Damn it!!!

Yin Yin felt like the unluckiest person alive! Even just watching a commotion nearly cost her life!

Had she known earlier, she would’ve stood farther away!

Ling Long turned around, his gaze cold as he looked at Jia Renyi, his expression clearly displeased.

Jia Renyi raised his eyebrows and smiled. “So you do have other expressions. I was actually thinking of having Qingqing treat you.”

Jia Qing’s face instantly darkened. “Say that again, I dare you?”

Jia Renyi pretended to be frightened. “Ah! Qingqing is scaring me! So terrifying!”

Screw you!

Even though she was currently under someone else’s mercy, Yin Yin still managed to roll her eyes with great effort.

You’re the one who needs treatment, Senior!

Jia Renyi happened to catch that eye-roll. He grinned and said to her, “You look like you’ve got something to say?”

Yin Yin’s heart trembled slightly. Then, through clenched teeth, she squeezed out a broken sentence, “Senior…… aren’t you tired……? Maybe……. you should switch hands…….”

Jia Renyi still smiled pleasantly. “I’m not tired~”

Oh come on, seriously?!

Yin Yin cursed every single ancestor of Jia Renyi’s in her heart.

Just then, a light breeze swept past. Ling Long, who had just been standing in front of Jia Renyi and Yin Yin, had vanished.

Jia Renyi’s brows furrowed. An icy killing intent shot toward his back like a cold arrow. Just as he was about to turn and defend himself, he felt a sharp pain slam into his right shoulder. The stabbing ache instantly caused him to lose his grip.

Yin Yin felt the hand that had been choking her neck suddenly loosen. Without a second thought, she used all her strength to break free from Jia Renyi’s restraint and darted behind Jia Qing, coughing violently as she clutched her neck.

Jia Renyi, rubbing his aching shoulder, turned around to see Ling Long standing silently behind him, cold as ice.

“Tsk, you really didn’t hold back. I was just joking with you. Was there any need to get so mad?”

Ling Long glanced at Yin Yin, now freed from Jia Renyi’s hold, and his expression softened slightly. “I don’t like jokes. Especially not that kind.”

Jia Renyi gave him a glance and clicked his tongue in boredom.

Ling Long stepped up to Yin Yin. With two fingers, he gently lifted her chin, inspecting her neck.

Two very clear finger marks made the anger he had just calmed surge again.

Jia Qing also saw the bruises on Yin Yin’s neck. “It’s nothing serious. Just apply some medicine to improve circulation and reduce bruising.”

Improve circulation and reduce bruising! Again?!

What grudge do I owe that phrase from my past life that it keeps haunting me in this one?!

Yin Yin felt like howling at the sky.

“Are you alright?” Ling Long asked.

“……I’m fine.” Yin Yin shook her head. Her big eyes were misty from the violent coughing, slightly red at the corners. She looked just like a frightened little rabbit— so delicate and pitiful.

Ling Long instinctively reached out and patted her head to comfort her.

Yin Yin’s body immediately froze in place. T-this…… what was going on?!

Her crush just patted her head! Her crush actually patted her head!

Right now, Yin Yin just wanted to break into a wild rendition of 《Disturbed^[1]by Gong Linna》.

Du Qianqian saw the entire interaction between Ling Long and Yin Yin.

Why? Why was everything so different after she reincarnated?

Yin Yin seemed like a completely different person. Though she hadn’t openly competed with Du Qianqian, somehow, she had managed to draw closer to Ling Long and push Du Qianqian aside.

Du Qianqian had to admit that Yin Yin’s tactics were far more subtle than in her past life. She had thought that, with her knowledge of past events, she could easily win Ling Long’s heart. But now, Yin Yin was proving to be a much tougher opponent than she had expected.

Sang Ze also rushed over, not wanting to be outdone by anyone, fussing over Yin Yin— though the ‘anyone’ here clearly referred to Ling Long.

Yin Yin glanced at Jia Renyi, who was standing off to the side looking a bit sulky, and said, “Senior, the fight’s over. Can you answer our question now?”

Jia Renyi snorted and turned to stare at the sky.

Yin Yin: “……”

She thought the other party’s emotional intelligence was stuck at five years old.

Thinking about it now, she realized Jia Renyi actually looked really young. By age, he should be in his forties, right? Yet there wasn’t a single white hair, and his skin was so well maintained that not even a wrinkle showed. His whole face looked like a baby’s. Rather than being Jia Qing’s master, he looked more like his older brother.

Did his cultivation reverse aging or what?

“Master.” Jia Qing’s voice carried a subtle note of warning.

Jia Renyi’s mouth twitched. Frowning, he turned to Ling Long and said, “You. Come with me.”

Ling Long thought for a moment, then lifted his foot to follow Jia Renyi out of Yinyue Pavilion.

But as soon as they stepped outside, Jia Renyi halted again. “That little girl— yes, you. Come along too.”

Yin Yin blinked in confusion, but followed them out anyway.

The two of them trailed Jia Renyi through several twists and turns until they finally stopped in front of a place called Cangxing Pavilion.

“Senior, the baby girl you abducted from Prince Luo Manor seventeen years ago— where is she now?” Ling Long asked directly as they entered.

The mention of Prince Luo made Jia Renyi’s face twist with a strange, somewhat displeased expression.

Yin Yin’s gossip radar perked up. There was definitely something juicy here.

