That was... that was because seeing Tang San had scared her so badly, okay!
Hugging the diary, Xiao Wu buried her face in the covers, her heart racing.
At the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Dugu Yan curled her lips after reading the diary.
"Big brother really does have to snatch everything." Dugu Yan folded her arms. "He even snatched Tang San's woman."
At the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, Ning Rongrong laughed after reading the diary.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Tang San is just too pitiful." Ning Rongrong laughed, slapping the table. "His brother stole his woman, and he's still foolishly helping his brother cultivate. Hahahaha!"
At Spirit Hall, the corners of Bibi Dong's lips lifted slightly after she read the diary.
"Rather interesting." Bibi Dong lifted her teacup. "This Chen Mo is much more interesting than Tang San."
In the Heaven Dou Empire, Qian Renxue shook with laughter after reading the diary, like a flowering branch trembling in the breeze.
"Hahahaha! Even Tang San has a day like this!" Qian Renxue laughed until tears came out. "Being cuckolded by your own brother-doesn't feel so good, does it?"
In a rented courtyard in Nuoding City.
Chen Mo put away his diary and yawned.
The Blue Silver Emperor extended a branch from the Wishful Hundred Treasure Purse and covered him with a blanket.
Chen Mo patted the Blue Silver Grass's leaves and smiled.
Everything was proceeding according to plan.
Tomorrow, it would be time to meet that Yu Xiaogang.
Didn't that old bastard want to curry favor with him?
Then he would let him curry favor to his heart's content.
Tang San had been very busy lately.
Ever since Chen Mo had given him that "divine artifact clone" yesterday, he had acted as though he had found a treasure, spending every day in Yu Xiaogang's office studying this new thing.
Yu Xiaogang was even more excited than he was.
One genuinely thought the divine artifact was wondrous, while the other was working his own little abacus-wondering whether that level-50 clone might fall into his hands someday.
Master and disciple shut themselves in the office every day, one studying how to cultivate faster and the other studying how to please Chen Mo, both hard at work.
Tang San had no time at all to spare for Xiao Wu.
Because of the diary's contents, Xiao Wu had already been growing increasingly cold toward Tang San.
Now that Tang San was nowhere to be seen every day, she stayed alone in the work-study students' dormitory and felt even worse.
At noon that day, Nuoding Academy's dining hall was bustling with noise.
The dining hall was a crude, large room furnished with a dozen or so long wooden tables. The work-study students crowded around the tables nearest the corner, their bowls holding thin porridge and pickled vegetables, with the occasional couple of slices of fatty meat.
Meanwhile, the tables of noble children were laden with fish and meat, their aroma filling the room.
Xiao Wu sat alone at the work-study students' table, holding her bowl.
Wang Sheng and the others had wanted to sit with her, but Xiao Wu said she wanted to be alone, so they tactfully moved to the next table.
Xiao Wu was eating with her head lowered when she heard giggles and laughter from the nearby tables.
She looked up and saw several boys dressed in fine silks holding their bowls and pointing at the work-study students' table.
The boy at their head was fair-skinned and clean-cut, his chin raised like a peacock's, with a noble's badge pinned to his chest.
It was none other than Xiao Chenyu.
He was the leader of Nuoding Academy's noble children, a veteran sixth-year student.
Gnawing on a chicken drumstick, Xiao Chenyu deliberately raised his voice so everyone nearby could hear.
"Look at those work-study students. Their food looks like pig feed."
"Exactly. They're all dressed in rags, yet they still have the nerve to come to school."
"If you ask me, the academy shouldn't admit these mud-legged peasants. They're a disgrace to our Nuoding Academy."
The lackeys beside him joined in with jeering laughter.
"Young Master Xiao is right!"
"Those paupers can't even afford decent clothes. What business do they have learning to be Soul Masters?"
One lackey named Zhou Hu even spat a bone onto the floor and kicked it toward the work-study students' table.
At the work-study students' table, Wang Sheng and the others clenched their fists, but though angry, they dared not speak.
Xiao Chenyu had drunk a little alcohol that day and was even bolder than usual. Holding his bowl, he swayed to his feet and walked over to the work-study students' table.
He plopped down opposite Xiao Wu.
He looked Xiao Wu up and down, from her little head with its scorpion braid all the way to her pale calves, a gleam of lust flashing in his eyes.
"Oh, isn't this the great beauty of our work-study students?" Xiao Chenyu said with a grin, tapping his chopsticks against the rim of his bowl. "Eating alone?"
Xiao Wu ignored him and kept eating.
Xiao Chenyu did not get angry either. He chuckled.
"Little sister, come hang around with me."
"I'm Xiao Chenyu from the sixth year. Wolf Martial Soul, level-eleven Battle Soul Master."
"Stick with me, and no one at Nuoding Academy will dare bully you. You'll feast on fine food and drink."
Xiao Wu still ignored him.
Xiao Chenyu began to lose face.
He slammed his bowl onto the table with a bang, his voice turning cold.
"Little sister, don't reject the face I'm giving you." Xiao Chenyu's tone was sinister. "I'm showing you respect by talking to you. You're just a work-study student. Do you really think you're someone important?"
Xiao Wu finally raised her head and glanced at him.
"What do you want?"
Xiao Chenyu smiled smugly.
"Simple."
Xiao Chenyu held out two fingers and waved them in front of Xiao Wu as he said:
"Let's make a bet. You and me, one-on-one on the sports field."
"If you win, I'll call you Boss Lady every time I see you from now on, and I'll never meddle in the work-study students' affairs again."
"And if I lose?" Xiao Wu narrowed her eyes.
"If you lose?" Xiao Chenyu licked his lips and leered. "You'll be my pet rabbit. Obediently stay with me and let me pamper you."
At those words, everyone at the work-study students' table was enraged.
"Xiao Chenyu! What the fuck are you saying!" Wang Sheng sprang to his feet with a bang, knocking over his stool.
"What?" Xiao Chenyu gave him a sidelong glance, a mocking smile curling his lips. "Don't you work-study students have anyone who can fight? You need a woman to stand up for you?"
Xiao Wu grabbed Wang Sheng and stood up herself.
Staring at Xiao Chenyu, she gritted her teeth and said, enunciating every word, "Fine. I'll take that bet."
Xiao Chenyu's eyes lit up as though he had won a prize.
"Good! Straight to the point!" Xiao Chenyu slapped the table and stood. "Let's go! To the sports field!"
The group marched toward the sports field in a great procession.
On the way, Wang Sheng was frantic. He grabbed Xiao Wu's arm and lowered his voice.
"Sister Xiao Wu, have you gone crazy? That guy is a level-eleven Battle Soul Master, and he has a Soul Ring! You're only level eleven, and you don't even have a Soul Ring!"
Xiao Wu bit her lip and said indignantly, "That bastard, Boss Xiao or whatever, said he wanted me to be his pet rabbit! If I could put up with that, I wouldn't be Sister Xiao Wu!"
Wang Sheng wanted to keep persuading her, but Xiao Wu had already shaken off his hand and strode toward the sports field.
Word spread quickly, and before long, forty or fifty people had gathered around the sports field.
The noble children and work-study students split into two groups on their own, standing on opposite sides of the field.
The noble children laughed and joked, all waiting to see Xiao Chenyu acquire a "pet rabbit."
On the work-study students' side, everyone's face was ashen, their palms slick with nervous sweat.