"Ah!"
A startled cry woke Cao De from his deep sleep.
Cao De's eyes snapped open, and he looked around in confusion.
Xiao Wu was clutching the blanket, staring at him with her little face flushed red.
"Why are you sleeping beside me, you pervert?" Xiao Wu's voice trembled.
Cao De said nothing, merely pointing at the 38th Parallel beside them.
Xiao Wu followed his gaze.
Her already flushed face turned red all the way to the tips of her ears.
Her lips opened and closed, but not a single word came out.
Resting one hand behind his head, Cao De said with a smile,
"Classmate Xiao Wu, you crossed the 38th Parallel."
His voice was low and rich.
Xiao Wu lowered her head, her face so red it looked ready to drip.
Cao De took her slender arm and gave it a gentle tug.
Xiao Wu cried out, then immediately realized something and clamped her other hand over her mouth.
Tumbling into Cao De's arms, Xiao Wu felt her head spinning.
She hurriedly tried to wriggle free, but Cao De held her firmly against him.
"Sleep a little longer."
Cao De stroked Xiao Wu's hair a few times.
His warm hand seemed to possess some magic, soothing the restless Xiao Wu into stillness.
But the blush on her face deepened.
"We still have our work-study duties," Xiao Wu told Cao De quietly.
"I gave the teacher some money and had all our work-study duties canceled."
Cao De stroked her hair again.
Xiao Wu's hair was silky, with a faint fragrance lingering among the strands. Cao De liked it very much.
"Oh," Xiao Wu murmured.
"All right, sleep a little longer. I went to bed too late last night."
Cao De held Xiao Wu a little tighter.
Xiao Wu was already wide awake and felt no sleepiness at all. With her head nestled in the crook of his arm, she quietly watched his profile.
For some inexplicable reason, her heartbeat quickened.
All the little moments she had shared with Cao De surfaced in her mind.
Their meeting, their first fight, the first time he had seen her..., the first time she had felt something unusual, her first carrot feast, the first time he had held her hand, the first time he had held her as they slept.
With every scene she recalled, the blush on Xiao Wu's face deepened.
Yet she could not stop the corners of her mouth from rising.
Watching Cao De's profile,
Xiao Wu scolded him in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz. "Pervert."
She kept staring at his profile.
His eyebrows were handsome, his eyes were handsome, his nose was handsome, his mouth...
Lecher.
She tightened her arms around Cao De.
Time passed, minute by minute, second by second.
As noon approached,
Cao De opened his eyes and met Xiao Wu's gaze.
"Morning." A faint smile rested on his face.
Xiao Wu instinctively burrowed deeper into the crook of his arm.
Then she realized something.
Her little face flushed, and she no longer knew what to do.
"Time to get up."
Cao De patted Xiao Wu's head.
He stretched, his bones crackling.
[Tang San felt resentment and anger toward you. Emotion points: 40 (emotions accumulated from last night until today).]
Cao De nodded in satisfaction.
Xiao Wu shyly poked her head out.
While Cao De had been asleep, Xiao Wu had thought about many things. She seemed to have possibly, maybe, fallen for him.
Now that he was awake, she did not know how to face him.
With a surname like Cao, Cao De had recognized this long ago, so he gave Xiao Wu a way out.
"I slept really well today. I'll take you out for a feast."
At the mention of a feast, the little glutton Xiao Wu immediately cast her embarrassment to the back of her mind.
She promptly got up, folded the blanket with Cao De, and washed up.
Newlyweds.
The thought popped into Xiao Wu's mind, and her little face turned scarlet again.
Seeing her like this, Cao De felt like laughing, but said nothing.
Xiao Wu would have to get used to it slowly. She could not stay shy forever.
Wang Sheng came toward them and saw their joined hands.
An indulgent smile spread across his face.
"Have you seen Tang San?" Cao De asked.
He had not farmed any emotion points today, and his dear San-San had already disappeared.
"Tang San went out with Grandmaster at daybreak."
Cao De nodded.
