Chapter 166: Polite Refusal
Xiahou Yanran was talking with those young masters when Xie Tian and his gang of lackeys came walking over with dejected faces.
“Big Sister, the competition is over. Can we not stay here anymore…” Xie Tian said glumly to Xiahou Yanran. If it were up to him, he would have sprouted wings and flown away long ago, but while he could ignore others, he absolutely dared not ignore Xiahou Yanran and leave without saying goodbye.
“Little Tian Tian,” Xiahou Yanran looked at Xie Tian with a giggling smile and said: “Not bad, not bad. This competition was really exciting. You don’t have to shrink into your shell like a turtle anymore.”
“Thanks, Big Sister…” Xie Tian was so depressed he felt like spitting blood. He had gone to great lengths to gather all these people for revenge, to ruthlessly teach Lu Yun a lesson. Not to end up like this, helping Lu Yun gain fame and become the center of attention for all the young ladies…
In the arena, Lu Yun was surrounded airtight by those young ladies. Great Xuan carried on the legacy of Wei and Jin, influenced by the Hu People, revering freedom with open folk customs. Though the great aristocratic families had many rules, without elders present, these young ladies all revealed their true natures…
They cast flirtatious glances, eyeing Lu Yun with scorching gazes. The more they examined him, the more they found his brows, eyes, nose, and mouth all exquisitely flawless, and together perfectly harmonious. Combined with having just witnessed Lu Yun’s heroic bearing, the young ladies practically wanted to swallow him whole.
While staring at Lu Yun, the young ladies chattered nonstop, gossiping and asking all sorts of questions.
“Young Master Lu, are you hurt? You scared me to death just now…”
“Young Master Lu, your martial arts are so good. You have to teach me sometime.”
“Young Master Lu, you’re amazing! I used to admire Brother Cui the most, but now you’re number one!”
Surrounded by this flock of chattering girls, Lu Yun felt fragrances assaulting his nose and his heart racing in panic. He had no idea which question to answer first or where to put his eyes. His flustered appearance made the young ladies laugh uncontrollably, finding him utterly adorable, and their questions grew even more outrageous.
“Young Master Lu, where is your home? Where do you usually like to go play?”
“What kind of girls do you like?”
“Young Master Lu, are you engaged?”
Lu Yun’s face turned beet red from the questions. He desperately wanted to display his movement technique and fly away into thin air, getting as far from these terrifying women as possible.
Fortunately, a crisp voice came to his rescue. “Enough, aren’t you ashamed?”
At that voice, the young ladies immediately behaved, all turning toward the source in unison. They smiled at the red-skirted girl who spoke: “Big Sister, didn’t you just say that if Xie Bo dared to harm a single hair on Young Master Lu, you’d throw him and Xie Tian into the Luo River?”
“I just couldn’t stand Xie Bo bullying the weak with strength,” Xiahou Yanran rolled her eyes at these shameless girls and teased: “You think everyone is like you, unable to tear their eyes away from a handsome guy.”
“Really?” The young ladies burst into giggles, seemingly not believing Big Sister’s words.
“Of course it’s true.” Xiahou Yanran glared fiercely at them, and only then did the young ladies obediently fall silent.
Xiahou Yanran walked up to Lu Yun. Their heights were similar, but girls develop earlier, so Xiahou Yanran seemed quite a bit taller than Lu Yun.
“You’re Lu Yun, right,” Xiahou Yanran sized up Lu Yun, her pretty face carrying her habitual condescending air as she said: “Your martial arts are decent. From now on, hang out with us.”
“…” Lu Yun looked somewhat bewildered at this stunning girl with a roguish face, not knowing how to respond.
“Young Master Lu doesn’t know yet, do you? This is the young lady of the Xiahou Clan.” A young lady eagerly introduced: “Sister Yanran is also our Big Sister!”
“Big Sister…” Lu Yun awkwardly called out, a crow flying through his mind as he wondered what “Big Sister” even meant.
“Alright, since you called me Big Sister.” Xiahou Yanran smiled, her smile sweet and beautiful, her voice pleasant, but her words full of roguish flavor, making it feel awkward. “Then from now on, you’re one of mine. Your business is my business. If Xie Tian dares to trouble you again, I’ll skin him alive!”
