Soft?

While Lou Yunxiao ate, Ning Ke kept staring at him.

Compared to when they were in the Demon Abyss, Lou Yunxiao really had become much quieter.

But he didn't come across as cold.

He was far easier on the eyes than the lunatic who had grabbed him by the throat before Time Reversal.

Perhaps enduring more than half a year of solitude had also stripped away his former awkwardness, making his every gesture much more composed. With a silver-white silk ribbon tied behind his head and dressed in plain robes, he looked ethereal, like a painting.

Lou Yunxiao couldn't see, but he could still feel that fixed gaze growing increasingly heated.

Curling his fingers, he felt along his cheek and asked uneasily, "...Is there something on my face?"

He was afraid he'd gotten rice on his face and embarrassed himself in front of his junior brother.

"No, no, hahaha." Ning Ke hurriedly waved his hands.

"You're just so handsome, senior brother, that I couldn't keep my eyes to myself. I hope you won't think I'm being forward."

The second rule of being lovestruck that Xiao Yuan had taught him: compliment the person you love anytime, anywhere, whether he likes hearing it or not.

Ning Ke didn't know whether Lou Yunxiao liked hearing that, but he clearly saw the young man stiffen, seemingly at a loss.

He looked... pretty cute, actually?

"I don't think you're being forward." This was Lou Yunxiao's first time receiving such a compliment from another man. It took him a moment to recover before he told Ning Ke, "It's just a shame that I can't see, so I have no way of knowing what you look like, junior brother."

He gave a rare smile and chose his words carefully. "But with such a wonderful personality, I imagine you must be a handsome young man as well."

Ning Ke took in every bit of his awkwardness, and that familiar itch returned.

He wanted to tease him.

He cleared the things off the table, then leaned forward, drawing close to Lou Yunxiao.

Tilting his head up slightly, he smiled at him.

"Your features come from your bone structure. You may not be able to see, senior brother, but you can feel them with your hands."

Without hesitation, he took Lou Yunxiao's hand and brought it almost against his skin.

But he didn't let it quite touch.

That tantalizing closeness was all the more lethal.

He asked Lou Yunxiao softly.

"So, senior brother... would you like to touch my face?"

[Host, are you sure you aren't gay?] Xiao Yuan couldn't resist popping up.

[Do you realize you're flirting with him?]

Ning Ke: Aren't I just staying in character? I love him enough to gouge out my eyes and throw away my life. Isn't it perfectly normal that I can't quite contain my feelings now?

[(ΩДΩ)???]

Xiao Yuan was stunned. [Host, didn't you hate playing a lovesick doormat who likes men?]

Ning Ke: Immersing yourself in your role is part of An Actor's Self-Cultivation and professional ethics.

[...]

That somewhat familiar cool fragrance grew richer with their proximity.

The cold wrist Ning Ke held also began to warm from his higher body temperature.

Lou Yunxiao's Adam's apple bobbed slightly. As if drawn by some unseen force, he moved his fingers and touched Ning Ke's face.

Ning Ke released his hand, closed his eyes, and gently coaxed him. "Senior brother, you can use your other hand too. You'll get a clearer sense of it if you use both hands..."

Even if this body was only formed from a single tail, Ning Ke's true form was still a fox spirit who practiced the Charm Art. So when he softened his voice, it became... incredibly beguiling.

Without realizing it, Lou Yunxiao followed his instructions. Both hands settled on Ning Ke's face, starting at his smooth forehead and moving down over his brow bones and eye sockets. Eyelashes brushed his fingertips, tickling them.

Next came his high, sculpted nose, and farther down...

When he touched Ning Ke's lips, Lou Yunxiao's hand trembled. He hurriedly moved it aside, only to hear Ning Ke ask:

"Soft?"

Whoosh-

Lou Yunxiao stood and took a large step back. In his panic, he had nowhere to put his hands and finally hid them behind his back.

"A-all right."

Struggling to keep his voice steady, he said, "I have a rough idea of what you look like now. There's no need to continue."

Ning Ke fought so hard to hold back his laughter that his face turned red.

He asked Lou Yunxiao, "Then what do you think of my features, senior brother?"

With some distance between them, Lou Yunxiao's emotions finally settled a little. Remembering that touch as delicate as mutton-fat jade, he answered quietly, "...Good. Very good."

"Then do you like them?"

That question was a huge trap.

Ning Ke gleefully waited for Lou Yunxiao to jump right in.

But after a long wait, the handsome young man standing beneath the moon told him with complete seriousness, "Junior brother, your appearance is for the person you love to judge. I'm not that person, so my opinion doesn't matter. Please don't ask me that question again."

"..." His hopes dashed, Ning Ke felt his brow twitch.

This guy really couldn't change that stuffiness in his bones!

He always became so levelheaded at the crucial moment. As boring as an old man!

"Fine, fine." Losing interest, Ning Ke stopped making things difficult for him, and the two went inside to rest.

Meanwhile, in a corner outside the courtyard, Ning Xiaoxiao covered her face, her eyes still sparkling.

Oh my god! She'd seen everything!

The eldest senior brother had just been touching her brother's face!

And they'd been so close!

Aaaah!! So her brother had sent her away tonight to welcome this eldest senior brother!

Hadn't he said the eldest senior brother was a demon? Hadn't he said the eldest senior brother ate people?

Her brother had been lying to her all along!

Hehehe, she seemed to have discovered something incredible...

Ning Xiaoxiao walked away, grinning foolishly.

The next day, Ning Ke brought Lou Yunxiao to class and found Ning Xiaoxiao looking at him with a decidedly sneaky expression.

"Xiaoxiao, this is your eldest senior brother, Lou Yunxiao. He lives in the same courtyard as us and only came back yesterday." After saying that, Ning Ke leaned close to Ning Xiaoxiao's ear and quietly bad-mouthed Lou Yunxiao. "He's the one who practices demonic cultivation. I tested him yesterday. He's very dangerous and can easily lose control. Don't spend time alone with him."

In the novel, the female lead, Ning Xiaoxiao, was every bit as lovestruck as A Ke, the junior brother Ning Ke was playing.

That was what worried Ning Ke most.

So he had to nip things in the bud. During this second phase of his mission, as long as he was around these two, he couldn't let Ning Xiaoxiao turn into a hopeless romantic!

But after finishing his speech in the tone of a long-suffering father, he looked down to find Ning Xiaoxiao smiling, her eyes curved into crescents. In a strange tone, she replied, "Ohh~ So you've already tested him."

"?" Ning Ke's face was full of question marks.

Then the girl patted his shoulder and said, "It's fine, brother. I get it. I get everything. Don't worry, I'll behave. I definitely won't spend time alone with the eldest senior brother."

With that, she obediently sat down beside the female disciples and picked up her book of bamboo slips. "All right, brother, take the eldest senior brother over there and sit down. The elder will be here soon. You don't want to get scolded."

"???" Ning Ke couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Still, seeing that his precious little cabbage seemed to have no interest in the pig that might gobble her up, he felt quite relieved.

Then he took Lou Yunxiao by the hand and led him to a seat in the back row.

Little did he know that Ning Xiaoxiao was secretly peeking over her bamboo slips at their clasped hands, fighting with all her might not to burst into honking laughter.