Chapter 226

Ye Tinglan fell silent, seemingly deep in thought. Lu Xingzhou said nothing further, happily eating with A'Nuo.

By the time Ye Tinglan came back to herself, the dishes were almost entirely eaten.

Ye Tinglan grumpily reached out her chopsticks and picked up a slice of radish.

The air seemed to fall silent for a moment as Lu Xingzhou and A'Nuo, chewing in unison, turned their heads to stare blankly at her.

Ye Tinglan lifted a corner of her veil and, without looking away, ate the radish: "Why are you all staring at me? Can't I eat? Am I supposed to just watch you two?"

Lu Xingzhou chuckled, "Of course you can. But isn't it a bit inconvenient to eat like that?"

"Trying to trick me into taking off my veil again." Ye Tinglan was both annoyed and amused. "What exactly goes on in that head of yours?"

"To be honest... it's a bit odd for disciples not to even know what their own teacher looks like. Have you ever seen a teacher and disciple like this?"

Ye Tinglan paused, realizing he had a point.

The root cause was her impure intentions when taking them as disciples; she hadn't initially viewed them as such. Later, she grew accustomed to it, but then revealing her face felt awkward. This was a historical issue.

After some thought, Ye Tinglan found a way to save face. "If you pass one of my tests, I'll reveal my face."

Lu Xingzhou simply lowered his head and shoveled rice, completely ignoring her.

"Hey!" Ye Tinglan slammed her chopsticks down. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. A'Nuo, are you done eating? Let's go."

The master and disciple left a small silver coin, then zipped out of the inn to go shopping.

Faintly, their whispers could still be heard: "She wants a test just to show her disciples what she looks like? I've never seen anyone so pretentious."

"Shh... maybe she's really beautiful. Confident women often think of it as a reward."

"What if she's ugly? If she were truly beautiful, why hide it every day? I see Sister A'Su wants everyone to praise her."

"That's different. She's a First Rank, so she has a certain air about her."

"Is Sister Yu also wearing the King Yama mask because of that?"

"Not at all. Her charming, playful demoness appearance lacks authority, so she wears it to scare people. Have you heard of Prince Lanling?"

"No..."

"Master will tell you a story then. Once upon a time, there was..."

The voices gradually faded. Ye Tinglan, expressionless, ate a few bites of her food, which tasted like chewing wax. She was seething with frustration.

So what if they don't want to see? Was she supposed to beg them? She glanced around to see the other diners watching her eat with one hand holding up her veil, their gazes strange, as if she were an idiot. Ye Tinglan slammed her chopsticks down, stopped eating, and huffily returned to her guest courtyard.

What was so good about it anyway? Mundane food, utterly vulgar.

She hadn't yet realized that in just a few days since leaving the capital, her emotions had grown increasingly volatile...

After meditating in her room for half an hour, she heard voices from outside the courtyard; the two brats were back from shopping.

A "knock-knock" sounded, followed by Lu Xingzhou's voice asking, "Teacher, are you there?"

Ye Tinglan had no desire to see him. "What is it?" she grumbled.

"A'Nuo and I were shopping just now, and we brought you some things."

"Take them back, I don't want them."

"Teacher will definitely like them."

Ye Tinglan grew a little curious. "You know what I like? Come in and show me."

The door opened. Lu Xingzhou carried a stack of veils and placed them nearby. "Seeing as you haven't changed your veil in so long, it must be uncomfortable. Here are 365 of them, one for each day without repetition, no need to wash."

Ye Tinglan's hands clenched, knuckles cracking. "Lu Xingzhou, do you seriously think I won't beat you up?!"

"Huh?" Lu Xingzhou looked confused. "You don't like them, Teacher? I thought you treasured them."

Ye Tinglan was so angry she almost laughed. "Get out."

"Oh, so Teacher doesn't treasure it?" Lu Xingzhou rubbed his chin. "Then can I exchange these 365 for this one of yours?"

Ye Tinglan sneered, "You said if you passed the test, I'd reveal my face. Why are you pretending you don't want to see it now?"

Lu Xingzhou said, "This doesn't need a test. How about I ask you a question instead? If Teacher can't answer it, then..."

Ye Tinglan squinted at him. "You think you can stump me?"

"We'll find out if we try, won't we? Anyway, Teacher already intended to reveal your face, so you won't lose anything whether you can answer or not."

Ye Tinglan felt a little embarrassed and annoyed, thinking, *Even if I was trying to save face, you don't have to be so blunt about it. Don't I have any dignity left?*

"It's not going to be some made-up story about Prince Lanling, is it? No one could answer that."

"Of course not... hmm, it'll be about a well-known contemporary figure."

Ye Tinglan snorted. "If you're asking about some random idler, I genuinely don't know as much as you do. But if it's about a well-known figure, how could you possibly stump me? Go on."

*What a joke. After a hundred years of ups and downs, could a young man like you possibly know more famous people than I do?*

But then she heard Lu Xingzhou say, "Hmm, what is Empress Yan Jun Yuan Muyu's true background? She's well-known enough, isn't she?"

