Chapter 560: Chapter 459: If Love Could Be Avoided

「The next morning.」

Xiao Mo had just gotten up to wash vegetables when he overheard Master Niu and the others gossiping—the young mistress, Tushan Jing Ci, had been discovered by a Maid while trying to sneak out of the mansion last night.

The young mistress had been shouting, "I don’t want to go back!" as a Maid carried her away, tucked under her arm.

The young mistress was now confined to her room by Lady Tushan to reflect on her mistakes.

Xiao Mo couldn’t help but smile, recalling Tushan Jing Ci’s supremely confident expression from the night before.

’She’s just a five-year-old girl. She probably only has the most basic, innate concealment Divine Abilities of the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox clan. I doubt she’s even set foot on the Path of Cultivation. How could she possibly have escaped?’

Still, Xiao Mo found himself curious. ’Xianhu City isn’t some lawless place. And besides, who in the city would dare show disrespect to the young mistress of the Tushan Mansion? So why won’t Lady Tushan let her own daughter take a single step outside?’

...

Just as the matter of the young mistress’s escape attempt came to a close, in a secluded courtyard of the Tushan Mansion,

a beautiful woman sat upon a wooden chair.

She wore a moon-white, bandeau-style palace gown, draped with an outer layer of sheer gauze in the same color.

The gauze was so thin one could glimpse the texture of the fabric beneath, yet it remained indistinct.

Her legs were crossed, her pale right leg resting over her left, her knee angled slightly outward. The hem of her skirt had slid partly open, revealing a section of thigh as smooth and luminous as the finest mutton-fat jade steeped in warm water.

Higher up, the bandeau top cupped her bosom, revealing a sliver of skin. It was neither too tight nor too loose, offering perfect support.

The sheer gauze over it rose and fell with each breath.

The beautiful woman appeared to be in her early thirties, but she was, in fact, over three thousand years old.

Kneeling on the ground before the beautiful woman was a little girl.

Her small hands were clenched into little fists, resting on the skirt covering her thighs. On her head, she balanced a Jade Bowl filled to the brim with water.

The little fox-eared girl kept her eyes downcast, sniffling softly. She looked utterly miserable.

"Have you learned your lesson?"

Looking at her daughter’s pitiful expression, Tushan Xinhua didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

"I know I was wrong..." Tushan Jing Ci mumbled, puffing out her rosy cheeks as her eyes glistened with unshed tears.

"You little rascal, do you really mean that?" Tushan Xinhua shook her head, exasperated. "You say you’re sorry every time, but you always go right back to making the same mistake."

"Mother, I really do know I was wrong this time."

Tushan Jing Ci rubbed her little bottom.

The red marks from her mother’s spanking were still there under her dress.

Her mother had been heavy-handed this time.

Her bottom felt like it had blossomed with welts.

It hurt so much.

"Enough, get up." Tushan Xinhua uncrossed her legs. "Go back to your room. For the next three days, you will reflect on what you’ve done. You are not to leave your room, do you understand?"

"Aww..."

Tushan Jing Ci set down the Jade Bowl from her head and got to her feet. With her ears and tail drooping, she trudged slowly toward her room.

"*Sigh*... That girl..."

Watching her daughter’s retreating back, Tushan Xinhua let out a soft sigh, her heart aching for the girl.

"My Lady... about the young mistress’s confinement... are we to enforce it strictly?"

A Maid approached Tushan Xinhua’s side and spoke softly. The Maid’s name was Yue Shi; she was a Cat Demon and also Tushan Jing Ci’s personal attendant.

"Let it be..." Tushan Xinhua shook her head. "You can’t keep that girl confined. If she wants to sneak out, let her. As long as she doesn’t leave the mansion grounds, everything will be fine."

"Yes, My Lady. I understand." Yue Shi gave a slight bow and withdrew.

Not long after Yue Shi left, Tushan Xinhua looked toward a folding screen in the room.

"You’ve been here all this time, why are you still hiding? You’re making it look as though this widow is sneaking a lover in."

"Hehehe..."

A clear, pleasant laugh came from behind the screen, and a woman who looked no older than her twenties emerged.

The woman sat down beside Tushan Xinhua and, without any ceremony, poured herself a cup of tea.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Tushan Xinhua asked lightly.

This woman was the matriarch of the city’s Lu family, a woman named Lu Xia. She was also one of Tushan Xinhua’s closest friends.

"I was bored with nothing to do at home. What, I can’t come see you?" Lu Xia chuckled. "Anyway, why are you always spanking Jing Ci? She looks so pitiful, even this ’auntie’ can’t bear to watch."

"I don’t spank her every day," Tushan Xinhua sighed. "It’s just that the girl is too restless. She’s always trying to sneak out and play. And now that the deadline is approaching, I have to be extra vigilant."

"I see." Lu Xia nodded thoughtfully before looking up. "Jing Ci’s birthday is next month, isn’t it?"

"Yes."

At the mention of Tushan Jing Ci’s birthday, Tushan Xinhua’s expression grew heavy.

Her daughter’s constitution was far too unique.

Across the entire history of the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox clan, from their very genesis, the records showed that only four others besides Jing Ci had ever possessed such a constitution.

And Jing Ci’s unique constitution was bound to a unique destiny.

Jing Ci’s grandfather once performed a divination for her.

The first male she touched before her sixth birthday would become her future romantic tribulation.

A romantic tribulation is an unavoidable part of life for the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox clan.

But this particular tribulation would be exceptionally difficult to overcome—harder than ascending to the heavens.

’If this romantic tribulation is too difficult to overcome, then she’ll just have to face a different one!’

That was why Tushan Xinhua refused to let her daughter come into contact with any male.

She wanted to deceive the Celestial Dao itself for her daughter’s sake!

She would swap out this "most difficult" romantic tribulation for another.

But one could not be too blatant in this so-called "deception of the heavens," or it would attract the Celestial Dao’s attention.

Thus, Tushan Xinhua couldn’t simply lock her daughter in a room and refuse to ever let her out.

Nor could she banish every single male from the mansion.

All Tushan Xinhua could do was arrange her Tushan Mansion to be its own self-contained little world.

In this little world, there were men and women, plants and trees, humans and demons. Life flowed on, and everything appeared as it should.

She even had to turn a blind eye to her daughter’s "hide-and-seek," for she couldn’t confine the girl too strictly or excessively restrict her freedom.

However, Tushan Xinhua did establish one absolute rule: no male, human or demon, was permitted to touch a single hair on her daughter’s head.

And so, under the rules of the Tushan Mansion, Tushan Jing Ci had never, from the day she was born, touched a single male.

"Now, there is only one month left. Once Tushan Jing Ci’s birthday has passed, everything will be settled."

Tushan Xinhua said slowly, her expression grave as she clenched her fists.

"That may be true, but..."

Lu Xia trailed off, saying no more. She simply gazed out the window.

If matters of the heart could truly be avoided, then why would so many people in the world, one after another, rush headlong into its embrace, heedless of life and death?

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