In front of a small pavilion by the water stood a beauty dressed in ancient attire, standing quietly in deep thought.
A playful spring breeze blew, fluttering her sleeves and dancing through her dark hair; she truly embodied the phrase "floating like a celestial being."
Many visitors pretended to pass by casually, taking the chance to steal glances at her.
Some even pulled out their phones to secretly take photos, whispering excitedly to their friends.
After all, who wouldn't love a beauty?
Hearing Vice Mayor Qian's words, Duanmu Ren secretly felt a headache coming on.
This Vice Mayor Qian, aside from being just as greedy for money as he was, also had a reputation for lust.
Whenever he saw a woman with a bit of looks on normal days, his feet would be glued to the ground.
Hua Chunning's beauty, especially her demeanor, struck Vice Mayor Qian right in the heart.
Duanmu Ren couldn't help but think recklessly: perhaps he should just stand back with cold eyes and let the man seek his own demise.
It would be best if that Daoist Li pointed at him from afar as well, letting someone else experience that mental torture of soul-shattering pain.
However, Duanmu Ren was, after all, a mature and rational bureaucrat.
Fairy Hua was a recluse cultivator with zero reverence for mortal morality or law; she genuinely might kill someone.
If things truly reached an uncontrollable state, Daoist Li and Fairy Hua could naturally escape with ease, while he would have nowhere to run.
More importantly, if Fairy Hua's plans were ruined, he probably wouldn't escape the blame either.
Duanmu Ren also knew how to deal with people consumed by lust, so he lowered his voice and said, "To be honest with you, Vice Mayor, this project was actually set up specifically for her."
"Oh?!" Vice Mayor Qian stopped in his tracks, suppressing his agitated heart as he looked around. "Such a heavily invested project, just for..."
"I understand." Midway through his sentence, he nodded in sudden realization, frowning. "Why didn't you mention something like this sooner?!"
No wonder a deep and crafty old slicker like Duanmu Ren pushed this through even at the risk of incurring public anger—turns out it was to curry favor with a person of high status!
Nearby, Division Chief Jia also pricked up his ears.
Duanmu Ren sighed and explained in a low voice, "Something like this can be done, but it can't be spoken aloud... It would make them unhappy!"
"Indeed." Vice Mayor Qian snapped back to reality and asked in a low whisper, "Whose family is she from anyway? Is it someone from the province?"
Duanmu Ren, as a grand county magistrate, had frequently gone to the provincial hospital to fulfill his filial duties to his godfather—this was no secret.
Duanmu Ren shook his head.
Vice Mayor Qian immediately straightened up, asking in surprise, "From the capital?!"
Duanmu Ren still shook his head, pointing upward.
"Hss!" Vice Mayor Qian gasped, looking up at the sky, his voice trembling as he said, "Heaven... from the heavens?!"
With a grave expression, Duanmu Ren silently nodded.
"No wonder, no wonder!" Vice Mayor Qian felt as if he had seen through everything, saying with lingering fear, "With such looks and demeanor, she truly could only be a figure from the heavens."
He just didn't know whether she was someone's woman, or someone's daughter.
Though Vice Mayor Qian was greedy and lustful, he was fully aware that the reason he could have families in every district and county was entirely because of the official seat beneath his rear.
Yet anyone could sit in this seat.
For those lofty figures above, a mere breath could knock him down into the dust.
Vice Mayor Qian took another glance at the beauty's silhouette in front of the pavilion. Sensing something, she actually turned her head to look over. Surprised, he subconsciously offered a flattering, obsequious smile.
The beauty in ancient attire swept her cool gaze over them, nodded slightly in greeting, then looked off into the distance again, continuing to serve as the finest scenery of this villa.
...
Hua Chunning carefully pondered the three pentads of Beginning of Spring, using them to condense Spring Qi and supplement her imagery, feeling that she had gained much.
When the villa opened its doors to welcome guests today, she felt something different.
Appreciating beauty and seeking joy in it was human instinct.
The visitors entering the park at this moment mostly possessed only the relaxed mood for enjoying spring and admiring flowers, without dirty, scheming thoughts.
