In the side room, Yan Ruyu sat on Yan Zhen’s lap, leaning sideways against his chest. It took quite a while before she felt strength returning to her body. Her eyes gradually cleared from their misty haze, regaining their brightness. At the same time, she realized just how mortifying their current position was.
Yan Ruyu had just started to slide off when she suddenly remembered her little cousin’s earnest advice. After a moment’s hesitation, she pretended to still be exhausted and nestled obediently in his arms.
This was the first time she had ever enjoyed Yan Zhen’s embrace. Compared to his former scrawny frame—which used to buckle at the slightest tease from her—it was now broad and utterly reliable.
Her small hand secretly caressed the muscles on his chest a few times. Yan Ruyu felt her heart pounding wildly, wondering if he would notice.
The atmosphere hung in heavy silence, like that of long-lost lovers quietly savoring their reunion.
Feeling the warmth radiating from Yan Zhen’s body, Yan Ruyu narrowed her eyes slightly. Memories flooded her mind of all their playful tussles together.
In the past, if Yan Zhen had dared to so brazenly sully her innocence, she would have burst into aggrieved tears without a doubt.
But now, embarrassing as it was, she wasn’t truly angry. In fact, she felt a secret thrill.
Because Yan Ruyu was convinced that Yan Zhen wasn’t deliberately humiliating her. No, he simply liked that part of her so much that he lost all control and bullied her like that.
—Does he really like it that much? It’s just a pair of perfectly ordinary soft mounds, yet he kneaded and pinched them so fiercely, like he wanted to break her. Little Lewd Wolf~
The thought made Yan Ruyu instinctively curl her fingers, scratching lightly at him like a kitten’s paw.
Snapping back to her senses, she dared not feign exhaustion any longer. She scrambled to her feet with practiced speed, acting as though she could not endure staying even one more second—for fear Yan Zhen had noticed her little gesture.
“I’m taking the Sound Recording Conch. You’re forbidden from telling a soul about what happened today, got it?”
Yan Zhen blinked twice and nodded.
“And don’t you dare use this to blackmail me into letting you bully me like that again.” Just recalling it turned Yan Ruyu’s face crimson once more. She scanned their surroundings suspiciously. “You didn’t secretly capture an image, did you?”
“No, no, I didn’t.” Yan Zhen assured her. “Cousin Ruyu, rest easy. I swear I won’t do anything like that to you ever again.”
“You…”
A lump formed in Yan Ruyu’s chest, leaving her feeling unexpectedly downcast. She had only forbidden him from using threats; she had never said no outright.
Words like that meant he figured a mere apology was enough—no need to take responsibility. And yet he had already defiled her most precious place as a woman with those wretched fingers of his.
Jerk! Jerk! Jerk!
“Me?”
“Good! As long as you didn’t!” Yan Ruyu couldn’t force out any demand for accountability. “Little Lewd Wolf, if you ever fall into my hands, you’ll pay dearly!”
Yan Ruyu huffed her threat and flung open the door, storming out without a backward glance.
The cool night breeze brushed her pale cheeks, but hot tears still spilled forth uncontrollably. She chided herself inwardly as the biggest fool under heaven for daring to hope.
She wiped her tears hastily and hurried back to her own room, desperate to avoid letting any of the other girls spot her distress.
…
Watching Cousin Ruyu’s retreating figure, Yan Zhen’s rigid posture slowly eased. He let out a long sigh.
—Record the voice threat, grope cousin’s perky butt, get carried away until she cries out, snap awake, slap himself silly, offer a heartfelt apology, and swear to rein in his desires henceforth.
The plot was straightforward enough. But no matter how he groped those full, moon-like cheeks, Yan Ruyu refused to cry—forcing him to resort to dirty tricks to make it happen.
In the end, events veered wildly off-script.
Aaaah… What now? What to do? He botched the mission. This was a pivotal plot beat, a crucial turning point for the protagonist’s character arc. Guess he had no choice but to reset?
—Hey, System! System-chan!
【Ding! Congratulations, host—task complete. Claim your reward from the relevant interface at your leisure.】
—Huh? I completed it? For real?
【Indeed. You adroitly coaxed tears from your tsundere cousin and were profoundly moved by them, indulging in some timely self-reflection. You nailed the key plot point to perfection.】
—But after groping her butt, shouldn’t Cousin Ruyu have cried and pouted all the way out?
【That’s exactly what she just did—cried and pouted all the way out.】
—Ah…
“Did Cousin Ruyu cry back there?”
Yan Zhen furrowed his brow, an uneasy twinge stirring in his gut.
What if she simply refused to show her vulnerable side in front of him—putting on a brave front? What if she was actually heartbroken from his bullying and planned to sob alone in her room tonight?
The more he dwelled on it, the worse his guilt gnawed at him.
Whatever. Per the script, they were due for a cold war spanning several days anyway.
After he beat Lan Ke and ended up bedridden from injuries, Cousin Ruyu would come visit. That was his chance to apologize properly and figure out some way to make amends.
For now, though, he was exhausted—not just mentally, but physically beat.
Second Master was no slouch in a fight; Yan Zhen had nearly buckled under the strain.
And he still needed to head into the Crystal Stone Space for pointers from the Beautiful Female Master.
Yan Zhen approached the door to shut it when he spotted a silhouette in the courtyard gazing his way. It turned and departed the instant it registered his attention.
“Was that Mentor Yu Xuan?”
He recalled her promise: once he claimed first in the Monthly Assessment, she would bestow even finer “rewards.”
Had she come to deliver…?
Hold on—when Cousin Ruyu fled in tears moments ago, had Mentor Yu Xuan witnessed it?
Yan Zhen’s heart lurched. The situation was turning sour.
Shouldering his heavy thoughts, Yan Zhen invoked the Star Shifting Fire Seal.
The instant his toes met the altar’s surface, the Beautiful Female Master clamped down on his shoulders.
“Zhen’er, are you all right? Let your master have a look—where are you hurt?”
Yan Zhen stared in confusion.
“Master, I’m perfectly fine. Why would you think otherwise?”
Chen Xi’s gaze faltered. Yan Zhen truly bore no wounds, which left her puzzled. In her previous life, he had staggered in here post-Monthly Assessment, covered in injuries.
She hadn’t doted on him quite so fiercely back then. Upon seeing him swathed in bandages, she had even chided him. With the Emperor Flame Technique, Ancestral Symbol Scripture, and Gold-Silver Fire at his disposal, how embarrassing for a Six-Star Mystic Practitioner to fare so poorly against a mere Nine-Star Mystic Practitioner.
Yan Zhen had replied guilelessly that he dared not unleash the Gold-Silver Fire, lest he accidentally incinerate someone.
“Zhen’er, didn’t you duel someone?”
“Master, how did you know about the duel? It hasn’t even happened yet—it’s set for three days from now.”
“Oh… I see.”
She had misremembered.
Thank goodness she hadn’t prepared a makeshift infirmary ahead of time. Otherwise, her precious disciple might suspect her motives weren’t entirely innocent.
Chen Xi exhaled discreetly in relief and offered a gentle smile.
“I’m glad you’re unharmed. Your master feared you’d been wounded during the Monthly Assessment.”
“The Monthly Assessment was a piece of cake. It’s the duel three days hence that’s the real challenge.”
That said, the academy would distribute Monthly Assessment rewards tomorrow. As the top scorer, he could select any Mystic Technique from the Academy Scripture Pavilion.
The perfect opportunity to master a new Mystic Technique over these three days—and deploy it against Lan Ke.
