After successfully bidding farewell to Yuyan, Yino’s anxious heart finally settled down tonight.
He had already reached a betting agreement with Yuyan.
Tomorrow, Yino only needed to accept his loss gracefully, letting everyone believe he had offended Yuyan. This way, both death scenarios from the original story could be successfully avoided.
“What a perfect plan.”
Walking through the alley of the Grand Tutor’s Mansion, Yino snapped his fingers, unconsciously humming a tune from his hometown.
Under the promised peach tree, he saw the girl who had been waiting for a long time.
Xinyao was kicking a shuttlecock under the tree out of boredom. In the moonlight, her golden phoenix-patterned calves emitted a faint glow, and the red string bells tied to her jade feet jingled.
“As expected of a spirit crane in human form…”
“After all these years, she still prefers to play with her feet.”
“And she’s been playing with this shuttlecock for seven or eight years now. I wonder if it’s made from her own feathers?”
Yino watched from afar, feeling sentimental.
As a child, he had often hugged his aunt’s fair legs.
Back then, he was just a little kid who couldn’t even reach his aunt’s waist when jumping. So when Xinyao taught him martial arts, she didn’t need to use her hands; she could easily trip Yino with just a movement of her legs.
This wasn’t a problem at first, but as their relationship grew closer, Xinyao also developed an interest in teasing Yino.
In his memories, his aunt would often lean against the headboard, crossing her fair phoenix-patterned legs, and tell Yino with a smile that she wouldn’t use her hands, only her legs. If Yino could touch her upper body, he would win.
The loser would have to obey one command from the winner at night.
This contest was under Xinyao’s control from the very beginning.
Although Yino was a reincarnator, he was only seven years old, with a naive mindset. He didn’t understand the difference in realms in this world. After being coaxed by his aunt, he felt he had a chance of winning and readily agreed.
As a result, he naturally couldn’t even beat his aunt’s feet.
Xinyao would always lie on the bed seemingly defenseless, creating an illusion that Yino could easily touch her. Then, just as Yino pounced, she would suddenly sweep his legs, tripping him. Her white silk jade feet would wrap around his neck, easily completing a chokehold.
Afterwards, she would pull Yino between her legs with her feet, then squeeze his head with her inner thighs. With a smile, she would pinch Yino’s little face and ask if he thought his aunt was impressive and if he submitted.
Yino had always been rebellious since he was young.
Even with his aunt’s legs squeezing his cheeks, he would still stretch his neck and shout that he wouldn’t submit and wanted to try again.
But as they played more, she always made him lose, and Yino gradually went from being stubborn to looking dejected.
Later, Xinyao noticed that even in daily life, her little nephew’s gaze towards her had become more introverted.
Xinyao suddenly felt guilty.
She had originally just found her little nephew cute and interesting, which was why she teased him. But if every time it was just her one-sidedly overwhelming and teasing him, how was she any different from those bad kids outside who bullied Yino?
So, Xinyao gradually learned some techniques to comfort children.
When Yino was being stubborn and refusing to submit, she would continue to tease him.
But if she noticed Yino pouting, his cute face gradually showing helplessness and despair, Xinyao knew her little nephew’s confidence was about to be shattered. At these times, she would secretly go easy on him, letting Yino win occasionally to regain the confidence a sunny and cheerful little boy should have.
Then, when Yino finally managed to pounce into her arms after much struggle, Xinyao would hold him up, rub his cheeks, and praise him for being her truly gifted disciple!
Such words might seem childish to adults, but they were perfect for the seven-year-old Yino.
He was truly overjoyed and became even more diligent when learning martial arts from his aunt.
Which reincarnator in this mortal world hasn’t fantasized about having an innate immortal cultivation physique, being gifted from a young age, and growing up to become an immortal in this world?
But as he grew older, Yino’s understanding of this strange world gradually became clearer. He deduced his aunt’s demon race identity from the golden phoenix patterns on her jade legs, and from various details in the Grand Tutor’s Mansion, he realized that he was actually the villain cannon fodder in Fallen Immortal – a cruel reality.
From then on, no matter how Xinyao teased or comforted him, Yino would just smile it off.
After all, he was now mentally mature and no longer the easily fooled child.
Just like now, looking at the silhouette of the girl kicking the shuttlecock under the moonlight, Yino no longer had the pure and innocent competitiveness and dependence of his childhood.
