"Miss, please listen to your old servant and rest for a while."
"You've been personally checking the ledgers all day long, and it's already very late. The flight is bumpy, so please don't push yourself any further."
High above Wuli District, inside the newly departed Yu Family private jet, the elderly butler left behind by Yubing's father bowed and offered gentle words of persuasion.
Yubing sat looking through the messages on her phone—reviewing the matters handled today and those requiring attention tomorrow before resting every night was a habit she had formed after becoming the head of the family.
The old butler stood with a bow. Although the pilot of the Yu Family's jet was naturally skilled, turbulence was inevitable. Yet the old butler stood as firm as a rock, his breath deep and steady, his expression unchanged, moving as if on solid ground in the cabin to attend to Yubing's every need.
Clearly, he possessed no small amount of martial prowess.
"There's no rush for just a little longer. I'll rest once I finish reading, so you needn't advise me further."
With that, she let out a self-deprecating and disdainful laugh:
"Personally checking the ledgers? Do you think this is what I want to do?"
"Head of the family, my foot! Most of the Yu Family and its assets are completely out of my control. If I don't check everything myself, I really will become nothing more than a scapegoat puppet pushed out to the front stage."
"Hmph."
The old butler lowered his head humbly, pretending not to hear and daring not to offer an opinion—though he was a subordinate of Yubing's father, her father had been away from the family wandering outside for a very long time, and Yubing's older brother had gone missing without a trace. Yubing's lineage had already seen its influence within the family wane considerably.
Within the present Yu Family, the main branch was controlled by Yubing's grand-uncle, along with her paternal uncle's lineage. The collateral branches refused to submit to Yubing's rise to power, obeying orders only in theory while ignoring directives in practice.
The pilot and flight attendants on this plane were all people belonging to Yubing's uncle, even if nominally they were said to be loyal to the Yu Family.
The old butler did not know why the old master had wanted Yubing to become the head of the family back then—over the years, he had witnessed all the hardships the young miss had endured.
Nor did he know what price the old master had paid to make Yubing family head—in an aristocratic and opulent clan with numerous collateral branches, a young female junior blessed with striking looks would likely not meet a very good end if she lacked status and sufficient power.
At the very least, she would have no say over her own destiny.
Yubing browsed through the messages one by one. Some were matters she had assigned to be handled today. *Hmph, quite a few people are just putting on a show, paying lip service while disobeying in secret. Do they really take me for a fool?!*
Such petty villains—once she returned from Zhongpu District this time, she would definitely have to thoroughly purge them.
Moreover, the scouts sent out to search for her father and brother still had no news.
*Sigh...*
And that group of people affiliated under the Yu Family—whenever she tried to audit the accounts and take stock of the assets, they would conceal information and make all sorts of excuses, even claiming they needed to consult her uncle before making any decisions.
Just who was the head of the Yu Family? Was it her, or that old thing—or rather, those old things?!
If not for the fact that her current power remained weak, her prestige low, and her capabilities limited—insufficient to prop up the entire clan—she would have long since dismissed all these power-hungry old geezers!
They wanted to control her?
Then let them wait to be completely overthrown by her!
Reading these reports of completed family matters made Yubing angrier with every passing moment. A heavy oppression built up in her chest, and her bosom heaved with fury.
Yet this was merely a microcosm—even the result she had obtained only after fighting desperately for several years following her ascent as family head.
In the past, she would have felt even more stifled and wronged.
Oh, and to call her the head of the family wasn't quite accurate either—currently, the Yu Family had no official head. Theoretically, Yubing should have held the position, but after her father left the estate, those old codgers stripped her of the title under the pretext that her seniority was insufficient to convince the masses, forcibly shoving the title of "acting head" upon her.
If there was still a shred of family affection to be found in this treacherous clan, it belonged solely to Yubing's grand-uncle, Yu Youquan—yet the power wielded by this grand-uncle was even less than that of Yubing herself upon just becoming "head." He could only offer verbal and mental support from behind the scenes, utterly incapable of providing any practical assistance.
From Yubing's uncle's generation and upward, none of those old fellows regarded Yu Youquan as anything worth a fig.
