CHAPTER 333: CHAPTER 331: INCITING THE YOUNGER SISTER

The will of heaven is hard to defy, and the human heart is difficult to fathom.

Le Yu always falls at the same spot where he stumbled before: in Dongyang, he believed he saw through the mediocrity of the Silver Blood Association and the damned people in need of redemption; and now, he thought he understood Ming Shuiyun.

The former repaid him with a blade, with fire; the latter with silence, with resolution.

In fact, Le Yu couldn’t even grasp his own heart, let alone others.

Ming Shuiyun is just a naive young girl, but she’s not a foolish child. Humans are highly sensitive to social distance; when Le Yu deliberately distanced himself from her, she would naturally feel she’s being cold-shouldered, so it’s only natural for Le Yu to assume she would resent him.

Perhaps it was because Qin Leyin’s appearance made one unable to be angry at a glance, or maybe because Ming Shuiyun realized she’s bound to play the game using the "Qin Leyin" character, or perhaps his sarcastic demeanor was just too effective... or maybe, Ming Shuiyun didn’t want to believe from the start that ’Qin Leyin’ was a heartless person.

The more determined Ming Shuiyun is now, the more striking their first meeting was.

She had once been pulled up from the abyss by someone like lightning and thunder, and no matter if the one reaching out was a vampiric demon bathed in darkness, she would grab the hand without hesitation.

And she still has an ace up her sleeve: even if Le Yu’s "Ice Blood Physique" makes him immune to the mental influence of the Holy Sword’s radiance, they are nominally in a master-servant relationship like Sword Master and Scabbard. In this game, there’s no scenario where the scabbard wins independently of the sword master — similar to how a victory in a "Pokemon Trainer Competition" belongs to the trainer, not Pikachu or Carp King.

If Ming Shuiyun were a bit more ruthless, demanding Le Yu to carry her when going out, feed her meals, do her homework, and even substitute for her on dates, Le Yu would have no choice but to comply — as long as he wants to continue playing this game, he has to abide by the rules.

After all, Ming Shuiyun still holds the status of ’the sole issuing NPC of the main quest’. If the main quest is released and she doesn’t inform Le Yu, he’d fall several major updates behind.

In reality, when Ming Shuiyun is no longer satisfied with their current relationship, Le Yu has already lost.

Unless he directly overrules her, tying Ming Shuiyun up and putting her through ’education’ for a dozen days until she rolls her eyes back... but if he had that intention, he would’ve already refused Ming Shuiyun’s talk request at the door earlier; by morning, he’d have a compliant Ming Shuiyun.

To have a clear conscience, one must bear the corresponding price.

But rather than live the rest of his life regretting this mistake, it would be better to make the decision he would regret the least, even if things fail in the future. Then, he could blame Ming Shuiyun’s lack of wisdom, or the cruelty of the era — anyway, Le Yu would be the pure-white lotus who gave it his all, but couldn’t carry the team.

Now Le Yu understands why she visited at night; because when he set the groundwork for their relationship in the afternoon, the longer they stayed in that mode, the more Ming Shuiyun would rationalize to herself with thoughts like ’he’s doing this to protect me’ or ’he has my best interests in mind’... What Le Yu fed her was a sweet poison, eroding her will to resist over time.

"A feeder, huh..." he murmured softly.

Ming Shuiyun realized immediately after speaking that she had misspoken but could only dive head-on, stubbornly declaring: "That’s right, I am the future emperor, the one who will rule over Huiyao, your feeder! In the name of Shuiyun Palace, I command you, Qin Leyin, become my subject!"

Pfff. Le Yu couldn’t help but burst into laughter, and Ming Shuiyun’s face turned red up to her ears — those lines were copied from a play she watched, seemed reasonable on the stage, but saying them herself was utterly mortifying.

"When the lord wants the subject dead, the subject must die. When the lord wants the subject to team up, the subject must team up... Alright."

Le Yu exhaled, "Ming Shuiyun, you have the blood of the Huiyao Imperial Family, a clear mind, the courage to act, and the resolve to sacrifice everything. I acknowledge your abilities. So let me ask you again—"

"Do you wish to become my feeder? I hope you have the good sense to accept."

A glimmer of light appeared in Ming Shuiyun’s eyes as she looked up at Le Yu joyfully. However,

before she could respond, there was another knock on the door outside, followed by a steady greeting:

"Mr. Qin, I have some academic matters to discuss with you."

It was Mentor Zhu Yan!

Ming Shuiyun was frightened to the point of nearly jumping; she didn’t want to be reported on the academy’s bulletin board for indecency, becoming the subject of school-wide criticism—plus, she had just said she would help Qin Leyin, and now she was getting him in trouble with the academy, which was unacceptable.

