Chapter 106: 94. The first encounter with Jing Lixue was like a startling swan.
A gentle breeze wafted in the overcast sky, the girl's tender and pure face tinged with the chill of winter, while the wind and snow howled between her brows.
"I didn't expect you to be this kind of person," she said.
Hearing the girl's icy voice, no longer gentle, a surge of joy sprang up in the heart of the austere young man. He looked at Xu Yuan with a triumphant gaze, as if to say, "See, you've been exposed."
Xu Yuan's face remained calm.
But to the other boy, it was nothing more than a forced facade.
At this moment, Lin Qingque had completely seen Xu Yuan's true colors, and her heart was surely filled with extreme disappointment.
He was very much looking forward to what was going to happen next.
"This brother from the Heavenly Dao Sect..."
Lin Qingque's gaze turned towards him, "Why are you trying to stir up trouble between my senior brother and me?"
"No need to thank..."
Mistaking her as intending to thank him, the boy hurriedly began to speak, but as the words left his mouth, he also heard Lin Qingque's clearly.
He was first stunned, then his eyes widened in disbelief, as if he couldn't fathom this outcome.
In the light drizzling, slanted rain, the girl's delicate figure emitted a coldness that seemed capable of freezing the wind and rain.
And this chill was inexplicably directed at him?
Confusion spread across his face.
The boy didn't understand what he had done wrong.
Why did Lin Qingque, upon hearing Xu Yuan admit his mistake, not only not get angry but actually blame him?
What had he done wrong?
Had she misheard?
"I actually thought of you as my senior brother," she said coldly.
Lin Qingque's cold words pulled him back from his denial.
"Lin, I did this for your own good. Can't you see that he's just coveting your resources?" the boy pleaded urgently.
In his view, she had surely misunderstood.
"You dare to call me 'junior sister'?"
Lin Qingque spoke with icy disdain, "As for resources? Everything I have belongs to senior brother. Not to mention resources, even if I were to give him my life, what of it? The matters between me and senior brother are not for outsiders to comment on."
"Xu Yuan! What kind of love potion have you fed to Lin?"
The boy's face swelled with uncontrollable rage as he suddenly turned to Xu Yuan.
He couldn't believe, couldn't reconcile what he saw and heard.
Even though he had exposed Xu Yuan's true nature, why...
"Senior brother, aren't you meddling a bit too much?"
Lin Qingque's eyes narrowed, and a bone-chilling aura immediately enveloped the other person.
In that moment, the boy felt a genuine, icy murderous intent penetrating his marrow, causing him to shiver uncontrollably.
He stood there, stunned.
This was the first time he had felt fear.
And this fear was actually coming from the junior sister he admired?
"Senior brother, let's go," she said.
Seeing that he remained silent, Lin Qingque's mood shifted from gloomy to affectionate. She turned to the young man beside her, flashing a brilliant and stunning smile.
After casting a pitiful glance at the other boy, whose faith had seemed to collapse and who still bore an expression of disbelief, Xu Yuan stopped paying him any attention.
With no woman in his heart, drawing his sword came naturally.
He couldn't even understand this principle.
Watching the departing figures of the two, the boy clenched his fists silently, as if a million needles were pricking his heart.
He could not allow anyone to delay his junior sister Lin!
...
"Didn't you go after Senior Sister Lan and the others? Why have you come back?" Xu Yuan asked, glancing at Lin Qingque, who was clinging to his arm, refusing to let go.
"Am I not worried about you?" Lin Qingque chirped with a smile.
"I've always thought there was something off about the way he looked at me, and it turns out... he had that kind of motive," she said, hugging Xu Yuan's arm and snorting, "Senior brother, look at me, then look at you, okay?"
"What's wrong with me?" Xu Yuan asked, already harboring a guess in his mind.
Given Lin Qingque's sensitivity to people's intentions, how could she not have noticed the other person's thoughts?
"You better not be like those who eat what's in the bowl and still eye what's in the pot," Lin Qingque chided lightly, "Otherwise, one day if I change my mind, you won't even know where to cry, will you?"
So, was this her way of saying he should be more aware of the dangers?
Xu Yuan sighed to himself with a wry smile.
It wasn't that her abilities and thought processes were too intimidating; an unintentional thought, even one he was not aware of himself, could upset her.
If Lin Qingque really was as transparent as she seemed, he wouldn't mind giving real affection a try, and incidentally exploring what love is all about.
After all, lack of love was the reason he started playing this game in the first place.
"My heart has always only had room for you," he said.
Of course, despite his inner thoughts, Xu Yuan wouldn't be foolish enough to miss such an opportunity.
"As for others, I don't really entertain many thoughts," he continued.
Your journey continues with empire
"Really? Then how about a reward with a kiss?" before Xu Yuan could respond, she tiptoed up and kissed him.
And this scene was just witnessed by the boy from the Heavenly Dao Sect who had followed them.
He felt as though he had been cuckolded right in front of his eyes, and his face instantly turned deathly pale.
Even though his acquaintance with her had not lasted long, he sincerely thought that even if she could not be with him, she deserved a better fate than to waste herself on someone like him.
Surely, it must have been his face that had bewitched her?
A crazed idea suddenly emerged in his mind.