After My Paranoid Act to Woo My Cold Master Failed - Chapter 25

What needed to be asked had to be asked; she couldn’t escape it.

Shen Shuheng’s body stiffened for a moment. It wasn’t just her ears—her fair, delicate face was flushed crimson. A wave of shame surged in her heart; she truly wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

“My ears are not hot at all! It must be because your hands are too cold!” Shen Shuheng insisted stubbornly. As long as she acted thick-skinned and shifted the blame quickly, it was clearly Master’s fault.

Fu Xueke held her disciple with one arm. Once the piercing, shrill screams of the spirits had vanished, she moved her hand away from the girl’s ears. Now, looking at Shen Shuheng’s bright red ears, the corners of her lips curved slightly. Her slender fingers pinched the girl’s earlobe, lightly kneading it; the sensation beneath her fingertips was soft and scorching hot.

“Oh? I originally wanted to ask if your ears were still uncomfortable. That sound was quite ear-splitting just now.”

Fu Xueke’s index finger curled slightly as she tapped Shen Shuheng’s forehead. “What on earth are you thinking about in that little head of yours?” Her tone held a hint of playful reproach, her eyes shimmering with tender light.

Not good. She had dug another hole for herself. From now on, she had to wait for Master to finish her sentence and make sure she understood it clearly before speaking. Shen Shuheng made a mental note of this.

“I suppose you’re fine then…” Fu Xueke added airily. “So, you actually despise your Master’s hands for being too cold?”

“These hands are indeed a bit chilly,” Fu Xueke said, quietly withdrawing her hand. Her voice dropped in volume, and she let out a sigh. However, a trace of amusement was hidden deep in her eyes. “In the future, I will be more mindful. If there is no urgent matter, I shall not touch you with these hands again.”

Shen Shuheng heard a touch of grievance in her Master’s words. Master’s voice had been bright just a moment ago, but now it sounded dejected. Panic-stricken, she grabbed her Master’s hand. “That’s not it! How could A-Heng ever despise Master?”

“If Master is willing… and if your hands are cold, A-Heng can keep them warm for you forever! I would never have a single word of complaint.”

Shen Shuheng’s naturally watery eyes grew misty. Her curled lashes fluttered incessantly as she looked at her Master with an expression of sheer anxiety.

Fu Xueke remained silent. Shen Shuheng felt her heart race; she shouldn’t have “lifted a stone only to drop it on her own foot.” Had she truly made Master sad? She loved it when Master touched her. If Master refused to even hold her hand in the future, her heart would feel as though a piece was missing, falling endlessly from a great height.

Shen Shuheng kept her head low, staring only at her Master’s hands, not daring to look up at her face. Had she looked up, she would have surely caught the glint of a smile in those eyes.

After agonizing for a moment, she finally grabbed her Master’s hand and pressed it against her own flushed cheek. Master’s palm was indeed icy, but she didn’t hate it at all; on the contrary, she actually loved the cool, soft touch.

“Master, have you stopped being angry? A-Heng actually loves the cool feeling of your body,” Shen Shuheng grit her teeth and finally spoke her true thoughts. “Please don’t be angry anymore,” she stammered.

“I was not angry,” Fu Xueke said. She had been watching Shen Shuheng—watching the girl’s furrowed brows, her pouting lips, and the flashes of regret and self-blame on her face. She still couldn’t break the habit of teasing her disciple whenever she got the chance; she had nearly made her cry last time. But the more her disciple acted this way, the cuter she became. She loved seeing her like this.

“That’s good. Everything about Master whether good or bad, A-Heng loves it all,” Shen Shuheng said. Upon hearing that her Master wasn’t angry, her heart leaped with joy, dispelling all her previous worries.

Fu Xueke asked curiously, “By your words, what ‘bad’ parts of your Master are included in that?” As her hand left Shen Shuheng’s face, she intentionally brushed her fingertip against the girl’s earlobe.

