Chapter Twenty-Nine: Mud That Will Not Wash Off

The moment Li Xiuning uttered those words, every woman in the room fixed their gaze upon Chen Xuan.

Xu Ruolan spoke up immediately, "The First Lady is right, Husband. You must have been up to something unspeakable. Based on my years of experience with men, I know that a man only fears answering the mistress of the house directly when he has been straying and feels guilty toward the women at home!"

In an instant, the expressions of all the women turned hostile.

Straying?

That meant this fellow had taken advantage of the time they were asleep to go out seeking pleasure in the red-light districts.

"Husband, you truly are a busy man. Yesterday, you were busy traveling all day and killing bandits all night, yet you still found time today to go gallivanting? You have a body of iron, aren't you afraid of breaking down?"

One of the concubines, Su Qingcheng, spoke with a tone dripping with sarcasm. Like Lu Qiqi, she was a woman from the Jiangnan region—beautiful, with delicate features and skin as smooth as congealed fat.

Chen Xuan felt a flush of embarrassment. What kind of nonsense was this?

"Don't talk nonsense. I am not that kind of man," he hurriedly tried to defend himself.

"Bah! You aren't that kind of man? Look at yourself! You have one wife and six concubines at home; isn't that enough for your marriage bed? You had to go out and look for more? You shameless lecher!"

Yang Ying'er’s voice rang out in indignation. Her brows were furrowed in anger, and she couldn't look at Chen Xuan without feeling pure annoyance. The other women wore expressions of judgment as well. An Ruxue, in particular, looked at him with utter disgust.

[Ding!]
[Yang Ying'er favorability -10, current: 26]
[Li Xiuning favorability -10, current: -2]
[Lu Qiqi favorability -10, current: -3]
[An Ruxue favorability -40, current: -25]
[Su Qingcheng...]
[System Alert: If the favorability of any individual reaches -100, the system will impose severe punishment on the host.]
[If favorability reaches -200, the system will deem the host unqualified and terminate the host.]

A cold, mechanical voice echoed in his mind. Chen Xuan was left dumbfounded. When favorability dropped too low, the system actually intended to terminate him? Was this indirectly implying that he would end up dying at the hands of these women?

Chen Xuan felt like crying but had no tears. He had jumped into the Yellow River and couldn't wash himself clean; he hadn't strayed at all! This was a colossal misunderstanding. It was clear that women took the idea of a man straying very seriously. In the blink of an eye, aside from Yang Ying'er, whose favorability remained positive, everyone else’s had plummeted into the negative!

An Ruxue, in particular, saw her favorability levels fluctuating wildly—she was the most dangerous one of them all! Chen Xuan looked toward her, thinking he needed to appease her first.

"Why are you looking at me? There are so many women in this house, isn't that enough for you to toy with? You had to go outside and find those dirty ones. It’s sickening!" An Ruxue sneered, her face filled with mockery.

"Husband, if you were truly so desperate, why didn't you come to me? I told you long ago that I am top-tier in the bedroom and could certainly satisfy you. Besides, my body is clean—far better than those gaudy, cheap sluts outside. Oh, Husband, you are so foolish!" Xu Ruolan looked at Chen Xuan with a mix of grievance and resentment, as if she were a woman cast into the cold palace while he ignored her charms.

"Hmph, home-grown flowers never smell as sweet as wild ones. To a man, as long as he hasn't tasted it before, even the excrement outside smells like perfume!" An Ruxue continued to taunt him.

"But he hasn't even touched us yet," Xu Ruolan couldn't help but add. "He’d rather touch those dirty women outside than us clean ones. Is it because we aren't doing enough?"

An Ruxue was left speechless. She shot a deep glance at Xu Ruolan, realizing the woman was deliberately trying to curry favor with Chen Xuan. She was a total social climber, saying whatever needed to be said to whoever she was speaking to. Just moments ago, she was clamoring for a divorce and a split of the assets, yet now, instead of blaming Chen Xuan for straying, she was blaming herself. Such a woman was a total "green tea"—how could a man not pamper her?

"Enough! Are you all convinced I went to a brothel?" Chen Xuan felt he needed to explain immediately. If he didn't, the label of a womanizer would be stuck on him for good.

"What? You want to defend yourself?" Yang Ying'er glared at him.

Just as Chen Xuan was about to speak, Xu Ruolan cut him off. "Oh, Husband, you don't need to explain. I know men best—explanation is just a cover-up, and a cover-up is just the truth."

Chen Xuan: "..."

Yang Ying'er immediately covered her nose, acting as if she smelled something foul. "Stinking man, stay away from me! I can smell the lingering scent of that vixen on you!"

Lu Qiqi added fuel to the fire, "I’ve heard that those promiscuous women carry filthy diseases—venereal diseases. Those things are contagious." She shot a pointed look at Chen Xuan.

The other women immediately backed away as if he were a plague carrier, some retreating all the way to the corners, desperate to keep as much distance as possible.

Li Xiuning said coldly, "Stay away from us in the future. Don't infect us with your filth!"

Chen Xuan felt more wronged than Dou E. These women had such wild imaginations; they had already jumped to the conclusion that he had a venereal disease and wouldn't even let him near them. He even saw Lu Qiqi and the others covering their noses with handkerchiefs, as if his mere presence in the room had polluted the air.

Chen Xuan's face darkened. "I will emphasize this one last time: I did not go to a brothel!"

"So you went to a flop house then? That's even worse than a brothel. At least some women in brothels are clean and only sell their art, not their bodies. The women in those dens are all common meat-peddlers," Xu Ruolan explained knowledgeably. She herself had been the type who only sold her art back in the day.

Hearing this, the women became even more guarded. Chen Xuan felt that the more he explained, the deeper he sank. He let his arms drop, his breath deflating, and said powerlessly, "Fine. I'll tell you exactly where I went."

...

Capital City.

"What? Golden Peak Stronghold was wiped out by that good-for-nothing Chen Xuan? How is that possible?!"

Inside the Sima residence, Sima Xiba received the report from his subordinate while holding a letter delivered by carrier pigeon from the Flowing Peak Stronghold. He stood up instantly, his face twisted in fury.

Clenching his fists, he roared with rage, "The intelligence is wrong! This intelligence is absolutely wrong!"