Why Am I the One Being Won Over? Chapter 27

After seeing that message, Bai Jun's vision went dark. He marveled at Elena's terrifying ability to take action while secretly rejoicing that his answer just now had been the right one.

Just after Bai Jun agreed to Elena, another message popped up on the Jade Omen.

—Hanya?

The other party's name made Bai Jun blink. As far as he remembered, people working at the Ten Lords Bureau rarely communicated with the outside world. Even when they did, it was only for nighttime work. Most importantly, whenever Bai Jun thought of Hanya now, he recalled the terrifying memory of her and her sister forcibly pulling open his clothes last night.

Bai Jun swallowed. Though he really wanted to ignore the message, he ultimately opened the chat window.

Hanya: Hey, hey, hey, are you free right now? I need your help over here. It's urgent, so reply quickly when you get this.

Hanya's mysterious opening left Bai Jun somewhat uneasy. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to reply since she said it was urgent.

Nan Liujing: I'm here.

Hanya: Great, it's good that you're here. It wouldn't actually matter if you weren't, but it's better that you are. Ahem, I'm getting off topic. What I meant was, my sister once made an agreement with the Ten Lords Bureau: for every vicious criminal she detained, she could Return to Life for half a day. Thanks to you last night, my sister can Return to Life for half a day tomorrow. Normally, I, her little sister, should take her out to relax, but unfortunately, I have important business tomorrow, so...

Nan Liujing: Can I refuse?

Hanya: No. You wouldn't have the heart to leave my sister alone outside, would you? Besides, my sister is usually so silly and spaced-out, and she's so cute. I'm worried someone might kidnap her!

Nan Liujing: Let me explain the joke: "kidnap her." I think you should first take a proper look at your sister's combat ability. Rather than worrying about whether she'll get kidnapped, why not consider whether I'm even free tomorrow?

Hanya: I don't care. You should be free. If you dare refuse, I'll bring my sister to find you tonight!

Nan Liujing: Good sister, you just rolled an eight on me. What grudge do we even have?

Hanya: Wait, I'll offer you terms you can't refuse.

Nan Liujing: ...What?

Hanya: Think about it. Tomorrow, it'll just be you and my sister alone together. Isn't that basically a date? Going on a date with a cold beauty like my sister... isn't that an amazing thing for men like you?

Nan Liujing: The only thing in that sentence I can agree with is that Xue Yi is a cold beauty. So do you have anything else to say? It was nice talking to you. Goodbye.

Hanya: Too late. Do you know why I said it didn't matter whether you were there or not? Turn around and look beside you.

Then, the window closest to Bai Jun's seat made a thumping sound. His entire body stiffened, and his head turned toward the window in jerky increments as though wound by a spring.

There stood a tall, white-haired beauty. She smiled and waved the Jade Omen in her hand. Though he could not hear her, judging from the movement of her cherry lips and the mischief in her eyes, Bai Jun could vaguely tell what she meant:

"You can't run."

Pressure Masne

Beside a road in Exalting Sanctum, a tea house attendant was brewing tea with a large teapot.

The fragrance of tea spread beneath the scalding water, offering passing pedestrians a pleasant place to rest.

The light inside the tea house was soft, filtering through the window lattice and falling upon tabletops polished smooth by years of use. Customers sat in twos and threes, either murmuring quietly or savoring their tea in silence. The entire place was tranquil and peaceful.

In an ignored corner of the tea house, Bai Jun faced the woman leisurely sipping tea across from him as though confronting a great enemy. He cautiously spoke first. "So, Miss Hanya, what exactly did you call me out here for?"

Hanya was not wearing her usual drab black uniform today. Instead, she wore an off-the-shoulder chiffon gown that better accentuated her excellent figure, paired with black knee-high boots over her fair, slender legs. Her silver-white hair cascaded casually down her back, making her appear languid and aloof.

Upon hearing Bai Jun's question, she calmly set down her teacup, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and asked in return, "What for? Didn't I already explain it on the Jade Omen?"

"Could you not say something so overbearing? And didn't I already refuse?" Bai Jun sighed and rejected Hanya's request.

"Refusal invalid." Hanya rejected Bai Jun's rejection and threw a soul-searching question at him.

"Could it be that you dislike my sister? Then again... people in our line of work are all strange people who have bid farewell to the living world. It's only normal for people to dislike and hate us."

"Stop, stop, stop! I'll do it. I'll do it, okay?"

"Wonderful. I knew you were different from the others."

Bai Jun knew perfectly well that Hanya was setting a trap for him, but he hurriedly cut off her quiet complaints anyway. The instant the words of agreement left his mouth, Hanya, seated across from him, immediately shed her dejection, and a triumphant smile curled across her lips.

"Since that's settled, I'll head back first if there's nothing else. Just send me the exact time and details on the Jade Omen."

Tilting his head back, Bai Jun drained his teacup in one gulp. He had assumed he could leave after agreeing, but just as he rose, Hanya stopped him again.

"Wait. Don't go back yet. I still have something to ask you."

"W-What?"