She glanced at the balcony, but outside the classroom dormitory’s balcony was the Meteor Lake path, where many student couples and teachers enjoyed a night walk. Jumping out now would attract attention. After all, few knew of the sword-seeking competition; in most eyes, Qin Leyin and she just had a normal teacher-student relationship—

When Ming Shuiyun looked toward the bedroom door, Le Yu had already anticipated what would happen. He completely abandoned any remedy and waved, saying, "Hide in my room for now, and then... seize the opportunity."

Ming Shuiyun, thinking it was just a kind suggestion, didn’t think much about it. As soon as she opened the door and went in, someone covered her mouth and tied her hands, frightening her into thinking Qin Leyin had arranged to usurp her reign with axemen.

Yet, appearing before her were Qin Yueshi and Qian Yuya, whom she had seen in the classroom that afternoon. Her horror turned to confusion in an instant, but soon intense embarrassment flooded her heart — they heard what she said earlier?

"Just because I am your feeder!"

"In the name of Shuiyun Palace, I command you, become my subject!"

Qin Yueshi repeated these two lines in a muted voice, her eyes full of amusement, and Ming Shuiyun collapsed into a puddle of mud — she had lost the courage to live.

Although Le Yu couldn’t see the little drama inside the bedroom, it must have been quite entertaining, though he could only tidy himself up now to greet his first male visitor of the evening.

"Good evening, Mr. Qin."

The elder, dressed in a black long coat and wearing a round cap, stood at the door, exuding a fresh jasmine scent — having sprayed cologne after smoking to mask the smoke odor.

"Good evening, Mentor Zhu Yan," Le Yu said, "I’ve been meaning to visit you, but I’ve been occupied with preparing my lesson plans these days, and haven’t had the time—"

"Understandable, Mr. Qin. Your trial lecture ended in the afternoon, and by dinnertime, I had already received sixteen complaint letters about you." Zhu Yan adjusted his round glasses, "You’ve set a new record at the Imperial Academy, both for your hair color and your course."

"I am honored, Mentor Zhu Yan."

"I want to have a brief discussion about your teaching matters to prevent those complaint letters from landing on the principal’s desk."

Zhu Yan turned his gaze towards the shining, eye-catching Platinum Tower even in the night, "The principal’s approach to resolving complaints is always swift, direct, and simple — when in a good mood, he either deals with the people sending the letters or the ones being complained about."

"And if he’s in a bad mood?"

"Both."

Le Yu asked, "Must it be discussed tonight?"

"When I’m in a bad mood, I’ll directly hand the complaint letters to the administration office for them to proceed officially," Zhu Yan said, "Tonight I’m in quite a good mood."

"Of course, if you have a suitable reason, rescheduling our meeting isn’t out of the question."

Discuss the Dongyang topic with a female student? Improve sibling relationship with a younger sister? Have a life conversation with the shining crown princess? Leyu shook his head: "I’m free tonight, wait for me, I’ll change clothes and go out to talk with you—"

"No need to change clothes, just go out as you are."

Zhu Yan suddenly reached out to block the door, his tree-root-like old arm preventing the door from closing even a bit.

"Just go out like this, no one will say you’re indiscreet, Teacher Qin," he said, enunciating each word.

Leyu noticed Zhu Yan’s gaze passing over his shoulder, staring at the bedroom door at the back, knowing for sure that he had been wronged, yet unable to explain. He could only sigh inwardly, grabbing the coat and key from the clothes rack beside him, and shout as he closed the door: "I’m heading out!"

...

...

As they heard the door close, the three women in the bedroom breathed a sigh of relief. They exchanged glances, released the hands covering each other’s mouths, then Qin Yueshi played the direct card: "Sister Qian, were you here before me? What did you talk about with my brother?"

Qian Yuya avoided answering, and instead asked, "Did you witness your brother killing Jing Zhengwei? Or is it just his one-sided account? Could Jing Zhengwei have a special transactional relationship with Qin Leyin?"

"What, Hongle killed Jing Zhengwei?" Ming Shuiyun was shocked: "Why... wait a minute, I know you’re his sister, but you seem to be just an ordinary student, why are you in his room?" she pointed at Qian Yuya and asked.

"And what about you?" Qian Yuya retorted: "Your relationship with Teacher Qin is much closer than ours, he seems unable to resist any of your requests, letting you have your way, and you hope to make him your life-and-death companion, recruiting him as a minister as the future emperor... Teacher Qin didn’t come just to teach, and you didn’t come just to study, you have other purposes in coming to the Imperial Academy, related to the emperor’s throne, don’t you?"

