“Then what are you?”
At Stella’s persistent questioning, Ark and Esta glanced at each other. Esta nudged Ark’s protruding belly, indicating it was his turn to speak.
Ark stepped forward reluctantly.
“We are the emissaries of the great Earth Goddess, Terra. We are earth fairies!”
Ark patted his round belly as he spoke, and Esta tilted his chin up proudly, both placing their hands on their waists. They were perfectly in sync.
“Earth fairies? Is there such a thing?”
Expecting admiration or awe, the two opened their mouths in disbelief when Stella didn’t react as they expected.
“You’ve never heard of earth fairies?”
“Not at all.”
“Unbelievable. We had to meet such a human!”
Stella couldn’t shake off the feeling that they were treating her like a fool. She regretted accepting the carrot, but it was too late – thinking about it made her mouth water again.
“Human Stella, didn’t your mother ever tell you?”
The unexpected mention of her mother caused Stella’s brows to furrow.
“No. Never.”
“That’s strange. I can feel a strong earth energy from you.”
Esta stroked his chin, looking at Stella with a serious gaze, as if assessing an item for purchase.
“Earth energy?”
“Yes. You can see us, can’t you?”
Stella nodded.
“Ordinary humans can’t see us or hear our voices. But you’re different.”
So far, this was information Stella already knew, so she just listened quietly.
“It means you have the power of Goddess Terra within you. Why would an ordinary human like you have Terra’s power?”
“Esta, that’s not important right now. Hurry up and get to the point!”
Frustrated with Esta’s digressions, Ark shouted impatiently. Remembering the original topic, Esta looked arrogantly at Stella.
“We, the emissaries of Goddess Terra and the earth fairies, have a proposal for you.”
Esta spoke solemnly, lowering his voice.
“What proposal?”
“Oh, actually…”
Ark began to speak, smiling broadly as if Stella looked willing to help, but Esta quickly interrupted him.
“It’s nothing big. Just need to dig up one thing from the ground and get rid of it.”
Stella narrowed her eyes at Esta’s casual remark.
“If it’s no big deal, you guys can do it.”
Stella wanted to help but pretended to stand up, not really feeling the loss if she didn’t.
“Carrots!”
At Esta’s urgent cry, Stella stopped in her tracks. She heard sounds of ‘okay, okay’ from behind but pretended not to notice and turned back.
She could have simply agreed to help, but if they were offering a gift, there was no reason to refuse. Plus, these carrots were incredibly tempting.
However, she couldn’t readily accept the proposal for potentially dangerous work just for some carrots. No matter how cute and kind the earth fairies seemed, that was a separate matter.
The next morning, Stella got up and immediately dressed in her most comfortable clothes to head to the garden.
Fortunately, she had no special schedule, so it seemed possible to take a good look at the garden.
“Where is it?”
Stella slowly scanned the garden, lush with wildflowers, and quickly walked towards something she spotted.
The sound of the overgrown grass brushing against her long dress hem rustled softly. The grass stains on her dress were inevitable.
“Is this it?”
The earth fairies had mentioned it was under a giant stone tower, but no matter how much she looked, there was no giant stone tower in the garden. Then she spotted a small pile of stones, reaching up to her waist.
Just as Stella stretched out her arm to touch the top stone, she heard a warning.
“Be careful!”
After Being Cheated On, She Picked Up a Treasure (Female-dominant)
One-line summary: The husband I married on a whim had been secretly in love with me for a long time.
On the day when Jun Shao finally obtained the imperial decree for her marriage, Lan Qu, the person she had admired for six years, defied the decree and ran away.
Her gentleness and devotion, her promise of a lifetime together, were all disregarded by him. Instead, he dreamed of entering the palace to serve the Emperor’s sister as a sixth-rank attendant.
News of this incident spread throughout the capital, and the alleys in front of and behind the Lan mansion were crowded with people who came to watch the commotion.
Jun Shao should have been embarrassed and angry.
But someone stepped in to protect her dignity.
The figure was in a miserable state, yet still possessed an undeniable elegance and handsomeness.
The young lord struggled to climb the wall of the Lan mansion and shouted to her, “If he won’t marry you, I will!”
So, Jun Shao took advantage of the situation and married the person.
She thought the young lord did it to save the Lan family from the crime of defying the imperial decree, but never imagined that from beginning to end, what he coveted was her.
*
After the wedding, Jun Shao felt like she was living in a dream.
Her Wife-master was as beautiful as a fairy in a painting, skilled in the six arts, well-versed in poetry and literature, capable of being gentle and attentive, and also grand and dignified. Most importantly, she was the only one in his heart and eyes.
Jun Shao didn’t know how Lan Shiwu, as a illegitimate son without a father and blessed with beauty, had managed to preserve his purity, recklessly escape, and use his last ounce of strength to ruin his own reputation, all because of his love for her, just to stand before her.
She could only see him gazing at her with eyes full of love, and when she bestowed a name upon him, his eyes shone like stars.
“You have come to me like a weary bird perching on a branch. I shall call you A Qi.”