“Uh… thanks…” Lu Yun’s mouth twitched as he thought: ‘What does she mean, I’m one of hers?’
“Big Sister says she hasn’t taken a liking to him…” A young lady teased softly.
“Enough,” Xiahou Yanran seemed not to hear the tease and said to the young ladies: “Let’s find a place to feast. It’ll be a celebration for Lu Yun joining us.”
“Great, great!” The young ladies clapped and cheered.
“Uh… sorry, Big Sister…” Lu Yun finally couldn’t hold back and softly said to Xiahou Yanran: “I need to hurry home. My Elder Sister is still waiting anxiously at home.”
Though his words were polite, the refusal was crystal clear.
“Hah!” Those young masters crowded over then, seeing Lu Yun dare to refuse and immediately shouting: “He actually dares not to give Big Sister face!” These were all the ones who had bet with Xie Tian. Seeing their money go down the drain, they hated Lu Yun to the bone and couldn’t let him join up now.
“Ungrateful wretch!” Xie Tian spat hatefully: “Who do you think you are? A dog-stuffed bun that can’t get on the table!”
“Shut your mouth.” Xiahou Yanran glared at Xie Tian, then turned to Lu Yun: “I never force anyone. Since you have things to do, we’ll celebrate another day.” As she spoke, her face was icy cold, seeming genuinely displeased.
“Thanks for understanding, Big Sister.” Lu Yun didn’t care about Xiahou Yanran’s mood—as long as she let him off, he breathed a huge sigh of relief. If Xiahou Yanran had been unreasonable too, he really wouldn’t know how to handle it. With that, Lu Yun bowed all around to the girls and hurried away like he was escaping.
“Young Master Lu is so gentle…” The young ladies gazed dreamily at his retreating back. A petite girl murmured: “Being his sister must be so blissful.”
“You could be his god-sister too.” A nearby young lady said with a weird grin: “Sisters-in-law are better than real sisters.” The young ladies burst into laughter, who knows what they were thinking.
“Big Sister, aren’t you going to control her!” The girl blushed furiously and stomped her foot in protest, naturally drawing even bigger laughs.
Lu Yun had walked far away but could still vaguely hear those laughs. He couldn’t help wiping sweat and sighing: “Uncle Bao said women are tigers, but that’s not entirely true. How could tigers be as scary as women?”
Teased into a panic by the young ladies, Lu Yun completely failed to notice that in the depths of the dense woods behind him, two pairs of eyes had been watching him the whole time.
Once Lu Yun was far away, those two tigers… oh no, the two women even scarier than tigers, revealed themselves.
It was surprisingly the Saintess of Taiping Dao and her personal little maidservant.
“This kid really has some honest charm. He actually said us women are scarier than tigers.” The little maidservant looked in the direction Lu Yun disappeared, muttering softly.
The Saintess chuckled lightly. Her face was veiled in light gauze, revealing only a pair of eyes. But those soul-stirring, limpid eyes alone were enough to drive men under heaven mad. When she appeared as Cui Ninger, though her looks were also delicately pretty and cute, she lacked this captivating allure.
“He’s already gone far away,” the Saintess glanced at her little maidservant whose gaze she couldn’t pull back, “You little fangirl.”
“I am not!” The little maidservant’s pretty face reddened as she retorted: “Miss, speak from your conscience. Who was it that was worried and insisted on coming to back him up?”
“Nonsense.” The Saintess gave her a look and said indifferently: “I wanted to check his martial arts, to see what his background is.”
“So did Miss figure out his background?” The little maidservant quickly composed herself and got back on topic.
The Saintess nodded, somewhat disappointed: “Though he beat Xie Bo, he’s clearly no match for Xiahou Lei.”
“Xiahou Lei is already old, and he indulges in wine and women. His martial arts are probably about the same as Xie Bo’s, right?” The little maidservant said puzzled: “Lu Yun beat Xie Bo without a scratch. Who knows, maybe he could fight Xiahou Lei to a draw…”
