Hao and Wu's Love Story

Tang Hao had lain outside the room all night, listening as his Dao heart shattered to pieces.

During that time, he had cried out with all his might, "Big brother, don't stand up and unleash your Soul Skills during Soul Fighting!" and other such things, but it all sank into the sea like a stone.

Instead, it had the opposite effect: the Soul Fighting match only grew fiercer.

When Ah Rou came downstairs on Tang Xiao's arm that morning, her complexion rosy, the look she gave Tang Hao was full of undisguised disdain and contempt, as though she were looking at a lapdog she couldn't shake off.

"Glug, glug, glug..."

Tang Hao raised his wine jar and gulped down a great mouthful of strong liquor. His eyes were red, and tears mixed with the bitter liquid as they ran down his stubbled chin:

"Ah Rou, why? Just why?"

"Even big brother's Martial Soul isn't as big as mine. How am I worse than him?"

Just as Tang Hao was immersed in his tragic world of heartbreak, unable to pull himself free, a series of light, nimble footsteps and a crisp voice sounded from the corner of the street:

"Strange. Mom's rabbit musk was definitely right here."

Tang Hao instinctively raised his head, his vision blurred by drink.

His blurry vision gradually came into focus.

In the sunlight, a pair of long, slender legs came into view, along with a lovely pink-and-white short skirt, a scorpion-tail braid reaching the backs of her knees, and rabbit-ear ornaments swaying atop her head.

And her face, as well as the faint rabbit musk she gave off, bore a striking resemblance to Ah Rou's.

Only, compared with Ah Rou's mature, charming air as a married woman, the girl before him had a little more of the greenness and innocence of someone unacquainted with the world.

She was like someone between Ah Rou and Ah Yin.

Tang Hao felt himself falling in love yet again.

His drunkenness vanished like smoke at that moment.

"Ah Rou?"

Tang Hao cried out in surprise and tumbled headfirst off the wooden crate.

Xiao Wu was startled by the scruffy drunk and took a wary half-step back.

"Hey, mister, who are you? Who are you calling out to with all that nonsense? My name's Xiao Wu, the Wu in dancing."

Xiao Wu?

Not Ah Rou!

They look so alike!

She was practically a younger version of Ah Rou, made from the same mold and tailored by heaven for him, Tang Hao.

If Ah Rou was a red rose that had already fallen into big brother's hands, then this little white rabbit, so inexperienced in the ways of the world, was his own second... third white moonlight.

"Heaven hasn't abandoned me, Tang Hao. Heaven hasn't abandoned me!"

Tang Hao had stumbled twice in a row, after all, and his mind was racing now.

I can't rush this.

I absolutely can't be a fool and show off my muscles like before.

Stupid brain, get moving! Think!

Tang Hao swore that he, a man who only knew how to swing a big hammer, had never had his CPU spin so fast before. Its clock speed reached 250, making an outstanding contribution to warming the continent.

Suddenly, he looked at the untidy surroundings, then at his own disheveled appearance and wine-soaked state.

I've got it!

To deal with an innocent girl who was plainly inexperienced in the ways of the world, he had to appeal to her girlish heart.

With that thought, Tang Hao suppressed every trace of joy in his heart. In its place came a pie chart of three parts desolation, three parts world-weariness, and four parts misery.

Instead of getting up immediately, he slowly turned his head and gazed up at the dusky sky at a forty-five-degree angle. He gave a bitter, self-mocking smile, then took another swig of strong liquor.

"Sorry, Miss Xiao Wu. I lost my composure."

"It's just that the way you were skipping along a moment ago looked so much like the woman who once broke my heart."

Tang Hao's voice was terribly hoarse, with the magnetic quality of a grown man who had weathered life's storms. A crystal tear traced a perfectly timed path from the corner of his eye.

Sure enough.

Xiao Wu, whose head was full of romance plots from storybooks, was stunned by this Oscar-worthy performance.

Xiao Wu's gossiping spirit was roused, and she was instantly reminded of a story of star-crossed love that Ah Rou had once told her: "On a Rainy Night, I, With Innate Soul Power of Level 0.5, Picked Up a Down-and-Out Prince."

