Chapter 27-1: Three Teases of the Flower / Chapter 28-2: This Trap-Should I Jump In or Should I Jump In? ...

For example, the troubles caused by being beautiful.

These were the troubles of a beautiful woman. Shuxuan didn't like taking advantage of her looks, and she seemed very honest by nature. Thinking of Shuxuan becoming the villain Prince Qin's fiancée, Xiangyi decided that she must have been out of her mind back then.

At least her own arrival had saved Shuxuan from her tragic fate. Xiangyi reassured herself this way, then pretended to wake up.

"Sister Shuxuan? Are you getting ready for work?" She feigned a sleepy, muddled look. Shuxuan seemed startled, then turned around and bent down to smooth Xiangyi's hair. "Yes, I have work today. I left the keys on the living room table. Call me if you need anything."

Her manner was much gentler than yesterday. Her fingers lightly stroked Xiangyi's hair, as if she couldn't bear to stop. Xiangyi murmured in acknowledgment, then tugged the blanket over herself, pretending to go back to sleep.

Seeing that Xiangyi had no intention of continuing the conversation, Shuxuan picked up the document bag beside her and left. She even closed the door behind her with great care.

Once the front door had shut and she was sure Shuxuan wouldn't come back, Xiangyi got up and resumed exercising. This time, she didn't go back into the ring to continue training. In a few hours, she would meet Muning.

But she couldn't calm down, so she turned on the television again. The longer she watched, the more she felt she wanted to return to the Flower God Ring.

"Flower Master, you really are so diligent."

When Hua Nu saw that Xiangyi had chosen to keep training in the Flower God Ring, her expression turned a little peculiar.

"Heh, I'm afraid of dying. It can't hurt to learn more," Xiangyi replied with a smile. The more she thought about it, the more she felt she wasn't strong enough. She had a feeling she'd be made to eat her words one day, so she had to get stronger before that happened.

"But do you realize that, at this rate, an ordinary person would need about ten years to reach your current level?" Hua Nu said helplessly. She remembered how it had taken her five years just to get a basic grasp of the complicated technique Falling Leaves Plucking Flowers.

But she couldn't say that. She didn't want Xiangyi to know how hard she'd struggled to learn it.

"You said it yourself: an ordinary person. But I'm the Flower Master." Xiangyi smiled in reply. Hua Nu looked even more helpless and murmured, "Even the Flower Master shouldn't neglect the old for the new. Haven't you noticed that Shaoyao's been unhappy since you kissed her these past few days?"

Xiangyi looked at Shaoyao in puzzlement. Sure enough, Shaoyao was secretly watching her from over there. As soon as she noticed Xiangyi looking, she hurriedly turned away.

But now that Xiangyi had gained the Eidetic Memory skill, she didn't need to give Shaoyao Spiritual Power anymore. She had originally meant to respect Shaoyao's wishes and let her be free, but judging by her expression, Shaoyao seemed to have gotten hooked on kissing. Then again, perhaps Xiangyi was reading too much into it.

"Isn't this for the best? I'm respecting her wishes and not kissing her anymore." Xiangyi came up with an excuse, and Hua Nu gave her a smile like a rideshare driver's.

"Oh? You really think Shaoyao wants that?" Hua Nu asked, moving closer to Xiangyi and resting both hands on her shoulders as if she wanted to test something.

Xiangyi didn't resist. She even put an arm around Hua Nu's waist. She wasn't coy or bashful. In Xiangyi's eyes, Hua Nu was just one of the tool people. It was only because of how she'd been designed that this Hua Nu was so flirtatious and liked teasing the Flower Master.

An ordinary person might have been thrown off by Hua Nu's advances, but Xiangyi's self-control was relatively strong because of her physical makeup.

Hua Nu, on the other hand, was caught off guard by the hand around her waist. She murmured, "Flower Master, I used to think you were quite a handful."

Xiangyi sensed there was more behind those words. "Oh? What about now?"

