“Can you keep your distance from Wu Heng? I like him.”
Hearing her words, Su Mo was taken aback and almost laughed out loud. But then he heard her continue: “Because you’re very pretty, and he seems to have a good impression of you. I’m afraid he’ll focus all his attention on you and won’t pay any attention to me.”
Su Mo couldn’t help but facepalm. “What’s your relationship with him, exactly?”
“W-well… we’re acquainted.” Shen Nanshu’s tone lacked confidence.
“If I’m not mistaken, he probably doesn’t even know your name yet, right?” Su Mo’s expression was a picture.
A slight blush tinted Shen Nanshu’s cheeks. “He’ll find out sooner or later.”
Su Mo raised his chin, gave a noncommittal “Oh,” and asked with keen interest, “Then tell me, what exactly should I do?”
After thinking for a moment, Shen Nanshu recited as if reading from a legal statute: “First, you cannot be alone with him. Second, you cannot make eye contact with him…”
“Wait, wait, wait…” This sounded more and more absurd to Su Mo, so he simply interrupted her. “Forget whether I agree or not. Since he doesn’t even know your name, what standing do you have right now to set conditions for me?”
It was the middle of the night. Although their voices weren’t loud, they were still very clear.
Shen Nanshu glanced inside the room. “Can we talk inside?”
Su Mo shook his head. “Sorry, no. Please answer my question right now. I need to rest.”
Shen Nanshu was getting angry too. Her voice carried a hint of irritation. “You already have a boyfriend. What’s the big deal about agreeing to stay away from him? Unless you…”
She suddenly stopped there, refusing to say any more.
Su Mo snorted coldly. “Unless I what, huh?”
His tone grew impatient. “Who I keep my distance from… even my partner doesn’t have that many demands. What right do you, an outsider, have to chirp about it? Do you really think you’re a princess and everyone has to listen to you?”
Su Mo didn’t give her a friendly look and made a gesture for her to leave.
Shen Nanshu stood her ground, her teeth clenched, seemingly prepared to wait him out.
Su Mo had no intention of indulging her. He turned around, entered his room, and slammed the door shut with a “Bang!”, leaving her outside alone in the cold wind.
“Yes, that’s the way to do it!”
As soon as Su Mo closed the door, he heard someone speaking nearby, much more clearly than when he was in Chu Yuan.
“Hmph, of all people, she had to go and find him. Ha ha ha ha, served her right! La la la…”
The corner of Su Mo’s mouth twitched upwards; he recognized Ye Qingyi’s voice.
However, he didn’t react much and pretended not to hear anything.
(^ω^)
The night deepened. Su Mo didn’t know when Shen Nanshu left, nor did he want to know.
After studying the Skull-Crushing Hand technique for a while, he sat in meditation. When he opened his eyes again, it was already 6 AM the next morning.
Yang Jie yelled an order, and everyone assembled on the training ground to begin morning exercises.
Of course, there was an exception: Su Mo.
He just sat alone in a corner, holding a vocabulary book and reciting: “Abandon, abandon…”
Someone who didn’t understand raised a question, and Yang Jie’s answer earned Su Mo quite a few ‘enemies’: “With her ability, she naturally doesn’t need to practice these basics like the rest of you.”
But some people always found alternative angles. One person wondered skeptically, “But the words she’s reciting are pretty basic too. Anyone ordinary would know them.”
Yang Jie: “…”
Xia Qingqing: “…”
Huo Jingshuo: “…”
Su Mo heard their conversation clearly. He pursed his lips and muttered to himself, “They’re just words. If I can handle the people who speak them, shouldn’t I be able to handle the words themselves?”
And so, Su Mo spent his mornings building vocabulary, his mornings learning professional knowledge like intelligence and reconnaissance, and his afternoons learning formations and talismans from Qin Xun.
As for the evenings? It was one-on-one tutoring with a dedicated external instructor…
During this time, Wu Heng sought him out more than once, always about cultivation matters. Each time, Su Mo could feel Shen Nanshu’s gaze on him, but he completely ignored it.
Su Mo was someone who responded better to kindness than coercion. The more you tried to pressure him, the less likely you were to get the desired result.
Shen Nanshu never approached him again. Instead, it was Yang Jie who came looking for him at noon the next day, and it was obvious something had happened.
“Instructor Yang, is something wrong?” Here, their relationship was that of instructor and trainee.
Yang Jie said helplessly, “Huo Jingshuo and Xia Qingqing have gotten into trouble.”
“Huh?” Su Mo was stunned, feeling like the two of them and the phrase ‘gotten into trouble’ shouldn’t possibly be connected. “What kind of trouble did they cause?”
Yang Jie frowned. “You haven’t heard any rumors?”
Su Mo shook his head.
“Right, living separately, you probably wouldn’t have a chance to hear.” She didn’t seem inclined to explain either, simply saying, “Come with me.”
As soon as Yang Jie turned around, Ye Qingyi emerged from her room and grabbed Su Mo’s arm. “I’ll come with you.”
The two followed Yang Jie to the instructors’ office. Huo Jingshuo, Xia Qingqing, and two other boys and one girl were standing in a line. A middle-aged woman, roughly forty years old, sat on a chair nearby.
The two girls looked disdainful, while the other three had bruised and swollen faces—especially one of the boys, whose eyes were barely half-open.
When Ye Qingyi entered the office, the middle-aged woman immediately put on a scornful expression and said in a sarcastic tone, “It seems my son was right. The vixen is indeed very pretty. It’s just a shame she doesn’t learn proper behavior at such a young age, already skilled at seducing men.”
As these words were spoken, the auras of Su Mo, Ye Qingyi, Xia Qingqing, and Huo Jingshuo all sharpened simultaneously. The powerful pressure caused the woman’s mind to go blank for an instant.
One of the boys from the trio quickly stepped forward to support her, saying indignantly, “Mom, don’t worry. Instructor Yang will definitely handle this impartially. After all… our family has served with unwavering loyalty!”
Yang Jie acted as if she hadn’t heard. She raised a hand to signal them not to act rashly, then went and sat in her own seat. Waving her hand, she indicated, “Sort this out yourselves. I’ll just observe.”
Hearing this, the middle-aged woman immediately began to wail. “Boo hoo… Old Ge, you’re gone, and we mother and son are so pitiful… An’an just told a simple truth and was beaten up by two women… Boo hoo… You died in the line of public duty…”
“You’re slandering us! It was Ge An who defamed Qingyi first! He started and spread the rumors. Not sewing his mouth shut is already going easy on him!” Xia Qingqing was small, but her rebuttal carried no less force.
Huo Jingshuo, who spoke little in front of outsiders, only said one thing: “It’s not like he’s dead. What’s all the crying for?”
Hearing this, the wailing paused for a second, then grew even louder. “Heavens! Listen to what she’s saying! She’s cursing my son to die a horrible death!”
At this moment, Su Mo felt like the parent of Huo Jingshuo and Xia Qingqing. There was a conflict between the kids, and he was here to deal with the other parent.
Su Mo reached out, pulling Huo Jingshuo and Xia Qingqing behind him, shielding them. He said coldly, “Auntie, if you want to resolve this issue, let’s talk properly. If you’re trying to pressure us by playing the victim, then I’m sorry, but I can’t oblige.”
With that, he turned to the girls behind him and said, “Let’s go.”
“Stop right there!” the middle-aged woman shrieked hysterically. “You hurt my son! I’ll make you all pay the price!”
Su Mo stopped walking, his brows furrowing together sternly. “Since you want justice, then let’s discuss this properly.”
With that, Su Mo pulled over a chair for himself, sat down firmly, and shot a contemptuous look at the woman.