Don't be afraid, fairy, I'm blind

Chapter 475: Pretty Amazing
Three days passed in a blink of an eye.

In the dim morning light, a faint fragrance wafted through Ji Lingruo's courtyard.

You Su stood in front of the mirror and Ji Lingruo straightened his clothes.

Looking at himself in the mirror, dressed neatly, You Su felt that he was quite pretty. Looking at his junior sister in the mirror again, the sadness between her brows had dissipated, and her originally childish face could also show some mature charm. He couldn't help but chuckle:
"My junior sister and I are a perfect match, made in heaven."

Ji Lingruo rolled her eyes prettily, "You shameless bastard! If you didn't look like a decent person, I wouldn't have joined your lousy sect."

You Su loosened his overly formal collar and said with a smile, "If Junior Sister hadn't claimed to be the most beautiful girl in the world, I wouldn't have accepted her as my wife."

Ji Lingruo was so angry when she heard that that she kicked You Su on the calf. The morning light shone through the carved window lattices, and she vaguely felt that days like this were her favorite days.

"You really won't let me go?" She said softly, with a hint of reluctance in her voice, "I'll just stand by and not say a word."

You Su turned around and saw her puffing up her face. The corners of his lips couldn't help but rise: "You can't go there without saying anything. You are the second daughter of the snake clan. If you just stand there, how can those elders dare to breathe?"

"Isn't that perfect? ​​This is the effect I want. If some elders really want to make things difficult for you, they won't dare to do so for my sake." Ji Lingruo slapped You Su's hand that was about to pinch her face, and she was unusually serious.

After all, You Su was in her home. How could she bear to see You Su being bullied in her home?
You Su smiled and shook his head, "Junior sister's elbow can bend outward, senior brother is very pleased."

"Whose elbow is outward?!" Ji Lingruo said angrily, "It's because I know you won't harm the snake tribe, otherwise I wouldn't care about you and would have kicked you out long ago."

You Su only felt that Junior Sister was very cute, and straightened his clothes again, sighing:

"I know Junior Sister wants to help me, but this opportunity is of great significance to me. If Junior Sister comes forward to help, it will change the meaning."

After he had completely dressed himself, he placed his hands on the girl's shoulders:

"My main concern in renovating the ice room is to live up to your sister's trust. I want to prove to her that I have the ability to help her. Secondly, I also want to prove to the snake tribe that I, You Su, can bring benefits to the snake tribe instead of just trouble. I am still very useful as a son-in-law. Finally, I simply want to do something for the snake tribe so that you and your sisters can have a cool summer. This is why I didn't ask you to help in the ice room once in the past three days. I have to prepare this first dowry myself."

Ji Lingruo looked up at the determined young man and suddenly smiled, "Whose son-in-law needs to prepare a dowry?"

You Su suddenly twisted his mouth and said, "Even if he is a son-in-law, he can't be looked down upon by others, right? When people say that the second young lady is really capable, she actually brought back a rich son-in-law for the snake clan, how proud will that be, Junior Sister?"

Ji Lingruo chuckled, "A rich son-in-law? I'm just afraid that I'm inviting a wolf into the house."

"It's too late for Junior Sister to make amends after the sheep have been lost."

Ji Lingruo's eyes widened when she heard that, and she immediately gave You Su a slap: "You really have an idea?! I warn you, don't hook up with other sisters!"

You Su smiled bitterly and kissed the girl on the forehead:
"What are you thinking, Junior Sister? I'm not the type to actively flirt with others. Once the Snake Tribe accepts me, I will hide in this room every day and practice hard with Junior Sister day after day."

Ji Lingruo blushed when she heard that. She couldn't stand the torture of being gossiped about by the sisters in the clan if she kept You Su locked in the room.

"If you just stay in this room, what will happen to your sister?"

You Su thought, isn't this easy? But he certainly doesn't have the courage to speak out the plan now.

