After My Faked Death Failed, My Ex-Wife Came Chasing After Me - Chapter 4

“Damn it, if I suddenly become studious, won’t I be OOC (Out of Character)?”

Hearing this, Lin Zheng froze in her tracks.

Lu Ting’an blinked her eyes with feigned innocence. “What’s wrong? You’re not willing?”

Lin Zheng paused for a moment and said in a low voice, “…It is against the rules. How about the bamboo forest on the back mountain?”

The moment Lu Ting’an heard this, she shook her head repeatedly and cried out, “No way! If people saw me, the eldest miss of the prestigious Baiyun Luying Sect, having to take private lessons in secret, wouldn’t all my dignity be lost?”

Lin Zheng felt a bit of a headache coming on from her unreasonable behavior. She could only rub her temples helplessly and say, “Fine, but I must return to Guiyi Hall before midnight. I cannot break the sect rules.”

Guiyi Hall was the unified residence for the disciples of the Baiyun Luying Sect. Lu Ting’an nodded with satisfaction and said, “Naturally.”

Seeing the sly grin on her face, Lin Zheng felt something wasn’t quite right, but she didn’t want to waste any more words. She flipped onto her sword and flew straight toward the martial arts arena.

Once Lin Zheng was far away, Lu Ting’an’s heart blossomed with joy, and she sprinted toward Guiyi Hall.

She had it all planned out: first, trick Lin Zheng into coming to Yingyue Pavilion to teach her swordsmanship, then take the opportunity to badger her into staying the night. Once there, she would use a mix of threats and inducements to treat Lin Zheng’s wounds from the Black Gold Whip. She’d claim she just didn’t want to owe her a favor—saving face while doing a good deed. How could there be a genius like her in this world?

The system jumped out “right on cue”: [Host, watch your boundaries. Don’t be too enthusiastic, or you’ll be punished with an electric shock for being OOC.]

Lu Ting’an felt annoyed the moment she heard its voice. “Fine, don’t worry, I won’t let the cat out of the bag.”

Coincidentally, at this hour, most of the disciples were eating in the dining hall and preparing for evening classes, so she didn’t run into many people along the way. Relying on her sparse memories of Guiyi Hall’s location, she twisted and turned through the small paths until finally, a palace with green tiles and flying eaves appeared before her eyes. The three characters for “Guiyi Hall” on the gate were written with sharp, solemn strokes. In front of the hall stood an ancient cypress tree, its trunk sturdy and its leaves a deep, heavy emerald.

She quietly slipped inside. The interior was decorated simply with bluestone floors, and the various living quarters were separated by bamboo boards. Each room had a name carved on the door, and inside were desks, prayer mats, incense burners, and beds—all tidy and organized. In the very center, a formation was set up, with spiritual energy flowing incessantly.

Lu Ting’an searched along the doors and soon found Lin Zheng’s name at the very end. Overjoyed, she was about to push the door open when she smelled an extremely pungent, foul stench that nearly made her jump.

“Damn, what is Lin Zheng doing in here?”

She covered her nose and circled the room, only to find that the source of the stench was a puddle of dark brown sludge on Lin Zheng’s neatly folded bed. It looked like leftover swill from the dining hall, dripping slowly down the pale, washed-out bedding.

Lu Ting’an understood everything instantly.

Although Lin Zheng was the Eldest Senior Sister of the Baiyun Luying Sect, because of her identity as a member of the Demon Race and the fact that the original Lu Ting’an had always disliked her, the other disciples followed suit. They found various ways to bully Lin Zheng to curry favor with the Eldest Miss. Needless to say, this was definitely the handiwork of one of her lackeys.

Anger rose in Lu Ting’an’s heart; she wished she could drag the culprit out and give them a sound thrashing.

Besides anger, Lu Ting’an couldn’t help but feel a pang of heartache for Lin Zheng. Things like this surely weren’t happening for the first time. It was admirable that Lin Zheng could still practice diligently and maintain the top rank in her studies in such an environment. She truly was the “Child of Destiny” female lead.

Lu Ting’an had originally intended to take Lin Zheng’s bedding to Yingyue Pavilion to force her to stay over, but looking at it now, that didn’t seem necessary anymore. She simply scooped up the stack of unfinished notebooks from Lin Zheng’s desk, thinking that now Lin Zheng would have no excuse to return to Guiyi Hall. She happily left the hall, running into a few disciples skipping evening class on the way. They looked at her as if they had seen a ghost.

Lu Ting’an didn’t think much of it. “What’s wrong with you guys?”

The disciples joked and teased, “Eldest Miss, did the sun rise from the west today? At this hour, instead of sneaking down the mountain, you’re actually carrying books?”

Lu Ting’an’s face went dark. She cursed at them a bit and headed straight back to Yingyue Pavilion with the books in her arms.

Lu Ting’an placed the books on the desk and sprawled out on her bed. It was still early, and Lin Zheng wouldn’t arrive so soon. She listlessly toyed with the incense sachets hanging from the gauze curtains and shouted into the air, “System!”

System: [I am here. What is the matter?]

Lu Ting’an covered her face with a pillow and said in a muffled voice, “Since everyone is going to evening class, do you think I should go too? Otherwise, I look really unmotivated.”

System: [No need. According to Lu Ting’an’s character in the original novel, going would actually be OOC.]

Lu Ting’an: “…”

Good heavens, no wonder her cultivation is so poor; she doesn’t want to endure any hardship at all!

