Lu Yan had been lying there like that from the very beginning, his eyes half-closed and completely motionless. He was deliberately watching her act so cautiously, not even daring to breathe too loudly, her ears practically perking up as she listened to his breathing.
That's right, he was doing it on purpose.
When it came to pretending to sleep, he was truly on an ancestral level. He had said this before.
Moreover, Jiang Ci currently possessed only an ordinary physique and had not yet entered Qi Condensation. Without Qi Condensation, she was ultimately just a mortal. No matter how sharp her senses were, she could never detect a single flaw in his act.
He had already fully woken up from his light slumber the moment Jiang Ci lost her balance, rolled over, and hit the floor with a dull thud.
Holding back his laughter, he squinted his eyes to watch her.
He watched her freeze for the longest time, and then saw her cautiously roll over from lying on her back to crawling on her stomach. Her limbs were weak and her movements clumsy as she slowly wiggled toward the door inch by inch.
The corners of Lu Yan's mouth ached from holding back. He was so close—truly just a hair's breadth away—from failing to contain himself and bursting into laughter, which would have given him away.
Fortunately, he was a master at keeping a straight face.
Yet the amusement in his heart only swelled, eventually spilling from his eyes until he could no longer keep his lips from curving upward.
He really couldn't hold it in anymore. His poker face was completely shattered, guys.
“Is Fellow Daoist Jiang planning to learn how to crawl like an Ice Spirit silkworm?”
Lu Yan tilted his head slightly, his tone lazy, carrying the hoarseness of someone who had just woken up and a mischievous smile he couldn't hide.
Looking at Jiang Ci, who was lying flat on the floor, completely motionless in an obvious attempt to play dead and slip away, he slowly added:
“If you don't get up... should I carry you up?”
Perhaps Lu Yan had finally seen the light last night, or maybe he had spent the night rebooting his CPU, but in an instant, his linguistic system had undergone a massive upgrade, evolving straight from a caveman to the First Industrial Revolution.
But Jiang Ci was completely lost.
The moment she heard those words, it felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck her head. Her entire body went numb, and her scalp burned with heat.
In the next second, she executed a hasty, stiff kip-up to spring to her feet, scrambled backward in a panic, and shook her head like a rattle.
“No, no, there's really no need!”
Her pupils trembled slightly, and her heart pounded like a wild drum.
What was going on? Was Lu Yan possessed by something?
How could he become so... so unbridled, so... frivolous, overnight?
She was completely bewildered, her mind a chaotic mess of shock and suspicion.
Seeing her panicked and helpless state, a flash of cunning slipped through Lu Yan's eyes. On the surface, however, he merely let out a soft hum, deliberately trailing off at the end to put on a show of disappointment and insecurity.
He calculated rapidly in his mind. He had never tried this kind of routine before and had no idea how effective it would be.
It was a last resort, and he could only commit to this path now. Most importantly, he needed to test how thoroughly this little drunkard had blacked out last night.
He stood up casually, grabbed a nearby wooden stool, and gave it a gentle nudge, wedging it firmly against the door. He silently blocked all her paths of retreat, effectively locking the door.
Jiang Ci froze on the spot, her spine stiff as a board. Her head hung low, her eyelashes fluttering nervously. Standing there so obediently, she looked like a criminal waiting for her sentence after committing a grave mistake, too tense to even know where to put her hands and feet.
Lu Yan turned around and got back into bed, shifting slightly to lean his back comfortably against the headboard in a lazy posture.
He looked up at her, his voice slow and tinged with a deliberately affected sense of grievance.
“Do you still remember what you did?”
Jiang Ci's spine stiffened violently, her heart skipping a beat.
She hesitated for a moment, nodded in panic, and then immediately shook her head rapidly, her voice soft and full of guilt.
“I only remember stumbling into your room in a daze, but after that... I don't remember anything at all.”
Lu Yan was slightly taken aback.
He had prepared a whole series of setups and routines, but he hadn't expected her to be so honest. With just a basic probe, she had laid down all her cards.
She was so honest that he almost couldn't bear to play her.
Unfortunately, he had no choice. Who told her to run into someone like him, whose mind was packed with more schemes than holes in a hornet's nest?
In the next second, his acting skills kicked into high gear.
His brows instantly drooped, and his eyes filled with just the right amount of disbelief, grievance, and disappointment. He looked completely heartbroken, as if he had been betrayed and forgotten.
If Yao Wu were here, he would have definitely sneered on the spot—why is an old crone putting on the airs of a bashful maiden?
But Jiang Ci was far too inexperienced. She had never suffered the harsh beatings of society, let alone witnessed such theatrical acting.
How could she possibly withstand this?
Seeing his hurt and sorrowful expression, she instantly assumed she must have caused some catastrophic disaster last night, making her incredibly anxious.
Her fingertips trembled slightly. Not daring to look up and meet his gaze, she stammered in a frantic, fragmented rush, “I, I drank too much last night... I'm, I'm sorry...”
Lu Yan immediately interrupted her, his tone turning solemn and righteously indignant. “Just because you drank too much, you can avoid taking responsibility? That is simply irresponsible.”
“No, no!” Jiang Ci completely panicked, quickly raising her head. Her eyes were serious and sincere, without a hint of insincerity. “I didn't say I wouldn't take responsibility! Just tell me what I did, and I'll own up to all of it!”
If you make a mistake, you must admit it; if you get beaten, you must stand tall. She had always been a reasonable person. If her drunken antics last night had truly caused trouble or harmed him, she would definitely do her best to compensate him without any hesitation.
“Oh... you'll own up to all of it? Really?”
Lu Yan instantly shed his aggrieved, sorrowful expression. His tone shifted back to his casual, playful laziness, amusement swirling in his eyes.
“Really!” Jiang Ci nodded heavily, her attitude exceptionally earnest.
“Oh~ I see.”
Lu Yan slowly rose from the bed, his white robes draping down, his figure slender and tall.
Step by step, unhurriedly but steadily, he closed in on her.
His pace was slow, yet each step cut off all her paths of retreat, carrying a gentle yet dominant pressure. Finally, he cornered her against the cold wall.
Jiang Ci's back pressed against the cold, hard wall, leaving her with nowhere to retreat. Her nose was filled with the clean, soft scent of his cotton robes, mingled with the lingering warmth of the bed, wrapping tightly around her.
The distance between them was frighteningly close. Their breaths mingled, and their gazes locked, so close that she could see the delicate fragments of light in his eyes.
Her throat bobbed slightly. She instinctively turned her head away to avoid his gaze, her ears flushing a bright red, her heart pounding furiously, utterly flustered.
“W-Why are you leaning... so close?”
In the next instant.
Lu Yan leaned down slightly, bringing his face close to her ear. His warm breath brushed against her burning earlobe, his voice dropped to an incredibly low whisper.
Each word was crystal clear, drilling straight into her mind.
“But yesterday, you were crying and screaming, grabbing onto me and refusing to let go, insisting that we dual cultivate.”
“So how is it that today, you won't take responsibility?”
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