From Today On, You're My Little Wife

"I came over anyway. What are you going to do about it?" Xiao Yan walked over with a broad smile. Every time he saw how meek and delicate she looked, he couldn't resist wanting to tease her.

"I-I came to see Sister Cao. Could you let me through?" Dan Chen looked at Xiao Yan aggrievedly.

Not only was this fellow thick-skinned and bold, he was also a social terrorist, the natural nemesis of anyone with social anxiety. Worse still, he had extraordinary talent and powerful backing. Even her grandfather could do nothing about him.

"Your Sister Cao is asleep. Go home." Xiao Yan waved a hand and smiled at Dan Chen. "Go on. Or shall I walk you back?"

"N-no need!" Dan Chen took a step back and poked her little head out to inspect the space behind Xiao Yan. Only after confirming that Cao Ying wasn't there did she cautiously turn around.

Her little feet moved lightly, but she heard footsteps following behind her.

I'm done for! Panic seized Dan Chen's heart, and she couldn't help quickening her pace.

"So amusing." Xiao Yan watched her hurry forward with her head lowered, like a frightened little rabbit.

Inside her boudoir, Cao Ying lay with her eyes open. The tiny tear mole at the corner of her eye added another touch of kingdom-toppling allure to a seductive face that already bewitched all who saw it.

Her lovely cheek rested on her arm as she quietly replayed everything that had happened that day.

Thinking of Xiao Yan's handsome face and its faint hint of roguishness, Cao Ying wore a smile she hadn't even noticed herself.

A genius? A monster? Indeed, his monstrous talent was enough to make even her feel a little despair.

A scoundrel? A bandit? A scion of a great family? Those might be his true nature, but they might also be masks. Through a woman's intuition, Cao Ying could clearly sense a trace of almost imperceptible loneliness beneath Xiao Yan's many guises.

Just what kind of person are you? The Heart-Guarding Pill gradually took effect, leaving Cao Ying's body pleasantly warm. Without her realizing it, her eyelids grew heavier and heavier.

Still inexperienced in the ways of the world, she didn't yet know that when a woman grew curious about a man and often found herself thinking about him, it was usually a dangerous sign.

A subtle fragrance lingered in the boudoir as the beauty reclined on her bed, unaware that a story was about to unfold here.

Tap, tap, tap. Dan Chen's footsteps grew faster and faster, yet the footsteps behind her never stopped.

"What exactly do you want?" The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and she suddenly spun around like a startled kitten.

Thump! A solid chest met her little face head-on, nearly knocking her over.

At just over 1.6 meters tall, she was a full head shorter than Xiao Yan. The only reason she hadn't fallen was that a hand had caught her slender waist.

So slender, so soft! Xiao Yan steadied her, enduring the sensation of an electric shock running through his soul.

"C-can you stop following me?" Dan Chen abruptly pushed Xiao Yan away. Her peach-blossom eyes reddened, and moisture gathered in her crystal-clear gaze.

If she hadn't been unable to beat Xiao Yan, even someone as introverted as her would have come to blows with this lecher.

Uncle might put up with it, but Auntie wouldn't!

"Oh? Going to cry?" At the sight, Xiao Yan showed not the slightest remorse. Instead, he advanced step by step, backing the girl against the wall.

"What's wrong? Want to cry? Go on, then." He grinned like a little delinquent teasing the prettiest girl in class.

Faced with this devil's brazen behavior, Dan Chen finally broke down. Tears spilled from the corners of her eyes, and she began to sob softly. Looking like pear blossoms drenched in rain, she would probably have broken any other man's heart.

Unfortunately, the man she had encountered was Xiao Yan. And what kind of man was Xiao Yan?

A scumbag!

What lay at the heart of a scumbag? Not honeyed words or a silver tongue, but a heart of stone!

Only with a heart devoid of feeling could one gain the means to sweep across the battlefield of love. Only by remaining unmoved by others' emotions could one stand undefeated.

"W-wah!" The little girl wept like pear blossoms in the rain, but Xiao Yan remained unmoved. He merely watched Dan Chen calmly. Only when she stopped sobbing did he take out a silk handkerchief and bend down slightly.

"Finished crying?" His voice was gentle, and so was his gaze as he offered Dan Chen the handkerchief.

"Why do you keep following me? What do you want?" Dan Chen took the handkerchief and wiped her red, swollen peach-blossom eyes.

"I just happen to like you." Xiao Yan's words nearly frightened Dan Chen into tears again.

"Could you please not like me?" Dan Chen gave Xiao Yan an aggrieved look and received a firm answer.

"No!"

"From the very first moment I saw you, my heart was moved." Xiao Yan's words made the girl's cheeks flush with embarrassment, but his offensive wasn't over yet. At some point, an exquisitely delicate flower had appeared in his hand.

It was a purple jasmine, its petals as deep a violet as the night, dotted with starlight like a river of stars.

Star-illusion purple jasmine grew where starlight gathered and bloomed only once every thousand years. It was a precious medicinal ingredient coveted by many seventh-rank alchemists.

Xiao Yan reached out and tucked the precious flower, worth far more than a million gold coins, into Dan Chen's dark hair. Then he slowly leaned toward her ear and whispered, "From today on, you're my little wife!"

His warm breath brushed the girl's translucent ear, sending a shiver through her entire body.

Immediately afterward, a visible tide of red rose from her snow-white neck and spread all the way to her forehead.

Seeing the girl's face turn so red it seemed ready to drip blood, Xiao Yan couldn't help laughing aloud.

Ignoring Xiao Yan's delighted laughter, Dan Chen sat blankly on the ground, her eyes vacant. Her mind had already shut down.

She was unlike Cao Ying, who was so confident and enchantingly alluring that even Xiao Yan's teasing would only make her blush slightly.

Though she had been born into the Dan Family with an innate primordial spiritual body and was doted on by her elders, no one dared come into contact with her because of her constitution.

Her peers regarded her with nothing but awe and fear, which had shaped her timid, introverted personality. After Xiao Yan's teasing, she had now fallen into a state of utter bewilderment.

Seeing her like this, Xiao Yan did nothing more. He merely sat on the ground and watched her with a smile.

After sitting dazedly for a long while, Dan Chen finally came back to her senses. She gave Xiao Yan a look that was both aggrieved and vacant and asked, "Can I go home now?"

"You've been on your way home this whole time. I'll walk you back." Xiao Yan stood and held out a hand to pull her up, but the little girl got to her feet on her own.

This time, however, she no longer avoided Xiao Yan. She simply walked along in a daze, her little face turning pale one moment and flushing the next. Who knew what she was thinking? A dignified Dou Ling, she nearly tripped several times just walking.

Xiao Yan said nothing more. By now, the girl probably wouldn't take in anything he said, so he simply kept his mouth shut and remained silent.

Neither spoke along the way. Only when he had escorted Dan Chen to the main gate did she ask blankly, "Are you going to follow me inside too?"

"No need. Now that I've seen you safely home, I can rest easy." Xiao Yan delivered his insincere words of affection.

"Oh. Then can I go back now?" Dan Chen's mind was still buzzing, leaving her slow to process Xiao Yan's words.

"Go on." Xiao Yan smiled. Only after watching the girl gradually disappear from sight did he turn away in satisfaction.

Today's gains had been quite good. He had already torn open two initial breaches. With this beginning, all he needed to do from here on was keep the situation firmly in his grasp.

The setting sun gradually sank into the night, its lingering rays washing the earth crimson. In an alley beneath the Pill Tower, a young man's smug humming drifted through the air.