"Oh my, isn't this Junior Sister Sima?"
"When did Junior Sister get back? You didn't even let us know."
"Who's that man? Junior Sister's little sweetheart?"
"Tut, he's really handsome!"
Seeing Sima Qingyan arrive with a pretty boy in tow, the chattering beauties' eyes lit up. They abandoned their sunflower seeds and swarmed over, dragging Sima Qingyan away while teasing her and openly sizing up the guileless, honest-looking Xiang Yuan.
There were so many of them, their gazes utterly unrestrained, their smiles downright wicked.
Sima Qingyan was swallowed by a kaleidoscopic encirclement and swept along by her senior sisters to the wall, her head buzzing. She hurriedly explained, "Senior Sisters, don't talk nonsense. Young Hero Xiang is my lifesaver. he was wounded by a demon, so I brought him back to the Sect Gate to seek treatment."
"Ooh, Young Hero Xiang~~"
"Exactly, exactly—what an intimate way to call him!"
"Another hero saving a beauty? How cliché. We've heard that story far too often. When will Sword Heart Studio produce a heroine who forcibly carries off a beautiful young man?"
"..."
One woman was five hundred ducks. With seven or eight mouths chattering away, they were like bees beneath the flowers—hundreds, thousands of them, buzzing noisily.
Sima Qingyan could not find a chance to get a word in. From the corner of her eye, she saw Xiang Yuan craning his neck to look over; perhaps he had heard something. Her face immediately flushed crimson, and she pleaded, "Senior Sisters, spare your Junior Sister. Young Hero Xiang truly is my lifesaver."
"Junior Sister is being so unreasonable. We never said he wasn't your lifesaver!"
"Exactly, exactly. Now that Junior Sister has a little sweetheart, she's already throwing attitude at her Senior Sisters. The world has gone cold; it really hurts."
"Ah, the