Junior Brother, Why Don't You Smile and Cheer Up? Don't You Like It?

Dawn gradually broke. Disciple Palace.

"Lin Heng, get out here!"

Lin Heng, who had still been lying dead on his bed, heard the commotion. He got dressed and opened the door, only to be startled. "Yun Yao?"

"And Master, Senior Brother Ye."

They're here, they're finally here!

( ?° ?? ?°) I knew it. Our Senior Brother Ye lost something and came to search my place! (sarcasm dripping)

Since Meng Yutong and Yun Yao had been given a heads-up last night, neither of them found his current thoughts surprising.

"Junior Brother, when I helped tidy your courtyard last night, did you happen to see my Jade Pendant?"

Ye Tian got straight to the point.

"You lost something, so why are you asking me?"

"Your place was the only place I visited last night. When I returned, I found that the Jade Pendant on me was gone."

"Oh, then I didn't see it."

Lin Heng shook his head.

I threw the thing into the garbage heap outside anyway. If you want it, go dig through the trash.

Seriously, is this little trick childish or what? Next, you're going to say it was Master's most precious gift to you, blah blah blah~~~

Use your brain for a second. How could an ordinary person like me steal something off a cultivator like you? Wouldn't you notice?

If one is determined to condemn, why worry about lacking a pretext?

Pfft—

Yun Yao heard his inner monologue and truly failed to control her expression.

The three of them gave her suspicious looks. Only then did she straighten herself and say, "Haha! I just thought of something funny. Carry on."

Funny my ass. Wait until you get sold to the Sell to Flower Pavilion—then you'll have plenty to cry about!

Uh...

Tsk!

Hearing that, Yun Yao immediately wiped the smile from her face.

"Junior Brother, you grew up in some remote, barren place and picked up bad habits. Senior Brother can understand that. So long as you take out the Jade Pendant on your own initiative, I won't pursue the matter. That was the most precious treasure Master gave me."

That tone and expression practically had the word "thief" written across his face.

"If I take it out, you'll still pursue it?"

"No... I misspoke. I won't pursue it!"

"Tian'er, are you saying for certain that Lin Heng took your belongings?"

Meng Yutong's brows drew together slightly, her expression turning cold.

"This... cannot be confirmed."

"Since it cannot be confirmed, search first."

Meng Yutong gave a soft sigh, seemingly disappointed by Ye Tian's performance.

Just as Lin Heng had thought, could an ordinary person without the slightest cultivation steal something from a Golden Core Realm cultivator?

The moment she had entered the courtyard, she had already swept it with her divine sense. The Jade Pendant was buried in that pile of clutter by the entrance.

Still, she put on an act and extended a slender jade finger.

With a light tap in the air, pale yellow ripples swiftly spread in every direction. The Jade Pendant flew out.

"Tian'er, is this it?"

Ye Tian's gaze tightened, a trace of astonishment flashing through his eyes.

How was this possible?

Why was this Jade Pendant in the garbage heap?

He had deliberately left it inside the room last night. Lin Heng could not possibly have failed to notice it while cleaning.

Just imagine: when cleaning a room, if you saw a gleaming piece of jade, would you turn a blind eye and sweep it away as garbage?

According to the normal plot, this Jade Pendant should have been found on Lin Heng. Then Ye Tian would bring Master over and catch him red-handed, with both culprit and stolen goods present.

At that point, no matter how he explained himself, his brainless Master would surely believe Ye Tian's story and give him a thorough dressing-down.

But now that Lin Heng had thrown the Jade Pendant into the garbage heap, he had a perfectly plausible excuse that he knew nothing at all.

"Ah!" Lin Heng rubbed the back of his head with his right hand, pretending to be utterly surprised. "So it was a misunderstanding. Senior Brother Ye must have accidentally dropped it in the courtyard last night. I happened not to see it and swept it away as trash."

"Sorry, sorry. I swept Master's love away as garbage."

Tsk tsk! If she can still pin this blame on me, then all I can say is Meng Yutong is a complete dinner—beyond saving.

What was that?

Dinner?

Sounds like this little thing is insulting me again.

Meng Yutong glanced at him, then at Ye Tian. "Now that the item has been found, let's go."

With that, she turned and vanished from where she stood.

Worthy of a Return to Void powerhouse. Even when she teleported, not even a shadow could be caught.

Ye Tian accepted the Jade Pendant. He offered a thanks with a smile that did not reach his eyes, then left as well.

However, Lin Heng caught a trace of coldness in his gaze.

Couldn't be helped. Who made me the villain?

The protagonist and the villain were bound by fate. Even if he merely took a breath, he might incur the protagonist's hatred.

Huff—

Lin Heng let out a breath. He had barely turned around when Yun Yao, riding a ball, nearly crashed into him.

