However, the time he had spent practicing martial arts was simply too short. Even if he was naturally gifted, with such a limited amount of time, his martial arts couldn’t possibly reach the first-rate level all at once.
With only a second-rate level of skill, if he were to be swept into the center of the plot, he feared it would be difficult even to protect himself.
Moreover, he was with Yun Huizhou, and his relationship with the male and female leads was quite close. He had even followed them to the Southern Border, becoming more deeply entangled with them. No matter how he looked at it, he didn’t seem like someone who could just stand on the sidelines of the plot.
More importantly, even if he wanted to hide, Yun Huizhou certainly wouldn’t.
The male and female leads were on such good terms with him, and Yun Huizhou was a man of great loyalty. Even if Lian Li managed to spirit him away, if Yun Huizhou heard that the leads were in trouble, he would definitely come back to help.
Lian Li could hide, but Yun Huizhou could not.
Cursing “holy crap” in his heart, Lian Li felt extremely depressed. Usually, when people transmigrated, they had some kind of “Gold Finger,” right? Why didn’t he have a single Gold Finger after crossing over? Instead, he had to worry every day about whether his little life would end within the plot, and on top of that, worry about whether something would happen to Yun Huizhou.
It had been a year already—when would a cheat finally appear to make his martial arts skyrocket instantly!
“What are you thinking about?” Yun Huizhou gave him a flick on the forehead and said, “It’s just one Yuan’er. Jin Manjue’s side can keep an eye on her. Stop dwelling on this matter.”
Lian Li clutched his forehead and glared at Yun Huizhou. Then, he raised his hand and flicked him right back. “Returning it to you.”
Yun Huizhou suddenly scooped Lian Li up and walked toward the bed in the inn.
Lian Li: “!!! What are you doing!?”
“You keep saying you like me, but when Yuan’er came in, you stared at her until you were dazed. If Jin Manjue hadn’t called out to you, who knows how long you would have kept staring. I haven’t even settled that score with you yet, but the moment I give you a little flick, you have to flick me back. You really don’t like me that much, do you?” Yun Huizhou’s tone was incredibly sarcastic and eccentric.
Lian Li was simply speechless. Listen to that!
He had only stared at Yuan’er because he thought it was strange that she wasn’t on the Beauty Rankings or the Great Beauties List. How could Yun Huizhou let his imagination run so wild! Did they have even a shred of trust left in their impure senior-junior brotherly love?
“I didn’t!” Lian Li shouted.
Yun Huizhou stood straight and looked down at him. “See, you admitted it.”
“What did I admit?” Lian Li looked completely bewildered.
“You admitted that you really don’t like me that much,” Yun Huizhou said.
Lian Li: “…”
He finally understood. Yun Huizhou was doing this on purpose. It was because Lian Li had spaced out while looking at Yuan’er earlier, and Yun Huizhou was unhappy about it, but it hadn’t been appropriate to lose his temper while they were discussing serious business.
Now that the business was finished, he was ready to find trouble with him.
Once he figured that out, Lian Li stopped panicking. He flopped onto the bed, limbs spread wide, putting on an expression as if he were about to cry. “I already said I didn’t. You don’t believe me. You really don’t love me.”
This time, it was Yun Huizhou’s turn to be speechless.
But he was only speechless for a moment. Then, with extreme thick-skinned boldness, he pressed down on Lian Li and said, “Then what do you want? How do you want to prove you like me, and how do you want me to prove I love you?”
He instantly pushed the question back to Lian Li.
Lian Li was caught off guard by the question.
After thinking for a while, he said cautiously, “How about this: neither of us proves anything, and we’ll call it even?”
“Ha!” Yun Huizhou burst out laughing. “That’s not how it’s written in your storybooks. Your books are full of things that aren’t suitable for children to see.”
Lian Li: “So, do you want to do something unsuitable for children right now? But I have a duel in three days. If I lose because of this, I’ll definitely sell you out.”
Yun Huizhou: “This matter requires two people. You think you can escape?”
Lian Li stared at him for a good while, then suddenly grabbed Yun Huizhou’s collar, pulled him down, and kissed him directly.
Fearing the man would pull back after just one kiss, Lian Li wrapped his arms tightly around Yun Huizhou’s neck.
Yun Huizhou didn’t try to hide either, taking the opportunity to press down further.
Lian Li didn’t close his eyes; he just stared at Yun Huizhou with his eyes curved in a smile.
Feeling his gaze, Yun Huizhou opened his eyes and pulled back slightly. He looked at Lian Li for a moment, then raised his hand to cover Lian Li’s eyes before kissing him again.
After the two of them messed around for a while, Lian Li remembered that there was still some time before the scheduled duel. He didn’t dare to relax. Thinking that it wasn’t convenient to practice physical moves outside, he could only sit in meditation to practice his internal energy.
To prevent the two of them from constantly sticking together, Lian Li created a boundary line on the bed.
“We’re going to practice and sleep, one person to a side. No crossing this line,” Lian Li said as he crawled to the inner position. “That way, we won’t interfere with each other.”
Yun Huizhou looked at the line Lian Li had specifically made by folding the bedsheet, unable to quite understand Lian Li’s logic.
“When practicing, we sit in place and don’t move anyway. This line makes no difference,” Yun Huizhou said. “And when we’re asleep, who’s going to notice a line?”
“Oh, whatever, it’s the principle of the thing!” Lian Li touched his lips, which were numb from being kissed, while his back was turned to Yun Huizhou. He was suddenly very afraid that the other man’s beastly instincts would take over.
Just now, he really felt like he was being targeted by some predator, about to be eaten.
Although they had been together for a month and it was about time to progress further, there was still the duel to consider!
He would never admit that he had been scared just now—he had chickened out!
Besides, they were still away from home, in an inn. It wasn’t nearly as comfortable as being at home!
Seeing Lian Li huddled in the corner with his back turned, a mischievous smirk curled onto Yun Huizhou’s lips.
He had known for a long time that this kid, no matter how flowery his words or how explicit his storybooks were, didn’t actually dare to do it for real.
Yes, Yun Huizhou had seen through him long ago.
It wasn’t that Lian Li didn’t want to; he was simply afraid.
Yun Huizhou didn’t intend to force him. He was actually quite indifferent toward the matter itself; his main enjoyment came from finding it fun to tease Lian Li.
Seeing this person in a state of both wanting it and being afraid of it made him feel that Lian Li was incredibly cute.
Thus, he approached Lian Li from behind again, resting his chin on Lian Li’s shoulder, and deliberately lowered his voice to say, “Are you sure you want to keep your back to me the whole time?”
He hadn’t meant anything deeper by those words; he was just purely teasing Lian Li so he wouldn’t keep his back turned.
But to Lian Li, whose head was currently filled with “dirty thoughts,” several different positions instantly flashed through his mind.
Lian Li: “!!!”
In an instant, his face and neck turned completely red, and his ears felt burning hot. He didn’t know if it was because Yun Huizhou’s breath was puffing against his ear or if it was just the heat of his own thoughts.
With the two of them so close, Yun Huizhou wasn’t blind; he could naturally see that Lian Li’s face had turned an incredible shade of red in an instant.
However, being so close, he also knew that Lian Li’s body temperature was normal, so he wasn’t sick.
Therefore, he quickly deduced that Lian Li was blushing.
