A life of leisure is worse than a life of flowers and splendour

She didn't know what had become of the two maids. Fanhua was like a bomb buried beside her. If nothing happened, she would have to find a way to get rid of her. Jinxiu was a good girl, and she really enjoyed her service. Du Shuangshuang couldn't help but feel a little worried. Finally, she couldn't help but whispered to her second aunt, "Second aunt, I really want to know how those two maids—Fanhua and Jinxiu—are doing now? Have you found their whereabouts?"

Second Aunt sighed softly, her tone revealing a hint of helplessness and regret: "Well, the person has been found. But poor Jinxiu, she accidentally broke her leg, the injury is quite serious, and she still can't get out of bed and walk. As for Fanhua..." Having said this, Second Aunt paused for a moment, a complicated expression appearing on her face.

Then she went on, "When she was discovered, she was with the assassins, and her clothes were in disarray. What's worse, it was the Royal Guards who found her! They took Fanhua away without saying a word, and have not returned her to this day. Alas, child, you must not be too sad. If this had been found by our own people, there would still be room for recovery, and at least her life would be safe, but... Second Aunt has assigned two more maids to serve you temporarily. We will make other arrangements after Jinxiu's injuries are healed. As for Fanhua, I'm afraid it will be difficult for her to come back here." After speaking, Second Aunt patted Du Shuangshuang's shoulder gently to comfort her.

"Oh." It's hard to say how sad he was. After all, he didn't have much feelings for the two of them. Especially that Fanhua was not a good person. It saved him from having to do anything to see her end up like that.

Back in the house, Second Aunt introduced two maids, told them to serve the young lady well in the future, and then drove all the servants out.

"Shuang'er, can you tell Second Aunt what happened to you these days? That way, Second Aunt can be prepared."

Du Shuangshuang told about her experiences except those related to space and spiritual spring. However, after the previous broken engagement and her disappearance for these days, Second Aunt was still worried about Du Wushuang's marriage.

"Shuang'er, although there's nothing shameful about this, your disappearance for a few days has spread throughout the city. I'm afraid your marriage will be even more difficult. You should be mentally prepared."

When it comes to marriage, Du Shuangshuang doesn't care. She didn't want to marry into a wealthy family in the first place. It would be best if she married someone of lower status who is easy to control. "Well, I know my situation. Second Aunt, don't worry about me. Everything will go with the flow."

Seeing Du Shuangshuang's calm and composed demeanor, Second Aunt Du grew increasingly curious and couldn't help but test her again, "Shuangshuang, that Second Young Master Su seems to be very attentive to you! What kind of relationship is there between you two..." At this point, Second Aunt Du paused deliberately, the second half of the sentence self-explanatory, her eyes fixed on Du Shuangshuang, wanting to see how she would respond to her words.

Du Shuangshuang was slightly startled, then she showed a bitter smile and said softly: "Second Aunt, don't get me wrong! Between us... well, we can be said to be barely friends! You know, he is also one of my saviors! He happened to have something in Beijing and needed to come over to deal with it, so he escorted me back. To be honest, he is indeed a kind-hearted person, but it's a pity that no matter his noble status or my past experience that I can't bear to look back on, I am destined to be far from him. So, how can I be so ignorant and wishful thinking? Wouldn't that be repaying kindness with enmity?" After speaking, Du Shuangshuang sighed softly, with a hint of helplessness and self-mockery in her eyes.

"Alas, the Su family is indeed a big family, but he has no official position. If he really wants to, it is not impossible. After all, our Shuang'er is also a great beauty, and now she has grown up to be so charming. The Su family has its roots in the south, far away from the capital, so Shuang'er can consider it." Only when you are far away from the capital will you not know your bad reputation, right?

Du Shuangshuang suppressed a smile, thinking to herself: This family isn't from here, but there are still people of her family here. With her current reputation, even if you ask anyone in the capital, everyone will know about her. How is this behavior any different from the self-deception of stealing a bell while covering one's ears? However, he also knew that Second Aunt was not a bad person and was mostly interested in himself. It's just that everyone has different perspectives, so there are some differences in their thinking.

Thinking of this, Du Shuangshuang's lips curled up slightly, revealing a barely perceptible smile. She calmed herself down and said slowly, "Second Aunt, there's no need to worry about me. It's time for you, my sister, to get married. We're of similar age, so there's not much difference. As for me, with my reputation already established, there's no need to rush. I promise you that I'll stay at home honestly for the next two years and won't cause any more trouble for anyone in the family." She sighed softly, her eyes revealing a hint of helplessness and relief.

