Unknown Jealousy

"Say… Instead of going to the medicinal stores owned by others… Can I open my own?" Bai Shuixian asked when they entered the carriage.

"You want to open your own store?" Lin Dalong asked, raising a brow in interest.

Going silent, Bai Shuixian gave a small nod before she answered, "Yes."

"Why?" Lin Dalong continued to ask, curious as to why she wanted to open her own place.

"I think that even if I manage to give them recipes, ingredients, or medicine, they wouldn't be able to realize or understand its full potential. Also, they'll most likely sell it to others at a higher prize for more benefits that they can't get from me, like money. I think," Bai Shuixian explained, averting her eyes to the window as she sat down.

Following her, Lin Dalong also sat down and analyzed, "Though that's true, with me at your back, they wouldn't dare to do so."

Taking off the veil that she put on when they came to the palace, Bai Shuixian rejected, "I don't want to depend on you. The reason why I came here wasn't to be a baggage, but to gain experience. I want to learn and do all the things I've never done before."

Secretly shining his eyes at her last words, Lin Dalong asked, "Have you ever attended the Spring Festival?"

"I've gone to one in a nearby village once, but we only went once because something happened. Why do you ask?" Bai Shuixian tilted her head in confusion.

How was this related to her opening a store? Currently, they were talking about business, not what events are fun or not. Or is it that something beneficial to her will happen at the Spring Festival?

"How about attending it with me?" Lin Dalong asked, a slight smile appearing.

Currently, Lin Dalong was hiding his emotions of excitement. He had never invited a female to the Spring Festival before and she was the first. At the same time, he barely went to the festival, so he wanted to also experience what couples felt when they went out together.

"No need," Bai Shuixian rejected, shaking her head.

Not understanding why Bai Shuixian did not want to attend the Spring Festival, Lin Dalong asked, "Why-?"

"My brother told me to not go," Bai Shuixian immediately answered before he could finish his question.

Indeed, Xuan Yueji had told her to not attend the Spring Festival. When she was twelve years old, she left the temple with Zhong Chen to experience her first Lunar New Year. However, it was unknown how, but she ended up getting kidnapped by someone.

That person that kidnapped her was not just a simple thief, but someone super strong. He was so skillful that Zhong Chen could not even track her down despite using every single technique he knew. In the end, Bai Shuixian managed to safely come back because Xuan Yueji was forcibly awakened by Lu Lianhua during a bloodlust period.

However, being forcibly awakened, it meant that his blood thirst would exponentially increase and rise. After waking up and taking over her weak body, Xuan Yueji blindly killed the kidnapper along with the innocent people in the nearby villages. In order to keep it a secret so that nobody knew about what happened, especially the guilt ridden person who did the killing, Tou Juhua removed the memories from every single person except for Zhong Chen as she did not have enough powers to do so.

It was also at that time that it increased the suspicions of Lu Lianhua that Zhong Chen was not a person from the continent. For a while, he only suspected the notion, but he never did make it the definite idea. Only after Zhong Chen found Bai Shuixian through the smell of the dead kidnapper did Lu Lianhua finally perceive that he was an immortal either from the unknown heavens, or someone from Jing Continent or otherwise known as the Godly Realm.

"You seem to really listen to your brother," Lin Dalong bitterly commented as his lips secretly twitched.

Nodding to agree with him, Bai Shuixian said, "Mm… I must listen to him, or I'll die one day. Brother is a really nice person."

"Aren't you worried that he may just be manipulating you? Making you think that he cares?" Lin Dalong suggested, a thought in his head, that he should try to separate the two since she spoke so much about this brother of hers.

Thinking about Xuan Yueji, Bai Shuixian flashed a brilliant and childish smile that Lin Dalong had never seen before and rejected, "My brother will never betray. He will always be by my side. Even if one day I die, I know he'll never leave my side."

Surprised at the innocent smile of hers, Lin Dalong asked with a wry smile, a hidden bitterness that even he did not know about, "Why do you trust him so much?"

