Yu Liang laid in the tent, trying to fall asleep. His mind was occupied on a lot of things however, so although his eyes were closed, he was still very much awake. Since the first time he saw Xu Ming and Wang Jin together, he’d already vowed deep in his heart to make sure his ship sails peacefully! However, he had to be careful about the protagonist’s charms… Li Qiuyue’s protagonist halo was hard to avoid… If he couldn’t get rid of Li Qiuyue, then he just had to somehow get the two senior brothers to realize that they love each other instead! 

Suddenly, the entrance to Yu Liang’s tent was pushed open, letting in a cool breeze. Yu Liang feigned sleep, thinking that it must be Xu Ming or Wang Jin checking to make sure he was safe or something. However, his nose caught the faint scent of floral perfume…?

!!

Yu Liang’s eyes flew open, and he caught sight of Li Qiuyue pointing a dagger dangerously in his direction. He shifted his body just enough to avoid the pointed edge plunging into his chest, but it still caused a long red cut to appear on his left shoulder. “You…!”

Li Qiuyue’s eyes narrowed as she moved to try to attack him again. “You deserve death!” Her words were low and threatening.

Ah, shit! Yu Liang jumped out of the tent to get away from the bloodthirsty Li Qiuyue’s grasp. He knew that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t kill her; he only had a cannon fodder’s luck after all! “Calm down,” He urged as Li Qiuyue also got out of the tent. “You shouldn’t be moving around so much since you’re injured.”

“What does it matter to you?” She replied through grit teeth. It was clear that her wounds were still causing much pain, but Li Qiuyue was stubborn. 

Yu Liang sighed, knowing full well that he couldn’t avoid the protagonist’s wrath. But he really didn’t want to die! “Since you’re trying to kill me, you must know who I am. Sister Li should calm down and have a seat, and we’ll talk.”

The young woman’s eyes glinted dangerously under the moonlight. “You tried to poison me and then attacked me outside the sect’s protection. Why should I trust you?”

“Because if you’re standing here alive, then that must mean that Ma Chang is dead. Then that means our common enemy is no longer here to threaten us.” Yu Liang reasoned calmly. “You of all people should know best about Ma Chang’s temper. He’ll threaten anyone who disobeys him. Li Qiuyue, you’re talented and knowledgeable enough to escape his wrath; but also you’re a woman who lives in a different courtyard. For people like me, Ma Chang controls our lives from the morning we wake up to even the times we lay to sleep.”

Li Qiuyue narrowed her eyes at him, but she didn’t make any further moves to try to kill him. Yu Liang let out a sigh of relief and continued talking. “He threatened me to poison you, but I truly did not want to.” This was a lie, sort of, but it honestly wasn’t Yu Liang’s intention to hurt Li Qiuyue at all; it was really the old body’s owner! The only thing he could hope for was to get Li Qiuyue to see that he was no longer a threat now that Ma Chang was no longer around. “He also made me go with him to attack you, but I did not.” This was the truth. Yu Liang could see the conflict in Li Qiuyue’s expression, but he knew that she had also probably noticed his absence in the fight.  

“Junior brother Yu! Junior sister Li!” 

Two figures came running out from the forest’s edge. It was Xu Ming and Wang Jin. Yu Liang took note of their flustered appearance, and his heart started beating quickly; just exactly where were the two of them to be so preoccupied that they hadn’t noticed the fighting!? Yu Liang wished that he had left his tent earlier to peek on them!! With an outwardly calm appearance however, Yu Liang greeted his senior brothers respectfully. “Senior brother Wang. Senior brother Xu.” 

Wang Jin glanced between the two, noticing the dagger in Li Qiuyue’s hand. Li Qiuyue twitched slightly, then tucked the dagger away. He had also noticed the visible cut across Yu Liang’s arm, and he could probably guess at the events that had occurred. “Junior sister Li, when you awoke earlier today and I had told you about junior brother Yu, I meant it when I said that junior brother Yu would be no trouble.”

Li Qiuyue was a smart girl, stubborn and prideful, but she knew that at the moment, she was quite disadvantaged. She had just openly attacked someone who senior brother Wang had taken into his care. This was as good as throwing away his goodwill and trust towards her. “Senior brother Wang, I had a hard time believing that he would not cause trouble. I had to see for myself.” 