"Mister, you look so sad. Did something happen?" Xiao Wu couldn't help asking with concern.

She took the bait!

Tang Hao rejoiced inwardly, but on the surface, he let out a long sigh and put on the sorrowful look of a man reluctant to say more, yet wounded in a tender spot.

"The past is too painful to recall. I once regarded a woman as everything in my life. I was even willing to give up my sect and my future for her."

"But my own big brother, the heir to our sect... relied on the immense power he would one day wield to snatch away my love, taking her from my side."

"In the end, she looked down on me for being nothing but a younger brother without power and chose him. As for me, I could only wander to the ends of the earth, one man and one hammer, making my home wherever I went, relying on this bitter liquor to numb a heart that had long since died..."

At the emotional part, Tang Hao closed his eyes in pain and pounded his chest with his fist, portraying sorrow and anguish to the fullest.

How could an old rabbit spirit newly arrived in the human world withstand a heartbreak script of this caliber?

The most heartbreaking scenes in the storybooks Ah Rou had told her in the Star Dou Great Forest paled in comparison to what this uncle had personally suffered.

"Heavens, how could there be such a hateful big brother and such a snobbish woman?"

Xiao Wu was overflowing with sympathy, and her eyes reddened as well. She walked over to comfort Tang Hao.

"Mister, don't be sad. If a bad woman who craves wealth and status like that didn't want you, she must have been blind."

Tang Hao took the opportunity to raise his reddened eyes and gaze at Xiao Wu with deep affection:

"Miss Xiao Wu, you're so kind. In this cold, heartless world, no one has looked at me with such gentle, pure eyes in a very long time."

"Meeting you is heaven's final salvation for me, Tang Hao."

He took the opportunity to reach out with his large, rough hand and gently hold Xiao Wu's little hand.

Feeling the warmth and weathered roughness of his palm, Xiao Wu's pretty face flushed scarlet. It was as if she could see the countless little rabbits she had given birth to before gaining sentience, all dancing wildly.

Heavens... this uncle is so mature, so deeply devoted.

Compared with those two licking beasts, Da Ming and Er Ming, this is a real male lead from a storybook.

"M-mister, the ground is cold. Please get up."

Xiao Wu lowered her head bashfully, letting Tang Hao hold her little hand. Her voice was as faint as a mosquito's:

"Xiao Wu has nowhere to go either. If you... if you're willing, Xiao Wu will go with you, all right?"

Lost in Tang Hao's performance, she completely forgot the purpose of her trip and rushed impatiently toward the love she had imagined in her heart.

Tang Hao hadn't expected it to be so easy. The corners of his mouth twitched, threatening to rise, but his reason told him, No, no, I can't smile yet. I have to hold it in.

"Yes. As long as you're with me, even if the whole world becomes our enemy, I, Tang Hao, swear to protect you with my life."

Xiao Wu raised her head and asked softly, her eyes full of longing:

"What if, one day, a lot of people want to kill me, and you can't beat them? What would you do?"

Tang Hao's gaze was utterly resolute as he said without hesitation:

"Then they'll have to step over my dead body first."

That killing blow pierced straight through the defenses of Xiao Wu's hundred-thousand-year-old heart.

Tang Hao went with the flow and pulled Xiao Wu into his arms.

The moment his chin rested on top of Xiao Wu's head, the sorrowful curve of Tang Hao's lips gradually spread into a triumphant grin.

Big brother, so what if you stole my woman?

I turned right around and found someone who looks just like Ah Rou in face and figure, and is even younger and purer than her.

Once she and I have built up our feelings and returned to the sect to marry, I'll show her off twice as much in front of you and Ah Rou and win back every bit of the face I lost last night.

And so Xiao Wu, who had only just taken human form and whose head was full of romantic fantasies, had no idea that the downcast uncle before her had just been dumped by her own mother. In her confusion, she was fooled into Haozi's hands.

A certain little girl surnamed Gu, who declined to reveal her name, watched this play and gave a two-word assessment:

"Quite brilliant."