CHAPTER 77

Little Do You Know

"Name the mastermind behind you." Su Yan looked down indifferently at the panicked girl with a wolf's tail. A crimson sword had already appeared in her hand, its blade pressed steadily against the girl's neck in a silent threat, with no promise of mercy should she confess.

The girl lowered her head, letting her bangs obscure the inscrutable look in her eyes. After a moment of apparent thought, she deflected with a question instead: "My master is no small figure. His influence spans a hundred miles in every direction. You two are just outsiders, are you sure you can handle him?"

As she lowered her head, she caught a fleeting glimpse of murderous intent in Su Yan's eyes but pretended not to notice.

Su Yan sneered coldly without replying, pressing the blade slightly deeper. A small cut appeared on the girl's neck, beading with drops of bl0od.

Seeing the tense atmosphere between them, which seemed on the verge of turning into a human-versus-beast interrogation scene reminiscent of Liu Hulan, Tong Tong quickly interjected, "I have a question!"

Su Yan's grip on the sword remained steady as she glanced over. "Speak."

"Little friend, you said you're a half-beast, right?" Tong Tong, now emboldened since the girl was under Su Yan's control, scooted over from the inner side of the bed. She playfully tugged at the girl's pointed ears and asked curiously, "So what's the other half of your bl0odline?"

'Though it seems similar, it probably isn't a fox, right? The fox fairies in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio are all so beautiful, aren't they?'

"Jackal," the girl pursed her lips, answering the question she'd rather not share, sensing the blade pressing down further.

"Oh, I get it now!" Tong Tong nodded solemnly, putting on an air of "I understand everything" and "I know it all."

'Jackal, based on the literal interpretation, must be a hybrid descendant of a fox and a wolf, kind of like a mule, right?'

'Doesn't that mean this girl has an extremely complex bl0odline?'

'But it seems like her genes leaned more toward the wolf side during selection! She didn't inherit much of the fox's charm. What a pity...'

Seeing the girl fall silent again after answering, her expression stubbornly non-resistant, Tong Tong feared Su Yan might accidentally k!ll her in a moment of anger. She rolled her eyes, puffed out her chest, and proudly boasted, "Do you know who we are?"

Both the girl and Su Yan turned to look at her, awaiting her next words. The former's eyes flickered with a glimmer of light, while the latter furrowed her brows slightly.

Delighted that her words had piqued their interest, Tong Tong's pride showed plainly on her face. "My humble wife... no, my worthless husband... ahem, well... we're renowned figures in the cultivation world! Just hearing our names would scare you to death!" Noticing Su Yan's subtle gaze, Tong Tong's heart skipped a beat. She quickly changed the subject, laughing awkwardly and avoiding eye contact: 'Oops, spoke too fast!'

"Hmph." Su Yan glanced at Tong Tong with a half-smile, pressing the blade down once more.

"Mmm..." The wolf-tailed girl, who had been listening intently, winced as a sharp pain shot through her neck. She shot a resentful glare at the troublemaker who had dragged her into this but, upon meeting the cold, angry gaze of the one who had unjustly taken it out on her, quickly lowered her eyelids, swallowing her anger: 'A wise person knows when to yield.'

"Uh, ahem, hey, don't ask who I am, you wouldn't know anyway! Just look at you, a kid from some remote mountain village. What kind of world have you seen? What notable figures could you possibly know?" Tong Tong's embarrassment lasted only a moment before she regained her spirited demeanor, determined to show this girl just how vast the world truly was. "Ever heard of Feng Xifan, the one who seals throats with a single sword? Or Tian Boguang, the lone wanderer of ten thousand miles?"

'Characters from Master Jin's works, no way you'd know them!'

The girl stared blankly, her eyes filled with confusion, while Su Yan gave Tong Tong an inscrutable glance.

Tong Tong took both their looks as admiration and praise, accepting them wholeheartedly and growing even more enthusiastic. "How about Li Mochou, the Red-Scarfed Fairy? Or Dai Qisi, the Purple-Robed Dragon King?"

'What a shame, even I've never had the chance to meet these two great beauties!'