Ye Tinglan stared blankly at him, momentarily frozen.

Of course, she was well-known, and he had asked the right person.

You could ask everyone in the world, and no one would know the details of Yuan Muyu's background better than Ye Tinglan. Ye Tinglan knew what color diapers she wore as a child; she had changed them herself.

But was this something she could reveal?

Given Lu Xingzhou's intelligence, he had clearly already guessed that she and Yuan Muyu came from the same background, and that Yuan Muyu's "running away from home" back then was a result of an argument with her. This was easy to deduce. What then? To say they were from Heavenly Jade Sacred Land would be plainly telling him that she was National Master Ye Tinglan.

Her current cover story was the hidden sect, Cloud Concealed Immortal Sect. She had even set up a fake structure for it, so anyone investigating "Madam Ye" would indeed find a real, existing sect.

So, should she tell him Yuan Muyu also came from the Cloud Concealed Immortal Sect? But that wouldn't be "true." Based on the question, that would be the wrong answer.

Even if she tried to cover it up, this guy was so familiar with Yuan Muyu. If they met one day and he asked about the "Cloud Concealed Immortal Sect," and Yuan Muyu said she'd never heard of it, wouldn't her whole cover be blown?

After being stunned for a long while, Ye Tinglan slowly came back to herself. She thought, *Anyway, revealing my face was just a way to save face, so I might as well do it.*

She then said, "You might have a slight misunderstanding... I'm not familiar with Empress Yan Jun, which is why I've had to ask you so many questions. This question, I truly cannot answer."

With that, she reached up and pulled off her veil, placing it casually aside. "You're right, disciples shouldn't be ignorant of their teacher's appearance. Do you see clearly now?"

There was no response.

Lu Xingzhou stood there, dumbfounded, his heart practically leaping out of his throat.

*You're not familiar? What nonsense! You look so much like Yuan Muyu, you're practically a more mature, graceful version of her, and you say you're not familiar!*

*I'd even believe you're her mother.*

However, their temperaments were vastly different.

In her early years, Yuan Muyu was charmingly playful. Later, as she increasingly engaged in demonic practices and rose in status, her playful demoness demeanor receded, replaced by a sharper, more formidable aura of power and ruthlessness.

As for Madam Ye before him, her aura, also due to her high position, carried a majestic coldness, yet it was calm and profound. When she looked steadily at you, it was like the quiet reflection of a distant night sky, completely unrippled.

It was as if this pair inherently mirrored the heavens and the underworld, the divide between immortal and demon.

Ye Tinglan had pondered a myriad of problems but hadn't once considered the fact that she resembled Yuan Muyu—a blind spot, indeed... Seeing Lu Xingzhou's dazed expression, her calm eyes gradually filled with annoyance. "Do you need to wipe your drool?"

"Huh?" Lu Xingzhou snapped back to reality. "Uh, Teacher, you misunderstand. I've seen this kind of appearance a lot..."

Ye Tinglan: "?"

Lu Xingzhou cautiously, secretly reached for the veil on the tea table and snatched it away with a "swoosh." "Then I'll be taking this wager with me."

Ye Tinglan reacted. "Stop! What wager? Wasn't it just about revealing my face?"

Lu Xingzhou said, utterly serious, "I said 'then...' but didn't finish. Combining that with my earlier offer of 365 veils for this one, it obviously meant 'then give me the veil.'"

After speaking, he pressed his ring and turned to run.

As soon as he ran out of the room, a void palm descended from above and slapped him "bang" into the ground, where he twitched twice and then stopped moving.

Ye Tinglan blew on her palm, watching the young man outside with a hint of amusement. Ultimately, she didn't try to snatch the veil back. She simply waved her hand, and the door closed with a bang.

As if a dimension had been separated, the air grew quiet, and her mind inexplicably felt much lighter. She even felt like smiling.

He had said he hoped things would be more relaxed... it seemed all his little tricks, whether infuriating or teasing, had been aimed at this very goal.

She had to admit, it was quite effective.

It was as if, with the lifting of the veil, a burden had been removed. From then on, she was no longer the National Master burdened with the world, but simply his teacher. She could face the world unmasked, meeting anyone freely.

No wonder those noblewomen said "young puppies" could provide emotional value; they weren't lying to her.

Ye Tinglan rose from her seat, stretched, uninhibitedly displaying her mature and shapely figure, then leisurely stood by the window, gazing out at the night in silent repose.

While she enjoyed the moon with a light heart, Lu Xingzhou tossed and turned in his own bed, wide awake and completely sleepless.

*I've seen this kind of appearance many times...*

But what remained unspoken in his heart was: *Yet it's also this appearance that pulls most strongly at my heartstrings.*

Moonlight shone on the windowsill, very white.

Lu Xingzhou didn't even dare to imagine if he could control his racing heart the next time they sat side by side, heads together, for private lessons. That was the most deeply etched memory from his unremarkable earlier years.

It was as if, in the blink of an eye, nothing had changed; she was still teaching by his side, just a little more mature.