"Lin En, can you slow down a little?"
"I can't. It'll be over soon. Just hold on a little longer..."
Hearing Lin En's words, Zhu Zhuqing ground her teeth in anger.
Their bodies were pressed tightly together, with fierce winds howling past their ears.
To keep from falling, Zhu Zhuqing could only hug Lin En tightly around the waist. This was her first time being so close to a boy.
The scorching heat and masculine scent coming from him made her face and ears flush, and even her heartbeat quickened...
Fortunately, Sageross flew very fast. In the blink of an eye, the two left Star Dou Great Forest and flew toward Suotuo City.
Suotuo City was located in the Balak Kingdom and was the most important city within its borders.
Throughout the journey, Lin En and Zhu Zhuqing looked at each other without speaking.
Zhu Zhuqing opened her mouth several times, but could not get a single word out. Her lips moved hesitantly before she pressed them together and fell silent again.
Lin En's expression remained unchanged, and he simply pretended not to notice.
Talking money hurt feelings, and talking feelings hurt your wallet. What if they became too close and he couldn't get his money back?
Several hours later.
Lin En brought Zhu Zhuqing down from the sky outside the Balak Kingdom's borders, then entered the kingdom on foot.
Suotuo City was not too far away within the Balak Kingdom.
The two took a carriage and soon arrived at the large city known as the "granary."
The sun sank over the treetops, and lingering sunset clouds filled the sky.
At Suotuo City's western gate, a young man and woman walked into the city side by side.
With a blade of Blue Silver Grass between his lips and his hands resting behind his head, Lin En followed leisurely beside Zhu Zhuqing.
"Say, we've reached Suotuo City. When are you going to settle the remaining balance?"
Lin En took the Blue Silver Grass out of his mouth, turned his head, and looked at Zhu Zhuqing seriously.
Zhu Zhuqing pressed her lips together, took a deep breath, and slowly said:
"Give me a month. I'll put every last remaining Gold Soul Coin into your hands."
"That's more like it!"
Having received her answer, Lin En nodded in satisfaction. He wasn't worried about her reneging, either. It was all written down in black and white.
"Where are you going? I'll see this good deed through and take you there!"
Lin En spoke leisurely, his hands resting behind his head.
Zhu Zhuqing thought for a moment. "I'm going to Shrek Academy to study."
Hearing that, Lin En immediately perked up and spat the Blue Silver Grass onto the ground.
"Shrek? Hahaha..."
Lin En repeatedly slapped his thigh, his face full of mockery.
Zhu Zhuqing looked at him in confusion. "What's wrong with Shrek? What's so funny?"
Only after laughing for a while did Lin En compose himself and say with a smile:
"You really have terrible judgment, don't you? Shrek... I'll give you eight words: a garbage academy that ruins people's youth!"
"You'd better not go. Whoever goes regrets it. Don't say I didn't warn you!"
Hearing Lin En's words, Zhu Zhuqing looked even more puzzled.
"You know this academy?"
"I've heard of it. Anyway, it's a scam academy. Nothing good comes to anyone who goes there!"
Lin En shook his head and spoke calmly.
Though Lin En had already known she was heading to Shrek Academy when he heard Zhu Zhuqing was going to Suotuo City.
After all, Dai Mubai was at Shrek. She had left the Star Luo Empire this time precisely to find him.
What Zhu Zhuqing and Dai Mubai shared was not merely an ordinary engagement, but a marriage alliance between an aristocratic clan and the imperial family that had lasted for generations under the Star Luo Empire's brutal system of raising venomous creatures to devour one another.
From the moment they were born, fate had bound the two tightly together.
Dai Mubai had to compete with his elder imperial brother for the right of succession, and Zhu Zhuqing likewise had to compete with her eldest sister.
If Dai Mubai failed in the struggle for the throne, Zhu Zhuqing would hardly meet a good end either.
If Zhu Zhuqing failed, Dai Mubai's fate would certainly be no better.
Being banished to the frontier to live as an idle prince would already count as a good ending.
As things stood, Dai Mubai had been unable to bear the pressure and fled the Star Luo Empire early, running to Suotuo City to indulge in women and pleasure while leaving Zhu Zhuqing in the Star Luo Empire to endure pressure from both the imperial family and the Zhu Family.
Now, Zhu Zhuqing had risked being hunted down by her eldest sister to come to Suotuo City, all to find Dai Mubai.
Lin En's approach was to offer advice whenever he could. If she wouldn't listen...
Then he would respect other people's destinies and enjoy his own wonderful life!
Zhu Zhuqing looked thoughtful, but a moment later, her eyes dimmed.
Sometimes, fate was just that cruel.
Not the slightest bit was in one's own hands!
Afterward, Lin En asked for directions along the way. Once he found out where Shrek Academy was, he led Zhu Zhuqing toward it.
However, as the two walked along Suotuo City's main thoroughfare, Zhu Zhuqing suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing Zhu Zhuqing stop walking, Lin En frowned.
Yet Zhu Zhuqing said nothing, merely staring ahead with a complicated look in her eyes.
Lin En followed her gaze, and he, too, froze!
Not far ahead, three sleazy figures stood with their arms slung around one another's shoulders at the entrance to a house of sensual pleasures.
The man in the middle was tall, with broad shoulders and a thick back. The man on the left had a scraggly beard and a sleazy gaze, while the one on the right was fat as a ball, with both a sleazy expression and sleazy eyes.
Holy... the Ladybug Trio!
Lin En clicked his tongue, then glanced at the darkening sky. The time was right, the place was right, and they fit the image!
The three snickered lewdly at the entrance. With a shove from the man in the middle, the two on either side walked inside, cackling, "Heh heh heh."
He, meanwhile, took a pair of fine-looking twin girls with him and headed toward the Rose Hotel.
Zhu Zhuqing slowly clenched her hands at her sides, and a trace of desolation and bitterness entered her eyes.
Lin En looked ahead and began whistling, stealing an almost imperceptible glance at Zhu Zhuqing beside him.
Wasn't this a kind of cuckolding, too?
"Once, we too were envied by others, and paced the roads shrouded in night..."
Lin En couldn't help humming a song.
A mist gradually gathered in Zhu Zhuqing's eyes. Gritting her teeth, she fixed her gaze on the man and chased after him.
Lin En shrugged and followed as well.
A moment later, Zhu Zhuqing stood in the man's path, her eyes filled with weariness and endless disappointment.
The moment he saw her, the man froze on the spot.
"You... what are you doing here?"
After seeing Zhu Zhuqing, Dai Mubai withdrew the hands he had draped over the twins' fragrant shoulders.
"So this is what you meant by... going out to train? Training your skills in bed?"
Zhu Zhuqing practically squeezed those words out through gritted teeth.
"Zhu Zhuqing, I..."
Caught red-handed, Dai Mubai couldn't have defended himself even with a hundred mouths. He could only stammer endlessly.
"You're fifteen? You truly disgust me!"
Zhu Zhuqing's eyes were filled with utter disappointment, and the final flicker of hope in her heart was completely extinguished.
Rather than talk about a future with a whoremonger like this, she would sooner die!
Just then, Lin En arrived beside Zhu Zhuqing, carrying a heap of fruit in both hands.
He ate as he played the part of a melon-munching spectator, watching the show with keen interest.
Seeing Lin En so close to Zhu Zhuqing, Dai Mubai's expression instantly turned cold:
"Who are you? Get the hell away!"
(Ah... yamero)
Before you continue