Quick Transmigration: The Beautiful Host Wants to Have Both Love and Career

"I'm not as stupid as him."

"is it?"

Sui Si stepped forward slowly, her hair falling down, and the two quietly clasped hands.

"Who was it that stayed up all night by my bedside back then, holding back even the words 'I love you' until the moon was high in the sky?"

You lightly tapped the other's hand with your folding fan, yet allowed those warm fingers to hold yours:

"Why bring up old stories?"

Gazing at the swaying shadows of the trees outside the window, he suddenly lowered his voice, a hint of emotion in it.

"However, this time, I hope Li Que will not repeat the same mistake."

Sui Si gently rested her head on his shoulder, her breath tickling his ear.

"Don't worry, with the two of us keeping an eye on them, no one can escape."

As the candlelight flickered, the two smiled at each other, unaware of the moonlit figure outside the window. After listening quietly for a moment, the figure, still warm from the pastries in its arms, turned and disappeared into the night.

The morning dew on the bluestone path condensed into beads, reflecting a light like shattered diamonds under the rising sun.

The dark patterns on Sui Si's blue robe appeared and disappeared with her steps, and the silver bells on her cuffs swayed lightly, startling a few sleeping sparrows under the eaves of the corridor.

Ran Cang's fingertips, gripping the hem of her skirt, turned slightly white. The newly changed magnolia hairpin in her hair trembled slightly in the morning breeze—it was a birthday gift sent by Jun Li Que three days ago, but now it felt cold against her temple.

As the vermilion palace gates slowly opened, the gilded door studs stretched the shadows of the two figures to Jun Sui's feet.

The Demon Emperor stood with his hands behind his back, the hem of his dark robes lifted halfway by the draft. The cold light reflected from the jade crown in his hair and the moment his gaze met Sui Si's, a fleeting tenderness appeared.

"Li Que... is gone."

He gazed at the empty corridor, his voice like a bronze chime, weathered by frost and snow, rippling in the silence.

Ran Cang's handkerchief suddenly tightened, and her fingernails dug crescent-shaped red marks into her palm.

She looked up at the chiwen (a mythical creature) on the eaves, suppressing the bitterness rising in her throat:

"What does it have to do with me?"

The final note, however, shattered into trembling notes in the draft.

Sui Si slowly stepped into the hall, his fingertips tracing the still-wet ink stains on the table.

The two characters "相思" (longing for each other) on the rice paper are powerfully written, but the last stroke suddenly bleeds out, like a wound stained with tears.

"This rose in bloom is quite beautiful."

Ran Cang suddenly spoke, his voice as soft as ink droplets falling on rice paper.

She leaned against the carved window frame, her gaze following the trembling petals on the branches, her eyelashes casting fine shadows beneath her eyes.

Looking at her deliberately straight back, Sui Si suddenly recalled the impetuous girl who overturned the alchemy furnace in the medicine hut when they first met—now even her hair was taut and straight, just like a sword drawn from its sheath.

The days that followed were like Xuan paper soaked in ink, seemingly calm but with undercurrents of ink-colored waves.

The kitchen presents a variety of delicacies every day:

Jade shrimp dumplings are piled up like a small mountain on a white jade plate, rouge goose breast is drizzled with amber sauce, and even the congee is sprinkled with fine gold leaf.

Ran Cang, however, was always lost in thought as she stared at the table full of delicious food. She stirred the lotus seed soup with a silver spoon, and it eventually turned into half a bowl of cooled sweet soup.

"Don't mention it,"

She rested her chin on her hand, her gaze following the swallows flitting among the beams, the jade hairpin in her hair swaying gently with her movements.

"I'm tired of seeing Master and Grandmaster together all the time."

These words caused Jun Sui, who was serving tea, to pause slightly. Ripples spread across the teacup, turning the reflected candlelight into tiny gold flakes.

Sui Si picked up the celadon cup and took a sip. In the rising steam of the tea, he looked at the girl opposite him who was pretending to be relaxed.

Suddenly, she remembered that a hundred years ago, when she bandaged Ran Cang's wounds under the moon, she also bit her lip and pretended to be relaxed, changing the subject by saying, "It doesn't hurt."

As dawn breaks, Jun Sui always unfolds her flowing hair in front of her dressing table.

Ivory comb teeth pierced through the cascading black hair, and the soft clinking of the jade crown between the strands startled the wind chimes under the eaves.

"The hairpin on the left was tilted by three-tenths of an inch."

Sui Si chuckled at the bronze mirror, reaching out to straighten her hair ornament, but her fingertips inadvertently brushed against Jun Sui's wrist.

