Su Yong’an was immersed in the dual joy of “rescuing” a future bigwig and gaining a genius senior brother who had voluntarily defected.
His little brain was already picturing the majestic scene of himself swaggering around Yuxu Peak no, the entire Mingjian Sect with his two “capable subordinates.”
His pretty face wore a brilliant smile, looking left at the jade-like gentle Lin Zhimian, and then looking right… um, right at Yan Xiu, who was still lingering in the shadows and radiating an icy aura of “do not disturb.”
No, this wouldn’t do! The vibe was all wrong! He was Yuxu Peak’s social butterfly! How could he let his new junior/senior brother (even if it was forced) feel isolated?
Su Yong’an twitched his little brows, his execution power off the charts! Like an agile little leopard, he bounded back to Yan Xiu’s side in a single stride, extended his tender little paws, and grabbed Yan Xiu’s cold, stiff wrist without a second word!
“Hey! Senior Brother Yan, why are you standing so far away?!” Su Yong’an dragged him forcibly toward the light while lifting his small face, beaming an unguarded, heart-meltingly sweet smile at both Yan Xiu and Lin Zhimian.
That smile seemed to blend the purest sunlight from the peak of Yuxu Peak with the sweetest dew from the spiritual spring, blooming without reservation across his exquisitely and ambiguously pretty face.
His long eyelashes fluttered, his peach blossom eyes seemed sprinkled with fine starlight, and the upward curve of his lips was just right, revealing a tiny bit of white, pearly teeth.
Pure, bright, carrying an innocent warmth capable of banishing all gloom.
In an instant, the air seemed to freeze.
Su Lan’s subsequent words stuck in his throat; he hung his mouth open, forgetting what he had been about to say.
Lin Zhimian’s gentle smile froze on his face, his eyes left with only that breathtakingly pure, smiling visage, his heartbeat skipping a beat inexplicably.
Even Yan Xiu, who had been forcibly dragged out, with his eyelashes lowered and trying to conceal all emotion, trembled violently, the deep-pool pupils clearly reflecting that close-up, brilliantly smiling small face.
A strong, unfamiliar scorching warmth caught his heart off guard, making him instinctively want to look away, yet his body felt as though struck by a binding spell, unable to move at all.
In the minds of all three flashed the exact same thought: This little ancestor (junior brother/young master)… when he grows up, he’s going to be a calamity-bringing… enchanting evildoer (succubus)! This killing power is way too high!
Yan Xiu began to reproach himself internally, questioning his own mind: Have you forgotten your sea of blood and deep grudges already? You’re supposed to grow strong and return to the Demon Realm for revenge.
As Yan Xiu recalled how his father had simply refused to lead the demons in slaughtering the human realm and the cultivation world, only to be hunted down jointly by other demon lords’ successors, his parents placing an anklet on him to mask his demonic aura before pushing him out of the Demon Realm right before they died of exhaustion due to insufficient demonic energy, his surrounding aura began to sink and turn fierce once more.
Su Yong’an had no idea his “weapon-grade” smile had caused such massive destruction; he only felt satisfied that he had finally “gathered” both senior brothers!
He pulled one with each hand—Yan Xiu on the left (wrist), Lin Zhimian on the right (sleeve)—his small face flushed pink with excitement, his voice as crisp as a spring stream hitting green stones:
“That’s wonderful! An’an has two senior brothers now! Senior Brother Yan! Senior Brother Zhimian!” He shook his little head left and right, looking at one and then the other.
As if admiring two newly acquired quirky toys, “Let’s go, go, go! Let’s play in my courtyard! I’ve got so many good things in there!”
Dragging them both along like a leading little boat, he was about to charge toward his exquisite little courtyard.
“Ahem! Ahem-ahem!” Su Lan finally recovered his voice, watching his silly son’s stance of hauling two “dead weights,” especially his unusual intimacy with that gloomy Yan Xiu.
A sour sense of “a grown child can’t be kept by his dad” mixed with schadenfreude over watching a good show welled up in his heart.
He deliberately raised his volume, drawing out his tone as he called out to that small retreating back:
“Hey now look here, An’an!”
Su Yong’an paused in his steps, looking back in confusion: “Huh? Daddy?”
“Putting aside the fact that both this Yan kid and your Senior Brother Zhimian are already fifteen and thirteen, still humoring you like this—how do you even have the nerve?”
Su Lan stroked his nonexistent beard, wearing a “benevolent” yet “worried” smile as he leisurely continued, “And another thing, you, busy being happy, did you forget something?”
“Huh?” Su Yong’an tilted his small head, looking entirely blank. With his “chivalry,” “rescuing” a bigwig, and acquiring a genius senior brother all today, he thought he was doing stellar work—what else could he forget?
