Set Up

By the time Gu Yue was summoned to the teachers' dormitory, it was fully dark. Lu Menge had personally hauled her back from the ancient tree behind the mountain—more precisely, Lu Menge had stood beneath the tree, looked up at the canopy, and said, "Are you coming down yourself, or should I come up?" Gu Yue weighed the gap in their combat strength and came down on her own. Lu Menge said nothing along the way, wearing a textbook "Teacher is in a wonderful mood" smile as her slender heels tapped out crisp echoes on the stone path. Gu Yue followed two steps behind, her purple eyes warily studying Lu Menge's back as she seriously considered whether to call Di Tian to save her tonight. But on second thought, Di Tian would only come here to kneel too. Forget it.

Once inside, Lu Menge locked the door behind them. Little White Tiger lay sprawled on the windowsill. Seeing Gu Yue enter, its ears twitched before it shifted position and went back to sleep. Gu Yue sat on the sofa with both hands properly placed on her knees, wearing the Silver Dragon King's standard calm expression.

Lu Menge sat across from her, crossed one leg over the other, and folded her hands on her knee. Tilting her head, she narrowed her amber fox eyes into two crescent moons. Gu Yue knew that expression far too well—Lu Menge wore it every time before she was about to deal with her.

"Go on."

Gu Yue blinked. "Say what?"

"What did you tell Wu Changkong?"

"Some truths."

Lu Menge's brow rose an inch. She lifted her thermos and took a sip, her tone still lazy, though every word was enunciated clearly. "Someone tore open your sleeve. Wearing a dress in subzero temperatures. Feverish enough to talk nonsense. Scrubbing your hands until the backs were covered in bloody cracks. Serving breakfast after throwing up stomach acid and mopping the floor. 'Her voice sounds like the winter wind'—" She set the thermos down on the coffee table with a crisp clink. "Anything else you'd like to add?"

Gu Yue fell silent for two seconds, then looked up without the slightest ripple in her expression. "You missed one. 'Not good enough for you.'"

Lu Menge's facial muscles twitched.

"Gu Yue." She drew a deep breath, keeping her voice within the bounds of I'm still trying to reason with you. "Why did you tell him all that?"

"Because he was asking me."

"You could have refused to answer."

"I hadn't planned to answer at first," Gu Yue said evenly. "But he kept asking, step by step. First, he asked if you were in trouble. I said no. Then he asked if you were sick. I said you were on sick leave. He said you never took sick leave, and I said everyone got sick sometimes. Then he said—last night's cat cry wasn't something you wanted to make yourself."

Lu Menge's fox eyes widened slightly. Gu Yue met her gaze and continued, "He crouched down to look me in the eye. He said it wasn't because you were his colleague, not because of academy rules, and not for any official reason. He said—it was because that person shouldn't be treated that way."

Lu Menge said nothing.

"He was so serious," Gu Yue's voice suddenly softened, "and then I thought—if he wanted to save you, I should give him a reason. Make it convincing enough, make it hurt enough that he'd feel sorry for you down to his bones. Then he'd treat you better."

She paused. Her purple eyes stared straight at Lu Menge as she continued in the tone of someone reporting military intelligence. "Besides, Teacher Wu really is handsome."

Lu Menge choked. She raised the thermos and took a sip of tea, trying to steady herself, only to find that it was already empty. She set it down and unconsciously tapped the rim twice with her fingers.

"Though his exterior is a little cold," Gu Yue continued, "the way he treats you is different from how he treats others. He's minus fifty degrees toward everyone else, but minus five toward you. That proves he has special feelings for you. And his shoulders are broad—when I hugged him earlier, I could feel his abs through his shirt. Eight of them."

"Wait—" Lu Menge raised a hand. "You—"

"Very firm. Not the kind of firmness trained just to look good, but the kind earned through actual combat. When he tensed up, the top two moved first, then the lower six contracted after them—his core strength is extremely strong, and his stability is exceptionally high. When I cried, I pressed my face to his chest and could hear his heartbeat. Sixty to sixty-five beats per minute, slightly slow. That means his cardiopulmonary function is even better than an ordinary Titled Douluo's. Even while emotionally agitated, it didn't become irregular."

Having said that, Gu Yue gave a slight nod, as if she had just completed a thorough technical analysis.

Lu Menge shot upright on the sofa. Her fox eyes were wider than ever, and the tips of her ears reddened at a visible speed. "You—you—you felt up his abs while you were crying?!"

