“Hiss… Why are you laughing so freakishly late at night? On my way over just now, I saw little Wen Xu storming off looking all huffed and puffed, his cheeks puffed out just like that pufferfish I saw a couple of days ago. Did you bully the kid or something?”
Murong Wenyu strolled leisurely into the room out of nowhere, unable to resist teasing and poking fun the moment he caught sight of Yu Qinghan’s expression.
Conversely, the instant Yu Qinghan laid eyes on Murong Wenyu, his micro-expression vanished in an instant, his gaze turning icy and piercing.
“What are you doing here?”
“I am your only confidant and friend! Do you really have to treat me with such unwelcoming disdain?” Murong Wenyu looked rather aggrieved as he swaggered over, plopped down onto a chair by the window, and slouched back with crossed legs like some grand lord. “What am I doing here?” What else could I possibly be doing? Naturally, I came to check up on you, you ungrateful deadbeat!*
A flicker of disgust crossed Yu Qinghan’s eyes. “What on earth did you come here for? Spit it out.”
“I just heard that little Wen Xu ran over to Feiyu Palace today to wait on you, so I wanted to come have a look and see what’s going on. After all, he’s usually terrified of you. Tell me, did you threaten him or something? Otherwise, how could little Wen Xu—whose courage is smaller than a mouse’s—ever willingly come over here to wait on you?”
Resting his elbows on the table and propping up his chin, Murong Wenyu stared at Yu Qinghan with a face full of gossipy curiosity.
Though Yu Qinghan thoroughly despised Murong Wenyu, the man was undeniably right about one thing: he truly was his only confidant and friend.
As it happened, there were a few things he felt like discussing with him anyway.
And so, Yu Qinghan walked over, seated himself directly across from Murong Wenyu, and asked, “Who did you hear that from? Ah-Xu has only been here for a single day, and the entire sect is already buzzing about it?”
Murong Wenyu replied, “Well, it’s not quite the entire sect. I heard it from Orchid, who heard it from Lingbo, who accidentally overheard Xiuzhu talking to himself and found out. Yep, that’s pretty much how it went.”
Yu Qinghan: “…”
That was quite the convoluted chain of transmission.
“So, did you or did you not threaten little Wen Xu into coming here to serve you?” Murong Wenyu gazed at Yu Qinghan with burning intensity.
With a bland expression, Yu Qinghan replied, “I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed; I really didn’t threaten him.”
“Willingly requested it?” Murong Wenyu raised an eyebrow, looking rather skeptical. “How could little Wen Xu possibly request something like that of his own accord? Unless the sun rose from the west today!”
Yu Qinghan let out a cold hum. “Believe it or not, that’s simply the reality of it.”
“And the reason?” Murong Wenyu flat-out refused to believe it.
Yu Qinghan tilted his handsome brow. “Because he adores me, holds a deep romantic devotion toward me, and likes me to the point of utter distraction, which is why he took the initiative to request serving closely by my side.”
“What did you just say?!”
Upon hearing Yu Qinghan’s declaration, Murong Wenyu suffered an immediate triple-shock, his eyes widening into copper bells for the very first time.
“Brother, are you out of your mind? Little Wen Xu liking you how is that even remotely possible?”
Yu Qinghan’s mood plummeted instantly. His face darkening, he snapped in a chilling tone, “Why on earth is it impossible for Ah-Xu to like me? Am I, the dignified Sect Master of the Wuji Sect, truly unworthy of some snot-nosed kid?”
“Th—That’s not what I meant!” Murong Wenyu twitched the corner of his mouth. “Of course you’re worthy! If the two of you actually ended up together, he’d undoubtedly be marrying way out of his league. I’m just a bit puzzled—how on earth did you arrive at such a conclusion? Might you have misinterpreted something?”
“I didn’t dream this up; the kid Ah-Xu said it himself.” Following this, Yu Qinghan succinctly recounted everything his little disciple had said, along with his recent behavior, concluding with an unshakeable, resolute tone: “Isn’t this clear evidence that he likes me? The crucial part is that when I cornered and pressed him about it afterward, the little fellow even stubbornly refused to admit it.”
“Er…” After listening through to the end, Murong Wenyu arrived at a completely different perspective, gazing at Yu Qinghan with a deeply complex expression. “Brother, don’t you think you’re being a bit too narcissistic throughout all this? I certainly don’t get the impression that little Wen Xu likes you at all. Adoration? Perhaps. But romantic devotion? Absolutely out of the question.”
“What would a lone wolf like you know about this?” Yu Qinghan stood up, shooting an expression of utter disdain at Murong Wenyu. “You weren’t even there, so naturally you don’t understand.”
Murong Wenyu felt as though an arrow had pierced straight through his heart. “That last line of yours was a bit hurtful, you know! What’s wrong with being a lone wolf? The entire Wuji Sect is filled with lone wolves, I’m hardly the only one! Aren’t you a lone wolf yourself?”
Yu Qinghan countered, “You claim Ah-Xu’s romantic devotion toward me is fake—then why did he ask to touch my scales? And why did he even want to tuck my scales inside his robes against his chest?”
Murong Wenyu: “Uh…”
Yu Qinghan continued, “He explicitly stated that he adores, cherishes, and likes me, calling me the most important person in his heart, and took the initiative to ask to serve closely by my side. If his romantic devotion is fake, why would he go to such lengths?”
Murong Wenyu: “Well…”
That actually sounded somewhat logical.
Yu Qinghan added, “And furthermore, when he was massaging my legs today, he even seized the opportunity to…”
Stopping dead in his tracks right there, Yu Qinghan abruptly cut himself off. Even though he shared everything with Murong Wenyu, some private matters were best left unsaid.
“Seized the opportunity to do what? Why’d you stop talking?” Murong Wenyu blinked, his face plastered with intense curiosity.
“Cough.” Yu Qinghan offered a dry cough, a faint, delicate blush unexpectedly blooming across his handsome, fair cheeks. “It’s nothing. The rest of it has nothing to do with you.”
Bright moonlight filtered in through the open window, casting its glow directly upon Yu Qinghan’s face and allowing Murong Wenyu to clearly catch the pale, barely perceptible flush staining his skin.
“Oh my god, you’re actually blushing!”
Yu Qinghan let out a cold huff, his face reverting entirely to an expression of frozen detachment as he shot Murong Wenyu a freezing, sharp glance. “Is this some sort of rare spectacle? Why are you making such a massive fuss over nothing?”
After all, his demonic age was barely three hundred years old among demons, he was still quite youthful and immature.
Setting aside this pair of dear friends for the moment, Wen Xu trundled back in high indignation toward Mingyue Cottage, only to discover that the lights inside his room were lit.
His first instinct was that a thief had broken in, though a moment’s reflection told him how absurd that was what kind of thief would dare come here? That was practically seeking their own demise.
Despite this, Wen Xu cautiously pushed the door open, only to be greeted by a familiar face.
“Senior Brother Xiuzhu? Why are you here so late?”
With a calm, steady gaze, Yuan Xiuzhu looked at him. “Why are you only returning this late? You and Shizun… wait, what happened to your neck?”
Mid-sentence, Yuan Xiuzhu suddenly noticed two distinct red marks marring Wen Xu’s neck.
“Huh?” It took a beat for Wen Xu to process what Yuan Xiuzhu was referring to, and he instinctively slapped a hand over his neck.
Crap, I forgot to use my hair to cover it up again!
Noticing the massive reaction and evident panic from his little junior brother, Yuan Xiuzhu frowned, narrowing his eyes slightly as he probed with cautious suspicion, “This wouldn’t happen to have been… bitten by Shizun, would it?”