ABFC | Chapter 31: The Scene of Social Death
by angrybird“This is the secret realm where I secluded myself.” Mu Zhe gazed at the distant mountains, his Adam’s apple moving uncontrollably up and down. His voice was a little hoarse.
“I’d like to know how you ended up here.”
Wen Ruan was stunned. This is Mu Zhe’s territory?
“996, didn’t you say this secret realm had no owner???” She grabbed the dragon cat pretending to be dead in the sea of consciousness and shook it hard.
“Explain it to me!!!”
“Ahem, host,” 996 struggled to speak, “What I said back then was ‘probably’ or ‘maybe’ no owner!”
Wen Ruan felt like her entire mindset had collapsed. Why…
Why was she so naive to believe the words of a system that hadn’t even graduated from kindergarten yet.
How should she end this situation now…
The young man on the shore was still waiting for her answer. She covered her face with her hands, on the verge of tears but unable to cry and could only struggle to speak,
“Let me explain.”
“Are you sure you want to explain it to me like this?” Mu Zhe’s tone was a little strange. He rubbed his earlobe, crossed his arms, and slowly turned around.
“I’ll only count to three.”
“What?”
“One.”
She glanced at the young man with his back to her and immediately scrambled onto the shore in a panic.
“Two.”
She hastily grabbed the clothes scattered on the ground, not even checking if they were inside or outside, and clumsily threw them on in a hurry.
“Three.”
Wait!! She hadn’t tied the belt yet!!!
Her heart leaped to her throat, but Mu Zhe didn’t turn around as she feared. Instead, he asked with a hint of impatience:
“Are you done yet?”
“Ju-just a moment!”
Wen Ruan quickly tied the laces, and stepped back a few steps in her slippers, her mind in a mess.
One moment she thought “I’m not pure anymore,” and the next moment it was “I might lose my head again”.
Although the original novel never mentioned it, she had unintentionally noticed while reading that Mu Zhe had an extreme aversion to others touching his belongings, including but not limited to:
Territory, clothes, people.
Countless cannon fodders were tragically killed because of this kind of incidents.
And now, she had secretly used his bathtub…
And had been caught red-handed.
My life is over.
Hearing the rustling sound come to a stop, Mu Zhe turned around, casting a sidelong glance at Wen Ruan, who was disheveled and deathly pale.
His gaze sized her up and down several times, making Wen Ruan’s scalp tingle and almost causing her to lose her balance.
Finally, he let out a soft sneer:
“So ugly.”
Wen Ruan, who had just finished lighting the candles in her mind, suddenly looked up.
Is that it?!
Big shot, aren’t you going to strangle me?!
Aren’t you angry that I trespassed into your territory?
I used your bathtub!
After the shock passed, her mind was in a whirlwind of emotions. Thousands of thoughts surged, but in the end, they all condensed into a single sentence:
Twenty percent favorability… how terrifying!
Watching her expression shift like a kaleidoscope, Mu Zhe frowned, stepped forward, and looked down at her from above, scrutinizing her intently.
“How did you find this place?”
He was very tall, and standing before her, he was like a wall, blocking nearly half the sunlight.
She had to look up in the shadows to see his eyes.
“Husband.”
Thinking of that twenty percent favorability, her legs stopped trembling, her voice steadied, and she smiled with two shallow dimples.
She spoke, half-truthfully:
“I heard you had gone on a long trip and was worried no one was taking care of the Beiming Kun in the Cloud Sea, so I went to feed it once. Who knew it would drag me onto its back and bring me here?”
“I didn’t know this was where you were secluding yourself, Husband. If I’ve offended you…”
She pretended to feel frustrated, lowered her head, and tugged at his sleeve, gently shaking it, and said softly in a very scheming way:
“Ah Ruan is apologizing to you. Please don’t be angry with me, okay?”
From Mu Zhe’s perspective, the young woman had her head lowered, and beneath her willow-like eyebrows, her long lashes fluttered slightly, creating a soft curve over her eyes.