"Senior Sister? Why haven't you left?"

"Is something wrong?"

Yun Yao stepped closer with a beaming smile. "Because Master had me bring you your favorite thing. For the next two days, you can do the work you like first."

"My favorite thing?"

Lin Heng gave her a once-over and found it rather nice indeed.

"Here, this."

In the blink of an eye, a pitch-black stick appeared out of thin air in Yun Yao's hand.

"Yesterday, you spoke so earnestly about how much you liked farming and how you were often accompanied by plowing tools. Master specially found you a hoe from the Weapon Refining Hall."

"The spirit fields behind the mountain will be relying on Junior Brother's hard work!"

Lin Heng was dumbfounded.

"Senior Sister, you're joking, right? Do we even have spirit fields behind the mountain? I heard it was a patch of wasteland!"

"Exactly. That's why you need to reclaim it. Don't worry, Senior Sister will help you. It'll be quick."

Quick, quick?

I'm supposed to use this broken stick to reclaim wasteland? At this rate, I'll be at it until the Year of the Monkey and the Month of the Horse!

"Let's go! Master told me to supervise you. If you slack off on the first day, you'll be punished!"

Hehe! Running your mouth feels good for a moment, but the spirit fields are about to grow!

Yun Yao flicked her hand, signaling him to follow.

Lin Heng's face darkened with black lines, but he had no choice but to follow.

Behind the mountain.

Desolation stretched as far as the eye could see. Ever since Meng Yutong had become the Peak Master, Fairy Cloud Peak had always upheld the principle of reclaiming only as much land as there were people. Thus, the entire mountain peak looked incomparably natural and unspoiled.

In other words, it was the embodiment of lazy governance. So long as she herself lived comfortably, she could simply let her disciples run wild.

When hungry, they did not even need to drink the northwest wind. They could just lie down and chew grass.

Lin Heng stood in the wasteland with the black hoe in hand, letting the wind toss his hair into disarray.

For the time that followed, Lin Heng swung the hoe while cursing his vicious Master in his heart, making it impossible for Yun Yao to calmly groom herself.

It had to be said that although Lin Heng looked perfectly proper on the outside, the filthy curses in his heart were no fewer than those of the street toughs.

Meng Yutong, you're really a dog. I only politely said I liked farming, and you actually made me come reclaim land for you.

My Dad is the Sect Leader, after all. You should at least give my old man some face, right?

You're making me farm now. Once Ye Tian takes you down after a while, won't you all end up treating me like a slave?

As Lin Heng grumbled inwardly, Yun Yao had somehow produced a green fruit and begun munching on it.

Her eyes blinked as she watched him.

Hey! Why couldn't you, you little show-off, just behave yourself? You had to say you liked farming. Well, there you have it... Master fulfilled your wish, and now you're unwilling.

Yun Yao tossed the spirit melon to him. "Take a break first! But Junior Brother... why does your complexion look so awful? Why don't you smile and cheer up? Don't you like it?"

?

Lin Heng smiled, nodding again and again.

Well said. Wonderfully said.

"That's right, Senior Sister. I'm so happy I could die."

Looking at the green melon, which was about the same size as Meng Yutong's, Lin Heng immediately took a bite.

Melon-eating was melon-eating, but while resting, his gaze never stopped examining Yun Yao.

It had to be said that every female lead possessed traits entirely her own.

Today, Yun Yao wore a blazing red skirt, with a palm-sized wine gourd strapped behind her waist. Among all the female leads, she was the one who loved drinking the most.

Her attire made it easy to see that her temperament was fierce and unyielding, and that she repaid every grievance down to the smallest slight.

Once someone provoked her, she would hunt them down and cut them apart even if they fled to the ends of the earth.

Take Meng Yutong and Mu Liuxi, for example. Though both belonged to the "iceberg beauty" type—

Meng Yutong possessed seduction laced with solemn majesty.

Mu Liuxi, on the other hand, leaned more toward dignity steeped in coldness.

If one asked which type Lin Heng liked, Meng Yutong's type would definitely come first.

I may not be the protagonist, but I look pretty decent now, right?

I really can't understand why Ye Tian smiling is like a spring breeze washing over one's face, while my smile is just lecherous and shrimp-headed.

The aloof goddess and the Blazing Heroine had two utterly opposite personalities, so why did they both like troublemaking Ye Tian?

Lin Heng could not accept it.

Yun Yao, who had been eating melon while secretly listening, nearly blurted out, "Who is the Blazing Heroine?" when she suddenly heard those four words.

Fortunately, she came back to her senses and did not ask it aloud.

If she asked that, wouldn't the secret that she could hear his thoughts be exposed?

Before she figured things out, she naturally would not reveal this matter.