Chapter 31 Tang Hui Realizes the Pavilion Has Become Too Popular

The problems began the morning after the Lantern Reflection Festival.

Specifically, the line.

Tang Hui arrived at the outer market expecting mild chaos and perhaps several lingering emotional disputes from the previous evening.

Instead, she found over thirty disciples waiting outside her pavilion before sunrise.

She stopped walking.

Then slowly looked up at the sky.

The sun itself had barely appeared yet.

“…No.”

One of the waiting disciples brightened immediately upon seeing her.

“Senior Sister Tang is here!”

The entire line straightened instantly.

Tang Hui considered turning around and fleeing Qingyun Sect permanently.

Old Chen, already arranging artifacts beside his stall, looked deeply entertained by her suffering.

“You’ve become important.”

“I’ve become trapped.”

The disciples hurried forward before Tang Hui could continue protesting.

“Senior Sister, please help me understand why someone suddenly stopped replying to my communication talismans.”

“Senior Sister Tang, how do I apologize after accidentally insulting someone’s sword technique during flirting?”

“Senior Sister, is it possible for two people to misunderstand each other for three years straight?”

Tang Hui stared blankly at them.

“…How are any of you surviving cultivation?”

The line remained fully serious.

Terrifying.

Tang Hui finally sighed and unlocked the pavilion doors.

Apparently this was her life now.

The expanded pavilion interior remained decorated from the festival night before. Lantern tassels still hung along the ceiling beams while flower arrangements lined the consultation tables. Morning sunlight filtered softly through the paper windows, illuminating stacks of consultation slips already waiting on her desk.

At some point, her crooked matchmaking stall had transformed into an actual establishment.

A successful establishment.

The realization still felt slightly unreal.

Tang Hui moved behind the main consultation table while disciples filed inside with frightening organization.

“New rule,” she announced immediately. “No crying before breakfast.”

Several people looked personally attacked.

Correct.

The first disciple approached nervously carrying communication talismans in both hands.

Tang Hui gestured for him to sit.

“All right. Explain.”

The disciple lowered his voice anxiously.

“Senior Sister Lan stopped responding after I told her she resembled moonlight on snow.”

Tang Hui blinked once.

“…And?”

“I thought it sounded poetic.”

“It does.”

The disciple looked hopeful immediately.

Tang Hui continued mercilessly:

“But women generally prefer compliments containing actual personality traits.”

The hope vanished from his face.

Tang Hui leaned back calmly.

“You compared her to frozen weather.”

Several nearby disciples started coughing violently to hide laughter.

The unfortunate disciple looked devastated.

“I didn’t mean it negatively!”

“I know.”

Tang Hui softened slightly.

Honestly, the compliment itself was not terrible.

Just impersonal.

Like admiring scenery instead of the person.

“Did Senior Sister Lan respond at all?”

The disciple hesitated.

“She asked whether I even knew her favorite color.”

Ah.

There it was.

Tang Hui nodded slowly.

“She’s upset because your compliment sounded distant.”

“…Distant?”

“You described how she looked instead of who she is.”

The disciple froze.

Several disciples in the waiting area also became suspiciously thoughtful.

Good.

Educational environment again.

Tang Hui pointed toward the communication talismans.

“Send her an apology. Then mention something specific she genuinely likes.”

The disciple looked overwhelmed. “Like what?”

Tang Hui stared at him.

“You’re the one pursuing her.”

“…Right.”

Honestly hopeless.

Still, he left looking more enlightened than before.

Progress.

The consultations continued steadily after that.

Some problems were complicated.

Most were not.

One disciple feared rejection so intensely that he accidentally behaved coldly toward the girl he liked.

Another spent six months believing a boy hated her when he was actually just painfully shy.

Two separate sword cultivators asked whether emotional instability could affect cultivation focus.

Tang Hui answered yes immediately.

Because obviously.

By midday, the pavilion had become loud enough that disciples gathered outside simply to listen again.

At this point Tang Hui accepted that privacy no longer existed.

Lin Qingyue arrived shortly after noon carrying lunch containers from the medicine hall kitchens.

“You forgot to eat again,” she said gently.

Tang Hui looked genuinely grateful this time instead of suspicious.

Growth.

“Marry Gu Beichen quickly,” she declared while accepting the food. “You’re too considerate to remain unclaimed.”

Lin Qingyue nearly dropped the tea tray.

Several nearby disciples gasped dramatically.

Tang Hui ignored everyone.

Lin Qingyue’s face turned bright red almost instantly. “Junior Sister Tang—”

“Correct statement,” Gu Beichen interrupted calmly from the doorway.

The pavilion fell completely silent.

Tang Hui slowly turned toward him.

He stood near the entrance holding several newly purchased lantern decorations with absolute seriousness.

As though publicly agreeing to marriage suggestions was normal conversation.

The surrounding disciples looked one breath away from emotional collapse.

Lin Qingyue herself seemed equally close.

“Senior Brother Gu!” she whispered in horror.

Gu Beichen frowned slightly. “Did I answer incorrectly?”

Tang Hui physically covered her mouth to stop laughing.

Because unfortunately—

he sounded genuinely concerned about the accuracy of his response.

The pavilion erupted into chaos immediately afterward.

“HE AGREED?!”

“Did Senior Brother Gu just confirm marriage intentions publicly?”

“This pavilion really controls fate!”

Tang Hui pointed at the screaming disciples.

“No one say that sentence ever again.”

Too late.

The rumors were absolutely spreading already.

Lin Qingyue looked ready to flee the sect entirely while Gu Beichen remained beside her with complete calm, apparently unaware he had just caused catastrophic gossip damage.

Tang Hui shook her head slowly.

Amazing.

Truly amazing.

Three weeks ago this man struggled to maintain basic conversations.

Now he accidentally proposed marriage in public.

Character development moved frighteningly fast under pressure.

Before Tang Hui could continue teasing them, another familiar figure appeared near the pavilion entrance.

Qin Yue.

The pavilion quieted automatically.

Not out of fear exactly.

More like instinctive respect.

Tang Hui noticed something else immediately afterward though—

Luo Ming appeared behind her approximately five seconds later carrying tea again.

Ah.

There it was.

Tang Hui narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.

Professional observation only.

Absolutely nothing else.

Qin Yue glanced briefly toward the crowded pavilion interior before looking at Tang Hui.

“You’re becoming impossible to schedule meetings with.”

Tang Hui stared at the packed consultation lines surrounding her.

“…I’m aware.”

Luo Ming smiled faintly beside Qin Yue.

“The sect may need to classify this place officially soon.”

Tang Hui nearly choked on her tea.

“No.”

Neither of them looked convinced.