Su Lan provided a “helpful” reminder: “Your master, taking your senior brother out on a training trip… Count the days, they’re supposed to return to the peak in half a month…”
He deliberately paused, watching the smile on his son’s pretty little face slowly freeze and vanish, before satisfyingly continuing.
“If they find out that the moment they turned their backs, you ungrateful little wretch, you went be!hind! their! back! and ‘rescued’ another senior brother, and you’re all so cozy with him…”
Su Lan deliberately bit down hard on “behind their back” and “rescued a senior brother,” his gaze pointedly drifting toward Yan Xiu’s wrist, which was tightly gripped in Su Yong’an’s hand.
“Hiss!”
Su Yong’an drew a sharp breath! His pretty little face turned deathly pale in an instant!
Master! Eldest Senior Brother!
Two faces instantly surfaced in his mind—one was the perennial ice-mountain face of Master Lingxiaozizi, whose gaze was sharp as a knife, and who held a nearly paranoid possessiveness and protectiveness toward him;
The other was Eldest Senior Brother Yun Che, gentle and refined with a genial smile, whose eyes grew unfathomably deep and silently pulled him back into his embrace every time he saw him getting close to someone else (especially good-looking ones)!
We’re done for, done for, done for!
Su Yong’an felt as though he could already see Master’s perpetual ice-mountain face flash-freezing to absolute zero, with dark undercurrents surging beneath Eldest Senior Brother’s gentle smile!
Mixed doubles? Grounded? Confiscation of all snacks and toys? Or… the most terrifying “spanking warning”?!
Instinctively and in sheer terror, he covered his pert little bottom! A phantom pain flared right at his tailbone!
Watching his son freeze instantly, clutching his bottom and wearing a world-ending terrified expression, Su Lan felt his heart bloom with joy.
Yet his face still maintained a “fatherly concern” expression: “Tsk tsk tsk, when that time comes, your master’s temper… your eldest senior brother’s methods… Oh my, just thinking about it makes me sweat for you! Watch out for your”
“No way!” Su Yong’an abruptly interrupted his dad’s “intimidation,” puffing out his small chest and forcibly pumping himself up, though his voice lacked conviction and trembled slightly.
“Master and Eldest Senior Brother… love me the most, the most, the most, the most! They’d never bear to punish me! At most… at most they’ll just scold me a little!”
The more he spoke, the softer his voice became, eventually trailing off into a mosquito’s hum. Clearly, even he didn’t quite believe it.
He shook his little head, attempting to shake off the horrifying imagery, and then, as if to prove he wasn’t scared (?),
he gripped Yan Xiu’s wrist even tighter (causing Yan Xiu to stumble slightly), and rushed toward his courtyard without looking back, leaving behind only a blustering declaration:
“I don’t care! Anyway, Senior Brother Yan is someone I brought back! It won’t matter even if Master and the others come back! Humph!”
Watching his son’s fleeing (?) yet putting up a bold front small back, Su Lan finally couldn’t help bursting into hearty laughter.
He nudged Wen Qingzhi beside him and winked: “Look at that, my dear! The kid lost his nerve! Hahaha!”
Wen Qingzhi shook her head helplessly, watching her husband’s childish mischievousness, then cast her gaze toward the direction where their son had vanished, a hint of hidden worry in her eyes.
That boy Yan Xiu… his gaze was far too heavy.
Dragging the cold, silent Yan Xiu, Su Yong’an stormed impetuously into his own spirit-rich, comfortable, and playfully furnished small courtyard.
Just as he wanted to catch his breath, he turned his head and found that Lin Zhimian had followed them in, standing upright at the courtyard entrance with a gentle smile on his face, though his eyes remained fixed entirely upon Su Yong’an.
“Junior Brother An’an,” Lin Zhimian’s voice was clear and pleasant, carrying just the right amount of newcomer detachment.
He lowered his gaze slightly, casting a small shadow with his thick eyelashes beneath his eyes, while his tone revealed a trace of hard-to-detect loneliness and… a request.
“I’ve just arrived at the sect, and not knowing anyone here, my heart is truly somewhat unsettled. I wonder… might I bother Junior Brother for a moment, to show me around and help me get familiar with things? So I’ll… have some company.”
He raised his eyes, fixing his gaze attentively on Su Yong’an. That look was gentle and harmless, carrying a well-judged reliance and anticipation, as if Su Yong’an were his sole support in this unfamiliar environment.
Tsk! A master!
That tea aroma, Yan Xiu could smell it from eight miles away! Fresh, natural, sweet on the finish, and carrying a touch of pitiable charm! This Lin Zhimian, looking jade-like on the outside, turned out to be filled with black sesame paste inside!