As dusk settled, the two stood side by side on the terrace, Jun Sui's folding fan lightly tapping Sui Si's shoulder:

"Look at that fiery cloud, it looks just like the sunset I saw in the East China Sea seventy years ago, which is not often seen."

Before he finished speaking, Sui Si had already gently draped the cloak over his shoulders. In the instant the wind lifted the hem of his clothes, the shadows of the two intertwined on the blue bricks like entwined vines.

These subtle tendernesses spread like ivy throughout the palace, yet made Ran Cang's dining table seem even colder.

She began to eat in secret, often staying in the library with a book in her hand until the moon was high in the sky.

One late night, when Sui Si came looking for her, he found her curled up on a soft cushion, with half a hardened glutinous rice ball on the table—which was clearly Ran Cang's favorite snack.

What are you hiding from?

The Immortal's voice startled Ran Cang, who hurriedly hid the pastries, but knocked over the inkstone as he turned around.

The ink spread out in a hideous pattern on the rice paper, and her frantically wiping fingertips were covered in ink stains, much like the unfinished "longing" written on the desk that day.

Sui Si picked up the fallen jade hairpin; the magnolia petals on the hairpin's tip were glistening with night dew.

"He left the capital and went to the northern border."

Ran Cang's movements suddenly froze, her eyelashes trembling violently as she cast a butterfly-wing-like shadow.

The night wind outside the window, carrying the scent of autumn, blew in, causing the candlelight to flicker.

She suddenly grabbed the wolf-hair brush from the edge of the inkstone and started scribbling haphazardly on the messy Xuan paper:

"What does it have to do with me?"

Unconsciously, she sketched the outline of fox ears, which she then angrily smeared into black.

Looking at the girl's trembling shoulders, Sui Si suddenly remembered that when he first entered the demon realm, he had also stubbornly swallowed his grievances in the same way.

He gently inserted the jade hairpin back into his dyed gray hair, his voice extremely soft:

"Back when I was injured, your master also hid in the alchemy room and brewed medicine for forty-nine days."

The candlelight cast their shadows on the wall, and Sui Si saw fine beads of blood seeping from Ran Cang's tightly clenched lower lip.

Days continued to flow between dawn and dusk, but on a stormy night, a storm arose.

The moment the thunder roared, Ran Cang suddenly pushed open the window, and rainwater carrying the scent of earth rushed in.

She gazed at the blurred palace walls through the rain, then suddenly rushed into the rain, the jade hairpin in her hair flashing a pale light in the lightning.

When Sui Si chased after her, he saw her kneeling in front of Jun Li Que's bedchamber, raindrops dripping from her hair and splashing on the blue bricks.

"why did not you tell me?"

She screamed at the tightly closed palace doors, her voice torn to shreds by the sound of the rain.

"You said you'd take me with you..."

Before he could finish speaking, a muffled clap of thunder boomed, causing the copper bells on the eaves to shake wildly.

Sui Si wrapped the cloak around the girl's soaked body, and when he touched the burning heat on her back, his heart skipped a beat.

That night, Ran Cang deliriously babbled due to a high fever.

Sui Si stayed by the bedside, watching Jun Sui feed him the medicine spoonful by spoonful.

The candlelight cast Sui Si and Jun Sui's shadows onto the curtains, weaving them into tender silhouettes.

In a daze, Ran Cang returned to the day she first met Jun Lique.

The young demon king was severely injured, bleeding with every step, yet he still stubbornly strode forward amidst a sky full of fireflies.

His clothes were torn and stained with blood, his hair ornament was askew, and a few strands of black hair were messily stuck to his pale cheeks.

But his eyes remained bright.

The high fever lasted for three days.

When Ran Cang finally regained consciousness, the last petal of the rose outside the window had already fallen.

She gazed at the newly changed lilies by her bedside and suddenly remembered what Sui Si had said:

"Love is like the blooming season; if you miss it, you have to wait until next year."

Her fingertips unconsciously traced the jade hairpin as she turned to look at her master, who was grinding ink.

"Is the North...dangerous?"

Sui Si put down the inkstone, his silver hair gleaming softly in the morning light:

"Go if you want."

He got up and opened the window, and a gentle breeze carrying the fragrance of osmanthus blossoms wafted in.

"Back then, your master was the same way. When I was at my most stubborn, he shielded me from all the storms."

Ran Cang gazed at the gradually brightening sky outside the window, the jade hairpin in her hair swaying gently in the morning breeze.

In the distance came the whispers of palace maids at dawn, mixed with the sound of sweeping fallen leaves.

She gripped the blankets tightly, finally making up her mind:

"Master, can you teach me how to draw teleportation talismans?"

Sui Si and Jun Sui exchanged a glance, the smiles in their eyes mirroring the moonlit night when they pledged their love.

"Starting tomorrow,"