Chapter 175: An Luo: I Have Something to Tell You

Not far away, Cheng Xin, who had seen this scene, quietly nudged Cheng Yao beside him with his elbow.

Sneaking up to his ear in a furtive manner, he first cast a sly glance in that direction, then said in a low voice.

"Look, the Young General is spacing out again, and smiling like an idiot."

Hearing his words, Cheng Yao also turned his head to look.

But Cheng Chengxuan had already composed his expression; with a turn of his body, his back faced the crowd, and he hadn't seen a thing.

Cheng Yao turned back and took a bite of his steamed cornbread.

"What you said is really interesting."

"What's so strange about smiling?"

"We won the battle, the Young General is happy inside—can't he even smile a little?"

Cheng Xin looked at him, helpless and speechless.

"Sometimes, I really do admire you quite a bit."

A slow-witted person must have far fewer worries.

Hearing his words, Cheng Yao scratched the back of his head, lowered his head sheepishly, and let out a silly chuckle.

"Hehe."

"Really?"

"So in your heart, you admire me that much."

Cheng Xin: "..."

Good grief, he actually took it seriously!

"Fine! I'm the fool here—what was I thinking, saying all this to a blockhead like you?"

Hearing his muttering, Cheng Yao was displeased and looked at him with dissatisfaction.

"You're really fickle, you know. Just now you were saying you admired me, how come you've turned around and started bad-mouthing me?"

"And also, why have you been staring at the Young General so much lately?"

Just then, Cheng Chengxuan passed by them.

The moment he caught sight of that figure, Cheng Xin got a fright and shoved the cornmeal steamed bun in his hand straight into Cheng Yao's mouth.

"Just hurry up and eat yours, say less!"

Then he looked up with an ingratiating smile.

"Young General, what would you like to do? This Subordinate will help you."

Cheng Chengxuan had naturally heard all his earlier words, but he was in a good mood right now and couldn't be bothered to quibble with him. He merely gave him a meaningful look, his steps never pausing as he continued walking forward.

"No need, I'm just wandering around."

Watching him walk away, Cheng Xin finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"That scared me to death. I'll never gossip about the Young General behind his back again."

This was already the second time getting caught red-handed.

"Exactly, exactly. We just need to do our own jobs well, no need to gossip about our master's affairs."

Cheng Yao, with the steamed bun still in his mouth, nodded as he spoke in a muffled, indistinct voice.

"How come you ate my food?!"

Cheng Xin pointed at the steamed bun in his mouth and loudly accused him.

"Didn't you give it to me yourself?"

Cheng Yao was stunned for a moment, his tone matter-of-fact.

Seeing him keep staring, he took the last bite of the steamed bun away from his mouth and handed it to him.

"There's one bite left, want it?"

"I don't want it, eat it yourself!"

Cheng Xin snatched the steamed bun from his other hand in a huff.

He broke off the half he'd already bitten into and gave it back to him, then stuffed it in his own mouth and took a vicious bite.

Cheng Yao, meanwhile, let out a silly grin.

Hehe, got an extra half—nice deal, nice deal!

……

Elsewhere, Cheng Chengxuan came to the riverbank, found a large rock to sit on, and listened very attentively as An Luo told him about what had just happened.

"They didn't suspect a thing at all. So? Am I amazing or what?"

The girl on the video had curved brows and eyes, her chin tilted slightly upward, her expression exactly like a proud, pampered little cat.

Cheng Chengxuan's hand hung at his side; his fingers rubbed together slightly, and he smiled and nodded at her.

"Mm, truly amazing."

Meeting his smiling eyes, An Luo suddenly flushed across both cheeks, as if scalded, and hurriedly looked away elsewhere.

An Luo, don't you dare chicken out!

Bring out the aura you had in the group chat just now!

An Luo's hands resting on her legs gripped the fabric of her pants at the knees tightly.

She raised her head, looked earnestly at the person opposite her who was also looking at her earnestly, as if his eyes were full of only her, took a deep breath, and slowly began to speak.

"Cheng Chengxuan, I want to tell you something."

