Tong Huanyou froze for a moment before quickly reacting. She immediately put on a flattering smile and said, “I was just wandering around casually. Young Master Yu, are you sunbathing? Sunbathing is great—it helps with photosynthesis, hahaha.”
Yu Qingci folded his arms across his chest, turning his face slightly as he drawled lazily, “Wandering around casually? And somehow you wandered right into Xie Zhili’s arms?”
The smile on Tong Huanyou’s face stiffened instantly. She hurriedly waved her hands and explained anxiously, “Young Master Yu, this is absolutely a misunderstanding! Brother Xie and I have nothing going on. I just accidentally bumped into him.”
“A misunderstanding?” Yu Qingci brushed aside the loose strands of hair near his temple and let out a cold laugh.
In the next moment, he leapt down from the rooftop and landed directly in front of Tong Huanyou. Pulling the silver sword from the ground, he smiled faintly. “To my elder sister, perhaps this is an unfortunate misunderstanding. But to me, it’s an entirely different matter.”
Tong Huanyou’s mouth twitched.
So he’d deliberately stopped her from going to explain things…
But her mission was to get the male and female leads to a happy ending. If such a misunderstanding started this early, what would happen later?
She rubbed her nose awkwardly and laughed dryly. “Um… I don’t really understand what you’re talking about, hahaha…”
Yu Qingci narrowed his eyes slightly, sword in hand as he slowly advanced toward her. “Don’t understand? Or pretending not to understand?”
Tong Huanyou instinctively stepped backward, her heart leaping into her throat. “Young Master Yu, please don’t act rashly. We can talk this out calmly!”
Damn it! The female lead’s ultimate obsessive fanboy! Absolutely insane!
Step by step, Tong Huanyou was forced back until her spine hit the wall behind her.
At that moment, a crumpled paper ball hidden in her sleeve suddenly fell to the ground.
Yu Qingci tilted his head suspiciously. His gaze landed on the paper, and he bent down to pick it up.
Tong Huanyou shut her eyes in despair.
It’s over. I’m about to die from embarrassment.
When Yu Qingci saw what was written on the paper, the corners of his lips curled into a mocking smile. In a tone dripping with disdain, he remarked, “You’re the daughter of a wealthy merchant, yet you can’t even study properly?”
Tong Huanyou blinked blankly.
What does that mean?
Holding the paper, Yu Qingci looked at her as though she were an idiot and sneered, “Out of ten characters in a line, eight or nine are wrong. The handwriting looks like chicken claws scratching around, like ghosts crawling across the page. I’m honestly curious whether the tutor in your household is still alive.”
Tong Huanyou closed her eyes again.
This was even more humiliating than him seeing those dramatic crying-and-suicide-threat lines!
He was openly insulting her handwriting—and saying she had spelling mistakes?!
Wait… ugly handwriting was one thing, but she refused to admit the spelling errors!
Just as she was about to argue back, she glanced at the lines on the paper and instantly realized why Yu Qingci thought she’d written the wrong characters.
She’d written in simplified Chinese…
Tong Huanyou mentally rolled her eyes so hard they nearly flipped inside out.
Stupid author! If you want to write a scheming pretty boy, then just write one! Why give him such a poisonous mouth too?!
Taking a deep breath, she forced a fake smile and asked, “Young Master Yu, have you ever heard of a fish called the ‘Nine-Leak Fish’?”
Yu Qingci raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What?”
Tong Huanyou’s eyes darted mischievously as she explained with a grin, “It’s a very beautiful fish. Just as beautiful as you.”
You’re a fish that slipped through the cracks of compulsory education.
Yu Qingci smiled ambiguously. “Why do I feel like that wasn’t actually a compliment?”
The silver sword lightly pressed against Tong Huanyou’s neck, its icy touch making her shiver all over.
Biting her lip, she forced herself to stay calm. “How could it not be praise? If there’s a chance in the future, I’ll show you the fish myself. Then you’ll know how beautiful it is.”
“Oh really?”
Just then, Ling’er came running over from the distance while shouting, “Miss! Miss!”