"Because he was always by my side," Bai Shuixian answered, her eyes clouding with emotions. "Even after I died, he was by my side, helping me…"

Feelings of jealousy shot out of nowhere and it made Lin Dalong enraged, but breathing out a few breaths, he asked again, "Since he's so helpful, I should meet him. Maybe we might even become good friends."

Hearing that, Bai Shuixian felt like crying and her eyes reddened as she softly said, "He's sleeping right now because he's cursed. It was my fault that he became like that…"

Seeing that Bai Shuixian was about to cry, Lin Dalong stopped the topic that went over Xuan Yueji and went back to the discussion about the store, "Alright, I'm sorry… So… Why did you want to open a store?"

Becoming happy again, Bai Shuixian answered, "I think that brother might like it."

"Huh?" Lin Dalong moaned out in question. "You're doing this for your brother?"

All along, Lin Dalong was getting jealous because he thought that when she said brother, she only meant one person. After all, Bai Shuixian never did mention how many brothers she had or that she also had sisters. She also never went over whether the brother meant siblings or if they were from a single close group.

Of course, Bai Shuixian had a horrible emotional quotient, so she would never know the thoughts in the head of Lin Dalong. She also would not tell him until he asked her about her family and friends. This would cause him to have lots of misunderstandings about who she romantically loved for a long time.

"Mm… Lian-ge told me that Ji-gege worked in the capital for the emperor and that Ji-gege would need lots of money to build something," Bai Shuixian explained as she swung her legs back and forth like a child.

As this was the first time Lin Dalong ever saw Bai Shuixian behaving so childishly with twinkling eyes and even hearing her address closely like "Ji-gege", he automatically concluded that Xuan Yueji was his rival, so he asked, "Who is this Ji-gege of yours that you have to help him?"

"Hm… Ji-gege is my brother that is always there for me when I'm in danger. Whenever I'm in pain, he deals with it for me. It's too bad that he's sleeping right now because of me," Bai Shuixian answered, thinking about when Xuan Yueji would finally wake up.

Understanding the words as someone that loved Xuan Yueji a lot and not in a familial way, Lin Dalong got riled up again. Of course, he did not expose his emotions because he felt that Bai Shuixian was too innocent to be exposed to such negative thoughts. Instead, he planned in his head that if he ever met her "Ji-gege" he would immediately attack that person to see who was physically stronger and martially greater.

"Do you know which position that brother of yours is?" Lin Dalong asked, plans being organized at the back of his brain.

Sighing, Bai Shuixian said dejectedly, "Lian-ge never told me where or what Ji-gege worked as. He only told me that Ji-gege worked in the capital. Honestly, they could tell me more…"

As he could not get anymore information, Lin Dalong decided that as long as he helped Bai Shuixian in her endeavors to open a store, he would meet that "Ji-gege". No matter how long he had to wait, he was willing to wait as long as he could compete with the man on their strength. If he found the opposite person to be weak, he would automatically take Bai Shuixian away and claim her as his own.

Egotistical as always, like a normal royal person, Lin Dalong totally did not even add Bai Shuixian into his equations. He did not think about whether she would like him or if she might even hate him for fighting against the person closest to her. However, he was extremely prideful and arrogant, thinking that he would definitely be able to make her fall for him before meeting that "Ji-gege".

"Ah, right, Your Highness, I don't think it's a bad investment. Judging from Imperial Physician Yuan's reaction, the medicine that I have should be of higher standards than the rest, so I'm sure that we'll be making lots of profits," Bai Shuixian started persuading Lin Dalong as she did not know the procedures of opening a business in the capital. "Oh, I just thought of something else! What if we opened an auction house also? I think that it would bring in lots of money for us!"

"You look like you can be a merchant right now," Lin Dalong chuckled out, noticing how she was running her mouth, thinking about many businesses.

Embarrassed, Bai Shuixian apologized, "Ah… I'm sorry. It's just that I've read about a lot of these in novels, but I've never gone to one."

"Was it your brother who stopped you?" Lin Dalong asked, about ready to drill his men if she answered yes.