He knew the vast difference between himself and Xinyao.
If it weren’t for Yino possessing memories of his previous life, being sensible from a young age, likable, knowing to cling to his aunt and act cute…
Otherwise, as a wastrel and useless seventh young master like him, he would never have had the chance to be pampered by Xinyao in this lifetime.
“Why were you gone for so long?”
“That woman called Yuyan didn’t do anything to you, did she?”
Under the moonlit peach tree, Xinyao saw Yino approaching and casually put away the shuttlecock, coming forward to inquire.
She observed very carefully, standing on tiptoes, her pure face close to Yino’s to examine his skin, not missing a single detail, as if afraid that the only good nephew she had raised might have been bullied by Yuyan.
“She didn’t do anything to me…”
Yino shook his head.
He briefly gathered his emotions, then pretended to look helpless as he spread his hands: “I offended miss immortal and made her angry myself. Going to Wuji Sect is probably off now. At most, the elders will find out tomorrow and I’ll get a beating, but it’s no big deal.”
“Did she yell at you?”
“Is it because I scolded her that she took it out on you?”
Xinyao’s phoenix eyes suddenly turned cold with resentment.
At the same time, Yino felt a chilling pressure.
His mouth twitched slightly, and he quickly waved his hands to clear up the misunderstanding:
“No, no, it has nothing to do with you. It’s mainly because I’m too useless. She looked down on me, said I have no aptitude for immortality, no physique, and don’t meet Wuji Sect’s standards…”
“Then I couldn’t accept it, so I argued with her.”
Yino had already tried his best to take the blame on himself.
After all, during the time they were playing chess in the courtyard, Yuyan had treated him well. The legendary senior sister of the sword wasn’t as arrogant and aloof as Yino had imagined in his previous life.
Yuyan had been so patient, so Yino felt obligated to accept his loss gracefully.
But even so, Xinyao’s pale golden phoenix eyes still showed some anger.
“She must have heard me scolding her and deliberately said hurtful things to humiliate you!”
The more she thought about it, the more annoyed she became. She puffed up her cheeks, ready to go settle accounts with Yuyan and clear up all the grudges from earlier in the day.
Seeing this, Yino quickly grabbed her arm:
“Ah, please don’t say anymore. Miss immortal was just stating facts. I’m just a useless cultivator with a bad reputation in the mortal world…”
“It’s normal for the senior sister of Wuji Sect to not want to take me up the mountain and tarnish Wuji Sect’s reputation.”
As his words fell, Xinyao briefly fell silent.
She stared into Yino’s eyes, gently biting her lip, and finally unable to hold back anymore, she shook off Yino’s hand that was trying to smooth things over:
“Yino, you are not useless!!!”
Her voice suddenly raised several decibels.
Her phoenix eyes sparkled with starlight. As her anger subsided, the corners of her cherry-red eyes reflected a hint of teary grievance and unwillingness:
“It’s one thing for outsiders to talk nonsense, but Yino, you’re not allowed to say such self-deprecating things!”
“You’re not the useless person they say you are.”
“You’ll always be the genius young man who won first place in the Luo City martial arts competition in your aunt’s heart!”
She was almost on the verge of tears, as if no one in the world believed her.
And what truly saddened her was that even Yino himself thought she was just comforting him.
But Xinyao was speaking from her heart.
The entire peach garden fell into silence.
Yino was somewhat surprised by her affection, but he ultimately couldn’t be honest with her.
He was touched that when he was at his lowest, his aunt still unconditionally sided with him.
Unable to repay her verbally, Yino could only silently embrace her. Her body trembled slightly, but she didn’t pull away. She buried her face in Yino’s chest, sobbing softly, her emotions gradually calming down.
” Aunty always said I was competitive, that’s why she would comfort me when I was little.”
“But now, I don’t even care about others’ opinions, yet you are even more unwilling to accept it than I am.”
“Who’s really the competitive one?”
He recalled his childhood memories, finding the current scene so familiar.
When he was little and got bullied, he would cry in his aunty’s arms just like this.
Only now, the roles were reversed.
If someone insulted his aunt in front of him, Yino would definitely not be able to swallow that anger either.
“But they all say such hurtful things. Didn’t Yuyan look at you with that kind of gaze?”
Xinyao’s voice was still choked with sobs.
She was reactive to that kind of condescending gaze that looked down on lower-class people with contempt.