The moment Tong Huanyou heard her, her eyes lit up. She quickly shouted back, “Ling’er! I’m over here!”
Saved.
Seeing someone approaching, Yu Qingci slightly restrained his expression and moved to withdraw the sword from Tong Huanyou’s neck.
But at that exact moment, afraid Ling’er wouldn’t spot her, Tong Huanyou instinctively raised her hand to wave.
Her body shifted—
And she collided directly with Yu Qingci’s motion of withdrawing the sword.
Fortunately, Yu Qingci reacted swiftly and yanked the blade back toward himself. Even so, the sharp edge still barely grazed Tong Huanyou’s skin.
Blood slowly seeped out.
The stinging pain at her neck caused cold sweat to break out all over Tong Huanyou’s body.
Yu Qingci frowned slightly as he looked at the streak of red on the blade.
How could there possibly be someone this stupid in the world?
Seeing Ling’er drawing closer, Tong Huanyou nervously swallowed and immediately covered her neck with her sleeve to hide the wound.
“Miss! Greetings, Young Master Yu.” Ling’er jogged over and gave Yu Qingci a respectful bow before continuing, “The Brocade Workshop said they just received a new batch of fabric, so they sent me to ask whether Miss would like to make a new outfit.”
Tong Huanyou steadied herself and forced out a smile. “Sure, I’ll go take a look at the new fabrics.”
Ling’er examined her carefully in confusion. “Miss, is your neck bothering you?”
“No, no! I just slept wrong and got a stiff neck, that’s all. Um… let’s go look at the fabrics first.” Tong Huanyou cautiously observed Yu Qingci’s expression.
Terrified that Ling’er might accidentally say something wrong and get stabbed to death, Tong Huanyou hurriedly made an excuse to flee. “Young Master Yu, we’ll be leaving first then. Please continue enjoying your sunbath, haha. We won’t disturb you any longer.”
Yu Qingci held his sword and glanced at her once without saying a word before turning around and leaving.
“Miss, weren’t you perfectly fine this morning? How did you suddenly get a stiff neck?” Ling’er scratched her head in confusion.
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Tong Huanyou gave a helpless bitter smile. “You should be grateful your young miss merely has a stiff neck instead of turning into Xing Tian.”
“Huh?”
“It’s nothing, it’s nothing. Ling’er, go tell the Brocade Workshop to rush the clothes order. It’d be best if they can finish it by tomorrow. Money isn’t an issue. I still have something to do, so I won’t be going over personally. Just pick something for me.”
Right now she couldn’t afford to waste more time. She had to figure out a way to convince the protagonist group to bring her along.
After speaking, she didn’t wait for Ling’er’s response and simply covered her neck as she hurried toward the courtyard exit.
“M-Miss…” For some reason, as Ling’er watched Tong Huanyou’s departing figure, she felt that her young miss seemed completely different from before.
With Yu Qingci guarding Song Yingyue’s side, approaching her wouldn’t be easy. Right now, the only option was to find an opening through the male lead instead.
As Tong Huanyou thought this over, there was still one more extremely important matter.
Tong Huanyou: System, System!
【System: I’m here, Host.】
Tong Huanyou: Can you store things?
【System: What would Host like to store?】
Tong Huanyou: The bank drafts Father gave me. I’m afraid I’ll accidentally lose them later and end up broke.
【System: …Yes, Host.】
The bank drafts in her arms instantly transformed into streams of electronic code and vanished.
Tong Huanyou nodded in satisfaction.
Good. Problem solved. You may go now.
【System: …Understood, Host.】
After leaving the Tong residence—
Tong Huanyou stood before the bustling streets. She got some medicine from the system to stop the bleeding, quickly bandaged her neck, then wrapped gauze around it.
After asking around for Xie Zhili’s whereabouts, she jogged toward the horse market in the southern district.
The marketplace teemed with people. The neighing of horses, the shouts of merchants, and the haggling of buyers blended together into a lively uproar.
Tong Huanyou squeezed her way through the crowd with difficulty, her eyes anxiously searching for Xie Zhili’s figure.