The wolf-tailed girl clenched the hem of her clothes tightly, biting her lip in silence: Who were these people she mentioned? She truly had no idea... It seemed these two were indeed figures of great importance, which made her hopes for what came next even stronger!

Meanwhile, Su Yan's eyes grew icy, first a fairy, then a dragon king, all sounding like women's names. She had no idea this foolish girl actually knew so many "bosom friends"!

"In short, to sum it all up, I have a huge background and I'm not afraid of your boss at all, so hurry up and tell me who the jerk that sent you here is!" Tong Tong roared, gathering her energy.

The girl suddenly lifted her lowered head. "I'll tell you!" A fleeting glint of calculation flashed in her eyes, too quick to catch. "The one who forced me to come is my master! He has over a dozen other half-beasts under his command."

"Hmm?" Su Yan's brows furrowed slightly, and the sword pressing against the girl loosened a little.

"His public identity is the village chief of Niutou Village, Liang Shoucai!" As the last three words left her lips, the girl suddenly sprang into action. She tilted her head to dodge the sword's edge, flung a handful of powder, and leaped up, pushing off a bedpost to propel herself toward the window.

At that moment, Su Yan's attack was about to land, and the girl's momentum was waning. It seemed she was about to meet a bl0ody end, but at the critical moment, she unleashed astonishing potential. Twisting her waist at an impossible angle, she braced herself against the sword's edge, using the powerful force of the blade to rebound like an arrow shot from a bow. She crashed through the window and escaped the room.

A flicker of anger rose in Su Yan's heart: No one had ever dared to toy with her like this! And no one had ever escaped so easily from her grasp!

She was about to give chase when she heard Tong Tong coughing behind her. "Cough, cough... what is this stuff? It... it's not knockout powder, is it?"

Recalling scenes often shown on TV, Tong Tong grew more certain.

Sitting down by the bed, she held her breath and waited for the drug to take effect...

Unexpectedly, her consciousness didn't blur but grew clearer instead. With each breath, a warm sensation seemed to gather in her chest, clogging the narrow passage and making it suddenly difficult to breathe smoothly.

Her cheeks flushed from a healthy pink to a deep crimson, her eyes shimmering like water, yet an uncontrollable excitement rose within them, as if a restless heat was burning from deep inside.

'D@mn! This doesn't feel right! Why does it feel like I've taken stimulants?'

'Could it be that this wasn't knockout powder but the legendary, universally infamous bane of respectable women—aphrodisiacs?'

'Do I really have to be this unlucky?!'

Before Tong Tong could finish her grumbling, Su Yan, noticing her unusual state, abandoned the thought of pursuit and turned back to the bedside. Bending down, she wrapped an arm around her shoulder and asked with concern, "What's wrong?" The barrier she had just cast was only effective within the bed, it was all because this silly girl couldn't stay still and had rolled out of bed, falling victim to it.

Tong Tong didn't quite catch what Su Yan said, only feeling his voice as gentle as flowing water, like a clear stream trickling into her heart, soothing the restlessness within.

Before her was an exquisite face, even more enchanting and radiant under the warm light, with an extraordinary grace. The concern in his dark pupils stirred something in her heart. Before her mind could catch up with her actions, she had already hooked her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his.

"Mm." With a soft sound, she was momentarily stunned before immersing herself in the delightful sensation on her lips, unable to snap out of it.

Tong Tong felt as though she were holding two pieces of cotton candy, soft to the extreme and sweet to the extreme. After a few licks and nuzzles, she couldn't resist slipping her tongue inside.

The sweet, soft cotton candy transformed into a chocolate truffle. Peeling back the layers of sweet coating revealed a smooth, heartwarming filling. She sucked on the fragrant, silky center, her tongue constantly swirling and grinding against it, wishing she could swallow the soft sweetness whole.

Yet no matter how hard she sucked, the delicious filling remained firmly in place, even showing a hint of evasion. She could taste the sweet nectar but couldn't reach its source.

Frustrated, Tong Tong no longer cared for the sweetness of the filling. She opened her mouth and bit down, wanting to swallow it whole and claim it as her own forever!