Xu Ming’s eyes flickered between the two juniors. “So because you held a grudge, you disregarded your senior brother’s words?” The question was rather harsh, and it seemed that Xu Ming wasn’t really pleased with Li Qiuyue’s conduct. 

Yu Liang blinked a few times, wondering if he really was awake or not. Was Xu Ming and Wang Jin actually defending him?? Over the protagonist?? What happened to the protagonist halo!?

What Yu Liang didn’t know was that Wang Jin had told Xu Ming about his earlier observations and his suspicions that Yu Liang had been abused by Ma Chang. From their point of view, it seemed that Ma Chang had forced Yu Liang to try to hurt Li Qiuyue, and when Yu Liang was unable to, Ma Chang took it upon himself to attack Li Qiuyue outside the sect’s protection. While Li Qiuyue was the main victim, Yu Liang was also quite a pitiful victim himself. 

Wang Jin sighed, scratching his head lightly as he tried to think of something to say. “Junior sister Li, you should head back to the tent to rest.” 

Li Qiuyue knew that she was outnumbered in the argument, plus she had some thinking to do herself. So she didn’t waste a moment when she turned her back and left. 

How rude… Yu Liang thought to himself. She didn’t even properly say goodbye to the senior brothers. He glanced at them and noticed that they didn’t really seem to care about her etiquette anyway. Yu Liang sighed knowing fully well that no matter what the protagonist did, no one could truly hate her. Unless they were some foolish villain seeking death… or an ill-fated cannon fodder… But it seems that at least the harem members were able to push back against some of that protagonist halo stuff without receiving much backlash. 

“Thanking senior brothers and apologizing for disturbing your rest.” Yu Liang said with a respectful gesture. 

Wang Jin gave a smile, patting Yu Liang on the shoulder. “Junior brother Yu should also head back to the tent to rest up. We’ll start travelling back to the sect tomorrow.” 

“En,” Yu Liang nodded. However, there was another question in his heart that he really wanted to ask… like where Xu Ming and Wang Jin were and what they were doing away from the camp… But he obediently left back to his tent. 

Xu Ming could see that Yu Liang looked like he wanted to say something else but had refrained from doing so. Once the two juniors were back in their tents, it was just Xu Ming and Wang Jin standing in the middle of camp. Reaching out, Xu Ming patted Wang Jin on the shoulder and gave a smile. “Jin, you should get some rest yourself.”  

Wang Jin looked up at Xu Ming and gave a small smile. “We both should rest. It took quite a lot of energy to set up those arrays around camp. Tomorrow will be a long journey.” He hesitated a little, feeling a little awkward as they both headed back to the tent. Xu Ming’s tent was a little bigger than Wang Jin’s, so there would be enough for the both of them. However, it was still a tight squeeze for two men. As they laid down, Xu Ming slept on his side facing the tent wall. Wang Jin did the same but faced the opposite side. Their two backs were pressed up together, and the warmth underneath their robes deepened at the contact. 

Wang Jin didn’t know why but he felt terribly embarrassed and shy. It’d been a long time since he last shared a tent with Xu Ming, and now he was acting like a shy maiden. He reached up to pat his flushed cheeks, thinking that maybe it was just the tight space and also the warm air in the tent that caused the blood to rush to his face. 

On the other hand, Xu Ming could feel Wang Jin’s subtle movements. With his eyes closed, he listened to Wang Jin’s steady and slow breaths and felt the comfort of the other’s warmth. Xu Ming suddenly recalled memories of how Wang Jin used to cuddle up to him when they were smaller. Wang Jin used to be so cute with his long fluffy black hair and those big brown eyes; he’d be saying ‘Ming-gege’ over and over again as he tugged on Xu Ming’s robes and followed him around like a puppy. Wang Jin didn’t follow him so much anymore, but he was still just as cute… Xu Ming felt a strange feeling in his chest; he had also gotten a strange feeling when he saw Wang Jin being so caring towards Li Qiuyue. Somehow, he hadn’t really liked it… But Xu Ming was not an uncaring person, and he knew that Wang Jin really cared for people with all his heart. With a small sigh, Xu Ming let go of his thoughts and settled for sleep.