He simply didn’t want him staying alone with this little cotton puff.
Before Su Yong’an could figure out how to respond, Yan Xiu, who had remained as silent as a background prop all this time, suddenly made a move.
His hand—the one not being held by Su Yong’an—extended with extreme lightness, carrying immense hesitation and struggle, to cautiously… tug at a tiny corner of Su Yong’an’s moon-white sleeve.
The force was light, so light it was practically imperceptible, as if he feared creasing the expensive fabric.
Su Yong’an turned around in surprise.
He saw Yan Xiu still keeping his head lowered, his withered yellow hair covering most of his face, revealing only a pair of tightly pressed, pale thin lips and an overly distinct jawline. His body was slightly tense, as though suppressing something to the extreme.
A moment later, an extremely suppressed, heavily nasal voice that sounded like it was enduring tremendous grievance and hoarseness rang out, broken and halting. It wasn’t loud, yet it clearly drilled into Su Yong’an’s ears:
“…It… it’s fine.”
He paused, his shoulders shivering imperceptibly, his voice dropping lower and growing more strained, carrying a heart-shattering, abandoned-like desolation:
“I… I’m just… used to being bullied… used to… being alone.”
“I don’t want to… trouble others… nor do I want to… disturb Senior Brother Zhimian…”
“If… Senior Brother Zhimian… really must… be with… Junior Brother An’an…”
He sucked in a sharp breath as if mustering all his strength just to squeeze out the final few words, dripping with a nearly self-abasing “sensibleness”:
“…I… myself… am fine, too…”
With that, the fingers tugging at Su Yong’an’s sleeve very slowly, with a reluctance and despair akin to resignation, let go bit by bit.
That releasing motion, matched with the instant surge of denser, colder silence and isolation radiating from his entire body, alongside those slightly trembling shoulders,
made him look precisely like a massive, drenched, shivering dog left behind in the rain by a cruel owner, yet forcing itself to pretend, “I don’t even care!”
Boom!
Su Yong’an felt something explode in his head!
The bigwig! The future Ethereal Immortal Venerable! His favorite high-ridge snow lotus! Right now! Actually! Right in front of him!
Using this tone that groveled in the dust and looked so pitiful! Saying that he himself was “fine”?! Saying he was used to being bullied?! Used to being lonely?!
The visual impact was simply too strong!
Su Yong’an’s urge to champion the weak (especially the bigwig) was stabbed full of holes in an instant, aching so much he twitched inside!
A fierce wave of protectiveness mixed with pity sparked by the “shattered bigwig filter” surged like a volcanic eruption! In an instant, it drowned out that minuscule “request” brought by Lin Zhimian’s cup of “top-tier green tea”!
No way! Absolutely not!
The bigwig was so miserable! So pitiful! So desperately in need of warmth and care! How could he let him stay alone? How could he make him feel like he was “intruding”?
Today, he, Su Yong’an, was the bigwig’s exclusive little sun! He had to shine bright and illuminate his gloomy little world!
Almost reflexively, Su Yong’an reached out and grabbed back the hand Yan Xiu had tried to pull away from his sleeve! Grabbing it tight!
Then he snapped his head up, his peach blossom eyes rounded wide, his small face filled with “protecting the cub” determination and unquestionable firmness. Facing Lin Zhimian and his cup of steaming tea aroma at the entrance, he spoke at lightning speed:
“Senior Brother Zhimian! Look at how tired you must be from the journey! Rest for a while in my room first! There’s a soft cloud-silk couch in my room! And sweet spiritual fruit juice! Make yourself at home, don’t be polite!”
While speaking, without giving any room for refusal, he pulled Yan Xiu right out toward the courtyard exit, terrified that another second’s delay would injure the bigwig’s fragile (?) psyche. His words rattled on like machine-gun fire:
“Senior Brother Yan just got here, he definitely doesn’t know his way around! I’ll take him out for a spin first! Learn the roads! Adapt to the environment! I’ll be right back to keep you company! Wait for me, Senior Brother Zhimian!”
Before his voice even faded, he was already dragging Yan Xiu out of the courtyard gates like a little whirlwind, leaving behind only an unswerving… small back that seemed tasked with saving the entire world.
Lin Zhimian: “…”
The gentle smile on his face froze completely the moment Su Yong’an dragged Yan Xiu out of the courtyard gates without a backward glance.
That perfect expression of detachment and reliance fractured like an exquisite porcelain mask. He stood quietly in place, staring at the empty courtyard entrance where sunlight fell upon his moon-white robes without bringing a single shred of warmth.
Lin Zhimian stared at Yan Xiu’s retreating back and muttered a low curse: “Damn green tea.”