Seeing Hanya's serious expression, Bai Jun's heart inexplicably skipped a beat, and he almost instinctively took a few steps back.

"Though it isn't really appropriate for me to ask this, I still want to know where you plan to take my sister tomorrow."

Hanya's slender, delicate fingers lightly tapped against the rim of her white jade teacup. After hesitating, she finally asked.

Where?

Straight to a room, obviously!

Of course, Bai Jun only dared mutter that in his heart. Never mind whether Xue Yi's puppet body even had that kind of function—he would probably be executed on the spot by Hanya the moment he said it aloud.

So, after considering it briefly, he tentatively asked, "Why not ask Xue Yi? I'll accompany her wherever she wants to go."

"Are you an idiot?! When you're together, shouldn't you, as the man, take the lead?" Hanya pressed a finger to her chin and raised her head slightly in thought. Then her gaze swept over a couple walking hand in hand past the tea house entrance, and she suddenly thought of something.

"Forget it. Talking is pointless. Let's go scout out some potential date spots today. We'll treat it as making a date plan in advance."

"Huh?"

Bai Jun blankly touched his own forehead, then touched Hanya's. For a moment, he suspected she had fried her brain to come up with such a ridiculous idea.

Only after Hanya lightly slapped his hand away with a somewhat resentful look did Bai Jun realize she was not joking at all. He decisively shook his head and crossed his arms in a huge X before his chest.

"No way. Absolutely not!"

"Stop being such a nag!"

Hanya slammed her palm onto the table. The loud bang immediately drew the attention of the surrounding tea drinkers. Under everyone's strange gazes, she slowly rose and said with a straight face, "Now, imagine that I'm my sister!"

Her declaration immediately set off a wave of gossip throughout the tea house.

"Oho, is this a substitute relationship?"

"No, isn't it spring now? Why did it suddenly turn white outside?"

"Youth is wonderful..."

Every last rumor reached Bai Jun's ears. Yet the person involved apparently had no intention of refuting them. With his embarrassment nearly exploding, he grabbed Hanya and fled the tea house.

On the way out, he also finished Hanya's unfinished tea. They had paid for it, after all, and it would be wasteful to leave it behind.

Because Bai Jun worked at Shence Mansion, he inevitably cooperated with the Ten Lords Bureau when handling difficult cases. Even so, Hanya rarely worked with him. One was an office worker who interrogated criminals in the rear, while the other was a Vanguard responsible for tracking down and apprehending criminals. Their duties had little overlap.

Her sister, however, had handled many cases with Bai Jun. Every time she returned, she praised Bai Jun's reliability and strength to Hanya. Hanya knew this well, because whenever her sister went out to apprehend criminals, her mechanical body always came back with all kinds of terrible, serious injuries.

But whenever her sister carried out a mission with Bai Jun, she had never suffered even the slightest injury. Thus, Hanya had always placed immense trust in Bai Jun's character and ability.

Her sister occasionally said that Bai Jun was a little silly and absentminded. Hanya had always doubted that assessment, because it conflicted with the reliability mentioned earlier. How could someone reliable and powerful possibly be associated with being dull and foolish?

But today, the doubt in Hanya's heart was thoroughly answered.

"Today's bok choy is so fresh. The shepherd's purse looks good too. Oh? The newly delivered potatoes are on sale!"

Hanya had somehow been dragged to a vegetable market. Watching Bai Jun enthusiastically weave between the stalls, she thought of entrusting her sister to this man tomorrow and suddenly felt as though the sky were falling.

Did men who took girls on dates to vegetable markets really exist in this world?

"Are you kidding me?! You actually plan to bring my sister to a vegetable market?!" Hanya immediately interrupted Bai Jun as he selected suitable celery, staring at him with an extremely gloomy expression. "And with so many fun places in Luofu, why did you have to come to a vegetable market?"

"What's wrong with a vegetable market? There's a lot of knowledge involved. For example, when buying tomatoes, choose dark red ones—they have a richer flavor and release juice more easily when stir-fried. Choose heavier taro—they have more water and starch, so they're soft and glutinous. Shiitake mushrooms are divided into dried and fresh varieties too... Want to give it a try?"

Feeling someone's increasingly incredulous, icy gaze, Bai Jun's eyes uneasily drifted aside, and his voice grew weaker and weaker.

"Don't bring your personal tastes into this! Don't be fooled by how cold my sister usually looks. She's actually like most girls—she likes strolling through markets, reading novels, and watching illusion plays, not visiting vegetable markets. Besides, my sister's mechanical body can't even eat!"

Before Bai Jun could explain, Hanya suddenly pinched his cheeks and pulled them hard in both directions, only releasing him after venting her anger.

"You're completely unqualified!"

"Then what should I do?" Bai Jun rubbed his reddened face and said helplessly, "Right, didn't you say Xue Yi likes reading and watching plays? How about I take her to Sanyu Bookstore to read for a while, then go watch an illusion play afterward?"

"Take this first."

Hanya rolled her eyes, pulled a small diary from her clothes, and irritably stuffed it into Bai Jun's hands. Seeing his confused expression, she explained.