A few days ago, this grand-uncle Yu Youquan—the only person in the family who still held familial affection for Yubing—had gone out of his mind and insisted on coming to Zhongpu District, and after several days, he had vanished without a trace.
No matter how little regard the family had for Yu Youquan, he was still a member of the Yu Family and could not simply be left abandoned outside. Thus, at Yubing's suggestion, the Yu Family had agreed to send people to search for him.
They had searched for many days without a single shred of news—Yubing simply assumed her subordinates hadn't exerted themselves to the utmost; after all, such situations happened frequently.
Thus, accustomed as she was to handling everything herself, and tied by bonds of family affection to this grand-uncle, she had decided to take on the mission herself: to come to Zhongpu District, find Yu Youquan, and bring him back.
Yubing was deeply worried about Yu Youquan. In recent days, she had been plagued with anxiety, unable to rest properly, and her mental state was terribly poor.
Yet countless messages continued to assail her exhausted mind, piling up like a massive mountain over her heart—yet rather than feeling troubled by this, she actually felt pleased.
A high volume of matters meant that power was gradually returning to her hands—at least there were increasingly more affairs she had the authority to intervene in.
Even so, handling everything personally was truly no way to go on. As matters continued to multiply, she really ought to consider cultivating some trusted individuals of her own to handle routine tasks.
"Hmm?"
An unusual message suddenly appeared before Yubing's eyes:
"Distinguished VIP! Please forgive our presumptuous intrusion! This is Kowloon Residence. Due to a safety hazard discovered during routine maintenance in the 'Dragon King Suite' you previously booked, our establishment has no choice but to cancel your reservation. We deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused!"
"To express our profound apologies, all your food and lodging expenses at Kowloon Residence upon your arrival in Zhongpu District will be fully covered by us. As for your replacement room type, we will have you select one upon your arrival in Zhongpu District, and we hope for your understanding."
"We are truly sorry! Please allow us to express our sincerest apologies once again. Your reservation amount has been fully refunded: a total of one hundred thousand Jiufang Coins."
"Hmph!"
Yubing looked over the entire message with an icy expression.
She was practically ready to explode with rage—suffering setbacks and hitting walls everywhere within the family was one thing, but even a hotel like Kowloon Residence dared to bully her?
Then let's—
*(Ahem, apologies, wrong scene.)*
Yubing certainly wouldn't believe that a top-tier hotel property like Kowloon Residence would make such a low-level mistake—daring to release a room for reservation that hadn't even undergone safety checks.
This clearly meant someone had spent money to snatch her room!
Why did Yubing know this?
Because she had done the exact same thing before...
Ahem, that was back in the early days when she was still naively following behind her uncle to learn the ropes.
Although her uncle wasn't a good person, his experience and insights regarding family governance were indeed profound.
When Yubing first assumed the position of "family head," her uncle had hypocritically pretended to consider her best interests, claiming he wanted to groom her, when in reality he sought to warp her will and mold her into a puppet.
Naturally, the outcome could be imagined—he had failed.
However, a few things her uncle had said were deeply etched in Yubing's memory:
"The strong deserve to enjoy the world."
"Rules exist to constrain the weak."
"The Yu Family of the past bared its fangs, and the Yu Family of the present must bare its fangs as well, otherwise certain people will start getting restless!"
The situation within the Yu Family in recent years had been quite poor—one could almost say it was strong on the outside but hollow within, ever since the day her father left home, ever since the day her brother went missing. Yet Yubing didn't know what kind of drastic changes had occurred.
True, the Wuli District Yu Family held immense power, commanding over ninety percent of the calligraphy and painting market in the culturally flourishing Wuli District;
Yet Wuli District was home to no shortage of great aristocratic clans, and the cruelty of the power struggles among them was far beyond what ordinary people could imagine. A single misstep could plunge one into an abyss with never a chance of a comeback.
Even Yubing, nurtured with the exhaustive resources of the clan—a Tier 2 Purple Tier Dragon Descendant, already the highest-grade Dragon Descendant openly acknowledged by the Yu Family—did not have an aptitude primarily suited for direct combat.