"Ah!" A muffled groan sounded, and the sweetness in her mouth gradually faded, replaced by a metallic, bitter taste.

A sharp pain shot through Tong Tong's forehead as a pill was fed into her mouth. It dissolved instantly, swiftly gathering her scattered and dazed consciousness.

Shaking her head, she focused her gaze and was immediately startled: "S-S-Senior Brother, y-you..."

The rest of her words were choked back by Su Yan's icy glare, unable to escape her lips.

Could someone tell her if this person, whose eyes were soft as silk, rippling with spring-like waves, and whose face looked like that of a gentle girl who had just been favored, yet insisted on wearing a cold, indifferent, and impatient expression, was really her stoic senior brother and not possessed by something else?

And why was Su Yan's lip bitten and bleeding?

His red lips looked even more enticing... Ugh, what was she thinking!

Tong Tong's gaze wavered, and she turned her head to scold herself, but her eyes inevitably drifted back to Su Yan's face.

'Huh? The person being stared at with such anger and hidden murderous intent... seemed to be her!'

'Could it be... perhaps... that the "snack" she had just bitten into was Su Yan's lip?!'

'Oh heavens, oh earth! Send down a bolt of lightning to strike me dead before Su Yan takes action!'

Tong Tong swallowed hard, kneeling on the bed and lowering her head to fiddle with the bedsheet as if studying the embroidered patterns.

Su Yan stood silently by the bedside, his gaze cold and distant, as if looking at her yet seeing nothing at all. Her expression was unreadable, impossible to decipher.

'Was he unhappy? Or unhappy? Or extremely unhappy?'

Seeing his calm demeanor, Tong Tong, after suppressing her thoughts for a long time, finally mustered the courage to lift her head. Stiffening her neck, she declared, "Senior Brother, don't be sad anymore! I... I'll take responsibility for you!"

'Oh dear, is it finally time to bid farewell to my long-held title of single nobility? I'm feeling a bit reluctant!'

'But ancient people seem to take matters of reputation very seriously, just touching someone's arm could lead to marriage, and I've already kissed him. That's an even more serious offense!'

'What if he becomes so distressed that he takes his own life to prove his innocence? So, we really have no choice but to be together!'

Tong Tong rested her chin on her hand, pretending to sigh in distress, yet a faint, shy smile couldn't help but spread across her face.

'Wait, hold on a second. It seems like I'm the woman here, right?'

Tong Tong glanced down at herself, then looked up to take in Su Yan's handsome and refined appearance. She silently swallowed the bitter lump in her throat: 'Alright, even if I'm the woman, it still seems like Su Yan is the one at a disadvantage here... Oh, what a painful realization!'

Hearing Tong Tong's hesitant words, Su Yan lifted her gaze to look at her, her expression deep and inscrutable, only she knew the faint traces of joy slowly welling up in her heart.

Just as she was about to speak, Tong Tong earnestly assured her, "Don't worry, the husband handles external affairs, the wife manages the household. From now on, everything in our home will be decided by you!" After a moment's thought, Tong Tong added, "Hmm, but we shouldn't have too many children, that would be too troublesome... Let's just have two! One boy and one girl, a perfect pair!"

Su Yan found her words amusing, but her heart gradually sank: She still preferred men and longed for the ordinary life of a woman, tending to her husband and raising children—something she couldn't give her.

Raising a hand to cut Tong Tong off, Su Yan flicked her sleeve to extinguish the oil lamp, turned to the inner side of the bed, and lay down with her back to her, her attitude cold and distant.

Tong Tong was plunged into darkness, sensing the chill emanating from beside her, yet she continued speaking softly, as if afraid of disturbing him: "Even if your injuries don't heal and you can't have children, it's fine, we can adopt. If you..."

"Go to sleep," Su Yan said coldly. "I'm tired."

'Tired at heart.'

Tong Tong obediently fell silent, masking the disappointment in her eyes as she tightly hugged the quilt to her chest.

The room fell into silence.

'Even if you're a woman, it's fine...'

She pouted resentfully, closed her eyes, and silently added the words in her heart.

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