"Oh, so that’s what happened!"

Hearing Yu Yaoguang’s words, Fang Lingxin finally understood.

Fang Lingxin knew about those rumors in the Jianghu, too.

It was outside Flying Snow City that Ye Feihua had received the Seven-String Ancient Chapter from Fang Shuwen.

So, in Ye Feihua’s eyes, if there was anyone in the entire Jianghu who didn’t covet the Seven-String Ancient Chapter... it would have to be Fang Shuwen.

She had left the Seven-String Ancient Chapter with him, hoping to use him as a shield.

If no one else knew, she could find a chance later to come and ask Fang Shuwen for it back.

And if people found out... well, even if they had the guts to try and snatch it from Fang Shuwen, they’d need the ability to actually pull it off.

And by Ye Feihua’s estimation, Fang Shuwen would never willingly bring this kind of trouble upon himself.

So the former scenario was far more likely.

"This Ye woman has more schemes than she has hair."

As Fang Shuwen spoke, he glanced at the small bundle he carried. It was completely waterlogged.

With a flick of his wrist, he upended it, and its contents spilled onto the ground in a splash of pond water.

Yu Yaoguang looked over at the scattered items on the ground and suddenly let out a chuckle.

"If Lou Yuxiao ever found out you treated Zhuji Pavilion’s Jade Pearl Order like this, he’d probably want to kill you."

Fang Shuwen ignored her. Anticipating potential mishaps while traveling the Jianghu, he had long ago wrapped anything susceptible to water damage in waterproof oil paper.

The most important of which, of course, were the silver notes.

He snatched them up and unfolded them for a look. Seeing that they were fine, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness, they’re fine."

Yu Yaoguang, meanwhile, picked up a square, blocky object, her curiosity piqued.

"What’s this? A Martial Arts Manual?"

"What Martial Arts Manual? I don’t carry those around."

Fang Shuwen was busy tucking the silver notes into his robes, paying her no mind. He was an open book and had nothing to hide.

’Especially not a Martial Arts Manual... Huh? Wait a minute!’

He snapped his head up, panic-stricken.

"Don’t unwrap it!"

’That was the Cloud Rain Harmony Technique!’

He’d plundered it from Ye Wufeng’s son and had originally planned to give it a thorough "critique" when he got back.

And after he was done "critiquing" it, he was going to destroy it.

But as it turned out, the contents of the manual were surprisingly proper.

It wasn’t a perverse technique of the Replenishment type, like those from the Flower Moon Sect or the Joyful Zen Temple. Instead, it was a Dual Cultivation Technique that benefited both partners.

He hadn’t tried it, so he couldn’t speak to its effectiveness, but since the technique didn’t harm anyone, Fang Shuwen saw no reason to destroy it.

So he had simply wrapped it in the oil paper as well and tucked it into his bundle.

He never looked at it, and he’d completely forgotten it was there until now.

’If Yu Yaoguang unwraps this... To be honest, if it were just her, it wouldn’t be a problem. That woman has the face of an otherworldly fairy but is actually a complete rogue; she’d probably offer to ’critique’ it right alongside me. The problem is, Fang Lingxin and Shui Qianrou are here too. If they see me carrying a manual like this... my image as their master, brother, or ’big brother’ will be completely ruined.’

He instinctively reached out to snatch it back. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Yu Yaoguang was taken aback. She never expected the normally composed Fang Shuwen to react like this.

She hadn’t been planning to unwrap it—it was his property, after all, and she wasn’t that presumptuous.

But seeing him this flustered was a rare treat, so she instinctively pulled it back, hiding it behind her.

"First, you..."

Before she could finish, a deafening RUMBLE echoed, and the entire ground suddenly lurched.

The crisis was so sudden that even though Fang Lingxin and Shui Qianrou were sitting on the floor, they were still thrown off balance, tumbling to the side.

Yu Yaoguang was thrown back against the wall.

Fang Shuwen had been lunging for the Cloud Rain Harmony Technique, so his center of gravity was already off. The lurch sent him stumbling forward a large step before he quickly used the Thousand-Pound Weight technique to steady himself.

His hand, which had been reaching for the manual, missed its mark and grabbed onto something else entirely.

He felt only a soft, tender texture beneath his fingertips, and a slight tautness in his palm, as if he’d grabbed some sort of strap.

In his confusion, his hand acted faster than his brain, and he gave it an instinctive squeeze.

"Mmh..."

Hearing Yu Yaoguang’s strained, soft cry, Fang Shuwen instantly knew he was in trouble.

He quickly followed the direction of his arm and saw Yu Yaoguang’s face flushed crimson, her eyes holding a look that was both coquettish and teasing.

When he looked down at where his hand was, Fang Shuwen’s face burned red.

He snatched his hand back, wanting to explain... but past experience had taught him that words were utterly useless in situations like this.

So, he tried to change the subject.

"What was that sound just now?"

"Is that important?"

Yu Yaoguang suddenly closed the distance between them. Fang Shuwen, a man who had never backed down even before the greatest of masters, found himself inexplicably taking a step back.

He instinctively hid his hand behind his back as he heard Yu Yaoguang speak in a peculiar tone.

"First it was Miao Feichan..."

As she spoke, she poked Fang Shuwen’s chest.

Fang Shuwen’s lips parted, but he had already claimed "it was a misunderstanding" countless times before.

He doubted saying it again now would do any good.

"And now it’s me."

With each statement, Yu Yaoguang poked him again.

"So tell me, once can be a misunderstanding. Is the second time a misunderstanding too?"

"If we let you have a few more ’misunderstandings’ like this, what is to become of us?"

For a moment, Fang Shuwen was at a complete loss for words.

’After all,’ he thought, ’whether it was a misunderstanding or not, the fact remains that I clearly took advantage of the situation.’

He could only throw up his hands in surrender.

"Fine, what do you propose...?"

As he said this, he suddenly recalled a phrase "those people" were so fond of saying, and he tacked it on.