The entire crowd was stunned.
Was there some kind of mistake?!
The onlookers began to whisper amongst themselves, some with sympathy, others with schadenfreude.
Some were even secretly taking pictures to send to news agencies.
Beastman levels ranged from highest to lowest, with S Level being the peak and F Level the bottom.
And in the Interstellar Twelve Cities, the class divide was stark.
The noble females living in the central area of the First District controlled the Empire's most elite resources, and the system would prioritize matching them with High Level male Beastmen.
An F Level Beastman was the lowest of the low. For a noble, being matched with one was a lifetime of humiliation. For a commoner, they wouldn't even have the right to enter the Upper City District.
Jiang Qingli had read the book, so of course she knew what an F Level Beastman signified.
The original owner of her body had paid a high price for a secret simulated matching before the system's official assignment. The result had been three A-Level Beastmen, which was why she'd had her parents use their resources to take Bai Yiyi's engagement.
Jiang Qingli, however, wasn't too concerned about that.
Her top priority now was to survive. It didn't matter if her Beast Husbands were low-level; she could always find more later.
But a casual glance at the list made Jiang Qingli freeze.
Among the names of her five Beast Husbands, she saw a familiar one—Ye Linyuan.
'H-How did he become my Beast Husband?'
'In the book, Ye Linyuan was the major villain who nearly killed the female lead! How could he possibly be F Level?'
'Besides, people from the Underground City are all undocumented. How could he be officially assigned to me?'
'How is this different from the original story?'
"Sister, don't be sad."
Just as Jiang Qingli was pondering this, a hand suddenly grasped hers.
She looked up to see Bai Yiyi's face filled with concern. "I know you preferred Chi Yun and the others. You must be heartbroken right now..."
"Who said I was heartbroken?" Jiang Qingli pulled her hand away and glanced around. "When I look for a Beast Husband, the most important thing is loyalty. A piece of trash that betrays his female master is worse than an F Level Beastman."
At her words, the expressions of Ling Qing and the others changed.
Chi Yun, in particular, couldn't hold back. "Jiang Qingli! What do you mean by that?!"
Jiang Qingli ignored him and leaned closer, whispering in Bai Yiyi's ear, "Yiyi, they betrayed me for you today. Who's to say they won't betray you for someone else tomorrow?"
"A female can only be bonded to a maximum of ten Beast Husbands. Divorcing an S Level is a lot harder than divorcing an F Level. Are you really going to waste your slots on these five traitors?"
Bai Yiyi's head snapped up to look at her.
Jiang Qingli's eyes curved into crescents, but the smile didn't reach them.
'Those five Beast Husbands got her thrown into the Underground City, and the very next day they were marrying Bai Yiyi. It's impossible that it wasn't planned.'
Jiang Qingli figured that since she was already the villainess, it wasn't out of line to say a few words to stir up trouble, right?
'In any case, those five Beast Husbands couldn't hurt her anymore.'
After saying her piece, without waiting for Bai Yiyi's reaction, Jiang Qingli straightened up and walked away with a jaunty spring in her step, showing no sign of sadness or frustration.
Hearing this, the surrounding crowd's gossiping gazes fell upon Bai Yiyi and her group.
"What did Jiang Qingli mean by that just now? Did those five get together with Bai Yiyi behind her back?"
"Isn't that cheating? Even if they weren't married yet, that's still disgusting."
"I heard Bai Yiyi only gave her Beast Husbands to Jiang Qingli in exchange for the vice president position in the Imperial Royal Academy's student council... Don't tell me she's secretly gotten back together with all five of them?"
"She gave up the vice president position? That's a huge price to pay! If those five hadn't done something unforgivable, why would Jiang Qingli have given them up?"
Beastmen have excellent hearing, and the five Beast Husbands' expressions all soured.
Chi Yun turned to look at Bai Yiyi and noticed a hint of wariness and dissatisfaction in her usually gentle eyes.
"Sister Yiyi!" Chi Yun grabbed Bai Yiyi's hand. "What on earth did that idiot say to you? She's just jealous! Don't believe her!"
Ling Qing stared at Bai Yiyi. "Yiyi, she's lying, right? There's no way you'd abandon us for the vice president position."
"Of course not! The vice presidency is a public election!" Bai Yiyi pursed her lips, the downward curve of her eyes making her look utterly pitiful. "Don't stop believing in me. You're all I have now."
Seeing her like this, the five of them immediately stopped questioning it. They pulled her close and coaxed her for a while until she was smiling again.
Just as they were about to leave, several reporters appeared in their line of sight. They had likely heard about what happened to Jiang Qingli and were running around with microphones, trying to get a story.
A smirk played on Bai Yiyi's lips as she found the staff member who had just assisted Jiang Qingli with her system matching.
She righteously demanded a re-evaluation. "My cousin has the purest noble bloodline and her father is an S Level Dragon Beastman! She should have gotten five S Level Beast Husbands! How could this happen? There must have been a mistake!"
