The First Order

When Zhou Yingxue appeared again, she did not deliberately try to make conversation with Ren Xiaosu. She would wear different outfits every day despite the winter weather and also put on elaborate makeup. Then she would sit quietly in the corner of the library and flip through her books.

If anyone passed by, she would not turn to look at them, not even if it was Ren Xiaosu.

When it got slightly more crowded in the library in the afternoon, there would be youths going over to hit on her, only to get rejected gently.

As time passed, it seemed as though she were really here because she wanted to read. She was just like a quiet beauty who had become a unique scene for others in the library.

Ren Xiaosu thought that if the other party were really willing to get along peacefully with him, he would be fine with it. After all, he wasn’t doing anything illegal here, so there was no reason he should be afraid of being monitored. Although he had hired An Yuqian to teach Wang Yuchi and the others, there was nothing out of place with the lessons. At most, they would have to be more careful when discussing how to design the armor. So Ren Xiaosu simply ignored Zhou Yingxue’s presence.

However, Ren Xiaosu realized An Yuqian kept getting distracted with staring at Zhou Yingxue. That was especially so today after Zhou Yingxue entered the library and actually took off her coat to reveal a qipao underneath.

The hem of the qipao had a slit that almost went up to her hips. As Zhou Yingxue sat quietly, An Yuqian stared straight at her.

Ren Xiaosu felt helpless. He wondered if Zhou Yingxue might be a supernatural being too. Why was she not afraid of the cold?

At this moment, Wang Yuchi asked, “Teacher An, about this question…”

An Yuqian came back to his senses and said, “Ah, this question is really fair… no, I meant this question is really slender. I don’t mean that either….”

Ren Xiaosu looked calmly at An Yuqian. “Say, shouldn’t you focus on your class? We paid you for it.”

An Yuqian was a little embarrassed. “Don’t you think she looks really elegant sitting there quietly?”

Ren Xiaosu sighed. He went to the bookshelf and found three books before walking over to Zhou Yingxue. An Yuqian was thinking how ballsy Ren Xiaosu was to try to hit on her in such a direct way.

Zhou Yingxue pretended not to see Ren Xiaosu. When Ren Xiaosu walked up to her, she finally looked up. “Hello, is something the matter?”

Ren Xiaosu placed the Spare Me, Great Lord novel in his hand in front of Zhou Yingxue. “I think this book is quite interesting. You should read it.”

After that, Ren Xiaosu went back to sit down and continued with studying by himself. Meanwhile, Zhou Yingxue flipped open the book in front of her curiously, hoping to find out more about the book Ren Xiaosu liked.

Eventually, while Ren Xiaosu and the students were getting their afternoon lessons, Zhou Yingxue was laughing so hard in the corner of the library she was curling into a ball. Her face went numb from laughter. The quiet and demure image she had painstakingly built up was completely ruined.

Zhou Yingxue did not do anything for the entire afternoon other than laugh like a lunatic.

Ren Xiaosu looked at An Yuqian. “Do you think she’s still elegant now?”

An Yuqian took a deep breath and said, “Not anymore.”

“Then focus on teaching,” Ren Xiaosu said.

However, Ren Xiaosu did not expect Zhou Yingxue to start pestering him ever since then. Every day, she would ask him what books were good reads and would even go over to discuss what she thought of the books he recommended.

Ren Xiaosu thought to himself that this woman was indeed someone who specialized in getting close to someone. She could really make the best of a given situation.

However, Ren Xiaosu did not reject Zhou Yingxue too obviously either and would still recommend some extremely boring books to her every day. In the end, Ren Xiaosu realized she would still finish reading them no matter how boring they were. Afterwards, she would go over and chat with him.

Actually, if he were qualified enough, Ren Xiaosu could have recommended Zhou Yingxue some very high-level math texts. This way, even if Zhou Yingxue had to force herself to read it, she wouldn’t understand anything. However, he wasn’t qualified enough. In fact, Ren Xiaosu might not even be as good at math as Zhou Yingxue. He was too severely limited by his knowledge to even use this method against her.

An Yuqian went up to Ren Xiaosu and suddenly said, “Bro, I can tell that girl named Zhou Yingxue really likes you!”

Ren Xiaosu chuckled. ‘Like me? She’s a fucking spy!’

Even if he had not spotted Zhou Yingxue among the spies previously, Ren Xiaosu could still sense there was something wrong with her based on his intuition built up in the wilderness. One who was unaccountably solicitous had to be hiding evil intentions.

Zhou Yingxue thought it would be very easy for someone of Ren Xiaosu’s age to get seduced by her beauty. Would a 17-year-old boy have much experience? Any extortionist in the game[1] would prefer boys of this age.

As a matter of fact, Zhou Yingxue was not wrong. If it were Wang Yuchi and the others, they might have already fallen into the trap. However, Ren Xiaosu was different.

At night, Ren Xiaosu bade farewell to Wang Yuchi and the others. He told them to go home first while he headed off to Lu Yuan’s place to learn hand-to-hand combat. But when he left the library, he saw Zhou Yingxue standing at the entrance.

Ren Xiaosu pretended not to see her as he walked out. Zhou Yingxue called out to him, “Do you have time? There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”

“No,” Ren Xiaosu said.

Suddenly, the voice from the palace said, “Quest: Help the woman asking for help.”

This quest appeared too suddenly and caught Ren Xiaosu off guard. “I suddenly have time now. How can I help you?”

Zhou Yingxue froze for a couple seconds but quickly adjusted her emotions and smiled. “It’s my birthday today, but I don’t have any relatives in the stronghold anymore. Can you accompany me tonight?”

Ren Xiaosu was at a loss. “How?”

“Let’s go to my place. We can play some games.” Zhou Yingxue smiled.

“Play what games?” Ren Xiaosu was already starting to feel like giving up on this quest.

“A game that can’t be played alone.” Zhou Yingxue winked at Ren Xiaosu.

What kinds of games were there that could not be played alone?

Ren Xiaosu gave it some thought and said, “Do you mean jump rope? I’m really good at that!”

Zhou Yingxue was confused. She said, “We can’t jump rope with just two people.”

At this moment, An Yuqian walked out of the library. Seeing that the library was about to be closed, Ren Xiaosu said, “There! We have enough people!”

Zhou Yingxue smiled awkwardly. “Forget it, I don’t want to play anymore.”

Ren Xiaosu checked the palace’s quest and said, “No, we have to play!”

Zhou Yingxue was speechless. What kind of fucking person was this?!

Half an hour later, the voice from the palace said, “Quest complete. Awarded Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll!”

Ren Xiaosu was stunned. This Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll that came out of nowhere nearly made him jump for joy. After all, it was a really rare item.

Perhaps with this one Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll, he could gain another new power.

Even if he did not manage to learn a superpower, he could still gain a master-level skill.

Ren Xiaosu suddenly asked, “What if I copy someone else’s master-level skill without having the corresponding advanced-level skill?”

“Invalid,” the palace said coldly.

“That isn’t fair!” Ren Xiaosu protested.

The palace explained, “A Basic and Perfect Skill Duplication Scroll can be used at the same time to completely learn a master-level skill in the event you do not have the corresponding skill set.”

[1] The badger game is an extortion scheme or confidence trick in which the victim is tricked into a compromising position to make them vulnerable to blackmail. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badger_game