Lian Li froze, looking down at his hand gripping Yun Huizhou’s. He suddenly remembered that he had only gone to wash his hands because that man surnamed Wang had touched him. Now that he was grabbing Yun Huizhou’s hand and Yun Huizhou mentioned washing up, was he teasing him or was he disgusted by him?
Consequently, he slapped Yun Huizhou’s hand hard, leaving a red mark, and asked, “What? Do you want to wash your hands now because I grabbed you?”
“No,” Yun Huizhou frowned and denied in a low voice. “I was asking you—you wanted to wash your hands earlier because someone touched you. Now that you’re grabbing my hand, will you want to wash yours again?”
Realizing that was what he meant and that he wasn’t disgusted by him, Lian Li’s tone softened slightly.
He lightly poked the reddened spot on the back of Yun Huizhou’s hand and said, “You are you, and he is he. How could you compare yourself to that dumbass?”
The tension in Yun Huizhou’s brows had just begun to unfurl when he heard Lian Li’s next words: “I’m not some kind of sick person. How could I want to wash my hands every time someone touches them? This time was a total fluke, purely because that guy was such a dumbass.”
Yun Huizhou’s face fell again. Oh. So he received the same treatment as any other person who wasn’t a dumbass.
They rested in Yucheng for a few days, and Lian Li was surprised to find that Yun Huizhou seemed to be sulking with him.
Usually, even though they booked two separate rooms at the inn, they would huddle in the same room to eat. Sometimes at night, Yun Huizhou would even take him out to catch some wild game for an extra meal.
But these past few days, that had completely stopped.
There were no more extra meals, and they both ate in the inn’s lobby. Even if they ordered food to the rooms, Yun Huizhou had the waiter split it into two portions and deliver them to their respective rooms.
This abnormal behavior left Lian Li completely bewildered.
The last time he himself had sulked, Yun Huizhou was able to suppress him with superior martial prowess, giving him a sound thrashing. Afterward, because of the Su Family matter, there was no time to dwell on it, leaving Lian Li with no chance to maintain a cold war.
But things were different now. Yun Huizhou was the one sulking, and Lian Li’s martial strength wasn’t enough to suppress him. Furthermore, there were no urgent matters to attend to; they were both idle.
Yun Huizhou had all the time in the world to sulk with him.
Lian Li was puzzled, but fortunately, this situation did not last long.
This month’s new issue of the Jianghu Anecdotes had been released.
Lian Li noticed that whenever they ate in the inn’s lobby, they were constantly subjected to many strange looks.
There was no malice, but people just kept staring.
Lian Li was extremely curious. He circulated his internal energy to eavesdrop on a table of people who had been staring at him and Yun Huizhou and were now whispering.
“Are those the two mentioned in the Jianghu Anecdotes?”
“Should be. One uses a whip and the other a blade, and the descriptions of their looks match.”
“I checked the Beauty Ranking; it’s definitely them.”
“Is that so? I couldn’t tell, but looking at their appearances, it’s not that surprising.”
The conversation at that table was vague, but Lian Li knew they were discussing him and Yun Huizhou.
He lowered his head and took a mouthful of rice, thinking he could use this discussion as an excuse to talk to Yun Huizhou. As long as they started a conversation and broke the ice, Yun Huizhou would probably stop sulking.
Thus, he quickly finished the food in his bowl and then covered the top of the bowl with his palm, preventing Yun Huizhou from placing any more food in it.
Yun Huizhou’s movements paused, and he moved the food back to his own bowl.
Lian Li looked left and right, then kicked Yun Huizhou under the table.
Yun Huizhou looked up at him, devoid of emotion and saying nothing.
Lian Li hated this about him; the man was too good at hiding his feelings. Whenever he didn’t want Lian Li to see anything, he wore that same deadpan face.
“Did you hear what they were saying?” Lian Li asked.
Yun Huizhou gave a small nod, then lowered his eyes and continued eating without a word.
Lian Li was frustrated and kicked him again, saying, “Do you know what they’re talking about? It seems to be related to us.”
This time, Yun Huizhou gave a reaction. He said, “I don’t know.”
Lian Li: “…”
Lian Li didn’t want to talk anymore either. He just gave him two more hard kicks. Regardless, the man had profound internal energy protecting his body; he wouldn’t be injured by a few kicks.
Having taken those two kicks, Yun Huizhou realized Lian Li was angry and finally spoke again. “Perhaps we’ll know if we buy a copy of the Jianghu Anecdotes.”
“Fine.” Lian Li stood up and said petulantly, “Eat slowly. I’m going to buy the paper.”
With that, he turned and left the inn.
He found a young street peddler and bought a copy. He originally wanted to open it and look right then and there, but then he thought of Yun Huizhou, who had been out of sorts lately.
After some thought, he decided to take it back and read it with him.
Even though Yun Huizhou’s “rebellious phase” had come quite suddenly, Lian Li felt he had an obligation to offer some guidance, considering Yun Huizhou had been the person closest and kindest to him since he arrived in this world.
After all, when he was sulking before, Yun Huizhou had guided him too.
Even if Yun Huizhou’s so-called “guidance” involved spanking his backside.
Carrying the paper back to the inn, he went straight into Yun Huizhou’s room. He saw Yun Huizhou sitting by the table, staring at the Beauty Ranking booklet spread out before him, lost in thought.
Lian Li walked over and snatched that troublesome booklet away.
After all, Yun Huizhou had started acting strange right after that guy surnamed Wang had looked at the Beauty Ranking and come to cause trouble.
Now, the more he looked at that booklet, the more it annoyed him.
“Look at the paper.” Lian Li unfurled the rolled-up publication and asked Yun Huizhou, “Do you want to read it yourself, or should I read it to you?”
Yun Huizhou didn’t answer, merely staring at Lian Li.
Lian Li’s lip twitched. “Fine, I’ll read it to you. Let me find it… let’s see where they wrote about us.”
Lian Li flipped through the purchased paper and finally found a page. “Found it.”
“At Yucheng’s Yuelai Restaurant, Young Master Wang of Linjiu City and the Senior and Junior Brothers of Drunken Dream Island Fight Violently for Love.”
After reading the headline, Lian Li hadn’t yet realized the gravity of the situation. He let out a “Yo-ho” and said, “This headline actually has a bit of the flair I used when writing storybooks. Let me see how they made this up, and which ‘love’ we and Young Master Wang were fighting over.”
Yun Huizhou also perked up a bit, sitting up straight to listen as Lian Li continued reading.
[Young Master Wang smiled thinly and said: “Fair is the gentleman, a fit mate for the lord. By what right do you, Yun Huizhou, stop me from professing my love to Young Master Lian?”]
Lian Li read this sentence with a face full of confusion, then looked at Yun Huizhou.
Yun Huizhou propped his face up with his hand and said, “Although it’s different from what’s written here, they didn’t get it wrong. I did indeed kick him out to stop his next move.”
Lian Li nodded in understanding. After all, the written version and the actual version were bound to have some differences.
So, he continued reading.