"Qian Yuya, you answer my question first!" Qin Yueshi called out her name, sensing something amiss: "Why are you so concerned with Jing Zhengwei’s matters? You came to find my brother, not to thank him, but to gather information, right? Who exactly are you?"

"I’m just an ordinary female student of the Imperial Academy."

Ming Shuiyun: "An ordinary female student wouldn’t come to a male teacher’s room in the middle of the night."

Qian Yuya said calmly: "Aren’t you doing the same?"

Ming Shuiyun: "But my relationship with him is different—"

Qian Yuya: "I know, you’re his keeper. What does ’keeper’ mean? Is it literal or metaphorical?"

Qin Yueshi also got curious: "Yeah, what does ’keeper’ mean? Does it mean my brother acts like a dog for you? Do you give him a dog collar? A silver chain matches with red hair."

Ming Shuiyun got anxious: "No, it’s just a reference for a position—"

Qian Yuya: "What position? Is Qin Leyin required to play a special role in some places? Similar to a warrior or a hunting dog?"

Seeing Qian Yuya about to take control of the women’s night conversation, Qin Yueshi suddenly realized something and unexpectedly made a move on Qian Yuya!

"Wait a minute!"

She suddenly pinned Qian Yuya on the bed, Qian Yuya didn’t resist at all, completely relaxed, and looked at her calmly.

"I’m his sister, Shuiyun Palace is his keeper, we’re related by interest, so it doesn’t matter if we know each other’s secrets... but you’re different! You’re an outsider!"

Qin Yueshi signaled Ming Shuiyun to come help suppress Qian Yuya: "You know he killed Jing Zhengwei, and you know he participated in those strange games organized by Shuiyun Palace’s royal family—"

"They are not strange games!" Ming Shuiyun refuted as she held down Qian Yuya’s legs.

"Moreover, you approached my brother with a special purpose!"

Qin Yueshi pressed down on Qian Yuya, trying to put on a serious expression, but facing Qian Yuya who had taken care of her for many days, she couldn’t harden her heart: "If you leak information about my brother it would be trouble!"

Qin Yueshi now also realized she had caused trouble for Qin Leyin, even if the Qin Family had left Dongyang, but with Jing Zhengwei suspected to have cooperated with White Night, there’s no guarantee that Yanjing’s White Night wouldn’t seek revenge for Jing Zhengwei. She had just felt good venting, but if the information were to leak, the Qin Family might have White Night pay a visit.

"Shi."

Clearly unable to move, even facing the threat of life, Qian Yuya suddenly spoke of unrelated matters: "You’ve always used ’him’ or ’that guy’ to refer to Qin Leyin, but now you’re directly saying ’my brother,’ and your actions are completely for his benefit... you forgave him?"

"Don’t change the subject—"

"Don’t avoid the problem."

Even being pinned down, Qian Yuya spoke as if she were the master of the room: "You don’t really hate him, do you? You know the death of your fiancé has little to do with him, your responsibility might even be greater than his... the reason for your hatred is not because of your fiancé’s death but because you had no other target for your anger, fundamentally you don’t hate him because of his death."

"What are you trying to say—"

"You hate him because he doesn’t care for you." Qian Yuya said calmly: "Your happiness, your freedom, your future... all these things you care about are used by him as bargaining chips in his games, you feel like you’re just his pawn, and he doesn’t even bother to have a good relationship with you, that’s why you hate him."

"But now you’ve realized that, in his own way, he’s been protecting you, for your own good. The basis of your hatred has vanished, and your anger is now a castle in the air."

"You no longer hate him, you even want... to protect him."

Qin Yueshi’s breathing grew faster, her face almost touching Qian Yuya’s, reflecting in each other’s pupils, they began silently gazing at each other.

Just when Ming Shuiyun began doubting if she was unnecessary, Qin Yueshi finally spoke: "Even if I believe you, it’s useless, it must be my brother... he must trust you."

"I know someone very similar to Qin Leyin," Qian Yuya said: "To carry out dangerous tasks, he deliberately distanced himself from family, willingly bore hatred, refused all the world’s beauty, yet was gentler than anyone else..."

"And then?"

"He died."

Unknowingly, Qin Yueshi had already let go, Qian Yuya sat up and held her hand, saying: "I will make your brother trust me, don’t worry, I’ll stand by your side."

Qin Yueshi completely lost the will to act, she was countered by this confident and gentle senior, and could only look into her bright moon-like eyes, murmuring softly: "...why?"

Qian Yuya replied: "Because there are many things I want to understand from Qin Leyin, but more importantly..."

"Fate has already defeated me once."