“I changed my mind, alright?” Shang Hongyu smiled sweetly. “Don’t you know that women are the best at that?”
Zu An frowned and said, “I really am in a rush to save someone.”
“It still isn’t time for the Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons to open, so it’s useless even if you go there earlier,” Shang Hongyu said to appease him. “Besides, didn’t I say that even though you can look and sound like the Dragon King, your bearing and behavior are still too far off? We can use this journey to train you.”
When Zu An thought about how the Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons wasn’t open yet, he realizedthere was indeed no need to rush. “I guess it’s fine. I’ll just listen to you this time.”
...
Then, the two flew along the shore. When they were about to arrive, Zu An gave the glamorous Shang Hongyu a look, asking, “Aren’t you going to change your appearance? You’ll end up causing a huge commotion if you look like this.”
“It’s fine. I don’t want to keep being that ugly anymore. You don’t know how gross I felt whenever I looked at all those bumps in the mirror,” Shang Hongyu said in disgust.
Zu An was speechless. “Then how did you even endure it for so long? From my perspective, it looked as if you were actually kind of having fun.”
Shang Hongyu rolled her eyes. “That was because I had no choice. It was a matter of life and death, and I had the secrets of the fake Dragon King too. I couldn't just let myself die. But now that you’re here, I don’t need to suffer like that anymore.”
Zu An was speechless. He really couldn't figure out just what kind of logic she was using.
Even so, she had already showed that appearance here before, so using it again wasn’t too appropriate. When he realized that, he took out a thin mask and handed it to her, saying, “Put this on then. Even though it’s not pretty, it won’t be ugly either.”
Whether one was too pretty or too ugly, it would leave a strong impression. This mask would turn someone into a completely normal person, one that others would forget after a single look. Now that Zu An thought about it, this was the spoils he had received from that bandit boss in Brightmoon City, and yet it had helped him quite a bit. He was pretty thankful to that... Hm? What was that Blackwind Stockade guy surnamed? Chen, or was it something else? Forget it, it’s not important.
Shang Hongyu took it from him. “Hm? This mask is pretty interesting. Is this what you were wearing yesterday?” She put the mask onto her face while speaking, and her stunning features quickly became ordinary. Then, she looked at Zu An with a smile, asking, “Did you use this mask before? Does this count as an indirect kiss then?”
Zu An was stunned. Why did he always feel as if he was being harassed lately? She seemed to enjoy it to the point where she would never get tired of it. But this was Shang Liuyu’s older sister, so he could only let her have her fun.
“Oh my, I was just kidding! Don’t be so serious.” Shang Hongyu spun around in front of him before asking, “So? My disguise should be fine now, right?”
“We need you to change your clothes. Your ordinary face and such pretty clothes clearly don’t match,” Zu An said after giving her a look.
“I’ll just take it as you praising me~” Shang Hongyu spun a few more times; the vibrant red of her dress disappeared, and it turned into a simple and common outfit. “What about now?”
Zu An was a bit surprised. “How are your clothes changing like this? Why does it turn into something else with just a spin?”
“This is my magic treasure. It can change into all kinds of clothes. Otherwise, how do you think I was able to avoid being caught after that bounty was placed on me?” Shang Hongyu sounded quite proud of herself.
“Can you give me one set of these clothes? I can trade another treasure for it.” Zu An thought to himself that his ‘Pin Ru’s Wardrobe’ just happened to be lacking clothes. It would always be helpful to have a few more sets.
But Shang Hongyu’s cheeks turned a bit red, and she replied, “I can’t give you that, or else I’ll end up being completely naked!”
Zu An was stunned.
When she saw his expression, Shang Hongyu laughed loudly. “Silly little brother, these clothes are made from mermaid scales. Even though they can turn into all kinds of clothes, they're still only a single set in the end. If I give them to you, then won’t I have nothing left?”
Zu An was a bit embarrassed. “Sorry, I really didn’t know and was too rude.”
“That’s not a big deal at all. You didn’t do it on purpose.” Shang Hongyu moved closer. Her bright eyes revealed a curious look as she asked, “Aren’t you a veteran playboy? Why do I feel more and more like you’re a pure and innocent little boy?”
Zu An was speechless.
“I was just messing with you. Do you think there’s anything else I need to fix?” Shang Hongyu asked with a serious expression. She didn’t want there to be any holes in her appearance on their trip to the Dragon Palace.
As he examined her entire body, Zu An propped up his chin with his hand. In the end, his eyes landed on her astonishing waist and bottom, saying, “You need to conceal your figure too, or else what happened last time might happen again.”
Shang Hongyu couldn't help but grit her teeth when she remembered that experience, saying, “That damned Hai Daniu really was despicable. If it had been in the past, I would have already made him regret being born in this world.”
“The world always praises the queen for being gentle and virtuous. Now, it seems as if that’s not necessarily the case,” Zu An said with a laugh.
“It wouldn't be a big deal if it had been for other reasons, since they didn’t know, but that guy was just too despicable. He’s not worthy of sympathy.” Shang Hongyu rolled her eyes. “Besides, everyone in the world says that whenever you go to a new place, you sleep with someone new. Humans, fiends, female warriors, distinguished daughters; all of them, you’ve slept with. Is it really true?” She had heard gossip surrounding the regent in the restaurant too. Now, just thinking about it made her want to laugh.
Zu An was speechless. He didn’t know what to say.
Shagn Hongyu said in a vexed tone, “My figure isn’t something I don’t want to change, but that’s just how it is. There’s no way to change it... I don’t know any transformation skills either. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been that gap in my appearance.”
“How about this?” After thinking to himself for a bit, Zu An took out two buns from the Brilliant Glass Bead and shoved them into her clothes. That way, her soft and thin waist immediately swelled up. He nodded and said, “It’s solved. That’s more like it."
Shang Hongyu jumped back in alarm, and she clenched her clothes tightly. “Don’t you know that guys and girls should keep their distance? How can you just shove things in other people’s clothes?”
Zu An said in annoyance, “I didn’t even take off your clothes. Besides, you were wearing much less when you were swimming in the ocean. What, now you suddenly know how to be scared?”
She needs to be disciplined a bit, or else she’ll never stop harassing me.
After her initial alarm, Shang Hongyu returned to normal. She said, “So it was revenge. But I’m a woman. I can tease you, but you can’t cross the line, or else I’ll tell Liuyu.”
Zu An was speechless.
This woman’s logic seems to be quite self-serving.
...While they were chatting, the two of them had already arrived at the restaurant from before. Compared to before, there were many more guests, and they all looked at the two of them unkindly. More eyes were on Shang Hongyu. They weren’t convinced when they saw her face, but when they examined her chest and waist, they pulled back their gazes.
“I really should thank those buns of yours, or else there might have been more trouble,” Shang Hongyu secretly said. She sounded quite glad.
“Yeah. The atmosphere here is different from yesterday,” Zu An replied.
Soon after, the two arrived at the bar counter. They looked at the dispirited and downcast turtle bartender and asked, “Are there still tickets to the Jadewave Region?”
The Jadewave Region was where the Dragon Palace was. Normally, anyone who went to the Dragon Palace had to first ride the ships at the designated ports to the Jadewave Region before anything else.
“There are. One room is one heaven-grade ki stone,” the turtle bartender replied lazily.
“It’s that expensive?” Zu An frowned. It wasn’t that he couldn't afford it, but it was much more expensive than he thought. He didn’t want to be taken advantage of.