From the moment their rose-colored glasses were activated, Moqi Baihui and Moqi Lirong faithfully accompanied Ning He, sitting on either side of him and alternating to fetch the boy desserts from the other disciples who'd brought them, dry his still wet hair, comfort him with promises that they believed that he was a good child, and so on.
Although he pretended to be sulking about the way the twins had cornered him earlier, Chen Yu allowed them to serve him for some time since most of the tasks they were carrying out suited his tastes, but eventually, he decided that he required some peace and quiet to think about his lover's identity more clearly. Thus, with the expectation that they would grasp his hint that they should leave, he pointedly squeezed out a yawn and claimed that he was tired only to find that, due to their stupor, neither of them had even registered the fact that he was shooing them away.
Indeed, the twins were in a daze, Moqi Lirong mulling over the flash of the youth's white teeth which he'd glimpsed and Moqi Baihui licking his lips at the small red tongue that had peeked out shyly when the youth had opened his mouth. To be frank, the former had always held a particular interest in bones and the latter in muscles, and while neither of them had imagined that these anatomical parts could be quite so fascinating, Ning He's every movement perfectly displayed his exquisite attributes, thereby fueling their obsessions.
Positioned between the two fools, Chen Yu roughly surmised what the perverts were so preoccupied with and didn't bother with them any longer, instead directly pulling out a soft blanket from his space bracelet and snuggling into it. Merely seconds later, however, as he was starting to sort through his collection of evidence, a heavy weight landed on top of him; apparently, once the Moqi brothers had realized that the boy had curled up with his face hidden from their view, they'd returned to their senses and raced to pile their outer gowns on top of him.
Despite understanding that this was a subtle request for attention, the Chen Yu who had been buried by the men's heavy robes didn't react besides poking his head out irritably for air, then returned to his contemplation, snorting inwardly. Hng, this young master was very busy, he didn't have time to play, all right? Settling which twin was his lover was a priority, because the sooner he could eliminate one candidate, the sooner he could reduce his burden. But the more he considered, the harder it became to distinguish between them.
Whereas the black twin had the habit of tapping his fingers and his neck fetish on his side, in the white twin's favor was his peeping hobby and his ability to one-sidedly plant Chen Yu into his family tree, balancing out rather equally. Moreover, they also shared the same charismatic voice, same perverted nature, same, hm, creativity...
Upon reviewing the list of his lover's distinctive traits, Chen Yu mused in passing on why he even tolerated the man, but he swiftly stopped that unanswerable train of thought and continued to examine the even tally, finally falling asleep after vigorously erasing from his mind one scenario that would clarify this mess. Surely, that wasn't possible. Even if it was, he refused to acknowledge it!
Unaware of the turmoil that was sweeping through Chen Yu's brain, the two men who had been ignored sat around him in a wistful mood then, as soon as the sound of Ning He's soft, cute snores assured them that they wouldn't be spotted, they each shot the other a sharp glance and simultaneously stood up to discuss the situation privately. They both knew that various issues had been simmering and had to be resolved. Nevertheless, due to their unwillingness to have the youth out of their sight, the brothers who could only bring themselves to walk a short distance away had to carry on their confrontation in hushed whispers, so that, unable to express their aggressiveness in their tone, in sync, the duplicate faces therefore ridiculously glared at each other instead.
As usual, it was Moqi Baihui who began the conversation. With a disapproving look, he stared at the other's hand, murmuring, "Lirong, what was that?"
Clearing his throat, Moqi Lirong didn't feign confusion, he promptly rebutted, "I was just confirming that there wasn't any medicine left in his mouth, you're the one who should explain himself." Saying so, however, the man snuck his arm behind his back to rub his thumb across the calloused fingers that had probed inside that tiny mouth, recalling the wet, hot sensation that had coiled around him. En, what he'd claimed wasn't a lie, but he suddenly wondered if the boy could be persuaded into being handfed...
Although he wasn't convinced by his brother's excuse, Moqi Baihui stifled his suspicions to calmly responded to the implied accusation, "Since I accidentally invaded his privacy when he was bathing, I'm simply compensating by adopting him as my shizhi." Yes, it was wholly for atonement purposes, when would his shizhi recognize his pure intention and call him shishu? Even as he was lost in pleasant anticipation, he happened to notice Lirong purse his lips unhappily and instinctively understood that the other was envious of the view only he'd enjoyed, so he changed the subject. "You can't deny that he needs the support my backing can provide."