Hua Nu kept smiling. Whenever she smiled, her eyes curved into crescents, making the beauty mark beneath her right eye stand out even more. She was already a woman like a seductive fox spirit, and cuddling in someone's arms while acting coy was enough to make anyone swoon. She glanced at Shaoyao, who was watching with wide, transfixed eyes, then leaned close to Xiangyi's ear and continued, "Now I think we might get along pretty well."

Her words were vague, but she shifted her weight noticeably closer to Xiangyi. The softness at her waist and the fragrance of her body spoke for themselves. Still, as the Rose's Hua Nu, how could she let anyone forget the Rose's nature?

For all her beauty, she was covered in thorns that made her hard to approach.

Xiangyi steadied herself and asked, "Oh? What kind of way do you mean?"

Hua Nu had been playing the driver in their role-play game, so Xiangyi answered without holding back. Hua Nu laughed even harder and leaned her whole body against Xiangyi. "Flower Master, the more I look at you, the more comfortable I feel."

Xiangyi only smiled. Hua Nu had already stood up and walked away. Seeing that the danger had passed, Xiangyi gathered Spiritual Power and used it to move the sword on the ground. At that moment, Shaoyao suddenly rushed over. Xiangyi jumped in fright and tried to direct the sword away from Shaoyao, but she used too much force, and the sword flew toward Huangquan, the Flower God closest to it.

"Huangquan, look out!" Xiangyi shouted. She couldn't get to Huangquan in time.

Hua Nu turned around and saw what was happening, but she was too far away as well. The sword came rushing toward her. Huangquan only glanced at it indifferently. Within Xiangyi's field of vision, Huangquan flicked her fingers, and the scabbard flew straight into her hand, where it was caught by her delicate fingers.

The next moment, the sword flew into the scabbard on its own. Huangquan lazily raised a hand and tossed it back to Xiangyi. Xiangyi hurriedly caught it, unable to believe what she'd just seen.

If Huangquan was powerful, why couldn't she leave the Flower God Ring?

If she wasn't powerful, then the effortless sword control she'd just displayed had left Xiangyi dumbfounded.

Even though Xiangyi knew little about cultivation, she understood how much effort it took to control a sword completely.

Thinking this over, Xiangyi decided to try looking up Huangquan's information.

System: Sorry, the user's current level is too low to access this information.

The system informed Xiangyi that she was too weak to view Huangquan's identity details.

Xiangyi could only give up. She hurried over to apologize to Huangquan.

"Sorry, Huangquan. Did I scare you?"

Huangquan shook her head. Her expression was icy, like a robot with no emotions. Yet she was still stunningly beautiful. Every movement she made drew Xiangyi's gaze, and Xiangyi was afraid that if she looked for too long, she'd be captivated by that beauty and do something she could never take back.

Huangquan's beauty could drive a person truly mad. That was why Xiangyi had to keep her distance. Every time she interacted with Huangquan, Xiangyi reminded herself of this. Now, after looking at her once more, she felt she couldn't take it and instinctively stepped back.

But Huangquan didn't seem to care. She simply went back to reading the old book in her hands.

And just like that, the matter was over. Xiangyi let out a sigh of relief and sat there with the sword in her arms. She had meant to use the time she had left to train, but realized she'd been overconfident.

She did have some aptitude for cultivation, but without a solid foundation, that aptitude could hurt both herself and others. After thinking it over, she decided to start by using her qi to control the sword's flight, so nothing like what had just happened would happen again.

Self-control and restraint—even for an ordinary person, this kind of practice was painfully dull.

Watching Xiangyi train like a martial arts maniac, Shaoyao looked as if she wanted to say something. In the end, she only gave an annoyed snort and walked in the opposite direction.

Time passed quietly. When she heard the alarm clock outside the ring, Xiangyi finally came out. She showered, changed, then followed the navigation instructions toward her destination.

It was quite far away, but for Xiangyi, whose body had been strengthened, the trip was another chance to exercise. Following the navigation, she ran toward her destination at a steady pace.

Before long, she reached the agreed meeting place, Dolphin Pedestrian Street. A dolphin statue stood out clearly at the entrance, with several people nearby, some standing and others sitting as they waited for friends.

