Stop Messing Around

In less than half a day, Lin Bei arrived in Suotuo City. He made some inquiries around the city and discovered that Shrek Academy's enrollment had not yet begun.

Lin Bei was slightly surprised.

Had he come too early?

He had thought that making a trip to Sunset Forest had already wasted enough time, but unexpectedly, even after he rushed to Suotuo City, Shrek had not even started enrolling students.

"When does Shrek start enrollment?"

Lin Bei asked the soul master he had stopped.

The soul master said, "They seem to start enrollment tomorrow. My lord, does someone in your family have a child who wants to enter Shrek? Shrek is indeed a good choice. I heard that soul masters who graduate from Shrek can receive the title of Imperial Viscount."

Lin Bei revealed a meaningful smile and said, "Well, there is indeed a girl at home who wants to enter Shrek. Thanks, brother."

He took his leave of the soul master and casually found a hotel in the city to stay at.

Lin Bei did not go to Spirit Hall's branch in Suotuo City. This time, he treated the trip entirely as a vacation and did not want to expose his identity.

The next day.

Ning Rongrong took a carriage to Shrek outside Suotuo City. She looked out through the carriage window, her cheeks puffed out—

Hmph!

Stinky Lin Bei!

I told you not to come find me for five whole years. Now I've run away from home. Let's see what you do!

At the thought of Lin Bei, Ning Rongrong felt wronged.

They had clearly agreed when they parted five years ago that he would come find her.

In the end, she waited and waited at home.

But that jerk never came!

Could what he said to me that day in Small Garden—

"You're so cute and pretty. You'll definitely be a great beauty when you grow up. Being able to marry you would be my honor. Of course I'd be willing."

—have been a lie?

Boohoo...

She felt so wronged she wanted to cry.

Jerk, I'll absolutely never forgive you!

Father even defended you, saying you never came because the Pope sent you to Bewildering Grand Canyon to cultivate. I don't believe it at all!

You're just a big liar!

I've run away from home!

Even if you come looking for me, you'll never find me!

"Miss, Shrek Academy is here."

The hired carriage driver's voice came over, and then the carriage stopped.

Ning Rongrong lifted the curtain and got down from the carriage.

She looked ahead.

In front of a "run-down" village, a small shed had been set up, and quite a few parents were accompanying their children as they lined up before the shed.

Suddenly, Ning Rongrong caught sight of a tall, slender figure standing beneath a large tree up ahead.

That person had long black hair and a handsome, sunny face. He wore a simple, form-fitting black uniform, making him look extremely valiant and dashing.

His eyes, like stars, were now looking at her with a smile full of warmth.

Ning Rongrong's heart skipped a beat. For some reason, the other party's face overlapped with the one she had yearned for day and night.

Only, compared to that youthful face in her heart, the young man before her had grown much more mature and handsome.

She could not help covering her mouth as her eyes reddened.

That jerk!

How did he find this place!?

The young man walked over with a smile.

He came up in front of Ning Rongrong and reached out, seemingly wanting to stroke her head.

But Ning Rongrong suddenly took a step back, gritted her teeth, and glared at the young man as she asked, "What are you doing here?"

The young man first smiled and said, "I came to find you." Then he apologized in a sincere and earnest tone. "I'm sorry, Rongrong. It was my fault for not coming to find you these past five years. Forgive me, all right, Rongrong?"

Hmph!

It was your fault!

But I won't forgive you that easily!

Ning Rongrong heard the young man admit his mistake, his attitude earnest and sincere. Her heart, already delighted because she had seen him here, grew even happier.

But there was still anger in her heart.

Her expression stiffened, and she turned her head away.

Just then, Ning Rongrong suddenly smelled a strange, delicate fragrance. She could not help turning back, only to see that an incomparably beautiful flower had appeared in the young man's hand.

The roots and leaves beneath this beautiful flower were like vine-woven curtains, fine and neatly combed, while at the top bloomed a golden tulip.

It radiated waves of beautiful light, its fragrance utterly exquisite. Just smelling it cleared the mind and soothed the body.

Ning Rongrong stared at the flower and asked in surprise, "What is that?"

"Is that actually the Aromatic Silk Beauty?!"

The young man had yet to answer.

An extremely shocked voice rang out from the side. Then a puzzled female voice followed, "Xiao San, what's the Aromatic Silk Beauty?"

Ning Rongrong looked over.

She saw a young man and a young woman standing together, staring in astonishment at the flower in the young man's hand.

"The Aromatic Silk Beauty is an immortal-grade spiritual herb, elegant and magnificent. If a person takes it, they can absorb the essence of heaven and earth, the radiance of the sun and moon," the gentle-natured youth explained to the cute pink-clad girl beside him.

Tang San?

Lin Bei looked at the youth, and the youth also lifted his gaze from the Aromatic Silk Beauty and looked at Lin Bei.

Their gazes met in midair.

He had finally met the protagonist.

Six years ago, Lin Bei had left Maple Forest Village, and from beginning to end, he had never once met this world's protagonist, Tang San.

Today was their first meeting.

Lin Bei felt somewhat emotional. They were both "fellow sufferers adrift at the ends of the earth; why must those who meet have known each other before?" Though the poem was somewhat inappropriate here, both of them had crossed over and been reborn, coming from their own worlds to this strange place.

Here, they both counted as strangers in a foreign land.

Tang San looked at Lin Bei and inexplicably felt a hint of familiarity. It was not that he had seen Lin Bei before, but that the other man seemed to exude a feeling similar to his own—

Loneliness.

The loneliness of being detached from the world.

That lonely air made him feel familiar.

Once upon a time, his own heart had been filled with that same loneliness of drifting outside the world.

Coming from his previous life to this unfamiliar world was like being separated from the world by a membrane. That loneliness, lingering deep in his heart, had once made him yearn intensely for kinship and friendship.

To avoid being driven mad by the loneliness in his heart, he and Xiao Wu had become sworn siblings.

From then on, the loneliness in his heart seemed to have dispersed.

Tang San had not expected that, after so many years, he would meet someone here who was surrounded by loneliness.

What was he lonely about?

Confusion flashed through Tang San's heart.

"Hey, did you two just fall for each other?"

Seeing Tang San and Lin Bei's gazes meet in midair, their eyes gradually growing somewhat locked together, Xiao Wu could not help speaking up.

"Ahem."

Lin Bei nearly choked.

What the hell.

So this was the female lead?

She talked this fiercely?

What did she mean, fall for each other?

First of all, let him state clearly: he was not gay. He liked all pretty girls, and he did not dislike girls with beautiful hearts either.

I love girls!

How could he possibly fall for Tang San... ahem, for Tang Shan, maybe.

Thinking of Tang Shan from the Gender-Swapped Timeline.

Lin Bei expressed that there was nothing wrong with that!

As for Tang San, forget it.

I'm really not gay!

"Xiao Wu."

Tang San looked at Xiao Wu somewhat helplessly.

We're both boys.

What did she mean, "their eyes met just right"?

Was that any way for a girl to talk?

Xiao Wu made a face at Tang San. "Bleh, bleh, bleh. Who told you two to stare at each other for so long..."

"Pfft, hahahaha."

Ning Rongrong was amused and covered her mouth as she laughed. She said to Lin Bei, "If you've really fallen for him, I support you two being together."

"Stop messing around."

Lin Bei rolled his eyes at Ning Rongrong. What kind of person shoved her fiancé into a fire pit like that?

But he also knew Ning Rongrong was joking, while venting the dissatisfaction and grievances she had built up toward him over the past five years.

Lin Bei understood that.