Aside from Yubing, among the Dragon Descendant nurtured by this colossal entity that had entrenched itself in Wuli District for hundreds of years, the vast majority of guards and Death Guard were merely Blue Tier, with Purple Tier being exceedingly rare—and almost all of them were under the control of her grand-uncle.
This was also the biggest reason why Yubing had yet to purge the upper and lower ranks of the Yu Family: insufficient strength.
Yet viewed from the perspective of the entire clan—plagued by internal strife, external troubles, scattered morale, and surrounded by formidable enemies—Yubing had to put aside these petty personal grievances over power struggles and consider the long-term picture.
She had to wonder if some restless hostile force had found out she booked that Dragon King Suite and deliberately spent money to snatch it from her, testing whether the Yu Family's attitude remained as strong and arrogant as before.
Or perhaps, could it be that local powerhouses in Zhongpu District wanted to stick their hands in?
Cross-district competition for profits was not uncommon among aristocratic families.
Yet... she didn't seem to have heard of any formidable forces in Zhongpu District...?
At least, none comparable to great families or aristocratic clans like the Wuli Yu Clan.
There was, however, an underground force that had recently risen called the Qianxiang Society, which was barely worth a shred of attention...
Still, wild-dog factions like that, left to grow savagely, would always reach a day when they were ripe—and by then, naturally, a sufficiently strong force would come along to harvest this patch of scallions.
Yubing had seen plenty of such things. Unless that Qianxiang Society possessed formidable strength capable of confronting aristocratic families—could they possibly wield the Supreme Dragon Incantation?
At this thought, Yubing couldn't help but laugh at her own notion—how could that possibly be?
The cake in this world had already been carved up more or less—unless wild factions possessed something as unreasonably powerful as the Supreme Dragon Incantation, they were only fit to be dishes served on the banquet tables of the aristocratic clans.
Concluding these amusing stray thoughts—letting her mind wander like this was one of Yubing's rare moments of relaxation during the day—she moved on to consider other possibilities, namely the final one:
Could it simply be that some wealthy person wanted to stay in the Dragon King Suite, completely unaware that the room had been booked by Yubing, and snatched it without any ulterior motives?
Impossible! Absolutely impossible!
Yubing shook her head with absolute conviction—how could there be such a coincidence? Of all the Dragon King Suites available, why did they have to snatch *her* room?
Yubing had no idea that when she booked her Dragon King Suite, there had been other suites available, but by the time Min Moyou went, her specific room happened to be the only one left empty...
"Bzzz—"
Yubing's train of thought was interrupted by the vibration of her phone—her uncle was calling.
"Uncle."
Yubing answered the call. Before she was fully prepared to flip the table, she still needed to endure; she couldn't blurt out "old geezer" every time she opened her mouth.
"Xiaobing, I heard that the hotel room you booked in Zhongpu District suddenly suffered a safety malfunction?"
Hearing this, Yubing's eyes narrowed—how did her uncle know about this?
None of the flight attendants had walked past her just now... That meant the problem could only lie with this phone.
Come to think of it, this phone was a gift her grand-uncle had given her to celebrate her ascending to the position of (acting) "family head." Vaguely, she remembered her grand-uncle talking about how high the value of this phone was...?
Was it already set up from back then? Deliberately using such an expensive phone so that she would hesitate to replace it easily out of fear of its value?
It seemed she would have to find an opportunity to get rid of this phone...
"Indeed. Uncle's sources are quite well-informed."
Yubing replied calmly, her tone upright and respectful, leaving no room for anyone to detect a hint of sarcasm.
"Xiaobing, listen to me. Your room was definitely snatched by someone else. This is those restless fellows testing our Yu Family! You cannot show a single sign of weakness."
"You must adopt the most aggressive stance, proclaiming to Zhongpu that our Yu Family's family head, this formidable dragon, has arrived! Any local bullies or filthy rats must pull back their probing little tails!"
"Do you understand, Xiaobing?"
"Right, once you reach Zhongpu, remember to investigate the background of the person who stole your room. Just putting on a show is useless; it's time to bare our blades. I'll send people to investigate on my end as well."
Yubing's uncle spoke as if entirely oblivious to the undertones in her words, offering a steady stream of instructions.
"I understand, Uncle."
