Chapter Sixty-Six: The More Beautiful a Woman, the Less She Can Be Trusted

"Debts of money are easy to repay, but favors are hard to return. When you owe someone a favor, it’s not something that can simply be measured in cash." Lin Wan'er’s explanation made Fu Sitong suddenly understand. She hadn’t thought about it before; she’d just assumed that a friend’s friend was also a friend, never realizing that she’d caused Ye Qiu to owe someone a favor for nothing. Yet all of this was for her sake.

“Look, a shooting star…” Xia Zhu leapt up in excitement.

A streak of light, trailing a long tail, shot across the deep night sky. The girls clasped their hands together, devoutly whispering the wishes of their hearts. The men, meanwhile, took the opportunity for romance—few closed their eyes in earnest to make a wish like the girls did. It was more practical to sneak a kiss from their girlfriends, or else they watched the sky expectantly, only for the heavens to fall silent again after a single meteor.

That meteor wasn’t the prologue to a shower, but more like a perfunctory flash, dazzling then gone. Everyone waited with anticipation, but no more stars appeared, and soon the mountaintop was filled with complaints.

“If I’d known, I’d have stayed home watching dramas.”

“What a load of nonsense! I won’t trust predictions again.”

“Complete waste of time—let’s just go home and sleep.”

“It’s already so late, the school must be locked. How about we just stay at the hotel by the gate for the night? I promise I won’t do anything else.”

Lin Wan’er and her friends didn’t curse, but the disappointment on their faces made it clear they felt caught in a half-hearted letdown.

“Forget it, let’s go home.” Lin Wan’er announced, but her feet didn’t move. Her gaze was fixed intently on Ye Qiu.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“Call your friend’s helicopter. My legs ache from hiking up.”

Before Ye Qiu could speak, Fu Sitong interjected on his behalf, “Let’s not trouble him again. He won’t even take money for it—it’s not right to keep asking favors.”

Fu Fan chimed in sourly, “Oh, now you’re sticking up for him. Girls really are outgoing.”

“No, I’m not! Don’t say such things, brother.” Fu Sitong stole a glance at Ye Qiu, who was still watching the group by the RV, grilling and drinking, and felt an inexplicable sense of loss.

Xie Hao’s voice drifted over, sinister and cold, “Don’t tell me those people are your friends too.”

Ye Qiu shook his head.

“I thought you had friends everywhere,” Xie Hao finally felt he’d gained the upper hand, and lifted his chin, “Seems you don’t have that many friends after all…”

His words had barely faded when a man and woman walked over from the bonfire.

“Mr. Ye, care to join us for barbecue and beer?” It was Murong Di and Murong Xiaofeng.

Murong Di winked playfully, “We know how to mind our manners—we didn’t come over earlier to bother you.”

“We’re all friends, as the saying goes: only with friends can one drink to their heart’s content.”

Xie Hao now recognized them—these two were from the Murong family. To barbecue and drink beer with Murong Xiaofeng… that would be something to boast about for months.

“Not interested.” Lin Wan’er stretched lazily. “I want to go home and sleep; staying up late is a woman’s worst enemy.”

“Murong’s invitation is so gracious, Wan’er, you really shouldn’t turn him down.” Xie Hao’s face fell. If Murong Xiaofeng gave him a word, he’d gladly become his lackey.

Women? With a connection to Murong Xiaofeng, he could have ten Lin Wan’ers for her looks and figure.

“Are you out of your mind? If I wanted to drink beer with Murong, I wouldn’t need your commentary.” Lin Wan’er saw through Xie Hao’s intentions easily. After playing along with his act all night, she was bored; she pulled out two sets of silver needles that gleamed eerily in the night, swiftly sealing Xie Hao’s shoulder points, then poured a bottle of drugged water down his throat.

“This guy’s yours to deal with now—let’s head down.” Lin Wan’er dusted her hands, handed Xia Zhu’s water to Ye Qiu, and pulled Xia Zhu along, striding down the mountain.

By now, Xie Hao and Fu Fan realized Lin Wan’er had seen through their schemes. Fu Fan was terrified, hiding behind Fu Sitong.

“Phew…”

In the blink of an eye, Xie Hao’s gaze grew hazy. His whole body writhed like a worm, while seductive noises escaped his lips.

Now, even the naive Fu Sitong understood what Xie Hao had just drunk. Seeing Fu Fan’s current expression, she grasped the reason. Yet, for all she knew, Fu Fan was still her brother.

“Ye Qiu, could you spare my brother?” Fu Sitong bit her lip, hesitating as if making a difficult decision. “If you let him go, I’ll agree to any request you have.”

Ye Qiu sighed, “Even if I agree, the girls he crossed won’t.”

Compared to Lin Wan’er’s methods, Ye Qiu was much more direct—he yanked Fu Fan’s hair and forced the drink down, then pulled the silver needles from Xie Hao.

“You’d better keep your distance. Of course, if anyone wants to join the knife-fight, I won’t stop you.”

Murong Xiaofeng and Murong Di exchanged a glance, and spoke in unison, “We’ll drink beer next time.”

Slaughter…

The battlefield rang with shouts and clashing blades.

The Murong siblings felt their scalps tingle, and hurried down the mountain with their friends.

Fu Sitong and Wang Min, both deeply unsettled, retreated from the scene, calling for help as they went.

Ye Qiu had already left as soon as the chaos began. To make sure Fu Sitong and Wang Min didn’t get themselves into real trouble, he had Yunyan monitor them for a while. Seeing the two girls hiding mid-mountain and joining up with their helpers, he called Yunyan back.

“Master, the Fu and Xie families have arrived. From their facial expressions, their anger has reached the threshold of wild revenge.”

Yunyan, fresh from the battlefield, hurried to delete the eye-burning footage. It was grateful to be a robot—deleting the code wiped away all filth.

Ye Qiu didn’t take the two families seriously, mere small fry. Still, today had been a wasted trip. He’d come to see Lin Wan’er to give his second sister something to do, but ended up causing so much trouble for nothing.

“Huh, Master, didn’t Miss Lin say staying up late is a woman’s worst enemy? Why hasn’t she gone back?”

At the foot of the mountain, Lin Wan’er kicked at a small stone on the path, as if it were her most hated foe, and only kicking it would ease her anger.

“You don’t know, do you? Go watch ‘Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber.’”

While a human would need an hour and a half, by the time Ye Qiu reached Lin Wan’er, Yunyan had already played every version available.

“Master, I understand. The prettier a woman is, the less you can trust her.”