The next morning, as soon as I opened the door, I ran into Senior Brother He Xiaole and Senior Brother Zhao Yebai.
As soon as Senior Brother He saw me, he questioned me: "Yunmo, you are too biased. Why did you give Jiang Chen the gold lock but not us?"
I was stunned, and after a long while, I said, "How did you know?"
“He wore the gold lock around his neck. We all saw it when he took a bath. He said it was a gift from you.”
I have a toothache.
"Well, Senior Brother He, it's because he gave me a gift, and I had no way to repay him, so..."
He Xiaole rolled her eyes: "Didn't we give you a gift? Humph, you're being unfair."
I had nothing to say. Indeed, every senior brother gave me a gift, but I only gave one to Jiang Chen in return. It did seem a bit biased.
Senior Brother Zhao furtively covered the small megaphone with his hand and whispered in Senior Brother He's ear, "That's a token of their love. Let's go, don't argue about it."
Senior Brother Zhao always had a loud voice, and I could hear his words clearly and distinctly through the loudspeaker, which gave me a jolt!
A token of love! I think I probably made a mistake and need to correct it quickly.
I hurriedly found Jiang Chen and went straight to the point: "Jiang Chen, I can't give you that gold lock."
He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why?"
“My senior brothers said I was being biased, and that it was a token of our love. I can’t let them misunderstand our relationship.”
He looked displeased: "How can you take back something you've given away?"
He has the nerve to say that? How did he treat me the other day? That makeup box, that rouge, ugh!
I said seriously, "That's what I think too. I would never do this to anyone else, but you are an exception. You treated me like this last time, so I won't be polite to you. I'm sure you'll understand."
Jiang Chen exclaimed "Oh!" as if suddenly realizing something, and took the makeup box from the bedside table and handed it to me.
"This is for you, and you don't need to take this gold lock back."
"That won't do." He thinks I'm being too petty. It's not because he gave me something and then wanted to return it that I treated him like that. I really can't let people misunderstand the relationship between us, especially Yunzhou.
He crossed his arms and acted like a liar: "Anyway, I'm not giving it back to you."
I panicked when I heard that, and then I saw a chain peeking out from his collar, which must be my gold lock hanging from it.
I didn't stand on ceremony and used the Xiaoyao Sect's minor grappling techniques to retrieve it myself. He didn't stand on ceremony either and started sparring with me. We fought from inside the house to outside, bare-handed.
Because the small grappling technique doesn't require internal strength and relies on skill, I could barely manage to handle a few moves in a short time.
Unexpectedly, several senior students quickly surrounded us.
"Look, Xiao Mo is pulling on Jiang Chen's collar!"
"Oh my god, look, Xiao Mo is touching Jiang Chen's neck! Good heavens!"
"Quickly, go and call Master! Something terrible is about to happen!"
"Oh my god, Xiao Mo is so fierce, Jiang Chen, you should just give in!"
My senior classmates have such vivid imaginations and their words are so impure that I can't continue typing. My ears are burning hot.
When his master and Yunzhou rushed over, Jiang Chen covered his collar tightly, looking as if he would rather die than submit to being sexually assaulted.
The senior disciples wore expressions of disappointment, having failed to pick the flowers, and grumbled that their master had arrived too early, leaving them wanting more.
My master's face turned pale with shock: "What's going on with you two pulling and tugging? Who, who struck first?" My master was probably too agitated and actually said "struck first" instead of "struck first," which made me a little unhappy.
Jiang Chen clutched his collar tightly, like a chaste and virtuous man, and said indignantly, "Master, I need to talk to you about this privately."
I stared at Jiang Chen, dumbfounded. Was it really necessary to discuss this privately? Wasn't this just making things more ambiguous? I felt wronged and couldn't bear to look at Yunzhou's expression.
His fellow students chuckled and comforted him, saying, "It's alright. It concerns your reputation, so we will never tell anyone."
My master and Jiang Chen went into the room. When Jiang Chen closed the door, he gave me a reproachful look.
I am speechless.
My senior brothers, being very understanding, said to me, "Xiao Mo, Jiang Chensheng is so handsome and charming, it's understandable that you couldn't control yourself for a moment. We understand you and will never tell anyone." After saying that, they all kindly dispersed.
In the courtyard, only Yunzhou remained.
I glanced at him timidly. He was staring at me, his eyes cold and his expression solemn, with a hint of anger and disappointment flickering in them.
A thought struck me, and I wanted to explain, but I didn't know how to say it.
He remained silent, took a deep breath, and turned to leave.
As I watched his retreating figure, a thought inexplicably popped into my head: could he be jealous?
The thought had barely formed in my mind when I slapped it away with a "smack"—how could that be! The moment he heard that my master was acting as matchmaker for me, he immediately drowned his sorrows in alcohol, then angrily accused me of being ridiculous—I saw it all with my own eyes. Therefore, I absolutely, positively must not presume to be romantic.
But his expression was clearly different from the other senior brothers. While the other senior brothers were laughing and watching the fun, he had a cold and unhappy face. I couldn't think of any other reason besides jealousy.
My mind was in turmoil. I kept turning the pages, thinking it over and over, analyzing it from all angles, but in the end, I still couldn't figure it out.
I was agonizing in my room when my master came in, his hands behind his back. He glanced at me for a moment, then sighed softly before saying in a low voice, "Xiao Mo, Jiang Chen said you molested him."
I jumped up from my chair: "He's talking nonsense, I didn't do anything."
The master twitched the corner of his mouth and said, "My fellow disciples are also witnesses."