After a long while, she was so bored she picked up one of Lin Zheng’s notebooks from the desk. Flipping through a few pages, she couldn’t help but click her tongue in admiration. The handwriting was elegant, the characters were upright, and every key point was meticulously noted. Among the pages were several classroom quizzes; not a single mistake was found in the entire set. Even the extremely nitpicky Elder Feng had to give her an “A.” The entire notebook was practically a work of art.

“Tsk tsk, if this were modern times, she’d definitely be a top scorer in the Gaokao,” Lu Ting’an admired sincerely.

She put down the notebook and picked up a small booklet. She thought it would also be annotations on her studies, but as soon as she opened it, a portrait of a woman met her eyes.

Lu Ting’an froze for a moment.

The woman was elegantly beautiful with bright eyes and white teeth; her expression was filled with gentleness—a rare beauty at first glance. She held a small child as cute as a New Year’s doll in her arms, who was giggling while sitting on the woman’s lap. Unfortunately, the portrait seemed to have been soaked in water at some point and was somewhat wrinkled, making the child’s face a bit blurry. Just as Lu Ting’an was about to sit up for a closer look, she heard a cold voice from the doorway: “What are you doing?”

Lu Ting’an was so startled she nearly dropped the booklet. Looking up, she met Lin Zheng’s indifferent gaze. Feeling guilty like a thief, she slammed the book shut and pretended to be busy looking elsewhere. “Ah, nothing, just waiting for you.”

With quick eyes and hands, Lin Zheng snatched the booklet away. Her eyebrows knitted slightly, and her voice carried a hint of anger: “Where did you get this? Who gave you permission to rummage through my things!”

Seeing her this angry, Lu Ting’an instinctively wanted to get up and apologize. “I didn’t mean to, I…”

[OOC Warning! ‘Lu Ting’an’ would not admit fault or apologize to Lin Zheng!] The system’s prompt rang sharply in her mind, causing Lu Ting’an to swallow the second half of her sentence. She composed herself and regained the arrogant and willful persona of the original character, shouting at Lin Zheng, “What are you yelling for! What’s wrong with me taking a look? It’s not like it’s something shameful!”

“You…” Lin Zheng gritted her teeth and stared at her for a long time. In the end, she said nothing, gathered the stack of books from the desk, and turned to leave with a flick of her sleeve.

“Stop right there!” Lu Ting’an quickly called out to her. Lin Zheng didn’t look back. Lu Ting’an grew anxious and stomped her foot. “If you don’t come back, watch out! I’ll tell the Master that you’re unwilling to teach me swordsmanship!”

Sure enough, at the mention of the Master, Lin Zheng’s footsteps visibly faltered. Her shoulders were shaking with anger, but eventually, she turned around slowly and returned to the room with mechanical steps.

Seeing her face look terrifyingly dark, Lu Ting’an’s heart tightened inexplicably, yet she had to brace herself and keep acting. She crossed her arms, feigning a haughty look, though her eyes couldn’t help but turn red, and her voice carried a hint of grievance: “What are you so proud of? Just because your notes are pretty and you get A’s on your exams? You’re just a bookworm. Are you looking down on us slackers or something?”

Lin Zheng was originally fuming, but she was almost laughed in frustration by that sentence. Still, she remained bothered by Lu Ting’an’s previous actions and said coldly, “I have never looked down on you. But how could you enter someone else’s room and touch their things at will? Do you not understand that taking without asking is stealing?”

Lu Ting’an flinched at her stern tone. She instinctively lowered her head and muttered in a small voice, “It’s not worth anything anyway, what is there to steal…”

“What did you say?” Lin Zheng’s gaze sharpened, staring at her with even greater severity.

“Nothing, nothing! I’ll remember. I won’t touch your stuff again next time.” Lu Ting’an brushed it off hurriedly. she reached out to take her sword from the wall, turned to Lin Zheng, and urged, “It’s getting late. Are you going to teach me or not?”

Lin Zheng looked at this little junior sister who had been pampered since childhood. She felt both angry and helpless. In the end, she only sighed silently and said softly, “Let’s go.”

The two of them arrived at the backyard, greeted by a beautifully landscaped pond. A path paved with pebbles wound its way there, and several willow trees brushed the water’s surface with their branches. Five-colored koi swam in the pond. By the pond stood a practice platform equipped with all sorts of weapons—sabers, spears, swords, and halberds—but they were covered in a thick layer of dust, clearly unused for a long time.

Lin Zheng looked at Lu Ting’an.

Lu Ting’an scratched her head awkwardly and said crossly, “What? I don’t usually come here to practice.”

Lin Zheng said nothing, but the meaning in her eyes couldn’t be clearer. For someone like Lu Ting’an, who relied on others to sign in for her, cheated during sword practice, and skipped class whenever possible—would she actually practice on her own?

Lu Ting’an felt a lump in her throat, silently cursing the original “little junior sister” for being so useless. In her real life, she had graduated from a top university; how did she end up being looked down upon everywhere here?

Lin Zheng stepped onto the practice platform. Her expression turned solemn, and her spiritual energy vibrated slightly, instantly scattering all the thick dust on the platform. She turned to look at Lu Ting’an and said calmly, “Alright, enough small talk. Draw your sword and let me see how your basics are.”

Lu Ting’an felt a surge of insecurity. Basics? The original host didn’t have a shred of foundation before she died, so how could a modern person who transmigrated into her body have any?

But things had come to this; she had to bite the bullet. She took a deep breath, drew her sword, and stepped onto the platform. Before her sword tip could even steady, she noticed Lin Zheng’s lip twitch as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she only frowned and remained silent.

Lu Ting’an asked nervously, “What? Is something wrong?”

Lin Zheng let out a helpless sigh. “Even your starting stance for holding the sword is wrong.”