"Forget it, forget it. Let's go. If you're late, you might get the cold shoulder from the elders." Ji Lingruo pushed the boy's back and pushed him out of the room. "If you get bullied, just let Xiao Ling come to find me quietly. Don't act so powerful."

You Su waved helplessly, but in his heart he felt that his junior sister was becoming more and more like a good wife and mother:

"I'll bring you some ice cream when I come back!"

You Su walked along the corridor with a smile, but when the gate creaked open, his face was startled.

The morning light climbed up the red plum blossoms on the eaves, and Hong Xiao led the twelve beautiful snake girls to stand on the bluestone road. They took off the light cloth they had worn in the past few days and put on slightly more solemn plain gauze skirts.

The sunlight fell on their shoulders, making the faint scales under their skin look like broken diamonds, and his figure was reflected in their eyes, brighter than starlight.

"You guys... have been waiting for me?"

Hong Xiao took a half step forward, her voice trembling slightly, "We...we want to go with you."

Xiao Ling hid behind Hong Xiao. When she saw him looking at her, she hurriedly handed over the cake in her hand:

"M-breakfast."

You Su took it with a smile and said softly, "Thank you, Xiao Ling."

He swept his eyes across each of the nervous but determined pretty faces, and said softly:

"Then let's go together. I'm an outsider and I'm not good at talking. If I have any difficulties later, you have to help me."

Hong Xiao smiled, and the silver bells on her body rang softly: "Master You, you are joking. In the past three days, you have taught us how to chisel bricks, divert water, and build vines. You even made us laugh. Which of your words was not clear?"

The snake girls behind him also agreed with what she said. Hong Xiao suddenly became serious and stroked the silver ornament with snake scales on her chest with her fingertips. "If it succeeds today, the snake tribe will have another way to not have to rely on others. If it doesn't work..."

"No way." You Su interrupted her and took the lead, "Let's go."

Amid the sound of cicadas chirping, a group of snake girls followed behind him.

Ji Lingruo quietly retracted her peeking head and knitted her pretty eyebrows. For some reason, she felt more and more like she was inviting a wolf into the house.

……

When You Su led the twelve snake girls around the blue brick path, many snake girls had already gathered on the blue stone road to watch the fun.

They were leaning against the vermilion lacquered pillars in twos and threes, their gauze skirts lifted up by the hot wind, the silver bells on their wrists rang as they whispered to each other, and their eyes were as piercing as needles at You Su and his group.

"Did you see that? It's this man who caused us to not get any ice for three days. We're almost getting prickly heat." On the left corridor, a snake girl with golden scales behind her ears covered her lips with a round fan and glanced at You Su. "Sister Hong Xiao is so confused. She actually believed in the evil ways of the human race. Did she really think that piling up a few broken bricks could freeze the heat from the volcano?"

"Hush..." Her companion tugged at her sleeve, but couldn't stop those words from pouring like hot oil into boiling water. "I heard that the elders slammed the table in the meeting hall last night, saying that the clan leader condoned outsiders to make trouble. If the ice room is destroyed, Hongxiao and the others will probably have to kneel under the scorching sun for three days."

Hongxiao paused and her fingertips unconsciously tightened the tassel of the silver bell around her waist.

In the past three days, similar discussions followed her everywhere, from the ice house construction site to the clan market, and every word was like a thorny vine, repeatedly scratching her already tense nerves. Xiao Ling grasped the corner of her clothes, her apricot eyes sparkling with water, but she heard Hong Xiao suddenly chuckle, her voice like breaking ice and hitting jade:

"Believe in Master You, and believe in yourself."

The golden-scaled snake girl who had spoken earlier sighed when she heard this, and suddenly leaned close to Hong Xiao and whispered in her ear: "Sister Hong Xiao, please stop being stubborn. Everyone just doesn't like this outsider, but they all feel sorry for you and don't want to see you get punished. You might as well just ignore this outsider. You know what everyone says about him..."