"Sometimes, I record things I see and hear in this notebook... That way, when I see my sister, I can tell her about them. I'll lend it to you for now. If you don't know what to say tomorrow, take it out and look through it."

"Oh..."

"As for tomorrow's arrangements... come with me. I'll take you to scout the locations. We'll treat it as tomorrow's date plan. When the time comes tomorrow, follow the plan I give you." After thinking it over, Hanya still felt this was the most reliable approach. She gave Bai Jun a look and headed toward the shopping street on her own.

"The pressure is massive..."

Bai Jun scratched his head and helplessly followed after her.

"So this is your plan? Let me say this first: I haven't gotten this month's salary yet, so I won't have money to buy Xue Yi very expensive clothes..."

After following Hanya around the streets for several laps, the two finally stopped before a neatly decorated clothing store. Looking at the dazzling array of fine clothes inside, Bai Jun touched his frog-shaped wallet and awkwardly tugged at Hanya's sleeve.

"Don't worry about so much. Just listen to my arrangements."

Hanya could not be bothered to explain further to an unromantic guy like Bai Jun and simply pushed him inside.

The young woman at the front counter was a Foxkin with an enormous fluffy tail. Seeing customers enter, she warmly walked forward and bowed with a smile. "Hello, welcome. Is there anything I can help you with?"

A man and a woman together easily made people think of a boyfriend buying clothes for his girlfriend. Thus, the Foxkin woman looked toward Hanya. While marveling at her excellent figure, she enthusiastically introduced the store's newest and most popular styles.

Hanya shook her head and declined the woman's enthusiasm. Pointing at Bai Jun beside her, she said, "We're buying him a few outfits. Do you have any recommendations?"

"Huh?"

A question mark practically popped up over Bai Jun's head. He had briefly scanned the clothes in the store just now, and nearly all of them were priced beyond what he could afford. Besides, weren't they here to buy clothes for Xue Yi later? How had this turned into buying clothes for him?

"Don't you think you're a little too unkempt?"

Hanya looked Bai Jun over again. He was wearing a casual white shirt and black trousers, while his medium-length hair was as messy as a bird's nest. Other than his face, his appearance could be called a disaster on every level.

But it had to be said that this guy was simply too handsome. An appearance that should have only scored fifty points was forcefully pulled up to over ninety by his face alone. It made one sigh at how generously heaven bestowed its favor.

Hanya picked out several clothes that looked fairly stylish and stuffed them into Bai Jun's arms, urging the young woman at the counter to take him to the changing room quickly. She wanted her sister to meet a properly trained Bai Jun tomorrow.

Led by the Foxkin woman, Bai Jun arrived at the changing room. Before going in, he suddenly gathered the hair at his forehead and asked her, "Could you give me a hair tie? I want to tidy up my hair."

"Huh? A hair tie..." The Foxkin woman searched through her pocket, found one, and handed it to Bai Jun.

"Thank you." Bai Jun accepted the hair tie and entered the changing room.

Not long afterward, Hanya, who was selecting suitable clothes for Bai Jun beside the racks, heard a sharp female cry tinged with shyness.

Hanya immediately realized that something might have happened on Bai Jun's side. Without caring about anything else, she clutched the clothes in her arms and ran toward the changing room.

Only after seeing Bai Jun, completely transformed before the mirror, did Hanya seem to understand where that earlier scream had come from.

Thump...

The clothes in her arms slipped to the floor, and Hanya covered her mouth as well.

PS: I spent two days lying in the hospital. After so many IV drips, my hands felt like they were about to be punctured to pieces. Writing on my phone is slow, and if I write too long, my head gets incredibly dizzy, so updates will be a little slower these next few days. I'm truly sorry again!

Who Could Keep From Letting Out a Soft Moan?

Looking at himself in the mirror, Bai Jun nodded in satisfaction.

After tying his messy silver hair into a short ponytail, his ordinarily gentle, fair face now carried a sharply defined chill. Beneath his slanting, heroic brows were deep, clear blue eyes. His new clothes emphasized his tall, well-proportioned build and revealed a trace of nobility and elegance.

The saying that clothes make the man was not without reason. Perhaps because he normally paid little attention to dressing up, Bai Jun was actually struck by the unfamiliar sight of himself—I'm actually this handsome? That was probably how it felt.

And merely changing into a new outfit made Bai Jun discover that, on the system panel, the ability section belonging to "Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire" was continuously glowing with crimson light, carrying an oppressive sensation as though it were about to explode... No, it felt more like a dog's eager excitement upon seeing its owner?

Although Bai Jun had no idea what principle was at work, he had somehow found the correct way to use "Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire." No matter what, this was absolutely an enormous and unexpected delight.

He suppressed the intense curiosity urging him to summon "Sacred Judgment of Heavenly Fire" on the spot, repeatedly telling himself to stay calm. Making a commotion inside a shop's changing room would not be appropriate no matter how he looked at it.

After thinking it over again and again, Bai Jun decided to wait until he returned home tonight before trying it.

"I'm very satisfied. Could you please get me a bag? I want to pack up my old clothes."

"...Huh? Oh, okay."