Chapter 31

Paired with those peach blossom eyes, both chillingly cold and full of affection, it was enough to set the imagination racing.

Shen Tingyu came back to his senses and caught the implication.

He thought that this man really did have a bad temper, just as the rumors said.

And he held quite a grudge, too.

He smiled and replied, "You're welcome."

His skin was impressively thick, too.

Earlier, in his room, Xu Qingran had already had the system pour cold water on him to calm him down.

He thought the system had a point: Shen Tingyu was just a tool for him to level up. So now that they had met, all he could see was "max-level Spiritual Pool" written on one side of his face and "lightning ability" on the other.

He instantly felt at peace.

Besides, he had tried putting himself in Shen Tingyu's shoes.

If he had been in Shen Tingyu's position today and encountered the same situation, he probably would have done something similar. If he had been in a bad mood, he might even have hit harder.

After all, one mountain couldn't hold two tigers, unless one was male and the other female.

They were both men, so there wasn't room for them together.

The system quietly reminded him, "A gong and a shou would work too."

"Shut up," Xu Qingran replied. "What part of me looks like a shou?"

The system thought that its esteemed host had transmigrated into an absolute treasure of a shou's body. Every part of him looked the part.

But it didn't dare say so.

Whenever Xu Qingran thought of his ability, he couldn't help feeling happy, so he didn't take issue with the system.

When he turned back to Shen Tingyu, even the smile on his face was a little more genuine.

That alluring smile made Shen Tingyu instinctively wary.

Xu Qingran knowingly asked, "Admiral Shen, what did you want to discuss, going to such lengths to invite me to your home?"

Shen Tingyu was silent for a moment. Then he pulled an elegant, cream-colored letter from beneath the low table and placed it on the table.

Printed on the envelope was a pink-and-blue picture of two souls meeting on a magpie bridge, romantic yet tacky.

It was even animated. Very fancy.

"The Shen Family received a notice from the empire, and its contents happen to concern you." As he spoke, he glanced at the letter on the table. "This confidential letter was supposed to be sent to your home, but I didn't want anything to go wrong before both parties had reached an agreement, so I brought it to you personally."

Xu Qingran didn't immediately take it and open it. The Soulmate System's love emblem was stamped clearly on it, so even if he hadn't known beforehand, he could have roughly guessed what it concerned.

"Do you mean I've been successfully matched with someone in the Shen Family?"

"So? What are you planning to do?"

Xu Qingran was very calm, and for once Shen Tingyu couldn't discern his true feelings or thoughts.

He shifted his hands, which were clasped together over his legs, and replied, "The Shen Family isn't some ordinary minor family. Whether it's a child or an adult, marriage is too important to be handled carelessly. Even a high match provided by the authorities needs to be confirmed repeatedly before it can go ahead."

Xu Qingran put on a troubled expression again. "You've sprung this on me so suddenly. I'm feeling very conflicted too."

"If I remember correctly, even a highly compatible match can be rejected, right?"

Hearing that question, Shen Tingyu felt a little worse.

He sighed silently. "I wish that were possible too, but this time the compatibility score came out at 99. No citizen of the empire can refuse a marriage match with that score."

The empire would not only force them to marry, but also personally arrange the wedding, have them wed in the temple before all the empire's citizens, and seal a soul contract on the spot. So, since he couldn't simply let Xu Qingran go, he could only pass the match off to his young nephew, who had yet to reach marriageable age.

If anything unusual came to light in the meantime, he could still cut his losses in time.

After a brief pause, he continued, "Both parties' soul information samples were only collected recently. The earliest they can be collected again is a year from now. And judging by age, it isn't suitable to marry yet, either. To ensure against other accidents and allow me to observe you, you'll need to move out of the Xu Family home and live here with me for the next year."

After listening, Xu Qingran didn't respond immediately. Instead, he asked the system in his mind, If they collect my soul information again a year from now, can you help me tamper with it again?

The system said, "Nope."

"So, esteemed host, you only have one year of safety! In the worst case, if you can't completely win him over in a year, you'll at least have to find a way to get close enough to stay in contact with him!"

For the hundredth time, Xu Qingran asked himself why the mission wasn't to assassinate Shen Tingyu.

Was this really a proper shou-abuse story?

He pondered for quite a while before responding.

"I don't have a problem moving," he said. "But can Admiral Shen guarantee that I really won't suffer an 'accidental death' during this year?"

Xu Qingran smiled as he spoke. "After all, Admiral, you don't seem very pleased with this news."

The amusement in his eyes never reached their depths.

Of course Shen Tingyu wasn't pleased.

He wasn't actually setting aside this year to observe Xu Qingran, but to find a chance to act and completely eliminate the possibility of the two of them being highly compatible. Besides, if Xu Qingran later stabilized as an Extremist, wouldn't they end up fighting every day if they stayed in the same place?

Shen Tingyu readily admitted it. "This happened suddenly, and I know nothing about you. It's only natural for me to have reservations, and I hope you can understand."

"As for your personal safety, aside from Golden Crow City, there's probably nowhere safer than here in the entire Sirius System."

Xu Qingran thought, Is it other people I'm worried about?

He was afraid Shen Tingyu would kill him to silence him.

But Xu Qingran wasn't afraid. If Shen Tingyu dared invite him into his home, he dared move in. "All right, I'll go back and pack my things tomorrow."

It was only an ordinary conversation, but Shen Tingyu, forced to face all these changes, felt more tired than he did after clearing Type I Devils from an area.

He concealed his emotions and spoke gently. "Then let me introduce myself again. My name is Shen Tingyu. I'm your..."

Before he could finish the sentence, the sound of a door opening came from outside. Soon after, a little boy with a mecha-themed schoolbag on his back came pattering into the living room.