Transmigrated Female Official

Seeing Chu Yilin get a cold shoulder from Luo Lifei, Chu Qingluo inwardly cheered! She had been keeping a close eye on Luo Lifei and silently encouraging her.

That's exactly how it has to be done, so that Chu Yilin won't feel good.

Peony, however, didn't care about such things. She was in high spirits and suggested to everyone that they play a game of couplets. Seeing that no one responded, Yan Lu took the initiative and said he would participate first. Under Luo Lifei's encouragement, Ling Nan also reluctantly agreed to participate.

Seeing how well Yanlu and Lingnan were matching couplets, Bayue and Dongxu joined in. Wuyang, seeing this, was also eager to try. The group exchanged lines back and forth, making for quite a lively and entertaining match.

Chu Qingluo sat on the other side, leisurely brushing honey onto the chicken wings she was about to bake. Listening to these refined scholars earnestly composing couplets, she couldn't help but sigh silently…

Eating barbecue while composing couplets, that's really something else.

After Chu Qingluo finished spreading the honey, she turned around and saw Chu Yilin still focused on eating. She couldn't help but scoff at him.

"What?" Chu Yilin looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"Second Brother, you really have the mood to eat even if the sky is falling?" She shook her head with great disdain and said, "Why don't you go and compose a couplet? Could it be that Second Brother is really lacking in talent and skills?"

"Tsk. ????·" Chu Yilin glanced at her sideways: "Are you trying to provoke me? This is blatant provocation."

"Sigh, I've never seen my second brother's side, which is full of talent and wisdom." After saying that, Chu Qingluo sighed heavily again.

"It's just a couplet, what's the big deal?" Chu Yilin tossed the bamboo stick in his hand aside with a flourish, clapped his hands, stood up, and walked towards Luo Lifei and the others. He sat down opposite Luo Lifei and asked, "Where are we? I'll join in."

Luo Lifei turned her head away, still ignoring him. It was Shaoyao who spoke again...

As soon as Chu Qingluo got Chu Yilin away, she regretted it.

At this moment, only she, Gongsun Yu, and Ji Qiran remained around the grill. Nine-Tailed Fox and Tongmu were busy skewering meat and could be disregarded.

Gongsun Yu suddenly noticed a little oil on Chu Qingluo's face, so he readily wiped it off for her.

To Ji Qiran, this was clearly a provocation, prompting him to glare at them again. But the two seemed oblivious, continuing their intimate gestures. This forced him to take a sharp breath, trying to calm himself.

The atmosphere was heated on one side, but awkward on the other, making Chu Qingluo feel slightly uncomfortable. Especially since Ji Qiran seemed determined not to back down, his dark eyes fixed on her without blinking. She had no choice but to shift her gaze to Luo Lifei and the others, pretending to be an attentive observer.

After several rounds of couplet matching, Yan Lü consistently had the upper hand, while Wu Yang and Ling Nan also performed quite well. Chu Yilin, however, looked noticeably less pleased. The usually carefree man seemed rather awkward when asked to seriously compose poems.

Leaving halfway through would be too undignified, and Chu Yilin didn't want Chu Qingluo to seize the opportunity to mock him. However, if he chose to stay, Luo Lifei would be applauding Lingnan's efforts...

A rare look of embarrassment slowly appeared on Chu Yilin's face.

Finally, the party ended. While Chu Yilin was still secretly letting out a sigh of relief, Luo Lifei deliberately smiled and said loudly to Ling Nan, "Ling Nan, take me home!"

Ryonan thought so too, and nodded, saying, "Okay."

Before leaving, Luo Lifei gave Chu Yilin a cold snort, as if she didn't care at all.

Chu Qingluo, who never misses a good show, rushed to Chu Yilin's ear and fanned him, saying, "It seems that Luo Lifei's number one male servant must be Lingnan."

"..." Chu Yilin, who was usually quick-witted, just pursed his lips, rolled his eyes at Chu Qingluo, and did not respond.

After seeing everyone off, Chu Qingluo noticed that Ji Qiran was still standing in the lobby. "Aren't you leaving?"

"What kind of hospitality is this, that you turn away a guest?" Ji Qiran glanced at Gongsun Yu beside her and said, "I'll trouble Qingluo to personally see me out."

"Okay, no problem." Chu Qingluo readily agreed and started walking towards the door.

Gongsun Yu was stopped by Ji Qiran: "Young Master Gongsun, there's no need to see me off."

"..." Gongsun Yu knew that Ji Qiran wanted to be alone with Chu Qingluo, but looking at Ji Qiran's face, he couldn't help but recall the scene when Chu Qingluo encountered danger in the palace and he carried her back to the Chu residence. His heart was filled with mixed feelings.

Chu Qingluo gently placed her slender fingers on Gongsun Yu's wrist, pulling him back to reality. She said, "Don't worry, I'll just drop you off at the door. I won't go far and will be right back."

Gongsun Yu nodded; he wasn't worried about her safety. As a man himself, how could he not understand Ji Qiran's feelings? Besides, he had already made them so obvious. Therefore, Gongsun Yu knew perfectly well that Ji Qiran would never harm Chu Qingluo…

Ji Qiran and Chu Qingluo arrived side by side at the gate of the Chu residence, where Ji Qiran's carriage was already waiting.

“Actually, I have a question about you that I haven’t been able to figure out, and it’s been bothering me a bit, so I wanted to ask you, Your Excellency,” Ji Qiran said.

Chu Qinglu shrugged: "Go ahead and ask."

He stared at her for a while before speaking, "Do you think there's anything about yourself that others don't have?"

“…Huh?” She didn’t understand what he wanted to ask.

"It's... a trait or advantage that others don't have?" he asked again in a different way.

His question left Chu Qingluo stunned for a moment. Compared to them, her advantage was naturally that she came from the 21st century. Besides that…

"Probably not." Her eyes darted around, and she summarized simply: "What advantages can someone with no ambition, a simple and crude nature, who just wants to live a quiet life behind closed doors have?" After saying that, she suddenly thought of something and weakly added: "...Does being beautiful count?"

"Pfft—" Ji Qiran laughed, a hearty laugh.

Chu Qingluo asked with a dark expression, "Is it really necessary to laugh like that? Isn't it pretty?" She genuinely thought the original host's face was indeed quite beautiful!

He hadn't laughed so heartily in a long time, and he couldn't stop for a moment. "This...this doesn't count." To him, her face hadn't changed much; what was different was her personality.

She pouted, unconvinced: "Fine, you're the most handsome man in Yancheng, but that's not an advantage when it comes to you."

Ji Qiran raised an eyebrow and clarified, "That's not what I meant."

Chu Qingluo helplessly spread her hands: "Then that's it, I don't know how to answer this question."