“I was hungry at the time, so I casually left her by the roadside. When I came back with food, she was already gone.” Jia Renyi said, sitting down in a chair and cleaning his ear with a pinky.

……There were too many things wrong with that statement. Yin Yin didn’t even know where to start complaining.

Ling Long continued, “Did you go looking for her?”

“I did.” Jia Renyi said, blowing on his little finger. “I followed the person who took her and saw them enter Yin Manor. Later, I asked around and learned that the one who took her was the master of Yin Manor, Yin Dongjiang.”

Ling Long nodded. It looked like that baby girl was undoubtedly Du Qianqian.

“Thank you, Senior. We’ll take our leave now.” Ling Long turned crisply on his heel.

“Wait a minute!” Yin Yin grabbed Ling Long’s sleeve. That’s it?! You’re just leaving like that?!

Dang it, the real gossip hasn’t even started yet!

Ling Long stared silently at Yin Yin, while Yin Yin raised her right hand in a theatrical cough, fist lightly resting against her lips. “Um, I still have a few questions for Senior Jia.”

“Go ahead.” Jia Renyi replied with an air of welcoming ease.

“Why did you take Du Qianqian away? Uh, I mean, the daughter of Prince Luo?”

Could it really be because Du Qianqian was the daughter of Jia Renyi and the princess consort?

“Because I felt like it.”

Yin Yin: “……”

That reason was so powerful it left no room for argument.

Her eyes rolled slightly before she asked the question she was most curious about, “Don’t tell me…… you actually like the princess consort?”

“Who likes the princess consort?!” Jia Renyi jumped straight out of his chair, looking utterly insulted. “The one I like is Luo Bijin!”

……

Silence. Absolute silence.

Although 《All Splendor Fades》 never mentioned the real name of Prince Luo, this ‘Luo Bijin’ that had suddenly been brought up…… how could it not sound like Prince Luo?

Yin Yin stiffly turned her neck toward Ling Long. “What’s Prince Luo’s full name?”

Ling Long gave her a calm glance and replied flatly, “Luo Bijin.”

Yin Yin: “……”

Jia Renyi still seemed to be fuming and went on grumbling about the princess consort. “I really don’t know what Bijin saw in her! Did she treat him better than I did? Every time she made red bean pastries for me, I gave them to Bijin. When she invited me out to play, I always brought Bijin along. Even when she asked me to take her away from the capital to live in seclusion in the mountains, I brought Bijin too!”

Yin Yin: “……”

Why did it sound more and more like the princess consort actually had feelings for…… Jia Renyi?

What a perfectly messy love triangle this was.  =-=

She suddenly thought the author of 《All Splendor Fades》 might actually be kind of adorable. She really shouldn’t have mocked the author before.

Because right now, all she wanted to do was smash a brick into her own head and die on the spot. Her tombstone would read— ‘Life is always more dramatic than fiction.’

Jia Renyi kept on ranting, “I clearly met Bijin first! And yet he wanted to cut ties with me for that woman!”

……

If he didn’t cut ties with you, did you expect him to share a bed with you or something?

“So you kidnapped their beloved daughter? Just to vent your anger?” Yin Yin looked at Jia Renyi, smiling with wide-eyed sincerity.

“Exactly.” Jia Renyi answered with total confidence. “Later she was picked up by Yin Dongjiang, so it saved me the trouble.”

Outside the room, Du Qianqian, who had secretly followed and eavesdropped, was shaking so hard her knees nearly buckled under her. She almost collapsed to the ground.

Her hand trembled as it covered her mouth, her eyes filled with panic and disbelief.

What had she just heard? She was Prince Luo’s daughter? A firewood girl from Yin Manor was actually a dignified young princess of Prince Luo Manor?!

Du Qianqian panicked and fled Cangxing Pavilion as if her feet were on fire.

There was a faint scattering of footsteps outside the room, loud enough that even Yin Yin noticed.

“That girl who came with you, right? She’s been here from the start.” Jia Renyi glanced toward the door.

Yin Yin looked at him, then said, “Her name is Du Qianqian. She’s the baby girl you kidnapped from Prince Luo Manor years ago.”

“Oh.” Jia Renyi replied indifferently. “Her features do resemble Bijin’s a bit.”

“By the way,” Yin Yin suddenly remembered something, “why did you go to Shigu Town to steal chickens?”

“Because I was hungry.”

Because I was hungry.

Because I was hungry.

……

Hungry, my ass! What happened to your legendary martial arts?! Huh?!

Yin Yin inhaled deeply. “Then why did you kill the livestock too?”

“Because they were too noisy alive.”

Because they were too noisy alive.

Because they were too noisy alive.

……

Jia Renyi had truly mastered the art of shattering people’s worldviews.

“Could you not kill them so violently next time? The villagers thought they’d seen ghosts!”

“Was it violent?” Jia Renyi tilted his head. “I thought it was quite mild. Compared to the people I’ve killed, I was gentle with them.”

The last drop of blood in Yin Yin’s HP bar was drained by that single sentence.

“Honestly, this wasn’t my fault, but Qingqing’s.” Jia Renyi said shamelessly, shifting all blame to Jia Qing. “If he hadn’t refused to train in martial arts, I wouldn’t have gone on a hunger strike. But by nightfall, I was truly starving. I had no choice but to sneak down the mountain and steal from the villagers.”

There were too many truths in this world— ones you’d be better off not knowing.

……

I kneel down to you, Senior.