The so-called “family shame should not be exposed” was a decision made by Xue Huai, considering his father’s face. Xue Zong still did not realize the seriousness of the problem and, to this day, he only believes that it is just Mrs. Liu’s jealousy and there is no need to escalate to a high level. Xue Huai, naturally, cannot show such extreme behavior as well.
His only insistence is that Mrs. Liu cannot continue to stay at home.
Three days passed quickly, and after Mrs. Liu came out of the Xue family’s private prison, she wept and packed her package back to her mother’s house. Surprisingly, Xue He didn’t follow along.
He insisted on staying and drawing a clear line with his mother, stating that he did not know about bats event, and apologized to Xue Huai.
Xue Huai didn’t buy this at all, and without saying a word, he let him go to prison as well. “As the saying goes, mother and son work together. She didn’t finish it, you take her place, it’s not a waste of time for her to work so hard for you, right?”
Xue He had thought that this matter was set aside and didn’t expect that when his mother got out of prison, he’d be next. He cried his heart out and begged Xue Huai to let him go. Xue Huai directly let people tie him to the water prison. “Still the same sentence. Say one more word, and you will stay here for an extra year.”
This is to punish him for knowing things but not reporting them.
The old man hesitated and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to ask the Little Young Master? If you’re suspicious, why don’t you send him away?”
Xue Huai said, “I can’t do it for now because there are some things that I haven’t figured out yet.”
Spare Xue He’s life for now, when he had cultivated to the Jindan stage and retrieved those details he had missed from his memories. If the facts of his past life were indeed as he thought they were… It is also not too late to cut him alive then.
The green bird went away, and no matter how much he intimidated or enticed him, he refused to say who the person who sent the sachet really was and looked as if he were about to burst into tears. Xue Huai might really roast it, so he let it go.
He hung the sachet on his waist, and his mood also improved. When his father complained to him, he would patiently listen and symbolically comfort him with a few words. When he went out and met Bai Yingting, he would also say a few words according to the other person’s wishes, rather than just keeping silent.
These few days, Yun Cuo didn’t come.
Xue Huai would always ran into him every time he came from the Shenhua Terrace, and when he did, Yun Cuo would share his marshmallows and pastries with him, and he’d follow along for a walk to digest. That silly cat also likes him very much. He is lively and agile, and even Xue Huai, who is so lazy, can muster up the energy to tease it and find it interesting.
The two still didn’t speak much, and the awkward feeling they had when they first met was gone. Both sides are careful and try not to touch each other’s world. It’s like they’re just neighbors who run into each other and walk together, and that’s enough.
Xue Huai went for a walk on his own today and did not see Yun Cuo. He’s thinking about this time in his previous life, Yun Cuo was secretly laying out plans and recruiting troops and horses for his future succession. A fledgling bird gradually fleshes out its wings where no one can see them, and only when it soars through the nine heavens will people realize the terrifying power behind it.
“Probably busy.” Xue Huai thought to himself.
The batch of orders from Yun Cuo is also about to be delivered. In the short term, there shouldn’t be much interaction with this person.
When he returned home, he happened to encounter the neighboring Bai family going out for a walk. Bai Yingting smiled and asked him, “Xiao Huai, how about taking a walk?”
Xue Huai nodded and greeted the elders before saying, “I’m back from my walk.”
After chatting with each other for a few words, Xue Huai entered the house and went back to his room to beat the gluttonous ghost before carrying it out to take out the garbage.
The gluttonous ghost swore to struggle. Xue Huai gave it some cultivation and some ideological education: “Listen up, don’t eat too much garbage, learn to vomit on your own. Although I know you feel uncomfortable when you are hungry, eating garbage doesn’t make you stronger. To eat more, you must first learn to be self-reliant. Come to me for cultivation every five days, understand?”
The gluttonous ghost committee let out a howl of grievance and nodded reluctantly.
Xue Huai finally put it down.
It had snowed a little on his walk today, staining his clothes and hair. Thus, Xue Huai decided to take another bath.