When they saw someone approaching, they glanced up at Xiangyi, then quickly lowered their heads to play on their phones. Xiangyi checked the time. She still had half an hour. She was about to find somewhere to sit when she suddenly spotted a figure.

The girl was checking her reflection in a shop window, adjusting her hair and admiring her figure. She kept doing it over and over, as if the person she was about to meet mattered a great deal.

The girl had a lovely figure. Even a simple T-shirt and shorts couldn't hide her youthful charm. It was summer, and her long hair fluttered in the breeze. Her legs were long and fair, drawing plenty of glances from the people around her. Xiangyi couldn't help looking a few times, until she felt the girl had noticed.

Xiangyi instinctively started to look away, not wanting the girl to realize she'd been staring for too long. But the moment the girl saw her, she rushed over.

Her eyes were dark and bright, sparkling as they met Xiangyi's. She smelled of youth; her body was soft. Then she hugged Xiangyi, smiling even more sweetly.

"Xiangyi."

Only when the girl called her name did Xiangyi realize it was Muning.

Her body gradually relaxed, but she still didn't know what to do with such an enthusiastic hug. What shocked Xiangyi most was just how much Muning had changed.

The first time they met, Xiangyi had thought Muning was very pretty, probably a ninety out of a hundred. But now, dressed so casually and without a trace of makeup, Muning was a ninety-five. The difference from Xiangyi's memory was so great that she nearly failed to recognize her, especially since she wasn't good with faces.

Luckily, Muning had called out to her first.

"Xiangyi? What's wrong?" Even so, Xiangyi still hadn't quite reacted. She was thinking about how to act like Xiangyi. After all, this was different from meeting Shuxuan, Prince Qin's fiancée.

Muning was the school beauty and Xiangyi's deskmate. The two of them had been very close, so Muning had never been on guard around Xiangyi. That had given Prince Qin his chance.

"Nothing. I just think you've lost weight." Xiangyi quickly recovered and laughed it off.

Muning seemed to remember something. Her eyes glistened with tears, but she forced herself not to think about the past that had left such a deep shadow on her. Yet even so, her purity and vulnerability showed through.

Compared to Shuxuan, who was a capable and beautiful older-sister type, Muning was an innocent girl who made people want to protect her.

What was most remarkable was that a girl this beautiful had managed to stay pure in such a restless society. Her eyes were clear, and she didn't even realize that, to anyone who loved beautiful things, she was a gorgeous sight.

"Xiangyi... You've lost so much weight too. I've been working part-time and saved up some money. I'm definitely treating you to a good meal." But just when Xiangyi thought Muning was only remembering what had happened, Muning said this instead.

Her eyes were full of concern, as if she thought Xiangyi had suffered more than she had.

They gazed at each other until a man handing out flyers interrupted them. Only then did they realize they'd been staring for quite some time.

They awkwardly turned away and declined the man's sales pitch. Xiangyi then took Muning by the hand and hurried off.

Muning didn't resist. Even after what had happened, she still seemed to trust Xiangyi completely.

"Xiangyi, should we walk and talk, or sit somewhere for a while?" Muning had so much she wanted to say that shopping was the last thing on her mind. But that went against Xiangyi's original plan. Xiangyi was afraid that if she got too close to Muning, Muning would realize she wasn't the original Xiangyi. That was why she'd used the excuse of going shopping to get Muning to walk around with her.

If she could, Xiangyi would much rather kiss Muning right now and activate the flower seed in her.

Of course, that was completely impossible. This time, the kiss had to last three minutes. That was the absurd activation requirement some dog-blood romance author named Xiangyi had set for her protagonist's Top-tier Flower Person. Now Xiangyi had to endure it herself, tears in her eyes.

The challenge was a little daunting, so Xiangyi decided she needed to build up her bond with Muning first. Once she'd made up her mind, she used wanting to buy clothes as an excuse to take Muning around to look at things.

