Curved Path to Save the Nation!

It was currently class time, so seeing two students in Fuxing High School uniforms at the Beast-Faced Pavilion was indeed rather conspicuous.

Thus, the guests who had originally planned to spend the afternoon with a cup of Bishui Tea and half a biography all directed their gazes, more or less, toward Li Mu Yang and Cui Xiaoxin.

Besides, for such a beautiful girl as Cui Xiaoxin to be walking together with an ugly, pitch-black boy like Li Mu Yang, there had to be plenty worth investigating in their eyes.

One couple was engaging in precisely this sort of boring activity.

"Another classic scene of a toad lusting after a swan's flesh. The boy's probably about to confess. When the girl's strong and the boy's weak, the boy really shouldn't open his mouth so easily—"

"Oh, the girl's angry—"

"The girl's leaving, and the boy stopped her—the girl's name is Cui Xiaoxin? What a nice name. But judging from the boy's appearance, he intends to plead with her again. What an overestimating, stubborn fellow—"

"What? What did he say? 'You look really beautiful wearing that gardenia'—pardon my poor eyesight. I never imagined he was actually an expert in this field—"

Cui Xiaoxin blinked. One hand gripped the copper handle, but she stopped and did not push open the main door.

She saw the tangled expression on Li Mu Yang's face, the panic in his eyes, and the way he opened his mouth as if he wanted to speak but did not know what to say. Was he going to confess to her?

However, even if that was the case, she would not accept him.

He brought it upon himself!

"I forgot to say this just now—you look really beautiful wearing that gardenia." Li Mu Yang said this to Cui Xiaoxin. Because he was too nervous, he even stammered.

This made him rather frustrated. He was worried that his stammering had ruined the effect of those words. Li Sinian had repeatedly instructed him to say them naturally and casually, without making people feel that anything was deliberately out of place.

My performance today... shouldn't make people feel that something's off, right?

Cui Xiaoxin stood motionless at the doorway for a moment, then actually turned around and walked back toward Li Mu Yang.

This left the many guests in the Beast-Faced Pavilion utterly dumbfounded. Who would have thought that the dark-skinned boy possessed such a skill? A single sentence had been enough to make a beautiful girl who was furious lay down her arms.

She sat back down in the chair opposite Li Mu Yang, as if nothing had happened.

The waiter brought over the Bishui Tea she had ordered, and she nodded in acknowledgment. She used the Empire's standard noble etiquette. Perhaps even Cui Xiaoxin herself had failed to notice this tiny detail.

Li Mu Yang, on the other hand, still had no idea what was happening. He stood there, not knowing what he should do next.

Cui Xiaoxin picked up the Bishui Tea and took a sip, then said to Li Mu Yang, "You should try it too. Although it's a little sweet and lacks Bishui's proper astringent freshness and fragrance, this is the Jiangnan style—it's already considered a very fine grade of Bishui Tea."

Li Mu Yang obediently sat down, picked up his tea, took a sip, and nodded. "It's pretty good."

He usually drank Chinese herbal medicine. Bishui Tea was forbidden in his household because that old Daoist had said it would stimulate his heart.

So any tea that tasted better than herbal medicine gave him immense satisfaction.

Cui Xiaoxin fixed her gaze on the petals swirling inside the teacup and asked softly, "Is this the first time you've said something like that to a girl?"

Li Mu Yang's dark face flushed slightly.

Of course, his face was too dark, so even when it reddened, it only became dark red.

"And my younger sister." Li Mu Yang said sheepishly, "Whenever I make her angry, as long as I praise her beauty, praise her eyes by saying they're like pearls from the South Sea, praise her skin by saying it's like the snow of the Empire's northern frontier, and praise every outfit she wears for matching perfectly and leading the Jiangnan fashion trend, she immediately makes peace with me and tugs on my sleeve, asking, 'Really? Really?'"

"She said this trick is called the Curved Path to Save the Nation. When a girl gets angry over something, you absolutely mustn't keep entangling yourself in that matter or try to defend yourself. You can seek out another, better way to communicate. She taught me that."

Cui Xiaoxin raised her head and seriously studied the expression on Li Mu Yang's face.

When Li Mu Yang spoke of his younger sister, his voice seemed to have been layered with thick honey. The thing called happiness was practically flowing down from his face.