Hong Xiao frowned upon hearing this, but could not say anything harsh. The sisters of the snake clan shared weal and woe, and although there were occasional frictions within the clan, their feelings for each other were extremely deep. Hong Xiao naturally knew that their original intention was for her good, but she would never do what they said.

"Xiao Jin, I know what's going on. Young Master You is a man of real ability. You will know if you follow him and watch."

Xiao Jin was so angry that he glared at You Su's back, "Sister Hong Xiao, are you infatuated with that boy's good looks? The thousands of years of freezing formation of our snake clan is useless, and he is just a young human—"

"Enough. He is a distinguished guest of the snake clan, Xiao Jin, you must not be rude!" Hong Xiao scolded Xiao Jin patiently, then ignored her and hurriedly followed You Su's steps.

The snake girls who were left to watch the fun looked at each other in bewilderment, wondering how these sisters could have been so bewitched.

The group was walking along amidst the discussions. You Su heard them all clearly, but he turned a deaf ear to them and didn't take them to heart at all.

These snake women were not bad by nature, and it was only natural for them to reject him, an outsider with the title of evil demon. In addition, because the ice room was being renovated for three days, the snake tribe had no ice for three days. The weather was so hot and unbearable, and they were uncomfortable with the heat, so they naturally needed to find an outlet to vent their boredom. As the "culprit", he naturally became the target of the fire. So this was why he didn't want his junior sister to go with him. He didn't want to silence these snake women because his junior sister was using her power to pressure them, but to rely on himself to make them really change their minds.

When you turn the last moon-shaped door, the green tile roof of the ice room comes into view.

Ji Xueruo was wearing a black dress with wide sleeves, standing under the camphor tree in front of the ice room. Although she was young, her noble temperament made her stand out among the group of beautiful snake women at a glance, as if the clusters of flowers were just her foil.

Those who could stand beside her were naturally several elders of the snake clan. There were a total of 108 snake women in the snake clan, including seven elders, and at this moment, all of them were present just for a mere ice room.

The figures of these seven elders were taller and more voluptuous than the younger snake girls, and they all showed mature charm, but each of them was beautiful in its own way. Although the younger snake girls were also beautiful in their own way, these elders were more like jars of aged wine that had been brewed to a mellow flavor, and were so beautiful that they were dazzling.

The way they looked at You Su was also intriguing. The elder in the pink dress had a hint of surprise in her eyes and raised the corners of her lips, as if she was moved by the boy's clear eyes; the elder with red lips had a moving look in her eyes, just examining him coldly, as if she wanted to see what he was capable of; the rest of the elders had their brows furrowed, with a sense of alienation in their eyes, and their pupils were tense, as if they were alert to some danger.

You Su could feel the weight of these gazes, but he walked steadily with a faint smile on his lips.

"You Su greets the clan leader." He greeted him obediently.

Ji Xueruo pursed her lips secretly, but still acted like a clan leader: "Mr. You is a distinguished guest, but he has given me advice on the transformation of the ice room of my snake clan, and even put it into practice. Thank you for your hard work."

Seeing that the clan leader was so polite to him, several elders all looked a little cold.

"When you live under someone else's roof, you should put in some effort. Chief, you are too kind." You Su still smiled.

"The ice room is very important to the snake tribe. If Master You can really repair it, such an achievement would certainly not be overstated by saying thank you for your hard work. But the three-day deadline has come. Master You, do you have the confidence to let us see it?"

Ji Xueruo hid the hesitation in her eyes very well. If You Su didn't have confidence, she was ready to withstand the pressure and buy him a few more days.

She had sent people to check secretly over the past three days, but they could only see the renovations outside the ice room and had no idea whether the ice room had really been restored to its original function.