Unlike Xiangyi, Muning came from an ordinary family. Whenever she saw clothes, she turned them down. She was frugal; even when she liked pretty clothes, she always managed to restrain herself. Xiangyi watched where Muning's gaze lingered, trying to figure out what she liked.

Simple and convenient—that was what Muning looked for. Her easygoing nature also made people want to protect her.

When she saw Muning starting to calm down, Xiangyi called Shaoyao in her mind.

Shaoyao appeared reluctantly. Even after what had happened last time, her job still required her to help Xiangyi do whatever she wanted to accomplish.

Xiangyi: See if you can do something to bring Muning closer to me.

Xiangyi gave Shaoyao her instructions, telling her what she needed.

Shaoyao was confused. The request was clearly too difficult for someone who didn't understand romance. Xiangyi thought it over, then added, Never mind. I'll have Hua Nu do it instead.

She instinctively tried to ask Hua Nu to help bring her and Muning closer, so Muning would let her guard down and be prepared for the three-minute kiss later.

Shaoyao: Are you looking down on me?

Shaoyao grew flustered. Ever since the wooden cabin, she felt Xiangyi had been treating her more coldly. Now Xiangyi was asking Hua Nu for help again, and Shaoyao didn't like it.

The jealous one was throwing another fit. Xiangyi couldn't help laughing as Shaoyao quickly approached her. She instinctively shielded Muning, but then saw Shaoyao kick aside the advertising sign that was falling over.

Since she knew the people around them couldn't see Shaoyao, Xiangyi hurriedly mimicked a kicking motion, making it seem as if she'd been the one to kick the sign. But when she looked closely, she saw Hua Nu standing nearby, smiling as if she knew a secret.

Hua Nu: Shaoyao, you're only good at protecting people. Leave this romantic stuff to me.

Her expression was smug. Clearly, the advertising sign that had suddenly toppled over had been Hua Nu's doing.

She'd done it to make Xiangyi and Muning grow closer physically. Unfortunately, Shaoyao's instinct to protect her had gotten in the way. If Xiangyi hadn't reacted quickly, Muning's attention might have been fixed on the sign rather than on Xiangyi.

Shaoyao: You...

It was as if a chatroom had opened in Xiangyi's mind. She ignored the two Flower People's conversation and anxiously checked on Muning.

"Are you all right?"

She held Muning in her arms, wrapping an arm around her waist. Muning had been startled. Her gaze focused on Xiangyi before she said, "I'm fine. But why did that sign suddenly fall over?"

She still seemed puzzled, but she made no move to pull away from Xiangyi. She was clearly still shaken.

The unfortunate shop's employee appeared just then and apologized to Xiangyi and Muning after hearing what had happened. Hua Nu stood behind the employee with a smile, patting her shoulder. She seemed to have tampered with something, making the employee come out and smooth things over.

Once Muning realized it really had been an accident, she let out a sigh of relief. Only then did she notice that Xiangyi was still holding her. She said somewhat bashfully, "Xiangyi, I'm all right now."

Xiangyi didn't let go. Still worried, she asked, "Are you sure you're all right? You look a little pale."

"No... It's not because of the sign. I just suddenly remembered that day..." Muning's face grew even paler. The scare had brought them closer, but it had also triggered her trauma response.

"It's okay. It's all over now. He won't bother you again."

Xiangyi hurried to comfort her and held her close again. This wasn't the outcome she'd wanted, but clearly, the scare had touched Muning's most vulnerable spot. It had also shown Muning how strong Xiangyi was, making Muning instinctively depend on her.

"Sorry... I didn't mean for this to happen, but..." Muning apologized, yet tears fell before she could finish.

Over the past month, she had kept reliving that day. Not only did she have the same nightmare over and over, she'd also developed an instinctive aversion to men. Even Muning's older brother, Ye Fan, couldn't get close to her.

She hadn't planned to tell Xiangyi any of this, but she hadn't expected the scare to make her remember what had happened.

"I understand. It's not your fault." Xiangyi hugged Muning tightly and soothed her gently, trying to help her calm down first.