Yun Sheng stared at her in stunned disbelief, his eyes wide and his expression blank.
Yuan Shu’s maternal instincts—or perhaps something far less innocent—were suddenly awakened. She reached out and thoroughly ravaged that miniature handsome face of his, and he didn’t even try to dodge.
Only after Yuan Shu had had her fill of playing with him did she withdraw her hand. Yun Sheng rubbed his aching cheeks, biting his lip as though he wanted to say something but couldn’t bring himself to.
“Rumble!”
A clap of thunder exploded overhead. Almost immediately, roiling dark clouds spread across the sky, plunging the entire space into gloom.
The scene before them shifted. The two of them were suddenly standing inside a dilapidated temple.
The roof was broken, the temple doors were battered, and wind whistled through the leaky windows. Rainwater trickled through the cracks and splashed onto the floor.
Fear appeared on Yun Sheng’s face. He turned to run, only to crash unexpectedly into a warm embrace.
A pleasant pear-blossom fragrance rushed into his nose without warning—the most wonderful scent in the world.
His cheek felt soft, as though he had run into a fluffy ball of dough.
While he was still dazed, Yuan Shu’s teasing laughter came from above his head.
“Such a young age, and you already know how to take advantage of girls. Is my Little Yun Sheng actually a little lecher?”
Yun Sheng jerked his head up and met Yuan Shu’s teasing smile.
He had just slammed straight into Yuan Shu’s chest.
“Swish.”
His face turned red enough to bleed. His gaze shifted away awkwardly as he spoke in a voice soft as a mosquito’s buzz. “I-I didn’t…”
“Didn’t what? Didn’t run into my…? Or didn’t throw yourself into my arms?”
Yuan Shu reached out and pinched his baby-fat cheek again, grinning mischievously.
“Why are you embarrassed? It’s not as if you haven’t kissed me before.”
“I-I didn’t!” Yun Sheng looked up at Yuan Shu in embarrassment and indignation. He had even forgotten his earlier fear of the thunderstorm.
“Fine, fine. You haven’t now, but that doesn’t stop you from becoming unable to tear yourself away from it in the future.” Yuan Shu smiled brightly.
Yun Sheng’s face reddened again. Whether from anger or embarrassment, even he couldn’t tell.
He only felt that the person before him was incredibly strange. Why did she keep saying that he was her cultivation partner and teasing him like this?
He was clearly a good child. He would never bully a girl!
“Rumble!”
Another clap of thunder rang out, instantly awakening the fear hidden deep within Yun Sheng’s heart. He looked up in panic and wanted to run, not knowing what else to do.
The moment he moved his feet, the woman in front of him grabbed him and pulled him tightly against her chest.
The rich fragrance of pear blossoms lingered around his nose, alluring and intoxicating.
He felt that same soft, full sensation against his cheek. Once he realized what it was, his face flushed scarlet again, and he began to struggle.
“Ah! Yun Sheng, don’t tell me you’re trying to pull open my collar so you can rub against me? You’re too young for that sort of thing. Big Sister can’t agree to it.”
Yun Sheng’s face was as red as an apple. Even the hand resting on Yuan Shu’s slender waist went stiff, and he didn’t dare move it recklessly.
After a long moment, he finally protested in a tiny voice, “I-I wasn’t.”
He had only wanted to break free of her embrace. He could endure it himself…
“Rumble!”
Another peal of thunder crashed down. Yun Sheng shrank back, and Yuan Shu hugged him even more tightly.
With a wave of her hand, Yuan Shu set up a barrier around the ruined temple. Then she summoned a bed and carried the small figure in her arms onto it.
“Don’t move around,” Yuan Shu warned. “If you do, that means you have impure thoughts and want to take advantage of Big Sister!”
She pulled the blanket over them, gently patting the thin back of the person in her arms and soothing him as though he were a child.
Yun Sheng’s face burned red, but because of Yuan Shu’s warning, he didn’t dare move at all.
He wasn’t that kind of person. He would never do something like that to a girl. He was a good person…
As he drifted in and out of sleep, Yun Sheng felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier. Before long, he truly fell asleep.
“Rumble…”
The thunder continued, but its deafening sound struck the barrier and was completely blocked out.