Because You Su ordered that no one except the workers could enter the ice room, and it was strictly guarded, and no news was leaked. She didn't dare to let anyone in rashly for fear of ruining You Su's plan, and even because of this rule, she annoyed an elder who wanted to check the progress, but she finally persuaded him to stay in private.

So in the final analysis, she has no confidence.

But there was one thing she could be sure of, that was You Su had definitely put a lot of effort into this matter. Because in the past three days, she had not felt any stimulation from the connected divine sense, and You Su had not come to look for her once, either openly or secretly.

And this is why she is willing to give You Su a few more days as long as You Su responds to her hint.

After all, she was well aware of You Su's predicament. Since he had tried so hard, she naturally didn't want to see his efforts go to waste.

"Of course I have confidence. I'll trouble the clan leader and the elders to check it out."

You Su stood up with his fists clasped, and his determined gaze met Ji Xueruo's for a moment. Immediately, he pressed his palm on the knocker of the ice room, and a thin layer of frost formed on the bronze surface.

Hongxiao and others held their breath and stepped back upon seeing this. Xiaoling clutched the hem of her skirt so tightly that her nails almost dug into her palms.

Some of the snake girls who were watching the fun were curious, some were suspicious, some were secretly complaining, and several elders also frowned, with different thoughts in their minds.

The moment the wooden door was pushed open with a bang, everyone's breathing held and a biting cold air hit them in the face.

The younger snake girl couldn't help but tremble her eyelashes - what she saw was three-foot square ice bricks neatly stacked to half a person's height, and the white frost condensed on the surface glowed with a cold fluorescence in the darkness, and was three times more transparent than when the freezing formation was at its peak in the past.

The twelve ice walls were built like colored glaze. Each hollow brick of volcanic rock fit perfectly. The quartz sand filling the gaps glowed faintly and actually condensed into tiny ice crystals in the hot and humid air.

"This, this cold air..." a snake girl exclaimed softly, and even the snake girls outside the door who did not squeeze in shivered due to the cold wind.

Hong Xiao seemed very satisfied with everyone's reaction. She walked to the front with a smile on her face. She spread out a jade slip in her hand and said, "Reporting to the clan leader, there were 151 pieces of ice in the ice room three days ago. Eight pieces were melted on the first day of the renovation, and five pieces were melted on the second day..."

"Wait!" An elder in silver gauze stopped Hong Xiao's report, frowned at the silent You Su, and said coldly, "Eight blocks of ice melted in one day. This is more serious than the broken freezing formation. Do you know that each of these blocks of ice is hard-earned!"

You Su still smiled but said nothing. Hong Xiao glanced at the elders whose faces changed slightly, and then stood up and answered in a neither humble nor arrogant manner:
"Sixth Elder, listen to me. The ice room was not completely sealed for the first two days, so the heat seeped in and caused the ice to melt too quickly. But after the wall was sealed at 11:00 on the third day, the ice stopped melting."

"No more reduction?" The Sixth Elder in silver gauze looked around the ice room again, still unconvinced, "Are you really using mortal methods? Or is this freezing formation not broken at all?"

"No!" Xiao Ling suddenly took a half step out from behind Hong Xiao. Her apricot eyes sparkled with nervousness, but she clenched her sleeves tightly, "The Ninghan Formation is really broken. Even one of the formation beads is missing. The Sixth Elder can check it personally."

She turned to the confused snake women at the back and explained, "Master You taught us to chisel hollow bricks out of volcanic rock and fill the middle with quartz sand, just like... just like putting a cotton jacket on the ice room! The heat can't get in, the cold can't dissipate, so the ice naturally melts slowly.

"There are also vines transplanted from outside to block the sunlight, and mica sheets slanted on the roof to refract the morning light to other places. There are many other ways, so that the walls of the ice room will not be hot. It is more powerful than the freezing array!"