It was obvious that the bond between the siblings was exceptionally good.

Cui Xiaoxin was moved. She thought of the tall, taciturn man in Tiandu City who always stepped in front of her whenever danger threatened, and asked softly, "You love your younger sister very much, don't you?"

"Yes." Li Mu Yang nodded. "But I feel that she loves me even more."

A smile appeared at the corners of Cui Xiaoxin's lips. "Then you must dote on her very much, right?"

Li Mu Yang shook his head and sighed. "That should have been the case. An older brother should take care of his younger sister, give her the delicious food first, let her play with the fun things first, avenge her if someone bullies her, and help her out if she bullies someone else—but clearly, I'm an incompetent older brother. Most of the time, it's my younger sister taking care of me."

"She's far smarter than me, and far more outstanding. When she was very young, she kept clamoring that she would protect me, and she's worked hard toward that goal ever since. When my grades were at the very bottom of the whole school, she casually took first place. She proudly told everyone that her older brother wasn't stupid—he simply didn't want to study. When she saw someone shove me to the ground, she went and learned a martial art called the Qi Breaking Technique from an old Daoist. She trained through the severest cold of winter and the fiercest heat of summer, never stopping for a single day of the three hundred and sixty-five days in a year—"

The old Daoist had been treating Li Mu Yang's illness at the time, and Li Sinian had tugged on his greasy sleeve, begging him to teach her martial arts.

The old Daoist treated Li Sinian far more warmly than he treated Li Mu Yang. Every time he came over, he brought her delicious food, and whenever he saw Li Sinian return from school, his old face would crinkle with laughter.

He could not bear to reject any of Li Sinian's requests. After communicating with Li Mu Yang's parents, he accepted Li Sinian as a nominal disciple.

Later, Li Mu Yang personally saw Li Sinian punch through a thick tree in the courtyard.

Li Mu Yang wanted to learn too. He suppressed his nausea, tugged on the old Daoist's sleeve, and begged to become his disciple.

He even imitated his sister's tone and wheedled, "Grandpa Daoist, Grandpa Daoist, teach me—"

"Speak properly." The old Daoist flung his sleeve and shouted sternly.

Li Sinian laughed so hard that she rolled around on the floor.

"The Qi Breaking Technique?" Cui Xiaoxin thought for a moment, then said with a smile, "That sounds vaguely familiar."

"Some wandering physician taught it to her. He might have just come up with the name on the spot." Li Mu Yang smiled. "If someone mocked my intelligence, she would use her grades to mock them in return. If someone bullied me for being weak and powerless, she would retaliate with her own strength—am I a failure as an older brother?"

Cui Xiaoxin shook her head. "Quite the opposite. You're a very successful older brother—because you have a younger sister who loves you so much."

"So, before you, she was the only young girl who was willing to treat me that way—" Li Mu Yang looked straight into Cui Xiaoxin's clear eyes and said, "Although I didn't want to see you get into a conflict with Teacher Zhao over a useless student like me, you still did it—and I'm truly grateful. Every time I walked out of the classroom alone, hearing hurried footsteps behind me, I wished so badly that those footsteps had come because of me—"

Cui Xiaoxin was moved by Li Mu Yang once again. She felt that the fellow had a talent for starring in tearjerkers—assuming he covered his face.

"Do you know why I turned back?" Cui Xiaoxin asked casually, her pretty fingers idly playing with the silver spoon forged from refined steel.

"I don't know." Li Mu Yang shook his head.

"Because I've never seen a boy compliment someone more awkwardly than you." Cui Xiaoxin answered bluntly.

Li Mu Yang's face turned crimson, and he began stammering again. He hurriedly explained, "I don't have much experience—aren't things like this very difficult to do?"

"They are indeed very difficult to do." Cui Xiaoxin said. "But male students always like to challenge their own weak points—the more often they challenge them, the more naturally they become skilled."

"—"

"Then tell me your story." Seeing Li Mu Yang rendered speechless, Cui Xiaoxin narrowed her eyes and smiled. "Tell me the story of how you were struck by lightning. I'm really curious, after all. Not every citizen of the Empire can experience something like that. That is, if you're not in too much of a hurry."

"—"