A/n: Bonus Chapter for crossing 50 Golden Tickets.
...
It had been about fifteen minutes since Ye Tian Yun and Butler Liu came to the Wang Clan Estate.
Ye Tian Yun was sitting in the Guest Hall along with his Uncle, Aunt, and Butler Liu.
"Nephew Yun, you should go inside and meet Ling Qing'er and Wang Yao." Madam Wang suddenly said, "Wang Yao is your cousin. I hope you two get along."
'I am not very sure about this…'
Ye Tian Yun gave a slight smile and stood up.
'But still, let's meet that fool once again…'
He then walked out of the Guest hall, and suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind.
"Wang Yao."
He called through his consciousness, and soon, Wang Yao replied, "What happened? Ah! Finally, I can see the light! I was so bored!"
Ye Tian Yun asked, "Do you recognize this place?"
"This…" Wang Yao frowned as he stared at the scene in front of him.
After a long time, three words escaped his mouth.
"This is home."
Ye Tian Yun smirked, "And I am about to meet you."
"Oh… don't tell me… ah, I remember now! You are here for Qing'er!"
Ye Tian Yun nodded his head and headed inwards.
In his previous life, Madam Wang had sent him out earlier to meet Wang Yao and his childhood sweetheart, Ling Qing'er.
The 'city lord going off-script' incident didn't happen when he was in the Guest Hall.
'It happened because Butler Liu allowed me to come here considering my cultivation realm…'
"Take a right turn!"
Wang Yao suddenly called out.
Ye Tian Yun nodded and turned right.
Another thing that had happened in his previous life when he first visited this place was that he had got lost in the courtyards.
'I think that was how I first met Wang Yao.'
It was truly a fateful encounter.
"Is this the same day and time when you first visited my home?" Wang Yao asked.
Ye Tian Yun shook his head, "I don't think so. I don't remember the exact day, but there's a high chance this is not the exact day."
"Hm… well, I usually played tic-tac-toe with Ling Qing'er in those days." Wang Yao said.
"Tic-tac-toe?" Ye Tian Yun frowned, "What's that?"
It was a funny name.
"Nothing, just a simple game I thought of." Wang Yao didn't dwell on details, "I had just introduced this game to her in those days and was trying to amaze her with simple things."
Ye Tian Yun didn't ask much and followed Wang Yao's directions.
…
In the backyard of the City Lord Palace, two people were sitting.
A boy and a girl of the same age.
Between them was a table.
And currently, while the boy was enjoying the weather, the girl, however, had a deep frown on her face as she concentrated at the table in front of her.
On the table was a piece of paper.
On this paper were many criss-cross lines, but from the girl's expression, it was evident that this was very important for her, especially looking at how she concentrated.
"Make a move already, Qing'er," The young boy said with a smile.
He was enjoying the childlike curiosity on the face of the girl in front of him.
'A simple game… let's see how long it will take for her to master all the tricks. I also have chess and battlefield games… things will be more interesting later on.'
"Brother Wang… no matter what I do, you always end up winning!" Ling Qing'er replied with a pout.
Wang Yao had introduced this game to her, and she was amazed at how easy this game was, but the weird thing was she rarely won.
It was as if she almost had the whole grasp of the game. Still, she would make stupid mistakes and end up losing the game.
Suddenly a voice entered her head, shocking her.
<<Put X on the top right corner.>>
(E/n: <<...>> is for spirit messages)
"Hm? What happened, Qing'er?" Wang Yao was confused seeing the weird reaction of Ling Qing'er.
<<Don't tell him. Let's have some fun first.>>
The voice once again entered Ling Qing'er's head.
"Nothing," She shook her head and marked an X at the top right corner.
Wang Yao smiled and put an O at the center.
<<Place X at the opposite corner of your earlier move.>>
Ling Qing'er followed the instructions.
Wang Yao frowned and narrowed his eyes at Ling Qing'er.
Then his lips curled into a smile as he marked another circle at one of the corners.
<<Put X in the opposite corner to block his win.>> The voice called out once again.
Ling Qing'er nodded her head and marked X at the remaining corner.
"This…" Suddenly Wang Yao's smile faltered.
He knew he had lost.
Ling Qing'er's face suddenly lit up, "Yay!"
"Haha, Wang Yao, you lost!" A wide grin formed by her lips, lightening the whole garden.
"Alright, alright, I lost." Wang Yao waved his hand and shook his head.
"But how did you come up with this? I have just introduced the game to you about half an hour ago."
Ling Qing'er laughed, "Hehe, alright, I won't hide from you." She then turned towards the exit and called out, "Please show yourself."
Wang Yao frowned and glanced in the exit's directions.
At the gate, there was a handsome boy of his age standing.
'Who is this?' Wang Yao was curious. He frowned as the young boy came towards them.
He first smiled at Ling Qing'er and cupped his fists as he said, "I am Ye Tian Yun. Nice to meet you."
'Ye Tian Yun?' Wang Yao frowned. He had heard of this name, but he couldn't remember where he had heard of this.
"I am Ling Qing'er." Ling Qing'er said with a sweet smile.
For some reason, this simple introduction irritated Wang Yao.
'Who the hell is this guy?'
He wanted to ask, but before he could react, a prompt appeared in front of him -
[Quest Generated: Defeat Crown Prince Ye Tian Yun in Tic Tac Toe]
[Reward: 10 Qi Strengthening Pills]
[Quest Cannot Be Rejected.]