gaze of Gu Lingzhi.

For all she knew, the Third Prince had said that that he would give up on her just to appease the others and did not really mean it.

As Gu Lingzhi saw Rong Yuan leaving the teahouse, she was stunned for a moment before she finally reacted. She hastily found a place to change her identity. When she returned to the dormitory, Tianfeng Jin and Ye Fei had not returned yet. Gu Lingzhi headed to her room immediately to take a soak in the Spirit Essence Bath.

As her cultivation level rose, the Spirit Essence Bath became less effective.

“I have to quickly improve my Alchemy skills and refine Spirit Essence Baths of a higher grade.” Gu Lingzhi knitted her brows as she observed the liquid become clear in an instant. She poured a few more bottles of the Spirit Essence Bath and the water returned to its originally dark green color before she sat back in to resume training.

When she came out of the tub, Ye Fei’s voice sounded out. It was unknown who she was talking to.

Gu Lingzhi thought about how she had not spent time with them recently as Gu Lingzhi in order to hide from the Third Prince. She changed into a new set of clothes and came out from her room.

“Ye Fei, Tianfeng Jin, Xinran, you’re all back.”

“Eh? Lingzhi, how come you are back so early today?” Ye Fei, who had been chatting with Qin Xinran, turned her head around in surprise. Then, her face changed, and she looked prepared to gossip.

“Come quickly. We were just about to go and find you! Guess who we met at the Town of the Brave today?”

“Who?” Gu Lingzhi smiled as she found a seat and responded to Ye Fei.

“We met the Third Prince!” Ye Fei exclaimed, “Guess what he said!”

“What did he say?” Gu Lingzhi feigned ignorance and played along.

“He mentioned you.” Ye Fei suddenly slapped her thigh and continued in disdain, “That womanizer said to our faces that he had decided to chase only you. Less than half an hour later, he followed Lady Black Thorn and left. Isn’t he a scum?”

“Scum!” Gu Lingzhi spat out affirmatively. Her heart felt heavy as she thought about how she would continue to be harassed by Rong Yuan in both identities.

“It’s good that you think this way as well!” Ye Fei patted Gu Lingzhi’s shoulder.

“To think that we all used to respect him so much. I never thought that he would turn out to be such a womanizer. I can’t believe he chases after the Black Thorn when you’re so much better than her. Oh, you know who she is, right? We’ve mentioned her to you before. You should follow us to the Town of the Brave to meet her. Both of you have very similar personalities, I’m sure that you would get along very well with her!”

At this moment, Qin Xinran, who had been like a ghost the whole night, suddenly spoke up, “Other than their personalities, even their body shapes are the same.”

Qin Xinran stared unblinking at Gu Lingzhi and made her feel as though her identity had been exposed. However, after the next sentence, she was relieved.

“If it wasn’t for the fact that she possessed different Spiritual Roots, I would have believed that the two of you were the same person.”

“Ha… I heard that the Black Thorn is already a Level Six Martial Student. I am only a Level Six Martial Student, why would you think so?”

“That’s true,” Qin Xinran shrugged and finally stopped staring at Gu Lingzhi with those big eyes of hers.

“Xinran, now that you mention it, you’re right. Both of them do indeed have very similar body shapes. No wonder I felt the Black Thorn felt very familiar from the first time I saw her. So not only their characters are comparable, even their body shapes are the same.”

Ye Fei muttered as she circled around and observed Gu Lingzhi. This caused Gu Lingzhi to feel as though she was sitting on pins and needles, deeply afraid that she would be seen through.

It was not that she did not trust Ye Fei and the others, but her current strength was still very weak and hence she did not wish to reveal her identity yet. The identity of the Black Thorn allowed her to do things without having any misgivings. When she assumed the identity of Gu Lingzhi, she was already in the limelight. She was afraid that if it was revealed that she was the Black Thorn, her life would be in danger.

The next day, as Gu Lingzhi had finished washing up and was coming down the stairs, she heard Ye Fei’s squeals.

“Lingzhi, come down quickly! There is a bouquet of flowers here for you!”

Gu Lingzhi quickly rushed down the stairs when she heard that and saw the big bouquet of freshly cut red roses in Ye Fei’s arms.

“Who dares to send such old-fashioned flowers to you? It lacks creativity.”

Ye Fei presented the bouquet to Gu Lingzhi with some disapproval and pointed to the card that had come together with the flowers.

“Take a look at what is written. Is it sent by the Third Prince?”

Gu Lingzhi was speechless as she glanced at Ye Fei who was obviously interested in gossiping. She held the bouquet in one hand and opened the letter that was addressed to her with her other hand.

“There is nothing written on it.” The card was completely blank. If it was not for her name being written on the front, she would have thought that the flowers had been delivered to the wrong place.

“This method of chasing you is so old-fashioned, it’s definitely sent by the Third Prince.”