"Haha... Good, good, good. Xiaobing has grown as well. Perhaps in just a few years, she will mature into a qualified family head."
As expected, it ended with another empty promise that provided zero nutritional value.
"Mm, thank you, Uncle."
Yubing gave a perfunctory response and hung up the phone.
*Sigh...* Letting out a breath, Yubing knew she would have to work overtime tonight.
She needed to call Kowloon Residence to inquire... Oh wait, no—she needed to display the Yu Family's majesty to Kowloon Residence while incidentally probing for the identity of the person who had stolen her room.
...
"Say... I'm curious about something?"
Tong tucked away the money Min Moyou had given her, then suddenly turned her head to ask him.
"Speak."
Min Moyou didn't even open his eyes, leaning back against the luxury single-person sofa with no intention of getting up—he was currently pondering how to extract the maximum value from Tong remaining in this room.
This required second-guessing quite a few things, including Tong's favorable impression of him, her attitude, and so on. If he took too large a step, he feared it might be counterproductive, yet doing nothing at all made him feel like he was getting the short end of the stick...?
"It's just... I'm just curious, you know? I want to ask, exactly how much money is stuffed inside that tailored suit pocket of yours? Every time I look, you're pulling money out of it like it's an endless supply..."
"Oh?"
Min Moyou opened his eyes and stared straight at Tong.
"Want to know?"
"Why don't you come find out for yourself?"
"Great! Then take off your suit and give it to me!"
Tong's eyes lit up—*Hey! I thought it was some big secret, yet he's telling me so readily?*
"Not taking it off."
"If you want to know, come over and check for yourself."
Min Moyou's words broke Tong's defenses as usual.
"Ah...?"
"Th-this... this isn't very appropriate, is it...?"
Check for myself?
How?
By pouncing on him and patting him down?
Was that even proper?
Tong immediately found herself in a dilemma—*Could this guy possibly have designs on me?!*
Surely he couldn't be saying that just because he was too lazy to take off his clothes, right?
She gazed at Min Moyou's reasonably handsome profile, which seemed bathed in a layer of sacred light under the illumination of the lamps—among the many men Tong knew, Min Moyou's looks definitely ranked quite high.
Two thoughts surfaced in the depths of Tong's mind:
One was: *He really is quite good-looking.*
Though compared to her other male friends, he wasn't strikingly superior to the rest.
They were all handsome in their own styles, without a huge gap in tiers.
It seemed Min Moyou's charm rating of merely 82 wasn't quite enough to completely conquer Tong through appearance alone.
The second thought was: *He's trying to seduce me!*
This notion flushed Tong's pretty face a rosy crimson for a fleeting moment—*Could my charm really be this high? Wahahaha~*
*Ah... I'm so torn...*
A pocket that could endlessly produce cash was truly super magical—!
Could it be some kind of portable spatial dimension or storage pouch?
Or was his true identity actually a robotic blue fat cat?
She really, really wanted to know...
"Too chicken?"
"Then stop being curious."
"If something isn't your business to ask about, don't ask."
"To know one's own limitations is a virtue~"
Seeing Tong hesitate, Min Moyou immediately spoke up with a taunt, attempting to provoke her.
*Hey!*
Tong was the exact type to fall for this trick!
Refusing to be outdone, Tong immediately grew even more stubborn upon hearing those words, and spitefully retorted:
"Who's chicken?"
"Who do you think you're looking down on?"
"Isn't it just checking for myself? Can your clothes eat my hands or something?!"
"Don't hide things, and don't go back on your word!"
Her blood boiling, Tong took a few long strides right up to Min Moyou, reaching out toward his clothes without a shred of hesitation, as if determined to prove her bravery.
Yet once her hand reached the front of Min Moyou's clothes, she didn't dare push any further, remaining frozen mid-air.
Min Moyou tilted his head with an expression of amused interest:
"Keep going?"
"Aren't you curious anymore?"
"I'm not moving, I'm not hiding anything, and I won't go back on my word. Go ahead and investigate... whatever secret you want to know."
Min Moyou's posture gave Tong a strong sense of impending doom, instantly snapping her back to her senses.