Therefore, there wasn't much Mortal Turbid Qi within the villa.
As the visitors strolled back and forth, their pure intentions faintly stirred the spiritual atmosphere, infusing the originally remote and desolate Spring Qi with much vitality and liveliness.
"The spiritual atmosphere before wasn't bad, but it could only be called 【desolate spring】 or 【wild spring】."
"Connecting with the vitality of the human realm now—this must be the 【living spring】 the Sect Master mentioned."
Hua Chunning had a moment of epiphany, feeling that her comprehension of Spring Qi had progressed significantly.
As the morning glow in the east faded, the Shaoyang Qi gradually dissipated, and the bright, clear sunlight grew strong, veering away from the imagery Hua Chunning sought to condense.
Hua Chunning got up and left, walking along the gravel path toward the water pavilion to rest.
Along the way, visitors paused to admire her, taking out their phones to shoot videos and photos.
Anyone who saw her couldn't help but marvel, feeling as if she were "as ethereal as clouds concealing the moon, fluttering like snow swirling in the wind."
A youthful young man approached from the opposite direction. Just as his eyes met Hua Chunning's, he was struck so hard by her stunning beauty that he forgot to watch his step and actually tumbled headfirst straight into the water.
...
Zhao Xiaojun had thoroughly embarrassed himself.
Returning to his hometown on university break, he was bored out of his mind. He was tired of playing on his phone and kept getting nagged and complained about by his parents.
During breakfast, he heard his parents talk about the news in the county—that the Lijiawa subsidence area had been converted into a tourist resort, which apparently involved power struggles within the county, creating quite a stir.
Hearing this, Zhao Xiaojun curled his lips in disdain.
In an obscure, backwater eighteenth-tier county town like his hometown, filled with bankrupt coal mines and subsidence areas, only a fool would come here for tourism.
It was definitely another scheme for corrupt officials to rake in money.
Listening closely, he heard it was pushed by Duanmu Ren.
Then there was no doubt about it.
Back then, Duanmu Ren had offended someone and was assigned to a poor rural town, suffering endless bullying. In the end, he ruthlessly embezzled poverty alleviation funds to buy an official post, took on a godfather, and married into a wealthy family as a live-in son-in-law, soaring all the way up to county magistrate. He was a notoriously corrupt official.
The locals all knew his story.
Many cursed corrupt officials to hell, while many others said that as long as an official got things done, who wasn't a bit corrupt?
After finishing his meal, Zhao Xiaojun started scrolling through his phone.
Someone in his college dormitory group sent a video and tagged Zhao Xiaojun: "Old Zhao, isn't Shiling County your hometown? Haven't you gone to check out that ultra-popular fairy in ancient attire?!"
Baffled, Zhao Xiaojun opened the video to see what was going on.
It turned out to be that very tourist resort his parents had just been chatting about. Some tourists had gone there and said the environment inside was pretty good, but most importantly, there was a super gorgeous fairy in ancient dress who looked like she had walked right out of a painting.
Zhao Xiaojun glanced at it, and indeed, she was very beautiful.
However, it could also be heavy beauty filters.
In Zhao Xiaojun's college class, there was a minor internet celebrity who looked like a fair-skinned, stunning beauty in videos, but offline was just a short, skinny, average person.
So, Zhao Xiaojun offered a sharp, joke-filled critique in reply.
To his surprise, his college roommate turned out to be a die-hard fan. He argued angrily, swearing that his goddess was definitely not heavily Photoshopped, and urged Zhao Xiaojun to search up older videos.
Zhao Xiaojun searched for them and sneered immediately.
It turned out that this beauty in ancient dress was none other than the unlicensed divine doctor woman who had caused a huge sensation a year ago by curing terminal pneumoconiosis.
"No way, I have to go bust this fake!"
Spurred by a streak of rebelliousness, Zhao Xiaojun decided he couldn't let someone like her ruin his hometown's reputation. Throwing on some clothes at random, he hurriedly headed out the door.
He originally intended to take a taxi, but saw promotional posters for the tourist resort on street billboards, and there were even free shuttle buses.
"Taixuan Villa, what kind of lousy name is that?"
