Say Thank You

Song Qingshuang's lips were bleeding, and her beautiful little face was swollen like a pig's head. Yet the look she gave Qin Yuan was filled with shock and resentment.

She couldn't understand how Qin Yuan had dared to hit her, let alone hit her so brutally.

Fortunately, Qin Yuan was considerate enough to see what was troubling Song Qingshuang.

"I honestly don't know where you got the confidence to think I came looking for you.

To be honest, if you hadn't just said the words 'break off the engagement,' I might not even have remembered who you were."

Song Qingshuang's eyes flew wide. At the same time, shame and embarrassment flooded her. She had misunderstood him.

Then Qin Yuan said with amusement:

"You really are something. No one has ever dared to lecture me like I was their grandson—not once, from childhood until now. You're the first.

Should I call you brave, or ignorant? Or perhaps... you're just so used to throwing your weight around that you don't take anyone seriously!"

By the end, Qin Yuan's expression had turned cold. He grabbed Song Qingshuang by the hair and said icily:

"Even your father wouldn't dare speak to me like that. When he sees me, he has to show me respect. You're merely a daughter of a Duke. Even as his legitimate daughter, you're still not qualified!"

Song Qingshuang stared at Qin Yuan, who looked like a fiend. Fear welled in her eyes. She had grown up sheltered in a hothouse; she had never been threatened so viciously before. Her body trembled uncontrollably.

"When it comes to a woman who can't even understand the situation, you have to hit her!" Qin Yuan said, his cold gaze fixed on Song Qingshuang.

"I hit you. Are you convinced?"

"I... I am." Song Qingshuang didn't dare talk tough anymore.

"Mm. Looks like what I said has sunk into your soul and made you realize your mistake."

Qin Yuan nodded with satisfaction. "Say thank you."

Song Qingshuang froze, wondering for a moment if her ears had stopped working.

"W-what?"

"I helped you face reality, so you can avoid offending people you can't afford to provoke in the future. Shouldn't you thank me?"

"...Thank you." Song Qingshuang gritted her teeth and lowered her head in humiliation.

"No need to thank me. I'm taking payment."

Qin Yuan swiftly stripped the Storage Soul Tool from Song Qingshuang's slender wrist. As she stared at him in shock and disbelief, he held it up and said:

"I'll take my payment, then. If you have a problem with that, tell your father to come find me at the Imperial Palace."

Qin Yuan rose with a smile, then looked at Song Qingshuang with puzzlement and curiosity.

"I'm really curious. Are you always this confident?"

Before Song Qingshuang, her lips clenched tight, could answer, he waved at Zhao Shuang'er, who stood dazed on the stone steps winding up the mountain.

"You there, come over here."

Zhao Shuang'er, still utterly shocked and dazed, snapped back to her senses. Seeing Qin Yuan beckon, she hurriedly looked around and found that she was the only one nearby.

So she hesitantly pointed at herself. "Me?"

"Yes, you."

Zhao Shuang'er was terrified. If he dared hit a Duke's legitimate daughter, what chance did a Marquis's legitimate daughter like her have?

All she could do was silently pray, "He hit her. I hope he doesn't hit me too."

She edged over to Qin Yuan, trembling, and kept her eyes shut as she waited for her punishment.

"Keep an eye on her. Don't let her die here; that would be a hassle."

Just as Zhao Shuang'er's heart was filled with anxious dread, a gentle voice came from beside her, fading into the distance.

When she opened her eyes, she saw that the fiendish man had already gone up the mountain. He hadn't even paid her any attention.

She let out a huge sigh of relief and hurried to help Song Qingshuang, whose eyes had reddened with hurt.

Only after Qin Yuan had gone far away did Song Qingshuang dare complain with red, aggrieved eyes:

"Shuang'er, don't you think Qin Yuan went too far? He hit me like that! I'm definitely going to make my father get justice for me!"

Zhao Shuang'er didn't dare say a word. She kept her mouth shut and helped Song Qingshuang toward Heaven Dou City.

Qin Yuan had no interest in Song Qingshuang's reaction. By then, he had already entered Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

Heaven Dou Royal Academy had never seen a man as handsome as Qin Yuan. The girls' eyes lit up as they cried out in surprise along the way.

At twelve years old, Qin Yuan already stood six feet tall. He had a slender, well-proportioned build, brows like swords, a face like a sculpture, and skin like jade.

On top of that, he had grown up in the Imperial Palace and been raised by Qian Renxue, giving him an air of refined nobility. He was nothing short of a peerless beauty of a man, turning heads everywhere he went.

A bold girl, confident in her own beauty, approached with flushed cheeks.

"H-hello. Could we get to know each other? My name is Liu Ruyue. My father holds the title of Earl. I..."

Qin Yuan smiled without answering and instead asked:

"Do you know where Dugu Yan is?"

Liu Ruyue's beautiful little face stiffened. She forced a smile and pointed him in the right direction.

Qin Yuan thanked her with a smile, then turned and left.

Once Qin Yuan was gone, the smile Liu Ruyue had forced onto her face crumpled. She looked down at her chest, which was so large she couldn't see her toes, and for the first time began to doubt her own beauty.

After asking a few more pretty girls who had approached him, Qin Yuan finally found Dugu Yan.

A peerless handsome man had come looking for her out of the blue. Dugu Yan was both surprised and delighted. Her pale purple eyes stayed fixed on the face before her, so impossibly beautiful it seemed otherworldly.

"You were looking for me?"

Yu Tianheng, who had been pursuing Dugu Yan relentlessly, felt a powerful sense of crisis and watched Qin Yuan warily.

"What do you want with Yan Yan?"

"What's it to you?" Dugu Yan, blinded by a handsome face, glared at Yu Tianheng in displeasure.

"I..." Yu Tianheng felt half his heart turn cold. She'd actually yelled at him for another man.

Ignoring Yu Tianheng, Dugu Yan turned her beautiful eyes back to Qin Yuan's peerlessly handsome face and spoke in a gentle voice Yu Tianheng had never heard from her before.

"Don't mind him. What did you want with me?"

Qin Yuan shot a knowing look at the gloomy Yu Tianheng, ignoring his threatening, warning glare. Then he looked seriously at Dugu Yan.

"You're sick."

"..." Dugu Yan's lovely smile froze.

How could such a handsome man have such a mouth? Someone would have to sew it shut sooner or later!

Yu Tianheng's eyes suddenly lit up. He thought his chance to shine had finally arrived, and stepped forward.

"What kind of thing is that to say?"

"I can cure your snake poison." Ignoring the clown Yu Tianheng, Qin Yuan kept his eyes on Dugu Yan.

Dugu Yan stared at Qin Yuan in silence. The admiration in her beautiful eyes shifted into scrutiny, and deep suspicion crept into her voice.

"You can cure it?"

"I can." Qin Yuan nodded, then changed tack. "But I'll need payment."

"What kind of payment?"

"The medicinal herbs in your grandfather's garden. I can pick whatever I want!"

Dugu Yan's pupils contracted. "How do you know about the garden?"

"I have my ways." Qin Yuan smiled faintly.

"To show you I'm sincere, I can let you experience it first."

As he spoke, Qin Yuan raised his right hand and gently pointed at Dugu Yan.

A ball of warm, pure, sacred white light flew toward Dugu Yan's chest.

Dugu Yan instinctively wanted to dodge, but she felt no threat. Instead, she was filled with longing.

The white light merged into her high, full chest. Dugu Yan felt a tingling sensation all over, followed by a comfort she had never experienced before. Her cheeks flushed like peach blossoms, and she became breathtakingly beautiful.

Yu Tianheng's eyes nearly popped out of his head.