"Alright, go ahead."

Cheng Chengxuan on the other side sat up straight, his face a picture of solemnity, his hands unconsciously clenching, his breathing slightly quickening, a hint of barely perceptible excitement and disbelief in his eyes.

Could it be what he was thinking?

An Luo took a deep breath.

"I…"

Almost the instant she spoke, a line of text popped up before both of them at the same time.

Hum!

Data anomaly detected. The system is now beginning an upgrade. During the upgrade, all functions except Zhu Bo will be temporarily shut down. Countdown: 29 days, 23 hours, 58 minutes, 40 seconds…

Then the interface went black.

An Luo: "I… *(some kind of plant)*!"

Even with the best of tempers, she still let slip a curse.

"System, what are you doing?!!!"

"Couldn't you have waited a few more seconds before upgrading?!"

An Luo is angry, An Luo is upset, An Luo is frustrated.

The emotions she had finally managed to build up were completely ruined in an instant.

The customer service slipped out to answer her.

: Sending anyone other than the user themselves to the ancient era will cause unknown consequences. We already clearly reminded you about this, dear user. Besides, it's just a system upgrade—everything will be fine in a month.

In other words, nothing bad happened, and we even upgraded you. Just be secretly happy about it.

An Luo forced a smile: "…Oh, then I really have to thank you!"

Meanwhile, Cheng Chengxuan gazed worriedly at the countdown on the Light Screen.

He wondered whether this light curtain would still exist after the upgrade.

The moment this thought arose, a wave of irritation welled up in his heart.

Meanwhile, Cheng Xin had a grass stem dangling from his mouth, his hands folded behind his head, leisurely lying on the ground gazing at the blue sky and white clouds.

His left leg rested on his right, his crossed legs swaying as he squinted contentedly.

"This weather is perfect for lying in a rocking chair and dozing off comfortably."

Hearing this, Cheng Yao curled his lip.

Exactly—June weather, a little afternoon breeze, and your whole body feels at ease.

"Can you stop acting so damn comfortable?"

They were here on a mission, to fight a war!

Cheng Yao smacked his lips twice, the grass stem at the corner of his mouth bobbing up and down.

"There's nothing going on right now anyway, let's just rest a bit."

But the next moment, his leg was kicked.

"Ouch! Hey!"

Thinking it was Cheng Yao who kicked him, he looked up in displeasure.

After seeing who it was, he sprang upright in a flash—very much in the manner of "starting up in sickbed shock at the brink of death."

After climbing to his feet, he gave an awkward chuckle.

"Young General? You're back."

Cheng Chengxuan's face was cold; he gave him a glance devoid of expression.

"Not a shred of vigilance. You've really gotten too comfortable lately."

Cheng Xin hurriedly explained.

"No, no, please hear your Subordinate out."

"I was just talking to Cheng Yao, and besides, your martial skill is above your Subordinate's—how could I possibly hear your footsteps?"

Cheng Chengxuan swept a glance at him.

"At least you know your own limits. Since you know your martial skill isn't good enough, from today on, you'll practice an extra two-hour period every day."

Saying so, he continued walking forward, preparing to go find Zhou Old General and the Muyuan Kingdom generals to discuss the next plan.

Cheng Xin, left behind on the spot, widened his eyes in disbelief.

"Huh?!"

He frantically scratched his head with both hands in despair.

"No way!"

Cheng Yao beside him watched the show and secretly laughed.

Serves you right!

Go practice!

At this moment, a gyrfalcon flew over, with a small Bamboo Tube tied to its claw.

"A letter's here."

"I'll go find the Young General!"

Cheng Yao took off the Bamboo Tube and hurried after him.

"Young General! There's a letter!"

Looking at the carved pattern on the Bamboo Tube, Cheng Chengxuan quickly took it.

Yuanchen Daozhang replied?!

After reading it, his expression changed—the earlier coldness was gone, replaced by much more gentleness.

"Young General, is there some good news?"

"Mm."

Cheng Chengxuan gave a soft "mm."

Indeed, that is good news.