Chapter 96: Versatile in Pen and Sword

"Bad Guy, thug!"

"You destroyed me, you know?"

Chen Yixue hugged Xu Yuexin, sobbing loudly as she pounded his back with her fist.

It wasn't a coquettish kind of pounding, but a real one.

Xu Yuexin held Da Yizi tightly, fully understanding her current conflicted behavior.

Da Yizi is a woman who keeps herself pure, and after sharing an intimate bond with him, the psychological burden is inevitably huge.

Moreover, she traveled alone during this period, prone to idle overthinking, which led to the current situation.

"Don't cry, the problem can always be solved."

Xu Yuexin let Chen Yixue pound him, gently comforting, "If you don't want to go home, then just buy a house elsewhere."

"As for Qiao Qiao... if you don't say, I don't say, can she know?"

Hearing that, Chen Yixue stopped, struggling out of Xu Yuexin's embrace.

"Shameless!"

She glared at Xu Yuexin with hatred, speaking in a sobbing tone, then turned and walked toward the bedroom.

"Don't follow!"

Before entering the bedroom, Chen Yixue shouted.

"I have TV to watch, why bother with you."

Xu Yuexin was completely indifferent, continuing to watch TV and crack sunflower seeds.

Da Yizi was in a bad mood, so just let her be quiet; saying anything now is useless.

The room fell silent for a moment, with only the sound of a comic dialogue from the TV.

Xu Yuexin sat in the chair watching, his demeanor steady as an old dog, occasionally letting out a laugh.

After a long while, the bedroom door opened.

"Ha ha ha, aren't you annoyed?"

Chen Yixue clasped her hands beneath the towering ridges, her face composed as she looked at Xu Yuexin and said.

"This is my home..."

Xu Yuexin, with an innocent expression, replied, "And you still won't even let me laugh?"

"... still in the mood to laugh."

"That clearly shows you're a person without morals."

Chen Yixue shouted in accusation.

"Is laughing immoral and crying moral?"

"What logic is this?"

Xu Yuexin couldn't help but retort, "Do you know what a truly responsible, accountable man should do at a time like this?"

Heh.

Chen Yixue's expression turned cold, eager to see how he would perform.

Xu Yuexin didn't force her to respond, and continued speaking on his own.

"First, work hard to earn money, ensuring I can provide good financial conditions for you two sisters."

"Secondly, I must allocate enough time to be with both of you, especially you, to help maintain a good mood."

"Finally, I will help you resolve inner conflicts, assisting you to regain strength and positivity."

Xu Yuexin spoke incessantly, delivering the whole speech without a single pause.

At this moment, the advantage of having little conscience became evident; if he had an excess of conscience, it would probably only give Chen Yixue a forced apology, serving no purpose beyond being scolded.

Chen Yixue was left dumbfounded by his words.

Heaven knows, there are people in the world so lacking in virtue yet so self‑righteous.

According to Xu Yuexin, it seemed as if he were doing a good deed.

"I can't believe you can say that."

Chen Yixue glared with her peach‑blossom eyes, her tone contemptuous, "When you did that, didn't you ever think about today?"

"I did think about it; wasn't this already a prepared solution?"

Xu Yuexin helplessly spread his hands, "If you won't listen, what can I do?"

Chen Yixue stared at him irritably, and only after a while did she calm down a bit.

A mother's age is a handful; it can no longer be changed.

Being with Xu Yuexin is already a fact that cannot be altered.

They can only stop the loss in time, preventing the chaotic relationship from further developing.

"I order you to forget that day's incident."

Chen Yixue took a handkerchief to wipe away the Tears, striving to regain her former ice‑queen beauty demeanor, "From now on, don't touch me again."

"Otherwise I'll find a place and live on alone."

"Fine, no problem."

Regardless of what she says, just agree first; at worst it's empty words.

"Don't just talk, actually do it."

"Rest assured, I can do it."

"Finally, I'll trust you once more. And no matter what, I have no face to stay at your home any longer."

"I don't want to go back to my side of the house either."

"I still have to buy a house."

Chen Yixue seemed to be speaking to him, yet also muttering to herself, "I'm still more than ten thousand short of the money for a house; if I could sell two more songs, it would definitely be enough."

"Oh, you want to earn on your own?"

Xu Yuexin glanced lightly at Da Yizi and said, "So are you writing the songs yourself, or should I write them for you?"

What does he mean? Chen Yixue seriously suspected Xu Yuexin of trying to manipulate her again, and she firmly refused, "No need, it's not that I haven't written songs before."

"Of course, rest assured, if the songs you wrote before can be sold again, I'll split the profit fifty‑fifty as promised."

"I won't take even half a share from you."

"Oh, is there anything else?"

"Yes."