And that’s how Yuyan had been earlier in the day.
The more Xinyao remembered, the more her heart ached. She didn’t want her childhood trauma to be experienced by her beloved nephew as well.
But she was powerless to change the situation, and could only hold the young man in her arms tighter.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
Yino helplessly comforted the girl in his arms.
Although his aunty’s tears were truly moving, Yino now felt a strange sense of guilt.
He certainly remembered how disdainful Yuyan’s expression was when she first saw him.
But… that was also the path he had chosen for himself.
After so many years of actively playing the role of a wastrel, Yino had grown accustomed to being treated coldly by those around him.
He thought that as he grew older, he would gradually be distanced by his aunt as well. But now, while everyone else had grown cold towards Yino, only Xinyao seemed to favor him even more than when he was a child.
Sometimes, her favoritism was regardless of right or wrong, purely protective.
Yino could only try to calm his aunt down. If he really let her confront Yuyan, it would only make Yino’s side look more in the wrong.
“Regardless of how miss Yuyan evaluates me, isn’t our ultimate goal to stay in the Grand Tutor’s Mansion?”
“This is fine now. I offended miss Yuyan tonight, so even if the mansion elders apologize tomorrow, she definitely won’t take me to Wuji Sect anymore.”
Yino whispered softly in the girl’s ear, sounding very much like his aunty comforting him in his childhood.
Gradually, Xinyao stopped sobbing.
She suddenly calmed down, broke free from Yino’s embrace, and took two steps back. Turning her back to him, her blushing face prevented Yino from seeing her expression—
“Let’s forget about tonight’s incident.”
“Tomorrow, I’ll take you to explain everything clearly to the mansion elders.”
“It was those Wuji Sect cultivators who looked down on us first, why should we suffer in silence?”
“When the time comes, you stand behind me. I’d like to see who dares to touch a hair on your head!”
She turned her face away, rubbing her eyes. Her voice wasn’t loud, but her tone was particularly firm.
After composing herself, Xinyao turned back, mumbling in a small voice with some uncertainty: “Also, don’t you dare tell anyone about what just happened! Otherwise, the mansion elders might misunderstand!”
“Misunderstand what?”
Yino blinked, pretending to be slow on the uptake.
But his puzzled gaze once again made the blush on his aunty’s face spread all the way to her ears.
Xinyao felt wronged. She wanted to get angry at him, clench her fists and punch him, but every time she saw the young man’s innocent expression, she found herself at a loss for words.
After all, Yino was just an inexperienced young master who had been sheltered by the elders since childhood. From a young age, apart from his aunt, he hadn’t even held hands with girls from other families! Even when Yino later learned to go out for entertainment, he was always under her surveillance, only daring to drink tea, not daring to touch women…
He didn’t even have a girl he liked, he didn’t even dare to touch the dancing girls who were sent to him, and Xinyao had to take the initiative to put her leg near his hand.
What could he possibly understand?
Thinking of this, Xinyao gently bit her lip, forever hiding the unspeakable blush on her face in the depths of her heart.
“Nothing… I was just overthinking things earlier.”
“It’s late now! Silly boy, you should hurry back and rest!”
She pushed Yino’s back, urging him to go home and sleep quickly.
Only after seeing Yino leave did the blush on Xinyao’s face gradually disappear.
She leaned against the peach tree, her phoenix eyes gazing at the full moon above. Her jade hands clutching her skirt struggled for a long time.
After a long silence.
She suddenly laughed devilishly.
She took off her mask from her leg ring, gracefully stepping under the moonlight. The cherry lips under the jade fox mask curled into a playful arc:
“That’s right.”
“What am I worrying about? He’s just a little fool who obeys even when he’s being tricked.”
…
…
…
In the hazy night, gentle clouds veiled the moon.
With a flash of cherry-red shadow, the red-tailed fox transformed into a girl in a red dress, lightly perching on the roof beam of the Grand Tutor’s Mansion.
Her blood-red eyes surveyed the surroundings, finally locking onto the sleeping face of a young man who had just fallen asleep through the window.
“Yino, the seventh young master of the Grand Tutor’s Mansion.”
“What a pity to waste such a good-looking face~”
“Let me think, for such a boring and clichéd cannon fodder character, how can we make your sacrifice more valuable?”
Her cherry lips curled upwards, her alluring eyes reflecting a playful demonic light.