With that reminder of everything that Ning He had suffered alone, they paused in their arguing, falling silent for several moments as they each berated himself for neglecting such a poor, kind-hearted child. While they were rightly well-known for not engaging in matters that weren't related to their duties as they neither liked to leave their respective cultivation areas nor cared about others' affairs, being conscientious peak leaders, of course they would make an exception for such a unappreciated, pitiful disciple.
But the issue was that they couldn't be certain who was hurting Ning He. While on the surface, the culprit appeared to be Ning Taio, what reason would the man have to force his son to ingest the Golden Honey Flower extract? Even if he had publicly declared to his disciples that the Jade Sword Mountain's top student had to drink the tonic, once he'd learned that it would go to Ning He, based on his reputation as a doting father, he should have waived the 'reward.'
After all, it was likely that when Ning Taio had initially made the announcement, he hadn't expected his son to take first place, since, even with the talent Ning He had no doubt possessed before he'd been crippled by the brew, the child would have been too young to prevail over his shixiong and shijie. Then, the Moqi twins assumed, Ning He had somehow discovered what was hidden in the so-called prize and had suppressed the other disciples in order to take the drug himself. But it wasn't as if Ning Taio had a reputation for righteous impartiality to defend, so it wouldn't have been odd if he'd replaced the award with a 'better one' for his beloved son, unless...
Although their pupils shrank at the numerous possibilities, the tense pair still couldn't definitively conclude that Ning Taio was the sole offender, because his motives were too obscure for that to be probable. Thus, they mutually agreed to take one step back for now and focus on sticking to Ning He at all times in order to guard him from any threat. Naturally, each brother vowed, that included his twin.
In this way, Chen Yu's two large shadows continued to follow him around throughout the next day's travels; even when he succeeded in adamantly declining to be carried by either of them, he was forced to fly sandwiched between them, as if he was still a novice who was at risk of falling off his sword.
Despite his annoyance at their clingy behavior, Chen Yu didn't insist on shoving them away, since he was aware that if they left, he would have to deal with an even more tiresome group of people—that is, the envious disciples of these incomprehensibly worshipped peak leaders and, on the side, the Zhuo Biming he'd nearly forgotten about. Of course, it wasn't really that he was concerned, but he did wish to play with them in exactly the right setting.
In fact, the majority of the teenagers in the group, regardless of their peak affiliation, resented Ning He. While none of them, except for Zhuo Biming, had ever been personally bullied by the youth, not only was his overbearing character infamous, but also, his shameless conduct of keeping them waiting back at the Sun and Moon Hall and his conceited refusal to interact with them had completely turned them against him.
Thus, just last night, they'd been full of excitement as they'd furtively watched Master Moqi Lirong rush at the arrogant idiot, impatiently waiting to see him smacked down to his proper place, when a short while later, they were instead greeted with the sight of their idolized leaders catering to his every wish! And there was no sign that this fawning attitude would stop, even this morning they'd had to miserably witness the men meticulously cleaning and dressing the boy.
Among the many people whose brains were exploding with questions at this sacrilegious scene was Wenren Shishi, the fairy of Moqi Baihui's Ten Stems Hall. This girl, who was as beautifully lofty as an unattainable flower on a mountain peak and, according to the original plot, would become a member of the protagonist's harem in the future, currently held not a speck of interest in Zhuo Biming due to her infatuation with her shifu.
For his sake, she had worked herself to the bone to cultivate both her martial arts and her knowledge, but now she had to stand by as the same man who had mildly ordered her to retrieve a book for him even after she'd intentionally spilled hot tea on herself had, with his own hands, wiped that unworthy brat's face, stroked that wretched back, used his robe to wrap up that pathetic body! Worse yet, with her years of longing after Master Moqi, she could sense that this wasn't a temporary condition, he was truly captivated.
Gritting her teeth, the girl bore a hole into Ning He's figure with her red eyes, desperate to get rid of the disgrace that was contaminating her shifu by standing next to him.
As for the protagonist whom Chen Yu had entirely disregarded since the trip had begun, he silently stood with the other peaks' disciples and studied the trio with a complex gaze. Although the gossip around him was generally concentrated on how the youth had enticed both of the immortal masters to support him, Zhuo Biming was certain that the two men had approached him themselves, because, having dissected every aspect of his enemy, he could guarantee that the haughty Ning He he'd observed was too stupid to know when to lower his head.
Since Zhuo Biming wasn't delusional, he easily admitted that if the peak leaders continued to care for his enemy, he would have no chance to take revenge. So, he pondered, what part of Ning He had attracted the masters' attention? And, more importantly, would they abandon the other boy if he destroyed whatever that factor was?
Flying with these targets painted on his back, Chen Yu smiled and sped up, eager to start the play.