Her voice immediately attracted the attention of several reporters.
The staff member immediately clarified, "Miss Bai, please don't make baseless claims. Our system has operated this way for years. There's absolutely no chance of an error!"
Bai Yiyi sighed and turned to leave but was blocked by several reporters.
"Hello, could you tell us about what happened with Miss Jiang?"
*
After leaving the Marriage and Fertility Center, Jiang Qingli didn't go straight home.
After the system matched her with her Beast Husbands, it also sent their contact information.
Three friend requests appeared in her inbox. One of them, from an account with a plain black avatar and no name, had sent two messages.
: [Ye Linyuan]
: [[Address]]
Jiang Qingli: "..."
'So arrogant.'
'But she did have something she needed to ask him.'
Jiang Qingli told Yi Nuo to go back to their assigned villa first, throw out all of the five traitors' belongings, and add the cleaning fee to their bill.
Jiang Qingli got out of the vehicle near the location he'd sent.
While waiting for the light to change, she looked up and saw a man with white hair on a huge electronic screen across the street. He was tilting his face up arrogantly, glaring sideways at the camera, his entire aura frigid and sharp.
It was Ling Qing.
Two young females were taking photos next to it.
One of them tutted. "So handsome. It's a real shame he's with that infamous Miss Jiang."
"How is she worthy of Ling Qing? She's a total liar. Remember when she claimed she was the one who set off the fireworks for Ling Qing's birthday? Hilarious. It was obviously Bai Yiyi who prepared them!"
"Exactly! And that brooch from before—it was clearly a gift from Bai Yiyi, but she insisted she made it herself..."
Just as they were about to curse her out some more, the image on the billboard changed, revealing a gentle and handsome face.
The young man with white hair had a noble air. His beautiful eyes tilted up slightly at the corners, and a small, tea-colored beauty mark adorned the outer edge of one eye. His gaze was utterly captivating.
"Ahhh, Baili Jing!" The female's tone instantly softened. "He's so handsome... He's perfect in every way except for his low level. And he's so faithful! He's been in the industry for ten years and still has his first on-screen kiss. They say he's saving it for his 'white moonlight'!"
"He even said he only entered showbiz so his 'white moonlight' would see him. I can't even... How can a male be so pure..."
As they were speaking, a hovercraft zipped past them arrogantly, its Wind Blades cutting so close that the two females shrieked in terror.
"Who was that?! So rude!"
"Qin Muye!" the other female said contemptuously. "He's been voted the 'Empire's Most Useless Prince.' He's His Majesty the Emperor's illegitimate son who was lost and supposedly grew up in the Lower District. Ever since they found him a few years ago, he's been like this, just messing around outside all day."
She clicked her tongue in disgust. "A player like that just looks promiscuous. I feel sorry for whoever is unlucky enough to end up with him."
The light turned green.
The two females hurried away.
Jiang Qingli was about to cross the street when the same hovercraft came barreling back and screeched to a halt in front of her.
The window rolled down, revealing a handsome, ice-cold face.
The young man had sharp, defined features and a head of silver hair that looked particularly defiant. Four or five studs pierced his ear, reflecting the harsh glare of the sun.
He took off his sunglasses and narrowed his arrogant, gray-blue eyes, scanning Jiang Qingli from head to toe with a tone full of disgust—
"You're Jiang Qingli? My female master?"
Jiang Qingli matched his name to the Beast Husband profiles. "Qin Muye?"
Qin Muye clicked his tongue, clearly unsatisfied with her. "Get in. I have something to say to you."
Jiang Qingli wasn't falling for that. "I'm busy right now. You can get in line."
"Get in," Qin Muye repeated, his tone heavy. "Don't make me say it a third time!"
"I am your female master. You're supposed to respect your female master. Didn't the Imperial Family teach you that?" Jiang Qingli raised an eyebrow, her tone even nastier than his. "Don't make me say it a second time, or I'll whip you."
Having been arrogant and high-handed ever since returning to the Imperial Family, Qin Muye had never been spoken to like this before. He immediately scowled. "You—"
He vaulted out of the hovercraft and stalked towards her menacingly.
Just as he reached out to grab Jiang Qingli, another young man stepped behind her, beating him to it.
Jiang Qingli suddenly felt her footing give way. Her body fell backward uncontrollably, landing in a gentle, fragrant embrace.
"That's no way to treat a female," a gentle, noble voice said from above her. "Females are precious and need to be cherished."
Jiang Qingli looked up and saw the handsome face from the billboard.
Qin Muye sneered. "Who the hell are you to lecture me? I'm her Beast Husband! This is between us!"
Baili Jing gently wrapped an arm around Jiang Qingli's waist, pulling her fully into his embrace.
Holding Jiang Qingli, Baili Jing curled his lips in satisfaction.
When he looked up at Qin Muye again, his pale golden eyes glinted with a faint provocation—
"What a coincidence."
"I'm Qingli's Beast Husband, too."