Turns Out I'm the Real Monster?!

"L-Let’s wait until all the food is served... L-Let’s drink first..."

Lan Rou’er was so nervous her hands were shaking. She stood up to pour wine for the three of them.

But her hand trembled, spilling wine all over the table.

Zhang Daxie couldn’t bear to watch any longer. He took the wine pot from her. "Miss Lan, allow me."

"Th-Thank you..."

Lan Rou’er sat back down, so nervous she didn’t know what to do with her hands. She fidgeted with the hem of her clothes for a moment, then fiddled with her cup.

’This girl is a textbook case of social anxiety.’

’Even worse than Ah Qing.’

Jiang Mu sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. To break the awkward silence, he decided to start a conversation:

"By the way, what’s with your cousin, Han Yushu? How come I haven’t seen him trailing after Lingzhu lately? What happened? Did he decide his goddess was too high and mighty for him and give up?"

"Lingzhu thought he was being a nuisance... so she gave him something that’s kept him home with diarrhea for the last few days."

Lan Rou’er said quietly.

Jiang Mu: "..."

’See!’

’This is why you should never marry a doctor!’

’If you ever got into an argument, you’d never know what she might slip into your food.’

Lan Rou’er added:

"Actually, my aunt mentioned you the other day, Lord Jiang. She said she was planning to come by with a gift to thank you, but... I think something came up."

’Her aunt?’

’Madam Han?’

The image of that still-graceful yet aggressively seductive woman flashed in Jiang Mu’s mind, and a headache instantly began to throb.

’How useless must her husband be to not even be able to control his own wife.’

Jiang Mu also suddenly realized—why was every young married woman he’d met recently acting like she was in heat?

A thought struck him, and he asked casually,

"Does your aunt go out often?"

Lan Rou’er shook her head gently. "No, she doesn’t. My aunt is a quiet person. She almost always stays home and rarely goes out."

"Does she have any regular visitors at home, then?"

"I haven’t seen any particular guests, either."

’Hm?’

’That’s strange.’

’Logically, Madam Han’s behavior was quite similar to Madam Shen’s.’

’Since they’re both the unfaithful type, it makes no sense that she would only throw herself at me.’

’Could it be...’

’Has she unlocked a special mode just for Xiaojiang?’

"Have you ever... I mean, when your uncle isn’t home, have you ever overheard any... noises from your aunt’s room at night?"

Jiang Mu pressed, unwilling to let it go.

Zhang Daxie and his brother, who were seated nearby, exchanged a strange look.

’What’s gotten into our Hall Master?’

’Why is he so interested in someone else’s wife?’

’And asking such... intimate questions?’

’Then again, remembering their Hall Master’s well-known dalliances from the past...’

The two of them silently lowered their heads and took a drink, pretending they hadn’t heard a thing.

Lan Rou’er looked bewildered. She blushed and shook her head. "No, my rooms are far from my aunt’s courtyard. I’ve never heard anything."

She thought for a moment, then added suddenly,

"But... a few months ago, right before the mist demon invasion, my aunt and uncle used to argue a lot.

After one fight, my uncle stormed out and was gone for several days.

My aunt was home by herself during that time.

One night, I had to get up, and as I passed my aunt’s courtyard, I happened to see a light was still on in her room. Judging by the shadow on the window screen, it looked like she was... bricklaying?"

"Bricklaying?" Jiang Mu frowned.

"Yes."

Lan Rou’er nodded. "The movements looked just like someone carrying bricks and building a wall. When I asked my aunt about it the next day out of curiosity, she said she was just organizing her wardrobe and airing out her clothes.

Then my uncle came back, and for some reason, they made up. They haven’t argued since."

’Bricklaying? Airing clothes?’

Jiang Mu was lost in thought.

Truth be told, he had always been wary of Madam Han.

And not just because of her unwelcome physical advances.

It was more because of the indescribable sense of wrongness about her.

Madam Shen had been forward as well, but her forwardness was based on a transactional exchange of benefits and a release of desire. It was genuine.

But Madam Han’s forwardness felt like a painted-on facade, tinged with a sense of falsehood and calculation.

After a little while, the dishes began to arrive.

Jiang Mu pushed his questions to the back of his mind and didn’t press the matter further.

They ate and chatted, and after a few rounds of drinks, the atmosphere warmed up considerably.

It was only then that Lan Rou’er finally mustered her courage and said, slowly,

"Lord Jiang, I’d like... I’d like to pay to hire you to slay a demon. Is that... possible?"

"Pay to hire us?"

Jiang Mu was taken aback. "Didn’t I already tell you? Slaying demons is our duty. As long as it’s within our jurisdiction, we are honor-bound to act. There’s no need to pay for it."

Lan Rou’er said meekly, "But... the place is quite far. It’s not within Hu State’s jurisdiction."

At that, Zhang Daxie coughed lightly and leaned in to whisper,

"Lord, this is what we call ’private work.’ When a Demon is causing trouble in some remote area or outside our jurisdiction, if the client is willing to pay a high price, the brothers will sometimes take the job on the side."

’So it’s basically moonlighting.’

It dawned on Jiang Mu.

He recalled Xu Fu mentioning it once.

Although Demon Slayer Envoys were on the imperial payroll, cultivation was a bottomless pit for money.

There was an old saying: ’Scholarship is for the poor, martial arts for the rich.’ And immortal cultivation burned even more money.

The Body Tempering Stage was one thing, but after attaining a Star Position, Pills, Talismans, Cultivation Techniques, weapons... wasn’t every single one of those exorbitantly priced?

’No money?’

’How are you supposed to cultivate without money!’

Just relying on that meager salary, forget about breakthroughs—it was barely enough for daily cultivation.

That’s why many Demon Slayer Envoys took on private jobs.

He’d heard that Yan Fenghuo once took on a huge job for a hundred thousand silver taels, helping a rich merchant travel out of town to slay a Great Demon that was desecrating his ancestral tomb.

And for a Hall Master like Jiang Mu, the appearance fee would start at ten thousand taels, at a minimum.

Especially with his recent surge in popularity.

This was probably why Lan Rou’er had asked Chu Lingzhu to seek him out.