"Not felt up. Perceived." Gu Yue's expression did not change. "I was crying against his chest, and our waists and abdomens naturally pressed together. That was physical contact, not subjective intent. But data is objective."

"You—"

"And not just his abs. His pectorals are firm too, his collarbones are well-defined, and the skin temperature on his neck is slightly higher than normal, probably because of the Heavenfrost Sword. When he breathed, his chest rose and fell deeply, and his breath control was steady. That indicates he maintained high-intensity physical training year-round. Taken together, this data can only lead to one conclusion: Teacher Wu is a high-quality mate."

Lu Menge sprang from the sofa and pointed at Gu Yue. Her lips opened several times, but she could not get out a single word. Her ears had turned completely red.

Watching her like that, a faint smile surfaced in Gu Yue's purple eyes. She did not stand, merely tilted her head slightly.

"You like him."

Lu Menge's finger froze in midair. It was not a question. It was a statement. Her finger slowly curled back.

"You care about him." Gu Yue's voice was soft, yet every word landed more accurately than the last. "His opinion of you made you panic. You're the Nine-Headed White Tiger. You've seen every grand occasion, been crushed by the laws of heaven and earth, surrounded by the allied forces of the God Realm. You've never rushed to explain yourself because of anyone's misunderstanding. Except with him. He said you were some pitiful kept woman, and you went to explain yourself that very night. He asked about your past, and you told him the truth—even if he only understood half of it, you did tell him. You've saved half a drawer of candy specifically for him in your office. You never explain your own affairs, but you explained to him that you weren't being kept—even if it didn't work."

Gu Yue stood up. She was shorter than Lu Menge and had to look up at her, but her purple eyes were full of certainty.

"You like him. Just like an ordinary person, you get nervous, embarrassed, and blush. You run away because of a cat cry, and you crouch on the floor with your face buried in your knees because of a bank card."

Lu Menge's face flared red.

"You say I like—what gives you the right to say I like him—I'm the Nine-Headed White Tiger, I've lived so long, what haven't I seen—someone as cold as that human—"

Gu Yue took another step forward, looked up at her, and replied with a single sentence. "If you truly weren't moved, would being misunderstood by him hurt? If Di Tian misunderstood you as being kept by someone, would you stifle your laughter and hide in his office, pretending to casually make him change his opinion? Or would you first put a restriction on him, make him sweep the plaza, then punish him by having him copy 'Senior Lu is innocent' ten thousand times?"

Lu Menge opened her mouth.

"If the person who barged into your room today hadn't been Wu Changkong, but another colleague—Director Long, or Ye Ying—and they slapped a salary card onto your desk and said, 'I'll cover all your expenses from now on,' how would you react? Wouldn't you have already smacked them into the wall so hard they couldn't be peeled off, then marched to the principal's office with your teacher's ID to accuse them of workplace sexual harassment? And while you were at it, you'd pin their salary card to the top of the notice board like a dart. But you couldn't do that to him. You accepted the card. You put it on the windowsill and still haven't thrown it away. Little White Tiger can testify."

Little White Tiger let out a howl from the windowsill. Lu Menge glared at it, and it buried its head in its paws.

"One more thing—Teacher Wu should already be investigating those 'old men.' At the latest, he'll turn East Sea City upside down by tomorrow. Once he finds out those people don't exist at all—are you planning to confess to him?"

Lu Menge's gaze began to flicker. Her fingertips pinched at her arm repeatedly as she barely held onto her last line of defense. "He... he won't find anything anyway—I can make up another story—"

"Do you think he'll believe it?" Gu Yue cut her off flatly. "When he finds nothing, he'll blame himself. He'll think that after being deceived, he no longer has the right to be by your side. You think he cares whether you care—but what about you? What are you most afraid he'll discover now? That you lied to him, or that he'll ignore you?"

Lu Menge's fox pupils contracted sharply. The curve of an Adam's apple rolled soundlessly along her pale neck. Gu Yue did not look away. Her purple eyes gazed straight into Lu Menge's.

"When others misunderstand you, you never explain, because you disdain it. You think mortals can think whatever they want; it has nothing to do with you. But Wu Changkong is different. Every time he misunderstands you, you panic. He called you a pitiful kept woman, and you revealed your martial soul and demanded to explain yourself to him. You've lived for countless years without ever explaining yourself to anyone, yet you chased after him to explain yourself three or four times. You aren't afraid of judgment from the God Realm or the laws of heaven and earth, but you're afraid—he'll look down on you."

