Yan's Challenge, Hu Liena's Misunderstanding

"Yan, I told you to call me by my name." Hu Liena frowned, displeasure showing on her face.

Yan kept calling her "Nana" no matter how many times she corrected him. She found it off-putting, even a little irritating.

"...Liena."

Yan said her name with a smile, then made himself at home beside Qin Yu. "Junior Qin, what were you and Liena talking about?"

"Something private. I'd rather not say."

A strange glint crossed Qin Yu's eyes as he said it deliberately.

Sure enough, Yan's gaze grew colder at those words, and his next remarks came edged with hostility.

"Junior Qin, with Innate Full Soul Power, you should be focusing on cultivation."

"Liena has her own training plans, too. Pestering her like this wastes your talent and holds her back."

"That's not right."

Yan narrowed his eyes, his voice cool.

"Hm?"

Hu Liena sensed tension between Qin Yu and Yan.

She did not quite understand it, but Yan was clearly trying to start something.

"Yan, I was the one who asked Qin Yu to eat with me at the cafeteria." Hu Liena shook her head. "No one is pestering anyone."

Her explanation was true enough.

But Yan was stubborn, and hearing it only made his anger flare.

It was a perfectly ordinary explanation, yet to him it meant something else entirely.

Hu Liena had sought Qin Yu out herself?

She might as well have told him that she liked Qin Yu.

Yan forced down his anger. "Junior Qin, interested in a spar?"

"Yan, you..."

Hu Liena was about to stop him when Qin Yu spoke. "I am."

Qin Yu could not have asked for a better opportunity than Yan coming to him.

And now Yan had done just that, in front of Hu Liena and everyone else.

Perfect. He could pay Yan back.

Hu Liena's pupils contracted at Qin Yu's answer. She looked at him in disbelief.

Qin Yu was a genius, but Yan was no slouch.

Yan was more than ten levels ahead of Qin Yu and had an extra century-old soul skill.

"Hmph. Two this afternoon, No. 2 Trial Arena. Whoever doesn't show is a coward. And stay away from Nana from now on!" Yan snorted and left without eating.

Hu Liena's brows drew together. Yan's behavior had upset her.

Even setting aside his jealousy and his picking on someone younger, that last demand to "stay away from Nana" rubbed her the wrong way.

What did Yan think she was?

"Qin Yu, I'm sorry."

Hu Liena looked at Qin Yu apologetically. "This may have happened because of me."

"It has little to do with you." Qin Yu shook his head and kept eating. "Senior Yan seems to like you a lot."

"I know."

Hu Liena nodded and sighed. "This isn't the first time he's acted like this. Once, when I came to see my brother, I only asked a boy for directions."

"Later, my brother told me Yan had sparred with him, gone too far, and injured him."

She had always thought of Yan as an older brother.

But some of the things he did genuinely troubled her.

"That's understandable, but he takes it too far," Qin Yu said.

"Hm?"

Hu Liena paused.

"When you first fall for someone and meet a person who takes your breath away, it's only natural to develop feelings."

Qin Yu smiled. "Boys especially tend to get jealous and compete over girls they like."

"Pfft!"

Hu Liena burst out laughing and shot him a look. "Qin Yu, how old are you? Why do you talk like an old man?"

If an elder had said that to her, she would have listened without thinking twice.

But Qin Yu was young, not even as tall as she was. His features still had the softness of a child's.

Hearing someone like him say those things made her want to laugh.

"Force of habit."

Qin Yu smiled faintly and let it pass.

His mind was not a child's, after all. Acting like one was beyond him.

"Little grown-up." Hu Liena rolled her eyes at Qin Yu, though a strange feeling stirred within her. She grew more curious about him.

What kind of person was Qin Yu, really?

"Competing over a girl you like?"

Hu Liena smiled slyly. "Then when you accepted Yan's challenge, weren't you doing exactly that?"

"Senior, that's a separate matter."

"I don't like being pushed around, and I always settle my scores. Yan came over and challenged me. If I did nothing, what kind of man would I be?"

Qin Yu's voice was even, his expression calm.

Whether a grudge was small or large, he always settled it.

Otherwise, he would only make a fool of himself.

"You're clearly still a little boy, yet you call yourself a man."

After that jab, Hu Liena asked with an unreadable look, "So you really weren't jealous?"

For some reason, she wanted to hear Qin Yu admit that he was.

Perhaps because she was the girl he would be jealous over.

But Qin Yu's answer dashed her hopes again.

"No."

Qin Yu shook his head without the slightest hesitation.

Hu Liena's gaze dimmed, and she felt an inexplicable pang of disappointment. She recovered quickly, though, and asked with a smile, "Then... little Yu, is there a girl you like?"

"No..." Qin Yu was about to say no when scattered fragments flashed through his mind. A woman's blurred face flickered before his eyes.

He could barely remember her. All that remained clear was a pair of mysterious, noble purple eyes.

The girl with those purple eyes must have been beautiful.

"I... think so."

The words slipped out before Qin Yu could stop them.

"Either there is or there isn't." Hu Liena gave him an exasperated look. "What does 'I think so' mean?"

Qin Yu shook his head and changed the subject. "Senior, please call me by my name. It's not 'little Yu.' It's Qin Yu."

"..."

Hu Liena's mouth twitched. Suddenly, she felt a little foolish.

And she seemed to understand how Yan felt, just a little.

Hm? Understand what?

Hu Liena caught herself, her cheeks reddening. I never said I liked Qin Yu. What is there to understand?

Like Qin Yu?

What a joke!

She was six years older than him!

"Senior, are you free this afternoon?" Qin Yu suddenly asked.

"Why? Are you asking me out?" Hu Liena teased.

"Not out. Just to No. 2 Trial Arena, here at the academy. Come watch me beat someone up."

"...Sure."

Hu Liena agreed, the corners of her mouth lifting despite herself. And he says he isn't jealous.

She assumed Qin Yu was competing over her too, but was too embarrassed to admit it.

And perhaps the girl behind his "I think so" was her as well.

What a stubborn little brother, Hu Liena thought, without feeling the least bit put off.

Little did she know, she had it completely wrong.