Chen Yixue's eyes burned as she stared at Xu Yuexin, "Why did you deliberately provoke me just now?"

"I saw the resentment in your heart and thought making you cry would be fine."

Xu Yuexin replied honestly.

Chen Yixue sneered after listening, "So, you say it's still for my own good?"

"Not at all. You're my Da Yizi, and we have that thing between us; I certainly don't hope for your well‑being."

"And if you think carefully, doesn't your mood improve after crying?"

This… seems also true? Chen Yixue pondered and had to admit that Xu Yuexin's words made sense.

Of course, she still wouldn't soften her words.

"Don't bring up that matter."

Chen Yixue huffed, "You deliberately made me cry, and you still have the nerve to say these things."

"Look at what you say, how could I possibly give it up?"

Xu Yuexin clasped Da Yizi's shoulder and said, "You're already my person now."

"Go away, get out of here."

Chen Yixue quickly stepped aside, "Don't you have class?"

"No class."

"Then go write a book quickly."

Chen Yixue, with a disdainful expression, urged, "Weren't you saying you need to work hard to earn money?"

"I don't need you to meddle."

Xu Yuexin shrugged, turned his back, and left.

He had previously been most worried that Da Yizi might become despondent, eventually getting himself twisted by overthinking. After a series of maneuvers, he finally got Da Yizi's mood back to normal.

Everything being normal is fine. After all, there's plenty of time ahead; the bottom line and demands can be gradually pushed.

Chen Yixue stayed at Xu Yuexin's place for three days, and finally, despite Chen Qiaoqiao's attempts to keep her, she moved out to rent a place.

Xu Yuexin voluntarily took on the moving task, hauling all of Chen Yixue's belongings to the rental with a Harley motorcycle.

These days renting a room isn't easy, because there are few vacant units.

In the tiny studio, Xu Yuexin helped Chen Yixue set the nightstand, then sat silently at the bedside, surveying the room.

Rotting furniture, no private kitchen or bathroom, an area of less than 15 square meters…

The safety of the house was also worrisome. This wasn't a unit residence but a Da Zayuan, where all sorts of people lived; when Xu Yuexin first entered the courtyard, he saw several unemployed youths loitering.

The safety of the house is also worrisome. This is not unit housing but a Da Zayuan, where all sorts of people are inside, and when Xu Yuexin first entered the courtyard he saw several unemployed youths loitering.

Xu Yuexin, with a skeptical expression, asked, "Living here before you buy a house?"

"Sure," Chen Yixue took out a handkerchief and handed it to him, still without a pleasant expression, "At least I'm alone here; I don't have to think of those bothersome things."

Xu Yuexin took the handkerchief and, leisurely, wiped the dust off his hands and face.

"I'm afraid it won't go through."

Xu Yuexin tossed the handkerchief into her hand and said confidently.

Chen Yixue, feeling indignant, asked, "How do you know I can't buy it?"

"Without me writing songs, you can't make it work."

"Then I'll prove I can make it work for you to see."

"Hey, want to bet?"

"No bet."

Chen Yixue, having suffered two big losses in bets, naturally wouldn't take risks, "But you must agree to one thing."

Chen Yixue has taken two huge losses in bets, so naturally won't risk again, "But you have to agree to one thing."

"If I can buy a house on my own next year, you must be honest and treat Qiao Qiao wholeheartedly."

"No, what kind of talk is that? Apart from you, how could I have wronged Qiao Qiao?"

"Heh, heaven and earth know. I'm sure you definitely aren't doing this just this once."

Chen Yixue sneered, "I can see what kind of person you are at a glance."

Xu Yuexin was a bit flustered by her.

"So I helped you move today, just to listen to the lecture, right?"

Xu Yuexin sat up from the bedside, clapped his hands and said, "Grandpa won't serve any longer."

"Lin Qingxia, Gong Ruxue, can you say you have no thoughts about the two of them?"

Chen Yixue shouted from behind him, reminding loudly.

Xu Yuexin halted his steps.

Is this… the sixth sense of women?

So… this is a woman's sixth sense?

So terrifying.

Xu Yuexin clearly remembers that whenever Da Yizi is present, he and they are always proper, never having any hint of ambiguity or overstepping.

How on earth did she figure it out?

"I didn't tell Qiao Qiao these things; that's already as benevolent as possible."

Chen Yixue paced to Xu Yuexin's side, leisurely appraising his expression, "What else do you want?"

"I didn't, stop talking nonsense."

Xu Yuexin's face remained unchanged and his heart didn't race as he stared into Da Yizi's eyes, "And you keep watching me for no reason; in the end you're ambiguous with me—does that count as guarding while stealing?"