The snake girl Xiao Jin had been watching coldly with her arms folded, but now she couldn't help but move closer to the ice brick. As soon as her fingertips touched the frost, she retracted them as if she had been electrocuted. The coolness seeped into her fingertips, and it was even more chilling than the ice produced by the freezing formation in previous years. She couldn't help but exclaimed in amazement, "It's really more powerful than the freezing formation!"

Upon hearing this, all the girls tried it one after another. Although they did not understand everything Xiao Ling said, they all felt very fond of her.

The fact that Xiao Ling mustered up the courage to come out and explain showed that You Su had really done something and was not a fraud.

Looking at the figure of the young man who was smiling but not saying anything at this moment, the girls' eyes also changed quietly.

Ji Xueruo walked to Hong Xiao's side without her knowing, and took the list from her. Her pupils shrank slightly as she looked at the records on the list. Even she couldn't help but ask curiously:

"Why is it that on the third day, the ice cubes not only did not continue to decrease, but increased instead?"

The elders were the first to react. None of them supported the transformation of the ice room led by outsiders, so it was impossible for them to use magic to condense ice and send it to the ice room. But without their ice source, how could the ice room's reserves increase?

You Su put one hand behind his back and finally answered the snake girls' questions in person. When he walked to the wall, the girls realized that even the wall had been made of a different material, with tiny frost flowers condensing on the mirror-like wall.

You Su knocked on the ice wall with his knuckles and explained, "The Snake Tribe has many warm springs, that's because of the sulfur springs on Snake Mountain. I lead the hot air from the springs into the copper pipes, and then condense it through the cold air in the ice room - just like the steam in the boiler meets the cold pot cover and naturally forms water droplets. But here, the hot air is forced into the ice room, and it becomes ice when it meets the cold."

As soon as these words came out, the whole room fell silent.

"So..." The Sixth Elder's voice finally softened a little, "You are using the volcanic heat as a guide and doing the opposite?"

You Su nodded: "Water turns into steam when exposed to the scorching sun, and condenses when it encounters cold. Snake Mountain is a volcano, and the heat is inexhaustible. As long as the amount of ice in the ice room is maintained at a certain level and the amount of heat input is controlled, the ice in the ice room will continue to grow."

Seeing that the Sixth Elder was speechless with surprise, You Su smiled and said to her: "The elders work so hard every day, and it is not easy to take time out to make ice for the snake clan. But with this method, we don't have to bother anyone to use ice in the future."

Hong Xiao suddenly bowed, and the silver bell rang clearly in the cold air: "My fellow elders, Master You was afraid that we wouldn't understand, so he demonstrated it three times yesterday using a teapot and cold dishes."

She glanced at Xiao Jin from the corner of her eye and saw that he was staring at the copper pipe behind the ice wall in a daze. The corners of her lips couldn't help but rise, "He said that there is no difference between mortal magic and immortal magic. Both rely on the power of heaven and earth. It's just that immortal magic relies on Xuan Qi, while he relies on bricks and stones."

The ice room was filled with chill, and the women's breathing seemed to be frozen by the cold air. The idea that mortals' laws were not worthy of being accepted by the upper class was now gradually melting away in this real chill, like a thin layer of snow under the sun.

The expressions of the elders were also changing quietly, and their indifference was gradually replaced by surprise. They began to observe the changes in the ice room more carefully, and even had a faint look of approval in their eyes. At this time, thinking back to the young man's words of sympathy to the elders, they felt that this outsider was more sensible than these little snakes who just enjoyed the fruits of their labor.

Hong Xiao looked at the reactions of the crowd, feeling very proud. She exchanged glances with Xiao Ling and the other twelve snake ladies. At this moment, they were all proud of You Su and their eyes were all shining with excitement.

Ji Xueruo stood aside and quietly looked into the eyes of the spirited young man.

She looked at the neatly stacked ice bricks behind the young man and the girls' reactions, and her heart was filled with emotion.

Looking at You Su's face asking for praise at this moment, she couldn't help but chuckle.

It’s pretty amazing…

(End of this chapter)