Eggs and Fried Dough Sticks (Seeking Recommendation Tickets, Seeking Collections)

"I..." Xiao Yan hesitated.

"I only want to ask you: do you want it or not?!" Xiao Han denied Xiao Yan any chance to think it over and pressed him again in a deep voice.

"I do. Of course I do. Who wouldn't want to reclaim their own glory and become an idol admired by others? Hah..."

Xiao Yan let out a long breath, picked up a pebble beside him, and hurled it fiercely off the cliff. Dejected, he said, "It's just that even I can't figure out what's wrong with me. Reclaiming my former glory... how could that possibly be easy?"

"Hehe... If you can't figure it out, you can ask me!"

Xiao Han was delighted inwardly. There's hope.

"You?"

Xiao Yan smiled faintly at the corner of his lips and looked at Xiao Han skeptically. Clearly, he did not believe Xiao Han could solve the problem that had appeared in him.

"Yes."

Xiao Han nodded.

"Forget it, Xiao Han. Your condition is even worse than mine. You should deal with your own problems first." Xiao Yan curled his lips. His tone was tactful; he did not outright say that Xiao Han was an even bigger good-for-nothing than he was.

"Hehe, what? You don't believe me?"

Xiao Han looked at Xiao Yan and smiled. "You have exceptional talent. You began cultivating at four, possessed nine stages of Dou Qi at ten, and successfully condensed a Dou Qi Cyclone at eleven, becoming the youngest Dou Zhe in the clan's past hundred years in one leap. Yet for three consecutive years afterward, your cultivation regressed and remained at the third stage of Dou Qi. In recent years, I imagine you haven't failed to cultivate diligently, but your cultivation has still made no progress. Under normal circumstances, even a block of wood wouldn't remain at the third stage of Dou Qi after three years. I presume that every time you cultivated, the Dou Qi you painstakingly gathered would disappear for no reason, wouldn't it?"

"How did you know?" Xiao Yan looked at Xiao Han in astonishment.

"Hehe, if I didn't even know that, how would I dare claim that I could solve the strange problem you have?" Xiao Han smiled, a gleam flashing through his eyes. He knew the fish was about to take the bait.

"Do you really have a way to solve my problem?" Sure enough, a glimmer of hope lit up in Xiao Yan's eyes as he stared at Xiao Han expectantly.

"Mm, that depends on whether you're willing to cooperate." Xiao Han smiled. He was curious—if he obtained Xiao Yan's ring, how many Experience Points would he receive as a reward?

It would probably be enough to raise him several levels!

"How do you want me to cooperate?" Xiao Yan asked.

Since Xiao Han knew so much, Xiao Yan believed him by about thirty percent.

Xiao Han was only a few hours older than Xiao Yan. As a transmigrator, Xiao Yan's mentality far surpassed that of his peers, and he knew that there was only so much Xiao Han could possibly see. Still, he was completely out of options now. He could only treat a dead horse as if it were alive.

"Draw in some Dou Qi, and I'll verify whether my guess is correct." Xiao Han knew that haste made waste, so he gave the instruction patiently.

"Alright."

Xiao Yan did not suspect any trickery. He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, sensed the Dou Qi in the surrounding space, and guided it into his body. After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Xiao Yan opened his eyes and asked, "Well? Did you see anything?"

"Mm." Xiao Han nodded.

"Really?" Xiao Yan looked at Xiao Han in delight.

"Yes." Xiao Han nodded again, in no hurry as he continued to keep Xiao Yan in suspense.

"Tell me quickly. What's wrong with me?" Xiao Yan spoke urgently, growing somewhat agitated as he rose directly from the grass.

"Take off your clothes!" Xiao Han ordered.

"Huh?" Xiao Yan's eyes went blank, wondering if he had misheard.

"Take off your clothes. If you want to know how to solve your problem, stop talking nonsense. Take off your clothes, then draw in some Dou Qi again!" Xiao Han commanded.

"This..." Xiao Yan hesitated.

"What are you standing around for? We're both men, and it's the middle of the night. Who would come here? Hurry up and do as I say. Mm, I'm ninety percent confident that I can solve the problem you have." Afraid Xiao Yan would refuse, Xiao Han tempted him again.

"This...?"

Xiao Yan gave Xiao Han a long look, then swept his gaze around the area. Visibility was poor. Unless someone was planning to have sex in the wild, who would come to the Xiao Clan's Back Mountain in the middle of the night instead of sleeping, just to feed the mosquitoes?

"Alright."

Xiao Yan nodded and began undoing the buttons on his clothes. Before long, his upper body was bare.

"Keep going. Don't stop." Xiao Han took Xiao Yan's clothes and continued ordering him.

"I have to take off my pants too?" Xiao Yan furrowed his thick brows, his eyes full of disbelief.

"Yes. Be quick about it. It's only one Fried Dough Stick and two Eggs!" Xiao Han gave a teasing smile, a sly glint flashing through his eyes.

If he could wait, Xiao Han definitely would have waited—waited until he could forcibly snatch Xiao Yan's ring. For Xiao Han, who could grow stronger by killing monsters and leveling up, becoming powerful was only a matter of time.

But time would not wait. According to the storyline, Nalan Yanran would come tomorrow to break off the engagement. After being humiliated, Xiao Yan would climb the Xiao Clan's Back Mountain again. That would also be when Yao Lao awakened.

Once Yao Lao awakened, it would be as difficult as ascending to Heaven for Xiao Han to seize the ring.

"Fine!"

Xiao Yan hesitated for a while, but he was not afraid of Xiao Han laughing at him. As a transmigrator, his mindset was vastly more open than those of the Doupo World.

Mm, I'll just treat it as medical treatment!

Xiao Yan comforted himself that way. He undid the rest of his buttons and stood naked before Xiao Han. It was the height of summer, and despite being completely bare, he actually felt especially cool in the dim forest.

"Let's begin!" Xiao Yan sat cross-legged, intending to meditate and draw in Dou Qi.

"Wait, we're not done yet!"

Xiao Han smiled slightly, his gaze burning as he pointed at the ring on Xiao Yan's hand.

"Take it off too?" Xiao Yan looked at Xiao Han skeptically.

"Yes. If you want to solve your problem, you'll have to listen to me. Be good, don't worry. Take it off." Xiao Han felt a little excited. Was he about to obtain the legendary Old Grandpa?

"This...?"

Xiao Yan looked somewhat troubled. This Ring was a keepsake left behind by his mother. Ever since her death, he had never taken it off—not while bathing, not even while eating.

"What, you don't want to solve your problem and reclaim the glory of being a genius?" Xiao Han's lips curled slightly as he tempted Xiao Yan, unafraid that he would not take the bait.

Sure enough, Xiao Yan's gaze darkened. Although the Ring was his mother's keepsake, it was still only a Ring. Aside from its faintly ancient aura, there was nothing remarkable about it. A Ring like this would fetch, at most, a single Gold Coin on the market.

Without further hesitation, Xiao Yan was no longer afraid that Xiao Han would swindle him out of his Ring. He nodded. "Alright."

"Hahaha, does that mean Yao Lao is mine from now on?"

Watching Xiao Yan's sluggish movements, Xiao Han practically wished he could do it himself.

The reason Xiao Yan had been able to rise so powerfully was largely thanks to the Old Grandpa within the Ring on his hand. With the Hongmeng System, which was invincible beyond this world, once Xiao Han obtained Xiao Yan's Ring, he would completely overturn the storyline of the Doupo World. When that time came, he would receive an immeasurable reward in Experience Points.

How could Xiao Han not be delighted by that?