Chapter 185: The New Portrait

But he certainly couldn’t say that outright, so he made himself look as righteous as possible. “The rabbit mask suits you! Look at how exquisite and beautiful this little rabbit is. You’ll definitely look very special wearing it.”

Yun Huizhou took the rabbit mask into his hand and stared at Lian Li.

His expression was neutral, but there was a hint of a smile in his eyes, as if he had seen through Lian Li’s little scheme.

Although Lian Li was sometimes as shrewd as a little fox, Yun Huizhou felt that this person was actually a little rabbit. Every time they reached a new place, he would huddle by his side, cautiously scanning his surroundings. Even the slightest unusual noise could startle him.

And yet, even though he was clearly startled every time, he would still pretend as if nothing had happened, while in reality, his mind was already calculating where to “flee.”

Feeling guilty under Yun Huizhou’s gaze and fearing that Yun Huizhou might forcibly take the fox mask and swap it for the rabbit one, Lian Li raised his hand and put the fox mask on immediately.

Then, he snatched the rabbit mask back from Yun Huizhou’s hand and said in a well-behaved tone, “Let me put it on for you.”

Yun Huizhou gave an “Mhm” and didn’t move.

Lian Li took a small step forward and raised his hand.

He realized that Yun Huizhou seemed to have grown a bit taller again. Previously, the top of his head reached just above Yun Huizhou’s eyes, but now it seemed he only reached the bridge of his nose.

“Lower your head a bit, it’s hard to put on.”

Yun Huizhou lowered his head, but he still stood perfectly straight.

Lian Li: “…”

Lian Li curled his lip, then had no choice but to stand slightly on his tiptoes to put the mask on Yun Huizhou.

Just as he finished putting it on, Yun Huizhou’s head suddenly tilted forward and gave him a gentle bump.

Lian Li was stunned. He thought Yun Huizhou was going to kiss him right there in the street. Just as he was debating whether to refuse or give him a shallow kiss and then run away, he realized he was overthinking it.

Yun Huizhou had simply bumped into him.

He used the forehead of the rabbit mask to bump the forehead of the fox mask.

It wasn’t heavy, but Lian Li was on his tiptoes and caught off guard. The bump forced him to take a step back to maintain his balance.

Yun Huizhou didn’t give him the chance to retreat; immediately after the bump, he reached out to steady him.

Just as Lian Li was about to condemn Yun Huizhou for bumping him for no reason, Yun Huizhou spoke first: “That was for making me wear the rabbit mask.”

Lian Li: “…”

Fine then.

Once their faces were covered by the masks, the number of people looking at them indeed decreased, and those wanting to strike up a conversation vanished entirely.

The two of them felt much more at peace, which was perfect for properly browsing the lantern fair.

At a lantern fair, the most common items were naturally lanterns. After browsing for a short while, Yun Huizhou was already carrying four or five lanterns in his hands. Most were shaped like small animals; very few were shaped like flowers or buildings.

Yun Huizhou knew that Lian Li liked small animals very much. The place where the West Island Lord lived also housed quite a few pets.

Every time Lian Li went to the West Island, he would play with the little pets raised by the West Island Lord.

The two of them continued browsing until the lantern fair ended. Yun Huizhou’s hands were piled high with items, and Lian Li was carrying quite a few as well.

When they returned to the inn, Lian Li looked at the items he had bought; there were so many that the table couldn’t hold them all, and many had to be placed on the floor by Yun Huizhou.

“I think I might have bought a bit too much.”

“It’s alright, it’s not that much,” Yun Huizhou said as he organized the items. “We can just ship them back.”

He pulled the rabbit mask out from the pile of things and tucked it into the bundle he carried with him.

Seeing his actions, Lian Li’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. He then fished out his own fox mask and placed it into his own travel bundle as well.

Early the next morning, Yun Huizhou found someone to pack all the items they had bought into crates to be shipped back. The room finally felt spacious again.

The two of them stayed in Linjiu City for another seven days. They had eaten their way through all the famous restaurants in the city, and finally, the latest Beauty Ranking was released.

Lian Li sat primly on a stool, his chin slightly tilted, looking somewhat haughty.

He said to Yun Huizhou, “I am now dispatching you to go out and buy a copy of the Beauty Ranking pamphlet for the eleventh-ranked beauty.”

Seeing him like this, Yun Huizhou grabbed him, pinned him to the bed, and gave him a vigorous ruffling.

“Ah! Let go of me! You’ve messed up the hair I worked so hard to tie!” Lian Li struggled, kicking and punching. “My clothes are catching on my neck, let go of me quickly!”

Yun Huizhou didn’t let go until Lian Li was shouting from the ruffling. Fearing that Lian Li would get up to hit him, he opened the door and left the moment he released him.

Lian Li jumped off the bed to chase after him, but Yun Huizhou was quick and shut the door in an instant. By the time Lian Li opened the door again, Yun Huizhou was nowhere to be seen.

Lian Li gave a heavy huff, then closed the door and returned to the table by the bed to tidy his clothes and the hair that Yun Huizhou had turned into a mess.

Yun Huizhou returned very quickly. Lian Li impatiently took the Beauty Ranking from his hand and flipped to the page for the eleventh rank.

What met his eyes was a lifelike portrait.

“Eh? This is a new portrait?” Lian Li picked up the pamphlet and turned it toward Yun Huizhou. “Look, this time it’s actually two portraits in male clothing. There isn’t a single one in female clothing.”

Yun Huizhou looked where Lian Li was pointing and saw that the portraits depicted Lian Li exactly as he had looked during the martial arts competition a few days ago.

One showed him with his bamboo hat half-removed, just revealing his eyes. The other showed him after the match had ended, standing in place and posing with a cold, aloof aura; even the visual effects created by his internal energy had been painted one by one.

“I feel like this painting is better than the last one.” Lian Li wasn’t much of an art critic, but the difference between this portrait and the previous one was far too obvious.

The last one had actually been very well-painted too, but this one possessed an extra touch of vividness.

Yun Huizhou took the pamphlet and flipped through it from beginning to end. He spoke up, “These two portraits of yours look like they were painted by the same artist who did the top ten.”

After saying this, Yun Huizhou seemed to think of something. He searched through his bundle, found the previous Beauty Ranking pamphlet, and flipped to the eleventh rank.

Lian Li didn’t know what he was doing and hurriedly leaned in to look.

Yun Huizhou turned his head and saw Lian Li standing behind him, hands resting on his shoulders, looking on eagerly.

He tilted his body slightly, leaned toward Lian Li’s face, and stole a kiss.

Lian Li instinctively shrank his neck, then stared at him with wide, surprised eyes. “You launched a sneak attack! You have no martial virtue!”

Yun Huizhou chuckled, then held the previous Beauty Ranking pamphlet in front of Lian Li and said, “Look at this one.”

“What’s wrong with this one?” Lian Li was puzzled.

He had studied the previous Beauty Ranking pamphlet inside and out for a long time and hadn’t seen anything strange.

Yun Huizhou pointed at the eleventh rank in the old book and said, “The portrait for the previous eleventh rank and your current portrait were not painted by the same person.”

Lian Li looked up at Yun Huizhou, still wearing a look of confusion. He didn’t understand why Yun Huizhou was mentioning this.