His mother ordered people to dig this spring pond. When he was young, his family of three often soaked here to watch the moonlight. This also caused Xue Huai to develop the habit of getting dressed while taking a bath. Later on, after Murong Mi passed away, Xue Zong became busy, and only Xue Huai was left to soak alone.
He casually picked up a book called “Complete Collection of True Questions for the Fuli Palace Star Official Entrance Examination”—which was given to him by Yun Cuo during their last appointment. After reading for a long time, he couldn’t see anything interesting. He muttered, “What’s this? Which of the following frequencies do you think is the most suitable? Option A, once every three days; Option B, once every five days; Option C, once every seven days; Option D… not going to court.”
“Correct answer: D, not going to court.”
Xue Huai：“……”
He continued to flip downward.
—Historical question: What was the purpose of the Phoenix tribe’s attack on the Fuli Palace?
A: Alienated by the demon realm
B: Fight for the Empress
C: Fight for the right to speak in the heavenly realm
D: Conquer the practical highland of Fuli Palace and protest against the high quality of snacks in Tianting Kindergarten
Xue Huai is not very familiar with the history of the divine realm at that time and vaguely remembers that the Empress and Empress of the Fuli Palace worked together to solve the Six Realms disasters. He thought it over and chose A.
Upon opening the answer, the correct answer is D.
Xue Huai：“……”
He put the book aside, intending to ask the green bird to tell Yun Cuo that he’d bought a pirated copy of the exam questions another day.
As soon as he put the book down, something seemed to be startled around him, like the hidden insects were startled by the wind and quickly crawled away.
Xue Huai was always sensitive and suspicious, he stopped his hand movements alertly.
He felt like someone was looking at him.
Suddenly, there was a muffled sound in the corner, and Xue Huai couldn’t help but think about it. The sharp light in his hand turned into a knife, and he thrust straight out. At the same time, a hint of hostility flashed in Xue Huai’s eyes, and his face coldly came out of the water. He got up with his clothes on and went straight out.
Separated by a wall, the peeping youth was caught between the eyebrows by the light blade, spit out a mouthful of blood alive, and even rolled and crawled to draw a teleportation array in the same spot—he know that the other party had discovered him, and the top priority now was to escape.
But before the formation was formed, he had already been lifted up by someone—
He grabbed his neck with one hand and smashed him heavily towards the wall!
He can almost hear the sound of his bones cracking, and the blood is accompanied by pain, making him feel hot to the point of cracking: His throat was about to crack open, he couldn’t breathe, his eyes bulged, and his vision blurred.
He could only see a slender and powerful hand, it was a young man’s hand. For some reason, the fingertips glowed slightly with blood, and after looking at them for a long time, it was as if you could still glimpse tiny spots of blood on them. Such scars are not ordinarily learned but seem like… It’s the kind of scar that beginners often get when they learn to stitch.
Before the young man lost consciousness, he remembered to think about this question—he recognized who the visitor was, a young man he had met once on the mountain path.
Young Immortal Lord Yun Cuo, the half-demon young man, looked at him with disdain and crazy disgust, as if he had bullied some sort of his treasure.
Bai Yingting coughed violently and screamed in fear, “I! I won’t compete with you! He belongs to you, I’ll give him to you, but he’s wearing clothes, and I didn’t see anything—spare me! Please!”
Yun Cuo remained unmoved, clasping his throat with one hand and suppressing all possible sounds he could make. The other hand followed the veins and bones of his body, breaking and destroying the roots and bones. With every move he made, Bai Yingting fell down one point and finally crooked against the ground, silently.
He casually kicked the person aside, then frowned and looked at his fingers.
He seems to be very averse to touching other people’s bodies and feels very uncomfortable about it. His little cat crawled over, hugged his arm, and gently licked the blood droplets on his fingers.
“Yun…Young Master Yun?”
