The Collateral
(To avoid further confusion, Liu's name is now Liuming.)
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Liuming's consciousness stirred, but she didn't dare rouse from her sleep. The sensation of having her arms wrapped around someone was too blissful to resist, you see.
But the luxury of enjoying Xiao inside her morning embrace would be denied to her for the meantime. One of their maid servants started knocking on her door.
"Young mistress, the masked cultivator that you have been waiting for has arrived."
The news made Liuming spring up from her bed, her joy was through the roof. At long last she can slap the fact to her father's face that she was telling the truth all along!
"Serve them some tea, I will be with them in a second!" Liuming hurriedly went to the bathroom to freshen herself for the morning.
The excitement got to her so much that she forgot to tend to Xiao. Carefully, Liuming lifted the catatonic Xiao from her bed and sat her at her tea table. She replaced Xiao's evening gown with one of her clothes, her bath would need to held later as she was in a hurry.
Liuming clothed Xiao with another one of her extravagant clothes, a jade colored robe. She powdered Xiao and tended to her long black hair by meticulously brushing it with her comb. Once Xaio had been cared for, Liuming was now ready to head out.
From out of nowhere, Liuming faked a gasp.
"What!? We have only been official since last night and you are already requesting a morning kiss!? I always knew you were a greedy woman!" Innocent and sweet, Liuming then kissed Xiao on the cheek. "There, are you happy, now Xiao? You better be!"
With a smile on her face, Liuming left her room.
Upon closing the door behind her, her smile had vanished as she was now face to face with her personal maid. A middle aged woman, with short black hair.
"You know what to do."
The maid bowed, "Yes, young mistress. Your secret, shall be safe with me."
As Liuming left to meet her visitors, the maid tended to her room. To ensure that the other maids, and most importantly, Liuming's father won't find out about her new 'roommate'. Liuming had struck a bargain, lining up her personal maid's pockets with spirit stones as long as she kept her secret safe. Liuming really didn't give her that much of a choice, it's either the bonus spirit stones or getting fired from her job.
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Rong was visibly starting to sweat as he stared at the 3 women sitting alongside him at the table. The patriarch of the Shen family gulped, he could sense how high their cultivation base was, all 3 of them could collapse his entire estate and none of his men would be able to lay a finger on them. His daughter was actually telling the truth, the masked woman who introduced herself as Xiaoyu was indeed a hidden master with powerful allies by her side.
As Liuming walked into the guest room, his father immediately stood up and greeted her with a smile. Liuming's heart was about to drop when she noticed the demonic cultivator in their midst, but since Xiaoyu was with them, they must have worked on some kind of deal, like what they were about to do now.
"There she is, my bright daughter! Come and take my seat, Liuming, master Xiaoyu awaits!" Both his cultivation and pride was being suffocated by the strength of the women before her, Rong taking over the negotiation was a perfect excuse for him to slip out. While passing by his daughter, Rong whispered into Liuming's ear, "Don't fuck this up, the Shen family's fate rests upon your shoulders."
Liuming clicked her tongue as her father passed her by. After everything that he did to her!? Doubting her and verbally berating her in front of the entire family! He was lucky Liuming still had an attachment to the Shen family name, otherwise she would have truly considered running away.
Liuming filled in the seat that her father had vacated, leaving Xiao stunned.
"Liuming, you're…unharmed." Xiao was baffled. She expected Liuming to be in crutches by now. As a matter of fact, not only was Liuming hale, her womanly aura was blossoming like a flower, almost as if she had just matured.
Liuming smiled, her tone was of reverence, "Why wouldn't I be, master Xiaoyu? Anyway, since you are now here, how about we get straight to how much it would take to put a stop to the An family?"
What the hell? Xiao was sure Liuming would assault her mannequin the moment she was alone with it. Could it be, had Liuming given her mannequin away!? Was some creep now taking advantage of the mannequin with her every feature copied down to the teeth!?
"Xiao...I mean, Xiaoyu, Snap out of it, we are in a negotiation." Yanmei brought her lover's wandering mind back to the same table as them.
"Oh, right. Very well." The now composed Xiao was ready to begin. Xiao gazed at Liuming with focused eyes that meant business. "I can guarantee you that I can stop this ongoing squabble you have with the An family for the price of 200,000 thousand spirit stones."
Just the right amount of spirit stones to fill up Xiao's new stars. Xiao can't depend on the spirit stone fountains that her master had promised. She has not given up yet, but the task as of now was as plausible as ravens turning white. She would have to depend on other sources of spirit stones for now to make a breakthrough in her cultivation. Surely one of the richest families in Jiang Shian would have no trouble sparing Xiao's requested amount?
"About that, master Xiaoyu. We can only pay a quarter of that amount, the war that we have with the An family has taken its toll on our business. But worry not, we promise to pay you the amount once we have started to make profit again!" Liuming was nervous; she didn't dare let it show, she must be honest and firm that the Shen family had no intention of duping the masked master.
Xiao flinched. The nerve of Liuming to not only show up uninjured, but to also demand for Xiao to work on the basis of credit!? Although a quarter is better than nothing, Xiao would need some sort of collateral, sure she can just level their estate to ground, but Xiao wasn't some savage to resort to that. As for what that collateral would be…
"I agree but you can't expect me to work for a simple guarantee, I would need a collateral."
Liuming nodded, "Acceptable. And what do you suggest this collateral should be?"
The grudge Xiao held for Liuming at being kicked needed to be addressed. And since her mannequin had failed, it would be up to Xiao to administer Liuming's punishment for what Liuming did to her and Lin.
A wicked smile formed on Xiao's lips ,"The collateral would be you."