Aunt Du wanted to say something more, but seeing Du Shuangshuang's determined expression, she didn't want to force her and could only sigh and shake her head.

"If you, Shuang'er, have someone in mind, please let Second Aunt know. Second Aunt will definitely go and match you up. Second Aunt will also help you find a suitable partner. Don't underestimate yourself because of excessive modesty. You are the legitimate daughter of our general's mansion! If you encounter any problems in the future, just send someone to let Second Aunt know. I imagine you must be exhausted from traveling all the time these days. Second Aunt will leave first, so you should rest and recuperate."

"Thank you for your concern, Second Aunt. Please walk slowly." He wasn't tired at all; on the contrary, he felt incredibly energetic. He had spent more than a day in the carriage and wasn't tired at all. But he really didn't want to deal with Second Aunt, and he was anxious to cultivate.

The maid came in and helped Du Shuangshuang to wash up briefly, then sent her out and started practicing alone in the room.

After taking a sip of the spiritual spring water, Du Shuangshuang no longer needed to try to sense the spiritual energy outside, and only carefully felt the spiritual energy within her body. This made Du Shuangshuang extremely surprised. Many light points gathered in her body and veins, and many light points escaped from the spiritual spring water and penetrated into her body.

Du Shuangshuang began to follow the technique, drawing the spiritual energy through her meridians along a specific trajectory to open them up. However, she discovered her veins were already clear, and there was no need to open them up again. The technique simply completed a cycle, returning to her dantian and opening up a space with silvery-white walls. This was the dantian. Was she skipping the process of sensing qi and opening up her meridians, and directly opening up her dantian and entering the first level of Qi Refining?

Soon, a soft, childish voice sounded, "Master, you must have taken some rare treasures before, which has helped open up your meridians. Moreover, you have seen spiritual energy points while meditating before, which means you have a sense of Qi. Your physique must be quite special, and you must have a particularly high affinity for spiritual energy. That's why you can use the spiritual spring to cultivate so smoothly. Even if an ordinary person has a spiritual spring, they can't use its spiritual energy to cultivate so smoothly. You have a lot of spiritual energy in your body and meridians. It must be that the spiritual energy from taking the rare treasures before was absorbed by your body, and none of it escaped. This must be because your body has an extremely high affinity for spiritual energy."

So that must be the fruit he had eaten earlier. He took the remaining fruit out of the ring, showed it to Xiaozhu, and put it back into the ring.

"Bi Ling Fruit, wow, this is a good thing, very rare, Master, you actually still have one. This fruit has the effect of cleansing the essence and marrow, and is more effective than drawing Qi into the body to open up the meridians. Generally, only people with relatively high physical potential can completely open up the meridians in the whole body by taking only one fruit. If the aptitude is slightly lower, two will be needed. However, the maximum amount a person can take is ok, and the third one will have almost no effect. Generally, only people with extremely poor aptitude cannot completely open up the meridians after taking two Bi Ling Fruits. Moreover, its spiritual power is relatively mild, and it has the effect of nourishing the meridians and the body, which can improve physical fitness. Moreover, the spiritual power left after opening the meridians can still be used for cultivation. However, if the spiritual power affinity of the body is not very high, and the spiritual power is not absorbed by cultivation in time, the spiritual power will dissipate out of the body. The spiritual power in the master's body has not dissipated, which means that your own spiritual power affinity is very high."

Cleansing the meridians and removing the marrow, well, that's really good. It seems that my aptitude is also very good. After all, I only used one fruit to successfully open up the meridians in my body.

Although he had completed a cycle, there was still a lot of spiritual energy remaining in his body. Du Shuangshuang continued to practice, trying to store all the remaining spiritual energy in his body into his dantian.

By the time all the spiritual energy was stored in her dantian, Du Shuangshuang had already reached the third level of Qi Refining. Her sea of consciousness had just begun to open, and a small ball of light in it, the size of her thumb, was her spiritual consciousness. Contained within it was the power of her soul, or soul force.

Du Shuangshuang tried to project her spiritual sense outwards. It stretched like a thread, extending continuously outwards, all the way to the outside of the courtyard. She could see everything her spiritual sense passed by without even using her eyes. It was truly amazing. When her spiritual sense stretched to its limit, Du Shuangshuang suddenly felt very tired. She quickly retracted her spiritual sense. Feeling a little uncomfortable in her head and withered, she quickly closed her eyes and lay down to rest.