"You…"

Chen Yixue was utterly shocked by his shamelessness! From Xu Yuexin's tone it sounded as if she had invited him herself! "Don't be hasty. I know that day I was the one who initiated, but it was mutually willing, right?"

Xu Yuexin saw through Da Yizi's thoughts and preemptively said everything she could have said.

Chen Yixue felt her blood pressure rise.

"Despicable, shameless, vulgar!"

She said angrily, turned and walked away from Xu Yuexin, trying to create distance.

Xu Yuexin decisively embraced Da Yizi, pulling her tightly into his arms.

"You're going crazy!"

Chen Yixue desperately pushed Xu Yuexin outward, her face full of hatred, "Let go quickly!"

Xu Yuexin directly blocked Chen Yixue's words, a physical block.

He kissed Chen Yixue's red lips with more intensity and force than any kiss before.

Chen Yixue kept pushing him outward, even slapping him, to no avail.

After a long while, Xu Yuexin finally released Chen Yixue.

"Ah, feels better than last time."

Xu Yuexin deliberately looked at Da Yizi and said.

Chen Yixue felt very desperate.

"We just agreed a couple of days ago, and today you change your mind, right?"

Chen Yixue, both angry and helpless, retorted, "You're such a petty person."

"One must keep their word and act decisively; indeed, such a person is petty."

Xu Yuexin's expression remained calm as he said.

Confucius originally said exactly this, but most people only take the first half and ignore the latter, causing this saying—like repaying kindness with resentment—to be completely misinterpreted.

Chen Yixue roughly grasped the meaning of the sentence.

"So you mean that keeping one's word is actually petty?"

Saying this, Chen Yixue felt her whole worldview was being challenged.

Xu Yuexin nodded.

"Of course. In a lifetime, people encounter many complex situations and sometimes inevitably speak insincerely."

"If every insincere word had to be fulfilled, what a terrible life that would be."

"Just like the day I promised you. Your mindset then wasn't stable; if I hadn't agreed, you'd probably have collapsed on the spot."

"I acted out of goodwill, betraying my own heart to agree with you. If you demand I live my whole life by that promise, isn't that excessive?"

Xu Yuexin spoke earnestly, like a sage rich in life experience.

Chen Yixue felt dizzy from his reasoning: so it's actually her who owes him an apology?

Is there any sense to that? "Fallacious reasoning, all of it fallacious."

Chen Yixue couldn't debate him directly, so she outright rejected, "One must keep their word; that's the most basic principle."

Chen Yixue prepared herself mentally; if Xu Yuexin kept harassing, she'd push him out and shut the door.

To her surprise, Xu Yuexin this time didn't persist.

"Fine. Since you insist, I'll promise you again."

Xu Yuexin calmly said, "However, if you intend to fulfill the promise, every clause must be kept."

"What other promises do you have?"

Chen Yixue asked, puzzled.

"To let you and Qiao Qiao both have good lives."

"You both are my women; I can't see you suffer grievances."

"This house is too dilapidated; you can't live here."

Xu Yuexin spoke resolutely, then domineeringly seized Chen Yixue's slender waist, pulling her out of the room.

"Hey, what are you doing!"

Chen Yixue, being dragged outward, shouted anxiously, "I paid a three‑yuan deposit!"

"I don't want it."

"Then where can I live? Is it easy for me to find a room?"

"Buy a house."

Xu Yuexin said firmly, "Watch my motorcycle, and I'll move the furniture back."

Chen Yixue was tossed around by Xu Yuexin with no way out, stumbling as he dragged her to the courtyard gate.

"You're being unreasonable!"

Chen Yixue stood by the motorcycle, protesting angrily.

Xu Yuexin had no intention of answering her.

Just then, a youth in bell‑bottom pants with long hair whistled at Chen Yixue in the courtyard: "Ladies, why don't we kick him out?"

"Come with me."

Several other youths in similar attire stood beside him. At that moment they burst into raucous laughter and, under the whistler's lead, walked over with ill intent.

Needless to say, they were all the courtyard's down‑and‑out residents.

Chen Yixue turned pale with fright.

She is the white swan of the Cultural Troupe and has never witnessed the sights of a muddy ground.

Xu Yuexin said nothing, turned, opened the trunk, took out a wrench, and walked toward the down‑and‑out residents.

"First, knock the big fool out!"

The whistling youth shouted, bent down, and picked up a slab of tile.

Others either grabbed a stick from the flowerbed or, like him, seized a slab of tile and charged.

Chen Yixue had never seen such a scene, trembling with fear: "Brother‑in‑law, please don't meet a bad end."

Now she worries about Xu Yuexin far more than about herself.

Under Chen Yixue's frightened and worried gaze, Xu Yuexin swung the wrench at the long‑haired whistling man.

(End of chapter)