*Oh no! I fell for his provocation!*
Now advancing was impossible, and retreating was equally out of the question...
Should she just strip his clothes off and hide in a corner to study them in detail?
But taking off a man's clothes of her own accord like this... wouldn't that be a bit inappropriate...?
Th-this... she had never done anything like this before...
"Scared?"
"Need me to give you a hand?"
Min Moyou chuckled evilly, seized the right moment, grabbed Tong's small hand, and pressed it directly against his chest.
"Hey, don't—"
Caught off guard, Tong was pulled by Min Moyou with such force that her entire body tumbled right onto him.
Scorching body temperature, a powerful heartbeat crashing against the palm of her hand...
A thick wave of masculine pheromones rushed toward her face...
That gaze, utterly unabashed in its tyranny and aggression...
A low, magnetic voice...
Firm, powerful arms...
All these elements intertwined, merging her five senses and leaving Tong in a panicked blur, her eyes spinning into spirals...
She... she couldn't take it anymore...
*Hoo... Hoo... This guy...*
At this moment, Tong had entirely lost the capacity for thought—had Min Moyou not been relatively a gentleman, or perhaps lacking certainty and daring not to make any rash moves out of caution, he probably could have taken advantage of her dazed state to claim her entirely.
Every physical sensation and every scent enveloping her came from Min Moyou. Under the influence of this atmosphere, Tong's mind began automatically playing back all of Min Moyou's wealthy advantages...
*What would it be like if I married into wealth and became the eldest young mistress of his Min Family...?*
*I'd have endless money to spend...*
*I wouldn't have to run around day and night...*
*Every necessity in life provided for...*
*Eating, drinking, and playing to my heart's content...*
*Sleeping all day long...*
*And no hateful Old Master Du around...*
Just thinking about it made it seem like a distant, extravagant dream...
*I want it! I want it so much!*
*No!*
*Tong!*
*Pull yourself together, aaahhhhh...*
*The Supreme Dragon Incantation! Think of the Supreme Dragon Incantation!*
*Your ambitions cannot stop here!*
*Quick!*
*Break away from him!*
Catching a fleeting moment of clarity in her mind, Tong pressed down hard with the hand resting on Min Moyou's chest, leveraged her body up, and bolted ten meters away from him.
Hugging the corner like a frightened little rabbit, Tong stared at Min Moyou in terror, panting heavily...
*Finally... I'm alive...*
"Still curious?"
Min Moyou wore a half-smile, though inwardly he was kicking himself—he had hesitated!
"No! Not curious anymore! Not curious at all!"
Tong waved her hands frantically, forcibly mobilizing the power of her Dragon Incantation to suppress the surging heat in her body.
"It's just! A piece of! Money-spitting! Clothing, right?! What's so! Magical about it?! I'm not interested in it at all!"
Min Moyou chuckled and dropped the subject.
Tong felt utterly miserable all over, her scalp tingling as if it were about to explode—though that might have had a tiny bit to do with the fact that she hadn't washed her hair in a few days.
The heat in her body refused to subside, and her heart pounded frantically, completely incapable of calming down.
Tong figured she ought to take a cold shower to cool off.
Only, she hadn't brought a change of clothes—and honestly, putting on clothes she knew were unclean right after a shower would be far more agonizing than simply skipping the shower entirely...
Almost as if possessed by a ghost, she blurted out to Min Moyou:
"Can I use the bathroom here?"
It was out of politeness—yes, this was a room paid for by him, and she was just being polite.
"Go ahead."
Min Moyou nodded slightly, as if what had just transpired hadn't left the slightest trace in either of their minds.
"Then... is anything provided here...? I didn't bring... a change of clothes..."
Tong dropped her head the moment she finished speaking—
*Why did I say that to him?!*
*So humiliating...*
*It's just because he looks like he frequently stays in Dragon King Suites and knows the ropes, so I asked him, right?*
*It has to be!*
"If you aren't using your eyes, you might as well donate them."
The cold, sharp-tongued demeanor of an overbearing CEO must not be forgotten; if he played the nice guy every day, what would happen to his character immersion?
"Aren't there bathrobes right over there?"
"No... I mean..."