He already knew what they were doing. Yu Xiaogang had taken Tang San to obtain a soul ring.
Knowing Tang San's crooked ways, as crooked as his split stream of piss, he would definitely come back to teach Cao De a lesson.
It seemed Cao De needed to obtain a soul ring too.
Xiao Wu scratched Cao De's palm.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Nothing. You're just too young." Cao De thought of his Great Sun Heart Method.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
His remark left Xiao Wu utterly bewildered.
"Come on! You promised me a feast. No backing out!" Holding Cao De's hand, Xiao Wu skipped along.
"All right."
After lunch,
Cao De sat cross-legged on the bed, cultivating the Great Sun Heart Method. Xiao Wu lay on her stomach at one side of the bed, blinking her big eyes as she watched him.
Time passed, minute by minute, second by second.
"Whew."
Cao De opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting.
His soul power had finally reached level eight.
"Finished cultivating?" Xiao Wu tilted her head up.
"I'm going to hunt soul beasts. Want to come?" Cao De patted her head.
"Okay." A fleeting trace of sorrow flashed through Xiao Wu's eyes.
Cao De slipped his hands beneath Xiao Wu's arms and pulled her into his embrace.
Xiao Wu tried to lower her head, but Cao De held her firmly in place.
While she was still dazed, he placed a gentle kiss on her fair forehead.
"In this world, strength reigns supreme, and only the fittest survive. Powerful soul masters hold the lives of weaker soul masters in their hands. Powerful soul beasts hold the lives of weaker soul beasts in theirs. We can only grow stronger if we want to better protect the people I care about."
Cao De spoke softly.
In the original story, Xiao Wu leaned toward being a bleeding heart, protecting weak soul beasts while killing the powerful ones. She had a bit of a double standard.
That little flaw did not matter much. He could slowly teach her better.
At that thought, Cao De recalled Tang San's actions in the original story. Tang San had also promised her not to hunt soul beasts indiscriminately, yet when it came time to act, he had shown no mercy at all, taking Xiao Wu herself as a soul ring.
Xiao Wu had not been enough; he had taken Da Ming and Er Ming too.
Tang San could only be described as hypocrisy taken to the extreme.
Cao De had to change Xiao Wu's existing views now. Otherwise, when he later introduced her to his first wife, Bibi Dong, would she not be furious enough to die?
He still needed to take precautions in advance.
Xiao Wu hugged Cao De tightly. His words had sent a powerful surge through her heart.
Perhaps Cao De had been sent by heaven to save her.
She held him even tighter.
"You have to keep treating me well forever." Xiao Wu lifted her little head and gazed at Cao De.
Cao De leaned down and kissed her directly on the lips.
Xiao Wu responded awkwardly. Perhaps Cao De was a genius; he had learned without a teacher.
The kiss made Xiao Wu involuntarily press her legs together.
Only when she was nearly out of breath did Cao De pull away and look into her eyes.
"I'll treat you well for the rest of my life, my little wife."
In that atmosphere, Xiao Wu fell for him completely.
[Xiao Wu felt affection, fondness, and overwhelming fondness toward the host. Emotion points: 80.]
As expected, Xiao Wu was an important character in the original story, and he could obtain emotion points from her too.
Cao De simply held Xiao Wu, doing nothing more. He could not do anything more, nor was he capable of it. Time flowed quietly past.
The carriage swayed and rattled.
Sitting inside, Cao De was rather excited.
What kind of soul ring would he obtain?
Xiao Wu nestled in Cao De's arms, perfectly content.
"Stop!" an authoritative voice rang out.
The carriage was forced to halt.
"What's wrong?" Xiao Wu looked a little bewildered.
"Let's go out and see." Holding Xiao Wu's hand, Cao De stepped out of the carriage.
Two burly men stood there in armor, with Spirit Hall's emblem on their chests.
"You don't have a permit. You can't enter to hunt soul beasts," the man in front said.
Cao De smiled and walked up to him.
The two moved off to one side. Xiao Wu wanted to follow, but Cao De stopped her.
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