Lu Menge stood there like a child whose every secret had been exposed. She wanted to argue, wanted to grab her thermos and smash something, but her fingers would not move. Because every word Gu Yue had said was true.

"If he looks down on you, you'll be sad. If he ignores you again—you'll be afraid."

Gu Yue took one final step forward. She was half a head shorter than Lu Menge, yet she tilted her head and rose onto her toes, bringing herself right beside Lu Menge's ear. Her tone softened as though she were coaxing an angry, bristling cat.

"Afraid of what? He likes you. Can't you see that? One day, when you stand before him and lay everything bare—he won't be afraid of you. At most, he'll stand there silently for a while, then say, 'Oh.' Just one 'oh,' and then he'll keep putting throat lozenges on your desk. You've lived so long and met every kind of person. But have you ever met someone like him? He thinks you're weak, yet he still likes you. He thinks you need protecting, so he puts his salary card on your windowsill and says there's no time limit. Do you think people like that are everywhere? A human with a Heavenfrost Sword martial soul might not even have enough on his salary card to pay for your tea for tens of thousands of years—but he still took it out. That's what's rare. Not the money, but the act of taking it out. His hand was shaking when he did it, but he still slapped it down. To you, it might just be a small stack of paper. To him, it was all his possessions, pulled straight out of his pocket. Think about it. A prideful human stripped himself down to that extent—if you take one more step toward him, what do you have to lose?"

Lu Menge staggered back half a step. The backs of her knees hit the edge of the rattan chair, and she fell into it. Her hand clutched the armrest, her knuckles turning white. She lowered her head, and the ends of her silver-white hair slipped over her shoulders, hiding her flushed face. She had lived for so long and survived every battle that had crushed divine bones, only to surrender completely beneath this little girl's few words.

Gu Yue crouched before her and gently pried one of her hands from the armrest, holding it in her own. She did not call her cousin or Teacher Wu. Her voice was so soft it seemed to drift from the oldest, deepest hollow of some ancient tree in memory.

"Go like him. You've never tried being taken care of. You took care of everyone—of the Dragon God, of me, of every soul beast in this place whose name could be spoken. But no one ever took care of you. Now someone does. He isn't good at it. He's clumsy, but he'll learn. You should learn too—learn to let him take care of you. The day you feel like you're no longer that White Tiger, that's the day you'll have truly lived in vain."

Lu Menge kept her head lowered, silent for a very, very long time. So long that Little White Tiger on the windowsill thought she had fallen asleep. It yawned and buried its head in its tail.

Then her shoulders trembled. She was not crying; she was laughing. Slowly, she leaned back against the rattan chair and covered her face with the back of her hand. She laughed twice, the sound a little bitter.

"You little bastard, are you setting me up?"

Gu Yue remained crouched in front of her, watching her with her head tilted.

"You made up all that tragic nonsense just to make him come find me." Lu Menge lowered her hand. There was un-dried moisture in her amber fox eyes, but even more helpless exasperation and amusement. "You calculated it all. From the moment he went looking for you—you planned to push him toward me."

"I've been wronged," Gu Yue said, raising her hands. "Taking out the card was his improvisation, and slapping it on the windowsill was his own idea. I was only responsible for crying." After a pause, she added, "At most, I cried a little too hard. Didn't you say he wouldn't believe it if I wasn't dramatic enough?" After saying that, she very consciously retreated half a step and pushed the thermos forward.

Lu Menge laughed and cursed at her, her voice a little hoarse. She wrapped the blanket tighter around herself like a cocoon, kicked her shoes aside, and relaxed completely. After a moment of silence, she looked at Gu Yue and said, "Thank you."

Gu Yue froze for a moment, then bent down, pulled her up from beside the rattan chair, and pushed her shoulders until she lay down on the bed with the blanket tucked around her. Lu Menge curled up beneath it, pressing her cheek into the pillow as she murmured, "Hold onto the salary card he gave you. I'm talking to you..." Gu Yue turned off the lights for her. Under the moonlight, Lu Menge closed her eyes, and her breathing gradually steadied.

In the darkness, Gu Yue walked to the door and quietly pulled it open. She looked back once more at the curled-up bundle beneath the covers, her purple eyes full of amusement. Tonight's show had been even more satisfying than the one beneath the ginkgo tree. She drafted a report in her mind—Lord Di Tian, regarding Senior Lu, you may soon get to see her wedding to a human. But no rush. Observe first.