Shen Shuheng’s eyes went wide. She stared blankly at her Master, her lips slightly parted. The more she heard, the more she felt something was off. She had said the wrong thing again.

Fu Xueke suppressed a laugh and watched her. The wind stirred the leaves with a rustling sound. After pondering for a long time, Shen Shuheng finally had an epiphany. “Everything about Master is good! Even if there were something bad, as long as it is Master, it is the best for A-Heng.”

Fu Xueke formed a fist and pressed it against her lips, coughing softly to hide the smile that had spread across her face. After her disciple finished the sentence, the girl gave her a sweet smile, her curved eyes sparkling like bright sunlight over a river, shimmering and making one feel refreshed.

Fu Xueke reached out and lightly scraped the tip of her disciple’s nose. The icy solitude in her eyes had completely melted into a pool of tender spring water.

Shen Shuheng felt she was quite the smooth talker. She decided to emphasize her “paranoiac” persona again to let her Master feel the intensity of her care. Her expression turned solemn for a second; her performance was beginning.

Summoning her courage, she lightly scraped her Master’s palm. “The things Master says to me today… you are not allowed to say the same things to anyone else in the future. And the things you do to me, you aren’t allowed to do to others either. Do you understand?!”

Fu Xueke looked down at her, lashes slightly lowered. A few stray locks of hair swayed near her jawline in the wind, softening her cold features with a touch of gentleness. Shen Shuheng felt a stir in her heart. She gave a prideful huff and used her finger to twine the stray hairs near her Master’s jaw, letting her fingers brush against her Master’s cheek.

Master’s face is even softer than my palm, was Shen Shuheng’s first thought, completely failing to notice the impropriety of her actions.

“Insolence toward your elder,” Fu Xueke said, though her face remained expressionless and she did not stop the girl’s movements.

Shen Shuheng became even more daring. “What insolence? This is called ‘reciprocity’!” Her cheeks puffed out slightly. “Does Master not also like to touch A-Heng’s face normally? We give and take; this is simply reciprocity.”

A logical genius, Shen Shuheng added another title to herself in her mind. Her words sounded so reasonable.

“Reciprocity,” Fu Xueke repeated word for word. She caught Shen Shuheng’s hand that was wandering near her face and slowly unwound the hair from the girl’s fingers. She still didn’t let go of her. “During the years I was in secluded cultivation, I did not teach you well, yet you have learned quite a bit on your own.” She placed a deliberate emphasis on the latter half of the sentence.

Shen Shuheng didn’t catch the underlying meaning; she was actually quite proud of herself, thinking her Master was praising her. “No, no, it’s because Master taught me well before.”

Fu Xueke tapped her on the forehead. “You’ve been misusing idioms quite often. Last time it was ‘unfaithful after starting something,’ and this time it’s ‘reciprocity.’ Will it be ‘betraying one’s master’ next time?”

Shen Shuheng peeked cautiously at her Master and quickly admitted her mistake. “I’m not, I didn’t, it won’t happen again!”

She said it wouldn’t happen again with her mouth, but in her heart, she knew it would. She didn’t think there was much wrong with the idioms she used; the logic was self-consistent. She was clearly quite respectful toward her Master.

“It is time to go. Can you use that method from before to get us back?” Fu Xueke asked.

Shen Shuheng was full of confidence. She looked up and nodded vigorously; if she had a tail, it would be wagging toward the sky. She tried using the method she had just realized to return to their starting point. She tried several times, yet remained exactly where she was, not moving an inch.

She awkwardly shrunk her head, her hands rubbing her clothes incessantly. “System! What’s going on? Why can’t I do it anymore?!”

“This is embarrassing!” Shen Shuheng called out in her mind.

The System showed no empathy for her embarrassment, replying in its mechanical voice, “A woman should never say she can’t. You must remember at all times that you can—you are very capable. However, because your cultivation is currently insufficient, you can only use it temporarily.”