Zhao Xiaojun put away his phone and waited under the bus stop sign for the free shuttle.
Only an idiot wouldn't take advantage of a free ride.
Fortunately, it wasn't far. Thirty minutes later, Zhao Xiaojun arrived.
"Careless, I dressed too light."
Stepping off the bus, a gust of cold wind made Zhao Xiaojun shiver. Looking up at the rising sun and feeling a faint warmth, he finally set off.
Having just opened, admission was free.
After walking in, Zhao Xiaojun took a deep breath and exclaimed in surprise, "The air in this place is actually pretty fresh, and there's even a flower fragrance."
As a local, Zhao Xiaojun was used to overcast grey skies and air thick with a strange stench of floating coal dust and heavy truck exhaust.
"It's actually pretty nice."
Zhao Xiaojun walked around and didn't see the usual grilled sausage stands or snack streets typical of tourist spots; instead, there were carefully designed floral display areas.
Most had not yet bloomed.
Some middle-aged women were already squatting by the winter jasmine bushes taking photos.
Some young ladies had plucked plum blossoms to pin in their hair.
Though Zhao Xiaojun looked average himself, he was obsessed with looks. Taking a glance and confirming their appearance was only mediocre, he shook his head and said, "Zero manners!"
This place was indeed decent.
Zhao Xiaojun approved of the designer's aesthetic, but also suspected the designer possessed a malicious intent.
The paths were designed with twists and turns, like a maze.
Zhao Xiaojun was panting as he walked, yet he still hadn't found that tourist spot NPC.
Having impatiently complained in his group chat several times already, he turned a corner at a quick pace, only to see a beauty in ancient attire walking straight toward him.
As a face-obsessed superficial guy, Zhao Xiaojun's mind went completely blank, while his heart embarrassingly beat faster and faster.
My heartbeat, my instincts—long before my brain and logic—have already recognized your looks!
"She really is a fairy descended from heaven!"
Zhao Xiaojun's favorite celebrity goddess had the nickname "Heavenly Fairy."
However, a nickname was just a nickname.
The one before his eyes was a genuine, bonafide heavenly fairy descended to earth!
Zhao Xiaojun kept his eyes fixed on that peerless beauty as he kept walking. By the time he snapped out of it, he let out a miserable cry and fell headlong into the lake by the side of the road.
It was just the Beginning of Spring, and a thin layer of ice still floated on the lake's surface. The water temperature was near freezing, snapping Zhao Xiaojun completely wide awake.
Fortunately, the water wasn't deep, and with plenty of tourists around, they pulled Zhao Xiaojun out in a flurry of hands.
The surrounding tourists were quietly snickering.
Zhao Xiaojun wanted to die of embarrassment, wishing only to escape this social-death scene, but as soon as he stood up, a sharp pain shot through his ankle.
As expected of a fragile college student!
He had actually sprained his ankle.
This was way too embarrassing!
Zhao Xiaojun almost wanted to turn around and jump back into the lake to die.
Having heard the news, Li Jiabao rushed over and quickly made a call to arrange a vehicle, preparing to rush him to the hospital.
Someone getting injured on opening day could lead to unthinkable consequences if it got blown out of proportion and taken to higher authorities—they might even be forced to suspend operations for rectification.
"There is no need to trouble yourself."
Hearing a clear and cold voice, the fairy seemed to have seen through Zhao Xiaojun's embarrassment. She actually broke into a slight smile and spoke: "Please step aside, let me take a look."
The surrounding tourists parted to leave space, all pulling out their phones in unison to shoot videos.
The fairy approached, squatted down, and took a glance. "It is merely a minor injury."
Struck by her close-up beauty and enveloped in a delicate fragrance, Zhao Xiaojun was utterly stunned.
Not only did his sprained ankle no longer hurt, but he even secretly resented why he hadn't broken a leg instead, so that Fairy Sister could inspect it more thoroughly.
Fairy Sister extended her fingers as fair and slender as scallion stalks, gently pinching his ankle.
Zhao Xiaojun felt as if struck by an electric shock, with only a single thought left in his mind: "Fairy Sister touched me!"
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