The shadow of the lamp swayed, illuminating the silent, bloody scene on this side. Xue Huai appeared at the corner and looked over in surprise.
The cat darted and scooted to his feet.
Yun Cuo made his way to the side, allowing the lights to illuminate Bai Yingting’s twisted face. This good young man, who was usually praised by his neighbors, was now wearing sneaky nighttime clothing. There was also a magical tool called the “Thousand Mile Eye” thrown on the ground that could peek into things from afar.
Yun Cuo’s whole body tightened, and he instinctively withdrew his hand to behind.
Facing Xue Huai’s clear gaze, he whispered, “I went to the neighboring of Xianzhou to do some business these days and accidentally heard some rumors. It said that this person was spying on and harassing his fellow master’s Shimei 1Junior female student of the same master.all day long while practicing, forcing the Little Shimei into submission and scaring the girl out of her wits. This matter was revealed, and he was thus expelled from his master’s school after only cultivating to the Yuandan stage. I think of you… You don’t know anything about this, and you’ve been close to him lately. Don’t… don’t marry him, he’s not a good person, he doesn’t match you.”
“When I came back today, I happened to see them taking a walk home. After everyone had left, this person climbed over the wall and picked up one of your sweatshirts in the garbage ditch at your doorstep. I think something was wrong.”
Before Xue Huai could react, Yun Cuo had already lowered his head and picked up the cat, saying calmly, “I know your two families are close friends, and it was me who hit people. I will go tell the Bai family about this matter.”
“Wait a minute.” Xue Huai reached out to stop him. Many of the words he wanted to respond to him spun through his mind, but he only managed to tilt his head. “What’s so hard about this?”
His clothes were still loose and saggy, with a translucent white undergarment that was soaked through and only a thin top added to the outside. He turned back to the man, and a sharp white light appeared at his fingertips, piercing straight into the eyes of the man on the ground.
Bai Yingting let out a scream, then fell silent and suddenly stopped. It was obvious that the pain was extreme, and he was awakened by the pain before fainting again.
“Now we are accomplices, Young Master Yun.” Xue Huai withdrew his hand and said, “One person is responsible for one’s actions, and you helped me out, why should I be a cowardly turtle? I respect Uncle and Aunty Bai of the Bai family, who are cultured people. If they really know their son’s wrongdoing and want to cover it up, then this kind of friendship should not be…”
Before the word “accepted” could be spoken, Xue Huai was interrupted by Yun Cuo’s movements.
Yun Cuo widened his outer robe, bent down, and put it on him.
His breathing was slightly hot and shaking. When the mist touched his watery skin, it seemed as if it was about to take away the moisture, which made people’s hearts thirsty.
That was another empty posture of holding him in his arms, with his hands reaching behind Xue Huai to help him tie the knot behind his waist. Xue Huai could only look flatly at his raising and falling Adam’s apple, and when he tilted his head further, he could only see the roots of his flushed ears.
Throughout the process, he didn’t look at Xue Huai but instead stared at a floating point behind him, his tense, rigorous, and rigid appearance a bit ridiculous.
He also knew that he was ridiculous. Just like a few days ago, when he rolled over and found that half-finished sachet, he learned it himself, stitch by stitch, from the book. He couldn’t distinguish the colors in the Immortal Realm, and sometimes he had to start over if he sewed it wrong. A big man, with a serious face, was doing needlework that only a maiden would do. This person was the Young Immortal Lord Yun Cuo, and anyone who heard about it would laugh their teeth out.
But he knew that this thing could make his beloved happy, and it would make him reveal the clean and pure smile that was displayed on the Lycoris Radiata flowers the other day.
Others cannot do so.
He stood idly by and remained silent. He let go of his treasure and let others approach, chase, and evaluate him, enduring the day-to-day torment as he watched those around him come and go, without having his own place in them.
He used to be in that position, but he didn’t protect him well.
When others also can’t do it well, does he still have a chance… to come back to his side?
“Don’t get married to them…” Even his voice is hot: “They’re not good.”