Shen Shuheng sighed. She thought she had a special ability she could rely on at all times, so she wouldn’t have to depend entirely on her Master. “Roughly how often can I use this ability?”

“Once every seven days,” the System replied dismissively. “I’m going to rest now. Keep up the persona. Bye.” After that, the System ignored her.

Shen Shuheng cursed the System in her heart. She looked up at her Master with her round apricot eyes, looking like a little animal that knew it had made a mistake, staring pleadingly at its owner.

Master said nothing. She simply rubbed the girl’s head and pulled her into her embrace. Surrounded by that clear, cold fragrance, Shen Shuheng instinctively nuzzled her nose against her Master’s chest.

She felt herself rising higher and higher as her Master carried her through the air, riding the wind. To feel secure, Shen Shuheng wrapped both arms around her Master’s shoulders and rested her head on her shoulder.

Neither of them spoke. She could clearly hear her own breathing and the sound of their robes fluttering in the wind. As the breeze brushed gently against her face, she felt as though her heart were enveloped in something soft. In a short while, Fu Xueke landed on the ground with her disciple.

Shen Shuheng was immersed in her own world, her arms still wrapped around her Master as if she were hanging off her. she didn’t even notice they had landed. She looked at her Master’s hair scattered over her shoulders and couldn’t resist touching it with her hand before quickly pulling it back, repeating the action several times. After finishing, she feigned a look of nonchalance and gave a secret smile.

Fu Xueke felt somewhat helpless. How was she supposed to let her disciple know that she saw everything? Her disciple was truly not very bright sometimes.

“Fellow Daoist Shen, you’ve arrived,” Yue Bai said from a distance, her face marked with tear stains.

Shen Shuheng turned and realized they had already reached the others. She peeked at her Master and quickly let go. “We’re here? Why didn’t Master tell me?” she decided to strike first; as long as she spoke fast enough, embarrassment couldn’t catch her.

“I saw you were playing with my hair so enthusiastically that I didn’t want to disturb you,” Fu Xueke said calmly.

Shen Shuheng was speechless. This time, even her path to making an excuse was blocked. She let out a few silly laughs.

“We should set off,” Ye Changzhen said. Shen Shuheng breathed a sigh of relief and quickly followed her Master.

Something felt wrong. Something was missing. She looked at her Master’s hand hanging by her side. Why wasn’t Master holding her hand? This was unacceptable.

Shen Shuheng took a step forward and took the initiative to grab the hanging hand. Her hand was smaller than her Master’s; she couldn’t fully wrap around it, making it a bit uncomfortable. Fu Xueke’s lashes moved, and a glint appeared in her eyes. Following her disciple’s lead, she adjusted their hand position so it was more comfortable for her to hold.

Ye Changzhen and her sister had found the white curly puppy before they left. The dog trotted on its short legs, leading the way.

Shen Shuheng saw a cave appearing ahead, withered vines hanging before the entrance like dying snakes. From within the cave came faint, agonizing wails and the sound of children crying. Ten people stood indifferently at the entrance, laughing and playing drinking games.

“Those inside are from the Penglai Sect. One of them visited the Daoist Sect with the Penglai Sect Leader before,” Ye Changzhen said in a voice only they could hear.

Fu Xueke cast a spell so they could hear what those men were saying.

“We’ve been here guarding these stinking mortals for a year. They cry every single time. Their deaths have so much value; what is there to cry about?”

“To be able to assist our Ancestor in his ascension is their honor. It’s been a thousand years; Ancestor is about to become the only person to ascend in a millennium.”

Shen Shuheng’s blood boiled with rage. These self-righteous people always treated the lives of ordinary people as worthless.

“Three years ago, the Penglai Sect Leader brought one of the men inside to the Daoist Sect, asking my Martial Uncle to calculate the Ancestor’s chance of ascension,” Ye Changzhen added.