She had just come out of the water, her face not only flushed from the heat but also from embarrassment, with a pale yet rosy hue, radiating an alluring vitality.
The scent of snow orchids wafted from her hair, softly drifting toward his nose.
Strangely, his heartbeat was a little fast.
He frowned slightly, feeling a bit uncomfortable, and turned his head away from her, stiffly speaking:
“Don’t let it happen again.”
Wen Ruan was just letting out a sigh of relief when the system in her consciousness emitted a crisp reminder sound:
“Ding-dong~ Character [Mu Zhe] current favorability: 25.”
It increased already?
She was distracted and secretly glanced at Mu Zhe’s expression. Unintentionally, her gaze landed on his earlobe, and her sight instantly froze.
The young man’s skin was extremely fair, and his earlobe was no exception.
At this moment, a flush of red on the porcelain-like earlobe was strikingly eye-catching, resembling the vibrant glow of a summer evening sunset.
No way, he wouldn’t be… shy, right?
Recalling the scene from earlier, her face heated up uncontrollably again, and she could only awkwardly stare at the ground.
She wished she could just stare at the ground until she dug a hole, so she could jump in and end this miserable life.
Mu Zhe glanced at her and suddenly snapped his fingers.
A giant red fish fell from the sky with a loud ‘bang’, landing in the flowerbed and scattering petals like rain.
It lay motionless, its eyes peacefully closed, as if it had already departed from this beautiful world.
Wen Ruan’s heart tightened. Could it have fallen to its death?
“It’s good for it to die.” Mu Zhe sneered, “I’ll chop you up right now and feed you to the monsters.”
“Chiu–!”
The giant fish, which had appeared lifeless a moment ago, suddenly opened its eyes and let out a cry. It rolled over and ended up at Mu Zhe’s feet, rubbing against his leg in a fawning manner.
“Chiu-chiu.”
Wen Ruan, once again witnessing a medical miracle: …..
Nevertheless, why is this fish so dog-like?
“This is the one that brought you here?” Mu Zhe asked, hands clasped behind his back, as he casually kicked the Beiming Kun aside, a faint, mocking smile playing on his lips.
“Your luck isn’t bad, earning its favor.”
No, I don’t want this kind of luck at all, let alone its favor.
Wen Ruan looked at the fish that had stopped at her feet with a ‘thump’, resisting the urge to kick it away. Her expression turned complicated.
“Maybe this is indeed fate.”
Fated to face this calamity.
Beiming Kun: Chirp chirp?
“Go back,” Mu Zhe brushed off his sleeve and spoke seemingly casually, “I’ll be in seclusion for the next few days. There’s no need for you to seek me out. Stay peacefully at your Canglan Waterside Pavilion.”
Wen Ruan was startled.
Such a good thing?!
The boss had proactively given her some days off, how could she possibly let his kind gesture go to waste?
No, she couldn’t.
Without hesitation, she bid farewell with a face full of ‘reluctance’, “Husband, I will miss you so, so much.”
Mu Zhe’s lips curved slightly, he was just about to speak. But the next moment, Wen Ruan swiftly mounted the big fish, unable to suppress the surge of excitement in her heart, and joyfully shouted:
“Big fish, let’s go!”
Beiming Kun seemed to have received a pardon. With a ‘whoosh’, it shot up into the sky and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Mu Zhe: ……?
The water on the ground had not yet dried, and there were mostly small, delicate footprints, leading all the way to the edge of the pond.
A gentle breeze swept by, and a piece of lotus-colored fabric drifted lazily across the water’s surface, vaguely familiar.
He curled his finger, and the small piece of fabric immediately flew over, hovering in front of him.
It was lotus-colored cotton fabric, embroidered with two half-bloomed lotuses. The craftsmanship was exquisite, and water droplets were still dripping steadily from it.
He looked at it for a moment but couldn’t figure out what it was. He could roughly guess, though, that it belonged to Wen Ruan.
He recalled her flustered and panicked expression and let out a low chuckle. Forming a hand seal, he evaporated the moisture and casually tucked it away.