He slept until dawn. When Yun Sheng blinked awake and looked up, he found himself facing Yuan Shu’s peaceful sleeping face.
He froze for a moment. The fragrance of pear blossoms at the tip of his nose seemed even clearer than before.
Their position was intimate, their bodies pressed very close together.
Remembering what had happened the night before, Yun Sheng’s face flushed again.
He carefully moved Yuan Shu’s arm aside and quietly climbed down from the bed, intending to cook some porridge outside the ruined temple. Suddenly, Yuan Shu’s laughter came from behind him.
“I want oatmeal with berries.”
Yun Sheng turned around and saw Yuan Shu lying on her side atop the bed. Her stunningly beautiful face wore a lazy, faint smile, and her eyes curved as she looked at him.
Yun Sheng turned his head away uneasily.
“I… don’t have those ingredients.”
He was an orphan now—an unwanted orphan. Where would he get such expensive things?
All he could make was a bowl of plain rice porridge.
“You don’t have them, but I do!” Yuan Shu said cheerfully, casually tossing out a pile of household supplies.
“Three dishes and one soup for every meal. Here’s a cookbook, too. Study it whenever you have nothing else to do. Don’t you dare slack off.”
Pots, bowls, utensils, vegetables, and fruit were all piled into one corner of the ruined temple. Yun Sheng stared at them in bewilderment.
When Yuan Shu tossed a cookbook toward him, he hurriedly caught it with both hands.
Yuan Shu waved him off. “Go on, go on. If you run out, just tell me. And remember to make extra so you can fatten yourself up a little. I like well-built men.”
As she spoke, Yuan Shu looked Yun Sheng up and down, her eyes showing a hint of distaste.
Yun Sheng’s face reddened again, and he glared at Yuan Shu in embarrassment and indignation.
He glared for a long while, but in the end, he resigned himself to his fate and left the ruined temple to obediently cook the porridge.
“Shushu, will doing this really pull Yun Sheng out of his memory space?” the Hehuan Divine Tree asked from within her sea of consciousness, its soul practically overflowing with doubt.
It didn’t seem as though he had changed much.
“Don’t worry. It will.” Yuan Shu patted the tree’s manifested form within her sea of consciousness and gave it a look that said, Trust me.
The Hehuan Divine Tree fell silent, then nodded heavily.
Pulling Yuan Shu into Yun Sheng’s spiritual consciousness was within its abilities. But as for how to bring Yun Sheng back to the real world, that would depend on Yuan Shu.
…
“Chest out, stomach in. Keep your horse stance steady, shoulders level. Yes, just like that. Hold it and don’t move.”
Yuan Shu held a training baton as she walked around Yun Sheng, who was practicing his horse stance.
“You need to work on your arm strength, leg strength, and muscle definition. Don’t strain your expression so much. You’ll get wrinkles, and that won’t look good.”
Yun Sheng’s lips twitched, but he said nothing. He simply followed Yuan Shu’s instructions and continued holding the horse stance in silence.
Yuan Shu returned to the reclining chair nearby. She lifted her eyes and let her gaze roam freely over Yun Sheng, who was gradually growing taller.
“Slurp~”
The broad shoulders, narrow waist, and long legs she had personally trained into shape, along with his well-developed chest, abs, and calves…
He looked pretty good. She wondered what it would be like to use him…
“Ahem.”
Yuan Shu choked on her own saliva.
Within her sea of consciousness, the Hehuan Divine Tree idly traced circles in the air with one of its branches.
Although time flowed differently inside the sea of consciousness—with one day outside equaling a year within—was Shushu being just a little too distracted from her actual mission?
It couldn’t help reminding her, “Shushu, we’re here to save Yun Sheng…”
“Isn’t that what I’m doing? Don’t worry. It won’t take much longer.” Yuan Shu waved her hand dismissively, her expression utterly unconcerned.
“Really?”
The Hehuan Divine Tree knitted its brows. All it saw was Yuan Shu happily playing at raising a character. She showed no intention whatsoever of pulling Yun Sheng out of this place.
“You still don’t understand what kind of person I am? When have I ever let important matters get delayed?”
Yuan Shu’s eyelashes fluttered. As if she had just thought of something, she spoke again. “By the way, spend these next few days cultivating whenever you have the time. I can handle things.”