Tong felt herself practically cracking in half—*Walk around in front of you wearing nothing but a bathrobe?*
*What am I to you?*
"I meant... undergarments..."
"Oh. Then just call the front desk and have them buy a set to be delivered."
"Don't underestimate the services of a Dragon King Suite."
"The front desk number is printed on that plaque right next to you."
Min Moyou pointed toward a storage cabinet near the corner where Tong was standing, atop of which sat a pure gold nameplate used for contacting the front desk.
How did Min Moyou know?
My dear, what do you think Min Moyou was doing while Tong was exploring this room?
He was reading the *Dragon King Suite Detailed Service Guidelines*.
The service content was comprehensive; one could say that staying in this hotel made one feel like an actual Dragon King.
It's just that the economic development in Zhongpu District is rather poor and few people live there, which is why the housing price adjusted to the market is a mere 999 Jiufang Coins an hour. If this were in the highly developed tourist city of Qinmin District, 9,999 probably wouldn't even be enough for an hour.
After listening to Min Moyou's explanation, Tong nodded, picked up the landline phone placed on the small cabinet, and dialed the front desk.
"Hello, excuse me, could you help me buy a set of women's underwear and send it up? The size is..."
The person answering the phone was none other than the front desk receptionist who had been on the receiving end of Min Moyou's wild spending spree.
However, having just weathered a fierce, tempestuous verbal sparring match with Yubing, she wasn't in a very good mood right now...
Therefore, without even checking the room number calling the front desk, the receptionist closed her eyes and replied bluntly:
"I'm sorry, madam, but since I am the only staff member on duty at the front desk of Kowloon Residence tonight, it's inconvenient for me to leave. Could I trouble you to come down and buy them yourself? We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."
She phrased it politely, but the subtext was essentially: Don't you have hands and feet? Why can't you go buy them yourself?
Tong was stunned. Pointing at the phone, she looked at Min Moyou with crystal-clear, innocent eyes and said with utter bewilderment:
"She said no."
Her subtext was: You aren't lying to me, are you?
Charmed by Tong's cuteness, Min Moyou waved a hand and told her to hang up the phone.
"Let me handle it."
Min Moyou pulled out his phone and dialed the personal number the receptionist had given him earlier—public phones not working? Time for a private chat then.
The call was connected almost immediately, and a sultry, ingratiating female voice came through the receiver:
"Sir, it is my absolute honor that you called me. Do you require any services? Please give me five minutes to tidy up my appearance, and I'll be right up to serve you!"
As a Dragon Descendant, Tong's hearing was far beyond that of ordinary people, and the enthusiastic voice on the phone made it hard for her to believe it was the same person who had answered before.
She curled her lip and scoffed mentally—so this is what being rich gets you?
"No services needed."
Min Moyou answered calmly, though his restless heart had almost made him say yes.
"Ah... Very well, sir. Then... do you require any props? I can have them brought right up to you!"
The voice on the other end was visibly disappointed, yet its enthusiasm remained undiminished.
"Send up a set of women's undergarments."
Min Moyou said composedly, feeling not a shred of embarrassment over the sensitive vocabulary.
"Er... Understood, sir! It is my honor to be of service! May I ask what size you need?"
The receptionist sitting at the front desk thought... she never expected that she, too, would end up being part of their little game.
Hearing this question, Min Moyou raised his eyes to look at Tong—he had no doubt whether Tong could hear; at this short distance, she was a Dragon Descendant after all.
Tong felt as though she had never suffered a complete breakdown of her defenses so many times in her entire life. How could being with him result in...
Her face flushed bright red—how could this man just say things like that?! Are those the kinds of words you just blurt out?
"Sir? Are you still there? Will any size do? Do you prefer them worn or brand new?"
The receptionist on the other end of the line was already blurting out bizarre things in her eagerness.
Min Moyou encouraged Tong with a look, making a motion to place his thumb over the hang-up button, implying: If you don't speak up, I'm going to hang up, you know?
This is a disaster!
Tong felt her body acting even stranger...
Watching Min Moyou's finger inch closer and closer to the end-call button, Tong finally relented through her inner struggle...
"The top... is probably a D..."
"The bottom... free size, I guess? Never really measured... Hehe..."